How to Teach

The system of graded instruction, which has become so general in this country, requires for its successful application, the constant use, on the part of the teacher, of a guide, or chart, to which he may refer in order that his present work may harmonize with that which preceded, and that which is to follow it. The ground to be covered in a complete course of school education, however elementary, is quite extensive, and hence needs to be divided and subdivided according to certain established principles, so that the mind of the instructor may not be diverted from that which should engage his immediate attention, by the necessity of considering and choosing the best means of supplementing it.
Such a graded system of teaching can best be prepared by those who have had not only a long experience in the practical business of teaching, but whose field of observation has been sufficiently comprehensive to enable them to give to the scheme an adaptability to a great variety of circumstances.
The system laid down in the work here offered to practical educators, whether teachers, superintendents, or school officers, is designed to afford such a guide as is above indicated. It is essentially the system which has been in practical and successful use for a number of years.