Selections for Memorization 145
LITERATURE
PUBLIC AND SEPARATE SCHOOL COURSE OF STUDY
DETAILS
FORM I
A. SELECTIONS FROM THE ONTARIO READERS
B. SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND MEMORIZATION:
Selection may be made from the following:
I. _To be Read to Pupils_:
1. NURSERY RHYMES: Sing a Song of Sixpence; I
Saw a Ship a-Sailing; Who Killed Cock Robin;
Simple Simon; Mary's Lamb, etc.
Consult _Verse and Prose for Beginners in
Reading_; Riverside Literature Series, No. 59,
15 cents.
2. FAIRY STORIES: Briar Rose, Snow-white and
Rose-red--Grimm; The Ugly Duckling--Andersen;
Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty in the
Wood--Perrault; Beauty and the Beast--Madame de
Villeneuve; The Wonderful Lamp--Arabian Nights'
Entertainments.
Consult _Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know_,
by H. W. Mabie. Grosset & Dunlap, 50c.
3. FOLK STORIES: Whittington and His Cat; The
Three Bears.
4. FABLES: Selections from AEsop and La Fontaine.
Consult _Fables and Folk Stories_, by Scudder,
Parts I and II; Riverside Literature Series,
Nos. 47, 48, 15 cents each.
II. _To be Read by Pupils_:
Fables and Folk Stories--Scudder; A Child's
Garden of Verses (First Part)--Stevenson;
Readers of a similar grade.
III. _To be Memorized by Pupils_:
1. MEMORY GEMS: Specimens of these may be found
in the Public School Manuals on Primary Reading
and Literature.
2. FROM THE READERS: Morning Hymn; Evening
Prayer; The Swing; What I Should Do; Alice.
FORM II
A. SELECTIONS FROM SECOND READER
B. SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND MEMORIZATION: Selection may be made from
the following:
I. _To be Read to Pupils_:
1. NARRATIVE POEMS: John Gilpin--Cowper; Lucy
Gray--Wordsworth; Wreck of the
Hesperus--Longfellow; Pied Piper of
Hamelin--Browning; May Queen--Tennyson; etc.
Consult _The Children's Garland_, Patmore. The
Macmillan Co., 35 cents.
2. NATURE STORIES: Wild Animals I Have Known,
Lives of the Hunted--Thompson-Seton; The
Watchers of the Trails--Roberts.
3. FAIRY STORIES: Fairy Tales Every Child
Should Know--H. W. Mabie.
4. OTHER STORIES: Selections from the Wonder
Book--Hawthorne; Jungle Book--Kipling;
Gulliver's Travels--Swift; Alice in
Wonderland--Carroll; Robinson Crusoe--Defoe;
The Hall of Heroes--Royal Treasury of Story and
Song, Part III, Nelson & Sons.
II. _To be Read by Pupils:_
A Child's Garden of Verses--Stevenson; The
Seven Little Sisters--Jane Andrews; Fifty
Famous Stories Retold--Baldwin.
III. _To be memorized by Pupils_: (A minimum of six lines a week)
FROM THE READER:
A Wake-up Song; Love; The Land of Nod; One,
Two, Three; March; Abide with Me; The New Moon;
The Song for Little May; The Lord is my
Shepherd; Lullaby--Tennyson; Indian Summer;
proverbs, maxims, and short extracts found at
the bottom of the page in the Readers.
FORM III
A. SELECTIONS FROM THIRD READER
B. SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND MEMORIZATION: Selection may be made from
the following:
The King of the Golden River--Ruskin;
Tanglewood Tales--Hawthorne; The
Heroes--Kingsley; Adventures of Ulysses--Lamb;
Squirrels and Other Fur-bearers--Burroughs; Ten
Little Boys who Lived on the Road from Long Ago
till Now--Jane Andrews; Hiawatha--Longfellow;
Rip Van Winkle--Irving; Water Babies--Kingsley.
_To be Memorized by Pupils:_ (A minimum of ten lines a week)
FROM THE READER:
To-day--Carlyle; The Quest--Bumstead; Hearts of
Oak--Garrick; A Farewell--Kingsley; An Apple
Orchard in the Spring--Martin; The Charge of
the Light Brigade--Tennyson; Lead, Kindly
Light--Newman; The Bugle Song--Tennyson;
Crossing the Bar--Tennyson; The Fighting
Temeraire--Newbolt; Afterglow--Wilfred
Campbell; proverbs, maxims, and short extracts.
FORM IV
A. SELECTIONS FROM FOURTH READER
B. SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND MEMORIZATION: Selections may be made from
the list prepared annually by the Department of Education.
LITERATURE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
It is the purpose of this Manual to present the general principles on
which the teaching of literature is based. It will distinguish between
the intensive and the extensive study of literature; it will consider
what material is suitable for children at different ages; it will
discuss the reasons for various steps in lesson procedure; and it will
illustrate methods by giving, for use in different Forms, lesson plans
in literature that is diverse in its qualities. This Manual is not
intended to provide a short and easy way of teaching literature nor to
save the teacher from expending thought and labour on his work. The
authors do not propose to cover all possible cases and leave nothing for
the teacher's ingenuity and originality.
WHAT IS LITERATURE?
Good literature portrays and interprets human life, its activities, its
ideas and emotions, and those things about which human interest and
emotion cluster. It gives breadth of view, supplies high ideals of
conduct, cultivates the imagination, trains the taste, and develops an
appreciation of beauty of form, fitness of phrase, and music of
language. The term _Literature_ as used in this Manual is applied
especially to those selections in the _Ontario Readers_ which possess in
some degree these characteristics. Such selections are unlike the
lessons in the text-books in grammar, geography, arithmetic, etc. In
these the aim is to determine the facts and the conclusions to which
they lead. Even in the Readers, there are some lessons of which this is
partly true. For instance, the lesson on _Clouds, Rains, and Rivers_, by
Tyndall, is such as might be found in a text-book in geography or
science. Here the information alone is viewed as valuable, and the pupil
will probably supplement what he has learned from the book by the study
of material objects and natural phenomena. When this lesson is to be
studied, the pupil should be taught not only to understand thoroughly
what the author is expressing by his language, but also to appreciate
the clearness and force with which he has given his message to the
world. The pupil should be called upon to examine the author's
illustrations, his choice of words, and his paragraph and sentence
structure.
Each literature lesson in the Reader has some particular force, or charm
of thought and expression. There is found in these lessons, not only
beauty of thought and feeling, but artistic form as well. In the highest
forms of literature, the emotional element predominates, and it should
be one to which all mankind, to a greater or less degree, are subject.
It is the predominance of these emotional and artistic elements which
makes literature a difficult subject to teach. The element of feeling is
elusive and can best be taught by the influence of contagion. There is
usually less difficulty about the intellectual element, that is, about
the meaning of words and phrases, the general thought of the lesson, and
the relation of the thoughts to one another and to the whole.
THE QUALITIES THAT APPEAL TO CHILDREN AT DIFFERENT AGES
This is a psychological problem which can be solved only by a study of
the interests and capacities of the children. These interests vary so
greatly and make their appearance at such diverse periods in different
individuals and in the two sexes, that it is a difficult matter to say
with any definiteness just what qualities of literature appeal to
children at any particular age. Moreover, the children's environment and
previous experiences have a great deal to do in determining these
interests and capacities. There are, however, certain characteristics of
different periods of childhood which are fairly universal, and which
may, therefore, be taken as guiding, determining factors in the
selection of suitable literature.
JUNIOR FORMS
1. One of the most striking characteristics of young children is the
activity of their imagination. They endow their toys with life and
personality; they construct the most fantastic and impossible tales;
they accept without question the existence of supernatural beings. The
problem for the teacher is to direct this activity of imagination into
proper fields, and to present material which will give the child a large
store of beautiful images--images that are not only delightful to dwell
upon, but are also elevating and refining in their influence upon
character. The fairy tale, the folk tale, and the fable, owe their
popularity with young children to the predominance of the imaginative
element. The traditionary fairy tales and folk stories are usually more
suitable than those that appear in teachers' magazines and modern
holiday books for children. The hardest thing for the educated mind to
do is to write down to the level of children without coddling or
becoming cynical. The old tales are sincere, simple, and full of faith.
They are not written for children, but are the romance of the people
with whom they came into existence, and they have stood the test of
ages.
The myth is usually not suitable for young children, as it is a
religious story having a symbolic meaning which is beyond their
interpretation. If it is used at all, only the story in it should be
given.
2. Stories of adventure, courage, and the defence of the helpless appeal
very strongly to young children. Even the cruelties and crudities of
_Bluebeard_, _Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves_, and _Aladdin and his
Wonderful Lamp_ do not alarm or repel children very much, owing to their
lack of experience in these matters. Stories based on the love of the
sexes are unsuitable for children of this age, although it constitutes
the chief element in stories for older people.
3. The child is also interested in stories of simple games, of animals
and birds, and of the material world on which so much of his happiness
depends. These stories are corrective of the desire which characterizes
some children for too many fairy stories. The fairy story and the nature
story should be alternated, so that the child's interests may be
imaginative without becoming visionary, and practical without becoming
prosaic.
4. Most children have a keen sense of the musical qualities of verse.
The child of two years of age will give his attention to the rhythm of
the nursery rhyme when the prose story will not interest him. The
consideration and analysis of these musical qualities should be
deferred for years; but it is probable that the foundation for a future
appreciation of poetry is often laid by an acquaintance with the rhymes
of childhood.
5. The element of repetition appeals strongly to children. In this lies
the attractiveness of the "cumulative story", in which the same
incident, or feature, or form of expression is repeated again and again
with some slight modification; for example, the story of _Henny Penny_,
_The Gingerbread Boy_, and _The Little Red Hen_. The choruses and the
refrains of songs are pleasant for this reason.
_Silverlocks and the Three Bears_ is an example of a story that has many
attractive features. Silverlocks is an interesting girl, because she is
mischievous and adventurous. The pupils know a good deal about bears and
wild animals from picture books, stories, and perhaps the travelling
menageries. The bears have all proper names--Rough Bruin, Mammy Muff,
and Tiny; this gives an air of reality to the story. The bears speak in
short, characteristic sentences.
Silverlocks runs away from home, goes into the woods, and finds a lonely
house which is the home of the bears. They are not at home, so she
enters. These actions suggest mystery and adventure.
The construction of the story shows two chief divisions, with three
subdivisions. The second division begins with the return of the bears.
They find the soup has been tasted, the chairs disturbed, and the beds
rumpled; their conversation is interesting, and their tones
characteristic. Tiny, the little bear, suffers most; he enlists the
sympathy of the children, as he has lost his dinner and his chair is
broken. He discovers Silverlocks, but she escapes and "never runs away
from home any more".
