Class L.B \o^'5 Book .Or 7 Gopyiiglit}!? . COFffilGHT DEPOSm ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING BY l^ JAMES r; grant, m.a. SUPERVISOR OF THE RURAL SCHOOLS OF ARKANSAS FORMERLY DIRECTOR OF TRAINING SCHOOL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, UNI- VERSITY OF ARKANSAS SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY NEW YORK NEWARK BOSTON CHICAGO l3 y^^^ .G-7 Copyright, 1922, by SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY m 26 1922 ©CI.Ae81527 5)eDfcatcD TO THE MEMORY OF MY PARENTS CONTENTS PAOE Chapter I. The Teacher, The School, and The Community . i I. Applicants i II. Qualifications of a Good Teacher 4 III. The Teacher and Her Work . 10 IV. A Teacher's Personality 12 V. What to Do before the First Day of School . . . -15 VI. What to Do the First Day of School 17 Vn. A Community Survey 19 VIII. Cooperation 22 IX. What Patrons Want to Know 26 ^ X. What Teachers Want to Know 33 XL Evidences of an Educated Person 35 XII. Evidences of an Uneducated Person 37 XIII. Vocational Education 39 XIV. School Credit for Home Work 42 XV. A Few Things That Have Been Done for Some Rural Schools . 44 XVI. A Rural School Score Card 46 XVII. Parent-Teachers' Association 50 XVIII. Questions for Debates. Suggested for Teachers' Meetings . 52 XIX. Topics to be Discussed in Teachers' Meetings ... 56 XX. Questions for Debates. Suggested for Literary Societies . 59 XXI. Community Activities 63 Chapter II. Principles of Education and Administration . 70 I. Aims of an Elementary Education 70 II. What an Eighth Grade Graduate Should Know, Feel, and Do 72 III. Program of Studies 74 IV. Daily Schedule 80 V. Consolidation 86 VI. Economy of Time in School Management .... 89 VII. Rules Governing the School 93 VIII. Schoolroom Discipline 95 IX. School Punishment 99 X. Education through Play 103 XI. Student Activities 107 ■ XII. Examinations no XIII. Measuring Results of Classroom Work 114 XIV. A Teacher's Resolutions 118 V vi CONTENTS PAGE Chapter III. The Technique of Teaching 120 I. Factors that Determine Methods in Teaching . . .120 II. Inductive Teaching .124 III. Deductive Teaching 127 IV. The Proper Use of Textbooks 129 V. Teaching Pupils How to Study 131 VI. Planning the Lesson 136 VII. Assigning the Next Lesson 139 VIII. The Recitation 143 IX. The Socialized Recitation 147 X. The Project Method 151 XI. The Problem Method 154 XII. Methods of Questioning ....... 156 XIII. Things a Good Teacher Will Do in Every Recitation . .160 XIV. "Don'ts," or Things a Good Teacher Will Never Do . . 162 XV. The School Library 164 XVI. Appreciation 167 Chapter IV. School Hygiene 171 I. A Standard One-Teacher School Building . . . .171 II. The Teacher's Health 174 ■ III. The Pupil's Dailv Health Chores 176 IV. Health Work in the School 177 V. Sanitation in Rural Schools 182 Chapter V. Human Nature 194 I. Child Nature 194 II. Imitation . 197 III. Individual Differences 200 IV. Attention and Interest 204 V. Imagination 207 VI. Memory 209 VII. Habit Formation 212 VIII. Habits and Attitudes Which Children Should Form . .215 IX. Transfer of Training . . . . . . . .216 X. Moral-Social Education 220 Appendix Teacher Rating Card No. i i Teacher Rating Card No. 2 ii Index v INTRODUCTION A NEW type of text-book is now in process of making. This book is evidence of the fact. A century ago matters were far different. Then the author was expected to hand out to the student a careful formulation of ''the correct" position and the student was required to learn this "by heart" and recite it to the teacher. Aside from the effort at memorizing the student was passive throughout. His duty was to accept what was told him. To doubt or question was impudence or worse. Later the reformers saw the inadequacy of mere rote memorizing, and demanded that the student "understand" what he was "learning." The student's activity might even go so far as to "give in his own words" what he had "learned." In our later times, still greater student activity is counted necessary. No longer will one formulated statement sufi&ce. Thoughts cannot be given out whole in such fashion. We now see that if the student's knowledge is to be his in any true sense, be in fact knowledge and not mere information, then the student must himself have come to that knowledge through a serious and complex effort. He must first have encountered difficulties, have felt doubts; he must then examine possible solutions to these difficulties ; must see wherein and how one solution fails to satisfy and another better satisfies. If one has not engaged in such a course of personal individual mental activity, moving back and forth over the field of thought, he cannot justifiably say that he thinks thus or so, still less can he say that he knows this or that to be true. Nor is this all. Unless the student viii INTRODUCTION has gone through such an active thought process, he can have little hope that in his time of need his knowledge will serve him. Only when knowledge has been worked over into the very constitution of one's own thought processes can it be relied upon to function effectively in meeting life's situations. It is with such thoughts in mind, I take it, that Mr. Grant has made this book. Here no ready-made ready-to-be-accepted thoughts are handed out to docile students. Quite the con- trary. Whoever goes through this book in the fashion here outlined will surely think, and thinking thus will, I most firmly believe, come from the study with a greatly increased stock of thoughts worked over into the very warp and woof of his own mind. Such thoughts so held will serve efficiently when