Essentials of teaching reading

Chapter 2, Grouping

Chapter 3, Melody - Chapter 4, Force - Chapter 5, Quality - PART II.— INTERPRETATIVE READING

Chapter 6, Types and Figures of Speech - Chapter 7, Effects - PART III.— METHODS

Chapter 8, Primary Reading

Chapter 9, Parts of a Recitation and Assignment

of the Lesson -

Chapter 10, Classification of Material Chapter ii, Obstacles to Good Expression Chapter 12, Illustrative Lessons Chapter 13, Use of the Dictionary Chapter 14, Articulation -

PART IV.— SELECTIONS FOR PRACTICE Chapter 15, Didactic and Moral The Importance of the Teacher's Work and

the Value of Proper Ideals - Theodore Roosevelt The Power and Worth of Character

William Jennings Bryan Elegy Written in a Country Church yard

Thomas Gray Chapter 16, Oratorical The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln The Southern Soldier Liberty and Union

3 13

19 34 40

98 108 122 132 140 150

Abraham Lincoln

Charles H. Fowler

- Henry Grady

Daniel Webster

Contents

Chapter 17, Dramatic 184

Lochinvar - .- - -Sir Walter Scott

Barbara Frietchie - John Greenleaf Whittier

Preface

/ TPHE purpose of the authors in submitting A this book to the public is twofold. We wish, in the first place, to stimulate the interest in reading, the subject which is the tool of the student in all lines of study. In the second place, we wish to satisfy a demand that has arisen on account of the great interest in reading.

It is evident that there is needed some work that will include in a single volume the minimum of what a teacher should know in regard to teaching reading, as well as illustrative lessons and material for practice.

The plan of the authors has been to include the following essentials :

i. A brief study of some good method of teaching reading in the primary classes.

2. A brief survey of the most important elements in the mechanics of reading, including emphasis, phrasing or thought grouping, time, pitch, volume, and quality,

3. A rapid drill in pronunciation and enunciation.

4. A study of the methods of securing vi PREFACE

thoughtful silent reading and expressive oral reading.

5. A review of the subjects of types and effects.

6. A study of how to select, assign, and conduct the lessons of the intermediate and advanced classes in reading, including those of the seventh and eighth grades.

7. A reading of many pieces of literature of time-proved value.

We hope that this book will be productive of greater knowledge on the part of the teacher, and better work on the part of the pupil, in that most important of all branches, reading.

For reading and criticism of manuscript acknowledgment is due to W. K. Fowler, Ex- Superintendent of Public Instruction of Nebraska, Prof. J. W. Searson, of the Nebraska State Normal at Peru, President A. O. Thomas of the Nebraska State Normal at Kearney, President W. H. Clemmons of the Fremont Normal, and President J. M. Pile of the Wayne Normal.

The Authors

PART I MECHANICS OF READING

TIME, GROUPING, MELODY, FORCE, QUALITY

CHAPTER I TIME

The teacher of reading should have a clear idea of the relative importance of the mechanics of reading and of the thought in reading. There have been two different schools of teaching reading. One school devotes the greatest attention to the mechanics of reading; the other school works t from the thought side. Vital things are taught by each school. It is necessary that the pupil get the thought before he can express it. However, getting the thought does not insure giving it. Many a child knows what a sentence means, who merely names the words in it. Tie thought must be held in the mind while the reading is done. If the child has gotten the thought, and is holding the thought in his mind at the time he reads, his expression will be good. So far as the pupil is concerned, he need not be compelled to study the mechanics of reading. We are satisfied if he gets the thought and gives the thought.