SENIOR FORMS (BOOKS III AND IV)
1. In these Forms, the pupil's imagination is still strong, though less
fantastic and under better control, and hence stories involving a large
element of imagination retain their charm at this stage. The myth, and
longer and more involved fairy tales, such as Ruskin's _King of the
Golden River_, Hawthorne's _Wonder Book_, and Kingsley's _Greek Heroes_,
are read with avidity.
2. Stories involving _a number of incidents_ are wonderfully attractive.
This is due to the pupil's instinctive interest in action and
personality. Children are more deeply interested in persons who _do_
things than in those who _become_ something else than they were. A
description of some evolution of character very soon palls, but a
stirring tale of heroic deeds exerts a powerful fascination. This
explains the attractiveness of the hero tale, the story of adventure,
and the stirring historical narrative. The action should have the merit
of artistic moderation. Stories in which there is a carnival of action,
for example, the "dime thriller", under whose spell so many boys fall,
must be avoided. Literature that leaves the mind so feverish that the
pupil loses interest in other subjects is worse than no literature. The
easiest way to prevent a taste for this injurious kind, is to give the
pupil an acquaintance with works descriptive of noble deeds and virile
character. An interest in epic poetry or the historical novel may be
developed from the child's instinctive interest in action. Tennyson's
_Passing of Arthur_, Arnold's _Sohrab and Rustum_, Longfellow's
_Evangeline_ and _King Robert of Sicily_, and Scott's _Ivanhoe_ will be
read with keen enjoyment. The force and beauty of the language, the
faithfulness of the descriptions to life, the historical setting, the
lofty imagery, and the logical development will arouse a healthy mental
appetite that will find no pleasure in the worthless story of sensation
and vulgar incident, or even in some badly constructed compositions of
historical adventure.
3. The pupils of the Senior Forms show even more striking interest in
animals, pets, and wild creatures than do the pupils of the Junior
Forms. To this natural interest is due the engrossing character of
nature study. To it is also due the satisfaction arising from the
reading of some of the many nature stories that have appeared in recent
years.
Thompson-Seton's _Wild Animals I have Known_ and _Lives of the Hunted_,
and Roberts' _The Watchers of the Trails_ are excellent examples of this
class.
COMPLETE WHOLES VERSUS EXTRACTS
Scattered throughout the _Ontario Readers_ are to be found extracts from
larger works. These extracts are placed there primarily because they
have some special literary value. They have fairly complete unity in
themselves and can be treated in detail in a way that would be
impossible with a whole story. The extract has an advantage over the
whole, in that it repays intensive study, while, in many cases, such
study of the whole work would not be worth while. It is considered
better to give the pupil many of these passages where the author has
shown his greatest art, rather than to allow one long work to absorb the
very limited time which the pupil can devote to this subject. The study
of the extract will have accomplished its mission if it induces the
pupil to read the larger work for himself in later years. If the
treatment by the teacher is made as interesting as it should be, it is
hoped that the pupil will obtain such delight from, and be inspired to
such enthusiasm by, these glimpses of literary treasures, that he will
not be satisfied until he has enjoyed in their entirety such works as
_The Lady of the Lake_, _Pickwick Papers_, _Lorna Doone_, _The Mill on
the Floss_, _Julius Caesar_, and _It is Never Too Late to Mend_. An
extract may serve as an introduction to the choicest work of an author,
may arouse an interest in his writings, and give the pupils a taste of
his quality, but, unless it whets their appetites for the work as a
whole, its chief purpose will not have been accomplished. These extracts
cannot give a panoramic view of a great historical epoch. They do not
require that sustained attention that relates to-day's readings with
that of yesterday, and that takes a wider survey of many parts in their
relation to a central theme. The larger work gives a culture and a
liberal education, when it is treated in the proper manner, that is very
different from the fragmentary knowledge of an author that would be
gained by even the intensive study of many short extracts. The treatment
of the extract, as we have said, must be minute; while the whole work
should be subsequently read in a method that will be outlined later on
under the head of Supplementary Reading.
CORRELATION OF LITERATURE WITH NATURE STUDY, GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY, AND ART
Many of the lessons in the _Ontario Readers_ should be preceded by
preparatory work in geography, history, or nature study. Poems such as
_Jacques Cartier_, _The Charge of the Light Brigade_, _The Burial of Sir
John Moore_, and _The Armada_ cannot be fully appreciated unless the
historical setting is known. There are famous pictures that will
increase the pupil's interest in these poems. In the lessons on art,
there are studies of pictures that suggest feelings and thoughts
characterized by universality, permanency, and nobility--pictures that
stir men to nobler thought and higher aspiration. Often, such pictures
are the painter's method of expressing in colours, thoughts that the
poet has expressed in words. Lessons such as _Dandelions_, _Bob White_,
and _The Sandpiper_ require a preliminary acquaintance with certain
facts of nature, and therefore should be taken, if possible, when these
can be obtained through personal observation by the pupils. _Wolfe and
Montcalm_ and Drake's _Voyage Around the World_ demand, in addition to
historical facts, certain geographical data. These facts and data should
be communicated at some time before the lessons in literature are taken,
in order that the latter may not descend into lessons in history,
geography, or natural science. The extracts mentioned above are not
placed in the Readers to teach certain historical, geographical, or
scientific facts. They are placed there, as has been said, primarily
because they have some value as literature. Hence the literature lesson
should require few digressions, the necessary preparatory work having
been done in previous periods.
But while history, geography, nature study, and art frequently assist in
the interpretation of a poem or prose selection, these subjects, on the
other hand, may be reinforced and strengthened by selections drawn from
the fields of literature. The facts of the history lesson will be given
an additional attractiveness if the pupil is directed to some
well-written biography or drama embodying the same facts, or if the
teacher reads or recites to the class some spirited ballad, such as
_Bonnie Dundee_, bearing upon the lesson. The interest in the
observations made in nature study will be intensified by reading some
nature story written in good literary form.
While these studies may go hand in hand with literature, it is not
necessary that they should be always taken on the same day or even in
the same week. The literature lesson may be an effective agent in the
recall of ideas that have had time to be assimilated from previous
nature study, history, or geography lessons. In our enthusiasm for
literature we must not make these subjects the mere soil and fertilizers
out of which the flowers of poetry will spring. Each of these subjects
has its proper sphere, but that teacher misses many golden opportunities
who does not frequently take a comprehensive survey of his material in
all these studies in order to find the element that will give a unity to
all our knowledge and experience. The lessons in the Reader may be taken
according to the conditions existing in the class or the inclination of
the teacher. By no means is it necessary to follow the order in the
book.
AIMS IN TEACHING LITERATURE
The teacher should always have a clear and definite aim in view in
teaching a selection in literature, but different teachers may have
different aims in teaching the same selection. There should, of course,
always be the general aim to create a taste for good literature by
leading the pupils to appreciate the beauty and power of clear and
artistic expression of thought and feeling; but this aim must be
specific according to the nature of the selection to be taught. Some
specific aims may be given as suggestive:
1. To appeal suitably to such instinctive tastes and interests of
childhood as are already awake and active; for example, Second Reader,
p. 3, _My Shadow_; p. 185, _A Visit from St. Nicholas_; p. 125, _Little
Gustava_; p. 215, _The Children's Hour_.
2. To awaken and develop interests and tastes that are as yet dormant;
for example, Second Reader, p. 42, _A Song for Little May_; p. 88, _The
Brown Thrush_.
3. To develop and direct the imagination; for example, Second Reader, p.
72, _The New Moon_; p. 117, _Little Sorrow_; p. 45, _The Little Land_;
p. 172, _The Wind_.
4. To arouse and quicken the sense of beauty; for example, Second
Reader, p. 92, _Mother's World_; p. 155, _Lullaby_.
5. To exercise and cultivate the emotions; for example, Second Reader,
p. 94, _Androclus and the Lion_; p. 135, _Ulysses_; p. 107, _A Night
with a Wolf_.
6. To develop manners and morals through examples of character and
conduct in action; for example, Second Reader, p. 114, _Joseph II and
the Grenadier_.
7. To develop appreciation for the well-told story; for example, Second
Reader, p. 5, _The Pail of Gold_; p. 12, _How I Turned the Grindstone_;
p. 56, _The Blind Men and the Elephant_; p. 211, _How the Greeks Took
Troy_.
8. To develop a true sense of humour; for example, Second Reader, p. 50,
_Change About_.
9. To develop a sense of reverence; for example, Second Reader, p. 203,
_The Lord is my Shepherd_; p. 218, _Abide With Me_.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE IN THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE
There are four outstanding principles of general method that apply
particularly in the teaching of Literature.
I. The pupil must, at the outset, be placed in a receptive attitude
toward the lesson if the best results are to be secured. He must have
some _purpose_ in view if he is to be induced to concentrate his
attention upon it. His purposes determine his interests, and hence the
lesson must, in some way, be related to interests that already exist in
his mind. Frequently his instinctive interest in action, in personality,
or in excitement is sufficient incentive to secure his attention. A
suspicion that a lesson contains a good story is often sufficient to
ensure a careful reading of it, and a curiosity as to the writer's
devices to make the story interesting will lead to a closer examination
of it. But more frequently some special interest resulting from the time
of year, the surroundings, or the work taken in some other subject, may
be effectively utilized by the teacher. These interests of children are
so numerous and so varied that there are few lessons in the Readers for
which a receptive attitude of mind cannot be secured. It will be
observed that the principle here enunciated corresponds to the
"statement of the aim" in the Herbartian "Formal Steps".
II. The pupil's mind must be suitably prepared for the assimilation of
the ideas contained in the lesson, by recalling old ideas and feelings
that are related to those to be presented in the selection to be
studied. He must be placed in a proper intellectual attitude to
interpret the ideas and in a proper emotional attitude to appreciate
the feelings. Neglect of the former may make the selection wholly
meaningless to the pupil; neglect of the latter may result in entire
indifference toward it. A proper intellectual attitude is necessary in
any lesson, but in a lesson in grammar or arithmetic the emotional
attitude may be almost completely absent. In literature, however, this
emotional attitude is often of the greatest importance, and the neglect
of it may mean an utter lack of appreciation of some literary
masterpiece. This preparatory work may take the form of a recall of some
of the common experiences of the pupil's life or a review of some facts
taken, for instance, in a previous geography, history, or nature study
lesson. The apperceptive power of the pupil's mind takes the new
material of thought and feeling contained in the selection and weaves it
into the web of his previous ideas and emotions.
III. The mind always proceeds from a vague and indistinct idea of a new
presentation to a clear and defined idea of it. The process is always
analytic-synthetic. In a literature lesson the order of procedure must
be: (1) Let the pupil get that somewhat indistinct grasp of the thought
and feeling which comes from a preliminary reading of it; (2) make this
more definite by a process of analysis, by concentrating attention on
the details; (3) make the idea completely definite by a clear grasp of
the relations existing among the various details, that is, by a process
of synthesis.
