Journeys Through Bookland Volume X Part 41

_Lead, Kindly Light_: V, 110.

(2) Secular.

_Annie Laurie_: VI, 119.

_Auld Lang Syne_: VI, 228.

_Those Evening Bells_: VII, 340.

(3) Patriotic.

_Battle Hymn of the Republic_: V, 399.

_America_: VIII, 60.

b. Odes.

_To the Fringed Gentian_: VII, 4.

_Ode to a Skylark_: VII, 275.

_To H. W. L._: IV, 84.

c. Elegies.

_Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard_: VI, 360.

d. Sonnet.

e. Drama.

_The Tempest_: VIII, 364.

CHAPTER XIV

JOURNEYS THROUGH BOOKLAND IN ITS RELATION TO THE SCHOOL

_Reading and Language_

These books were prepared expressly for home readings, but as has been said elsewhere, they were prepared with a definite purpose to make them a living adjunct to school work and a strong helper in bringing the home and the school together. To accomplish this result it was necessary that all the studies offered in _Journeys_ should be after the most approved methods and that there should be no selections that could not with propriety be used in any school in the land. This principle of selection made it necessary to exclude some selections that might have been pleasing but at the same time were not universal in their acceptance.

Again, it was necessary to include literature that was in a sense technical, that would apply to every cla.s.s that young readers have in school. This does not mean that there are a great many things that are purely geographical or purely historical or that deal directly with the study of language and literature. It means that the reader of _Journeys_ will find selections that he can use in nearly every cla.s.s in school and that those selections are in the highest degree literary. In no way does a child learn more thoroughly that geography and history are worth study in themselves than by meeting them clothed in the beauty of fine writing. In no way will he be led more quickly into a love for nature in all her manifestations and into a keen desire to study nature than by the hand of literature. Language takes on a new interest when it becomes evident that it is a real and necessary help to writing as the great writers do.

Accordingly when the selections were chosen for _Journeys_, a tabulation of school subjects was made and under each head were placed the things that would be most helpful in school work. It was not decided finally to keep that arrangement in the books, for a different and a better system of grading and cla.s.sification was selected. Nevertheless the selections are there, and the object of this and the few following chapters is to show what those selections are, how they may be used in school and how their use at home helps in the school work of every reader.

In the grades below the high school the following subjects are considered most important, viz.: reading, language, arithmetic, geography, history and nature study. At the first thought one would say that a set of books such as _Journeys_ can be of no use in the arithmetic cla.s.s, and of course their usefulness in that direction would not justify their existence. However, there are selections in _Journeys_ that have a decided arithmetical flavor, such as, for instance, _Three Sundays in a Week_ (Volume VI, page 453) and _The Gold Bug_ (Volume IX, page 232). Even among the nursery rhymes is one that is purely arithmetical (Volume I, page 41). We may, however, disregard the arithmetic in _Journeys_, but we must not lose sight of the fact that the method of reading discussed under the t.i.tle _Close Reading_ is exactly the method of study that every person must pursue if he is to make any success in mathematics. In no other branch is there a call for such close reading, and only he who can get all the meaning out of the statement of a problem can be certain of his solution. One of the reasons that so many children have trouble with the problems in their arithmetic cla.s.ses is that they do not read intelligently. Many a good teacher of mathematics will tell you that a large part of her success is due to the fact that she has spent much of the time in the cla.s.s in teaching her pupils to read understandingly. Many another could make a vast improvement in her methods of teaching if she would spend a part of the time of each recitation in teaching her pupils to read problems till they thoroughly understand them before beginning to work out the formulas. It follows then that every child who masters the art of close reading will be helped in a great measure in all his work in mathematics. The value of _Journeys_ in this connection is that it makes that method of study clear and leads a child to its mastery almost without the recognition of what he is doing. It will teach him to think before he acts and to acquire the habit of looking for the full meaning of everything he reads.

In this and the two following chapters will be given studies of the most important subjects studied in the grades, showing the correlation of the _Journeys_ material. These subjects will be treated in the following order: Reading, Language, Nature Study, Geography and History.

