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Manuals
Conduct of Christian Schools:
FIRST PART - Chapter 4 (continued)
SCHOOL PRACTICES AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY ARE TO BE CARRIED OUT
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CHAPTER 4
Writing
ARTICLE VI
Correct Position of the Body
The teacher will take care that the students always hold their bodies as erect as possible only slightly inclined but without touching the table. In this manner and with the elbow placed on the table, the chin can be rested upon the hand. The body must be somewhat turned and free on the same side. The teacher will require them to observe all the rules of writing concerning the position of the body.
Teachers will, above all, take care that students do not hold their right arms too far from their bodies and that they do not press their stomachs against the table. Besides being very ungraceful, this posture might make them very uncomfortable. In order to make students hold their bodies correctly, teachers will themselves place them in the posture, which the students should maintain with each limb where it should be. Whenever teachers notice students changing this position, they will take care to put them back into it.
ARTICLE VII
Correct Method of Holding the Pen and Position of Paper
The second thing of which the teacher should be careful in regard to writing is to teach how to hold the pen and how to place the paper. This is of great importance, because students who have not been trained in the beginning to hold their pens correctly will never write well.
In order to teach the manner of holding the pen properly, it is necessary to arrange the hand of the student and to put the pen between the student's fingers.
When the students begin to write, it will be useful and appropriate to give them a stick of the thickness of a pen to hold. On the sticks, there will be three grooves, two on the right and one on the left. These grooves indicate the places where the three fingers should be placed. This teaches the students to hold the pen properly in their fingers and makes them hold these three fingers in a good position.
Care must be taken that the students place the three fingers on these three grooves and that for a fortnight at least during writing time they practice rendering their fingers supple by means of this stick or of an unpointed pen. The teacher will urge them to practice this, as often as possible, at home and everywhere else. The two other fingers should be under the pen, and it would be well to have the students tie them for as long a time as is necessary in the position in which they should be held. The position of the paper should be straight and the teacher will pay great attention to this. If the paper is slanting, the lines will be slanting, the body cannot be held in a good position, and the letters cannot be so well formed.
ARTICLE VIII
Method of Training to Write Well
As soon as students begin to write and are in the second or third level, they will be taught how to form the letters, where to begin them, when to ease the pressure on the pen, and when to raise it; the teachers must do this several times. Next, they will make the students understand the manner of doing all these things correctly.
In order that the students observe carefully and learn well the form of the letters, the teacher will guide their hands from time to time and for as long a time as judged needful. However, this will be done only with those who are in the first and the second level of writing.
The teacher will let them write alone for some time after having guided their hands and shown them how to form the letters. However, from time to time, what they have written should be examined.
The teacher will then both have them practice making the connections between letters in an easy manner, and help them to do so. This is done by lessening the pressure on the pen slightly on the side next to the thumb. It is important that they always do this in the same way.
Care must also be taken that, when the students are writing the alphabet, they do not crowd or space either the letters or the lines too much. As soon as they are in the second lesson of writing, they will be given transparencies to accustom them to writing their lines straight. The teacher will see that they place the bottom of the body of the letters on the line of the transparency.
Students must not, however, make use of the transparencies continually. From time to time, the teacher will have them write five or six lines without using the transparency. In this manner, they will imperceptibly accustom themselves to writing straight of their own accord and without this aid. Those who are writing in lines will use transparencies as little as possible.
It is important not to have the students write in lines until they know how to form all the letters properly and to write the entire alphabet in all the manners which are indicated for the different levels in writing. One may be sure that by keeping to this practice the students will make more progress in one month than they would otherwise make in six.
Teachers will not permit the students to write anything other than what is on their models.
ARTICLE IX
When the Teacher Will Trim the Pens of the Students and the
Time and Manner of Teaching the Students to Trim Them
The teacher will trim the pens of the students when necessary, but only during the writing periods.
To effect this, the students whose pens need to be trimmed will carefully place their pens in front of them, so that the teacher may perceive them when coming around to correct the writing. The students will remain with their hats off until the teacher has returned their pen. When they get the trimmed pens back, they will kiss the teacher's hand and bow low. The students will not cease writing while the teacher is trimming their pens.
After the students have been writing at the most for one month in the third or fourth level, the teacher will require them to trim their pens themselves and will teach them individually how to do this. For this, the teacher will have them individually come to him and will show them in the following manner all that is necessary to do this properly, as follows.