IV. No impression is complete without some form of expression. An idea
or emotion is a very incomplete and useless thing until it is worked out
in practice and conduct. The thoughts and feelings gained from the
literature lesson must be given some kind of expression if they are to
be fully realized. This expression may take many different forms. The
pupils may merely read the selection, showing to the listeners their
understanding and appreciation of it. If it is a story, they may
reproduce it in their own words orally or in writing. They may sketch a
scene or a situation with pencil, or with brush and colours. They may
dramatize it, or act it in pantomime. They may create a story with a
similar theme, or imitate a poem by a creation of their own. The
expression may not be immediate but may be delayed for days or even
years, and come in some modification of future conduct.
CHAPTER II
METHODS
IN JUNIOR FORMS
To introduce children to the world of literature, it is not necessary to
wait until they have mastered the art of reading. The introduction
should come long before they have learned to read, through listening to
good stories told or read to them by others, through hearing suitable
poems read or recited with spirit and feeling, and by memorizing nursery
rhymes and gems of poetry.
The material to be used in primary grades has already been described.
Early work in literature should be correlated with oral composition.
As to the comparative merits of reading and telling, much may be said on
each side. In the early stages, telling must, of course, be the
predominant if not the exclusive means of communicating the story. The
matter and language can thus be better adjusted to the capacity of the
individual pupil. The teacher who is familiar with the pupil's home life
and surroundings has within his power a means of adapting the story to
the attainments of the pupil that even the best writer of children's
stories can hardly command. A situation in a story can frequently be
made intelligible by reference to the pupil's own experience. Moreover,
in telling the story, the teacher's gestures, facial expression, and
tone of voice are likely to be more spontaneous and natural than would
be the case in reading, and this gives immense assistance in
interpreting aright the meaning and spirit of the selection.
Some teachers say that the incident, as in the case of Hawthorne's
Tales, is so meagre and the language so exquisite, that the telling
seems to be quite inadequate and inferior to the reading of the story.
In such cases, variety may be afforded by reading, but generally
speaking, it is more effective to tell the story.
The teacher should strive to become a good story-teller. This requires a
good voice, animated gesture and facial expression, a good command of
English words, power of graphic description and narration, restraint
from digression and superfluous detail, and concentration of aim upon
some definite point.
In teaching poetry to primary classes, the main object is to lead the
pupils to feel the music and realize the imagery. To attain this end,
the best beginning is made by a sympathetic and expressive rendering of
the passage by the teacher. It can be recited many times incidentally,
while he is asking the pupils to look at the pretty pictures suggested
by the text. It is not necessary to enter at any length into an analysis
of the poem, unless the pictures are arranged in an easy order, such as
spring, summer, autumn, winter.
MEMORIZATION
One of the most valuable means of securing an appreciation of literature
is the memorization of fine passages of prose and poetry. Pupils from
the primary grades upward should be required to memorize systematically
several lines of prose and poetry every week of the school year. During
childhood the mind is at its most impressionable stage, and what is
committed to memory is then retained longer and more accurately than
what is memorized at any later period. The passages should be carefully
selected and should be suited to the capacity and interests of the
pupils. Nothing should be memorized that has not _some_ meaning for
them, but it would be impossible to require that every selection should
be _fully_ understood. The selections which children commit to memory in
the most plastic period of their lives will often reveal a new and
unexpected meaning and beauty in later years and will be a source of
keen delight and satisfaction. The passages memorized will form a
standard, unconscious it may be, by which to test the excellence of
other selections.
It is of the greatest importance that the passages chosen should have
artistic excellence in thought, feeling, music, imagery, and language.
Moreover, these qualities must be present in such a form that they will,
when properly presented by the teacher's reading or reciting, appeal, in
some considerable measure, to the pupils' capacities and interests.
Since there are so many noble passages in English literature, nothing of
doubtful value should be memorized.
It is also very important that the teacher himself should have committed
to memory and be able to recite freely and expressively every selection
he requires his pupils to memorize. It is clear that, if he has
memorized it himself, the pupils will be more likely to feel it worth
while to do the same.
In conducting a lesson in memorization, it is well for the teacher to
arouse the interest of the pupils in the selection as a whole by
reciting it himself with expression. Next, he should see that the pupils
understand as clearly as possible the meaning, and realize and
appreciate, as far as they are able, the feeling of the passage. It
should be treated first as an ordinary literature lesson, after the
manner already described. It should then be read aloud several times by
individual pupils, all trying meanwhile to commit it to memory by
concentration of attention on the ideas and their relations, the words
and their meanings. The principles of all habit formation apply
here--attention to the thing to be learned, so as to get a clear
understanding of it, and then repetition with attention. When it has
been read several times, individual pupils should be asked to recite it
without any aid. It will be found more satisfactory to memorize a
complete stanza at a time, or at least a part that expresses a complete
thought, rather than to commit to memory a line at a time. With young
pupils, however, it is well to take small units and let the children
repeat one or two lines at a time till they can give the whole stanza
with ease and accuracy.
It is important that all repetition should be individual, not
simultaneous. Where the latter method is in use, it is noticeable that
pupils adopt a uniform tone and measured rhythm, both of which are
undesirable. Moreover, especially with young pupils, there is a danger
that absurd blunders made by individuals may pass unnoticed, because the
teacher has not the opportunity of detecting them. When the passage has
been memorized, it should be repeated daily for a time and then repeated
at longer intervals, until there is little probability of its being
forgotten.
IN SENIOR FORMS
THE TEACHER'S PREPARATION
The teacher must make himself thoroughly acquainted with the lesson that
he has to teach. When it is an extract, he should be familiar with the
longer work from which it is taken. He cannot teach the lesson "Maggie
Tulliver" with the highest appreciation if he has not read _The Mill on
the Floss_. But there is more than mere information required for
successful teaching. In poetry the teacher should feel delight in the
music, the expression, the emotion, till he is eager to communicate his
feelings to the pupils. This enthusiasm, however, should not have in it
any insincerity, or extravagant commendation of the poem or the author.
The teacher who has wide information and genuine interest in his work
will seldom fail to arouse a real pleasure in the literature lesson.
The relationship between the teacher and the pupils must be cordial if
the lesson is to be successful. This is true in any subject, but the
sympathetic bond must be especially strong in the literature lesson.
PREPARATION OF PUPILS
It has already been pointed out that it is frequently necessary to give
preliminary lessons in nature study, science, history, or geography
before the lesson in literature is presented. The pupil must have the
right information before the literature lesson can arouse the emotion
that the author wishes him to feel.
Not only is the possession of the right information necessary, but the
pupil should be in the right mood for the lesson. A class that has just
returned to the room after the games at recess is not in the proper
state of mind to appreciate, at once, the recitation by the teacher of,
Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O sea!
Even the enthusiasm and scholarship of the teacher will fail to be
effective under these circumstances. He should arouse in the pupils the
proper mental and emotional state by a very short talk on friendship. He
can refer to the well-known stories of David and Jonathan, or Damon and
Pythias, and tell them of the friendship existing between Arthur Hallam
and Alfred Tennyson.
Before studying _Lead, Kindly Light_ (p. 315, Third Reader) the teacher
might ask the pupils to picture a solitary traveller in the desert far
from home. Night is approaching; the darkness gathers, and the air grows
chill. What would be the nature of his feelings? Away in the distance he
discovers a faint light glimmering as from a lantern. Now, how would he
feel? Continue till the pupils can see each part of the picture, the
spiritual significance of which they are to learn through the poem.
To give an extended account of the author's life is a poor introduction,
unless there is something of unusual interest about his personality or
achievements. The pupils usually do not know anything about him, and the
teacher's aim, in this preparatory work, is to relate the thought and
feeling of the poem to the properly assimilated knowledge and experience
of the pupils. In some cases, they may have made a favourable
acquaintance with the author in another poem, and this may give the
necessary stimulus to their interest in his life. The best time,
however, to give a biography of an author, when that is helpful, is
after the lesson has been studied, for then the pupils will appreciate
what the teacher has to say about him personally.
In some poems, the circumstances under which they are written will be
the only introduction necessary, as in the case of _Break, break, break_
or _The Recessional_.
There is often an appropriate time for the teaching of a literature
lesson. Sometimes it is the season of the year. The lesson on _An Apple
Orchard in the Spring_ should come when the blossoms are stimulating
every bird and child with their loveliness, fragrance, and promise. _The
First Ploughing_ and the various poems on birds and flowers should come
at this season. They can be followed, in turn, by _A Midsummer Song_ and
_The Maple_. There are poems in the Readers for September, November,
Indian Summer, and Winter; and a wealth of material for the Christmas
season. Yet the season may not always determine the time for such
lessons. The pupil who has observed again and again an apple orchard in
the spring, and who knows birds and trees, has a store of memories that
will enable him to picture vividly what he reads about these at any
time.
It may be objected that these methods of introduction make the pupil
depend too much on the teacher, and do not throw him sufficiently on his
own resources. It is to be remembered, however, that the great object of
teaching literature is to cultivate a taste for it. When the pupil
approaches a selection with ideas and feelings which are already, in his
consciousness, related to those presented in the poem, he is in the best
possible mental attitude to appreciate it, and the probability of his
liking it is much greater than if it were presented without any such
introduction. The pupil's first impressions of a poem are all-important,
and it is essential that his first introduction to it should be made
under the most favourable circumstances. If his first acquaintance with
poetry is made under pleasant conditions, he will inevitably develop a
taste for poetical literature, and that is the object which the teacher
has in view. When this taste has been formed, it will not be necessary
that the teacher should be at hand in order to recall the proper
experiences for the interpretation of a passage. The pupil will read
appreciatively on his own account, without any such assistance.
In all cases, the preparation of the pupils for the lesson must be
short. Nothing more should be given than will suffice to bring them into
a suitable mood; usually some simple experience of their lives is ample.
The time for the lesson is always limited, and the proportion between
the introduction and the main theme must always be maintained.
PRESENTATION
The next step in the development of the lesson is the presentation. How
shall this be done? There are three ways: The teacher may ask the pupils
to read the lesson silently at their seats or at home and come prepared
to participate in the discussion; or he may ask some of them to read the
lesson aloud; or he, himself, may read it to the pupils. The merits of
each of these methods will be considered.
In prose, it is advisable to let the pupils read the selection before
the lesson is taken up by the teacher. The pupils must have practice in
getting the thought from the symbols on the printed page and in grasping
the general trend of the story, the description, or the argument. The
work will be mainly intellectual, but the pupils may also, at this
stage, have practice in discovering the emotional elements in some of
the prose extracts.
