The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-08-16
OFFICIAL INSTITUTE.
PROCEEDINGS AT
THE PROVO SUMMER SCHOOL.
An Interesting Lecture By DIR. Hins-
dale on AttentiOn-An Instructive
Address on Reading-"EngIish as
She Is Spol<e.o

dale on AttentiOn-An Instructive
| Address on Reading-'English as
She Is Spoke"
Provo, Aug. 15.-At today's session
of the Official Institute DIR. Hinsdale
delivered his lecture on Attention"
first reviewing briefly yesterdays lee
ture.
1t is very important that the student
should like the teacher. The spontan-
eous attention is doubled by doubling
the attractiveness of the subject.
Sometimes it is desirable to make sub
jects less interesting. Development
follows interest by law of growth from
use. New traits of character may be
developed by exercising new faculties.
This is a very important thing to
know. We become interested in what
we work for. There is a tendency to
take interest in what we pay attention
to.
Mothers are more interested in the
unfortunate child. She realizes that
she must do more for this one and her
heart goes out to him. In the first
place our interest flows in the line of
our activity. A woman with whom l
am acquainted had never taken any
interest IN IlOWtIS. I1tI llNdllu uduSu-
ter began to cultivate plants, and af-
ter her death, her mother, through af
lection for her child, took care of
them for her sake. After awhile she
began to take an interest in the flow
ers themselves and cultivated them to
a great extent. You see, her interest
flowed in the line of her activity This
is true of the pupil who studies, be-,
cause he likes his teacher, and will
soon get interested in the subject of
his study
To cultivate the volitional attention
is very difficult thing: it is the prob
lem of educating the will. At first adj
vantage must be taken of the auto,
matte will; this will be a hard and
slow task. You must relieve an unin-
teresting task by bringing it into close
relation with something pleasant in
past experience, or present environ
ment. You may employ rewards and
DunishmentS in certain sense. Not
necessarily give prizes or whippings,
but if the proper relation exist be-
tween the teacher and the pupil the
approval or disapproval of that teach
er would be reward or punishment as
the case may be. L wish to make some
remarks about the unconscious influ-
ence of the teacher. Suppose the
! teacher lacks persistency, has a mind
that is not well disciplined or has a
restless spirit, the pupils will natural
ly be like her. On the other hand, if
she is energetic persistent and strong
willed the pupils will partake of her
spirit Your business is to energise
the pupils mind. Now, this leads me
to another subject sometimes called
not that at all, but is feebleness or
| lack of will. DR.. Carpenter says:
THE will, as a rule, is very weak in
children. Great mistakes are often
made by parents and teachers, punish
/ ing the child for stubbornness, when
! it is not that at all. but is lack of
will. If you were to search the world
through you could not find anything
more absurd than furnishing the child
! for disobedience that it cannot help"
L want to ask the question: What is
the relation between the fact and the
rule of teaching. This involves the
questions Of theory and practice, sci
ence and art. These are some rules
for primary teaching: Put the partic-
ular before the general; the contrite
before the abstract; the simple before
the difficult. All of these spring from
facts or principles of teaching.
! The mind in its unfolding, works in
! this way. The trouble with teachers
is they get rules instead of facts. If
we know the facts, it will be easy to
deduce the rules. I am never pleased
when I hear pupil say: ""I do not
like the study of science" You will
never be a successful teacher unless
you pay attention to the why. Teach
ing mechanically cannot be made sue
ceSsful. l must know the reason why.
l will undertake to give reason for
every rule. Back of every rule there
must be a fact. The rule is worth just
as much as the fact behind it, and in
the long run it is better to know the
fact.
/ Dr. Hinsdale's lecture Tuesday after
noon on reading was very interest
ing.
The relation of reading to the inform
alton and disciplinary studies-In Eng
land, the term reading is used in a
wider sense than. it is here No matter
what the students are studying they
say they are reading it. There is no
fundamental difference between read
ing and the other studies. Teachers,
as a whole, do not consider or appreci-
ate, what the art of reading occupies
in it's rela ton to all classes of school
work. Yesterday spoke of the ele-
ments that enter into reading-maste ry
of the printed page. A store of facts.
and vocal and Evolutionary drill. When
the child first comes to school he
brings knowledge with him. These
facts ideas and words constitute his
ability to read. 1t is only at a later
stage that we get ideas from reading.
is to teach the child the symbolism Of
the printed page; this, with vocal de-
livery, constitute the technique of read
ing. The question arises, How long
should the mechanism of the printed
page be emphasized or have the stress
placed upon it? 1 think it should be
for the first two years of the child's
life. The vocal expression should not
be neglected. The first of the znechan-
lical elements of reading is the mechan-
icism of the printed page; the second is
general knowledge. and the third lis vo-
zeal training. Both of the latter must
receive due attention. In the first two
Years we do not teach the child to
read, but we teach him the arr of read
ing, and learn the spiritual element in
the background. We must pay some
iattention to the thought; therefore, the
lreading matter must be on the child's
level
Suppose we should skip from the first
lreader to the fifth? You would leave
out the necessary progressive work be-
tween. AS soon as the child has ac-
quired the first two elements of read
ing, then place the stress on the thought
getting. The childs primer is his first
book of literature. Now what is the
difference between this and literature
taught in the high school? The differ
ence is in degree and stress. If his prin-
|er is his first book of literature. then
shakespeare is his lasG reading Book.
The members Of the class in reading
should always prepare their lesson.
They study arithmetic and grammar
and the result is they do not spend
There is one element which enters in
t0 tho work of which T wish To