More Horizon "Why isn't Miss P— Number 1 more of a success as a primary teacher?" asked a warm friend of the lady. "She graduated from one of the best normal schools in the country, went back again as teacher in the same school, and left there a bright and shining star. She is running over full of methods, is above the average in originality, conscientious to the death, and really likes children. She can give a 'paper' at the educational gatherings full of How to Do.' Yet, her principal always speaks guardedly of her, and she doesn't seem to be gaining at all in reputation. She is no more of a leader than she was ten years ago. I wonder what the matter is." "Ask her principal the first chance you get," answered the school friend, to whom this conversation was addressed. "He is a bright man, and a 'square' man, and if he really thinks you are a wise friend of this teacher, he will tell you, but an outsider couldn't get a word from him." 'Well, did you get your courage up to encounter that principal?" inquired the adviser when they met, later. EDITORIAL: More Horizon PEDAGOGICAL: How Truth is Sacrificed Olive M Long How the Little Bennetts Played American History V Snow Crystals Time Markers at the Capitol A New Use for an Old Method Dinah's Mishap Papier Machè Maps Kitten's Coasting Party (Illustration) Little Housekeeper Song Who was Disciplined The Story of a Sand Pile How the Black Sheep Turned White A New Year's Bargain Primary Language Snow flakes 'verses) Happy New Year, etc. SUPPLEMENTARY READING: American History Stories IV Little Folks of Far Away Lands V ENTERTAINMENT: Songs and Recitations BOOKS Agnes Vinton Luther Lucy K Ha ch -Nature's Calendar Bertha E. Bush -When First We Go to School Alcyona Johnson Olive E. Theller F. May Rogers Olive M. Long Emily Freiberger Eleanor M. Jollie L. Mabel Freese -John Vance Cheney Hilda Richmond A. M. 34 34 36 38 42 Do you know what he meant by that?" "I didn't at first, but I asked him again, and he answered very candidly. He said: 'She doesn't see far enough. The place where the earth and sky meet. in her mental vision, is too close. She is shut in by narrow opinions. She has no mental stretch. With all this, she is complacent. She has "arrived," to use the popular expression.' Well, did he say how she ought to get out of this narrow life?" You never hear a She can't talk five "Yes, I asked him something like that, and he said: 'She doesn't read, unless it be the current fiction of the day. She doesn't keep step with progress in any direction. She doesn't reach out. remark from her below the surface. minutes intelligently on any subject attracting public attention. She doesn't know about prominent men and women, nor what they stand for. I'd be willing to pay for every newspaper she reads and I shouldn't be any poorer. She is the kind of teacher that gives the name "schoolma'm" to teachers and the tone that goes with it. Such teachers are responsible for the oft-repeated statement, "Public school teachers have no culture." I always cringe when I hear it. But what can we do? If the time ever comes when general intelligence and personal cultivation are considered requisites for a teacher, we shall not have to hear it, but I'm afraid it will not come in my day. Too bad! I wish I could make teachers see what a peck-measure life does to their work. But it is well nigh impossible. Blind people can be taught to see about as easily.'" Well, did you catch his point of view?". "Y-e-s, somewhat. But I can't see why we should expect our primary teachers to have such extended knowledge. They don't need it with the tots.'" She "Do you mean that we should expect less of primary teachers than those of higher grades? Why, man, you never were more mistaken. A primary teacher is at the beginning of things. She should know all about the ways as they open farther on. needs to know the latest thought on every subject she takes up. She would present the work differently if she did; she would know how to discriminate between essentials and non-essentials, and would strike at the root of things instead of puttering along on the surface. With a clear understanding of the beyond of her work she will radiate a breadth that the little folks will feel and absorb and grow under. But I think her principal meant more than her technical school work when he said she needed more horizon.' I think he meant that her character needed breadth. So many people, women especially, fence themselves in and live a mechanical life, and breathe the same unoxygenated air over and over again, till they become mentally anæmic. There are thousands of such women who are correct beyond criticism who live in a cramped circle all their lives. They never grow into companionship with bright minds, and they smother us with the dead air of their pent up lives. Such women have no business to become teachers, if they hold a dozen diplomas." "Well, I'm satisfied if the teacher of my children does her duty by them without dropping a plummet line to see how deep she is." "Duty!' She can't do her duty by children unless she gives them the very best at her command-the best there is. Emerson hits it exactly: "Day by day for her darlings To her much she added more: Loftier walls and vaster floor.' "You smile, because I, a man of affairs, quote Emerson, but he touches on most things in this world. 'Hundred-gated!' That's the whole story. Α teacher should reach out, out, and up for something grander-loftier walls and vaster floor," all the time, and push back every boundary that threatens to close in about her. Teachers make men did you know it? Doing only the routine work of the grade is mighty thin training for our children. I want my little folks inspired to see, and to think, whether they are five years old or three times five. A broad teacher gives to children something that means hunger for breadth in every direction, as they grow older. Nobody can tell how this is communicated from teacher to pupils, any more than we can tell how we get impressions, but we do get them and they shape our lives. Teachers, parents, everybody who has to do with children are shaping human lives every hour. It is incredible how little we think of these things, when they mean so much, so much." For the New Year Oh, my dear friends, you who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day if you could only know and see and feel that the time is short, how it would break the spell! How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do.