filas^ Lb/ PIS' Book ._til4 GopightN". COPXRIGHT DEPOSrr. SELF-HELP IN TEACHING f^>^ THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO.. Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA. Ltd. TORONTO Self-Help in Teaching A Study of the Teacher-Learner Partnership By HUBER WILLIAM HURT •Ph.D. (Columbia), L.L.D. (Iowa 'Wesley an). Author of Building the New Democracy, The Handbook for Scoutmasters, Com- munity Leadership, A Manual for Scout Executives, A Study of College Standards in the U. S., etc. FOR ALL WHO TEACH IN Home, School, Sunday School, Boy Scout, Campfire, Girl Scout and other recreational groups, in Business and in Industry H^m fork THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 All rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ^ H^ ^ Copyright, 192 i By the MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and Electrotyped. Published September, 1921 SEP 21 I92i FERRIS PRINTING COMPANY NEW YORK CITY g)CI.A624455 CHAPTER I GENERAL NATURE OF MENTAL LIFE 1. Five Avenues for Reaching Others 2. Meaning 3. Attention— ** Mind-Set" 4. Attention Given 5. Self- Activity SELF HELP IN TEACHING I GENERAL NATURE OF MENTAL LIFE Five Avenues For Reaching Others All teaching is conditioned upon one individual being able to communicate with another. There are just five avenues through which one himian personality may communicate with or influence an- other — sight, hearing, feeling, smell, and taste. An outside happening can influence an individual only through one or more of these five sets of nerve end- ings at the surface of the body. Light with its ether waves affects the retina of the eye; sound with its waves in the air or other media affects the hair cells of the inner ear; pressure, heat, and cold affect the corresponding nerve endings in the skin or muscles of the entire body; small particles of the object sensed make actual contact with the olfactory nerve endings in the nose; and similar contacts with the taste bulbs in the mouth. Our consciousness of things, therefore, results from little nervous currents (somewhat analogous to electricity) which flow from these five entrances on into the brain, recording themselves both there and en route. A teacher can 3 4 SELF HELP IN TEACHING teach history or first aid or ethics only through the impression such nervous currents make on the boy as a result of stimulating his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or skin. Nothing is more challenging in all the range of God's wonders than the ability to communicate ideas, meanings, desires, purposes, through inter- preting these physical signs. While most of us do it and never think of it, to the thoughtful teacher the enormity and basic character of the problem will appeal with growing force. Meaning All these sense experiences come to have "mean- ing" to one. The smell of food reminds one of previous taste, hunger satisfaction, etc., etc. The sight or name of a friend calls up the whole com- plex of what he means to us. These meanings which we gradually acquire, we can signal through words or gestures to another, hoping that he will "get" the exact idea that we have. The day of sign language is by no means past. We are simply using mouth and ear signs more and perhaps hand and eye signs less than did primitive man. The essential problem remains the same. An idea is something essentially personal and private. Its nature is such that some sign is necessary to convey it to another. This, however, is exceedingly difficult as among average people the same word does not have exactly the same content or meaning. Differ- ences often arise, because we are not thinking of just the same things or meanings. Among carefully educated people even, the same word involves vitally different content, i. e.y "blood-poisoning" means GENERAL NATURE OF MENTAL LIFE 5 something vitally different to two people — one hav- ing looked it up in the dictionary and another having had it. So at the very outset we must recognize the enormity of the problem of communicating with another personality. With a widened gap of years as between an adult and a child, the differences in meaning of even the common things of life make understanding or teaching very, very difficult. Attention— " Mind-Set " Mental life is fundamentally a sequence of re- sponses to these outside knockings at the five win- dows of the soul. The nature of the nervous system is such that every experience which enters registers its influence, registers it chemically in the nerve cells and in the resistance at their branched end contacts. Every individual has (or is) a bundle of potential capacities and hereditary tendencies awaiting awak- ening, awaiting the chance for expression which shall build some of these tendencies into habits firmly set upon him — yet his life is largely made up of responses to outside stimuli which tend to either evoke or repress these natural tendencies. Just what will interest or attract a boy is at once the product of his hereditary tendencies, of the experiences and mean- ings he has already undergone and accumulated, plus the immediate setting or way it is presented. There therefore exists in the mind of any individual at any time a very definite ** mind-set " for receiving certain things or against receiving certain others. This is quite analogous to a wireless receiving instru- ment adjusted so as to be "ready," receptive, awaiting a certain wave length message. This 6 SELF HELP IN TEACHING "mind-set," this readiness to give attention to cer- tain outside stimuli may be due to several causes. 1. Hereditary tendencies of which we may or may not be conscious. 2. Favorable or unfavorable experiences which we have had with the things in question. 3. The very sequence of events, as well as fatigue, or hunger, or disease, or sex may encourage or repress a stimulus, may cause one to be interested or not. 4. Attention may be deliberate, due to actual willing of the individual. Though this is fundamentally connected with i and 2, it may, under a strong emotional drive or urge, be something much more. Attention Given It should be kept clearly in mind that this "giving attention" is fundamentally personal. Attention is given by the individual himself. We, of course, may and must do things to "secure" his attention, but in the final analysis HE GIVES. Of course rewards and satisfactions of various kinds may and must be attached to attending to the things we want him to attend to — and, often dissatisfactions must be artificially coupled up with the competing things to handicap them. The former, the positive re- wards, however, are the stronger. The more remote the material or activity is from the child's mind-set of the moment, the greater must therefore be the rewards, or the emotional urge to be created which shall motivate the child to give attention. Sight GENERAL NATURE OF MENTAL LIFE 7 should not, however, be lost of the fact, that action, activities, happenings, "things going on" in which he may participate may easily