Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-01-28
educational.
EDUCATIONAL PAPERS.
ruBLIoATIoN BY AUTHORITY OF KENT COUNTY
TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.


PUBLICATION BY AUTHORITY OF KENT COUNTY
TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
No. 10.
Pestalozzi made use of system Of attri
butes, In employing which he met with
great success in teaching children definitions,
after practice of this kind for a short time
child wodld soon learn the use Of terms,
and, possessing the ability to express his
thoughts, be able to define pretty well. For
instance, let the teacher write on the board
the word field, and write opposite, sandy,
ctdyey, then ask the child to mention q
number of other attributes that might belong
to 1t. After some practice of this kind reverse
the process. Write for example. deep, and
ask, What is deepf The pupils may an
swer, Welts, oceans, graves, and so on, al
ways remembering to draw out of the child
the product Of its own thinking powers, sug-
costing the train Of thought but not the sepa-
'ate ideas. Oral spelling is without doubt
| almost useless for the purposes for which
spelling is studied-correctness in writing.
Many persons who will spell orally for a
week without missing word, frequently
are not able to write half dozen sentences
without misspelling the most common words.
This statement may seem somewhat para
doxical, but let any one who does not be-
lieve this statement, examine the facts in
The case and he will be convinced Chill
| iren should therefore as soon as possible be
taught to write the words they are required
TO spell, for 1t is thus that they will want to
use them and that the true test of their pro-
| iciency will be afforded. After all It does
not seem to be very difficult matter to
learn to spell well, if children were only put
1t 1t in the way that seems 10 be right
Webster gives about eighty thousand words
As belonging to the English language. 0i
these not more than three thousand are in
common use. Admitting however the mum.
her to be five thousand, these would be suf.
ticient to test the pupils accuracy in spelling,
and to learn these would require no very
great amount of study. Why Try TO teach q
child 10 remember stock OF words that be
will likely never employf One Of the un-
pleasant "reminiscences of our school days il
the drudgcry OF learning to spell large LOT
| pf very difficult and unusual words, not one
of which We have seen since we left the
spelling book. Suppose an Individual were
able to spell nine-tentbs Of all the words IL
the language, but that the one-tenth be could
not spell contained all the words in mos
common use; what would the world think
of such scholarship Yet upon this sys.
tenn much of our spelling is taught. 1t Ii
,lso important to teach pupils to notice mis-
| spelled words without being Obliged to spell
them. If teacher were Obliged to spell
every word in correcting lesson what a
drudgery the work would become
1t may generally be regai ded as betrayine
u want of scholarship to write word in
correctly, and yet there are persons, perhaps
not few of them graduates of literary insti
tuiiOns, and persons of respectable ability,
| who can not write page without misspell
measure occasi0ned by neglect Of training
their powers of observation so as to notice
all words when reading If this matter were
always attended to with children many mis-
takes might be prevented. We would moi
have any one infer from what We have sait
above that we undervalue in any degree pro.
ticiency in spelling. On the contrary, be-
cause we properly estimate the value OF spell
ling, 1t is here sought to point out the objec
tions against the common method of teach
ing orthography, and to find if possible 4
better one. Let children then be taught hab
its of observation as regards the print they
| read, teach them also, ut first, to spell only
:he simple words, and rs they pursue theiI
| sfu,lina 1nt fl,ic hrunah hava dina pnrtin,
of attention, but not absorb half the pupils
time, and as they advance in other branches
uf learning, this also will be found to keeI
pace with the rest. The pupil will be gain
ing time all through his schOOl life, if only d
reasonable portion of time is devoted tu spell
ling, and IT instead oftrying to make him
learn to spell every thing at first, he
is permitted only to learn such words
as are simple. When any one has
knowledge of other languages and can
trace the origin and derivation Of words it is
easy to spell them. This is especially true
of the English language, as 1t is so largely
compounded of foreign words. To teachers
who have not tried 1t we recommend th,
practice of permitting children, almost as
soon as they enter school, to pass much OF
their time at the blackboard, chalk in hand,
trying TO initiate the letters and write the
words as they are found in the book. Chill
dren generally are very fond of this and
it benefits them not only by giving them
practice in the use of the hand, thus pre-
pairing the way for writing properly, but 1t
also fixes more firmly In their mind, the
combination Of letters forming words.
since this writing is thus early work OF
some labor. 1t is often advantageous to
have them print both words and definitions.
1t might be well perhaps to reform our
system Of orthography and adopt system of
photography, or sound writing, that would
entirely abolish the necessity of learning to
spell, for a word only represents an idea no
matter how written; yet 1t would take long
time to introduce such a reform. 1t seems
advisable then for all who teach, rather than
seek an imaginary good to set themselves
resolutely about imparting to their pupils Il
knowledge Of our present system. Let us
then abolish oral spelling almost entirely /;
Let us trace first the simple words next the
derivatives; since the Saxon root words are
in most cases easily spelled, most used, and
are tho groundwork of our LANGUAGE.
@. w. SUPER.