Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-02-02

only, are seated in the same room.
One of the greatest difficulties we
have met with in adopting this
method, in an ungraded school,
was, that while attempting to illus
trate and explain to one class, the
teachers mind must be too much
divided between this, where it
ought to be all absorbed, and keep
ing order among the pupils not en-
gagged; or, if they are orderly, per-
haps, for the time being, their
minds are attracted from their
studies, where they ought to be,
and placed upon the instructions of
the teacher, not intended for them.
Let it suffice to say, the Blackboard
is indispensable to the teacher, at
every step whatever be the grade Of
his pupils. Charts are very useful
and convenient, In that they save
much time and labor by always
having at hand that which,
otherwise must often be written and
erased, for want of blackboard room.
1t may be objected, that charts are
unnecessary, because everything on
them may be found in the books,
one of which is in the hands of each
pupil. In reply to this, we would
say, that the primary pupil needs
help at every step. He must con-
stantly be guided by the teachers
pointer till he learns in what order
to take the words. For instance,
he has to learn that he must COM
mence at the left hand of the top
of the page; and that in spelling he
must take column by column, from
top to bottom, and in reading, he
must proceed line by line, from left
to right in other words he has to
learn to begin right, and keep his
place with the class. Perhaps few,
except teachers who have tried it,
know the trouble of teaching this
one thing to a class, even of dozen
children. Without the chart, he
needs dozen pointers, and as many
hands to use them, and as many
pairs of eyes to see what the little
fellows are about. Let me say that
here is where many children con-
tract habits of inattention which
cling to them during the whole of
their school life for when one
loses his place, as it is called, he
loses attention, and also his inter-
est in the lesson. We have also
seen those who seemed to think
that all that was required of them
was to spell the word that might
fall to them, and being a little
sharp, they would count the mem
bers of the class, and then count the
words till they came to that which
would fall to them; they would
hold the finger at it, and look idly
around till it came their turn to
spell. There will be more or less of
this in every class, where there is
not something, by means of which
all may be simultaneously directed
to the same thing. Another good
argument is this, in favor of the
graded school, where all are requir-
ed to do the same things at the
same time. With a good chart and
pointer, the teacher can direct the
eye and mind of a large number of
pupils simultaneously and if he
sees one inattentive pupil, let him,
as means of punishment, for a
while direct all his questions to him
personally; and let this be done
frequently, till the habit be broken.
OF course we need not say, maps
are necessary, for no one will, for a
moment, pretend that geography
can be taught successfully without
them. Globes are also indispensi-
BILE. How frequently must the
teacher, who has them not, resort
to the use of an apple or something
of the kind. How much better
would itbe, to have always at hand,
good globe, simplifying the work
of the teacher, and saving time.
Natural Philosophy cannot well
be taught, successfully, without
good apparatus. The eye, the hand,
and the mind, all being brought in
to requisitiOn at the same time, the
pupil is more interested, and conse-
quently has more deeply impressed
on his mind the lesson which other
wise might be but poorly learned,
and that, 81 the expense Of much
time and labor. You might tell Il
child of the wonderful power of the
lever and fulcrum, and put forth
much effort to explain it, but by
seeing and handling this instru-
ment he would learn more in five
minutes, than by all your efforts to
explain, without it. The same may
be said of every principle of this
science. To be successfully taught
it must be illustrated. Well do we
remember the effort of memory,
when q child, to retain words like
these, impenetrability, extension,
figure, divisibility, inertia, and at
traction. How hard, and how
meaningless to the learner, without
illustration Yet these may be
perfectly understood, in a short
time, by the use of few suitable
blocks of wood. Natural philoso-
ply treats of the principles of
machinery but does any one ever
expect boy to become a machinist
without handling and using ma
chinery? 1t is with great difficulty
that the teacher can impart to him
a knowledge Of even a few of its
general principles and even this
; !, Il