the call shall come. In James' phrase, I defy anyone to go through this book according to directions and not really learn or learn- ing not to profit. Such a text-book is a contribution to Ameri- can education. With its coming a better day is brought nearer. William Heard Kilpatrick Teachers College, Columbia University PREFACE Character building is the teacher's greatest work. How well she succeeds depends upon her skill in teaching. A majority of our teachers begin work with less skill than they themselves desire. Even the trained teachers are seeking further guidance. Superintendents, principals, and supervisors are constantly look- ing for material that can be used by teachers for their improve- ment. The purpose of this book is to guide the reading, thinking, and practice of student teachers and teachers in serv- ice. Each chapter is composed of a number of short pedagogical statements. Most of these statements are true. Some of them are questionable. The teachers are asked to state in the light of modern educational thought why each statement is or is not true. In preparing this book the author has also kept in mind those students who wish to improve in service through correspondence work. The readings on each chapter are definite. The student writes his paper by telling why the statements are or are not true. The author is indebted to more people than he can mention. Many of his teachers, colleagues, and students can find their statements in this book. The author is especially grateful to the following people for reading the manuscript and offering helpful suggestions: J. L. Bond, State Superintendent Public Instruction, Little Rock, Arkansas; Frederick G. Bonser, Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University ; Norman Frost, Professor of Rural Education, Peabody College for Teachers; Newell D. Gilbert, Dean of Northern Illinois X PREFACE Teachers' College ; R. C. Hall, Superintendent of Public Schools, Little Rock, Arkansas; F. H. Harrin, Professor of Education, Arkansas State Teachers' College ; M.S. Pittman, Professor of Rural Education, Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti; John G. Rossman, Supervisor of Secondary Education, Public Schools, Fort Smith, Arkansas; and to his colleagues, W. E. Halbrook, A. B. Hill, and J. A. Presson. Grateful acknowledg- ment is made to Professor William Heard Kilpatrick for his Introduction to this text. The author is especially indebted to his wife for rendering valuable assistance on each chapter. If reflection on these statements and the group discussions that should follow are helpful in the improvement of teachers, in bringing about a better community spirit, and in causing parents, teachers, and boards of education to cooperate in solving their common problems, the purpose of this book will have been accompUshed. J. R. Grant Little Rock, Arkansas August I, 1922 SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY The method emphasized in this book will encourage dis- cussions, but discussions are of no value unless they help members of the group to reach worth while conclusions. The period may- be used unwisely by one or two members who enjoy prolonging theoretical discussions and hair-splitting distinctions or in mere rambling talk. In any class or group of teachers where ques- tions are to be settled, the individual members may hinder progress by talking too much or too little. No member wishes to hinder progress ; therefore each member of the class should examine himself or herself to see what value his or her presence means to the welfare of the entire group. Following each chapter is a large number of suggested read- ings, but no one is expected to read all these references. After the reading has been done, the teachers should come together for further study. Each teacher should do her own thinking, always being able to give reasons for her opinions. The teachers may not agree on all statements, but they should not waste time in debating when it is evident that the question cannot be settled. It is often as valuable to raise questions as to settle them. After the true statements have been agreed upon, it may be well to arrange them in logical order around two or more main topics. All questions will never be settled, but unless the close of each period finds the members of the class agreeing on a number of outstanding principles of teaching, the period has meant very little to the growth of the individual members. It would be well for time to be taken at the close of the period for a summary xii SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY of conclusions. No meeting should close with the members of the group feeling that nothing definite was accomplished. It should always be kept in mind that the statements are to pro- mote study, not argument. In taking a class through a book of this nature, the teacher should do even more planning than for the usual type of text. The teacher must not only guide the discussions, but she should know when they are going nowhere and when they should be dropped. In a democratic recitation or group meeting, all members should hold themselves responsible for helping to guide the discussions to valuable conclusions. Not what one knows but what one does is often the thing that counts. A teacher who knows a pedagogical principle and does not put it into practice, is very httle better than the teacher who has never heard of the principle. No teacher should agree that a statement is true, unless she is willing to put it into practice. In large groups, there are always some modest teachers who do not take an active