[Abstract] The article analyzes the work “First lessons of things: a manual of elementaryteaching for parents and teachers”, written by the American author and teacher, NormanCalkins, which was adopted as a guide to direct the implementation of the method of intuitiveteaching used by elementary school teachers in Santa Catarina State, Brazil, starting in 1911.Ranging from the contents to be supplied to the methodological prescriptions to be followed,this manual is very particular representation of the way in which teaching is conceived andpracticed, making it one of the fundamental links in the creation of the identity of schooltea-chers during the period of the First Republic. This manual served to instill the core categoriesof thought and action that were essential to the mission they were charged with by theRepublicans, i.e. to produce “rational citizens” which, at that time, was interpreted as being alaw-abiding, patriotic citizens who believed in social and scientific progress.
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