overcome the inertia of the child's lukewarm interest and actually pull him into "the game." Here, of course, may and should enter the alchemy of a teacher's skill and method. Self-Activity The mental life of the individual is a mosaic of self-activity — things he does, things he sees, things he experiences, things he wants, and the way these affect him. We observe what he does but can only conjecture as to what he thinks — his mental life is his own. The central aim then of educational effort is to elicit or provoke or cause certain relatively perma- nent and desired types of response and self -activity in the individual. CHAPTER II FUNDAMENTALS OF THE TEACHING PROCESS 1. The Teacher-Learner Partnership 2. Class Groups and the Individual 3. Discipline in Teaching 4. Multiple Appeal 5. Expression 6. Morale 7. The Social Inheritance 8. The Five Elements n FUNDAMENTALS OF THE TEACHING PROCESS The Teacher-Leamer Partnership The teaching process, on which old educational theory laid almost exclusive stress, is but one aspect of a partnership project. Teaching is one side — learning is the other. Teaching sends a message — but little has happened, however, unless that mes- sage (or part of it) has been received. If the Learner meets difficulty, the Teacher must know this and must help the Learner to help himself. Teacher activity, then, is only significant as it stimulates or aids or leads to Learner activity. The consciousness of partnership and the spirit of co- operation must be actively present on both sides of the teacher-learner project. One of the large tasks of the teacher is to establish and maintain this rela- tionship in which the teacher is the Senior partner. Class Groups and the Individual While class or mass groups are the common units of teaching, it is necessary to keep in mind that learning is a purely personal, private, and individual reaction. The group may provide competition, stimulus, or suggestion — but the individual has to II 12 SELF HELP IN TEACHING do the learning if any be done. Even if we attempt "forced feeding," still he must digest his own food. The Laws of Individual differences show the class group to be a significant problem. Within an average-sized class group made up in the usual random way, there is present a wide range of vital differences in ability. In most groups these differences tend to follow the general laws of variation — a few exceptionally strong individuals — a few exceptionally weak individuals — with the majority of the group distributed more or less evenly about a central tendency between these extremes. These facts make it all the more imper- ative that the effective teacher carefully heed the individual character of the learning process and to the greatest possible extent make the individual the teaching unit. Discipline in Teaching Artificial discipline has ceased to be a factor in good modern teaching. Keep a boy busy — provide things for him to do — appeal to his interests — give him something of personal companionship and in most cases the need for special control measures disappears. Giving more active boys responsibility and pro- viding them an opportunity to participate in real things will generally transform a "problem-boy" into a most valuable helper. A class session unplanned in advance, without variety and interest, and moving slowly, invites boys to do other things — and some of them generally will. However, when a teacher has permitted a situa- THE TEACHING PROCESS 13 tion to get beyond this indirect form of control, he should assert himself sharply but good naturedly — and thereafter keep order by keeping the group doing things. Gymnastic drills and marching tac- tics can often restore discipline, if ably done. The teacher, however, must be of sufficiently strong personality to direct things without recourse to authority. Invoking it is a confession that it's gone. Boys and girls have a wholesome respect for a teacher on whom they can "put nothing over." The teacher, however, must be fair, often very patient and good natured, but firm and never lose his temper in a "pinch." Multiple Appeal One fundamental of teaching anything to anyone is to appeal to him through as many channels as possible. If a boy reads something — one set of brain cells is involved; if he hears it, another set is involved; if he handles or uses the object, another set is involved; if he writes it, he involves the arm- hand muscle areas and he also sees it; if he speaks it, he involves yet another motor area and also hears it. Sound instruction either of another, or one's self, involves the use of as many as possible of these ways in order to fix what is learned so that it will be retained. Expression Teaching is not a process of filling an empty or partly filled container with facts or figures. It is, rather, a process of awakening, interesting, 14 SELF HELP IN TEACHING helping the individual to get started and to do certain things. Since its purpose is to elicit and provoke learner- activity, is it not sound sense to encourage and secure participation and expression at every possible point ? This may and should entirely kill the passive attitude on the part of the learner. The moment he becomes active, expression enables the process of inside growth to proceed by leaps and bounds. Thus habits are builded. Thus initiative emerges. We have all seen teachers who did all the talking and all the doing. Entertaining? Yes — if it was — but a poor way to prepare the class groups to take their places and do in the world. The most skillful teaching gets the group to do the most desired things with the least theft of time by the teacher. Such a teacher even gets the group to point out their own mistakes. Morale To become conscious of the importance to teach- ing, of morale or spirit or attitude or state of mind — one has merely to think of the physical results of mental states. The optimistic, joyous state of mind affects at once 1. The power and rate of heart action. 2. The capacity and rate of respiration. 3. The "tone" of the entire muscular system. 