PROBLEM V CULTIVATING GOOD HABITS OF WORKING AT COMPOSITIONS EXERCISE 1 REVIEWING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT Good habits of work are worth more than hundreds of rules for learning to think and to express your thoughts. Rules help you to know what habits to form; but the habits themselves come not by merely knowing but by doing, over and over again. At first this doing is hard; it takes knowledge, attention, will power, and repetition. But after a while the habit becomes strong and can take care of itself. Since these problems are meant to help you not only in knowing what to work for but also in forming good habits of work, you will be asked to do and to think about the same things a good many times. What idea about the ways of working out a composition have the previous lessons suggested? What beginnings of good habits have you already made? Be ready to speak to the class for two or three minutes on the topic How I Prepare to Tell a Story." Perhaps one of you has some good ideas about this that others have not. Anyway, it will pay each one to take an inventory of the habits he is forming. You may illustrate by referring to some particular story you have told in class or elsewhere. Tell about your choice of a subject, how you limited it, how you decided what to say and what not to say, how you planned for good order of details, and whether any ideas occurred to you which you decided not to use. In each case give your reasons as clearly as you can. Which of these ways of working do you think would apply as well to any other kind of composition as to a story? What preparation did you make for giving a good oral presentation of your story? Did you try telling it to somebody before you came to class? In speaking on this topic be sure to practice what you preach. EXERCISE 2 SEEING THE NEED OF GOOD FORM IN WRITTEN WORK Just as soon as you look at the theme on Plate II you will see that the writer, if she could not do better in the first place, should have revised her work carefully before letting anyone else see it. (What does re-vision mean?) What bad habits of work is this writer allowing herself to form? What hints could you give her about the appearance of her papers? What rules for good form in written work have you already learned? Study the rules for learning to spell a word. (See Appendix C.) Compare the theme on Plate I. Is this in the form you wish to adopt, or should you prefer to make some changes? Decide on what you think a reasonable requirement in these matters, a requirement which the class may be expected to live up to. Think of placing and capitalization of title, of spacing, of indentations, and of margins. Is there anyone in the class who cannot observe these simple rules? After this should any paper be accepted if it does not follow them? Charlestown, Mass My dear Chum, How I wish you had been at the basket. ball game last night with me! The gymnasium was filled with a hilarious crowd, most of them waving the scarlet and gold of our team, but here and there were spots of Shelbyville purple. Their boys were larger than ours, but we won - oh, we won twenty-nine to twentyseven ! He caged the first ball: and then it was nip and tuck to the end, first one PLATE I, A team leading and then the other, till in the last minute your cousin, John Milford, shot the ball into the basket for victory. Pandemonium was never like the celebra tion that followed! Our boys play Arcola next Saturday evening. Can't you come in and see the game with me? Of course Mother will have a spare room for you. She has потрагуси. just come in to say that we shall all be glad to see 58 First St. Nyack, New York, Dear Frank; You have been away too weeks and we haven't heard from you yet. Altough the too weeks went almost like nothing I was waiting for a letter all the while. Iam very anxious to know what your residence is like. Mother will also be pleased to hear from you. Hoping to hear from you soon also that you are well Iremain, Your Loving Sister, Elsa Browni PLATE II |