-Phillips Brooks. F How the Truth is Sacrificed W. E. WATT, Ph. D., Principal of the Graham School, Chicago, ROM the first day in school the boy is made to know that certain things he says are not right. His bywords, his slang, and his other words which are hardly up to the dignity of the school, he has to change. He finds his whole vocabulary so defective that he soon suspects his very speech. When he gets older he mingles with boys who have withstood the criticisms of the schools. They swear and indulge in verbal improprieties which are a revelation to him. Their scorn for his prudery and their encouragement when he tries what is considered brave and manly soon lead him to desire to make a hero of himself in this line, and he adopts some of their talk while with them, but carefully refrains from it elsewhere. Not every boy uses bad language; but most of them do so. Women have some difficulty in finding out just how bad their sons or pupils are in this. They do not wish to spy upon their children, and they will not take the word of every busy person, so they remain in ignorance of the real state of the case. But men have better means of hearing what boys say when off their guard. Sons of most circumspect parents are frequently guilty. Girls, too, when by themselves almost universally use expressions they would not wish their mothers to hear. Schools Foster Secretiveness The language work of the school is responsible for some of this. It is true children are naturally reticent and wish to do things when apart from their elders which they would not do under observation. But the training of the schools inclines the child to hypocrisy sometimes when neither the teacher nor the child is aware of it. Many children become to speak because something in their talk may disgrace them. actually ashamed of their own thoughts. They are afraid This arises from the habit the teacher has of regarding thought as one thing and expression as another. The child is trained to have thoughts and then to express them. This training attempts what is practically impossible. No one can have thoughts without the words which will exactly express them. When one is trying hard to think of a word he is not producing a thought; he is merely trying to remember a fragment of some former thought or some statement he has heard or read. Train a child to feel that his thoughts come to him in words and that he may use these words directly, and there is far less halting and stammering in his speech. I do not claim that the theory has been set forth so convincingly yet that all who read this article will agree that it is correct. Many persons think they are thinking at times when they have not the words. Some people think their minds run ahead of their language and that they have their thoughts first and get them into words later on. It would take too much space to give the arguments which would convince such thinkers that their thoughts really come to them in words, and that they spend the main part of their mental energy in trying to dress up the thoughts in better words than those in which they come into their minds. Max Muller, in two volumes on "The Science of Thought" and his other two on "The Science of Language," has shown that the mind must have a symbol for each concept or idea, whether it is the name of a thing or the verbal name of an action. Occasionally the symbols used are visual; but whenever there is a distinct thought or a full proposition the mental act is performed by means of words. This does not apply to feelings; feelings are experienced without words, though words usually accompany them. But thought comes into the mind by means of its symbols, that is, by words, either proper or improper, elegant or inelegant. Training children to believe that their thoughts are first conceived in the mind and then have to be translated into language is wrong. It leads them to ignore the plain and homely words in which they naturally think, and search for highflown language which does not express the thought so well. Eloquence is only "Speaking Out" All men are naturally eloquent. In business they are at liberty to use the terms of the street and they are fluent and even voluble; but they have been spoiled by the schools so that they think their ideas are too poor to use with propriety where good language is required. If they could have been trained to use their minds directly in the first place and never driven to the poor expedient of translating what they think, they would be equally ready to speak in all places. They need not be ashamed of their thoughts. No one has a right to harbor thoughts that he would be ashamed to have the company hear him speak. It is far easier to train a young mind to have no improper thoughts than to train it think all sorts of abominations and in speaking to translate and pretend the thought is different from what it really is. "Think Before You Speak" is Wrong The business of guarding the tongue is a pitiable one. It is far easier to learn to guard the heart and never harbor a thought that is improper than to let the heart run riot and then guard the tongue so no unwise speech may fall from the lips. The mind should be trained directly. The main energies of the school should be directed towards the thoughts of the child with very little application to his expression. Hearing good language, reading good books, and being allowed some liberty in early years in the matter of good and bad forms, will make a correct speaker of any ordinary child. When he has something to say he will say it, if his mind has not