The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1893-12-29
Primary


PART II.
One Of the first lessons impressed upon
me during my first years of teaching,
was that Of patience. The child's mind
on entering school is impressive, but
owing to the fact that an entirely new
, world is opening to him, he is not as re-
\ ~tentive as older children. What attracts
him he remembers until something new
drives away the first picture, consequent
ly the same thought, idea or word must
be presented over and over again until it
becomes a part of himself. The word
system, as we know it now, has been
slowly evolved out of the cruder system
Of twenty years ago. When I first began
to teach, it was opposed by parents, as
we'll as by educators, who, themselves
were products Of an earlier day. I started
into the unknown field with 80 children,
averaging 6 years of age, in a town of
1000 inhabitants. Words alone were
taught, not sentences, until a vocabulary
Of 10 words was mastered, when we pro-
ceeded to sentences. Printing instead of
writing was taught as it was considered
too difficult for the child to master
script at sight, as we'll as the printed
word. One class would read, while the
other would 60 to the board and print
the lesson. Nobody knows what a mis-
cry those crooked as were to me. I
could not make them, yet the children
must be taught to make them. don't
know by what process it was accom-
plished, but / remember that at the
end of the year 1 turned out a fair pro-
portion OF neat printers, fair readers, and
with a certain amount of arithmetic, for
know We all, that each teacher in that
day had printed directions of the number
of pages to be learned, figures to be
taught to one hundred, combinations to
ten, and multiplication table to the o's.
So much must be done, and if more
could be done, we'll and good. 1t was in
this school that 1 had daily encounters
with parents. Once a burly blacksmith
came and threatened me with most ter
rible vengeance if persisted in turning
learning upside down for his little girls.
1t was necessary to call the principal,
who stood by while l told the gentleman
that when 1 came to teach him how to
shoe horses, it would be his turn to give
me lessons in teaching. After that l was
allowed to go on my way unmolested,
but if / had not succeeded in turning out
a class much better than former classes,
my fate as a teacher would have been
sealed. AS it was, the word method be-
came popular in that town thencefor-
ward. A great deal has been said for
and against the word and sentence sys-
tenn of teaching primary pupils, and it
would seem that everybody is SC familiar
with it that no longer would we hear a
disparaging word; but such is not the
case, and many of you are aware that
there are parents still living, who advo-
cate the old way, simply on the ground
that they learned their letters first, and
can read and spell, therefore it is the
only rational way. The opposition now,
however, seldom reaches SO high a point
as in those days. The old way made bad
readers, hesitating, hating, -s~ing-song
readers, therefore it was bad. But the
new way has a fault which must be met
and conquered; it does not make good
spoilers, at least so we are told. Now the
question arises where is the flaw, and
that must be done to remove it, and
uoes it remain with primary work alone,
or does it extend through the whole sys-
tenn? Last year 1 discovered a curious
thing about the spelling lesson. I had
placed six words on the board to be cop
led and learned. At class time the
words were erased and given out to be
written. I soon found that if 1 pro-
nounced them in the order in which they
stood on the board very few words were
missed, but if 1 changed the order in the
least the reverse was the case. The
children had formed the picture of the
words just as they were written, and by
copying them many times had so deep
ened and strengthened that picture, that
any change produced confusion. Now,
here was a problem, and I have been
experimenting on it ever since. Be sure,
that I never pronouce them in the order
written now. Here is an argument for
the advocates of the strict phonic sys-
tenn. The discouraging part of primary
work lies in just such incidents as the
above. You imagine that things are go
ing smoothly, when the conceit is taken
out of you by such a failure, and your
work must be done over. You take the
beginner and faithfully teach him a word
to-day. He knows it, can write it, can
find it OF the printed page, and can read
it on the board. Now, you think there
is so much done; but wait till tomorrow.