4. The flow of secretions that aid the digestive processes. $. The important secretions of the various ductless glands and causes them to make their way into the system. THE TEACHING PROCESS 15 The opposite states of mind are said even to dis- charge active poisons into the system from the ductless glands. One needs no physiologist to assure him of these effects. One's own experience recalls how physically sluggish one feels when dejected and unhappy, and what crisp muscular and bodily tone is ours when we feel "fit" in spirit. So vital is this state of mind to the physical and mental health of individuals that no grouch or temperamentally colorless person can be a construc- tive force in the life of others. This state of mind has, however, an even more significant aspect to the teacher. Men are whipped or defeated in their minds — nowhere else. Defeat occurs there, not in the outside situations. The man or woman who does not in his mind "give up," cannot be defeated. The joyous, the hopeful, the earnestly eager, the affirmative state of mind is, therefore, a physical, a personal, and a social necessity. Play and games, and a measure of freedom, recognition, and parti- cipation build morale. Teaching in home and church and school should give enhanced attention to the occurrence and maintenance of it. The Social Inheritance Modem Science assures us that traits or qualities acquired during the lifetime of parents are not trans- mitted to their children. A father who has learned everything about corporation law or wheat raising cannot transmit any of this acquired material to his child. The child will inherit the capacities of the i6 SELF HELP IN TEACHING parent stock, but must start at the bottom and for himself acquire the experience and knowledge which the race has accumulated. Someone must help him to get it. This passing along of the social inheritance is the most challenging fact and obligation of our associate life. Almost everything of value in our modern civilization — its devices, methods, relations, its science, its literature, its ideals, its worship — all these must be acquired by the new-born citizen from the social inheritance. Without them his life would remain on a mere vegetative level. Home and Church and School are actively concerned with this teaching — this passing on of the Social Inheritance. It is probably the most basic single phase of human life. The Five Elements Every real teaching process involves five elements, adjudged important in the order named. 1. The Learner. 2. Some exact knowledge or experience to be acquired. 3. Some teacher to expedite and facilitate the learning process, to help the learner learn. 4. Certain methods or devices including some teacher-learner contact through which the joint process is effected. 5. Results, products, and by-products, else the time shall have been wasted. CHAPTER m THE LEARNER 1. His Interest 2. Why Interest the Educatee 3. His Share 4. His Self-Activity 5. His Values and Morale 6. How to Study 7. How Much Outside Study 8. His Physical Health 9. His Moral Health 10. His Time 11. His Recreation 12. His Future vs. His Present 13. His Study and Habits 14. His Life Work 15. His Potential Parenthood 16. His Thrift 17. His Citizenship Through Service 17 ^III OTE LEARNER His Interest Slow though we have been to recognize it, the interest of the learner must somehow be mobiUzed. It is the magic key to action. With it, the most challenging and surprising things may be done — without it, the most elaborate efforts and programs are hollow. Without it — one end of the telephone is "out-of-order" and the teaching message cannot "arrive." The teacher-learner project fails without the learner's interest. The source of interest (as in part indicated in Chapter I) is original nature and tendencies modified by the experience of the individual. Interest rep- resents desire or "mind-set" of the moment. It is profoundly affected by the events which have pre- ceded — may be modified by disease or digestion, pleasure or pain, "tone" or fatigue until it is far removed from original nature and habit. Even interests, however, that have seemed estab- lished are subject to the temporarily altering influ- ences of certain fundamental instincts such as that of curiosity, or that for general activity, the sex instinct, or the acquisitive instinct. It is important to recognize that interest in youth 19 20 SELF HELP IN TEACHING is more elastic than in adults — that the interests of the same boy under quite the same external con- ditions may vary widely due to internal conditions which are often unseen, generally unappreciated by adults. Up to the point of fatigue, the learner generally responds to : the new in preference : to the old the unusual " " " the usual the strange " " " the accustomed the unexpected " " " the anticipated the mysterious " " " the obvious action " << " inaction self -activity " " " passivity (when work is to be done this is oft reversed) participation in preference ; to looking on responsibility " (( " always following things boys do " " ' ' things boys don't do some one he likes " '* " some one he dislikes real companion- ship <( " anything else encouragement " »«» S. Apprentice; — 6. Experiment — 7. Observation — 8. Demonstration ... 9. Recitation — 10. Lecture .^ II. Book study METHODS 67 I. Play The "play-way" of teaching has developed in response to the recognition of the part of morale, or spirit, or interest in getting children to do things. Since the vital line between work and play is the way one feels about it, the "play-way" is sound. The possibilities of original use of this method are almost unlimited, as almost any game may be adapted to educational uses by varying its content so as to involve nimibers, geographic relationships, facts of biblical or other history, etc. The game of authors does this for literature and may itself be varied to use other contents. Games truly educational are those which, while playing some game, involve the practice or applica- tion of the knowledge or skill in question, as for example, "Hare and Hounds" involves the scout subject of Tracking. Scout baseball may be adapted to any content whatever and in fact is a "play-way" of recitation. It is played with two teams of nine (more or less) and an umpire. The pitcher, instead of "pitching a ball," pitches a question, and if the umpire decides that the batter fails he is "out" — three such "outs" retiring the side. If the imipire decides the question to have been answered by the "batter," he goes to "first base." He is "advanced" to "second base" by the next "batter" who reaches "first/*, scores being "forced" "home." Concerning the "play-way" it is generally true that its effectiveness decreases with student's age. With younger pupils and the traditional methods 68 SELF HELP IN TEACHING of instruction, actual play intervals often counteract fatigue and benefit the ** program," provided the play does not deviate so widely from the topic of the following period, that undue time is spent getting back "on the track." The "play-way" spirit is often made nearly unavailable by the unwillingness (or inability) of the teacher to recognize the little lateral mental excursions which the lively child-mind makes. The gruff (or worse, the sarcastic) rebuke to "stick to the subject" often so alienates the child that he has no desire whatever either to stick to the subject or to please his teacher. It is perhaps fair to urge that unless the attitude of the teacher be warmly sympathetic and party to child interests, no games or devices can maintain child spontaneity. 