roper
experiences for the interpretation of a passage. The pupil will read
appreciatively on his own account, without any such assistance.

In all cases, the preparation of the pupils for the lesson must be
short. Nothing more should be given than will suffice to bring them into
a suitable mood; usually some simple experience of their lives is ample.
The time for the lesson is always limited, and the proportion between
the introduction and the main theme must always be maintained.

PRESENTATION

The next step in the development of the lesson is the presentation. How
shall this be done? There are three ways: The teacher may ask the pupils
to read the lesson silently at their seats or at home and come prepared
to participate in the discussion; or he may ask some of them to read the
lesson aloud; or he, himself, may read it to the pupils. The merits of
each of these methods will be considered.

In prose, it is advisable to let the pupils read the selection before
the lesson is taken up by the teacher. The pupils must have practice in
getting the thought from the symbols on the printed page and in grasping
the general trend of the story, the description, or the argument. The
work will be mainly intellectual, but the pupils may also, at this
stage, have practice in discovering the emotional elements in some of
the prose extracts.

In the higher Forms, the teacher may occasionally allow some of his best
readers to read a poem aloud, where the emotion is evident or the
narrative plain. _The Barefoot Boy_, p. 118, Fourth Reader; _The Homes
of England_, p. 375; and _Bernardo del Carpio_, p. 131, are examples of
this kind.

It is usually a better plan for the teacher to read the poem to the
pupils. With many poems of exquisite music and imagery, such as _The
Bugle Song_, p. 337, Third Reader, the reading by a pupil who has not
yet caught the meaning and spirit will be a failure, and the teacher
will see that the mood that he has prepared with care at the opening is
so certain to be dissipated that he must intervene in order to prevent
the spoiling of the lesson. But the teacher who has studied the poem and
whose feelings have been deeply stirred by its music and pictures can,
through his reading, communicate to his pupils his own appreciation; and
it will be a dull pupil who does not feel the contagion. It is, however,
not well to insist on too great uniformity in method; the spirit rather
than the form is vital.

VA