been spoiled by the language training now so common. Most of the language we hear in the schools is the result of putting an original or a remembered thought into the mind and then making a grand effort to dress it up so it will pass muster. It is a difficult thing to run over lists of synonyms and phrases of similar meanings, trying to select the most high-sounding, and at the same time hold steadily what the actual thought is. The thought is sure to be modified more or less in the light of the new words that are being mentally applied to it while the tongue or the pen is halting for further orders. It is no wonder Liars are Common When we consider the amount of subterfuge children subject themselves to in getting the ordinary lesson in school. It is no worse to lie about the length of a fish than to speak a thought in words which do not fit it, especially if the words are not true and are simply juggled together to make the thought sound grander than it really is. It is good for children to avoid mental shams and value their own ideas in their original dress for what they are really worth. Sincerity can hardly abide in the heart that is practised in continual translation and confusion of ideas. The frank mind, the open heart, true friendship, and real benevolence are rare products where the mind is continually working in a fog of words and the thinker is ashamed of his own thought and the words he thinks it in. Speaking should be thinking aloud. It should be untrammeled by the tools it works with. It should be practised freely in every grade of the school. Materials of real interest to the children should be chosen. Out of the fulness of the heart should the mouth speak. Not that there should be no correction of errors of speech, but there should be a more skilful way of letting the ear of the child hear and his mind acquire the better forms of thinking. Repression and sarcasm do not help this great work. Encouragement in the use of the tongue simultaneously with the mind is what ought to go forward in school. In the first place, see that there is material worth thinking of and then let the thought come out straight. "Take heart with the day and begin again." SINTO SCHOOLROOMS "Yet to Be" Dear Baby Year, with heaven-born smile! Such promise in their depths I see, Of rounded gladness yet to be.-Sarah M Seaton The New Year As mountain travelers, at some resting place On the first day of January we say, "Happy New Year!" to our friends, and we truly hope to do only good things all the new year; but we do not ask Janus to help us as the Romans did. They used to burn incense, and cakes, and fruit, and offer sacrifices upon twelve altars to Janus at the beginning of each year. Everyone promised not to begin. anything without asking his help, or end anything without thanking him. This was not always a good thing for the Romans, for if a careless boy made a mistake he need not say, "It was my own fault I made a bad beginning"; but he could say, "Janus is not willing to have me do this work; he spoiled the beginning of it." Fortunately, the Roman children had good mothers and soldiers to help them as well as Janus. A poet tells us that Janus' motto was: "Everything depends upon the beginning." Would you take that for a school motto? Can you make a better one? Chicago Institute 7ITHIN the past generation the teaching of arithmetic in this city has passed through all known stages, from those good old times when the infant was confronted with the forty-five combinations as soon as he crossed the threshold of the school-room, down to the Year of Our Lord 1903, in the which A Retrospect number work is "incidental during the first year and a half of the school period. Through these years of observation and experiment the work, as now given in the primary grades, has been evolved. The Why of Incidental Number Work in Stockton all "If there is no arithmetic in the first year of school the better. Say so and tell why," was the crisp (and only) injunction given by the editor in asking for Stockton's way of teaching arithmetic. In obedience to the editorial mandate, the "why" will be given-and at once. In May, 1892, a careful study of condiArithmetic tions in the Stockton schools was begun, to -1892 were being determine just what results secured in each subject in the school course, the time given to each subject, when pupils begin to leave school, etc. Briefly here are some of the facts shown by this investigation: The Problem 2 Solved 1 From one-third to one-half of the school day was given to arithmetic in grades one, two, and three. In the judgment of the majority of the teachers, the pupils were not well prepared in the work. 3 The children could not read many of the problems they were expected to solve, nor could they apply with at fair degree of readine s the number facts learned to simple problems taken from their own experiences. 4 In general, the training in other subjects, especially in reading and language, had not kept pace with the training in arithmetic. 5 Practically all pupils remained in school at least four years. Obviously the problem for 1893, even from the standpoint of arithmetic, was to so emphasize reading and language that the pupils could grasp the thought in the problems to be studied. This naturally led to cutting down the time given to arithmetic, yet, to the surprise of all, the classes were better prepared in that subject at the close of the year than before. This happy result led to the further emphasis of reading and language in 1894 and to a further cutting of the time given to arithmetic, and again did the work in arithmetic improve. Work All this time many of the pupils seemed immature even for the modified work given in arithmetic, many lacked interest in the work, many could not readily apply what they In 1895 all formal learned to their own experiences. instruction in arithmetic was omitted from the Incidental first half of the first school year, the time so gained being given to reading and language, based in part on nature study