2. Competition Competitions have an almost universal appeal. To measure brains or skill or strength with another attracts almost all normal boys and a large per- centage of girls. Individual competitions with others or against one's own or some other "records," group competi- tions with their potential social values so well used in Scouting — all these may be introduced into nearly every type of teaching situation. The old-time "spelling match" merely represented the element of individual and group competition introduced into a simple spelling recitation. Similar results may be obtained in other subjects. ./ METHODS 69 J. Dramatization Too little educational capital has been made of the keen imaginative activeness of children. Anyone who has been with children much has found them ** playing house," "playing" animals, "playing" school, church, concerts — "playing" the things they have seen in adult life. In elementary education a lesson may be dramatized — or a song; in Scout first aid "carrying and bandaging" may be made more real if the results of a "play-real" situation are described and the patients then treated; in Sunday School a pageant brings home the his- torical facts in question. Even old folks frequently enjoy the "play." In dramatization, however, the principle of as many as possible as participants is sound. 4. Project The "project" method departs from page units to interest units. The subject-steps, even the sub- jects themselves, are suggested from within the class group itself, rather than being "handed down" by the teacher. With younger pupils, for example, a "self-propel- ling" line of reasoning can be easily started by some such query as to what constituted the breakfast menu, and then as individual but related projects, the students will "look up" and make inquiries as to where and how oranges are grown and how they are transported, etc., etc. In such "projects" the child is pursuing knowl- 70 SELF HELP IN TEACHING edge on his own initiative and developing qualities of independent investigation at an early age. Graduate research in the university is the same inherent method. 5. Apprentice The apprentice method of teaching while under a certain industrial onus is in reality a very effective method of learning by imitation while actually par- ticipating in the actual life situation. Its chief industrial danger lies in the fact that it easily ceases to be a means of education and may become a form of industrial exploitation. Teachers in England, many Scoutmasters in America, mechanics in Germany, opera "understudies" in France or Italy, learn through apprenticeship rela- tions. Dean Schneider's Cincinnati "part-time" plan is an educational utilization of this method of actual imitative learning. The two weeks in school fol- lowed by two weeks in active service has been found to bring a valuable balance of results. 6. Experiment Reading books about firebuilding, or craftsman- ship, or typewriting would never establish the ner- vous connections necessary to actually do the things in question. These can only be builded by actually doing the thing in question. Reading the statement that sulphuretted hydrogen gas introduced into a solution of copper nitrate would produce a heavy precipitation of dark blue copper sulphide is a pretty large verbal load and perhaps somewhat difficult to METHODS 71 remember. However, when a lad has tried it in the laboratory he is much more certain to remember what happens. He further learns how to use the materials in ques- tion and thus comes to be better "prepared." Experiment attracts the boy, for example, because he has a chance to manipulate and do things — a girl experimenting with her first cake has the same oppor- tunity. Experiment is learning by doing generally under conditions that can be relatively controlled. y. Observation The secret of the great teaching value of travel lies in its opportunities for observation. Tree hikes, flower hikes, bird hikes, are definite little tours of specialized observation. Observation is at present about the sole means of arriving at any knowledge of how to deal with men. The salesman, for example, observes how certain men react to his advances and thus learns how to deal with men. Various kinds of educational excursions enable one to "observe" what is going on there. Observa- tion is the learner aspect of demonstration and is a fundamentally active process depending upon the learner's interest. 8. Demonstration Where realities in real setting cannot be "observed," demonstrations may be "staged" which simulate such reality. From the viewpoint of the learner these offer much relief. A talk on 72 SELF HELP IN TEACHING China is much more interesting if the actual Chinese costumes are demonstrated or exhibited. A Hfe- saving demonstration may well be a first step toward experiment with the " carry s, " which, after criticisms and imitation and practice, may achieve the desired technique. p. Recitation Although the function of the class session or the teacher-learner-meeting has broadened beyond that of recitation — the name still persists. What should be the purpose of this "meeting together"? Merely to have students recite to see if they have performed assigned tasks? Certainly "Not," though in practice too often "Yes" is the reply. The class session should pro- vide opportunity for the discussion of difficulties, different methods, implications, for the correction of faulty notions; for suggesting how to do things; for demonstrations; for practice; for helping others; for competition as well as for recitation. As already suggested, play, competition, project, imitation, demonstration, observation — any or all may enter into the recitation period. Successful teachers have found that the laws of interest demand a varied program or sequence of events. However, this daily program or "lay-out" should include the following elements among others : I. Some device or activity to enlist a concentrated attention — such as a story, choosing up sides, some outside contribution, some activity in which all may participate more or less. METHODS 73 2. A brief review not of details, but of significant "high points." 3. Periods where the learner is the questioner as well as the answerer. Here difficulties may be elicited and cleared up. 4. Inductive student summaries of important items. 5. How different ones prepared their lessons. 6. Assignment of next day's work, with sufficient time to point a trail into it and suggest avoidance of difficulties. 7. The concept of discussion should be grafted on to our old idea of recitation. 