part. Where the group is large, the teach- ers will do well to divide themselves into small study groups meeting before the regular time for the class or group discussion. This will encourage individual thinking and expression. More- over, by settling some of the questions in the study groups time will be saved so that, in the regular meetings, attention may be centered on the more important statements. Many of the topics in this book may be used as programs for community clubs, study clubs, faculty meetings, teachers' institutes, parent-teacher associations, etc. Not all the topics or the special statements in those topics in this book should necessarily be studied by one group in one school year. No two groups or classes have the same problems. The problems of each group are continually changing. Discus- sions should be limited to living problems. CHAPTER I THE TEACHER, THE SCHOOL, AND THE COMMUNITY I. APPLICANTS As a rule teachers have not Hved in the community where they are teaching long enough to entitle them to vote. They are not citizens of the community. Too often their interests are elsewhere, and it is "your community/' rather than "our community." They sometimes say to themselves, "I would not live here at all, but I can stand anything for a Httle while." It is hoped the time will soon come when more com- munities can have, for twelve months each year, mature teachers who are good leaders and who are worthy to be followed by adults as well as children. Such teachers would be real citizens of the community and would help it in every way possible. Since most appHcants are strangers to the school board, and since teachers often leave the community as soon as the school is out, it behooves the school board to be careful in selecting teachers. Any appli- cant can get " to-whom-it-may-concern " testimonials but school boards are losing faith in them. 2 ACQUIRING SKILL JN TEACHING Study Mary Jones's application, and Mr. Smith's reply. How would you change the application? Justify each part of the reply or tell why certain parts should not have been written. Little Rock, Arkansas July I, 1922 Mr. J. W. Smith Everton, Missouri Dear Sir : I have been informed by that you are looking for a sixth grade teacher. If this is true I should be glad to correspond with you regarding this position. I am twenty-eight years old and have had four years' expe- rience teaching in the fifth and sixth grades. I have been success- ful in my work and shall be glad to have you investigate my record. Tell me the nature of your problems and the kind of teacher that you want and I shall tell you whether I am the teacher you need. Inclosed find self-addressed, stamped envelope for reply. Sincerely yours, (Miss) Mary Jones Everton, Missouri July 5, 1922 Miss Mary Jones Little Rock, Arkansas Dear Miss Jones : Our sixth grade problems are about what you would expect in any school. We are very much interested in your application, but it is the board's policy not to employ teachers THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 3 until they have answered a few questions. Will you be honest with yourself and with us in answering the following questions ? 1. Have you confidence in your ability to teach? 2. Have you a living license in this state? 3. Are you a true and loyal citizen of the United States? 4. During the school months, will you refrain from all other work for which you would receive pay ? 5. Do you take an active part in community activities? 6. Will you try to make the school not only a socialized in- stitution but a social center for the entire community ? 7. Do you realize that character building is your most im- portant work ? 8. Will your life, both in and out of school, command the respect of your pupils and patrons ? 9. Are you a normal school graduate ? 10. Are you a growing teacher ? 11. Do you love children? 12. Do you enjoy teaching? 13. Have you chosen teaching as your life work? 14. Do you expect to spend Saturdays and Sundays in the community where you teach ? 15. Do you expect to become a citizen and a ''booster" in the community where you teach ? 16. Can you help harmonize factions in a community? 17. Are you well prepared to teach the subjects that we shall want you to teach ? 18. Can you make the school work practical and interesting? 19. Do you live within your means? 20. Do you want our school for the good you can do this community ? 21. Have you a health certificate? Very truly yours, J. W. Smith 4 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING EXERCISES 1. If you were a board member, what other questions would you ask the applicant ? 2. Make a list of questions that the applicant should ask the school board. 3. On what kind of paper should applications be made? How should the paper be folded? How should the envelope be addressed ? 11. QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD TEACHER There have been many statements made about the good teacher. Some of the statements are true; others are questionable. Most of the statements given below have been made by teachers and pupils in naming the qualifications of their best teachers. Examine each statement carefully and tell why you do or do not think it is true for all good teachers. After you have selected the qualifications of a good teacher, check the ones that are possessed by the *' average " teacher of your state. Select the ones that can be acquired by any teacher. Tell how they may be acquired. 1. Her age is somewhere between twenty-one and fifty-five. 2. She is good looking. 3. She thoroughly enjoys her work. 4. She understands and loves children. 