It is necessary, however, for the teacher to have a knowledge of the mechanics of reading. If the pupil uses poor expression, it is the business of the teacher to recognize the cause of the error. It is by a knowledge of the mechanics of reading that the teacher locates the trouble. Just so does a physician diagnose a case. As it is unnecessary for the patient to have the knowledge of the doctor, so it is unnecessary for the pupil to have the knowledge of the teacher. If the pupil wishes to become a teacher, the case becomes a different one. So the knowledge of the functions of Time, Grouping, Melody, Force, and Quality belong to the teacher, not to the pupil. To the teacher it is essential for the proper teaching, and part of the great mass of knowledge drawn upon every day of the school year. The rate at which a selection, a sentence, a phrase, or a word is read is called time. Time is determined by the largeness of the thought, or the quality or strength of the emotion represented by that selection, sentence, phrase, or word. We read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address slowly, for each phrase means much. We read Mother Goose's rhymes rapidly, for they mean almost nothing at all. If we think what we are saying, we repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Twentythird Psalm very slowly, for they mean very much; but the unthinking child rattles off his " Now I lay me down to sleep. " If one word in a sentence touches the memory, and visions of hitherto forgotten things arise, we speak that word slowly. We pause while we say " From Maine to California, ' ' for in that pause the mind must cross America.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea.

We read these lines slowly, because the sentiment in the mind of the reader displays itself in the rate of utterance. We think of the peaceful, restful part of the day; we see the church ; and we hear the sound of the bell. We think of the setting sun and the deepening shadows; we watch the cattle as they leisurely follow the winding paths.

Notice how the time in the following becomes slower when the larger thought is reached :

Then your apples all is gether'd, and the ones a feller keeps

Is poured around the cellar floor in red and yeller heaps ;

And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern folks is through

With their mince and apple butter, and their sous and saussage too.

I don't know how to tell it — but if such a thing could be

As the angels wantin' boardin', and they 'd call 'round on me,

I 'd want to 'commodate 'em, all the whole indurin' flock,-^-

When the frost is on the punkin, and the fodder 's in the shock I

TIME

Rapid utterance also is determined by the thought and emotion. We speak the words, " I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three, ' ' rapidly, but not because we wish to imitate the sound of horses' feet. Nor do we do it to make the reader imagine the galloping. That may be the result, but it is not the cause. The real cause is, that we appreciate the idea of the words, that we feel the emotion. The rapid utterance is the result of a kind of automatic suggestion. The connection is immediate. The brain does not say, " Galloping means quick movement ; therefore, lips, move quickly. ' ' The two things are coincident. As the thought of galloping enters the consciousness and for a time fills it, the lips give out the sound that holds sway.

Notice the somewhat rapid utterance of the following. No emotion is involved, the thoughts are not large, the circumstance is commonplace.

Wal, the very next mornin' Josiah got up with a new idee in his head. And he broached it to me at the breakfast table. They have been havin' sights of pleasure exertions here to Jonesville lately. Every week a'most they would go off on an exertion after pleasure, and Josiah was all up on end to go too.

That man is as well-principled man as I ever see, but if he had his head he would be worse than any young man I ever see to foller up picnics and 4th of July's and camp-meetin's and all pleasure exertions. But I don't encourage him in it. I have said to him time and time again: " There is a time for everything, Josiah Allen, and after anybody has lost their teeth and every mite of hair on the top of their head, it is time for 'em to stop goin' to pleasure exertions.' '

But good land, I might just as well talk to the wind! If that man should get to be as old as Mr. Methusler and be goin* on a thousand years old, he would prick up his ears if he should hear of a exertion. All summer long that man has beset me to go to 'em, for he would n't go without me. Old Bunker Hill himself hain't any sounder in principle 'an Josiah Allen, and I have had to work head-work to make excuses and quell him down. But last week they was goin' to have one out on the lake, on a island, and that man sot his foot down that he would go.

Marietta HollEx.

In the following the strength of the emotion results in the rapidity of the time.

Ranald and Mrs. Murray are being chased by wolves. Ranald glanced over his shoulder. Down the road, running with silent, awful swiftness, he saw the long, low body of the leading wolf flashing through the bars of moonlight across the road, and the pack following hard.

"Let her go, Mrs. Murray, ' ' cried Ranald. "Whip her and never stop." But there was no need; the pony was wild with fear and was doing her best running.

Ranald was meantime holding in the colt, and the pony drew away rapidly. But as rapidly the wolves were closing in behind him. They were not more than "a hundred yards away, and gaining every second. Ranald, remembering the suspicious nature of the brutes, loosened his coat and dropped it in the road; with a chorus of yelps they paused, then threw themselves upon it, and in another minute took up the chase.

