Reviews and Abstracts. prose or verse, dictated orally by the teacher, as a test of their proficiency in spelling, punctuation, use of capitals, penmanship, etc. In the 4th and 5th grades, the pupils may use either pen or pencil, at the discretion of the teacher; but in the 1st, 2d, and 3d grades they should be required in all cases to use a pen. These exercises should be strictly extemporaneous, and every paper should be passed to the desk at the close of a specified time. In conducting written reviews, great care should be taken to remove from the pupils, so far as possible, all temptation to seek assistance from books, or papers, or classmates. When two pupils of the class are seated at the same desk, it is often desirable to have two sets of questions of about equal difficulty -one set for all the pupils sitting at one end of the desks, and one for those sitting at the other end. Written reviews are among the most successful means that can be employed for securing thoroughness and accuracy of scholarship. They afford a reliable test of the pupil's knowledge of the subject, cultivate habits of freedom and accuracy in the use of language, and afford a valuable discipline to the mind, by throwing the pupil entirely upon his own resources. In addition to the written reviews, teachers of the higher divisions should require frequent written exercises in connection with the daily recitations in history, grammar, arithmetic, etc. All written reviews, abstracts, etc., should pass under the critical examination of the teacher; the General Directions, Important errors should be corrected; and pupils presenting papers carelessly written, should be required to rewrite them. $10. Number of Classes in a Division.-As a general rule, the pupils assigned to each teacher in the Grammar Department, should be divided into two classes; in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, into three classes; and in the 9th and 10th grades, into The number of pupils in a division, or other cireumstances, may make it desirable, in certain cases, It is desirable that each class in the Grammar Papartment should not number more than 29 or 25 vf Boon chia to be pursued at a time. Order of Exercises, etc. § 12. Order of Exercises and Length of Recitations. Every teacher should have posted up in the room an established order of exercises for each day in the week, assigning a definite time for the beginning and ending of every exercise, and of every interval between the exercises. It is impracticable to establish a uniform rule respecting the frequency and length of recitations. The following scale will serve as a general guide to teachers in this matter: Recitations in the Grammar Department from twenty-five to forty minutes in length, except exercises in spelling, which may usually be completed in fifteen to twenty-five minutes; in the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades, from twenty to twenty-five minutes; in the 8th and 9th grades, from fifteen to twenty minutes; and in the 10th grade, from ten to fifteen minutes.* * "From four to five lessons a day for a Primary school, is better than six, even for mental proficiency. A Primary school that has even five hours of session per day should have an hour or more of interval at midday. Besides, there should be one or two recesses during each session. The exercises of the school should be so arranged as to give a change of position and subject as often as every fifteen or twenty minutes. No child will give sufficient attention to derive much benefit from a lesson that continues more than twenty minutes. Five and ten minute lessons, on some subjects, are better than longer ones. Lessons occupying different senses should follow each other, as the change affords relief to the mind." -N. A. Calkins. The following is the programme of exercises for two days of the week, in one of the Primary schools of Oswego, N. Y. It includes only the pupils of a single teacher, in the upper Primary grades, General Directions. 3 13. Frequency of Recitations.-The following arrangement will serve as a general guide, but cases may sometimes arise in which it will be necessary to depart from it: Reading Classes in the 1st grade, two or three times a week; in the 2d and 3d grades, three and is introduced here to show the minuteness of detail, the range of topics, and the arrangement and distribution of time and subjects, that have been adopted in a city that is distinguished for the excellence of its school system: 9.15 to 9.20-Gymnastics. 9.20 to 9.35-Lessons on Number, B, subd. 2. 9.35 to 9.45-Recess. 9.45 to 10.00-Lesson on Place, A class. 10.00 to 10.25-Reading, B, subd. 2. 10.25 to 10.30-Gymnastics. 10.30 to 10.50-Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1. 10.50 to 11.00-Recess. 11.00 to 11.20 - Reading, A class. 11.20 to 11.40-Writing on slates, B, subd. 1. 11.40 to 12.00- Lesson on Number, A class. 12.00 to 2.00 to 2.00-Intermission. 2.35-Gymnastics. 2.85 to 2.55-Reading, B, subd. 2. 2.55 to 8.10 to 8.10-Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1. 8.15 to 3.30- Recess. Frequency of Recitations. or four times; 4th grade, four or five times; 5th and 6th grades, five to eight times; 7th and 8th grades, eight to ten times. Slate arithmetic, three or four times a week; mental arithmetic, in 4th and 5th grades, four or five times a week; in 3d grade, three or four times; in 2d grade, two or three times. Numbers, in five lowest grades, five times a week. TUESDAY. 8.30 to 8.45-Opening Exercises. 8.45 to 9.00-Lesson on Form, B, subd. 2. 9.20 to 9.35-Spelling, A class. 9.35 to 9.45-Recess. 9.45 to 10.10-Reading, B, subd. 2. 10.10 to 10.20-Drawing, B, subd. 1. 10.20 to 10.25-Gymnastics. 10.25 to 10.50-Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1. 4.10 to 4.30-Lesson on Number, B, subd. 1. .30-Dismission. |