10. Lecture Where time is limited or information is scanty, or no outside study is done, or where inspiration is the objective, or where an argument must be presented — then the lecture system may be used with justifica- tion — provided certain things are done. Many people are more "eye-minded" than ** ear- minded," that is, they grasp more quickly through the former channel. It is, therefore, sane counsel for lecture courses to give the students mimeo- graphed copies of what the lecturer desires to "put over." Also opportunities for questions and brief discus- sion should be offered, provided they are within reason as to time or content. The smart, adver- tising, long-winded questioner should be accorded a reasonably quick and relatively painless "squelch- ing," but he should not be permitted to destroy the practice. The lecture is being given not to amuse 74 SELF HELP IN TEACHING the lecturer, but to teach certain things to the audi- ence — their reaction, therefore, should be encour- aged. Lecture courses are more meaningful if references for outside reading can have been done in advance — as this makes for homogeneity in the class group. II. Book Stiidy While placed at the foot of the interest list as a method of instruction, Book Study is at once the most accessible and universal method of self- instruction. The printed page, a permanent record, inexpen- sive, available for use almost anywhere at any time by anybody, makes it possible for one to have as *'in absentia" teachers the great minds of all time. Regular systematic reading of one book a month will open to the reader personal growth, and new broadening vistas of ideas and of inspiration from the use of a small amount of time daily — time usually wasted. No growing man or woman can afford to miss such vital personal growth values. Professionally, one can never hope to keep abreast of the progress in his field except through systematic contact with the professional periodicals or maga- zines as well as with new books. A public (or traveling library if used for rural districts) library card is a ticket of admission to a larger world. Scout Instruction The genius of Scouting has been in part its use of activity methods. Learning through doing has METHODS 75 given the Scout novice the chance to utilize the tides of his own instincts and interests. Activities, there- fore, of personal and social worth, intrinsically attractive to the boy, are also the means of building vital social habits. Companionship with picked adults is the key to character influencing with youth — and companion- ship at their interest level. Because of the extended use of volunteer Scout teachers and leaders, there is grave danger always that these may fall into the error of formalizing Scout instruction along the lines of traditional school method. Scout literature and leader's training have tried to guard against such error. The influence needsto flow in the reverse direction, as Dean James E. Russell of Teachers College, Columbia University, has so well pointed out that *'it is my honest conviction that our schools in America, supported by the public for the public good, will not be equal to the task of the next generation, unless we incor- porate into them so much as is possible of the scouting spirit and the scouting method, and in addition to that, fill up just as many as possible of the leisure hours of the boy with the out and out program of scouting.** Scouting is significant as an interest program nationally developed (indeed, internationally util- ized), federally protected, and locally available for use by local men for local boys. A careful reading of its constitution makes clear that scouting, while basically and fundamentally religious in its tone, definitely delegates to the parent church for a homogeneous troop the actual giving of religious instruction. It is used alike by^atholic, 76 SELF HELP IN TEACHING Hebrew, and Protestant religious bodies as an inter- est program for holding their boys to the church during the critical adjustment years of the "teens." In troops with such varied religious membership, religious instruction is given by the home and by the church of the boys' natural relationship. Careful emphasis is laid on the scout giving tol- erant "respect to others in the matter of custom and religion." Religious Instruction While one does not have to spend much time with youth to discover that normal youth have deep religious tendencies if opportunely exercised — yet religious instruction of the traditional type labored under the handicap of being weak in its interest appeal to the "teens." Methods traditionally used by the volunteer teachers, many of whom were young and ill-trained, did much to smother the real interest material in which religious education abounds; for religious education is concerned with life, than which we have no more interesting topic. The methods have been too largely formal recita- tion with inadequate activities, applications, dis- cussions — things for the student to do. While precepts are valuable they do not build habits. Actual action or doing is necessary to estab- lish a habit's nervous connections. Sunday Schools, therefore, need service programs, Scout "Good Turns," things to do for others, for the church, for the community, for the nation, for the world, and hence for good and God. METHODS 77 That Sunday School teacher who can provide his students with such "things to do" will find his interest problem largely solved. Then, too, a Sunday School Class, meeting once a week on Sunday remains an artificial group and its internal bonds are weak. The class needs to be relatively homogeneous as to age or interests and should play together and be a real unit in week-day life. This is precisely one benefit of "Boy Scout," "Camp Fire," "Girl Scout," "Woodcraft," "Boy's Club," and other companionship unit programs — they tend to create a natural group for the Sunday School or church to use for instruction or service. Some one has observed that practically every great movement in history has been tied to a great personality. Youth are no exception to the interest in persons which that statement implies. An abstract prin- ciple of religion or a character element or virtue has its impact upon youth multiplied many fold by its vital connection with a historical or, better still, a living personality. Nothing is probably so potent in the minds of youth as the to-them-often-unconscious influence of example. This is especially potent if found in men of action. The indirect moral influences upon a boy, of a great general, of a leading captain of indus- try, of a great inventor, or a flying parson or a base- ball "home-run hitter" is incalculable. The sermon of fine, unmistakable, moral quality linked with great "doing" ability is quite irresistible. Companionship with a right-hearted, red-blooded, successfully-doing adult is a quite certain method of 78 SELF HELP IN TEACHING "catching" character — for as some one has said, "character is caught, not taught." ReHgious education in certain Protestant bodies is developing into a new profession with courses of instruction in preparation. Skilled laymen, or ministers with special preparation, are being sought to head the religious education program of these churches. This is certainly to be welcomed as marking the growth of the policy of relating the church in every way to life. Indeed, the educational program of the modern church is a finely staffed and diversified seven-day educational rendering of service. This widening of the active contacts of the church in the community may save its sometimes waning influence. Churches, as we have said of Sunday Schools, need things worthy and attractive and socially challenging for their members to do. Business Instruction