The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-30

more easily remembered than the sign
b or a or t, which means nothing, un-
less, perchance, the last is confused in
his mind with the name of his mother s
favorite beverage, in which case he has
something to unlearn. In all good
Eschools the word-method, if no better
one, is now followed; but it had TO en-
counter very obstinate, not TO say con-
eeited, conservatism when it was intro
duced.
r Another Improvement of modern date
was the invention of the Leigh type,
which gives each letter a peculiar form
for each sound it has. This is servicea-
BILE in its way, but is not yet by any
means in universal use.
a, The latest advance in the art of teach
ing children to read would seem to be
a very natural one after the triumph of
the wOrd-methOd, but it, nevertheless,
encountered great opposition. While
1t is development of the wOrd-methOd
1t is much more, 1t is an application of
the principles of object teaching, and it
Feverses the traditional order by-teach-
ing the child to read written words, and
to write them before he reads printed
words, or. even knows the alphabet. We
have no space here to 90 into an elabOr-
ate exposition of the method, but a brief
sketch will indicate 1.-THE teacher,
perhaps, draws on the blackboard a
picture of cat, and by conversation
gets the attention of the children to the
subject. Then she writes the word
" cat, ." and tells them what it is, talks
about the word, erases it and writes it
again, makes column of repetitions of
the word, constantly calling upon them
| to recognize and pronounce it, requires
them to watch her as she writes it slow
-! ly, to see where she begins and how she
/ proceeds. When she has dwelt on the
word sufficiently it is left on the board
and the children take their states and
pencils to make the word for themselves.
/ Their work is examined individually,
| corrections made, and hints given, They
write 1t over and over again. By such a
| system the pupils acquire in a few days
la knowledge of several simple words,
! including, perhaps, two or three verbs
and adjectiveS, and read short written
sentences, and can write the sentences
| themselves with surprising faithfulness
to the teachers copy, or even from die
| tation. In a few weeks, even much soon
! er than might be expected, the pupil
! has acquired a considerable written
| vocabulary, and has an acquaintance by
| eye and the power to make with pencil
| all the more. common combinations OF
script letters. Then the teacher may
/ begin to teach the printed words, either
from the blackboard or with charts
but not neglecting the writing, which
is continued constantly, so that the pu-
pill habitually uses the pencil and prac-
-tices writing, not as penmanship with
| careful teaching of up-stroke and down
stroke, and oval and loops, but i'm
/ itatvely In time the letters compos-
ling the words are taught, and then the
| pupils are exercised in spelling the words
/ they write. r...
The system has been pursued in the
| schools of Quincy for several years, and
/ there is no longer there any question OF
its superior advantages. The details OF
| the experiment in those schools are fully
described in the paper prepared for the
Association of School Committees and
Superintendents of Norfolk County by
Charles Francis Adams, Jr.-C Chicago
Tribune. ss