Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1876-02-26

primers with easy sentences hhu COuss
paint. OF ourse any new words should
be carefully noticed and pronounced by
the teacher. At first the sentences
should be short. and oil upon one line.
Tho child should not DO allowed TO say
one word until the sentence is mastered.
nnl il can 10 read rs II 1t were speaking.
Then all the drawing and singing 30
common to the school room will be
avoided.
Children are liable TO have either Of
two faults: they speak too high or too
low. A we rarely come across a child
in this community whose modesiy does
not permit his voice to be audible. 1t is
hardly necessary TO speak Of the low
key. Often teachers train their pupils
to speak in too high n key, by requesting
them to speak louder, when they are
speaking in their natural tone. Or per-
haps Young America learns it by hear
inc his mother scold in m elevated key.
Drilling in tho vocal sounds, and In
short selections in n natural tone, are
the only remedies / know for this evil.
One great difficulty in this country in
obtaining n correct pronunciation of
words is the errors children pick mp
from foreign parents or friends. An.
other difficulty is the desire Of many
parents to have their children crowded
forward into readers in advance OF their
capacity.
Pupils should not DO allowed to read
too fast. nor in too mouotonous u tone.
II inclined To read ~monotonously. have
them read u simple sentence IN half a
dozen different keys.
Emphasis is very important. 1t fixes
the thought and draws attention TO the
sense OF the piece. Emphasis is gener.
ally upon nouns and verbs. A great
error Is TO allow equal stress 10 be
placed upon the articles and other
words. as a man. he boy, instead OF a
p,rl,. the boy.
I do not ike TO hear pupils c%riticise
each other. think 1t IL the teachers
business to criticise. II the pupils in n
class are allowed to c%ritieisc each other,
they will say: ''He let his voice fall at n
comma; " or. she kept his voice mp at a
semicolon; or. ''he ran over n com-
MAJ" when every good render knows
that the pauses are there to make the
grammatical construction, and are ho
certain guides for reading. Tho most
interesting reading lessons are those IN
which the child can have tho most SYM
patty. and which are expressed in the
simplest child language. l would not
begin at the first Of tho book and so
through il as many do. but pick out the
pieces which suit me best. 1 never saw
a reader that I thought did not contain
some selections that were unsnited for
children.
\ little concert reading is beneficial
NJ a means Of c%ultiyating tho voice, for
in reading together children arc not
afraid TO speak out; but IL carried to
excess they get n measured tone that Is
not natural. besides depending too much
upon each other. In concert rccitations
thoy should DO taught pieces worth
remembering. for what is learned in
childhood is seldom forgotten.
There is no lesson u teacher should
study more carefully than reading, for
even the simplest selections require study
To bring out the important parts, get the
right idea, and give the correct intona-
ton to express tho meaning; Tor n piece
should be read not only so 1t may DO
understood. but NO that IL must. Short
lessons should be assigned to scholars,
and when n class is called up TO %reeite,
the children should DO asked questions
about tho lesson. to SEQ how many have
prepared il; also the hardest words
spelled to aid in their pronunciation.
Some teachers ask the questions after
the recitation. but any intelligent pupil
could give a synopsis Of the lesson after
hearing it read. even il no had not pre-
vioasly prepared it. ..I
In my opinion. whom q pupil is called
upon TO read. he should step out in
front Of the class, aud all other pupils
and also tho teacher should close their
books and give respectful attention.
Then they will think tho lesson il OF
some Importance. and prepare for It nc
corlinely.
| have my classes read Immediately
after noon, first seeing that the room
contains pure air. / then have them
rise together and give n short AMI vigor.
GUS calisthenic exercise. OF for variety
breathing exercises, such as Killing the
lungs with mir. and expelling sud
denly or drawing in the breath
and cxpelling slowly while count.
inc. This teaches them to expand
the lungs, aud thus read longer without
getting out Of breath. As my pupils arc
inclined TO read with very little ANNA
ton, I next give them a line or two from
different selections, with n great diversity |
Of tone and pitch. sometimes varying
the exercise with the vocal sounds or n
little phonetic spelling. never have
this preliminary exercise TO exceed five
minutes.
In conclusion, I would ask that some
one suggest q method Of instillins a love
OF good reading in our pupils. that will
lift them above u desire to read tho vile
trash that 80 many enjoy.
II is perhaps needless to state that the
reading OF the above essays wa followed
by animated discussions, in which all
present. including Rev. Il. S. Eastman,
took a part: but as it is impossible to
even summarize all that was said, we
will pass tina, part OF the exercises,
with the remark that some agreed with
while others differed from a portion OF
the views Of both ladies', and go On TO
give a synopsis OF what was said by
Professor Kent and others on Corporal
Punishment" in the Schools.
The Professor opened by saying that
public opinion was decidedly opposed to
Il: bu, for his part, he was not prepared
to take public opinion for his guide; be.
cause said opinion often emanated from
.tlal ,o .optrol 81 tb.ir chill.