A. Reading

As for the other studies with which _Journeys_ is correlated, we shall take them up one by one and at greater length. First in importance is reading. This is always first in importance in school, for every other study depends upon it. In fact the prime motive of _Journeys_ is to teach reading, and it will teach reading in the school and in the home.

The child who has read what these books have to offer in the way that these books teach will have a power that cannot be taken from him, and his position in cla.s.s and elsewhere will be raised immediately. Besides the fund of information he will have acquired he will have made for himself a habit that will always benefit him. Every study in the books from the first page to the last is a help in reading, and all the lessons of this volume are directed to reading. But there are three or more long chapters in this volume which take up the different methods of reading and apply them to selections on all conceivable subjects dealt with in _Journeys_. To these chapters on reading the teacher and the parent who wants to be informed are directed. The treatment is simple and not above the effort of anyone, and the method will appeal to all high school students of literature, for it is the method of the best teachers of that subject.

B. LANGUAGE

There are two distinct phases of the teaching of language: pupils must be taught to speak and to write with ease, fluency and correctness.

There are very few children who do not like to talk. It is as natural to them as to breathe. But as soon as they begin to speak we begin to correct their speech. Much of our criticism is given publicly, at least before other children, some of whom are known to speak more fluently and correctly than those whose errors are being criticized. In consequence, the children begin to doubt themselves, to hesitate, and gradually to lose their desire to talk. In fact, so timid and reluctant do they become that by the time they have been in school a few years many teachers find their greatest difficulty in getting pupils to recite well or to talk naturally. Perhaps before and after school and at recess they will converse freely and delightfully, but as soon as their cla.s.ses are called they become reticent and ill at ease. Not all of this lack of spirit is due to the teacher, but some of it is. In any event it is an unfortunate condition, and the teacher is anxious to remove it.

At home a similar condition prevails. If the parents are themselves accurate in speech and alive to the importance of making their children good talkers and users of correct English they will be ready with criticism, and unless they are careful will do their share to repress the natural frankness of child nature. Parents who have been teachers are quite as liable to err as others are to remain in ignorance in attempting to understand the psychology of the child mind. Freedom of conversation on topics of interest where correct models of speech are always before the child will accomplish more in making cultivated speech than will twice as much direct instruction. If only parents will read the things that the children are reading and affect an interest in those things they can be certain of giving the best training, while they themselves will grow in happiness and nearness to their offspring. In the fields of literature they can stray together with the consciousness that with all the beauty there is nothing to corrupt.

In a lesser degree, perhaps, the same facts are true in written language, in composition. But in lessons of this type the instructor will not find conditions so favorable: Talking is natural, writing is artificial; to speak is instinctive, to write is an art of difficult attainment. In the first place, a child must be taught to form strange characters with his hand. After he acquires facility in that, he must think, put this thoughts into words in his mind, and then laboriously transfer his words, letter by letter, to the paper before him. Many a child who talks well cannot write a respectable letter. His thoughts outrun his hand, and by the time the first labored sentence is written his ideas have fled and he must begin again. Is it any wonder that his sentences are disconnected, his thought meager?

Just think what it means to a child to write you a letter, or even a brief paragraph! Suppose he wants to tell you about a dog he has at home. He begins by thinking: "My dog, Ben, is a pretty little woolly fellow with bright eyes and long silky ears," and then his thoughts run off vaguely into the general idea that he is going to tell you about some very cute tricks Ben can perform. The child is all enthusiasm and he begins writing and thinking something like this: "My (that word must begin with a capital letter) dog ('Ben' must begin with a capital, too) Ben is a (is that 'pritty' or 'pretty'? It's p.r.o.nounced 'pritty' anyhow) pritty (that don't look right. Scratch it out!) pretty (well, that don't, I mean _doesn't_ look right either, but I'll leave it) (For goodness sake, how do you spell it? 'Wooly'? 'wolly'? 'woolly'? I guess I had it right at first) wooly fellow (where shall I put the commas?

I'll leave 'em out. Teacher can put them in if she wants them.) with bright eyes and long slicky (no, no, that isn't right! How funny!

