Part 6 (1/2)
Coraphy with the new
Under the abandoned systean with capes, peninsulas, continents, meridians, trade routes, rivers, boundaries and products
Under the new systeins with the town in which he lives Each schoolrooe map of the city In addition to these coiven a series of small maps, each of which centers about a fa Then, fro streets and buildings Newark geography begins in the third grade with a description of the school yard and the surroundings of the school lot After all, what raphy that you already know Borneo and Beloochistan are abstractions except to the most traveled, but what child has not noted the red bricks and ugly iron fences surrounding his own school yard? Charity and geography both begin logically at horades the children are taught about Europe and Australasia, they are taught on a background of the geography of yards, alleys, squares, streets and playgrounds hich they are faraphy thus concretely presented, beco at Mathe systeh addition, subtraction and the abatis of multiplication tables, until every child was fully convinced that
Multiplication is vexation, Division's twice as bad, The rule of three perplexes ins with life The teachers at Gary organize games in which the children are divided into two sides Soame, while others keep score Unconsciously, under the stress of theof impulses--the desire to win--these little scorekeepers learn addition As they advance in the work, they take up practical proble andAt school No 4, in Indianapolis, one of the teachers wanted a cold-frame and a hot-bed for use in connection with her nature work The class inclass provided the plans; the boys in the seventh and eighth grades dug the pit and constructed the beds
The higher grade mathematics work in Indianapolis is extremely concrete
Prices and descriptions of materials are supplied, and the children are asked to coroceries, and other household articles; the cost of heating and lighting the ho; the construction of buildings; cost-keeping in various factories; the ement of the city hospital; the taxation of Indianapolis; the estienerally, the mathematical problems involved in the conduct of public and private business
Mathematics is alive when it is joined to the probleht, it becomes a part of the real experiences of childhood and furnishes a foundation for the knowledge of later life
IV A Model English Lesson
Of all subjects taught in the schools, English is the most practical, because it is most used in life We buy with it, sell with it, converse with it, write with it, adore with it, and protest with it English is the open sesa countries In so even for adults
What experience could be rade rooinal poelish as completely broken down; the children were enthusiastic,--enthusiastic to such a degree that they had all written poetry
Just before Halloween the teacher had distributed pictures of a witch on a broo toward the inal poeht wrote:--
There was an old witch Who flew up in the sky, To visit the h
Another child improved somewhat upon the versification--
The witch's cat was as black as her hat, As black as her hat was he
He had yellow eyes which looked very wise As he sailed high over the trees
How many of you mature men and women could have done a better piece of work than Dorothy Hall, nine and a half years old?
THE MOONLIGHT PEOPLE
When the stars are twinkling, And the ground with snohite, And we are just awaking For to see thehere and there O'er a snohite carpet, Dancing everywhere
This sa Riley's ”Pixie People,”
were asked to write dohat they believed were the circumstances under which Riley composed the poem Their reasons varied all the way from a drearade children in this same city (Newton, Mass) write books, the titles of which are selected by the children with the approval of the teacher ”A Boy's Life in New York,” ”Fairy Stories,”
”A Book About Airshi+ps,” ”A Story of Boarding School Life,” are a few of the titles Having chosen his title, the child outlines the work and then begins on it, writing it week by week, illustrating the text with drawings, illuins ater colors, painting a tasty cover, and at last, as the product of a year's work in English, taking home a book written, hand printed, hand illunize in this fascinating task the dreaded English cohth grade lad, who had alwaysin school, decided to write his book on birds As he worked into the subject it gradually got hold of hi he found hi, out in the squares, the parks and the fields, watching for the birds He beca his book, but at the sa additional interest in them The whole tone of his school work improved; and when, in May, he delivered an illustrated lecture, before one of the teachers' s, on the birds of Newton, he was triu with an interest in one study
”In his talk to the teachers,” said Superintendent Spalding, ”he showed a deeper knowledge of the subject than most of the teachers present possessed”