While there have been Commercial Schools (even at the graduate level), yet the great mass of "learn- ing" in the business world has been the "trial-and- error," experience method — learning the business by "working up" through it. That such a method is wasteful is obvious and further attested by a heavy labor "turnover." Correspondence Courses have in recent years come to be very significant ways of giving an in- dividual a foundation for advancement. Recent developments take the business training courses to the corporation offices and plant, and give its ben- efits on the time and at the expense of the employer. METHODS 79 Special training for foremen, for salesmen, for export, for transportation, etc., are among the types of technical subjects, with material bearing on human engineering as well. Many concerns have felt it necessary to organize their own schools for their own employees. In recent years the position of Educational Director has been created to handle such **up grad- ing" efforts. This recognizes clearly that the employer is (or some one under him must be) fundamentally a teacher of his staff, if learning is to be rescued from the realm of costly " trial-and-error " experience. Industrial Instruction The handling of machines and the achievement of production are vitally technical things. ** Piece production" also places heavy demands on exact following of specifications and on close co-operative endeavor. The industrial worker must be trained as to quality of output and as to labor-saving methods to meet the quantity output which is needed to make production solvent. The foreman, therefore, is fundamentally a teacher — or should be. In more primitive stages of our industry he was more of a boss — often gruff and *' two-fisted." With the enormous war-time turnover of 250 per- cent annually which characterized our American industries (two and one-half men in each job yearly), and with a $ioo-$2oo cost of training each man, the teaching demands on the foreman become apparent. 8o SELF HELP IN TEACHING Not only must he be a real leader of men, but he must be a real teacher as well. The need for instruc- tion in the industrial field is, however, by no means limited to foremen or to apprentices. Employers and employees need instruction or information or both as to their mutual relations and interests. The "employer-employee relationship" is a partnership project just as truly as is the "teacher-learner proj- ect." False economic propaganda have been cir- culated and often accepted as plausible until the basic economic structure has become so misunder- stood as to imperil the stability of industrial rela- tions. There are several significant systems of "industrial publicity" now aimed at "instructing" both employer and employee, to the end of bringing them closer together toward needed co-operation in increased production. Suffice it to say, that little progress toward that goal can be made until the "minds" of the workers are influenced. How they "feel" determines in large measure the industrial unrest, the decreased production, increased waste, greater number of strikes, etc., etc. Employers are becoming more and more alert to the welfare of their employees. Their "minds" toward their workers must undergo change which shall guarantee workers just treatment everywhere. Education is therefore the only method of making progress toward industrial peace. When facts are sought — when each party to the productive process understands the whole and his relation thereto — then METHODS 8i COULD I BUT KNOW Could I but know The thoughts that pulsate — vibrate — strong Within the mind of one who seems to me all wrong; Could I but feel With him, his facts — relationships — desires, The purpose high toward which his struggling soul aspires; Could I but feel His sorrows surge — his joy — his thrills of hope With which in hidden depths, alone — his self must cope; Could I but understand His thought — his Hfe — his noble self and true, Could I, unselfish, even get his "point of view"; Could I ('tis possible), why then We'd understand — and Peace and Brotherhood Made real — we'd see at once the Common Good. Political Instruction In general the press does not present both sides of issues alike. This has led to the suggestion of an endov^ed press which would impartially present facts rather than partisan propaganda. Some such independent educative force is much needed, especially in these days when myriad new voters face the ballot and need and want facts about both sides of issues. The question of pre- voting-age citizenship instruc- tion for youth must receive active consideration sooner or later, as must some ceremony to mark the voter's transit to his new estate. Even primitive savage tribes did not so ignore boy instincts and interests — they had definite tribal ceremony of 82 ^SELF HELP IN TEACHING induction into citizenship. The Athenian youth took the following oath to serve and protect his city: I will never bring disgrace to this, my city, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert my suffering com- rades in the ranks. I will fight for the ideals and sacred things of this, my city, either alone or with others. I will revere and obey my city's laws, and do my best to incite a like respect and reverence in those above me who are prone to annul or to set them at naught. I will strive unceasingly to quicken the public sense of civic duty. Thus in all these ways I will transmit this, my city, not only not less, but greater better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to me. The American Boy Scout Oath involves similar social values. On My Honor I will do my best: 1. To do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law; 2. To help other people at all times; 3. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. Perhaps the greatest need for instruction in the field of politics and government is in the instruction of newly elected officeholders — who have had neither specific training nor experience. The periodic "peaceful revolution" which brings new officials into power is such that it would be highly difficult and undemocratic to limit candidacy to possessors of certain qualifications, desirable as that might be. Society, therefore, must train these men after METHODS 83 they have been selected. The University of any state could easily offer, e.g., a short training course for newly elected country treasurers which would greatly enhance their eiSiciency. In Bavaria state schools for state service have been operated, but short tenure of office makes such schools less prac- tical here. Civic Responsibility How may the individual citizen be brought to an active sense of his civic responsibility? How may he be helped to feel that it is HIS gov- ernment, not the government of the administration ? While home and church and school can help "set-up" certain ideals and can reward certain loyalties — yet nothing is probably so effective a method to accomplish these ends as PARTICI- PATION. Whether