1888.] "Ah, that thou couldst know thy joy Ere it passes, barefoot boy." Prudence. -Wilt thou read to me the poem (Reads the poem.) "Eternal Goodness" ? (Several young ladies of larger size enter.) First Young Lady.-Permit us to share with you the kind remembrance of our favorite poet. Prudence.-Thou art ever welcome as are all of the friends of our brother John. What hast thou in thy hands? (They had their books and read the poems, "Monadnock," "The Witch's Daughter," and "The Sisters.") A Young Girl.-(Bringing a wreath, laurel or greens, and placing it beneath his name or over his portrait recites), His goodness and his greatness His deeds and words have proved, 'Tis well to grace his stainless name With the laurels that he loved. CLOSING HYMN. (Tune Beethoven, or any tune, suiting the metre.) "Sing loud his praise again All noble hearts applaud, Him who for Nature's self has worked In Concert.-(All participants quote softly and reverently,) "The praise, O Lord, is thine alone, In thy own way thy work is done; Drawing in Prussian Schools. CHENEVER I had the chance of inspecting the in struction in drawing and its results, I took especial pains to inquire into the methods applied. Not often did I the teacher, were readily shown, but rarely did I see a In several schools of Rhenish Prussia I found the old method discarded contemptuously, and drawing or sketching "from nature" substituted. It was not done heedlessly, but with a methodical skill truly admirable. I have neither time nor inclination, (the space of a book would be needed), to explain minutely the first steps taken; suffice it to say, that very simple geometrical bodies, such as cube, pyramid, cone, cylinder, sphere, etc., are placed before the class, and each child is made to draw the object as he sees it, which affords a great variety of views. The objects are made of different materials, some of pasteboard, many of wood painted white, a few of plaster, or even of china. In one school, (in the province of Westphalia, east of Rhenish Prussia, where I stayed a few days with an old schoolmate of mine), I found this system of sketching "from nature" perfected to a high degree. I sketched some of the objects in the order in which they were used there for the benefit of the readers of THE TEACHER. These were made of wood. get the chance. Oh, yes, results, evidently touched up by The following objects were made of milk-glass or china: class in drawing in operation. It is natural, though, and according to the old proverb, "A fool who shows halffinished work." I suspect Superintendent Bright of Englewood (Chicago), Ill., sketched the truth in bold, conspicuous outlines, when he says: "The children make their drawings and we revise them. Then they draw again and we revise. Then they draw again. Then we marshal ourselves down to the superintendent of drawing and await our turns like candidates at a barber shop, in order that our re-revisions may be revised by the highest authority. Then the children take another turn at the drawing." I know that to have been the case in It was remarkable to see the results exhibited in portCincinnati, and since the weaknesses of mankind are folios and spread out for inspection. I could scarcely reabout the same everywhere, I could fully appreciate the press my envy, when I compared such results with the European teachers' hesitancy to give drawing lessons in abortive endeavors of the pupils under the deadening my presence. But a little obstinate insisting prevailed, influence of the copying system in vogue in America. In and I can now judge upon the methods in vogue. In a primary school, fourth school year, the teacher had a several cities I found the old copying process in vogue, number of leaves which he exhibited and then sketched that is, flat surfaced copies were set before the pupils, on the blackboard, showing the differences in form and and they copied them, the work being corrected by the conventionalizing them as he proceeded. I was SO teacher who passed slowly through the aisles. But there charmed with his skillful treatment, that I sat down is a revolution going on in the teaching of drawing in the among the youngsters and sketched like a good little boy. common schools of Germany as well as America, and II showed my work to the teacher, like the other little trust the movement will be successful. boys, and was gently praised for it. Oh, the fun that caused among the children! I submit the result of the ing change. This lesson was an object-lesson, it was a lessons. Here it is: W What a splendid preparation for the study of botany! What a beneficial awakening of the sense of form! What an opportunity for obtaining skill in the use of the utensils! I can well understand why I find such a decided opposition among German teachers against industrial schools as special schools. They bend all their energy upon making their common schools the best on earth and are willing, nay, eager, to adapt and adopt whatever of industrial pursuits can be adapted to and adopted in their course of study. All branches of study which may have a practical bearing upon life, are made to reflect life. Thus not only drawing, but geography is made practical, the latter by imaginative journeys. Putty and clay are used to mold geographical formations in imitation of nature. Mensuration is made both attractive and practical by handling geometrical bodies, not only thinking of them. They are made of pasteboard, and are home-made by the pupils another opportunity for manual occupation. Kindergarten occupations I find in almost general use in the lower grades. Of course much more advanced work is done, in molding, for instance, than is done in a Kindergarten. In composition work I find letters, notes, bills, receipts, petitions, etc., written, such as the pupils may be called upon to write after leaving school. Arithmetic is taught rationally, and the problems have bearings upon the child's every day experience. In one school a lesson in buying and selling greatly interested me. One boy was made storekeeper, and great glee was occasioned by an error he made whereby he lost a few pennies while mak language-lesson, a lesson in arithmetic, a composition and reading lesson, it was all that and more - it was something which organically connected schoolwork with life's demands. Among all the schools I have visited so far, and I saw some in France, some in Holland and Germany, I am ready to pronounce those of Lower Rhenish Prussia the most advanced in methods and results. But it is perhaps too soon to discriminate, having really only begun my tour. I may greatly change my opinion after having seen the famous schools of Berlin and the kingdom of Saxony. I must not burden these letters with reflections upon political and social questions, or with impressions gained by traveling through this continent, much as I should like to, for I am here for a purpose, and these letters are written for a purpose, not to speak of the amiable editor's direct prohibition. I thought it due to myself and the readers of THE TEACHER to state this fact. PENMANSHIP.