and on stories drawn from history and literature. In 1896 instruction in number work was made "incidental" throughout the first school year. In 1900 the "incidental period" was extended to include the first half of the second school year. The results secured by the omission of formal instruction in arithmetic in the first term in 1895, in the second in 1896, in the third in 1900, showed clearly (at least to the observers in Stockton), that other subjects are much better adapted to the needs of the pupils during the first year and a half of school life than is arithmetic. The final result in 1903 has Arithmetic -1903 also demonstrated that, as compared with 1892, the pupils, by the close of the third school year, can not only read better, spell better, use their mother tongue better, but that they are fully as well prepared in the mechanics of arithmetic, and are far readier in the application of what they have learned. In 1903 the following is the time devoted to arithmetic daily : First school year-Instruction incidental. First term, second school year-Instruction incidental. Second term, second school year-Thirty minutes. Time-1903 Third school year-Sixty minutes. In the primary grades of the Stockton schools the pupils are grouped into small sections for the study of' such essential subjects as reading and arithmetic. The number of sections is determined by the needs of the class, the teacher With a class of forty being the judge. Group Work pupils, the number of sections will vary from three to six or even eight. Not only do the number of groups vary in the different rooms, but the number of pupils in each group and the time given to the group vary as well. In the drill work the group usually gathers around the teacher, the rest of the grade being given carefully prepared busy work in arithmetic, in drawing, in language, etc. This method not only enables the teacher to develop the individual child along the line of his needs, but it leads to selfreliant habits of study on the part of the pupils at their seats. In the third school year (and in all higher grades as well), all pupils who have completed their work in a satisfactory manner are dismissed fifty minutes before the close of the school day. After a ten-minute recess, the forty minutes remaining are devoted to giving individual Individual help to backward pupils. Of course a goodly Help portion of this time is given to boys and girls "born short" in arithmetic. It might be added that under this arrangement the traditional keeping after school has been dispensed with, to the betterment of both pupil and teacher. The following aims have been kept constantly in mind in teaching arithmetic in the primary grades of the Stockton schools. I The securing of accuracy and rapidity in all mechanical processes. Basic Aims 2 The application of the number facts learned, first to the experiences of the child, later to other experiences that he can readily grasp. The Incidental Period The" incidental " number work of the first three terms is a preparation for the later systematic study of arithmetic. Only as the child feels the need of number in expressing relations that arise in his other work, is number supplied him. Nature study, reading, drawing, etc., furnish ample material for developing the number idea during these three terms. With their interest aroused through seeing the need of number and with the maturity that has come through the three terms' work, the children are eager for number work. While there is no set requirement in the "incidental" work given during the first three terms, the work is far from being "accidental." Teachers are encouraged to study their pupils and to develop the number sense in a perfectly natural way. In some of the schools the The Beginning work will begin within a month after the child enters school; in other schools, with Chinese and other foreign elements, the work may be barely touched during the first term; in all cases the injunction to the teacher is, to develop the number sense, whether through games, counting, measuring, constructive work, drawing, etc., as the child's broadening experiences and growing maturity demand it. During the "incidental" period of a year and a half, applied number through observation and measurement is the central thought, while during the year and a half following, accurate, rapid drill in pure number becomes the central idea. The How of the First Three Terms Without seeking to exhaust the "how" of the "incidental" period, which is as varied as are the individuality of the teacher and the needs of the class, the following are among the lines of work taken up during the past two years: As number deals with the relations of quantity, eye and mind are trained in seeing relations, even during the "incidental" period. By means of objects in the schoolroom, of lines drawn on the board, of surComparisons faces, etc., many indefinite comparisons are made. As the child's number sense develops and he demands more definite terms than "longer," "shorter," "higher," "lower," etc., the common measuring units are introduced. All pupils are supplied with rulers one foot long, with sticks of various lengths, with cardboard squares one inch square, with shoe pegs, etc. In their work in drawing, the use of the ruler is soon mastered. The half, the fourth, and other simple fractional relations are as Measurements easily seen and mastered as are integral relations. The following exercises, selected at random, will give an idea of the work given during the latter part of the first year and the first part of the second: I Measure sticks and draw lines as long, beginning with one inch. study of number. At this time the utmost skill of the teacher is required to know the content of the child's mind. When the child says that 4 and 3 are 7, for instance, has he imaged 4, 3, and their sum 7, does he see clearly the relation that 4 and 3 bear to 7, or has he, parrot-like, repeated a sentence without meaning to him? Each pupil is led to discover the combinations