5. She enjoys children's games. 6. She is full of stories and can tell them well. 7. She dresses according to the custom of the community in which she lives. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 5 8. She has a low, soft voice. 9. She has faith in her pupils, herself, and her God. 10. She does not dance or play cards. 11. She sings well and gets her pupils to sing. 12. She plays the piano. 13. She does not take the lead in community activities. 14. She gets others to take the lead, so that activities will not die when she leaves the community. 15. She adapts herself to the community in which she teaches. 16. She can get very angry, but she has her temper under good control. 17. She is always sincere. 18. She does not copy or imitate, but is original in all that she does. 19. She lays aside fun while in the schoolroom. 20. She loves all her pupils equally well. 21. She treats all her pupils alike. 22. She tells the truth on all occasions. 23. Children know a good teacher. They are right when they say : " She takes an interest in us." " She does not scold." " She has no pets." " She is one of us." " She means what she says." " She thinks before she speaks." " She has a pure character." " She is a broad-minded friend." 24. She is always prompt, both in school and out. 25. She is always tactful, neat, polite, kind, friendly, and cheerful. ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 26. She is patient and cool-headed at all times. 27. She is not disturbed by criticisms made of her by patrons. 28. She is willing to serve her community and let others get the credit for her work. She is willing to be forgotten. 29. She will not complain about her environment, such as her associates, boarding place, school equipment, etc. 30. She thinks more of helping children than she does of studying books. She thinks more of helping others than of helping herself. 31. She has as much influence in the community at large as she has in the school. 32. She has no bad habits. 33. A teacher failed on examination. The examiner gave her a license, because he knew she was a power for good. He did right. 34. Examinations do not enable a board or superintendent to select good teachers. Some of our best scholars are our poorest teachers. We should employ teachers on trial. If they win the love, confidence, and respect of the children ; if they raise the moral plane of living ; if they cause their pupils to be kind, considerate, and cour- teous ; if they inspire their pupils to be and do their best every day, they should be retained even if they are not able to pass an examination. On the other hand, if they fail to win the love, confidence, and respect of their pupils ; if they do not raise the moral plane of living ; if they do not cause their pupils to be kind, considerate, and courteous ; if they do not inspire their pupils to be and do their best every day, they should not be re- tained, even if they have been graduated from the best college in the country. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 7 SUGGESTED REFERENCES Arp, Rural Education and the Consolidated School, Chapter 9; Bagley, Classroom Management, Chapter 18 ; Bagley, Craftsmanship in Teaching, Chapter 12; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 31; Bizzell and Duncan, Present Day Tendencies in Education, Chapter 12; Chamberlain, Standards in Education, Chapter 10; Chancellor, Classroom Management, Chapter 10 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Pages 2>~32> 5 58-67 ; Corson, Our Public Schools, Chapter 2 ; Cubberly, Rtiral Life and Eiucation, Chapter 12 ; Culter and Stone, Rural School Methods and Management, Chapters 5 and 6 ; Dutton, School Management, Chapters 2 and 3 ; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, Chapter 6 ; Hyde, The Teacher's Philosophy, Part 2 ; Kennedy, Rural Life and the Rural School, Chapter 7 ; Pearson, The Vitalized School, Chapters 12, 13, and 14; Pearson, The Evolution of a Teacher, Chapter 2 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Educa- tion, Chapter 7 ; Robbins, The School as a Social Institution, Chapter 15 ; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 17 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapters 17 and 18; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom Teacher, Chapters 15 and 16; Wait, Practical Problems of the School, Chapter 1 2 ; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Chapter 18 ; Woofter, Teaching in Rural Schools, Chapter 3. EXERCISES 1. Name the qualifications of the best teacher you ever had. 2. Name the qualifications of the poorest teacher you ever had. 3. Name your own qualifications and compare them with the two lists you have just named. 4. When a superintendent looks for a teacher he has five general ideas in mind, namely : (i) her personal equip- ment ; (2) her social and professional equipment ; (3) her ability as a (school) housekeeper ; (4) her technique of teaching ; and (5) the results of her work. If the per- fect teacher is given 1000 points, there must be a value 8 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING given to each of the five general heads. This has been done. These values may be questioned. It remains for the student and teacher to study the ideas and charac- teristics under each main head. Evaluate each one so as to give each of the five divisions a sum of points equal to the value given. Tell why you value one point more than another. I. Personal Equipment — 226 points 1. General appearance 2. Health 3. Endurance 4. Energy 5. Facial expression 6. Voice 7. Executive ability 8. Initiative 