-(IV.)* IXTH YEAR: Use No. 3 copy-book and exercise book. Keep up movement drill. Begin to urge them on a little. Give occasional tests of speed. Take some word as an exercise: when they are familiar with it, ask them to write as many as they can in a minute. Allow no scribbling, but expect that the letters will be more or less modified. Expect each one to do his best, and see that he does it. Seventh year: Use No. 4 copy-book with exercise book. The ruling of the exercise should be made to correspond to the ruling in copy-book, and as the spaces in No. 4 are one tenth of an inch, the spaces in exercise book should not be wider than one ninth of an inch. The movement should be free, and frequent exercises in speed given. Exercises upon capital letters may at first be quite large, occupying four or five spaces in height, but they should. be brought down to three spaces as soon as possible. Make exercises of this kind spirited. Counting is very Do not make the exercises beneficial a part of the time. tedious, but hold them down to work. Allow no scribbling. Do not shade too much, but make the shade with an elastic, springing touch, instead of a drawling scratch; it is done with a stroke of the pen. Imagine a pin to be driven where the heaviest part of the shade is to be; then try to knock it out with the pen, and the shade will as a rule be right. Illustrate this on the blackboard. Continuous exercises are good. Take, for example, the capital 0; make five of them without lifting the pen. Notice the poor ones. Try again; mark poor ones, and so on, until a group of five can be made in which there are no poor ones. Count one, two, for downward strokes. Then speed them; see how many groups can be made in a minute with no poor letters. Then try a word with *Copyright, 1887, four or five letters, beginning with capital 0. Never lose sight of the fact that this work, although rapid, must not be carelessly done. Eighth year: Use No. 5 copy-book with exercise books. Continue the movement and speed-drill exercises. The fingers may be used in conjunction with the fore-arm in this grade. When the hand moves upward, let the fingers be extended; when it moves downward, let the fingers contract. When this can be perfectly done, it produces the easiest and most rapid movement known. When pupils pass out of the A grammar into the high school, they should be able to write fifteen average words, or seventy-five letters per minute, for ten consecutive minutes, and the writing should have a free, businesslike appearance, so that a boy can step from the A grammar into the counting-house,-not with a schoolboy hand, so-called, but with a business hand-writing. This result can be attained if all the teachers from No. 1 up to No. 8 understand their business and will do it. But No. 1 must have a clear idea of what is to be done in her grade, and in at least two grades above her; No. 2 must know what has been done by No. 1, and what is to be done by No. 3 and No. 4, etc. It is an endless chain, in which, if there is a poor link, some one will have to suffer, and that one may be perfectly innocent. Not only must care be exercised in the copy-book work, but all writing done in the school should be done in the same careful manner. This work need not be done with objects as thoroughly with any other set of combinations, for if it be once well done, the child will instinctively see a similar arrangement MODERN METHODS IN ARITHMETIC.-(IV.).* with the combinations in any other number. 16. Have measures for the use of the pupils. There is much less need of this in the country than in the city. Every primary schoolroom should be provided with a "moulding board," a table about three by four feet, or even smaller. It should have a strip about two inches high all around it, and about a peck of moulding sand. In this the children in their first weeks can play with the little toy objects used in language lessons, making the stories more real. They can use it, also, to good advantage for measurements. Do not, at first, allow them to speak of a pint, quart, gallon, peck, inch, foot, yard, or dozen, without seeing that quantity, amount, or number as they speak. Let not the abstract work come until they know and appreciate what it really means. With these appliances, teach: 2 pints are 1 quart 4 quarts are 1 gallon 12 inches are 1 foot 8 quarts are 1 peck of a quart is 1 pint of a gallon is 1 quart of a foot is 2 inches of a foot is 3 inches of a foot is 4 inches of a foot is 6 inches of a peck is 4 quarts of a peck is 2 quarts FOUR WAYS. BY A. E. W. HE teacher who leads children to think, and think how to do a thing in the best way, and why he does it in a given way, is doing for him more than by teaching many facts. We were impressed with this thought by an exercise in one of the Boston schools. In arithmetic the class had an example which each pupil illustrated by lining a fence. Most of them did it in this way,-drawing the three rails in mid air and then putting on one post at a time. U Some put up the three rails as before, and then put a post at either end, then one in the middle, then one midway between the first and second, then one midway between the first and the nearest post. In this way greater accuracy was secured. A sure sign-Over a blacksmith's. It is a cold day for the paragrapher when he has given away all his friends' idiosyncrasies. No one has such abiding faith as an unwelcome guest. Judging from the newspaper accounts of prima donnas' exactions managers are justified in calling them all bright, particular stars. The difference between the popular young man and the popular young lady seems to be that one has to pay to be popular and the other finds that being popular pays. "Did he say it in derision?" asked a lawyer of a witness who answered, "No, he said it in New York." The small boy finds it easier to arouse his parents than their enthusiasm Fourth of July morning. This may be called an unseasonable joke. Some started to build the fence one section at a time, by putting up a post, then three rails, then the second post, then three rails, etc.; but this left the ends of the rails in mid air. One boy put up his posts and then put in his rails. The success of such teaching is worth a deal of what sometimes passes for modern methods, but leaves no play for real thought and for stimulating ingenuity |