But now the clearing was in sight. The pony was far ahead, and Ranald shook out his colt with a yell. He was none too soon, for the pursuing pack, now uttering short, shrill yelps, were now at the colt's heels. Lizette, fleet as the wind, could not shake them off. Closer and ever closer they came, snapping and snarling. Ranald could see them over his shoulder. A hundred yards more, and he would reach his own back lane. The leader of the pack seemed to feel that his chances were slipping swiftly away. With a spurt he gained upon Lizette, reached the saddle-girths, gathered himself in two short jumps, and sprang for the colt's throat. Instinctively Ranald stood up in his stirrups, and kicking his foot free, caught the wolf under the jaw. The brute fell with a howl under the colt's feet, and the next moment they were in the lane and safe. Ralph Connor.

Dickens' " Death of Little Nell ' ' is one of those pieces of literature in which the quality of the emotion, and the largeness of the thought, unite to produce slow time.

She was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand of God, and waiting for the breath of life: not one who had lived and suffered death.

Her couch was dressed here and there with winter berries and green leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favor. " When I die, put

TIME near me something that has loved the light and had the sky above it always." Those were her words.

She was dead. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Her little bird — a poor, slight thing ,the pressure of a finger would have crushed — was stirring nimbly in its cage; and the strong heart of its child-mistress was mute and motionless forever.

Where were the traces of her early cares ? All gone. Sorrow was dead within her; but peace and perfect happiness were born, — imaged in her tranquil beauty and profound repose.

And still her former self lay there, unaltered in this change. Yes. The old fireside had smiled upon that same sweet face; it had passed like a dream through haunts of misery and care; at the door of the poor school master on the summer evening, before the furnace-fire upon the cold, wet night, at the still bedside of the dying boy, there had been the same mild, lovely look. So shall we know the angels in their majesty, after death.

An example of slow time on account of the greatness of the thought is found in John Adams' speech at the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured, that this declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as of the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy.

Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope to be, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment; independence now; and INDEPEND- ENCE FOREVER.

Another example of the same time for the same cause. Portia. The quality of mercy is not strained ; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath : it is twice bless'd; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice.

The teacher should give few mechanical directions.

An injunction, " Read more slowly, my boy, " is a truly mechanical device. It is the same operation as that of the engineer when he partially closes the throttle. It changes in no way the child's conception of the thought. The slower reading that results is not one whit better than the rapid reading of the first attempt, because it represents no better conception of the thought.

The teacher should work through the thought and emotion. The teacher of reading knows the lesson that he assigns. He knows how much is meant by the author. If his pupils read too rapidly, he knows that they are not appreciating the magnitude of the ideas. So he tries to bring to their realization so much of the author's thought as the children are able to grasp. He does this by question, or by explanation, or by paraphrase. He uses the children's experience and their imagination. He works from the thought and the emotion. He regards time as a test, not as an end.

Reading that is too slow. This trouble may arise from one of three causes. The child may be slow by nature. The teacher should then not require what is beyond the pupil's power to do. Reading that is right, judged by his temperament, should be

TIME accepted. Sometimes children read too slowly because of unfamiliarity with the words. The treatment then is determined by the cause of the unfamiliarity.

It may be the result of having a reader that is too difficult for the pupils. There may be too many new words per page. In such a case the reader should be changed. The lack of familiarity with the words may result from the nationality of the pupil. If it is impossible, or not best, to transfer him to a more elementary class, then the teacher must possess her soul with patience until the pupil learns our language. In a few years he will be up with his fellows. The child learns languages so easily that a foreign born child will finish with the American children and will learn our language in addition.

In the third place, this unfamiliarity with the words may be the result of careless assignment of the lesson. (See Assignment of the Lesson.) If the reading is too slow on account of word trouble, let the teacher, first of all, see to it that she has performed her work properly.

As a summary of what has been said in this chapter, and as an illustration of the handling of a selection to bring out the largeness of the thought, let us read Julia Ward Howe's wonderful poem, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." This poem is usually sung in our schools to the tune of "John Brown's Body Lies Mouldering in the Grave.' ' We make the rhythm the conspicuous thing. We sing it, " Humpty, dumpty, dumpty, dumpty; humpty, dumpty, dumpty, dum; " etc. Let us see what it really means.

