Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-05
BROADWAY SCHOOL CHILDREN
 DEMONSTRATE FOR TEACHERS

Association took place Saturday at the Osgood Memorial with good sig ed attendance of teachers and other 
 Miss Helen Royce presided. intro- ducing as the morning speaker, Geo. ii. Shafer, principal of the Williman- tic Normal school, who gave a most convincing talk on the Psychology of Reading, the practical results of which were later demonstrated by Miss An nie Oates, primary teacher in the Model school. Willimantic, who used a group of seven little children from the Broadway district to explain her methods
 The time has come, said MT. Shafer, when method without psychology does not go very far; we must not only know what ends we, wish to reach, but the process by means of which such objectiEes may be attained. The function of reading is the arousal. or ganization and communication of meaning: reading for it's own sake is no use at all-it is only valuable in so far as it performs this function of communicating ideas.
 The child's nervous system is first open to impressions from the outside World-thence comes reaction. and ultimately the sense of meaning, or experience with reference to all kinds of situations. Some children develop only school room experience" which is not desifa ble. for one experience should lead to another, visua, tactile etc.
 The first stage of speech is panto- mine: little by little value is at tached to sounds; this connection inn mediately calls up all the other sen sations, depending on the nerve func- tions. In learning to read we get the written word to call up the different experiencing relating to sound-that is the written word takes the place oi sound, and makes it possible to hold and later, retain ideas.
 In speech, the sound of a word should immediately attach itself with the experience of the child to some particular thing. Reading differs from language in that it is more symbolical and abstract. There are two kinds o1 reading, oral and silent, both demon Strating entirely different functions and values: the trousal of meaning is one, the communication of said mean ing, the other. In reading actively functions. it arouses thought, pleas ure, information, or augmentation The function of oral reading is tc communicate ones own ideas through an authors symbols. The only way to make oral reading q success is tc get children in a situation to feel Wha' they arc reading. and they will thef express themselves propertly. We gt to books in order to get thought an( meaning.
 MT. Shafer laid stress on the ne. cessity Of companionship betweer teacher and scholar. emphasizing tn, fact that the pupils motive force should not be suppressed but organiz ed, and that the atmosphere of thu schOolroom should be natural, ana conducive to sympathy and co-opera ton, to bring about, the most desirabl results.
 Following his, address. Miss Date gave a very interesting half -hou demonstration. with seven local chil dren, none of whom she had ever seer before. showing how to teach reading so that pupi will be compelled t go from word to idea. By raaans o sentences written on tho Blackboard each child first read then acted nj
 part in q most intelligent manner quite marvellous to the grown-up au performance with much interest 1 At noon, q cafeteria luncheon, con Sisting of many delicious dishes. wa served br the ladies of the Parish Ali
 association. in. the dining room. Tn 1 committee consisted of Mrs. Olive ! Johnson, chairman. Mrs. W. S Allin; 1 Mrs. John Rogers and Mrs. Leonard (
 Smith,
 At 23G in tho afternoon. mo: : valuable as well as entertaining ad dress, was given by Dr. l. Mace Ar dress, head of the department of Psy chologE and Child Study at the Bos ton Normal School. on the Child as a Artist Dr. Address compared tf 1 spontaneous drawings of the averae child to the crude scratchings on the cavern walls, of the cave men. Bot
 children and primitive people mal
 drawings to serve as means Of SC expression. Art is fundament
 need of life, and every human beir
 has an artistic impulse; to a certa extent every body is an artist. TT human system is 70 constructed tha deep in the heart Of all men, is the dt
 sire to express himself in some WE or another. Every child has artist
 impulses: these becomes high al
 when expressed in the best way. :. Every normal child has natur obsession to draw. Drawing is
 language and we must retain tn ! element to make it worth while in lii
 The public school, in stead of keepir
 this desire alive. has, so far, all b
 killed it, by thinking only of techn
 instead of allowing the child to e:
 press himself spontaneously, drawil the objects in which he is most il
 terested. Children are specialists l drawing; some want to draw anima
 | lo nd h each child has his preference, whic so far as is possible. should be e
 couraged. Technic is worth whi , only as it helps tho art of self-e : pression; a child artist is not co : cerned about form. but with the i'd : itself.
 An understanding teacher can
 Of much help. by assisting the chi to draw what he wishes to draw : the best way; that is where techr : comes in. What we need to do preserve this impulse to draw, is . allow child to tell something wi pencil and paper about a subject
 which he is keenly interested.
 -Dr. Address, who has been studyi
 the spontaneous drawings of childr 2 for years. illustrated his lecture wi lantern slides Of many original a curious drawings done by the ve s young, These ranged from the ear c est scribble stage, without anw ps Q ticular method, through the repetiti ', stage, showing the beginning of a te l. dency to design. attempts at balaT e and color. and the use of fixed syl l. bols. All these interesting little D
 lures showed a certain extent of h Il man interest ingeniously express y, demonstrating the fact that eve e child endeavors to tell a story by | drawings, succeed&S more or less. ,t he is encouraged BY his eders in t e earliest art of all. self expression. V, Following the close of the da eI programme, brief business meeti q was held for the election of offic' '- for tho ensuing year. The nomin; r incr cnrnn1iften ureSrntnd the fnlln