Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-01-15
HON % rEA0H KEADING.
PoIks County school Superintendent
Outlines interesting Teaching
Methods
(Polk County, News

4 ONE now 20 the ~nslderati O
the Analytic method of teaching read
ing, which also has two forms, usually
called the sentence method and the
word method. The first assumes that
the sentence is the unit or element OF
thought. and should therefore be ths
unit or element through which to con-
vert the ear vocabulary into the eye
vocabulary. 1t is analytic because il
begins with the whole sentences and
proceeds to the analysis of,these into
words and letters. The word method
assumes that the word is the unit or
eiement of thought in the case of the
child, and is the largest whole which
he ought to be expected to grasp at
The sentence method is, perhaps,
nearly an ideal way of teaching be-
g~inners to read, provided it can be
Csed under ideal conditions. These
conditions are, "a that there shall be
few pupils to each teacher, ~separable
into not more than two grades; (2l
that there shall be ready access to ma
ture out of doors; (3l that the teacher
lie free to do some object teaching
and language work before reading is
taken up at all; a. that the teacher.
shall have time and tact to draw from.
the pupils themselves the sentences
which they are afterwards to read IN
written or printed form; (5l that these
shall be facilities for multiplying
copies of exercises; and CO. that the.
teacher be able to draw well. All
these conditions can obtain only in the
most fortunate schools; the great mass
of teachers cannot hope to enjoy them
for some years to come. Yet, by de-
termined effort, much can be done ii
the face of adverse conditions.
BY some pedagogists it is deemed
best not to have the child attempt TO
read at all until he has been in school
for some months. During that time he
should be under oral teaching in ma
ture study, language, and numbers.
The objects in this arrangements are
TO enable the teacher to get at the con-
tents of the childs mind-to discover
what he knows, what objects and ideas
are familiar to him, and to give him
some readiness in-expresssing thought
and feeling.
The best form of the sentence meth
c. is that which uses, as reading mat
ter, sentences made by the children
themselves. This is the surest and
simplest means of adapting the work
to- the capacity of the learner, and of
being certain that only such words are
used in the first lessons as are already
familiar in vocabulary of the child,
and whose sounds and meaning are
therefore familiar to him. 1t will be
found that the beginner will quite
readily read most words, even large
ones, that he understands and uses IN
his talks with teacher and classmates.
These sentences should be natural,
free expressions of the child's thought
and feeling, called out by simple con
v%ersation exercises, in which teacher
and pupil talk ~interestedly and unar-
fectedIy about some more or less IA
uiliar object, or picture, or experience.
In these exercises, the interesting talk
should seem to the pupils to be the
main thing, not the preparation Of
reading matter.
When the teacher is ready for the
first reading exercise, he stands before
the expectant pupils, who know by ex-
perience that something pleasant is
coming, and asks them-for example
what grows on trees. The answers
are many and varied, Of course, bu1
n will suggest, say, apples.
Holding up an apple, kept out of sight
until now, the teacher asks: What IS
the color Of this apple? The answer
to this leads to other suggestions as
the color of apples. In. like manner
SDC 0A~PO "a 0ppAO0 ID maui IAc BOpIC
of a very short, animated talk. Final
" the teacher asks, What do we do
with apples? and rapidly writes the
answers on the black boards-We eat
apples,-We peel apples.@We cook ap-
pies, etc. He then reads these SEN
tonces distinctly to the class, pointing
as he reads and then calls on
each pupil to say, his own sentence
from the board, still using the pointer
guide the eye as each one repeats
sentence. When all have read
though not q word has been said about
reading-the teacher says, New go to
your seats and each OF you copy your
sentences on your tablet; then youJ
may go out and play, and have a piece
oe this good, nice, apple we have talk