Julia Ward Howe felt her heart throb with sympathy for a million slaves. She was oppressed with the thought of the great sin that her nation had committed. She saw the gathering of myriads of fighting men to overwhelm the defenders of slavery. Thinking of all this she wrote : —

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on.

In the darkness of the night she has gone up to the house roof in her home in the nation's capital. She has seen the campfires of the soldiers in those ninety forts that encircled and defended Washington. She thinks of the terrible power soon to be loosed from those thousands of muskets, those hundreds of cannon. As she thinks of this, it comes to her that God, himself, is moving in the midst of this army, that He has pronounced His will, and that His omnipotent power is on the side of the North.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on.

In our imagination we also see the columns of blue clad, stalwart men marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, filling it from curb to curb, stretching away in the distance as far as the eye can reach. We also feel the irresistible power of the cause. Certainly God is on our side, and He is marching with His children.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: " As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel, Since God is marching on. ' '

As we think of this host of soldiers, of this just cause, of the aroused wrath of God, there comes a determination that this rebellion shall be quelled, that this blot shall be removed, that men shall be tested by fire and by blood. All this shall be done, it cannot be prevented, for God has willed it.

TIME u

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.

In an upper room in a lodging-house in London, a group of war correspondents were celebrating the approach of war in the Soudan. Led by the veteran, the Nilghai, they sing the American song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' , They sing the first stanza, and the second, and the third, and the fourth. Then they pause. Cassavetti, the Frenchman, proud of his knowledge, starts the last verse, — but grizzled old Torpenhow, the veteran of a dozen campaigns, holds up his hand and says, " Hold on. We've nothing to do with that. That belongs to another man." What is this verse, so high in sentiment, so lofty in tone, that these men would not or could not sing it? This is it.

In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.

OUTLINE OF CHAPTER I

TIME Mechanics of reading.

Relative importance of the mechanics and the thought. The two schools of teaching reading.

Necessity of teachers understanding the mechanics of reading. Definition of time.

What determines time.

Function of time.

What causes rapid time.

Common place thought.

Excitement.

What causes slow time.

Emotion.

Largeness of thought.

Mechanical directions.

Through what to work.

Cause of too rapid reading.

Causes of too slow reading.

Nature of reader.

Difficult text

Poor assignment of lesson.

Example of method.

FOR REVIEW AND SUGGESTION i. Why is the knowledge of the mechanics of reading important for the teacher?

2. What are the various schools of teaching reading? How do they differ?

3. What important truths are taught in each school?

4. How is a teacher's work similar to a physician's?

5. What determines time in reading?

6. Why do we read descriptions of races rapidly ? 7 What causes too rapid reading ?

8. How can these causes be removed ?

9. What causes too slow reading ?

10. How can these causes be removed ?

n. Would you read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address slowly or rapidly? Why?

12. What would you do if a pupil in a reading class should read "America" very rapidly?

13. At what rate should "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" be read? Kipling's "Recessional" ?

14. Name some selections to be read in rapid time. Medium time. Slow time.

15. Should a child ever be told to read slower? When?

16. How far should the temperament of children be taken into account in criticising the rate of their reading ?

17. Will pupils of foreign ancestry require any different treatment from pupils of American ancestry ?

18. Under what circumstances should a teacher read to pupils ?

CHAPTER II GROUPING

A thing that affects Time, though important enough to be treated separately, is the subject of grouping. Good readers instinctively divide the words of a sentence into groups of varying lengths. The purpose of this grouping is that the hearer may receive the thought in units larger than words, and thereby understand it the more easily. When words expressing an idea are grouped together, the hearer receives the idea as a unit. If the words are not given as a group, he receives a part of the idea, and must change his idea as each new element is introduced. This grouping is not only essential to intelligent reading, but it is also natural. The mind finds it hard to hold long sentences in their entirety. A child will either break up these sentences into groups of comprehensible length, or giving up the task, read the whole sentence as a string of words. He may even attach some words of the next sentence to his string, and be sternly informed by a mechanical teacher that he forgot to drop his voice at the period. It is the business of the teacher to promote the tendency to group words in reading.