9. Reasoning ability 10. Adaptability and resourcefulness 11. Accuracy 12. Industry 13. Enthusiasm 14. Self-reliance 15. Self-control 16. Sincerity 17. Promptness 18. Earnestness 19. Optimism 20. Sympathy 21. Tact 22. Unselfishness 23. Sense of justice 24. Sense of humor THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY II. Social and Professional Equipment — 232 points 1. Ability to meet people 2. Cooperation (with co-workers) 3. Interest in life of the community 4. Interest in life of the school 5. Interest in the lives of pupils 6. Ability to interest parents 7. Preparation — academic 8. Preparation — professional 9. Daily preparation 10 Grasp of subject matter 1 1 Understanding of children 12. Ability to profit by experience 13 Years of experience 14. Ability to take on new methods 15. Professional interest 16. Ambition to improve III. Attention to Mechanics of School Keeping — 95 points 1. Care of room (light, heat, ventilation) 2. Neatness of room 3. Economy of school supplies 4. Saving of time 5. Adequacy of routine 6. Character of routine IV. Technique of Teaching — 209 points 1. Purposiveness 2. Skill in habit formation 3. Ability to train in reasoning 4. Ability to teach how to study 5. Skill in questioning 6. AbiHty to arouse interest of pupils lO ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 7. Ability to hold attention of pupils 8. Choice of subject matter 9. Organization of subject matter 10. Ability to get response from class 11. Character of response from class 12. Attention to individual differences 13. Skill in assignment 14. Discipline (governing skill) V. Results — 238 points 1. Growth of pupils in subject matter 2. Growth of pupils in general 3. Stimulation of community 4. Stimulation of individual pupils 5. Moral influence III. THE TEACHER AND HER WORK The teacher is a social worker. Social workers cannot succeed unless they know and understand the people with whom and for whom they work. Educa- tion is a process of adjustment. The teacher who can- not adjust herself to her community or who is a "mis- fit" cannot hope to succeed. A teacher, to succeed, must have the respect and confidence of her pupils and patrons. Too often patrons are heard to say, "The teacher is not our kind. She belongs to another class." This feeling on the part of the patrons is a serious handicap to any teacher. There are teachers who can succeed in one place, but who would fail in another. For example, the rural community demands a rural- THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY ii minded teacher. The following statements have been made about the rural teacher. Study each statement and tell why you do or do not agree with it. A good rural teacher is one who : 1. Has been reared in a rural community. 2. -Likes the country people and country ways. 3. Thoroughly understands country people. 4. Likes country children, — poor and rich, dirty and clean, alike. 5. Is a great lover of nature. 6. Can "hike" for hours with her pupils through the woods and fields, helping them to know and enjoy the world of nature. 7. Stays in her community seven days per week. 8. Feels the responsibility of the great work she is doing. 9. Teaches all the subjects in terms of country life. 10. Causes her pupils to love and respect rural life. 11. Knows elementary agriculture. 12. Understands the social and economic problems of rural people. 13. Can lead in singing and can play a piano. 14. Knows how to cook, sew, and farm. 15. Thinks the country affords greater opportunity than the city. 16. Is a preacher as well as a teacher. 17. Never uses the expression "coming up from the farm." 18. Never directs one to the city as the one place to succeed. 19. Spends $25 annually for books and magazines. 20. Dresses a little better than the people of her community. 21. "When in Rome, does as Rome does." 22. Is a leader in community activities, especially in church and Sunday School. 12 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 23. Attends all teachers' meetings in her county and the state meeting. 24. Has had as much training for her work as a city teacher has had for hers. 25. Thinks that she is as good as anybody and better than nobody. 26. Is friendly to all people on all occasions, and wins the respect and confidence of all her people. 27. Knows many stories and tells them well. 28. Is a good reader and loves good books. (See references on Section II, Chapter I.) EXERCISES 1. Which of the statements named above would be true for city teachers? 2. How should a city teacher differ from a rural teacher? 3. Which teacher needs more preparation, a supervised teacher who has only one grade, or an unsupervised teacher who has several grades ? Why ? IV. A TEACHER'S PERSONALITY Every citizen has something to sell. A person's ability as a salesman depends largely upon his person- ality. Every one would like to have a good personality. *'If I had her personality I could accomplish much more," is a statement that one often hears. School boards want to see the appHcant to study her personality. If she has a good personality, she she will not only stand a better chance to secure the THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 13 position but her chances for success in the community are much better. If there are ways of improving the personality, the teacher deserves to know them. Below is given a list of statements on personality. Study each one and be able to tell why you think it is or is not good. Select the statements which most vitally concern the teacher. 1. A teacher's personality is all that she means to others. 