In the higher Forms, the teacher may occasionally allow some of his best
readers to read a poem aloud, where the emotion is evident or the
narrative plain. _The Barefoot Boy_, p. 118, Fourth Reader; _The Homes
of England_, p. 375; and _Bernardo del Carpio_, p. 131, are examples of
this kind.
It is usually a better plan for the teacher to read the poem to the
pupils. With many poems of exquisite music and imagery, such as _The
Bugle Song_, p. 337, Third Reader, the reading by a pupil who has not
yet caught the meaning and spirit will be a failure, and the teacher
will see that the mood that he has prepared with care at the opening is
so certain to be dissipated that he must intervene in order to prevent
the spoiling of the lesson. But the teacher who has studied the poem and
whose feelings have been deeply stirred by its music and pictures can,
through his reading, communicate to his pupils his own appreciation; and
it will be a dull pupil who does not feel the contagion. It is, however,
not well to insist on too great uniformity in method; the spirit rather
than the form is vital.
VALUE OF ORAL READING IN THE INTERPRETATION AND APPRECIATION OF
LITERATURE
1. To the reader himself. Poetical literature is akin to music. Poetry
was originally sung by the minstrel, and the thought and feeling were
communicated to the audience solely by the ear. The study of poetry by
the eye is artificial, modern, and contrary to our hereditary instincts.
We should not argue that the best way to appreciate music is found in
following the symbols on the music sheet. It is only the highly educated
musician who can imagine the delights of music by an examination of the
written text. To some degree, it is the same with poetry. The music of
the words and the appropriateness of the rhythm cannot be fully
perceived by merely silent reading. The eye alone would never detect the
exquisite music of such a poem as _Hide and Seek_, Third Reader, p. 50,
or _Break, break, break_, p. 201. Nor could it perceive the suitability
of the rhythm to the theme, as exhibited in _How They Brought the Good
News from Ghent to Aix_, Fourth Reader, p. 351. In this poem, we can
hear in the rhythm the hoof beats of the horses as they gallop along.
How often have we felt a new meaning and appropriateness that our voice
alone has suggested!
2. To the listeners. The contagious nature of emotion has already been
pointed out. The good reader, by his sympathetic and expressive
rendering of the poem, may reveal to his listeners depths of feeling,
the existence of which they had not before suspected. We have often been
thrilled by a new emotion, upon hearing a familiar passage read by
another.
Every teacher should be a good reader. His tone of voice, his movement,
his gestures are the signs by which the pupils interpret his emotional
attitude. If he is not already a good reader, he should bend all his
energies to become one. Persevering practice, attention to mechanical
features, such as distinct articulation, pausing, flexibility of voice,
and, above all, a sympathetic appreciation of the author's thought and
feeling, will soon convert a poor reader into a good one. He will soon
find that his voice will accommodate itself insensibly in pitch, tone,
and movement to the changing emotions of the poem. The delight of the
lesson will be greatly enhanced where the reader lends to the rhyme of
the poet the music of his voice.
The reading reveals the general thought of the poem. In simpler poems,
the pupils will recognize in the reading the relationship and the intent
of many of the subordinate parts. But the intellectual side is only
secondary. Literature, in its finer forms, is not primarily an
intellectual subject, such as grammar or mathematics. The emotional
tone, the spiritual meaning, and the artistic form--these are the main
elements, and these can be best developed by good reading. The teacher
should acquire the habit of reading poetry aloud in his home, and should
induce his pupils to follow his example. Further, as two senses will
give a more vivid realization of thought than one, the pupil, in the
class, should follow with his eye the reading of the teacher; and it is
helpful for a church congregation to follow with the eye the reading of
the scripture lesson by the minister.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIN THOUGHT
The teacher should next assist the pupils to discover the main thought
of the lesson. In many cases the meaning will be very vague, and the
pupils will have difficulty in formulating a terse and comprehensive
statement of the subject of the poem. If the question is asked in a
stereotyped form, such as "What is the main thought of the poem?" the
enthusiasm of the pupils is often chilled. The teacher may, if it is a
narrative poem, ask for the main points in the story, and may assist the
pupils by calling attention to some pertinent passage, or by removing
difficulties by means of questions or explanations. In all cases, it is
well to accept a partially correct answer by the pupils, and to try to
improve its imperfection by questioning, until a fairly complete and
substantial statement has been given. Every answer which contains even a
fragment of sound thought should receive due recognition. In some cases
it is sufficient, at the outset, to take an imperfect statement of the
main thought, since the study of the poem will reveal its defects. The
teacher must keep before his pupils this statement, so that at the
conclusion of the lesson they will be quite ready to replace it by a
more accurate one. The teacher should be careful that the emotions
aroused by the poem are not unduly weakened or dissipated by the
analysis of its intellectual content. Many lessons by young teachers
fail just at this point, by reason of questioning unskilfully or by
rejecting answers that do not correspond to their own cut-and-dried
preconceptions.
The teacher should follow a similar method in discovering the leading
thought of the subdivisions of the poem. These often correspond to the
stanza forms, but the lesson may become very wearisome by insisting on
too great detail. The poem often falls into two or three main divisions,
into which the various stanzas may be grouped. With Senior Forms it is a
good exercise to ask the pupils to make this grouping, but, with those
not so advanced, the teacher himself may make it and ask the pupils for
the central thought in each group. In the teacher's anxiety to have
these subjects clearly stated, he runs the risk of wasting time and,
worse than that, of killing whatever interest the pupils may have had up
to this point. If the pupils could give these subjects with perfect
clearness now, there would be little else to do. The greatest care must
be exercised to prevent the work becoming mechanical, thus destroying
the interest and making the selection distasteful.
With some pupils, the logical sense is quite strong, and they find their
greatest delight in seeing the purpose of each part in a complex
mechanism. With others, this work does not afford much pleasure. These
are children who, later, can take delight in the flimsy plot of a
musical comedy. Such pupils should be encouraged to do their best to
discover some points of beauty or skill in the arrangement of the
selection. In different lessons there is a difference in construction.
In some, the logical connection and development is so important that
this quality must be stressed, but the works of some authors have merits
which throw the arrangement into a very subordinate position; for
example, "Ring out, Wild Bells", from _In Memoriam_.
MINUTE ANALYSIS
The next stage in the analysis is the examination of the passage
minutely. There is always a place in the lesson for the study of words
and phrases. The teacher should ask questions on these, in order to
ascertain if the pupils have felt their force and vitality. They are to
be taken up only to illuminate and impress the main thoughts and
emotions of the poem.
In some cases, as in prose lessons, the pupils may acquire the
dictionary habit. This develops and cultivates a studious disposition
and accuracy of statement. But in poetry there are many subtle meanings
that the dictionary will not give, but which the pupil has learned
through contact with educated people and acquaintance with books. Most
of the words that people use have not been learned from the dictionary,
but from their context in reading or conversation.
On the other hand, many lessons are spoiled by too constant inquiry into
meanings. There is much mere learning of meanings without reference to
the thought or emotion that they are intended to explain. Many words are
explained that are already understood. The fault may be due to the
teacher's experience with annotated text-books of literature. The
teacher, who has been prepared for his examination by this method, is
disposed to carry it into Elementary School work, till even _The
Recessional_ becomes merely a theme for learning verbal meanings.
ALLUSIONS
There are many references in the text-books to geographical, scientific,
and historical matters. If these allusions. In poems such as _The
Armada_ there must be a preliminary lesson such as has been indicated.
Very often the enthusiast in these subjects will make literature a mere
peg on which to hang much information. Teachers often make long
digressions in connection with these allusions, till the mood of the
poem is completely lost in the mist of the disquisitions. The same
method should be adopted in teaching allusions as in teaching the
meanings of words. Only such explanation is necessary as will show the
purpose of the author in introducing the allusions. In poems such as
_The Armada_ there must be considerable explanation given, before the
pupils will feel the emotion that the author hopes to kindle by the
mention of the names that are used in it. With Canadian children, the
effect in the case of this poem cannot be so great as with English
children, who are more familiar with the special geographical and
historical associations.
The teacher of young people cannot hope, by explanation of the
allusions, to arouse all the pleasure and the vitality of emotion that
will be induced in the reader who has the culture that comes of wide
reading; nor can the teacher communicate this emotion when the
information is new. The pleasure comes, later on, from the recall of
information that was assimilated in earlier years.
THE IMAGERY
The language of poetry is generally concrete. The artist may wish to
give expression to a general truth, or philosophical principle, or
ethereal fancy. These appear very abstract, but the artist embodies in
material forms the idea he wishes to convey. The poet expresses his
thought by the suggestion of material imagery, and emotion is most
readily aroused by these images.
Antony, in his funeral oration after Caesar's death, knew how to arouse
his audience to fury by showing them Caesar's wounds and holding before
them Caesar's mantle with its rents. Not always can the real object be
produced for these emotional effects, but the teacher can sometimes
bring into the class-room, for the benefit of young pupils, concrete
material such as pictures and work in manual training. He can also call
attention, at times, to the falling snow or the colour of the leaves or
the sky, by asking the pupils to look out of the class-room windows. But
in most cases, he has to be content with trying to recall the memory of
these natural things. This shows how valuable has been the excursion of
the boy into the country, and his experience on holidays by the river
and in the harvest field. The nature study lesson furnishes the material
for future enjoyment of poetry.
The pupils in our schools are very capable in realizing visual imagery.
They can see the visual image very readily with its colour, form, and
movement. They can arrange the objects in the picture with foreground,
background, light, and shade.
But it is quite a different matter when they try to realize auditory
imagery. In the poem _Waterloo_, Fourth Reader, p. 311, they can see the
picture in "bright the lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men". They
see the large ball-room with its glass chandeliers, the costumes of
handsome ladies, the scarlet uniforms and the decorations of the
officers and the nobility. But can they realize the next imagery, that
of sound, "and when music arose with its voluptuous swell"? Do they hear
the squeaking of one or two fiddles or do they hear the voluminous sound
of regimental bands? Do they notice the varying metre from the stately
iambic to the sudden "voluptuous swell" of the foot of three syllables
in waltz time?
These images of sight and sound picture the gaiety and magnificence of
this festive scene, in order to make more marked the contrast with the
fear and pathos of the farewells. This contrast is enforced by the two
auditory images:
And all went merry as a marriage bell;
But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!
Can your pupils image the wedding-bells chiming from the cathedral some
afternoon in June, when suddenly the ear catches the sound of a
death-bell tolling from another church? Any reader who cannot realize
the sounds of those two bells with their discordant effects will miss
the intention of Byron.
The pupils, through the stimulation of their senses, must have
experienced the luxurious effects of orchards, flower gardens, and
clover fields; the odours of apple blossoms and the smell and taste of
the "full-juiced apple waxing over-mellow"; the perfumes and
temperatures of spring, midsummer, and winter if they are to read nature
literature intelligently and feel its charm. The words must have meaning
if they are to awaken the feeling that was part of the original
experience.
