A brief course in the teaching process

by George D. Strayer

LITERATURE—THIRD GRADE

Atalanta’s Race

Note.—The story of Atalanta’s Race furnishes material for several lessons. The following outline embraces the whole set of lessons.

Aim:—

• To teach the story of Atalanta’s Race.
• I. Division into parts.
• 1. Atalanta.
• 2. Hippomenes.
• 3. The Race.
• II. Outlining of each part.
• 1. Atalanta.
• a. Her home.
• b. Swiftness of foot.
• c. Beauty and grace. Desire of youths to win her.
• d. Her determination.
• 2. Hippomenes.
• a. Who he was.
• b. His decision.
• c. His resort to strategy.
• 3. The Race.
• a. Atalanta’s self-confidence.
• b. The first apple; the result.
• c. The second apple; the result.
• d. The third apple; the result.

Preparation:—

Tell me of a game in which one child outruns another.

Tell me of a story in which two animals played a game like this race of Atalanta. (Hare and Tortoise.)

Let us play a game in which two boys run a race.

Let us play the Hare and the Tortoise.

Which is the faster runner, the hare or the tortoise?

How, then, did the tortoise win the race?

Presentation:—

Let the teacher tell the story of the Hare and the Tortoise.

Find in the Atalanta story the person who takes the place of the hare, and the one who takes the place of the tortoise.

By showing the picture in the book, have the children solve the problem.

Did Atalanta expect to win the race? Why not?

How did this make her act?

Did the hare expect to lose the race? Why not?

The teacher may tell the story of the girl going to market with a basket of eggs on her head. She was so sure of getting sale for her eggs that she set to dreaming of the pretty things she would buy with the money she was to get for the eggs. She would buy, she thought, a bright new dress and a new hat; and then how mean and shabby she could make the other girls look; and how she could walk past them all, tossing her head in pride! Forgetting that she was still only on her way to market, she then gave her head a proud little toss; and—what do you think happened?

Let the children give the story of the Hare and the Tortoise in their own words.

What is likely to happen to any one of us who is too sure of winning?

What will we say, then, of any one who is too sure of anything?

It has been said, “Count not your chickens before they are hatched.” What does this mean?