The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-12-25
PRIMARY TEACHING.

intellectual progress is of necessity, from
the concrete to the abstract" Knowing the a.
bove to be trne, and that the intellectual opera
tions of child consist in hearing and seeing
rather than in reasoning AMI rejecting, we
must, if we wish to teach with success, direct
our first efforts 10 those senses. The restless
curiosity, the great desire to sec and hcar things
must, in measure, be satisfied. His great
nquisitivcness ia but natural as IS his aversion
to all abstract thinking and any method Of teach
ing that seeks to overcome either OF those must
be false and must resnlt III no good. The teach
err who still persists in teaching contrary to this
knowledge, thwarts The very. object of teaching
which is merely to help nature-to help the
mind to develope itself properly. We repeat,
the senses of sight and hearing being the first
to developc themselves they should first receive
thorough training. Any lessons, tIen, that
can be given by the teacher to cultivate these
should precede all others. Conversation upon
simple subjects, lessons on familiar objects
should come first. A distinguished educator
once remarked in . lecture that he had known
pupils who had been taught the names and forms
of familiar objects first, to learn the whole al
phabet in single day. This however may be
regarded as partly an exception. Stillit shows
how comparatively easy is the transition from
the concrete to the abstract-from the lwo,cn
to the uahaowa. Our primary pupils sholld
have more lessons to impress form upon the mind
before being required to study tho alphabet
But the first lessons commonly given in our
schools address themselves directly to the childs
memory. Before he has had any lessons upon
form OF outline a number Of abstract. arbitrary
characters are presented to him, again and again,
until the child becomes wearied and the teach
er, in his blind endeavors, out of patience, pro-
nounces the child a Jlock.aead Need we Won
der then, that so much time is spent in ehdeay-
orng to each the alphabet. Need we wonder
that the child grows tired of the dull routine
and that fer want of something pleasant to do
1t grows lutt dtiu lulScucNouS' iput HoW 10 IiiiS
to be remedit'd BY first giving the child lessons
upon familiar objects. BY passing from these
to the alphabe: and there following the same
order. With skate and pencil have the letters
drawn in each recitation, and when the lesson
is over give it something else to draw Thus
you will not only employ the time but the hands,
that are often SO mischTevous, too. One adj
vantage in this is that whfls the teacher is hear
ing another class the smaller pupils are prcpar-
ing their lesson on the slate and when their time
to recite comes they will be as eager as the most
advanced pupils; another advantage is that tile
form of the letters is thus more fully impressed
upon the child's mind. But this method alone
will sometimes fail as will any other, used ex-
,lusively. Should the teacher find the pupil
growing weary of drawing the letters and thus
earning them, then abandon the method entirely
or few days and adopt another and invariably
ie will find the pupil work with double dill
,ence when the slate and pencil are again CIV
IN him. Our reason for thus urging the slate
md pencil method for learning the alphabet is,
hat it is the initiative method and children
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