THE LITERATURE OF NOBLE THOUGHT
In literature, as in other arts, there is a great deal that is merely
decorative. It is not the purpose here to disparage this form of art. "A
thing of beauty is a joy for ever. Its loveliness increases." Some of
the most famous portraits and landscapes in the picture galleries afford
infinite pleasure to the student of art by the technique in colour,
drawing, and arrangement. They are greater than photography. "The light
that never was on sea or land, the consecration and the poet's dream"
have given them a beauty that is greater than the realism of the actual
person or natural scene. It is the same in literature. The author's
feelings, his language, the rhythm of his words, and his delicate fancy
afford the reader greater delight than he has ever known when he has met
similar persons, scenes, or actions in real life. This is genuine
aesthetic pleasure, similar to the pleasure that people derive from
china, music, or landscape gardening.
There is, however, a higher form of art in both pictures and literature.
There are pictures that suggest some noble aspiration, some great
universal truth, some great conflict between duty and interest. We feel
instinctively that these are greater than pictures possessing mere
masterly technique. It is the same in literature. There are poems in
which we feel that the thoughts and feelings are sublime. Perhaps the
technique of these is not equal to that of the poetry described in the
preceding paragraph, but the experienced teacher has felt his pupils
lifted above mundane affairs, when they begin to grasp the true
significance of such poems. The youngest pupils show their appreciation
by wide open eyes, when these are read. They instinctively feel that
this work is better than the merely pretty and dainty things in poetry.
In the _Ontario Readers_ we have numerous poems of this nature. In the
First Reader, the pupils instinctively feel that _Piping Down the
Valleys Wild_ is of different calibre from _Three Little Kittens_. _The
Lord is my Shepherd_, _Lead, Kindly Light_, and _To a Waterfowl_, are
examples of this class.
In teaching these lessons, the spiritual meaning should be constantly
emphasized.
The mere statement of the thought is not impressive. It is the
presentation of it in poetical form that makes its effect impressive and
lasting. The pupils may be led to discover how the author has
accomplished this by means of the concrete embodiment of imagery,
language, metaphor, and music.
RECAPITULATION
The lesson is often dropped just at this time, leaving an impression
somewhat like that of a science room, with the petals and leaves on the
desks and the floor, after the class in botany has been dismissed. No
act of analysis is complete without a final synthesis. The examination
of the various phases of the whole must be followed by a reconstruction
in which are perceived the relations of the various phases to each other
and to the unity of the whole. These various parts must be closely
related to one another if the final conception of the poem is to be
definite. When the analysis is in progress, the teacher should not, of
course, take each part by itself and examine it as if it were an
isolated thing, but its relation to what has gone before should be more
or less clearly perceived. When the analysis is complete, there should
be a final synthesis in which the relations of the various parts stand
out definitely. This can be done by means of a statement of the main
thought in concise but comprehensive terms. If the teacher has accepted
an imperfect statement at the beginning, the pupils will now be in a
position to discover its inadequacy and supply the part that is lacking.
Then the subjects of the various subdivisions or stanzas can be restated
in suitable terms that will show the proper relationships. This
reconstruction may also take the form of oral or written reproduction of
the selection. This is especially valuable after the prose lessons.
There should follow an oral reading of the passage by the pupils, which
will serve to show the teacher how much of the feeling of the poem has
been absorbed, how clearly the pupils have understood the meaning, and
what misconceptions have arisen in their minds.
MISTAKES IN TEACHING LITERATURE
There are some mistakes in teaching literature that are noted here, in
order that they may be avoided:
1. Teaching pupils about literature, instead of teaching literature
itself; for example, teaching biography, etymology, history, geography,
or science in the literature lesson, because some feature of one or more
of these may be suggested by the language of the lesson. A knowledge of
such subjects is merely preparatory to the study of literature itself.
2. Teaching merely the meanings of words and phrases, and omitting the
greater things of imagery, thought, beauty of language, and the spirit
of the writer.
3. Trying to force appreciation by telling the pupils they must learn to
like such and such works because educated people like them. It is
useless, at this time, to try to develop the critical spirit, as the
pupil has not a sufficiently wide acquaintance with literary works on
which to form a judgment.
4. Doing for the pupil what he should be led to do for himself. A
literature lesson, in which the teacher has been doing all the talking,
or both asking and answering questions, will be barren of good results.
5. Paraphrasing. Short passages may be paraphrased, in order to show
whether the pupil has understood the force and vitality of the metaphor
or the condensed expression. But paraphrasing must be used with great
discretion. The teacher will not make the pupils appreciate the beauty
of a fine literary selection by converting refined gold into low grade
ore.
6. Attempting to draw some moral from every lesson. Not all lessons are
didactic. If the pupils have sympathized with what is noble and just in
the story, the statement of a moral at the conclusion is unnecessary.
Yet in poems that are plainly didactic, for example, _To a Waterfowl_,
Fourth Reader, p. 377, the moral lesson must occupy the first place.
There the teacher should show how the author has enforced the lesson of
_confidence in God's guidance_ by the incident of the migrating
waterfowl, the imagery, the music, the arrangement of parts, and the
similarity of his own position to that of the bird.
7. Dwelling unnecessarily on the intellectual side of a poem that is
mainly emotional and musical; for example, _The Bugle Song_, Third
Reader, p. 337, and _The Solitary Reaper_, Fourth Reader, p. 261. In the
former case, the pupils should be led to realize the visual imagery,
should hear, in imagination, the bugle calls and fading echoes, and
enjoy the rare and appropriate music. In the second case, the teacher
should call attention to the artistic suggestions of loneliness,
distance, antiquity, sadness, and vagueness that are suggested by "old,
unhappy, far-off things, and battles long ago", and by such possible
situations of English travellers in remote parts of the world, and
should show that these elements are suitable for the circumstances under
which the poet sees the girl. He who questions merely to find out the
meaning of the poem, the relation to that of its subordinate parts, and
the meaning of the words and phrases, is using a very heavy tool on a
very delicate mechanism. Such works must be treated deftly and lightly.
EXTENSIVE READING
The class of literature that we have described in the preceding methods
is condensed literature, where thought is large in proportion to the
number of the words. It must be read by a process of close thinking, in
an analytic, exhaustive manner. There must be a clear comprehension of
the central ideas, and a strong grasp of minor thoughts or details, and
the relation of these to the central ideas. While this power to grasp
thought intensively is very valuable, we should also have the power to
grasp the thought rapidly and comprehensively.
In some works, the thought is not so condensed and confined. Here, the
main effort of the reader is to grasp the thoughts successively in a
rapid, clear, and comprehensive manner. He must be able to read a book
chapter by chapter and grasp the central ideas, to hold paragraph after
paragraph, chapter after chapter, in his consciousness, so that each
gives added illumination to the main thought and, at the end, the whole
of the work stands out in its entirety. He must learn to grasp the
central thought in each section as he proceeds--to sift the wheat from
the chaff. The minor details have been of value in giving him the main
thought, but the real ability of the good reader consists in dropping
these minor details from the mind and holding steadily on to the more
important facts.
This method gives a greater power of sustained attention and a wider
acquaintance with good literature. Most of our reading is done in this
way. It would be impossible otherwise to get a wide range, as time does
not permit of minute analysis, and many of our longer works are so
diffuse that they would not repay such careful study.
The supplementary, or extensive, reading may be given as seat work or
home work. As seat work, it can come as a grateful relief from the
arduous tasks in the ungraded school and will keep many an active mind
from getting into mischief. By questioning about the main facts the
teacher can assure himself that the work has actually been done. This
questioning should not be used only to catch the negligent; it should
give pleasure to the pupils as a conversation with them about their
pleasant occupation. It should be done very informally, often as two
intelligent people would discuss a book. The questions should be broad
in their scope and should not dwell on matters of detail. If it is a
story that is to be considered, it should be examined as follows:
Discover what are the difficulties set up; how they are brought about;
how they are overcome; how many threads of interest there are; why
certain characters are introduced; what would be the effect if certain
parts were omitted; to what extent the final solution is logical.
When the examination is finished, a series of compositions might be
written on topics connected with the story. For instance, if _Rip Van
Winkle_ has been studied, a series of three compositions might be
assigned: (1) Rip's domestic life; (2) his adventure in the mountain;
(3) his return to the village. Three compositions would be better than a
single one on the whole story, because too great condensation usually
detracts from the value, and because the excellence of a school
composition is usually in inverse proportion to its length.
It is exceedingly important that the teacher should see that these
written exercises are not made distasteful to the pupil. They are very
valuable if they are not considered irksome. The object is not so much
to give skill in composition as to create a taste for wide and excellent
reading. It would be better to allow this written reproduction to drop
rather than to associate the pleasures of literature with something
disagreeable.
CHAPTER III
ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS
In the lessons that follow, the answers given to questions are those
which pupils may be expected to give after corrections and additions
have been made by themselves and the teacher.
Professor Alexander has said:
It is impossible to exemplify on paper actual
teaching. Actual teaching, as all other
practical matters, is in large measure
determined by circumstances and conditions
which are never twice the same. A large part of
a teacher's skill lies in the sympathetic
perception of these conditions and in the power
of adapting himself to them on the spur of the
moment. The teacher should have a definite aim
in view, and a general conception of the proper
method to be followed; but these will be
modified by the character of the pupils before
him, of the answers given, of the manifestation
of interest, and the comprehension of the
various points brought forward. A question
quite proper in one case will be quite out of
place in another. What knowledge should be
imparted by the instructor, what elicited from
the pupils themselves, what matters dwelt upon,
what lightly passed over--these things can only
be determined by the actual circumstances.
PANTOMIME
LITTLE MISS MUFFET
(Primer, page 75)
Little Miss Muffet sits on a low chair eating from an imaginary dish.
The spider comes creeping softly behind her. When he reaches her side,
he sits quietly down. Then she sees him and, in a great fright, jumps up
and runs away.
DRAMATIZATION
LITTLE BOY BLUE
(Primer, page 68)
The senior division of the primary class had read the story of Little
Boy Blue. Norman asked: "May we play it? May I be Little Boy Blue?"
Allan said: "I'd like to be the farmer".
Dorothy wished to be the farmer's wife.
Clara asked if the pupils of the highest class might be the cows and the
sheep.
As Norman was enthusiastic and eager to express himself, he was
permitted to direct the movements of the different characters.
The farmer selected a horse and prepared to take him to market, while
Little Boy Blue could be seen tramping along the road (the front part of
the room). The cows and sheep were grazing quietly near by.
As Little Boy Blue approached the farmer, he removed his cap and said:
"Good morning, sir, do you want a boy?"
_Farmer_: "Yes, I want one to watch the cows and the sheep."
_Little Boy Blue_: "I can do that, sir."
