The La Jara chronicle., 1906-05-25
PHONICS---WHEN AND HOW
TO BE TAUGHT.

A paper read by Mis- scheiiler of Antonfto.
at the 2nd annual meeting of the Conejos
County Teachers and Directors Association,
held in La Jara. May l2, 1896.
The first human being that ever
endeavored to assume the roll of
teacher. and impart knowledge 10
another. must have found himself
confronted by the word method
In imparting the same he must
have had some plan which served
as bridge between his conception
and his pupils reception and actual
ization of his thought, whether
spontaneous. or the result of deep
thought and plan on his part it
matters little, but method never
theless.
And even so. |. to-day standing
in the light of the present, the great
est educational era that the world
has ever known since the first
whisperings of thought resolved
from the desire to impart into
method or system, find myself con
fronted by the same ineXhaustiblc
topic. which might fittingly be-
named The Eternal Question
and to which Frochel, Rosencranz.
Parker. and other promising edu-
cators have added a new phase
the psychology of method.
In past ages methods were en-
pluved regardless of their future
effect on the human mind, as long
as visible results for the time being
were attained, but the thinking
world of to-day demands more than
that-it demands that methods
shall be in accordance with the
laws that govern the workings of
the human mind and its natural
processes of development. Out of
respect to this attitude of our pres
ent educational system, | propose
to discuss the subject assigned to
me from two points of view
lst. Its basic phase. which shall
| include brief comparison of the
relative merits of the best and most
recent methods of teaching primary
reading. the proper place for each
in the school curriculum. and the
psychological reasons for the same
2nd. The practical side of my
paper How to teach Phonics. y
The three methods most common
ly used in all good schools are the
sentence method, the word method
and the phonetic method. | have
placed the three in the order in
which they should be given to the
child. according TO their psyche
4 logical values. ] do not mean by
this that the first method should
be dropped when the second is
adopted. etc. but that the three
methods are interdependent. and
that there should be constan,
reversion from one to the other
No single method can protitably
be used to the exclusion of all
others. The best method is com.
bination of the best features OF
several.
4 The sentence method is general.
ly conceded to be the best for be-
ginners. because the child is al
once given something to read -
something that contains "A whole
thought, unit Little children.
minds delight in wholes OF units
rather than parts. Analysis. ol
the knowledge of parts comes tc
them later in life and is the resul,
of mental development. Therefor,
from "a psychological basis, tn,
sentence method should come frs
in teaching little children TO read
while the word and phonetic meth
ods find their proper place later il
the child's life, when the sentenc,
method has given him some powe,
to build upon. When pupils hav,
learned from the constant recur
renee of words in sentences tt
recognize individual words. tn,
word method may properly be in
troduced. words being subdivisions
of sentences, and as such. stepping
stones to more minute sub-divi
sion of language letters.
And now we come to the thirt
step in teaching primary reading
"phonics. Phonics prudently usec
form valuable aid in the teaching
of primary reading. but like al
other good things it has its defect!
i ,,,,,- L., ,,,n,l, f,;I