MUCH MORE.

Whatever promotes the present, or paves the way for future vigor of body, and consequently of mind, is eminently productive. I do not believe that any of the ordinary employments of life, as labor is now divided, will ever completely effect this: and consequently other exercises appear to me indicated.

Here I shall be asked whether the great Educator did not know what was necessary to the complete physical, intellectual and moral development of the first pair, and whether this was not effected by manual labor merely. I answer, we do not know; nor is the argument which the objector would draw from an answer or decision, of any weight. Our condition now is very different from theirs at that time, individually and socially; so that there is no propriety in arguing from one to the other.

These thoughts on productive labor may seem to many like a long digression, Mr Editor, but it appears to me otherwise; and the course of remarks was intended with a principal reference to this subject. But there is one more point to be considered still.

One of the strongest reasons why a teacher should join in the sports of his pupils is, that he may not only turn them to their physical and intellectual advantage, but that he may moralize them. There is no place where a teacher may better study the characters of his pupils than in the play ground, the gymnasium, the field and the garden. Here they seldom act a borrowed part; they are more nearly what they seem to be. By his example, by his looks, by his words, by other means, should these become necessary, may he mould their characters more truly, more thoroughly, more permanently, than by any, or even, as I was going to say, by all other means put together.

It is often said that an instructor may get along in this manner for the time, but those pupils who have been accustomed to regard the teacher as an equal at school, can never in after life, entertain a proper respect for him; and will be unavoidably compelled to look upon him as a mere companion. But facts speak quite a different language; and on the contrary I am fully convinced, that children can never entertain a PROPER respect for any person whom they have not first regarded as a friend.

There are some minor reasons why teachers ought to join in the sports of their pupils. One is, it blends childhood with maturity, and probably improves the character-possibly the health of both parties; but especially of the teacher. Again it brings the teacher on the spot, and renders him an eyewitness to many little scenes for a knowledge of which, if it were deemed indispensable, he would otherwise often be compelled to depend on interested, prejudiced, sometimes malicious informers.

But I have no time to enlarge. If these brief hints on a sub

ject which, in my view, ranks among the first in point of importance, should be worthy of a place in the "Annals," whose columns I understand are open to different views on instruction and education, you are at liberty, Mr Editor, to insert them, or any part of them. Yours truly,

A COMMON SCHOOL TEACHER.

ART. VI. PRACTICAL LESSON ON READING.

Records of an Experiment in teaching Reading and Spelling.

BY J. L. PARKHURST.

[No practical lesson is of greater value than a record of experiments, with all their difficulties and failures, as well as their successful results. In this view we present our readers with an extract from the experiments which gave rise to the "Primer" of Mr Parkhurst -one of the most interesting we know, with which we have been favored by the author.]

my

MR WOODBRIDGE. — In compliance with your request, some time since communicated, I will now endeavor to furnish a detailed account of the manner in which I was led to the method of spelling which I describe in "First Lessons." I believe, however, it will be impossible to do this, without including, at the same time, the method of teaching a child to read. Between the intellectual operations, required in the two exercises of reading and spelling, there is probably less difference, than is commonly imagined. The faculty of reading consists in having the written characters, which are perceived by the eye, suggest to the mind those vocal sounds which they represent. In spelling, this process is exactly reversed. The vocal sounds or words, which are addressed to the ear, must suggest to the mind the written characters by which they are represented. The process, in each case, depends on what is termed the association or suggestion of ideas. The two exercises of reading and spelling ought to be taught together, as each is a help to the other: spelling conduces to accuracy in reading, and reading facilitates the difficult operation of spelling. Whatever remarks I have to offer, in explanation of my method of teaching, or in illustration of its peculiar advantages, will be best understood after giving an account of the method itself. I am far from imagining that this method is the best possible one; but I am confident it is superior to any other that has come to my knowledge.

I became convinced, many years ago, that the common method of teaching children to read and spell, was a very injudicious one. It was then customary, and I fear it is still so in many schools,- to keep children a long time in reading and spelling columns of words, before they were allowed to read sentences. My oldest child was taught to read about nine years ago, without making any use of more than one or two pages in the Spelling-Book. From this he learned a part of the abs, and some of the easiest and most familiar of the words, composed of three letters. He was then taught both to read and spell the most simple and intelligible sentences that could be selected from Barbauld's Lessons and elsewhere. His progress was rapid, and was delightful, both to himself and his teacher. The perusal of Edgeworth had previously convinced me,

however, that his method of teaching children to read, was still better; but I supposed, that in order to teach a child to read without his having learned the names of the letters, it was necessary to have a book marked in the manner which he describes ;* and the expense of getting a book printed on this plan, prevented me from making a trial of his method at that time. In the course of two or three years, however, I became convinced, that the evils arising from connecting the names of the letters with the process of reading and spelling, might be avoided in a way more simple and direct than his. How far I was indebted for this to my own reflection and how far to the Journal of Education and Worcester's Primer, I am unable to recollect.