it be a boy or a man, if he participates actively in the thing in question, it is HIS. The sense of civic responsibility, then, can be most surely developed, like any other human quality, through its EXERCISE. CHAPTER VII "CHECKING UP" RESULTS 1. Results 2. How to Measure Results 3. Conclusion 85 VII "CHECKING UP" RESULTS Results Results are the measure of effort. Efficiency is the ratio between effort and results. Unless time, energy, materials give fruitage in results they have probably been wasted. Results, then, not only indicate what had hap- pened, but such knowledge becomes the basis for sub- sequent effort. Mistakes and successes thus detected may and should profoundly influence future action. The results of instruction are so subtle, so varied, often so indirect or deferred, that their detection becomes a difficult scientific problem. How to Measure Results . The results of teaching can never be measured unless the condition of the learner previous to the teaching is known. Both before and after "taking " must be known. The first step, therefore, in any such effort to measure results, is to secure the fullest possible advance inventory of the student. Comparison of this with a parallel final inventory will reveal certain of the outcomes of the instruction. The actual detail of methods of measuring results 87 88 SELF HELP IN TEACHING must, of course, vary widely with the objectives and purposes and content of the teaching. (a) Where skills, or the ability to do certain things has been the objective of teaching, such actual doing shows the direct results. Various crafts in wood, metal, leather, etc. — driving or adjusting machines — singing, typing, playing baseball, painting, etc., can be objectively tested by output. (b) Where acquiring information or facts is the object in view, the old-fashioned (and often unfair) examination methods would reveal whether or not such information or facts could be reproduced at the time in question. One testing may easily be a very unfair measure of the individual — as ner- vousness, ill health, fatigue, sex, worry, and multiplied other hidden factors may easily mar the value of the test. The nature of the questions may also vitiate any interpre- tation of the answers. Standardized tests and methods are less open to such challenge. The recently developed "standard" school tests in writing, in read- ing, in arithmetic, etc., are carefully grad- uated in difficulty and also now involve norms of what a person of certain school "grade" should do on the average. These have been ascertained by testing thousands of cases. The periodic use of such tests robs them of their terror and they give truer pictures. They are also so worked out that poor "CHECKING UP" RESULTS 89 teaching of any part of the subject would be indicated. (c) When habit formation or character enricn- ment or cultural or moral results are desired — the evaluation is difficult. Conduct is of course the natural revealer of "inside" conditions and he who would measure these subtle outcomes must study conduct — immediate, or deferred, or under experimental conditions. It is of course very desirable that tests as nearly objective as possible be secured so as to limit human judgment, which, like individual standards, will even differ from themselves. Relatively little work has been done in the field of advance testing in the moral field. Here resultant conduct has largely been our measure. Certain completion tests may be developed {e.g., The most vital quaUty of a man's life is his . No can others, etc.); certain arrangings in the order of importance {e.g., rate the following in the order of their heinousness: using one's employer's time for personal things; stealing a ten-dollar bill from some one; stealing money from a blind man's cup; keeping an excess of change returned; rid- ing on a street car and not paying fare — any comment you wish to make, make here )and similar tests may be used. The trustworthiness of boys with and without go SELF HELP IN TEACHING Scout training was recent' y tested by Dr, P. F. Voelker at Teachers College of Colum- bia University, where tests were devised which gave the boy a clear chance to be untrustworthy and apparently "get away with it." These tests gave approximately 20 per cent improvement under Scout experience as the result. All of which contains the heartening evidence that even moral outcomes may be measured in part. It seems fair to affirm that in general — 1. The ability to use the material of instruction and to apply it to new situations represents a higher form of instructional outcome then mere perfect memory — for, after all, life has to be lived as well as thought about. Such tests, therefore, are more significant than the traditional "repeat," "tell-what- the author-says-about " sort of questions. Doing is more significant than "telling" or talking. 2. "Going on" represents a higher form of instructional outcome than mere perfect doing of the immediate tasks. 3. Unselfish service to common good and the really social attitude represent a higher form of instructional outcome than mere egocentric use of abilities developed. 4. The subtle but certain personal influence of the teacher upon the taught is even more sig- nificant than curriculimi. 5. All instruction should seek as by-products to "CHECKING UP" REvSULTS 91 strengthen our basic institutions — home, church, and state. 6. Teacher and taught should unfailingly practice the human qualities of courtesy, sense of humor, sympathy, etc. — which practice unconsciously gives fruitage in habits. 7. Every teacher should constantly check his work in terms not only of outcomes which are often difficult of isolation — but also in terms of its immediate interest value. Such checks include (a) Attendance (b) Dropping out — how much and why ? (c) Apparent interest. (d) Enthusiasm, morale. (e) Cooperation, participation. (f) Educatee's own suggestion as to benefits derived (or weaknesses noted). (g) Parent's suggestion as to benefits derived or changes proposed. (h) Progress of student if checked with his ability and side interests. (i) Etc 8. *'Time is the master interpreter" and will quite unfailingly reveal strength or weakness later when the actual situations of life must be met. Conclusion Teachers prepare and teach; curricula are devel- oped; buildings are erected and why? That the student may learn, may acquire the race's social inheritance. 