THE HALIBURTON PRIMER

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THE HALIBURTON PRIMER
BY
M. W. HALIBURTON

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, FARMVILLE, VA.

D. C. HEATH & COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO

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Copyright, 1911,
By D. C. Heath & Co.

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How to teach a child to read so as to create and preservethe right attitude toward reading is one of the mostimportant problems of the school. That it has not beensolved to the joint satisfaction of theorist and of practicalteacher is evidenced by the continued discussion of thesubject both in speech and in print.

This little primer may not prove to be the last wordon primary reading. It is in my opinion the most valuableword that has yet been spoken. For here we haveseveral of the most important desiderata for whose combinationall are searching.

The matter is interesting to the persons to whom it isaddressed; it is a series of stories about several little childrentold in conversational form. Its thought units areshort but sequential, and its vocabulary is small, each wordbeing presented with interest, and repeated with variety inits relations. As a natural outgrowth of the acquaintancewith old words comes the power to decipher new words.The phonic lessons are well graded, and the subject is[iv]properly subordinated to thought getting. The appealmade to the primitive, æsthetic enjoyment of the jingle,with simple melody and captivating rhythm, as the phonicsare presented, is followed by the gratification of findingthem contributory to the ability to read the classic rimeswhich follow.

That all these values characterize the book is due tothe fact that many pedagogic virtues are characteristicof its author. Those who have seen Miss Haliburtonteach know that her power to inspire, interest, and developher pupils is not only due to the fleeting influence of themuch talked of “teacher’s personality,” but is largely atransferable ability, due to a gifted woman’s sympatheticinsight into the processes of the child mind, illuminated bythe scholar’s knowledge of genetic psychology.

An intimate acquaintance with the results attained bythose whom the author has instructed in her methods,enhances the approval which her book itself commands.

BRUCE R. PAYNE.

University of Virginia,
May 15, 1911.

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