Upon entering a schoolroom the teacher finds the blackboards bare and dull. There is little in the line of decoration in the room and in order to relieve this monotony she stencils a border, the picture of some great hero or well-known author, draws with colored chalk the inevitable flags crossed at right angles or puts upon the board some design which possibly may or perhaps may not have relation to the needs of the children, their life and activities, or the industries of the school.
When the drawing on the part of the child becomes the natural and free expression of the activities and interests of every-day life, and the teacher uses this graphic language in the same manner, the blackboards will be found constantly in use and upon them an ever changing series of drawings. These drawings should be illustrations of the geography, history, literature, nature work or any other line demanding their aid. Let them be drawings upon which a few moments of time are spent, a free sketch illustrating the object or topic as a means of making the subject clearer in the minds of the pupils, not a picture produced by the labored use of chalk and eraser, to be kept upon the board indefinitely as a bit of decoration.
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Let me suggest the practice of the following strokes and later we will try their application in various drawings recommended by teachers from several schools. In these illustrations use about two-thirds of a stick of soft blackboard crayon, using the large end and drawing with the side of the chalk. This use of the crayon will produce any tone from white to neutral gray.
No. 1. Place the chalk in a horizontal position and try a smooth even stroke one or two feet in length.