Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1922-12-27
BEGINNING READING

Children come to school for the first
time with wealth of knowledge con-
corning the things with which they are
familiar, but lack the ability to ex-
press their knowledge because of q
limited vocabulary or shyness of new
surroundings. Before any attempt to
read is made, the teacher should first
get acquainted with the children by
talking about Things which interest
them. Usually children in the rural
schools are interested in pets and ami
mails on the farm or in duties which
they perform at home. These children
have not had the advantage of kim
dergarten, so como to school very self
conscious and afraid to talk during
the school hours. There are many
cases in which children will not say a
word for many days. If such is the
case, it is very unwise for teacher
to force the child to talk Preferably
leave the child to play with other chill
dren and while doing so, the teacher
has a better opportunity to help the
child overcome its shyness and begin
to talk. Before much can be done the
children should become interested and
have desire to read about familiar
things. This is seldom very difficult
to do as most children want to read
after they hear older ones do so.
When this stage is reached and chill
dren interested, some method can be
put in use. We have various reading
methods probably all have both their
good and bad qualities, but it is hoped
that teachers after some experience
are able to make use of the good quail
tiles in any system
Many educators condemn the use of
phonics because it is too formal and
uninteresting to children. Possibly so,
against any such difficulties and will
not use a pure phonic method to ex-
cess until it bores the children and
makes them lose the desire to read
Phonics, treated properly gives the
child tools with which to help himself
but he must be taught how to use
the tools. This takes much patience
on the part of the teacher but in the
end is we'll worth while. Children are
very eager to help themselves get new
words as soon as they find they can
do it alone. In rural school where
the teacher is crowded for time and
has very little time to devote to SUI
pervision of seat work and study per-
iods, the use of phonics proves of much
help.
A tactful teacher will use many de-
vices and games in this work and
thereby keep it interesting to the chill
dren. Make use, at all times, of the
play instinct which children have. The
teacher must know the real aim for
reading and also know the correct pho
netic sounds and how to teach them
correctly. After a child knows how
to make the phonetic sounds. the next
step, drill, until he forms right habits
which give power to get new words.
The perception cards used in many
reading systems are great help to-
ward this end.
After the children can make some
use of their phonics, teach them to use
word builders to make words, already
taught. In a short time these words
can be combined to form easy SEN
fences, but do not allow the children
to become word callers when reading
aloud, rather read by word and SEN
tence method which results in far bet
ter expression. Reading should not
be for oral expression alone, but rath-
er, to get the thought of the printed
page and enlarge the child's vocabu-
larry as he advances from grade to
grade, giving him ability and right
habits of acquiring knowledge as years
go on.
For those who use the Beacon Meth
cd, follow closely the outline given in
the Beacon Manual and make use Of