My first experiment on this plan, was tried in 1827; and its success was as great as I could expect, in the unfavorable circumstances in which it was tried, and the short time it was continued. In 1829, I had an opportunity to repeat the experiment in circumstances which were much more favorable. I now carefully noticed its operation and marked its results from day to day. The subject of this experiment was a child, who had never learned to read at all, not even to distinguish a letter of the alphabet. I considered him as being rather slow to learn; but his subsequent improvement has taught me, that "slowness" is not exactly synonymous with "dulness." Člearness of view, certainty of knowledge, and accuracy of discrimination, are much more important to a pupil, than quickness of apprehension. As the child, above referred to, belonged to my own family, and as I considered the experiment an important one, I used every precaution to secure the process from being disturbed by any counteracting influences. He was 4 years and 5 months old the day I began to teach him. I wrote an account, from day to day, of my method of teaching and his progress in learning; and though I sometimes failed in skill, and saw reason, from time to time, to modify my method, yet perhaps the most satisfactory course will be, to let the account I am now to give, consist chiefly of extracts from the diary which I then kept.

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“Aug. 1, 1829. I have this day begun to teach Henry to read. He has learned, today, to read a man, a rat, a hat, a dog, in Worcester's Primer, Lesson I. I have concealed all the words in capitals, by sticking on pieces of paper with gum-arabic. I first showed him the picture of a man, having covered, with a loose paper, all the other pictures and corresponding words, asked him what it was; and, when he said, 'A man,' I pointed, with my penknife, to the opposite words, and said, 'That is a man too: that little word is a, and that great word is man. When you see those words, you must say a man; - that is the way to read.' Then immediately pointing to the picture, I asked, 'What is that?' and to the words, 'What is that?' And when he called them right, I let him take the knife, and say a man slowly, pointing to each word as he pronounced it. Then slipping down the covering, so as to let him see the next picture and corresponding word, I asked, What is that?' He said, 'Pussey." I told him to say a cat. Then, pointing to the first picture, 'What is that?' 'A man.' Pointing to the opposite words, 'What is that?''A man.' Pointing to the second picture, What is that?' 'A cat.' Pointing to the opposite words, "What is that?' A man.' 'No! a cat: this is a cat.' Then, on my repeating the four questions in the same order, he answered correctly. And then, on my covering the pictures, and showing him the words alone, he read them correctly. And then, on my

*See "Practical Education," Vol. I. Chap. 2.

VOL. III. - NO. I.

4

covering the pictures and either of the words, he read the other correctly. All this was done in so short a time, (in less than ten minutes, I think,) that contrary to my original intention, I proceeded to teach him to read a hat, and then a dog, in the same method. My impression is, that he was able to tell either of the four words, when the other three and all the pictures were covered, in less than fifteen minutes from the commencement of the exercise. I was so astonished and delighted, however, that my ideas of time may not have been very accurate.

"I have heard him read the page several times since; and I have found, that unless the lesson had been soon and often repeated, what was so easily learned, would have been as easily forgotten. I believe, however, he knows all the words perfectly now, excepting that the words hat and cat being so similar, he sometimes mistakes the one for the other. I just now went over the words, several times, continually shifting the order, and he made but a single error, near the commencement of the exercise. I found him, in the early part of the day, disposed to avail himself of the local situation to assist him in reading. He would say, 'A man is up there, and a dog is down here.' To cut off this resource, I provided a piece of paper, once and a half as long as the page, with a rectangular opening on one side, through which he could see each word, without being able to see any other word or picture, or to judge on what part of the page the word which he sees is situated."

On the same day, I commenced with Henry another course of instruction, entirely independent of the preceding. Having put an alphabet of the Roman small letters on pasteboard, and cut them up into tickets, I took the letters o and b, and placing them side by side, taught him to call it ob. The method of teaching, of which this was the first step, I shall denominate the ticket system; the peculiar advantages and disadvantages of which, will be shown in their proper place.

