Was a building burned by lightning in the neighborhood? Let
those who saw the scene describe it, their productions to be read by the
teacher aloud, and let them see that clear descriptions please, and that
good legible writing can be read fluently, and that correct spelling,
and punctuation, and grammar make the article go smoothly and
pleasantly, and enable it to produce its full effect. Is the erection of
a public building going forward in the neighborhood of your school? You
can make it a very fruitful source of subjects and questions to give
interest and impulse to the studies of the school-room. Your classes in
geometry may measure, your arithmeticians may calculate and make
estimates, your writers may describe its progress from week to week, and
anticipate the scenes which it will in future years exhibit.
By such means the practical bearings and relations of the studies of the
school-room may be constantly kept in view; but I ought to guard the
teacher, while on this subject, most distinctly against the danger of
making the school-room a scene of literary amusement instead of study.
These means of awakening interest and relieving the tedium of the
uninterrupted and monotonous study of text-books must not encroach on
the regular duties of the school. They must be brought forward with
judgment and moderation, and made subordinate and subservient to these
regular duties. Their design is to give spirit and interest, and a
feeling of practical utility to what the pupils are doing; and if
resorted to with these restrictions and within these limits, they will
produce powerful, but safe results.
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