(1) _Dramatization may be used to establish a good habit_. An indolent
child may be given the part of the industrious child in the play. At
first the incongruity will amuse him, then it will support his
self-respect or please his vanity, then it will prove to him the
pleasure of being industrious, and finally stimulate the desire to be
that which before he was not. It may build a habit and, if repeated,
fortify one. This is the true "Direct Moral Method." The so-called
"Direct Moral Method," advocated by Dr. Gould, an English educator,
which in telling a story separates the moral from the tale to
emphasize it and talk about it, leaves the child a passive listener
with only a chance to say "Yes" or "No" or a single word in answer to
the moral questions. It is unnatural because it directs the child's
attention away from the situation, action, and people which interest
him. It does not parallel life in which morals are tied up with
conduct. One must ask, "According to this method what will the child
recall if his mind reverts to the story--courage, or the variety of
images from the number of short-stories told to impress the abstract
moral idea of courage?" Dramatization like life represents character
in the making and therefore helps to make character.
Illustrations of creative return. Let us look now at a few tales
illustrating the creative return possible to the child. _The Country
Mouse and the City Mouse_ is an animal tale that offers to the
kindergarten child a chance to prove how intensely he enters into the
situation by the number of details he will improvise and put into his
dramatization in representing life in the country and life in the
city. The good feast atmosphere in this tale pleases little children
and suits it to their powers. It is a fine tale to _unite the language
expression and dramatization_. It is especially suited to call forth
reaction from the child also in the form of _drawing or crayon
sketching_. Here it is best for the child to attempt typical bits.
Complete representation tires him and it is not the method of art,
which is selective. The field of corn and two mice may be shown in the
country scene; and a table with cheese, some plates filled with
dainties, and two mice in the city scene. Here again this return
relates itself to the presentation of the tale as literature. For if
the story has been presented so as to make the characters, the plot,
and the setting stand out, the child naturally will select these to
portray in a sketch. In his expression the child will represent what
he chooses, but the teacher by selecting from among the results the
one which is of most value, leads him to a better result in a
following attempt. It is the _teacher's selection among the results of
activity_ that brings about development. Freedom with guidance is no
less free, but it is freedom under that stimulation which helps the
child to make more of himself than he knew was possible.--The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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