The second step, "how individual notions should be presented," is usually called presentation. The discussion of this step centers about three plans of procedure, the lecture, the text-book, and the development method. Something is

found in each of the first two to commend, but the development plan has the preference, because it utilizes the best parts of the other two and is based on a sympathetic relation between the teacher and the child in which conversation plays a leading part. This appears to be an attempt to describe the work of a very good teacher in terms of a method, and, if this is the case, it is all the better for our purposes. The lesson on the British Isles brings out the strong points of the plan as also does the literature lesson based on Robinson Crusoe and the history lesson on the Battle of Bunker Hill. In all these lessons we find that the child is called upon to deal actively with the material. presented to him. The extent to which this can be accomplished, keeping within the limits of the lesson, is one test of good teaching.

But McMurry finds a psychological standard by which to measure all methods. It is the best method which secures the dove-tailing of the new to the old in the best way and to the highest degree. The lec

ture method fails because it is the pouring in process and the textbook plan because it does not connect the subject with the individual experience of the child. It hardly seems wise to go into a discussion of the comparative merits of these plans, but if some reader will write a defense of the lecture plan and another of the text-book plan we may be glad to make use of such articles in a subsequent issue. It has been suggested that McMurry is not quite fair to these methods, not giving them credit for the legitimate use that is made of them in instruction.

Independence cultivated prepares for life, and our method should not be out of harmony with this thought. The pupil must be more than a rceiver. He must be a producer and lead an active life. These are supposed to be some of the fruits of the development method, the method of Socrates, and the one recommended to us, but which can not always be used because (1) not everything can be developed; (2) it is an extremely difficult method; and (3) the intellectual treasures of the past lie locked up in books. These exceptions are nearly broad enough to throw open our field of choice almost as wide as it was before. Here surely is a place for us to exercise the widest freedom.

In at least one step out of the five authority fails to settle our problem and leaves it to our "best discretion."

However, as the development plan is the sharpest and most efficient tool we must learn to use it if we are to be expert teachers. We see at once that success in using it depends largely upon our skill in the art of questioning, and for this there is no rule and no guide but experience, but we may be greatly helped by noticing the kinds of questions asked in the illustrations given. Are these similar to those we would ask? We are soon to give a lesson on a certain subject; what are some of the questions we shall ask? Compare them with the questions in some illustrative lesson of a like general character. Which are

the most thought-stimulating? We may say that our best questions are, thought of only when before the class. This may be true to an extent, but there are certain essential questions, and we should take good care that none of these are omitted or handled unskillfully. If these essential questions are presented in the right order, eliciting the proper response from the class, the subject will seem to grow signifying that we are using successfully one of the sharpest tools in our pedagogical tool-chest.

It was comforting to be told that we need not hurry over subjects, but take the time needed as long as none is wasted. This permits fuller picturing, more interest and aroused activity on the part of the pupils.

"Mae, what color is your chicken?" "Black and red," comes the little one's answer. Shall the teacher exclaim in an effort to set the child right, "Oh, no, Mae, black, not red. Where is the chicken red?" Suppose instead she says brightly, "Yes; where is the chicken red, Mae?" By such means she is more likely to enable the sensitive little girl to carry on the conversation

with a bit of self-revelation which is both enlightening and entertaining, "That thing on top of its head is red."

Nowhere does Pestalozzi's famous dictum, "We must live with our children," find better application than in reference to developing the conversational powers of our pupils. The old-fashioned "boarding around" had much to commend

it in this direction. It is when talking freely with their elders that the little ones are in mood to imitate the best in conversation. Recreation times upon the playground afford special opportunities. Then children are prone to utter themselves upon the themes which lie nearest their hearts. Now one of the cardinal virtues of conversation is interest. Every one talks best upon a subject in which he is interested. The listener is often carried along by the enthusiasm of a speaker upon a subject of no inherent interest. Let us, by all means, cultivate the liking of our pupils to express themselves freely upon topics for which they really care, whether or not these are connected with the daily tasks of the school A teacher in a secondary school was surprised at the descriptive powers exhibited by a boy under her charge, when one day after school she asked him to tell her about "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show," which he had attended. She had never before found a theme in which he felt a vital interest.

room.

