The pupils being ready, the teacher pronounces a word from this or a similar list, directing each to write a description of the mental picture sẹen when the word was pronounced. Example: C Running. "When I wrote that word on the board, I thought of a horse running down a country road, between a wood and a field, as if he were going home; he had on neither bridle nor saddle; he was a yellow horse with a white mane which rose and fell in the wind as he ran; his long white tail floated out on the air; I could almost hear the fall of his feet. While I looked at him he ran into an open gate, up a lane, into a yard. What did you think of when I said Running'?" Example: "Now, listen, children; I am going to say the name of something, or some one, you have all seen. You will all think of something, and will see a picture of something. I want you to write on your slates, telling what you thought about, how it looked, where it was, whose it was, how pretty it was, and what it was doing in your thought. Kitten. Now, write (or tell orally) what you saw." To upper classes, acquainted somewhat with books, after the same manner, give the names of historical or other characters, requiring each pupil to write the particular circumstances connected with the character which came to his mind when the name was pronounced: Ivanhoe. Ichabod Crane. Columbus. Marley's Ghost. Harry East and Tom Brown. King Philip. Zachary Taylor. Give all instructions and directions before pronouncing the word intended for the class in this exercise. Names of celebrated places, or objects, or those connected with remarkable events, may be so used as to make the exercises serve as tests of geographical and other knowledge. The pupils should write of the mental picture, and not merely of remembered facts or statements. NOTE I. These exercises, well-managea, cultivate ingenuity, ease of expression, and readiness, and add to the vocabulary, by teaching the uses of new words and phrases. They give confidence to shy and timid children, and encourage freedom of expression in all. NOTE II. Observe that these exercises are intended to teach the child how to express what he already knows. He has several years of knowledge at his command; let him use that which is familiar, rather than try to write about what is as yet unassimilated and strange. NOTE III. Commend efforts in the direction of careful arrangement and telling much in few words. NOTE IV. A frequent five-minute oral exercise with short and easy lists of words and phrases (written upon the board) helps to cultivate memory and consecutive thinking. Begin with a list of three words with small children. SIMIL CHAPTER II. PHRASES AND CLAUSES. IMILAR to exercises given in Chapter I. are the following: First. Selecting some beginning phrase or clause, as "Along the meadow-brook," "Just before the early morning," "When the door, opened," or "As I walked along the edge of the wood," say to the pupils, ready with pencil and paper: "Write what I tell you," giving the phrase or clause; then direct them to relate whatever is suggested to their minds. Examples: 1. Along the quiet country road. 2. Over the hills in the distance. 3. While I sat under a tree reading. 4. After resting by the spring for an hour. 5. Through the deserted street. 6. In the thickets of the forest. 7. With axes and hammers. 8. Under the great oak-tree by the spring. 9. On the sandy shore of the 10. Near a mossy log which lay across the brook. II. Down in the orchard. 12. On the lower branch of an— 13. When I heard the field larks singing. 15. Among the pine-needles that lay like a thick carpet under the tree. From this, as from various other kinds of exercises given in this book, may be made general exercises, thus: (1.) Write upon the board the selected phrase or clause; then, standing with chalk in hand, call on the pupils, in turn, to go on with the story, writing what each gives, rejecting whatever seems unsuited, and asking for something better from the same pupil, until the story is finished. Go over the whole with the class, correcting as they suggest, but making no comments or objections to corrections approved by the class, until all has been done with the composition that they can do. Afterward, point out what faults remain unnoticed, comment on the quality, etc. (2.) Appoint two leaders and ask the class to choose sides; give a clause, phrase, or sentence; send the two leaders to the board, and, carefully directing both sides so as to prevent confusion, let each side write, as above, each leader writing as dictated to by pupils of his side, always in turn. Limit the individual dictations to a phrase, clause, or sentence, as thought best, going around rapidly several times before the work is com |