Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1902-11-29

little direct value. Inc powers excrs
cised are perception and memory.
Even though spelling, in itself, does lit
Tie to develop power of mind, to most
people 1t proclaims the presence or abb
sencc Of culture in decided way. The
best of thoughts do not appeal to edu-
Gated people, if they are expressed In
thoughts full of misspelled words. The
business world, as well as the literary
world, expects those who write to spell
correctly.
Spelling is both written and oral. For
affairs out Of school, spelling is used
almost always in writing. Oral SPELL
ing has its uses, chiefly in learning to
spell and pronounce. Written spell
ing, therefore, is more valuable than
oral spelling.
1t is clear that forms cannot be cor
rectly reproduced which have not been
correctly perceived, imaged and re-
membered. All exercises, then, which
stimulate accurate observation, which
develop power to form mental images
which are accurate and complete in ev-
cry detail, will help the spelling. Since
the form Of the written word is usu-
ally the form that is to be reproduced,
written and printed words are the ones
to be observed and studied, for the
most part. To make the observation Of
word thorough and complete, the
three senses,-sight, muscular sense,
and hearing should be applied to it.
Children who have an impeachment
OF speech, and those who pronounce
Incorrectly and indistinctly by cutting
Of letters or syllables, by combining
syllables, and by sounding letter and
syllables incorrectly almost invariably
spell as they pronounce. The first step
in teaching them to spell such words
correctly is to teach and require cor.
rect pronunciation. Many times this
is all that is necessary. Every spelling
lesson, whether it be written or spelled
orally, should, at some time, be les
son for pronunciation. This exercise
Is valuable for spelling, pronunciation
and syllabication.
In all oral spelling, the child should
bc required to pronounce the word dis.
tinctly before spelling it; to spell by
syllable and pronounce each syllable
after it is spelled. CThis does not mean
that he shall go back to the beginning
OF the word after each syllable has
been spelled.)
Teachers should teach pupils how to
study, droning over words is not study
Spelling lessons are studied in order
that the images of the words may be
fixed in the mind Teach pupils to oh.
serve the peculiarities of spelling.
Children should pick out the words that
they do not know. 1t is usually wise
for the teacher to pronounce the list
before it has been studied and to have
each pupil note the words he has miss.
ed and study those only
The course in spelling comprises not
only the spelling lists of the course and
of the spelling book, but the words
from the other branches Of the study
also. The reading Vocabulary in the
primary grades should greatly exceed
the spelling vocabulary. Pupils in the
first three years of school life should
be able to read and understand many
words that they ought not to be ex.
pected to know how to spell. with
each succeeding grade the difference
between the two vocabularies should be-
come less; and, about the sixth grade.
children should understand that the
lessons in geography, language and the
other branches of study are not mas,
tered until they can spell the words in
them.
| STATE OF Chic, City 0f Toledo