The practice of chaperoning children's parties and sharing their social pleasures, gives the teacher access to their lives at a strategic point. Sometimes the teacher can direct the order of entertainment. Conversation parties are good. One teacher planned a conversation social for a mixed gathering including many pupils from the upper grades and the high school. Top

ics of intrinsic interest to the youthful guests were chosen, an attractive scheme for mating partners was adopted, and decorations and other accessories contributed to the enjoyment. Years afterward several of those present alluded to the occasion as the pleasantest social they ever attended. Many oldfashioned games are wit sharpeners, and are worth cultivating among our young people of the present. Conundrums; the game of twenty questions; proverbs; charades; flesh, fish, and fowl; and a host of similar games develop mental alertness invaluable in repartee. The avidity with which a party of girls will seize upon the idea of "old-fashioned games" for an afternoon's entertainment is surprising, and the unanimity with which the girls will call for them again at the first opportunity affords food for thought.

School sessions, perhaps, do not afford the most favorable conditions for this phase of the pupil's education, but they, too, furnish opportunities of their own. Topical recitations cultivate fluent speech. One teacher occasionally writes upon the board such topics as the recitation content may offer. A pupil is asked to choose one of these and talk upon it. When he has said what he can the subject is thrown open to the class for such comment or further information as they may be inclined to offer. Before interest in the subject quite flags a choice from the

list is offered to another pupil, and the discussion continues with a new theme. In some schools the conversation ideal might be more closely approximated by allowing the pupils on suitable occasions to select topics for such treatment from a wider range than the daily work affords.

Whatever familiarizes children with worthy subjects of conversation enriches their fund to draw from. For this reason, as well as on account of its ready adaptability to conversational methods in the school room, a few minutes devoted regularly to the news of the day, may be made valuable in cultivating conversational powers of pupils.

Nature study and, in secondary schools, laboratory work lend themselves easily to the same purpose.

An excellent plan was adopted in connection with supplementary reading in a school whose principal for many years was a reading specialist. From the fourth grade up every teacher's desk was supplied with a score of books carefully chosen to meet the taste of boys and girls in the room. Each pupil was encouraged to read some of these books. If a boy did not easily become interested in the first or second or third which he tried, he was not condemned nor was he required to read any one of them, but he was encouraged the more in his search for the right book and helped the more carefully to find one which he

could enjoy. Each pupil read his chosen book during the reading hour. When his turn came to read aloud came, he was expected to tell briefly the story to the point where the oral reading began. If his talk was interesting the eyes of other members of the class were withdrawn from their books without rebuke. Unless their attention was enlisted by the narration they read each for himself. If the narrator made his tale attractive, many calls for his book would follow. This exercise, besides creating an interest in reading, gave practice in story telling, enlarged vocabulary, widened the range. of topics for talk, and opened the world of books as subjects of converse. It paved the way, also, for out-of-school comparisons of these same carefully selected books.

A sixth grade teacher played "What is it like, and why?" engagingly with her pupils. She was teaching similies, but she was also giving ability in repartee. When the questioner entered the room, where the scholars had decided upon lace curtain, and put his question, one answered, "It is like a murderer, because it is hung." Another replied, "It is like John Goodman," who had just returned to school after a long illness, and assigned as a reason, "because it is thin." If the wit was not all of a high order, at least the average was high for children of that age. Other bright games may sometimes find a

place in the school room, as "My minister's cat" in teaching adjectives, and "Pro and con" as a word exercise. Such games increase vocabulary and cultivate quickness of thought and speech.

A woman with whom the guest of honor rarely fails to enjoy conversation, often wonders how much she owes to a teacher who would occasionally say, "Now, girls, I will talk to you about my trip abroad if you will ask me good questions. It will not do any good to say, 'Tell us all about it,' for I shall not do it." At the time this girl often felt keenly her inability to ask "good" questions. Later she valued th practice in attempting it and the frequent reminders of the difference between questions that are suggestive and those that are not. The ability to listen well is often extolled, but the power to draw out another in conversation by skillful questions is a higher art.

Much of what is best in education must be gained incidentally. This is true of conversational power. Whatever cultivates the pupil's habits of observation enlarges the fund from which he may draw for intelligent conversation. Whatever encourages general reading, especially reading of newspapers and magazines, and of history and literature, enriches the mental treasures available for the same purpose. Whatever brings him into association with cultured people both increases the stores of his mind and gives him models in the art of conversation. Indeed, the teacher's greatest opportunity for usefulness in teaching this art is by example. Whatever stimulates the effort to please, develops a courteous spirit, and cultivates a winsome personality, contributes to success in the fine art of conversation.

Karl came into school one day with a little downy chicken.

My beginners rose as one man and flocked around him making those little endearing sounds peculiar to children when they see a chicken, a kitten or a baby, anything.

For a moment I felt tempted to send the little peeping visitor back to its coop. But Karl had been home sick the day before, and I thought a "Chicken Play" with his pet as star performer might make him and the other children feel more at home in their new school.