Fig. 6.—Free cutting. Fourth grade. Columbia, Missouri.
If the room affords a large table at which a small group may work, the teacher can easily supervise the work of the entire group. If there is no table, the teacher can work with one or two rows at a time or have very small groups come to her desk. The secret of the success of the group method lies in having the rest of the class busy with some occupation sufficiently interesting to prevent impatience while waiting for turns. The command to "fold hands and sit still till your turn comes" is sure to cause trouble, because children are physically unable to obey it.
The most important factor in successful pasting is a liberal supply of waste paper. Each child should be supplied with a number of single sheets of newspaper torn to convenient size, to paste on, each sheet to be discarded as soon as used. This decreases the danger of untidy work. With the cutting laid upon the waste paper, the paste may be spread with brush, thin wood, or thick paper, well out over the edges. As soon as the pasted cutting is lifted the waste paper should be folded over to cover all wet paste and lessen the possibility of accidents. After the cutting is placed upon the mount, a clean piece of waste paper should be laid over it and rubbed until the air is all pressed out and the cutting adheres firmly. The waste paper overlay may be rubbed vigorously without harm, whereas a light touch of sticky fingers directly upon the cutting will leave a soiled spot, if it does not tear the moist paper. If children are carefully taught in small groups to follow this method of pasting, in a fairly short time all but the weakest members of the class will be able to paste neatly without much supervision.
CHAPTER III
BOOKLETS
The making of booklets forms a valuable accompaniment to almost every phase of school work. Even simple exercises, when put into book form, take on a dignity otherwise impossible and seem more worth while. It is impossible to work with much enthusiasm and care on exercises which are destined only for the wastebasket.
The chief value in the making of booklets is lost when they are made for display purposes only. Many difficulties are sure to arise when the teacher, for the sake of her own reputation, sets an arbitrary standard and tries to force every member of the class to meet it. Because of these difficulties many teachers dread and avoid work of this sort, but the trouble lies in our false standards and poor methods rather than in the process itself. When the exhibit idea is uppermost, each page must be examined with great care, done over again and again if need be, until the standard is reached or the patience of both teacher and pupil exhausted. In such a case the work practically ceases to be the child's own. Instead of expressing an idea of his own in his own way, he tries to express the teacher's idea in the teacher's way, and it is not surprising that he fails so often.