CHAPTER III
ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS
In the lessons that follow, the answers given to questions are those which pupils may be expected to give after corrections and additions have been made by themselves and the teacher.
Professor Alexander has said:
It is impossible to exemplify on paper actual teaching. Actual teaching, as all other practical matters, is in large measure determined by circumstances and conditions which are never twice the same. A large part of a teacher's skill lies in the sympathetic perception of these conditions and in the power of adapting himself to them on the spur of the moment. The teacher should have a definite aim in view, and a general conception of the proper method to be followed; but these will be modified by the character of the pupils before him, of the answers given, of the manifestation of interest, and the comprehension of the various points brought forward. A question quite proper in one case will be quite out of place in another. What knowledge should be imparted by the instructor, what elicited from the pupils themselves, what matters dwelt upon, what lightly passed over—these things can only be determined by the actual circumstances.
PANTOMIME
LITTLE MISS MUFFET
(Primer, page 75)
Little Miss Muffet sits on a low chair eating from an imaginary dish. The spider comes creeping softly behind her. When he reaches her side, he sits quietly down. Then she sees him and, in a great fright, jumps up and runs away.