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Show THE BEE 8 ing. It makes that I- -M woid, experience," stand out In bold rsllcf, like a mountain up whose rugged side every teacher must lead her pupils If she would have them behold and grasp the beauty and relations of the scenes EDUCATIONAL.. Conducted by J . all-import- KNIGHT. Principal Normal Trailing School. below'. The habit of muling wisely I one of the mtft difficult habits t acquire, needing strong mdutlcn and Infinite jUns; and reading for Micro reading'll take. Instead of for the sake of the good we train from reading, is one of the worst and tvinimweil anl most unwholesome habit wo have. Frederick Harrison. On next Friday and Saturday even ings (April 2S and Z'J). the Oqurrii rvhtn I will give two entertainments ai the Congregational church for the benefit of their piano fund. The exercise. images, of which there are six distinct type, namely, visual, auditory, motor, gustatory and olfactory, corresponding to the Hx senses through which they are received. The inteiiec. tual part of man is made up of these six types of Images and their relations. They aie the materials out of which our thoughts are constructed, for without them there would be no thinking. If all ur mental activities are dependent jpon them, they might properly be earned the resources of the mind, which give to it its form, its color, Its char- will consist of stereoptk-a- acter In life. n velws, ex- plained by pupils, some recitations, music by a chorus of aluut ICO childrens voices, music by an orchestra of fourteen pieces, and other unique features, The programme's for the two nights are entirely different. The Oquirrh school has a reputation for ex. oeptlonally good things in this line, and there is no doubt that this renutation is to be fully sustained. S S THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING. By D. C. Jenson, Critio Teacher, Normal Training School. The subject of reading is of such vital Importance in the childs education is so closely connected with all other studies in the curriculum that a brief discussion upon the subject, sucli as shall here be attempted, must distinguish itself principally by what must of necessity remain unsaid. A brief discussion, however, rnay not be entirely unprofitable to those who may not have given the subject special thought or consideration, and it is hoped that all deficiencies obviously prevalent, by reason of the limited space allotted to the subject, may be supplied with the proper materials from the resources of the minds of the readers, We shall, therefore, make no further apologies, but proceed directly to the discussion of the subject as relating to the work of the teacher. It has long been conceded that for our knowledge of the external world we are dependent upon our senses. A person born blind, and remaining so thiougli life, can never have any knowledge or idea of color; one born deaf can never know' what sound is. This being true, the nature or character of our knowledge must necessarily be determined by the senses through which it is received. Accordingly, we find it coming to us in the form of mental lae-tlJ- e, Since these images are so very essential to all mind activities It Is obvious that one of the first and most imoor tant duties cf the teacher is to facilitate their acquisition; and, the nupil having once acquired them, the teachers next imperative duty is to train him In their efficient use in cultivating and molding the childs character. Reading is one of the means by which this is to be accomplished. First, then, let us inquire: What is reading? Before answering this question, however, let us ask another: What la the purpose or object of writing? It must be conceded that writing Is used as a means of expressing cr record In thought written sentences are the symbols of our thoughts and thoughts consist, as above stated, of a combination of mental images of six distinct Experience, psychologically Interpret, cd, means reality images, and good reading can be had only by securing the necessary reality Images. Hence we see the educational value of the great number and variety of exercise devised for kindergarten work. These furnish an ever changing succession of experiences, all In harmony with the thllds development, and, therefore, to him. These exercises should Le continued through the grades, in the manual training room and nature work, and should be so arrange as to provide such exierienve as will be necessary in the development of tne subjects included In the curriculum of studies. Why is it that it is less difficult for the average country pupil than for the city pupli to learn in the study of geography, the physical feature mountain, rivers, lakes, springs, products of the soil and resulting occupations, etc., of foreign countries? Is it not because he has the necessary reality images out of which to construct the neev conditions? He has had pleasure-abl- 1 the experience necessary to comprehend the new relations, while the city chiid has not, and the latter is, therefore, incapable of appreciating the subject as does the former. The foregoing discussion brings us up to the subject of mental processes In the art of reading, which is probably best understood by noticing what actually occurs when a selection is types. read. Let us read the first stanza of are sentences the symbols the selection, Curfew must not ling If written of thought, then reading must be the tonight. process of arousing, by means of the England's sun. was slowly setting written or printed page, the same Oer the hills so far away. Filling all the land with beauty thoughts in the mind of the reader as At the close of one sad day; existed in the mind of the writer when And the last rays kissed the forehead a man and maiden fair, he recorded his thoughts. But, says HeOf with step so slow and weakened, one, that would be impossible, unless She with sunny floating hair; the reader has had the same experience He with sad bowed head and thoughtful, so cold and white, She with as the writer upon that particular sub- Struggling lips to keep back the murmur, The answer to this objection to Curfew must not ring tonight. ject. the definition of reading is very plain, just to the extent that you fail to produce the same images or thoughts .as the author had in his mind, to that ex. tent is your reading of his recorded thoughts imperfect. To some teachers the foregoing definition of reading is perhaps not true; to others it is probably very discouraging, since, according to it we can never hope to have perfect reading, but to the living, active teacher it is almost inspiring, for it furnishes the key to v'hat we may hope to attain successful read Let us examine briefly the images produced by reading this selection. A few only can be pointed, out. In the first place, it wall be noticed that visual images predominate. This is part-- y due to the fact that we are so exceedingly visual minded. We live in a world of sight, while many of the lower animals, particularly the dog, lives in a world of smell. The most striking visual images produced by reading the stanza are Ihose occasioned by the description of the setting sun, the distant hills, the beau tiful landscape, the fair maiJen, the oil man. these, the whole scene must have a location, which, to me, was near tho old church. The Id sexton, cane In hand, was slowly wend, ing his way through the churdiyard, among the tombstones, toward the old church; the maiden, with timid fc'.ep, was cautiously approaching tho old man In the attitude of Just commencBt-a'de- a ing to sp.-o- k to him. The most uriklng auditory intagis are those occasioned by the verds murmur and sing. Steps so slow and weakened produces muscular motor Images, also the word kissed. Cold lips produces tactile Image.. Struggling to keep back the murmur produced muscular images accompanied with feelings or emotions. These are a few of the most striking reality images occasioned by the stanza. Other selections would, perhaps, produce gustatory' and olfactory' images. so that we see that all of the six distinct types may be occasioned by the printed page. What a complete panorama is here painted upon the minds canvas, and by what? What were the conditions which brought forth this world of Ideas and emotions? We had present, first an active brain; second, the sense organs in working order; third, a piece of white paper, upon which were the written characters forming words and sentences, or, in other words, the symibols of the authors thoughts. From these conditions we have developed the reality images above enumerated. Vary the first condition above mentioned, and how different the result. Take, for instance, a pupil who is just learning to read, and his world of images will scarcely have a resemblance to that of the maturer mind. His at- tention will probably be directed entirely to the pronunciation of words, and he, therefore, will have aroused in his mind visual, vocal-motand auditory word images of the wards upon the printed page, and wfill fail to secure the reality images, which alone are of anv value. These word images were also present to the mind of the first reader, for, in thinking back, he distinctly many of them, but, being perfectly familiar to him, they had no claim upon his attention, which was directed almost exclusively to the reality images contained in the thought. Change the mind again, and present the page to the gaze of the infant or the savage, and the images occasioned here would consist merely of the visual image of the piece of white paper, upon or rs (Continued on page 10.) |