Primary object lessons, for training the senses and developing the faculties of children. A manual of elementary instruction for parents and teachers

Front matter

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Calkins'' s New Object Lessons.

PRIMARY

Preface

TO THE FIFTEENTH EDITION.

"Entirely rewritten, reillustratecl, and enlarged," briefly describes tlie relation of this work to the former editions of my Primary Object Lessons. This is essentially a new work, although it treats chiefly upon the same subjects that were presented in the former editions. While these lessons are nearly all new in form, they are intended to maintain and illustrate more clearly the principles of true objective teaching, and the relation of this system of education to the common branches of school instruction.

The lessons of this work embody, in the subjects treated, the results of an experience of nearly eight years as a Superintendent of the Primary Schools in the city of New York ; also as Lecturer in the Saturday Normal School on Principles and Methods of Teaching. Some idea of the nature and extent of this experience may be obtained from the fact that there are employed in these Primary Schools alone more than twelve hundred teachers, and that these teachers have under their instruction a hundred thousand children.

Three subjects which were included in former editions — "Weight," "Place," and "Physical Training" — haA^e been omitted in this work, and^ue new subjects have been added to it — "Home Training of the Senses ;" "Exercises for Training in Habits of Thinking and Speaking promptly, and a correct Use of Language ;" " Time ;" " How to Teach the Sounds of Language ;" and "Lessons on Qualities." Besides, ' ' Form, " ' ' Color, " ' ' Number, " and ' ' Reading" have been much extended by a variety of illustrative exercises, and the lessons on the various subjects introduced have been arranged in graded steps, with a view to adapt the work to the wants of teachers under all circumstances.

The difference between the lessons of this work and those of the former editions, in the subjects which are included in both, consists chiefly in the methods of giving them ; the principles of the system on

VI PREFACE TO THE FIFTEENTH EDITION.

which they are founded remain unchanged. A jirinciple of teaching is a law based upon conditions of the minds of those to be taught. A method of teaching is simply the form or manner of presenting the subjects of instruction. A true principle remains the same always ; while there may be many methods of presenting a subject, each in conformity to the same principle.

Between a child from six to nine years of age, and a youth from twelve to fifteen, there is a greater difference in development than between the youth and the man. There should be a corresponding difference in the subjects and modes of instruction for these periods. During childhood, the attention must be largely occupied with the accumulation of f\\cts through the exercise of the several senses. By means of a proper training of its various faculties, the child attains the power of systematic effort in learning, and thus the youth is enabled to acquire a suitable knowledge for commencing the duties of the man. Unless the child attains this power, the youth can not procure the necessary knowledge. How to properly educate the child, and prepare it for the studies of youth, that it may gain the knowledge requisite for the duties of manhood, is the most difficult problem in education.

Granting that such a knowledge of our language as will enable one to speak, read, and write it readily, and such an acquaintance with arithmetic as will prepare one to engage in the business affairs of life, are the indispensable subjects of school instruction for youth, yet the demands of education for the period of childhood can not be met by elementary instruction in these branches alone. Language itself can not be learned until the mind has been brought in contact, through its several senses, with the qualities and characteristics of things around us. It is only by attention to objects, animals, plants, occupations — in other words, by the observation of whatever may be the surroundings of itself, that the child's mind undergoes that developing process which gives it the power of subsequently acquiring any branch of knowledge.

Since the period of childhood is most profitably spent in attending to those things which will train the mind in power and in facility of mental acquisition, the necessity for that varied character of school instruction M'hich is afforded by means of Object Lessons must be apparent to all educators, and the importance of this system of education

PREFACE TO THE FIFTEENTH EDITION. Vll

be acknowledged by every teacher who will give the subject a careful and candid consideration.

It is well known that the majority of those who engage in school teaching commence its duties Avith little or no professional training. Their preparation for this work usually consists in learning the several branches which are generally taught in school, without attention to methods of instruction, or to exercises specially adapted to train the mental powers of children ; consequently, these teachers enter upon their duties with but little knowledge of the philosophy or the principles which should guide them in their work. In view of these facts, books giving practical suggestions relative to methods of elementary instruction in accordance with right principles of education become almost indispensable to those who engage in teaching. To meet this necessity in the department of primary education, and lead teachers to take proper steps toward success in their work, is the design of this book.

I have deemed it best to devote this work almost entirely to methods of teaching, at the same time aiming, by means of the series of graded lessons in the subjects treated upon, to lead teachers to an understanding of the principles which underlie correct methods of instruction. In a portion of another work now in preparation— " A Manual of Object Teaching"— I shall endeavor to give enough of mental science, in its relations to education, to enable me to present more clearly the philosophy on which the principles of correct teaching are based.

With grateful remembrances of the kind manner in which the former editions of this work were received, and homing that in its new form this may become still more useful in the cause of Primary Instruction, it is once more intrusted to the generous friends of education.

New Yokk, June, 18T0.