The teacher will take a new quill and teach the students these steps. First, both how to strip the quill of feathers without tearing it and how to straighten it if it is bent. Second, how to hold it in their fingers. Third, how to open the stem both at the top and at the bottom. Fourth, how to hold the quill to slit it. Fifth, with what and how to slit it. Sixth, how it should be slit both for round hand and for Italian and rapid script. Seventh, how to hollow it, explaining that to do this the point of the penknife must be used. Eighth, demonstrating that for the rapid script style of writing the two angles of the pen tip must be equal, while for other styles of writing one of the angles of the pen tip should be thicker and longer and the other should be finer and shorter. Ninth and tenth, showing which side should be thicker and longer, and which side should be finer and shorter. Eleventh, how to open the quill, how long and deep the opening should be, and with what part of the blade of the penknife the opening should be made. Twelfth, how to clear the pen tip and to cut it with the middle of the blade. Thirteenth, how to hold the penknife upright or flat. And finally, fourteenth, both that the quill should not be cut against the nail of the left thumb, on the table, or on wood, but that it should be cut on the stem of another quill pushed into the one which is being cut. The teacher will then explain to the students all the terms used in pens, the angle, the pen tip, and so on, and will make them repeat these terms.
In order to make the students understand, retain, and practice all that pertains to the proper way of trimming pens, teachers will themselves demonstrate trimming on three successive days. They will make students understand all that they do in trimming and why. Immediately afterward, teachers will have the students trim a pen, telling them all that they must do and how to do it well and correcting them when they fail in anything. This lesson will continue for about a week.
ARTICLE X
Inspection of Writers and Correction of Writing
It is necessary that teachers inspect all the writers every day and, in the case of beginners, even two or three times a day. The teachers must observe whether the pens of those who trim their own are well trimmed; whether their bodies are in a correct position; whether their paper is straight and clean; whether they hold their pens properly; whether they have models; whether they are practicing as much as they should; whether they are trying to do well; whether they are writing too fast; whether they are making their lines straight; whether they are placing all their letters in the same position and at a proper distance; whether the body of all the letters is of the same height and in the same type, and the letters are distinct and well formed; and whether the words and the lines are too close together or too far apart. At each inspection, the teacher will correct the writing of one-half of the writers. In this manner, the teacher will daily and without fail correct all of them, half in the morning and half in the afternoon.
Teachers will walk behind them, observing each one. For this reason, there will be some space between the benches. Teachers will place themselves at the right of the one whom they are to correct, and will show the student all the mistakes being made, in writing, in the posture of the body, in the manner of holding the pen and forming the letters, and in all the other things which are explained above and which the teacher should examine when inspecting the writers.
When speaking of hangers, feet, heads, tails, members, and bodies of letters, of divisions, distances, and separations, of height, width, curve, semicurve, thick and fine, small character, large character, and so forth, the teacher will explain all these terms, each one precisely, and will afterward ask the explanation, saying, for instance, "What is meant by hangers?"
Teachers will insist that the students be attentive when their writing in being corrected. The teacher will mark with a slight stroke of the pen the principal mistakes made. However, in the beginning care should be taken not to call attention to more than three or four mistakes. If teachers mark a greater number, they might confuse the students and make them forget what they have been taught. Correction for a greater number of mistakes would create confusion in their minds.
When examining these exercises, teachers will show the students how to write the syllables or the letters which they are correcting. In order that the students may afterwards practice forming them in the same manner, the teacher will, after having written the syllables or letters at the top or on the margin of their papers make the students write a line of each letter or syllable which has been corrected and two lines of each word. If they have not the time to do all this on that day, they will be directed to finish the work the next day before beginning to copy the model. If they do not succeed even after that, the teacher will have them practice during all the time they have for writing only the letters, syllables, or words which they have written incorrectly. They will do this two or three times in succession. When correcting the writing, the teacher will not write on the papers of the students any lines or words of several syllables. It will suffice that he write the letter which the student has written badly, and, if the latter has failed in connecting some letters, the teacher will write the two letters joined together or the syllable at the very most.
While inspecting and correcting the writing of some of the students, the teacher will be careful both to keep all the other students always in sight and to observe all that takes place in the class. If anyone is at fault, the teacher will warn that student by making a sign. The teacher will watch particularly over those who most need watching, that is, the beginners and the negligent. The teachers will take care above all during this time that nothing escape their eye.
The teacher will also pay very particular attention to the students who are making the two movements, the straight and the circular, and will watch that their pens are not slipping out of their fingers. If the pens are slipping out of their fingers, the teacher will place them as they should be and explain what should be done to keep them so. The teacher will also see to it that in making the movements, the students do not move the arm instead of extending and bending only the fingers; that they move their fingers instead of their arms; that the thumb always moves first; that they do not rest the hand when making these movements; and that they do not press down when making the strokes instead of making them lightly. The teacher will indicate the mistakes that they may have made in these things and the means of correcting them. The teacher will show them how they must bend and extend their fingers; how they should rest the arm without pressing it too much on the table; and how they should write from one side of their paper to the other touching the paper only slightly with the pen tip and lightly gliding the arm from the left side to the right side.
In regard to the straight movement, teachers will insist that they draw straight from top to bottom; that they do not hold their fingers too stiffly but bending them as much as is necessary to make the movement well; and that they keep the pen always level without varying either in the ascending or in the descending stroke. For the circular movement, teachers will notice both whether they begin it at the bottom and at the top with the same smoothness as well from left to right as from right to left and whether they hold their fingers too stiffly and keep their arms fixed on the table. From time to time, teachers will watch the students of the first level make these two movements in order to see for themselves the mistakes which the students make in respect of all the above-mentioned things. At the same time, the teacher will indicate to them the means of correcting these mistakes, and will have them correct them at once.