and separations for himself, again and again, until he knows them. During this stage of the work the figure processes are kept in the background. Only as the child is led to discover the number fact, knows it, can apply it, is the use of figures emphasized. After the number fact is known, and figures have been introduced, good, old-fashioned drill is used to fix that fact in the child's mind so that without conscious mental effort he may know immediately, for instance, that 5 and 4 make 9, always 9, nothing more, nothing less. First accuracy, then rapidity now become the keynotes of the work. Drill During the term all sorts of objects are used by the child in discovering the number facts-beans, colored beads, cardboard squares an inch square, etc. Just as soon as he has a clear mental image of the number facts studied, the use of objects is discontinued. It is seldom that objects are used with any combination higher than 10. The training given during the "incidental" period in the instantaneous recognition of the unit groups 2, 3, 4, and 5, is 6 On blackboard draw, by judging, lines one foot long. continued. This work has been found of great value in Measure and correct. Children enjoy the rhythm of counting. As they are brought in touch with the idea of number through compariCounting sons, measuring, games, etc., counting is made definite, not only in giving the consecutive number names, but in applying them to corresponding groups of objects. The children are led to recognize instantly objects in unit groups of 2, 3, 4, and 5. In any work given above five, the smaller group Unit Groups units are used. This work is never given until the child has met with the number again and again in his nature study, drawing, or other work. In training in the instantaneous recognition of unit groups, all sorts of objects are used-dots, lines, marbles, flowers, boys and girls, etc. In this work care is taken not to go beyond the maturity of the child. In most cases the pupils, before the close of the "incidental" period, can count by ones and tens to one hundred and back. The child gradually acquires a knowledge of figures by seeing them on his ruler, on the pages of his books, on the Figures sign boards and street cars, at his home and on the streets. Soon after he begins to write words he is taught to make figures. As an occasional exercise, he will write the number from the objects shown, or show the number of objects corresponding to the number written. The Work of the Second Year, Second Term With the beginning of the second term of the second school year, formal instruction in arithmetic is begun. Taking an account of stock" is simple, as the teacher in all cases has had the class five months. During the term all of the classes will readily master all the combinations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and partition) in the number space one to twelve. Often the higher sections of classes will cover the work to eighteen. In no case is a class or section kept "marking time." No No Marking limit is set as to the amount of work to be Time covered during the term, provided other lines of work are not neglected, and provided that the time given does not exceed the maximum of thirty minutes per day. Addition and subtraction are taught together; multiplication, division, and partition together. During the first three months of the term addition and subtraction are emphasized. Discovery through observation of the number fact to be taught, drill to fix the fact in mind, application of the fact The Steps to the experiences of the children and to relations that they can readily grasp, is the order of instruction usually followed in taking up the formal helping the pupils to form clear mental images. Imaging By this grouping they are led (assisted by objects whenever necessary), to image 6 as 3 and 3; 7 as 5 and 2, 4 and 3; 8 as 4 and 4, 5 and 3, etc. Subtraction is imaged as readily as is addition. The same process of imaging in groups, followed by persistent drill, is used in taking up the work in multiplication, division, and partition. As soon as four or five combinations are learned, column addition is begun. In this work great care is Column taken by the teacher in preparing exercises, as no Addition combination is presented which the children have not already learned. The work in counting and writing numbers is continued within reasonable limits, seldom extending beyond 100. The pupils count by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's, both forwards and backwards. In applying the number facts learned, such common measuring units as the cent, nickel, dime, inch, foot, yard, square inch, square foot, cubic inch, pint, quart, pound, dozen, are constantly used. In so far as posMeasuring sible, the measuring units are used by the Units children themselves. Estimates by observation and verification by measurement are an important factor of the work. Drawing lines and surfaces at the blackboard, modeling at the sand table, stick laying, stringing beads, measuring water or sand, weighing books, sand, etc., are among the exercises that may be noted in the various grades. The following from a second year plan book will give an idea of the use of the foot rule in the application of the number facts learned: Use of Ruler I Addition Measure a stick. Draw a line one inch longer. Two inches longer. 2 Subtraction Measure a stick. Draw a line one inch less. Two inches less, etc. Multiplication Take two sticks equal in length. Draw a line as long as both. Three sticks, etc. Measure a cardboard square. Draw an oblong as long as four. Two, etc. 4 Division Measure a stick. Draw as many one-inch lines as equal it. As many two-inch lines as equal it. 5 Partition Measure a stick. Draw a line half as long. Draw a line one-fourth as long. One and one-half times as long. 6 Estimates Draw on the blackboard, by judgment, a line one foot long. Measure and correct. Two feet long, Half a foot long. Similar simple exercises are worked out for other measuring units. etc. |