2. Since a teacher does not mean the same to all people, she has different personalities for different people. 3. Every person has a personality. 4. No person with a poor personality can be a good teacher. 5. A good personality is natural, not acquired. 6. A man might shave his head without changing his per- sonahty. 7. Man (in the generic sense) is the only animal that has a personality. 8. The clothes which one wears help make up one^s per- sonality. 9. Personality is composed of three parts, viz. : (a) the physical, (b) the mental, (c) the moral. 10. One's personality, physical, mental, or moral, depends upon how one has been reared. 11. Any one who will try can have an attractive person- aHty. 12. No one can practice the Golden Rule without developing a good personality. 13. No one can Hve a wicked life without developing a poor personality. 14. One who speaks poor EngUsh has a poor personality. 15. A Httle powder and paint help one's personahty. 14 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 1 6. One's clothes do not help to determine personality, but personality will determine the kind of clothes worn. 17. One's personality is continually changing; sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. 18. No person in poor health can have a personality attractive to children. 19. One's physique does not add to or detract from his per- sonality. 20. Any one with a poor personality will have a bad influence upon children. 21. Any one with a good personality will have a good in- fluence. 22. A person who is lazy, timid, selfish, or careless cannot have a good personality. 23. A teacher who reads a great deal, who visits other schools, and who attends summer schools and teachers' meet- ings, will develop a good personality. 24. No one can over-eat, dissipate, lose sleep, "sow wild oats," etc., without weakening his personality. 25. A person who is unprepared, who is afraid, or who lacks self-confidence has a poor personality. 26. No person should be held responsible for his person- ality. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, Craftsmanship in Teaching, Chapter i ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 31 ; Culter and Stone, Rural School Methods and Management; Hyde, The Teacher's Philosophy; McKenney, The Personality of the Teacher; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iv, Pages 649-650; Palmer, The Ideal Teacher; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 18 ; Sears, Classroom Organization and Con- trol, Chapter 16; Spillman, Personality; Education ^ February, 1919. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 15 V. WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL "Well begun is half done" and "The first impression is the most lasting" are sayings that apply to the teacher's first day of school. "Preparedness" for the first day should be the teacher's slogan. The well prepared teacher seldom becomes nervous. Prepared- ness, mental, physical, social, or financial, causes 01: t to feel at ease. The teacher who does not make lon[ and careful preparations for the first day is taking a dangerous risk. Teachers and patrons differ as to the detailed preparations that should be made for the first day. The following statements have been made re- garding the necessary things to do before the first day of school. Examine each statement carefully. From them select the things which you think should be done before the first day. Add such others as you think necessary. 1. Make yourself realize that you are about to become the leader of a community. 2. Visit the homes of your patrons and study the environ- ment. 3. Know your pupils and be able to call them by name. 4. Learn all you can from the superintendent or supervisor about the community problems. 5. Spend at least one day with your predecessor, getting helpful information. 6. Have your predecessor tell you all about the ''mean" pupils. i6 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 7. Study your predecessor's report until you know individ- ual records. 8. From this report, organize your classes for the first day. 9. Have clear, definite assignments for each class. 10. Know your textbooks and where each class should begin, 11. Have a well planned daily program written on the board. 12. Have your rules written on the board. 13. Get to your community ten days before school opens. 14. Secure a boarding place that is near the school building. 15. Attend every meeting possible on Sunday before school opens. 16. See that all necessary equipment is ready for use. 17. See that the building and grounds are in good condition. 18. See that there is plenty of pure water, handy to the school building. 19. Invite all your patrons to be present on the first day. 20. Have a well planned opening exercise. 21. See to it that you, the board, and others come the first day with prepared speeches. 22. If any talks are made, they should be limited to five minutes. 23. See that pupils bring song books. 24. Get a good night's rest the night before school opens. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 20-29 ; Bender, The Teacher at Work, Pages 247-251 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapter 10 ; Culter and Stone, Rural School Management, Chapter 7 ; Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 5; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Community, Chapter i ; Phillips, Fundamentals of Elementary Education, Pages 75-78; Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural Schools, Chapter i ; Quick, The Brown Mouse, Chapter 4; THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 17 Sutton, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter 5 ; Wait, Practical Problems of the School, Chapter 2 ; Wray, Jeart MitchelVs School, Pages 13-31. EXERCISES 1. Reexamine the statements made above and tell which ones apply to rural teachers and which ones apply to city teachers or to other school officials. 