Teachers will call the attention of the students of the second and third levels, and even of the higher ones, to mistakes in the way they are forming their letters. For instance, a teacher will ask them whether a B which a student has made in round hand is too much inclined to one side or to the other; whether it is curved or humped; whether all its dimensions are correct: its height should be twice that of the body of the letter or eight pen tips; whether it is too high; whether it has the width that it should at the top and at the bottom; whether it lacks some of its parts; and whether the thick strokes or the fine ones are where they should be. The teacher will do the same with all the other letters. The teacher will mark with a stroke of the pen at each place all the mistakes that the students have made in forming these letters. For example, if the B is too much inclined to the right, the teacher will mark it in this manner: B. If the B is too much inclined to the left, the teacher will mark it thus: B.
The teacher will call the attention of those of the third and of the following levels to all the mistakes which they may have made in the connecting strokes: failure to make any where they should have been made, or making any where they should not have been made; beginning a connection at a point of the letter other than at the one where they should start; making the connecting stroke too high or not high enough, or too fine or too thick; making the strokes wavy when they should be circular, or straight when they should be circular; holding the pen as it should be held to make the strokes, and turning the pen instead of easing the pressure.
To make the students understand easily and very well the defects of the letters and their connecting strokes after having shown them, the teacher will ask the students what is wrong with the letter or the connection. The teacher will ask why the one or the other is not good, and will then correct the letter or the connection which the student has formed badly. The teacher will do this by writing the one or the other over the letter or the connection which the student has formed badly, and will ask why the one which they have retraced is good and what there is in it that was not in the letter made by the student. After this, the teacher will write a letter, or two joined letters between the lines. The teacher will have them practice this, and will observe how they form it.
When a student in the first three levels has been taught something or has had something corrected, the teacher will not immediately leave. Instead, in the teacher's presence the student will practice what has been taught or corrected. The teacher will watch to see whether the pen is being held in the way that has been shown, whether the letters are begun properly, and whether all is done well that has been taught. The teacher does this so that the students may be told in what they fail. If the teacher were to leave the student at once, all that had been said or taught would be forgotten. Furthermore, this manner of instruction will please the parents. The children will not fail to tell their parents that the teacher has taught them by making them write while supervised, that the teacher has personally guided their hand, and so on.
If a student fails to place the letters properly, that is to say, when they are not in line with each other, the teacher will draw two straight pen lines at the entire place in the line where the student has erred, one line from the base of the last letter which is properly placed and the other from the top of the body of that letter. The teacher will then explain the mistake in position and which letters are not well aligned. The teacher will do the same when the hangers are not of equal height or uniformly situated. To correct a defect in distance between letters, the teacher will point out the space that should be between the preceding letter and the following one, and make a downward stroke with the pen at the point where the first member should be placed of the letter which is too close to or too far from the preceding one.
To correct a defect in distance between two words that are either too close together or too far apart, the teacher will make an m of the width of seven times that of the pen tip, the space that should be between two words. If there is a period between the words, the teacher will make five hangers of an m joined together. This is the width of thirteen pen tips and is the space that should be between two words separated by a period. If there is a comma, a colon, or a semicolon, the teacher will make between the two words two n's of ten times the width of the pen tip, which is the distance at which they should be from each other.
To correct a defect in distance between lines the teacher will make a set of four letters joined together on the margin of the paper, between the lines which are either too close together or too far apart. The teacher will make, for instance, four o's joined together of the width of sixteen times that of the pen tip. This will help the student note what distance there should be between the two lines. To make them acquire lightness and avoid lack of boldness in writing, the teacher will instruct the students not to press on their paper, but just touch it with the pen tip and almost without feeling it and not to write too slowly. The teacher will point out that this defect comes from holding the arm as though fixed on the table, from not bending the fingers to impart to them the movement that they should have, or from leaning the body too much or even bending it over the table.
To make the students correct these faults themselves, they must, if they are slow, be urged to write fast, without resting the arm on the table, resting only the tips of the two sustaining fingers on the table. The teacher must do this without paying any attention to whether the students form their letters well or badly, taking pains only to make them acquire boldness and ease of movement.
If a student is naturally quick, it will be necessary only to arrange correctly the student's hand, arm, and body. After having been taught what to do, the students should be allowed to practice by themselves. Restrain them, however, and moderate the students who are too active.
To make all sorts of students acquire freedom and ease of movement, teachers will show them how to pass properly from one letter to another, such as from an i to an f, from a c to an l, and from an o to an i, without interruption and without raising the pen. To correct the mistakes which the students may have made in all things pertaining both to boldness and to ease of movement, a teacher will demonstrate what the students must do in order to correct themselves. Then, the students are to imitate what the teacher has just done and correct what they had previously done badly.
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