"Aug. 3. He yesterday learned to read a hog, a boy, a cup, a rat, a pin : and has to day become able to read the nine words on the opposite page. These are the words previously learned, but are arranged in a different order, without the pictures, and in a much smaller type. The smallness of the type occasioned considerable difficulty. The transition is too great. He now, however, when shown either of the nine words by the side of its corresponding picture, can readily find the same word in the columns ; and he also readily reads these columns, without referring to the two preceding pages. He is delighted with learning; being if possible, more eager to learn than even William* ever was.

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Having ascertained that H. remembered ob, I placed an a under the o, with a little space between, and moving the b to the right of the a, said, "That is ab." I then moved the b back, for him to say ob again; and thus moving the b back and forth several times, I taught him to utter each sound the moment the letters came in contact."

"Aug. 4. Having ascertained that H. remembered ob and ab, I removed the letters o and a, and placed an under the b. I then placed the o again by the b, and as soon as he had said ob, moved the o to the left of the l, and said, 'That is ol.' When he had told ob and ol alternately several times, I removed the 1, placed the a again under the o, and let him repeat ob and ab as before. The design was, to make him perceive, that the difference of sound between ob and ab is occasioned by the difference of the letters on the left hand; and that the difference of sound between ob and ol is occasioned by the difference of the letters on the right hand.

*His elder Brother.

"H. has learned to read cow, hen, pen, sun, in Less. 2. I have covered the article the, prefixed to each word, to be shown tomorrow.

"I have made a beginning in teaching him to spell with the tickets. I first myself arranged the letters so as to form the word man. He could not read it, the letters on the tickets being much larger than the largest in the Primer. I directed him to step back and look at it, and see if he could read it then. When he got about half across the room, he says, 'It looks like man; is it?' I found it necessary to diminish the angle of vision in the same manner with two or three other words, before he could read them readily at a near view. I then put the three letters promiscuously before him, and asked him to place them so as to make the word man. This he very readily did. I then did the same with the words cat, hat, and dog, and taught him to call this spelling. I then put on four letters, from which he was to select three to form a word. I then increased the number to five, then to six, and then to seven; and I believe I tried him with eight and nine. I fear I have been pushing him a little too fast today. He has committed a great many errors in spelling. He sometimes selects the wrong letter, where two letters are similar; sometimes puts a letter the wrong end up; and sometimes arranges them in a wrong order. Nor do I wonder; for it requires no small degree of discrimination to attend to all these three things, especially when the letters are thrown before him in all possible situations, and sometimes the other side up. He has learned to read thirteen words in four days, besides the syllables ab, ob, and ol, and he can read most of these words in types of three different sizes. And I find, to my astonishment, that in these words and syllables are nineteen different letters of the alphabet."

"Aug. 5. I taught H. the word the, which was omitted yesterday. Having ascertained that he remembered ob, ab, and ol, I removed the two vowels, placed the a again by the b, and as soon as he had said ab, moved the a to the left of the l, and said, 'That is al.' I then let him tell ab and al alternately. To diversify the exercise still more, and save the trouble of removing some letters out of sight at every change, I now placed the vowels, at the left hand side of the slate, (I think it was a slate that I used,) and the consonants opposite to them on the right hand. I then moved the letters, one at a time, so as to make him read in the following manner: (moving the o) ob, ol; (moving the a) ab, al; (moving the b) ob, ab; (moving the l) ol, al: (then forming each lower combination before the one above it) ol, ob; al, ab ; ab, ob; al, ol; ob, al; ab, ol. "In spelling, I have exercised H. today in this manner: I have placed in a row, the right end up, the letters a, c, d, g, h, m, n, o, r, and t. This order is alphabetical, as far as the letters allow. I then call on him to spell man, cat, hat, dog, hog, and rat, taking the words sometimes promiscuously, and sometimes according to analogy, and returning the letters to their place as soon as he has spelled a word. I consider this exercise highly useful; but he is yet far from being perfect in it. He can spell ob and ab, ol and al without any hesitation."

"Aug. 6. H. having, without error, gone through the exercise on the slate with the four combinations already learned, I placed an r under the l; then, moving the o, let him tell ob and ol, and when the o came to the r, said to him, "or." I then moved the letters so as to make him read as follows: ol, ox; ob, ex; ob, ol, ox; ab, ob, ox; ol, al, ox. - I taught him or early in the morning. After breakfast, finding he remembered it, I showed him the picture of a for and the corresponding word, taking pains to explain the difference between a for and an or. But I soon found that I had erred. He had never seen a fox; and in consequence of the similarity of sound, the two words became confounded in his mind.