2. What other preparations should be made by the rural teacher? by the city teacher ? VI. WHAT TO DO THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL The first day has come. What is the teacher going to do about it ? That will depend largely on what she has already done about it. This is the ^^ index" day for the entire school. This is the day on which teach- ers and pupils size each other up. This is the day on which the teacher must guard everything she says or does. It is a day on which the teacher will start the pupils out, or they will start her out. She is on trial. Not only should she have her work well planned, but before starting to school she should stand before a large mirror and see herself as her pupils will see her. No one can tell a teacher all the things she should do the first day. She must keep her eyes open and do what her ''hands " find to do. There are a few things, however, that a good teacher will do on the first day. Some of the following statements may well be ques- tioned. Evaluate each one. Make a list of things i8 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING that you think a teacher should do the first day of school. 1. Start off on the right foot. Get to the school building before your pupils do, because it is better for you to see them coming than for them to see you coming. 2. Have everything in order. Give patrons and pupils a hearty welcome. 3. Let all pupils choose their own seats. 4. For the first day, let pupils select their own way of getting into and out of the building. 5. There should be several long speeches. 6. Help the patrons to feel that it is "our school." 7. The opening exercise should be short, snappy, and in- teresting. 8. The teacher should talk very little on the first morning. 9. Assign lessons from the program written on the board. If the teacher does not get all the pupils busy in five minutes, they will get her busy. 10. Tell pupils what they need, assign the lessons, and dis- miss for the day. 11. Spend the remainder of the day taking up individual problems with parents and pupils. Nothing should be said about the predecessor's weaknesses. 12. Keep all pupils for the full day and help them get started. 13. Stick closely to the first day's program as put on the board. 14. Have recitation benches to which all classes come to recite. 15. Begin by calling the lower grades. The older pupils can keep busy. 16. Get to all classes as rapidly as possible, and see that each pupil has a recitation in each subject. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 19 17. If disorder starts, let it go. It will soon get better. 18. Watch closely for trouble that might start. Stop it at once. 19. Be alive, firm, tactful, friendly, and humorous. 20. Be prompt to open and to dismiss school. 21. See that all pupils are on their way home fifteen minutes after school is dismissed. 22. Act so that pupils will go home saying, ''I like this teacher because she makes things hum." (See references on Section V, Chapter I.) EXERCISES 1. What else would you do on the first day? 2. Which of the statements made above might be good for some schools, but not for yours? Give reasons for your answer. VII. A COMMUNITY SURVEY A teacher cannot do good work without knowing her community. She can get a great deal of informa- tion from her pupils. They will be able to give most of the information called for below. Only one blank is necessary. The teacher can have the pupils answer the questions by number. This will enable her not only to select the appropriate questions but to get the information in a minimum amount of time. Let it be understood that the information is not for publication. The questions are only suggestive. The teacher should add to and subtract from the questions so as to make the survey fit the community. 20 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Name State Age County Grade School 1. How many miles do you live from school? 2. How do you get to and from school? 3. How many brothers have you ? How many sis- ters ? 4. What is your father's occupation ? 5. K he farms, name the crops raised (in order of their money value) 6. Name the number and kinds of animals you have at home 7. Name the number and kinds of fowls you have at home. 8. Name the number and kinds of vehicles you have at home, such as wagons, buggies, automobiles, etc. . . . 9. What products does your mother seU ? 10. What work do you do at home, to help your parents or others ? 11. What work do you do outside of school for money? .... 12. What work (or play) do you do outside of school just because you enjoy it ? 13. How much do you study daily at home? On what subjects ? 14. Who helps you on your home study? 15. Name the papers and magazines that you read at home. 16. How many times per month do you attend Sunday School? 17. How many times per month do you attend church? .... 18. How many times per month do you attend the picture show ? THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 21 19. How many times per month do you attend a social party ? 20. Name the different organizations in your community, such as clubs, churches, lodges, etc. Underscore the ones to which your father belongs; put a cross after the ones to which your mother belongs ; and a paren- thesis around the ones to which you belong 21. Do you drink coffee? Do you use tobacco in any form ? 