SUPPLEMENTARY WORK 71 Impress upon the children the necessity of asking Give individual sugges good, sensible questions. tion and help to those who need it. Now have papers exchanged, questions read, and answered orally, as follows: A child reads a question. If it is correctly written, he answers it in a sentence; if anything is wrong about it, he says, "I shall not answer this question, because (giving the reason, as, "it does not begin with a capital letter "). Other questions are read and answered, or rejected, in the same way. The teacher should be in a position to see what mistakes, if any, the pupil reading makes. 1. Have Supplementary Work papers read and answered that, for lack of time, may not have been taken up at the regular exercise. 2. Have questions corrected by pupils who wrote them, giving reasons for their corrections, as directed in Chapter Two (VII, p. 48). 3. Distribute the pupils' papers, which have been preserved for the purpose. Let pupils write answers to the questions, making a complete sentence for each answer. They should be reminded of the correct beginning and ending of statements. If this exercise is given, it must be carried out and corrected just as carefully, and in the same way, as a regular exercise. V (58). How Titles are Written Study this lesson with the pupils, making sure that they understand it, but giving only such direct help as may be necessary. This lesson contains the model for the study of titles. VI (59). Copying a Story The purpose of this lesson is to give the pupil drill in writing a title properly and to review the use of capitals to begin sentences, the period to end statements, and the question mark to end questions. On the blackboard, or on a sheet of paper held up before the class, show pupils: (1) where to place the title (in the middle of the page), (2) the space to leave between the title and the first line, and (3) the indention of the first line. About the indention of the first line, it will be sufficient at this time to tell and show them that there should be left a space of about one inch between the edge of the paper and the beginning of the first line, while that between the edge and other lines should be only half as much. The subject of margins will be taken up later. As the pupils copy, the teacher should be moving about among them, helping them, by a hint or a question, to avoid errors and to make corrections when necessary. The corrections are to be made as previously directed (p. 49). VII (60). Dictation: "The Trees and the Woodcutter" The purpose of this exercise is to test and to apply the pupils' knowledge of the writing of a title and the correct use of capitals, period, and question mark. Dictate the story already studied and copied, The Trees and the Woodcutter. Let the exercise proceed like this: Teacher: This is the title, The Trees and the Woodcutter. Pupils repeat the title, The Trees and the Woodcutter, slowly and distinctly in concert. Then all write. Teacher: This is the first sentence, A woodcutter, etc. Teacher: This is the next (or second) sentence, The trees, etc. The other sentences are dictated, repeated, and written in the same manner. It is worthy of note that whenever speaking of a sentence, the teacher uses the word "sentence." Pupils must be trained to concentrated attention in taking dictation. As a rule, the teacher should give a sentence only once; pupils should repeat only once. Sentences must be given as wholes, never broken up into words. If your pupils are not yet capable of taking this dictation in this way, simplify and shorten it. Two short sentences can easily be made of the first rather long one; the rest may be abbreviated and changed. Thus simplified, it might read as follows: A woodcutter went into the forest. He asked the trees to give him a handle for his ax. He made a handle of it. The trees gave him a young ash tree. The woodcutter began to cut down the trees. Soon all the tall trees were laid low. Were they not well punished for giving up their little brother? Read again carefully the suggestions about dictation (p. 50). Let the exercise be corrected at once, as directed in Chapter Two (p. 51). This correction should take but a few minutes, if the teacher is accustomed to see quickly and to work rapidly. Pay especial attention to the correction of any mistakes in the title, as this is the new subject which is being taught. If a child has omitted a capital, insist that he give an exact and full statement of the reason for using it, thus, " The should have been begun with a capital because it is the first word of a title," or, " I should have begun trees with a capital because it is an important word of a title." VIII (60). Copying Titles The corrections of errors by the pupils should begin as soon as the first title is copied. The teacher passes about among the children as they work, and calls their attention to errors, as directed in Chapter Two (p. 49, VII). The reason for the correction must always be insisted upon before the correction is made by the pupil. SUPPLEMENTARY WORK Supplementary Work 75 Write lists of titles upon the board for pupils to study and to recite upon. These may also be copied, and the work corrected. IX (61). Writing Titles from Dictation Dictate the titles copied in Section VIII, p. 60. Have work corrected at once. Supplementary Work Without study by the pupils, dictate several easy titles taken from stories in the reading book. Difficult words should be spelled orally before pupils write them. One pupil may write at the board, while others look out for errors, or all may write at their seats. In either case, errors should be corrected, and reasons given for every correction, just as conscientiously as though this were regular instead of supplementary work. Better omit the supplementary work altogether than to let it be done shiftlessly. Some pupil may call attention to the fact that in some printed titles capital letters are used throughout. If this should happen, it would be well to have pupils examine titles in several of their books. They will probably discover that in some books the first letter of some words of the title is larger than the other letters, though all are capitals. When such is the case, let them discover, if they can, that |