The exercise, to serve its purpose, must enlist the mental activity of the children- their constructive imagination, their powers of inference and reasoning; accepted by them in a state of passive receptivity, the exercise is valueless. Of course the degree of activity and originality will vary greatly from child to child; but every child should show some touch of independent imagination in response to the questions concerning the center of interest in the picture. Encourage great variety of replies to these questions, but insist that they be in harmony with what the picture plainly reveals. For example, these are not satisfactory answers to the question concerning what the boy on the wall sees: "a robin," "a horse," "a boy," "a dog," "a house." Why not? Because such commonplace things would not excite the children as they are obviously excited. Refuse such answers and be sure that the children under stand why you refuse them.

By a little informal dramatizing, get the children thoroughly aroused and into the spirit of the story that must be told. If the boy on the wall is supposed to see a balloon descending, let a child imitate his look of excitement and gestures as he rushes to a window, climbs up on a chair (ladder), looks and points off, and let him cry out, “Oh, look, look, the balloon, the balloon!" Let the other children answer, "Where? Where? Let me see," etc.

From the variety of answers that you get con

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cerning the center of interest, select one with the approval of the children. With this as a center

construct out of the children's answers to other questions a brief, harmonious story, taking care that the children understand every step as fully as possible and that they be given the feeling of coöperating. Of course the resulting story will not express any considerable amount of the originality of any single child; yet through the process of working out stories together in this way each child will soon learn how to read a story from a picture all alone and to put into it his own conceptions throughout. After the story has been worked out to completion, have one or more children reproduce it.

Supplementary Work

1. Dramatizing the picture story.

Under your guidance encourage the children themselves to do all they can in deciding upon the parts, the actors, the scenery, etc., and in carrying out the dramatization. See the discussion of the function and conduct of dramatizing (p. 14).

Supposing the story that you have to dramatize is substantially that of The Circus Parade, these are some of the matters that the children should be led to decide and carry out.

Children in the garden: How many? Who shall take part? What shall they be doing at first? (Digging, hoeing, raking, gathering flowers, playing tag.)

What shall serve as a wall and ladder? (Window sill with chair beside it.)

Why does Tom climb the ladder? (Perhaps he heard a noise over the wall that made the children stop what they were doing.)

What does Tom say

exact words as he runs to the ladder? What does he call out as he reaches the top of the wall (window sill) and looks and points off (out of the window)?

What do the other childrer. cry out as they reach the top of the wall? ("Oh, see that big elephant!" "Hear the lion. roar!" "Just look at those funny camels!" etc.)

The dramatization might end, as the story ends, with a proposal from Tom to see mother about going to the circus. (Children all rush off to mother.)

2. Working out with the children other stories from the same picture.

Take for the heart of these stories suggestions made by the children in the first exercise. Let the stories be as different from the first as possible. Expect the children to assist more in putting these stories into form than they were able to do in the first exercise.

3. "Original" stories told by the children.

From any of the unused suggestions that have been made children may tell "original" stories. Only a few of the best pupils should be called upon for these stories. Insist on point, brevity, and consistency.

X (17). More Picture Stories

(Picture of children at window, p. 19)

As a result of the study of the last picture, children should be able to make stories with a little more independence. Still they must be well started in the study of this picture.

While the stories that may be told from the children at the window picture are very different

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from those of the garden wall picture, their fundamental characteristics are the same, and they are worked out in the same way. There must be a center of interest in the story, something that the children see, but that is not revealed in the picture. It must be something quite amusing, as shown by the children's faces. What is it? What are children likely to see from a window that amuses them?

In taking up the study of this picture with the children so as to get them started right, refer to the garden wall picture and the way that the stories were worked out of that after determining the center of interest, and lead the children to see that this picture is to be studied in the same way. Perhaps the children will think that four of these children resemble the children in the garden wall picture. If they do, it may add to the interest to let these stories be really a continuation of the stories from that picture.

Get the children to give you a large variety of things that would be appropriate for the center of interest in a story which this picture would illustrate: as, a monkey with an organ grinder; a dancing bear; a circus clown cutting up antics; an exciting game played by other children; a funny upset with nobody hurt; some harmless April Fool trick. Encourage the children to enter heartily into the spirit of the various suggestions, perhaps

with the aid of bits of appropriate dramatization as proposed in the study of the last picture.

With this aid at the beginning, the children may be able to work out, each one for himself, under the guidance of the questions and suggestions in their book, appropriate stories. If they need more help from you before attempting this, study further with them, somewhat after this manner:

Outline of Stories from Children at Window Picture

Tom had a birthday party. He invited several of his little friends. As they were playing (pupils suggest games), or as they were eating (pupils suggest what), they were startled by (pupils tell what). They rushed to the window and saw (what?).

Here have pupils supply the exact conversation of the children, making it interesting, animated, and appropriate to the thing that they are supposed to see.

Let the outside incident be ended.

What do the children say?

Then they return to their game (how might they change their 、game as suggested by what they have just seen?) or to their

lunch.

Give the children time to think out a story, each one for himself. Encourage them to vary their stories as much as possible from the one that you may have worked out with them. There should be enough unused suggestions regarding the center of interest to enable every child to put a little of his own thought, his inventive imagination, into the construction of a story.