The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 168 The Educational Screen Color in the English Class FROM a projection point of view, the field of vis- ual aids for high school English has been rather limited to date. Devices for drill aspects of the subject are practically unknown. There are only slight possibilities in the idea of projecting slides from which compositions can be written. The better moving pic- tures of literary importance, such as Romeo and Juliet and M'uthering Heights, are not readily available for school use, let alone for classroom showing. In uncut form, the original features would be too lengthy to be practicable. There are, however, comparatively unexploited meth- ods that can be both effective and. in times like these, patriotic. They involve color photography, an educa- tional diversion enjoyable to teacher and class alike. Units of the miniature 2x2 kodachrome slides are really economical in proportion to the satisfying re- turns, in respect to camera, film, and projection equip- ment. The results are life-like, and the slides can be compactly filed. They are also easily organized, or re- organized, whenever different sets are to be used under different circumstances. Only two minor difficulties present themselves: color film is scarce for the duration, and a bright, direct sun is almost an absolute requisite to obtain the best views. On the other hand, the heavy black and whites are cumbersome and fully as ex- James Russell Lowell's "Eltnwood," Cambridge, Mass. "Old Manse,"home of Nathaniel Hawthorne,Concord,Mass. Specific suggestions as to how school-made 2x2 kodachrome slides may be utilized to vitalize and enhance the teaching of high school English ADELBERT M. JAKEMAN Head of the Department of English, High School, Westfield, Massachusetts pensive, if made up commercially as most amateurs would need to do. There are two general kinds of pictures that can be accumulated either personally or commercially. First are views of literary shrines—homes where famous authors were born, lived, wrote, or died. Such slides, especially if they can be obtained of nearby places (and no one lives too far from such a spot), can do consider- able to stimulate a pride in native writers and their writing. There is something indefinable to be gained by lingering, if only through the means of illustration, where the great and the near great have been. To realize that these men and women were also human beings may well be the means to a new appreciation of what they wrote. It is excellent background material. True, the teacher is the one who will benefit first hand by the experience of visiting the scenes, but after all. that is the round-about way in which a class profits by a teacher's trip abroad or by a graduate course at the university. Furthermore, the attractive prospect of this kind of picture taking, in ordinary times, gives in- centive and purpose to vacation expeditions. Some of the larger dealers are making increasingly available literary slides that can be used in connection with teaching English. Strangely enough, there are more English views, such as of the Shakespeare coun- try or the lake district, on the market than American ones. They can be purchased, usually, for fifty cents each, whereas individually taken they will average twelve to fifteen cents. Duplicates of originals can be made for about thirty-five cents each. When can or should these pictures be shown? There are two. maybe three or more, profitable times. The best is to show a group of the slides at the end of a unit of reading. For instance, at the close of a study of the authors in the New England period, pictures could be thrown on the screen, in the darkened classroom or in the visual aids room, of the homes of Longfellow, Haw- thorne. Whittier, Lowell. Emerson, and others. Their homes happen to be not widely scattered, besides be- ing well-known enough so that the pictures can be se- cured easily. Again, a unit of twentieth-century Am- erican authors could, with a little research, be supple- mented in color. A second method of showing literary sites, especially if there are only occasional pictures when it would be impracticable to set up equipment or to move the class, consists of the time-honored system of passing pictures around the class for each pupil to inspect at leisure. There are many convenient and inexpensive slide view- ers on the market now, so that by using such an instru- ment there is no interruption of routine, and the same (Concluded on page 182)