A simple
system of marks will enable you to indicate the nature of the error.

10. When the mistakes have been corrected, have a neat copy made and
preserved.

11. Try sincerely to work with your children and to secure a genuine
spirit of co-operation.

B. Literature in Written Lessons.

Indirectly, all that is said on the teaching of reading in this and
other volumes bears upon language, and you are earnestly urged to
consider it all carefully in that light. More directly, what has been
written herein on the subject of conversation lessons and oral language
is a necessary preliminary to any discussion of written work and should
be used freely in the assignment and preparation of subjects for written
exercises. The outlines for study in reading and the outlines of the
oral lessons are easily modified to become very satisfactory outlines
for compositions. The selections recommended for oral lessons are all
adapted to written work.

NARRATION. As in other instances, however, it here seems wise to give a
few suggestions specifically for the written exercises, and as a basis
for such suggestions we will take selections from _Journeys Through
Bookland_.

Robin Hood has been an interesting character for many generations of
schoolboys, and among the ballads concerning him (Volume III, page 436)
are several good selections for reading aloud. Most children know
something about Robin Hood and many of them have read full accounts, yet
probably the old ballads are not familiar. The note on page 436 gives
information about the ballads and tells what it is necessary to know
about Robin Hood himself. Suppose we take as a subject the ballad on
page 444, _Robin Hood and the Stranger_. The notes explain peculiar
expressions and give the meanings of obsolete words. There is a manly,
rough-and-tumble spirit in the ballad that boys like, and it is clean
and wholesome, as well.

Read the ballad to the children, explaining the more obscure words and
phrases as you go along. Encourage the children to ask questions
whenever they do not fully understand. Talk freely until you have made
everything clear and have secured interest. Then read the whole ballad
without interruption. Read with expression and enthusiasm. Show the
spirit and virility of the men.

Then by questions bring out the facts of the narrative in logical order
as they appear, and have each child copy them for himself. They
constitute the outline each is to write. Ada