Scratch it out.) silky ears. (I nearly forgot the period. Now what was I going to say next?)." When he is through, his first sentence is like this: "My dog Ben is a pretty little wooly fellow with bright eyes and long silky ears." He looks at his work with doubt and disgust as he scratches his head for the next idea. He has wholly forgotten what he intended to tell about! Later, his work, wholly unsatisfactory to himself comes to you for criticism and you take your blue pencil or your pen with red ink and put in the marks if any are needed, indicate the misspelled words and sigh as you say, "Will Charlie ever learn to write a decent composition?" Certainly he will, when his writing becomes mechanical, when his hand makes the letters, puts in the marks, and his lower brain spells the words for him, without disturbing the higher cells which are occupied with his ideas.

These are the diverse problems that confront anyone who tries to teach language to a child. We cannot solve them all, but most certainly we can lend some a.s.sistance.

1. Oral Lessons

Success in oral language lessons rests primarily upon interest. If you can secure interest, the children will talk freely; if you retain interest, you can criticize freely and with good effect.

Criticisms should not be too severe and should always be impersonal. It is not John and Mary who are being corrected, but the mistakes that John and Mary make. You have heard both parents and teachers say, "John, why will you persist in saying, 'I done it'? Don't you know that is wrong?

You must correct yourself." Such criticism is wholly bad. If John says "I done it," it is because he has heard the expression and become habituated to its use. He cannot be taught differently by berating him.

When he says, "I done it," repeat after him in a kindly inquiring voice, "I _done_ it?" or say in a kindly way, "I did it." In either case John will give you the correct form willingly, and when he has done so times enough he will forget the wrong form and cease to use it.

Everyone must remember that children have heard slang and incorrect speech almost from infancy; that the playground, the street and the home have been steadily teaching, and that the minds of even primary children may be filled with not only loose forms of speech, but even with profane and indecent expressions. One of the natural correctives for such things is the reading and telling of attractive stories, full of dramatic power, calculated to stimulate right feeling, couched in clear and forcible English. Elsewhere in this volume under the t.i.tle _Telling Stories_ are suggestions and good models.

From the standpoint of the language lesson, children must reproduce the story, must "tell it back" to make it valuable to them. The instructor's part in this reproduction may be summed up as follows:

1. Be an interested audience for the child.

2. Secure clearness. Do it by a gentle question or a remark now and then: "I am not sure that I understand you." "Do you think I would know what you mean if I had never read the story?" "If you were telling the story to your playmate would she understand that?"

3. Encourage the child to use his own words, when he follows too closely the phraseology that was given him, yet remember that one of the objects of the exercise is to give the children the use of a wider vocabulary and to make them appreciate and use beautiful and forcible expressions.

4. Be reasonably content with freedom of expression at first, and do not expect too rapid improvement. You are moving against fixed habits.

5. Vary the character of the exercise. Sometimes permit one child to tell the whole story; at other times, call upon other children, or continue the story yourself.

6. If the story is a difficult one, do not ask for its reproduction until it is thoroughly understood. Make its meaning clear by skilful questioning, which with the answers makes an extremely valuable conversation lesson.

7. Encourage the use of beautiful expressions, of fine figures of speech. Do it by using such expressions yourself and by pointing them out in the story or poem you are using.

8. Beware of spoiling a beautiful poem or an elegant prose selection by poor reproduction. After the story has been related and the meaning made clear have the original read several times exactly as it is written and encourage the children to commit it to memory.

There are in _Journeys Through Bookland_ many selections suitable for these oral lessons. For the little folks there are some of the _Nursery Rhymes_, of Volume I, like the following:

_Little Boy Blue_, Page 33.

_Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary_, Page 30.

_Ladybird, Ladybird_, Page 12.

_Little Bo-Peep_, Page 9.

_Jack and Jill_, Page 27.

_Poor Robin_, Page 16.

_There Was a Jolly Miller_, Page 47.

_Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star_, Page 44.

In the same cla.s.s may be included those beautiful poems by Stevenson and Field, poems that every child loves and will be delighted to talk about.