92 SELF HELP IN TEACHING Consciousness, therefore, of what we are trying to help him do and of whether it is being done are sorely- needed. Traditional educational procedure was indeed the parable of a gun — finely polished and cared for and regularly fired by its educational gunners who knew both the gun and the gun drill more or less perfectly. No one worried particularly about the target — yet while for seemingly long hours daily the target was in the room directly facing the gun and gunner, yet his real self was out of sight and, like his interests, often out of range — the gun shot much over his head. The smoke and the noise, however, seemed real to the gunner; things were going well. Little heed was given to whether the "ammunition" or the "charge" were suited to effect their purpose or whether the individual shots hit or not — except that annually or semi-annually or monthly the target was questioned as to his memory of any "hits" made. The moral is clear — no matter how excellent the message or how well sent — the whole thing hinges on: Was it received? And answered? Modern psychology and scientific education shift, therefore, its emphasis from teachings or teacher to the taught. He is really the limiting, the determining factor — without his part teaching effort has borne no fruitage. This new emphasis is very sorely needed. In the past we have built curricula and have trained teachers therein. Our new and pressing need is to add thereto sympathetic scientific study of the learner. Morale, interest devices, ways to secure partici- ** CHECKING UP" RESULTS 93 pation and "doing" and cooperation — watching him and his reactions to ascertain what he "gets" and what he reHshes — these are among the things we must know next. Indeed the big problem of teaching is that of all human relations — getting the other person's point of view INDEX Action, 7, 20, 31, 42, 53, 61, 62. 65, 71, 75. Adults and Children, 5, 20, 25, 42, 53. 54» 61. Advancement, 32. Aims, 58. Application, 28, 41, 42, 64, 90. Apprentice, 70. Art and Music, 56, 57. Associations, 23, 25, 43, 44. Athenian Oath, 82. Attention, 5, 6, 49, 52. Authority, 13, 24. B Balanced Life, 30, 63, 66. Book Study, 48, 49, 74. Business Instruction, 78, 79. Civic Responsibility, 83. Class Groups, 11, 12, 33, 54, 62, 74. Class Session, 72, 73. Communicating with Others, 3. 4. 51. Companionship, 20, 31, 75, 77, 78. Competition, 68. Concentration, 26. Conclusion, 91, 93. Conflicting Problems of Method, 63, 66. Consciousness, 3, 25. Content vs. Form, 65. Co-operation, 11, 25. Correspondence Training, 38, 78. Cultural vs. Vocational, 54. Camp Fire Girls, 36, 57, 77 Capacities, 5, 53. Character, 50. "Checking-up" Results (Ch. VII), 87. 93. Church, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35.41,47.75.76,77.78,89, 90,91. Citizenship, 38, 54, 62, 83, 90, 91. Daily Dosage, 43. Defeat, 15. Democracy, 24, 63, 90, 91. Demonstration, 71, 72. Direction, 63, 65, 66. Discipline, 12, 13, 24. Disease, 15, 19, 30, 88. Doing, 7, 12, 27, 28, 31, 32, 50,61,62,65,70,71,78,83, 88, 90. Dramatization, 69. 95 96 INDEX Dress, 52. Drills, 13, 64, 65. E Education, 20, 25. Educational Hygiene, 19, 20, 26, 29, 30. Employer, a teacher, 79 Example, 77. Experience, 41, 42, 47, 48, 49. Experience a costly teacher, 47. • Experiment, 70, 71 Expression, 13, 14, 24, 76. Fatigue, 19, 20, 64, 65, 88. Feeling "Fit," 14, 15. Form vs. Content, 65. Fundamentals of the Teach- ing Process (Ch. II), 11. Future vs. Present, 34. General Nature of Mental Life (Ch. I), 3-7. General Training, 34 Getting and Giving Atten- tion, 6. Girl Scouts, 57, 77. "Going On," 53, 90. Growth, 14, 24, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58,61,63,64,65,74,90. H Habit in study, 26, 27. Habits, 14, 23, 34, 35, 38, 50, 51, 62, 75, 76, 89, 91. Hand Activities, 27, 28. Helping the learner, 11. Hereditary Tendencies, 5, 6, 36. Hikes, 30, 33, 54, 71. Home Teaching, 47, 56, 57. Homogeneous.Groups, 11, 12, 33. Humorous vs. Serious, 65. Hygiene, 19, 20, 26, 29, 30 Ideals, 50. Ideas — their nature, 4. Imagination of Children, 69. "In Absentia" Teaching, 48. Inaccurate Teaching, 48. Individual, 6, 11, 12, 21, 24, 25, 29, 30, 58. Individual Differences, 12, 20, 21, 44, 62. Industrial Instruction, 79, 81. Industrial Peace, 80, 81 Influence, 26. Initiative, 14, 24, 63, 65, 66, 69, 70. Interest, 5, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 49, 57, 61, 63, 72, 91, 92, 93. Interesting Boys, 5, 12, 19, 49. 91, 92, 93- Interest Unit, 43, 44. Inventories, 62, 63, 87, 91. Kinaesthetic, 27, 28. Learner, The (Ch. Ill), 17, 38. INDEX 97 Learning^ ii, 14, 16, 21, 22 23, 24, 61, 63. Learning by Doing — see "Doing." Lecture, 73, 74. Life Work, 16, 35, 36. Logical Organization, 43. M Manner and Manners, 52, 91. Meaning, 4, 5 Measuring Results, 87, 93. Mental Life, 3, 5, 13, 14, 15, 27, 28. Methods (Ch. VI), 61-83. *'Mind-Set " 5, 19. Mistakes, 14. Modern Educational Prin- ciples, 61, 63. Modifying Interest, 23, 24. Moral Health, 30, 31, 50, 76, 89, 90. Morale, 15, 25, 64, 66, 68, 80, 81, 91. Motive, 23, 27, 43, 62. Motor Areas, 13, 27, 28. Multiple Appeal, 13, 27, 28. Music and Art, 56, 57. N Nerve System, 3, 5, 13, 14, 15,19.22,27,28,32,33,62. Oath — ^Athenian and Scout 82. Observation, 71. Open-mindedness, 53. Other's viewpoint, 8r, 93. Outcomes, 58, 87, 93 Out-of-doors, 30, 33, 34, 54. Outside Study — How much, 29. Parable of the Gun, 92, 93. Parenthood, 36. Participation, 15, 20, 25, 33, 83. Partnership, 11, 80. Passive, 14, 27, 42, 61, 65. Personal Touch, 38, 39, 90. Physical Health, 29, 30. Physical results of mental states, 14, 15, 19, Plateau of Learning, 58. Play, 64, 66, 68. Poise, 52. PoHtical Instruction, 81, 83. Practice vs. Theory, 64. Present vs. Future, 34, 64. Press, 81. Production, 32. Professional Teachers, 55, 56. Program, 58, 72, 73. Project, 43, 44, 63, 69, 70. R Reaching Others, 3. Recognition, 15, 20, 25. Recreation, 32, 33, 34, 53, 54. References, 74. ■Regularity of Program, 26. Religion, 30, 31, 32, 41, 50, 75, 76, 78. Responsibility, 12, 20. Results, 58, 87, 93. Rewards, 6, 24, 25. 98 INDEX Satisfactions, 6, 22. Scouting, 29, 30, 36, 57, 67, 68, 74. 76, 77. 82. Self -Expression — Self -Activ- ity, 7, 24, 25, 35, 44, 63, 90, 91. Self-Instruction, 48, Self-Mastery, 35. Self-Realization, 63, Serious vs. Humorous, 65. Sign Language, 4. Social Inheritance, 15, 16,41- 47, 91- Social Relations, 35. Sources of Knowledge, 41. Speed vs. Thoroughness, 63. Standardized Tests, 88, 89. State of Mind, 14, 15. Study — How to, 26, 28. Subject Matter, or Body of Knowledge (Ch. IV), 41- 44. Substitution, 23, 24. Suggestions, 65, 66. Sunday Schools, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33» 41. 50, 57, 67, 69, 72, 75, 76, 78, 89, 90, 91. Supervised Study, 29. Teacher, The (Ch. V), 46-58. Teacher and Time Theft, 14. Teacher - Learner - Partner- ship, 11,25,92,93. Teacher's Character, 50 Teacher's Citizenship, 54. Teacher's Fallacy, 49. Teacher's Growth, 52, 53. Teacher's Ideals, 50. Teacher's Manner and Ap- pearance, 52. Teacher's Recreation, 53, 54. Teacher's Temperament, 50. Teacher's Voice, 51. Teaching based on communi- cation, 3. Teaching Process — Five Ele- ments, 16. Teaching Process, Funda- mentals of (Ch. II), 11-16. Theory vs. Practice, 64. Thoroughness vs. Speed, 63. Thrift, 32, 34, 37. Time, 31, 32, 74- Tolerance, 54. Training Officials, 82, 83. U Use, 28, 42, 90. V Values, 20, 25, 42, 66. Variation, 12. Visual Appeal, 44, 47, 73. Vocation, 35, 36, 70. Voice, 51, 52. Volunteer Teachers, 57, 58. W Waste, 32, 41, 53, 74, 78,87. Work vs. Play, 64. Working with others, 35. THE END