_Farmer_ (handing Little Boy Blue a toy horn that had been brought to
school for use during a drawing lesson): "Here is a horn, then. If they
try to go away, blow this, and they will come back."
_Little Boy Blue_: "I will, sir."
The farmer drove away, and Little Boy Blue watched the cows and the
sheep. Once they were about to wander away (among the aisles), but
Little Boy Blue blew the horn, and they immediately returned. He soon
grew tired of watching them; they seemed to be content to graze quietly
where they were. He leaned against a haystack (a chair) and fell asleep.
The cows were soon in the corn and the sheep in the meadow, where the
farmer saw them as he was driving home. But he could not see Little Boy
Blue. He called:
Little Boy Blue,
Come blow your horn,
The sheep are in the meadow,
The cows are in the corn.
_Farmer_: "Wife, where is Little Boy Blue?"
_Wife_: "He is under the haystack, fast asleep."
_Farmer_ (going to haystack):
Little Boy Blue,
Come blow your horn.
The boy jumped up, blew a blast on the horn, and the sheep and cows
immediately came back.
_Little Boy Blue_: "It was my fault and I'm sorry."
_Farmer_: "All right, you'll take better care of them next time."
THE STORY OF HENNY PENNY
(Primer, page 48)
When the teacher suggests that a game be played, many pupils fairly
project themselves backward in an effort to look so well that they may
be chosen to take part in it.
The teacher wrote "Dorothy" on the black-board. Dorothy whispered that
she would like to play the story of Henny Penny. (The adventures of
Henny Penny had been recounted the day before.) The teacher wrote the
story of Henny Penny. As Dorothy had sufficient self-confidence and a
good memory, she was allowed to choose her part, which was certain to be
that of the principal character. Had she not possessed these qualities,
she would have been assigned a minor part during the first attempt at
dramatizing this story. The teacher wrote "Rooster Pooster" on the
black-board. "I should like to be Rooster Pooster", said Albert. "Turkey
Lurkey", wrote the teacher. "I'd like to be Turkey Lurkey", said
another. In this or some similar way, the parts were assigned.
As the play began, Henny Penny was discovered pecking at imaginary worms
in the garden; suddenly she jumped up in a great fright. "Oh, the sky is
falling!" she said, "I must run and tell the king". She ran down the
road (an aisle) till she met Rooster Pooster.
When he saw her coming, he stopped crowing and asked, "Where are you
going, Henny Penny?" "Oh", she said, "the sky is falling, and I am going
to tell the king". "I will go too", said Rooster Pooster. They ran down
the road till they met Turkey Lurkey gobbling contentedly. The usual
formula was repeated, and Turkey Lurkey ran on with them.
But the fox (villain) was waiting around the corner. "Where are you
going, Henny Penny, Rooster Pooster, and Turkey Lurkey?" said he. "Oh,
Fox Lox", they said, "the sky is falling and we are going to tell the
king". "I will show you the way." "Oh, no, Fox Lox, we know you. We will
not go with you."
So they ran and ran, but had to return home because they did not find
the king's house.
WISHES
(Primer, page 52)
The pupils knew by the pictures on page 52 that the lesson would be a
delightful one, but when they attempted to read it, they found
difficulties that lessened their pleasure somewhat.
They enjoyed reading "I wish I could find a little fat fly", but "sad
little sigh" and "an odd little shrug" were very difficult to say and
were meaningless until the children imitated the teacher's "sad little
sighs" and "odd little shrugs".
The pupils were then asked which little chicken they would like to be.
The first pupil to respond was chosen. He went to the front of the room,
which was then a garden, and with a much bigger sigh than was necessary,
complained: "I wish I could find a little fat fly".
The other pupils then eagerly studied the page, that they might learn
what the next little chicken said and did. The teacher was always ready
to tell them any words they could not discover for themselves. One pupil
could make a shrug but could not remember the second little chicken's
words, so another was found who could say what the second little chicken
said in just the way he would say it if he could talk. The other little
chickens and the mother hen were chosen in a similar manner.
The mother hen could be seen busily scratching at one end of the garden,
while her little chickens were walking aimlessly about.
_First Chicken_ (after sighing):
"I wish I could find a little fat fly."
_Second Chicken_ (with a shrug):
"I wish I could find a fat little bug."
_Third Chicken_ (with a squeaky voice):
"I wish I could feel some corn in my beak."
_Fourth Chicken_ (sighing):
"I wish I could find a fat worm on a leaf."
_Mother Hen_ (impatiently):
"See here, if you want things to eat, just come here and scratch."
INDIAN LULLABY
Rock-a-bye, my little owlet,
In the mossy, swaying nest,
With thy little woodland brothers,
Close thine eyes and take thy rest.
Hush-a-bye, my little owlet,
Many voices sing to thee;
"Hush-a-bye," the water whispers,
"Hush!" replies the tall pine tree.
--LONGFELLOW
There had been language lessons on the habits of the Indians; their way
of living had been worked out, as far as possible, on the sand-table,
and pictures representing Indian life had been shown. The pupils had
eagerly constructed an Indian home--"Dark behind it rose the forest"
(twigs from the pine and other evergreen trees), "Bright before it beat
the water".
The lessons in drawing, painting, end modelling had been connected with
this work. From their boxes of coloured crayons, the pupils had selected
the colours used in making the pine trees, the grass, the bark of the
trees, the owl in the tree, the wigwams, etc.
From the many beautiful Indian lullabies that would have been suitable,
the teacher selected the _Indian Lullaby_ by Longfellow. During the
periods set apart for music, the pupils had been taught the desired
melody with the syllable "loo".
_Teacher._ "How does your mother put baby to
sleep?"
_Pupils._ "My mother rocks the baby in her
arms." "Mine puts him on the bed and he falls
asleep." "We rock our baby in a cradle," etc.
_Teacher._ "The picture I give you will show
you what the Indian mother does with her baby."
Each pupil was given a small picture showing an Indian baby in his
cradle suspended from a tree. These pictures had been cut from a
supplement to _Primary Education_.
_Teacher._ "What has the mother done?"
_Pupils._ "She has put her baby in a basket and
hung it on a tree."
_Teacher._ "Is the baby in the picture awake or
asleep?"
_Pupils._ "He is asleep."
_Teacher._ "What could the baby see before he
went to sleep?"
Here a picture--fourteen by twenty inches--was shown. It was a good
representation of an Indian home and its surroundings. The pupils had
made use of this picture when working at the sand-table.
_Pupils._ "He could see the pine trees, the
water, the wigwams, the canoes, the Indians,"
etc.
_Teacher._ "What could the baby hear while
swinging in his cradle?"
_Pupils._ "He could hear the Indians talking.
He could hear the wind among the trees; the
water; the birds singing in the woods; the cry
of an owl; perhaps wolves, bears," etc.
_Teacher._ "What other babies lived in the
woods?"
_Pupils._ "Birds, squirrels, owls, wolves,"
etc.
_Teacher._ "A man once wrote what he thought an
Indian mother might have sung to her baby. This
is what he thought she would sing." (The
teacher recited the _Indian Lullaby_.)
Individual pupils then repeated one stanza at a time with the assistance
of the teacher.
The pupils sang softly the melody they had learned to "loo"; then all
tried to sing the words with the teacher. The purpose was to emphasize
the rhythm and interpret the spirit of the poem. The lesson occupied
twelve to fifteen minutes. At another time, hectographed copies of the
poem were given to the pupils, and as they had already partly memorized
it, they soon learned to read it.
CHAPTER IV
FORM I: SENIOR GRADE
THE WIND AND THE LEAVES
(First Reader, page 49)
It is the aim of this lesson to help the pupils to appreciate
imaginative descriptions of some natural phenomena. This lesson will be
best appreciated if taken some day in autumn when the leaves are
falling. If the pupils have recently noticed the wind rushing through
the trees, scattering the many-coloured leaves and driving them before
it along the ground, they will be in the best mood to enter into the
spirit of the poem.
What is the time of the year that the poem
speaks about? The autumn.
Select all the things that tell you this. The
leaves have "dresses of red and gold"; "summer
is gone"; "the days grow cold"; the leaves come
"fluttering" down; the "fields" are "brown".
What did the wind mean by "Come o'er the
meadows with me, and play"? It meant that they
should come down from the trees and be blown
away by the wind across the fields.
What does it mean by "Put on your dresses of
red and gold"? Before they fall, the leaves
have many beautiful colours.
What was the colour of their dresses in summer?
When do they begin to change colour very
quickly?
What leaves show the most beautiful colours?
What different colours have you noticed that
leaves have?
When does the wind call? When it blows loudly
or whistles.
Do you know what the wind says when it calls?
Why not? We do not understand the language that
it speaks.
How did the leaves show that they understood?
They obeyed at once and came down from the
trees.
What is meant by "fluttering" down? They came
down slowly, moving from side to side, and
turning over and over as they fell. (This could
be shown in the class-room quite easily.)
Which line in the first stanza corresponds in
meaning with the third line of the second? The
second line.
What makes the fields "brown"? It is the end of
the summer, and the grass and the plants have
dried up.
What colours have the fields at other seasons
of the year? Green in the spring, golden in the
summer, white in the winter.
What are "the soft little songs" of the leaves?
The rustling sounds they make as they are blown
about by the wind.
Why do we not understand their songs? For the
same reason that we do not understand the call
of the wind--their language is not ours.
"Winter had called them." What is the voice of
winter? The cold winds that roar and whistle.
What is meant by "content"? The leaves were
quite glad to answer the call.
Why were they content? The work that they had
been doing all summer long was done; they were
tired and sleepy and glad to go to bed.
When may it be said that the leaves are "fast
asleep"? When they lie quietly on the ground,
no longer blown about by the wind.
How were they kept warm during their long
sleep? The snow came and covered them up
warmly, like a "blanket".
What does the whole lesson describe? The
falling of the leaves.
What does the first stanza speak of? The call
of the wind.
The second? The answer of the leaves.
The third? The leaves asleep.
Tell the story of the poem in your own words.
PIPING DOWN THE VALLEYS WILD
(First Reader, page 52)
AIM
To enable the pupils to appreciate the pretty pictures and the music,
and to learn how their pretty songs were written.
PREPARATION
In far-away countries there are many sheep, and
they require shepherds. These shepherds, as
they can rest while their sheep feed, sometimes
amuse themselves by cutting oat straws and
making them into little flutes. They cut holes
in the straws, just as you see holes in flutes
or in tin whistles. They learn to play very
pretty tunes. David, king of Israel, was, in
his youth, a shepherd boy, and he learned to
play beautiful music while he watched his
sheep. The Psalms that you find in the Bible
were composed by him.
PRESENTATION
Now let us read about a shepherd who was
playing music. (The teacher reads the poem.)
While he was playing, what did he see? He saw a
little child sitting on a cloud.
