The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-09
GEOGRAPHY
HOW TO TEACH IT IN OUR PUBLIC AND
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
An Essay Read by Prof. w. Z. hei'
Before the Abbeville County Teach
er.. Association. held at Due west
A,.rrSf ISS9.

Before the Abbevilie County ieaeh-
era. Association. held at Due west
:. a.. August FL. 1889.
Not long since, we had the pleasure of hear
ing masicrly discourse from Hn ethihent VI,
vine of This state. lie called on q lciloW
minister oianothcr crdenominailoh 10 coneIuu1 W
the exercises with prayer, VINO, apPhreu'is,
mncb IMPRESSED with the earneStneSs anu
moved hy the elouuence of the distinguished
nulnit orator. thanked God for the inesstiSc
he had sent his congregation ana asSureu Is !,
hearers that while he could never agree VIII !
the sneak er on the prominent doctrlnal pontS
of his sermon, still he would join TlghL nniluS
with him on the one grand plan of salvatioh'
"Believe and thou shalt be saved
1t is possible, and even probable tnnl ,G, "ur
plan of teaching Geography, taken as UNI,
IS the plan of hut few of our co-laborers, AM
IL NAV be of none, hut, like the preachers. II
we do not agree on all the side Issues, we Ger.
tninly do agree on the Oi sns ~
teaching IL in our public schools:
"Our earth is, indeed, II world OF wonGers'
and whether we penetrate It's crust or eXpioIe
its surface, we will ever find opportunity pG S iOr
DIR. Talmage said in one Of his able sermons,
mo preach should expect, by his preaching,
to glve his congregation more religion tna9 .
he himself has," Likewise, no teacher Should
eSpect. by his teaching, to give his class more
Geography than he himself has: we snali, !,
therefore, make, know IT yourself, the MAJOR ro
premise Of this syllogism. When the class pre-
sents itself for recitation. we must inspire
them as IL were, with the belief that we our.
selves have mustered the lesson: We must
gain the confidence of our pupils, WltnouC
which our efforts will be fruitless. Eontiuenee
in Thomas Jonathan Jackson, alias stone
wall Jackson, enabled his soldiers TO over.
come all difficulties, surinount all oosGacies
and crown every effort with success 80 Wnen d
class implicitly trusts the knowleoge Oh ,ad tne
the curtain OF despair is rolled back anu the
star OF hope beckons him onward TO success. >.
We have not Confucianism enough TO adopt
Weeks Ts o'a and S months dragging over whole vol:
umes Of map-Questions, which, ike iron upon
the page, get larger and larger, and are Us oesl M
vast collections OF iniormation tnat Ienu tor' W
lessen the interest Of the pupil In this 1mpor.
tant study. Let US rather adopt course tnal
makes the teaching of Geography by map
Questions alone thing of the past, ana en-
deavor to interest the pupil WILD inta o Gesc tbe
industries, physical features, etc. FalniI, ais
arizing ourselves with each lesson, we shou.p
adopt the plan Of private lectures 1uliy deVei-
tainei In the lesson, and requiring each
pupil TO take full notes. In large class we
always found 1t more satisfactory 10 nave no
regularity in asking questions I0Ieg,n nS Tist sn
regularly around, has q tendency 10 lessen tne
interest in the recitation. When one reclteS,
he knows he will not be called on again unt.!
all the Others Will nave oeeu 4ueoStEI.
NAV be, not again during the entire recitation.
In Such instances, it Is but natural Tor the
pupil to become less attentive and. ut the same
lime, require more Of the teachers attenilon.
We very successfully met such d1fhcuitles py
informal questions, asked In a clear distinct
tone. and never repeated until the entlre clnss
failed. When 1t was necessary 10 rePeut
Question on account of the pupils lnattentlou'
lowered The daily average. BY this means, we
generally held the attention OF the ciass anu
the department was exceptionally soou.
Howeyer. we found there should be variety
in the recitation. This was obtained IN TWO
!. BY giving each pupil a topic to discuss
Q. BY requiring the class to recite from tne
synopsis which was put on the me- ona5a sornd as ras
mt all times to give our classes proper idea OF
the sphere OF Il critic, impresslng upon them
that it was not only privilege but their duty
To rigdly criticise each other. Al the same
time. we frequently quoted those familiar
% Some have at first for wits, then poets
pissed, ,,o,,
at last," to show them that by ialse learnine
the lesson by giving u topic, such as the Tege,
table, animal or mineral Kingdom Win all
subdivisions, we required an oral or writlen
IL general criticism OF each others work
showing as far as possible, all misrepresenta
lions or glaring omissions. AS stated, the
second way for varying the lesson was 10 dls
cuss freely ythesynopsis: whether we gave lne
full time 10 the synopsis or not, the class was
always briefly ques toned as 20 the corrections
of the board exercise, and when all errors IN
facts spelling or punctuation were correcteu
each pupil recorded the epltome. anu 10 nt,s sn,s
book, which doubly repaid them during the
hours OF monthly reviews. Atthe ebeglnnlngo o.
each recitation, we hurriedly questioned the
4 .tt,tr .Nf hn In @
sis, and showed its connection with the lesson
then under treatment: Thus the chaln wan
made link by link. We always pursued u
parallel course Of reading with the country
under treat inent, such as Bishop Marvin
Travels, Universal History, Around the World
| In "a by German, or the History OF any
! separate country, and at the close OF eaci
| recitation, gave the class two or three facts
| that could not be found In the regular course
vet throwing additional light on the subject
These facts we cleaned from our prlVatecourse
The class was not required To take notes or
these facts, but simply to stand monthly
review without ever having them repeated
They could, therefore. use their own pleasure II
| In taking either mental or written notes. NC
geographical term was ever dropped until eact
member Of the class had clear idea OF III
meaning. This was done by having the term
or terms written on the board, followed by
! the Latin or Greek derivation. or q diagram
when possible, showing the originai meaning
to get the proper idea OF delta until We
marked the course OF river and drew {
| triangle at its mouth. Lagoon, Atoll, etc
we could never clearly define until we rep
| resented an island Of coral formation encir
cling q portion OF the ocean with passage
| IN the ring for the entrace of vessels. When I
term was thus explained, 1t remained fixed II
| the mind Of the pupil. Occasionally We
| would lecture the class the full hour on tht
physical features of each country, showing
carefully how the geographical position and
| climate OF O country determine Its industries
| On the advantages and disadvantages OF ocear
curren s, aiding and retarding vessels, on the
gulf Stream, ats source, Wondrous career anC
influence on climate" how II radiates hea
which is borne by the moist west winds
"to the grateful embrace ofErin's and Albiont
shores, now 1t enters the Bay OF Biscay, john
| the great equatorial current, flows westward
| to the coast of Brazil thence to the Gulf from
whence 1t sprung, on the vegetable, anima
and mineral kingdoms and their respective
usefulness TO man, on the occupations, condi
tions, government and religions OF man
showing that as Christianity breaks the fet ters
| OF Paganism, feudalism and Mohsmmedism
civilization advances, aud monarchtes and
| lolIgarchies yield their places to government
Of the people and by the people. We would
| invariably require the pupils to take notes or
such talks and be prepared to develop more
| fully the leading ideas one mouth hence
| Frequently we would consolidate all tho
| lowest class represented, always giving the
advantage to the beginners. When aquestior
was missed, 1t was passed to some one of q
| lower class. We also required those who had
finished the regular course to join in these
| oral reviews This proved an excellent plan