What words belong in a group is a matter determined by the thought alone. The mechanical teacher has a difficult task in teaching grouping, for there are no certain mechanical aids in discovering the groups. Punctuation is of some assistance, not because marks of punctuation mean pauses, but because they indicate thought-units, and therefore, words grouped together in reading. Notice this sentence : — ' ' Earth , that nourished thee, shall claim thy growth. ' ' Here the commas set off

*3 a supplementary clause. This relative clause is also a group of words read together. On the other hand, in the sentence — " Every Tom, Dick, and Harry was invited," there are commas, but the words are grouped together. Certainly no good reader would pause after the first word in the line, — " But, look you, Cassius — " Punctuation, then, does not determine grouping, but does indicate structure of the sentence. Structure depends on thought, and thought determines grouping.

In the following sentences there are very clearly defined groups, while there are but few punctuation marks. The groups are indicated by dashes. " At the present day — the value of the cat — as a useful and pleasant inmate of the home — is generally recognized. ' ' "The Star of Napoleon — was just reaching its zenith, — as that of Washington — was beginning to wane."

Children should be taught to feel the thought-groups and to indicate them while reading. The voice should not drop as at the end of the sentence. The sentence unit should still be in the child's mind. He should glance through the sentence before he begins to read. He should know that he will not be through before he gives the whole thought. He should read the sentence as a unit, dividing the connected ideas into subordinate groups of varying lengths.

The primary pupil will find his first sentences to be single groups; as, " I have a leaf. ' ' But even in the latter part of the first reader, grouping begins; as, " Three little squirrels — live in a tree." Grammar grade pupils find work like this: " Fourscore and seven years ago — our fathers brought forth upon this continent — a new nation, — conceived in liberty, — and dedicated to the proposition — that all men are created equal."

Notice the great importance of proper grouping in the reading of the last lines of Whittier's " Barbara Frietchie." Try reading it by lines and then by groups.

All day long through Frederick Street/ Sounded the tread of marching feet; /

All day long / that free flag / tost Over the heads of the rebel host. /

Ever its torn folds / rose and fell

On the loyal winds that loved it well; /

And through the hill-gaps / sunset light Shone over it with a warm good-night. /

Barbara Frietchie's work / is o'er, /

And the Rebel rides on his raids no more. /

Honor to her! / and let a tear

Fall, / for her sake, / on Stonewall's bier. /

Over Barbara Frietchie's grave, / Flag of Freedom and Union; / wave!

Peace/and order/and beauty/draw • Round thy symbol of light and law ; /

And ever the stars above / look down On thy stars below / in Frederick town!/

Few rules can be given the pupil about grouping. The

only one that is universal is, that there is never more than one emphatic word in a group. If the reader decides to emphasize an additional word in a group upon which he is already decided, he will instinctively make two groups out of what he had before made but one. Work from the thought side. Help the pupils to pick out groups. Have them copy paragraphs and put marks where the groups are separated. Sometimes it is made more plain to the children by telling them that the words in a group are spoken as if they were parts of one word.

Allow liberty of thought. The pupil should have reasonable scope for individuality in grouping, as in emphasis or time. After a time, he will acquire the ability and the habit, and oral reading will become for him much more of a pleasure. The following verses are separated into groups. There are good grounds for differences of opinion* in regard to some of the groups. In fact, it is uncommon for two teachers to agree on all the groups in a selection. Many will read the lines thus:

iHis brow is wetnwith honest sweaty

iHe earnsiiwhate'er he can,i |And looks the whole world||in the face,i

|For he owes notpany man.|

Most persons will read it as given in the text below, This selection is grouped by underscoring. The beginning and end of each group is indicated by an upward turn of the line, thus:

[Honor to herlnand let a tear

Fallj|for her sake,||on Stonewall's bier.|

This method of marking groups is preferable to the ordinary vertical line plan because it obscures the text less and because it directs attention to the group rather than to the pause that separates the groups.