What was the child doing? He was laughing.
Why? He liked the music.
What kind of music was it? It was pleasant,
full of joy.
Where was the shepherd? In a valley.
Tell what the valley was like. It was wild. It
had big rocks and hills on each side, and a
cloud was over the valley.
What did the child ask him to do? To play "a
song about a Lamb".
Why did he do that? Because the sheep were
pretty and he thought he should like to hear
pretty music about them.
How did the child like it? He asked the
shepherd to play the tune again, and it was
such beautiful music that the keen enjoyment of
it made the tears come to his eyes.
What did the child next ask? He wished to have
the music put into words, so he asked the
shepherd to "sing" it.
How did the child enjoy it? It was so lovely
that he "wept with joy".
What did he ask the shepherd to do? To "write"
it down.
Why? The child thought it was so lovely that he
wanted other children to hear it, too.
Yes, that is the way that we come to have all
these pretty poems in our books. If they were
only played or sung, not so many children could
have the opportunity of enjoying them.
What do you need when you write? We need pens,
and paper, and ink.
The shepherd had not steel pens, and white
paper, and black ink. He may have used the bark
of trees to write on.
How did he get a pen? He "plucked a hollow
reed", and he "made a rural pen".
What does that mean? He took a hollow stalk,
such as an oat straw or a weed, and cut it in
the form of a pen.
What is a "rural pen"? "Rural" means belonging
to the country. The pen was not made as ours
are. The shepherd wrote about sheep and other
things belonging to country life.
How did he get any ink? He took "water" from
the stream and "stained" it so that it would
leave a mark something like our ink.
Yes, the paper, the pen, and the ink would not
be so good as at present, but they would serve
as a beginning.
REPRODUCTION
1. Where was the musician?
2. What kind of instrument was he playing?
3. Where was the child?
4. What was the child's second request?
5. What was his third request?
6. How was the shepherd able to write?
7. Why did the child wish him to write?
(The pupils may not understand "rural",
"valley", "pipes", so the teacher should give
such further explanation as the different cases
demand.)
THE BABY SWALLOW
(First Reader, page 103)
The aim of this lesson is to teach, by means of a story, the moral of
trusting in God and trying to do one's best.
The teacher should introduce the lesson by inquiring of the pupils if
they have ever watched a young bird learning to fly. Its timidity and
the anxiety of the mother-bird should be especially emphasized. A brief
reference to the swallow might also be in place, though this is not
essential, as the poet has selected it merely as a type of birds in
general, and almost any other bird would answer his purpose as well. The
rapidity and grace of the swallow's flight, and its habit of
constructing its nest of mud under the eaves and in other sheltered
places about buildings, are the main points to be noted.
What is the lesson about? About a baby swallow
learning to fly.
What do the first four stanzas tell us? His
fears.
And the last three? The success of his effort.
What do you see in the picture? A tower with a
bell in it.
What name is given here for tower? Turret
("Turret" means a little tower.)
From its sound, what do you think "belfry"
means? The place where the bell is.
What, then, is a "belfry turret"? A tower where
a bell is hung.
On what part of the tower had the bird its
nest? The front.
What word does the poet use to express that?
"Breast".
What has been beating against the tower for
years? The wind, sun, rain, snow.
What one word would stand for all these?
Weather.
Explain "weather-beaten".
In perching on its nest, what does the baby
swallow seem ready to do? To fly.
What other words might the Mother-Bird use
instead of "courage"? "Don't be afraid."
How many wings are meant by "either wing"?
In this stanza, what is the "Mother-Bird"
doing? Giving the little bird instructions in
the way to begin flying.
Describe how he is to begin.
How does the baby feel about it? He feels
afraid.
What word tells you this? "Pauses."
What does he think is deep? The distance
between the tower and the ground.
Why is the bird afraid to attempt to fly? It is
so far to the ground and his "wings" seem very
"small".
Why is the "Mother" not afraid to let her baby
try? She knows that God will carry him safely.
How does she know this? Because "He" had
"carried" her.
When? When she was as small as the baby swallow
is now.
Why does the "Mother" tell him this? To
encourage him to make the attempt.
How does the baby swallow make his start? He
"spreads out his wings" as far as he can and
"springs" out.
Which stanza has almost the same form as this?
The second.
What is he surprised to find? That he is able
to fly.
How does he feel after that about flying? He is
no longer afraid.
PREPARATION
What is he able to do well? To steer.
What does this mean? To fly in any direction he
wishes.
How does the "Mother" feel over her baby's
success? She feels glad.
To whom does she give thanks? To God.
How does she do so? By singing a song of
thankfulness.
What can we learn from this story? That, if we
really try to do a difficult thing, we can
usually succeed; that sometimes a thing that
looks hard is really very easy when we try to
do it.
Tell this story in your own words. Tell any
similar story you know.
THE BROOK
(First Reader, page 110)
PREPARATION
You stood on the bridge and looked at the
stream. What did you see? I saw some little
fishes. I saw my image. I saw some bright
stones.
It is no wonder you looked at the stream when
it shows you so many things. What were the
fishes doing? They were swimming. They would
dart after some crumbs that we dropped into the
water.
Why were the fishes there? That is their home.
Yes, they like to live in the clear water. Mary
says she saw her image. What have you at home
that shows you your image? The mirror.
Yes, the brook is somewhat like the mirror. Did
you see images of any other things? Yes, I saw
images of the trees, and some stones, and I saw
the images of the ducks that were swimming.
Willie says that he saw some pretty pebbles.
Does the brook make any noise? Yes, it seems to
sing when it runs over the pebbles, but in the
deep places it does not make a noise.
PRESENTATION
Now I shall read you a little poem about a
brook. (Read with emphasis, even with slight
exaggeration.) Now, where did this brook begin?
In "a fountain".
What is that? A spring of water.
Where was the fountain? "In a mountain".
What is that? A high hill.
Was it very large where it started? No, the
lesson says it was only "Drops of water" and it
trickled "through the grasses".
What does it mean by "Trickling through the
grasses"? It means that there was so little of
it that the blades of grass seemed almost to
check its source.
Did it run very fast at first? No, the lesson
says that it "started" "Slow".
Did it run any faster after that? Yes, "Soon it
darted", and it was "Hurrying".
What caused it to dart and hurry? The ground
was steeper, and it had to run more quickly.
Where was it running? Down "to the sea", where
it would be lost in the other water.
Did it grow any larger before it came to the
sea? Yes, it grew "Swift and strong", and it
widened "very fast".
What caused it to widen? Other little brooks
ran into it and made it wider.
Now, the brook is said to be like a person. Can
you point out any words that make you think it
was like a person? Yes, it hurries just as
children hurry.
In the next stanza, the lesson says it was
"Glad". Why was it glad? It was glad that the
"Children" came to play on its banks.
Yes, it felt just as you feel when your friends
come over to your house to play. Do you see any
other words that make you think it is like a
person? Yes, it is "Swift and strong and
happy". It rushes and it sings.
What is it like now? It is like a big, strong,
happy boy.
Why did the children come to play on its banks?
They came to pick the flowers.
What line shows you that? "Blossoms floating."
The children picked the flowers and threw some
on the stream to watch the current carry them
away.
What else were the children doing? They were
sailing toy boats in the water.
What words show you that? "Mimic boating."
What else did the children enjoy? They liked to
see the "Fishes darting past" them. The fishes
were timid.
The brook makes some very pleasant sounds. What
words show you that? "Rippling", "Bubbling",
"singing", "ringing".
When does the water make these sounds? When it
is running "over pebbles" or down the steep
places.
You must fancy you hear the brook make its
gentle music when it is running over the
pebbles. What does the water look like when it
ripples? It is not smooth; it has tiny waves
upon it.
You have heard the water bubble and gurgle, and
then, when the stream grows large and runs
faster, you can hear it "singing" and "ringing"
in the distance. The poet tells us some pretty
things about the brook. Tell me some of them.
It was "Cool and clear and free".
Why was it "Cool"? It had flowed among the
grasses and had come from a spring in a
mountain.
Why was it "clear"? It was such pure water that
you could see the stones at the bottom of the
brook.
Why does the poet say it was "free"? There were
no logs nor big stones to stop its course. It
ran freely on its way.
Do you see any other words that describe its
appearance? It is "Flecked with shade and sun".
Now "Flecked" is a hard word. It means
_spotted_ or _striped_. Can you tell me what
that means? Sometimes the brook is bright and
shining and, in some places, it is shaded by
the trees or by the clouds. You can see bright
patches on the water.
Now you have told me many wonderful things
about this brook; where it began and where it
ended, how it grew, how it sang, how glad it
was to see the children, and how the children
played with it, and how it looked. What does it
tell us at first? It tells us where it began.
In the next stanza? It runs a little faster.
In the next? It was glad to see the children.
In the next? The children were playing with it.
In the next? It ran bubbling and singing into
the sea.
MEMORIZATION
Now we shall learn the words of this pretty
lesson, taking the first stanza to-day. Let us
take the first three lines. Now all the lines.
Let each one be ready to repeat it. See whether
you can say the first stanza to-morrow, and
then we shall learn some more.
CHAPTER V
FORM II
MY SHADOW
(Second Reader, page 3)
AIM
The aim of the lesson is to make the poem so lifelike that it will seem
to each pupil as though the shadow and the words were his own.
PRESENTATION
After the poem has been read to give a general idea of the story, the
teacher should proceed with it in detail, much in the same spirit as he
would carry on a bright conversation with the pupils about something in
which they were all equally interested.
Stanza I
How do I know my shadow is very fond of me? He
"goes in and out with me".
What does that mean? It means he goes wherever
I go.
What is "the use of him"? That "is more than I
can see".
What is he like? He is just "like me from the
heels up to the head".
What does he do when I go to bed? He jumps into
bed "before me".
MEMORIZATION
Now, children, four of you may each recite one
line. What have you, Susie? "I have a little
shadow that goes in and out with me."
What is the use of your shadow, John? "And what
can be the use of him is more than I can see."
What is he like, Mary? "He is very, very like
me from the heels up to the head."
When do you see him jump ahead of you? "And I
see him jump before me, when I jump into my
bed."
NOTE.--Each pupil's expression should reveal an active imagination and
hearty response to the spirit of the selection. The whole should be very
lifelike and real. Some pupil should be asked to recite or read the
whole stanza.
Stanza II
What is there funny about the shadow? "The
funniest thing about him is the way he likes to
grow."
How is that? "He sometimes shoots up" very tall
all at once, and then he dwindles down to
nothing.
How would you expect him "to grow"? I would
expect him "to grow" as I do.
How is that? Oh, that is "very slow".
The author says "like proper children". What
does that mean? That means like real children.
What shows that he sometimes grows up very,
very quickly? The poet says he "shoots up".
