Children as Teachers.
The child’s interpretation of that which he reads is often very different from the teacher’s. Yet his rendering does not always disclose his thought. Conversation regarding the lesson brings out the children’s notions, if there is freedom and confidence in the presence of the teacher. But nothing else affords so much light on the subject as the children’s own questions, if they are allowed to question one another. Where the teacher monopolizes the questions, she often monopolizes the thinking, too. Let the children act the part of the teacher, and as they question one another, their own ideas will appear, while the teacher who listens thoughtfully will be able to teach according to the revelation which she hears.
Management of the Reading Class.
The abandonment of concert reading at once necessitates the reorganization of the reading class. “If I cannot have my children read in concert,” one questions, “how can I keep them interested and attentive through the long reading hour?”
The way of escape from the difficulty is a simple one. Do not expect to arrange to have fifty pupils read at one period, unless there is some work worth doing to demand their attention. The plan of work will vary with the grade of the class and the aim of the lesson.
Is the teacher’s purpose to introduce the class to the lesson thought? To teach them how to study the lesson? To discover what words or phrases or turns of expression present obstacles to the learners? Then fifty may be taught and questioned as well as one, and just as long as general interest and attention can be maintained—no longer.
Is the aim of the teacher to afford practice in oral reading, by drilling upon the rendering of a certain paragraph? Then let her limit the class to ten or twelve at most, leaving the other pupils to busy themselves with written work which admits of definite accomplishment. All pupils become weary of the countless repetitions of their mates, in their stumbling practice. They learn chiefly through their own doing, the correction of their own mistakes. And while the drill is confined to the few,
“Satan finds some mischief still