The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1873-10-31
Keep Small Pupils Profitably En-
plOyed.

! The success OF any teacher depend.
upon his aoility To keep his pupils busy
Show me an industrious school, and
will show YOU an orderly school. The
idle pupils make the trouble.
1t i, not a very difficult thing to assign
lessons. hear recitations, and contrive Il
keep busy the Older pupils Of = school
that have learned how to study but e.
keep" the little ones profitable employ
ed is task 81 difficult. that but few
have succeeded in ac.
coinpishing it. 1t is a fact. sad to think
lof. that Thousands and thousands OF
children are. allowed, yes, compelled, "a
spend day after day, week after week
and month after month. in the school
room, in absolute idleness, excepting
only the very small portion OF time given
to rcciiations. This time is worse than
wasted. Habits of indolence and A dis
taste for books and school, are ACQUIRED
which arc a permanent detrimcnt 10 an,
child.
Teachers are responsible for all this
waste time. and yet many OF them do
not know how to remedy this matter.
IL is our object at this time 10 make
some suggestions rs 10 how these pupils
may make some profitable use of their
time while not recilng. once heard =
tcacber tell child that did not know .
letter, to study the alphabet for his
son. Only think Of il; a child that
dlr not know "A letter, was To study
study what? Study how? Nonsense
A child never studies in any proper
sense Of that term. ii will work TO do
what may be assigned it, but il cannot
study.
This being true, ii follows that child
needs a slate il is essential. A pupil
never though he should graduate at the
university. needs slate and pencil so
much as on the first day OF school. A
part Of the fret lesson should be 10 show
tue pupil how To form one or more let
tcrs: aud when lie goes TO his seAt, il
should be his work to reproduce "the
lesson"
The child must. at once. be taught 10
write: for through writing will he do
most of his school work for wears TO
come. In no other way can = teacher SO
soon teach children their letters. In no
other way can he 90 successfully teach
them 10 spell correctly. In no other
way can lie SO readily teach them to-
write, or 10 form sentences, or 10 us.
capitals. And last but not least, In no
other way can he teach them habits oil
industr, and perseverance,.
The best teachers | know seldom saw
To children. study. They say write thi,
letter, oI these letters. SO many times
They do not say, "study this spelling.
but write each of these words certain
uunbs, of times. They do not 81,
study this reading lesson, but write this
paragraph. or write all the words in the
lesson containing more than certaim
number of letters. and put them into
neat columns. and be able TO tell me
what the lesson is about.
They do not say study this lesson in
numbers or arithmetic, but copy these
examples on your slate, and find the AN :
swers to them. They do not say study
this geography lesson. but fnd these
places OH the map, and be able to point
toward them.
Thus. YOU see, that children are given
something to do, the doing Of which will
keep them proIiably employed while nj,
their seats. and prepare them for the fol-
lowing recitation.
Teachers are only beginning 10 learn
that this writing is the best preparation,
and IN fact the only preparation, OF y
lesson that very young children car
make. "A word 10 the wise il suf.
ficient. Indiana School Journal.
~, Tcrrc Haute wants German Sun