What other words tell the same thing? "Like an
india-rubber ball."
How is that? The ball goes up quickly with a
bounce, and the shadow seems to spring up in
the same way.
READING AND MEMORIZATION
Let two or three children read the stanza. In the first line, the voice
should show how funny it all is; in the second, the demureness of the
"proper" child and the slowness of the growth should be revealed in the
reading; in the third and fourth lines, there should be an imitative
response to the sudden up-growth of the shadow and to the childish
surprise at his dwindling into nothing.
Memorization should be conducted as shown in Stanza I, above. There
should be no evidence of task or effort in the recitation; it is very
necessary that it be spontaneous and full of enjoyment for the pupils.
Stanza III
The shadow knows very little about one thing.
What is that? He has no "notion of how children
ought to play".
How does he "make a fool of me"? "In every sort
of way."
Well, give one way. He mimics me.
Where does he stay? He stays right "close
beside me".
Why does he do that? He does that because "he's
a coward".
How would you feel about doing the same thing?
I would feel ashamed of myself.
Reading and recitation of this stanza should now be conducted as
indicated in Stanzas I and II, above.
Stanza IV
Did you ever manage to get away from your
shadow? Yes, I did.
Tell us about how you did it. Well, "One
morning, very early", I got up "before the sun"
did, and went out in the flower garden. I
looked around for my shadow, and I found he
"had stayed at home behind me" in bed.
What is he called for doing that? He is called
"an arrant sleepy-head".
Give another word in place of "arrant" that
will mean the same thing. He was a thorough and
shameless "sleepy-head".
What was the real cause of his staying behind?
There was "none of him at all", because the sun
was not up.
What will happen when the sun does come up?
Then my shadow will suddenly show himself
again.
Now, if you would like to have another stanza,
telling about what happened when the sun came
up, just try your best to write one.
Here is another that was written once at the end of the lesson:
But when the dear old sun came up above the trees,
My frisky little shadow came out into the breeze;
I didn't see him coming, but, when I turned around,
His head was at the window, and he lay along the ground.
ONE, TWO, THREE
(Second Reader, page 21)
AIM
To enable the pupils to understand the beauty and pathos of the
selection.
To arouse in them a sympathy for those who are weak.
PREPARATION
How many of you like to play games? Everybody.
Name some of the games you play. Ball, tag,
hide-and-seek, etc.
With whom do you like to play? With boys and
girls of our own age.
PRESENTATION
Here is a story that tells about two people
playing a game. (The selection is read aloud by
the teacher.)
What is the story about? An "old lady" and a
little boy playing "Hide-and-Go-Seek".
What relation were they? The old lady was the
boy's "Grandma".
Let us look at the story again, and see if they
enjoyed their game as much as you do yours. Is
there anything in the first stanza that tells
us they were having a good time? "The way that
they played together was beautiful to see."
What was beautiful about it? They were so kind
to each other. It was pleasant to see an old
lady and a little boy having such a happy time
playing together, and understanding each other
so well.
How do you feel, as you read the second stanza?
I feel sorry for the boy because he is lame.
Any other reason for feeling sorry for him? He
is "thin", as though he had been sick a long
time.
In what way are he and his Grandma alike?
Neither of them can run or jump.
Do you feel more sorry for the Grandma or for
the little boy? I feel more sorry for the boy,
because he may never be able to run around, and
his Grandma could when she was young.
Describe the picture you see in the third
stanza. I see an old lady and a little boy
sitting "under the maple tree". The little boy
has a pair of crutches beside him. The
"sunlight" is shining through the leaves, and
it is a warm summer's day, or they would not be
sitting out. There is a house near them.
What game were they playing?
"Hide-and-Go-Seek."
Would you know it from looking at them? No,
because they are sitting still, and when we
play the game, we run around and hide.
How did they play it? They thought in turn of
some place to hide and imagined they were
hiding in it; they had three guesses to find
out the place.
Whose turn was it to hide? The old lady's,
because the boy is guessing where she is.
Where did he find her at last? In "Papa's big
bed-room", in "the clothes-press".
Is there anything else spoken about that was in
the bed-room? There was a "little cupboard".
Why does he mention the cupboard? He often
thinks of it. He likes it.
Why? His mother's "things used to be" in it.
Why does he say "used to be"? That tells us
that they are not there any longer.
Why? I think his mother is dead.
Who takes care of him now? His grandmother
lives with him and looks after him.
Why does the boy say "It can't be the little
cupboard"? They both think too much of it to
want to use it in connection with their play.
How did the boy enjoy the game? Very much,
because it says he laughed "with glee".
How did the Grandma enjoy it? She was glad to
see the boy happy.
Do old ladies usually like to play games? No,
they generally prefer to read or sew.
Why was she playing with the boy? She loved him
and was sorry he was lame.
Could he do anything for his Grandma? He could
talk to her, and keep her from being lonely.
When he grows older, he can read to her.
Describe the picture you see in the ninth
stanza. I see the old lady, with her hands
covering her face, while she guesses where the
boy is hidden.
In the last stanza, why does the author use so
many "olds", in speaking of the Grandmother? He
wants to make us feel she is quite old.
Why does he say "dear" so often? He wants to
show how very kind she was to the lame boy.
Why does he say the boy was "half-past three",
instead of three and a half years old? It
sounds better the way he says it. It suggests
the clock's time.
Give me some other titles for this poem. "The
Chums", "A Queer Game", "The Two Playmates".
DANDELIONS
(Second Reader, page 30)
AIM
To lead the pupils to perceive and appreciate how the poet uses
personification and comparison.
PRESENTATION
This poem should be studied in the spring, when the dandelions are in
bloom. A nature study lesson should precede the literature lesson. The
pupils should be required to observe when the dandelions begin to make
their appearance; at what time of the day they are most conspicuous;
after what kind of night they are to be found in greatest profusion;
what change occurs in the structure of the flowers as they grow older;
how long a time usually elapses between the first appearance of the
flowers and this change; what the white, downy part of the flower
constitutes; what eventually becomes of this part.
Introduce the lesson by a brief conversation about military operations.
Describe how one army tries to seize a strategic position, sometimes a
hill, where the men can fix their guns and command the surrounding
country. If this lesson could be presented without the pupils knowing
the title (by writing the poem on the black-board, for instance), there
would be the added interest of solving a riddle, namely, what the poet
is describing.
What is a real "trooper band"? A band of
soldiers on horseback.
And what are real "veterans"? Old soldiers who
have seen much service in war.
What is actually meant by the "trooper band"?
The dandelions when they first come out.
What is the phrase that suggests that they are
dandelions? "Yellow coats."
What does the author actually mean by the
"veterans"? The dandelions, when they have gone
to seed.
What phrase suggests this? "Their trembling
heads and gray."
Where did the "trooper band" make their
appearance? On the hillside.
When? On a "showery night and still".
Why is such a night selected? Because it makes
the dandelions bloom in great numbers.
To what is the coming of the dandelions
compared? To an army taking possession of a
hill.
What words tell how they came? "Without a sound
of warning", "surprised", "We were not waked by
bugle notes", "No cheer our dreams invaded".
Explain "surprised the hill". Marched upon it
when they were least expected, and seized it.
Give the meaning of "held it in the morning".
Had undisputed possession of it.
Tell, in your own words, how the dandelions
came. Suddenly and unexpectedly.
How did this attack differ from a real military
attack? There were no notes of the bugle or
shouts of the soldiers to announce the capture
of the hill.
Change "No cheer our dreams invaded" into prose
order, and explain the meaning. No cheer
invaded our dreams. Our sleep was not disturbed
by the victorious shouts of soldiers.
How did the coats of the soldiers you have seen
differ in colour from those of the dandelions?
What is the meaning of "at dawn"? The first
appearance of light in the morning.
"Green slopes"? Grassy hillsides.
"Paraded"? Marched up and down.
About what time has elapsed between the
incident of the first stanza and that of the
second? Probably a week or thereabouts.
What deed is referred to in the first stanza?
The seizure of the hill.
What is meant by "idly walking"? Without any
definite purpose in view.
"Marked"? Noticed.
About what were the veterans probably
"talking"? About their military exploits in
years gone by.
What words are suitably used in describing
these veterans? "Trembling" and "gray" suggest
old age.
Arrange "their trembling heads and gray" in
ordinary prose order. Their gray and trembling
heads.
Why should the veterans be filled with "pride"?
Because of the brave deeds they had done.
Why did they laugh? Perhaps, because of some
amusing occurrences they had seen.
What characteristics of the dandelions suggest
these fancies regarding the veterans? The heads
of the dandelions are white. As they sway in
the breeze on their slender stalks, they
incline their heads toward one another in much
the same way as people do in conversation.
Why is the "laughter" said to be "noiseless"?
Because human beings could not be expected to
hear the laughter of the dandelions.
What expression would you be likely to use,
instead of "welladay"? Alas!
What is meant by "they blew away"? The seeds of
the flowers were scattered far and wide.
What do you like about this poem? (1) Its
charming poetic fancies. (2) The fitness of the
comparisons.
Point out clearly how the appearance of the dandelions resembled a
military attack, and how, in the later stage of their life history, they
resembled veteran soldiers.
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
(Second Reader, page 56)
AIM
The aim of the lesson should be, not only to lead the pupils to enjoy
the humour of the poem, but also to appreciate the lesson it teaches. It
affords a fine opportunity for the development of conversational powers
in the pupils.
The pupils should be encouraged to talk freely, and the questions should
often call for quite lengthy answers.
PREPARATION
Who has seen an elephant? You have, Henry?
Well, tell us something about him. He was very
large. One of our barn doors is twelve feet
high and six feet wide, and father said the
elephant would just be able to go through that
door. If he was in the school-room, his back
would reach almost to the ceiling. His ears
were bigger than the top of my desk. His trunk
was twice as long as father's cane, and was
nearly as big around at the upper end as a bag
of wheat, and the lower end was as small as my
leg is below the knee. His tusks were hard and
white, one on each side of his trunk, and were
longer than father's arm. His tail was small.
It did not seem to be as long as one of his
tusks. His legs were larger around than the
trunk of the biggest apple tree in our orchard.
His skin was something like a hog's skin, only
thicker, and he had no hair. His whole body was
a dirty, dark colour.
That is a fairly good description, Henry. You
have helped us to picture a very large
elephant.
PRESENTATION
As you have read this poem to yourselves, tell
me what it is about. It is about six blind men
"Who went to see the elephant".
As they were blind, how could they see him?
They couldn't see him as we do, but they could
feel him, and that was to them what seeing is
to us.
In what way was feeling the same to them as
seeing is to us? It was their way of knowing
the animal, and that is just what seeing is to
us.
Where did this happen? It happened in Indostan.
I told you to look for Indostan in Asia. Point
it out on the map. (A pupil points to it.)