22. Are you satisfied with everything as it is in this commu- nity? If not, what changes would you suggest? . . . 23. Name the historical character that you most admire. Tell why you admire this character 24. If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it? : 25. What is the market price for one dozen eggs? one pound of butter ? one quart of milk ? fifty pounds of flour ? 26. About how much are the desks in this room worth ? . . . 27. About how many square yards are there in the floor of this room ? 28. Name your school subjects in the order of your liking for them 29. What do you expect to do when you are grown ? Why? EXERCISES 1. What parts of this survey apply to your community? 2. What items would you add to this survey to make it apply to your community? 22 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 3. How will a survey help a teacher to do more effective work? 4. How should information be obtained ? VIII. COOPERATION The safety of our country depends, not upon the education of a few, but upon the education of the masses. No one is educated until he is prepared to do something worth while. Nothing is really worth while unless it helps to make the world better. The time is past when people can succeed without the help of others. Society is so interdependent to-day that we shall all fail together or succeed together. The story is told of two men who were on a sinking ship. One of the men was whistling, apparently care- free. The other man asked, "Why are you so uncon- cerned when you know this ship is going to the bottom of the ocean?" The man replied, "Why should I worry? It is not my ship." No one is safe until his country is safe. Each citizen has a part in making it safe. The log rollings we used to have furnished good examples of cooperation. Not until the group of men lifted together was the log moved. Each community still has many loads that cannot be lifted except through cooperation of all the people. We are all dependent. No one can have good health except as his neighbors cooperate with him in getting rid of all conditions that cause disease. One cannot THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 23 be free from mosquitoes and flies so long as his neighbor is unconcerned. Parents cannot bring their children up in the way they should go, so long as their neigh- bor's children go uncontrolled. Individuals may cooperate, families may cooperate, communities may cooperate, but all this will eventu- ally fail unless states and nations cooperate. Uncivi- lized nations cooperate very little. Signs are better to-day than ever before in the history of the world for international cooperation. It is to be hoped that this spirit of cooperation will continue, and that the na- tions of the world can spend their time, energy, and money in helping their citizens to live rather than in helping them to die. Cooperation comes as a result of education, not as a result of legislation. It is equally true that ed- ucation comes as a result of cooperation. The home, the church, the school, and the entire commu- nity must cooperate before the best education is possi- ble. Directors and patrons often make the mistake of thinking their work is over when the teachers are employed. A good school is the result of cooperation on the part of the teachers, directors, and patrons. Schools exist for no other purpose than to better the community. If a school is not helping a community it is harming it. There are a few schools that are doing more harm than good, and it would be a blessing to the community if they were closed ! Never before 24 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING in the history of our nation was there a greater de- mand for a good school in each community. Only through complete cooperation of the teacher, the pa- trons, and the directors can this demand be met. Evaluate the following statements on what is neces- sary before a community can have a good school. Tell why each statement is or is not good. A. The Teacher^ s Pari Before a community can have a good school, the teacher must: 1. Have a good boarding place. 2. Live in her community seven days per week, in the right way. Spend Sunday at the right place. 3. Play with her pupils at recess. 4. Remain at school during the noon hour. 5. Take an active part in community activities. 6. Have had two years' training above the high school. 7. Take no part in card parties or dances. 8. Get eight hours' sleep every night. 9. Wear a pleasant face all the time for all people. 10. Wear clothes that attract the least attention. 11. Use good English and refined speech. 12. Know the pupils and their home life. 13. Enjoy teaching better than any other work. 14. Not "go wild" over athletics. 15. Treat visitors courteously, but teach as if they were not present. 16. Meet every one half way, looking calmly at both sides of all questions. 17. Pay very little attention to criticism. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 25 18. Be a great reader for general information as well as for professional guidance. 19. Never create a debt greater than she can pay at the end of the month. 20. Begin each day's work with life, vigor, and enthusiasm. Open school with singing and an interesting morning exercise. B. The Board's Part Before a good school is possible, the board of education must: 1. Employ a good teacher, regardless of friends, politics, or relatives. 2. See that the school is well equipped with good desks, blackboards, crayons, erasers, charts, library, etc. 3. Visit the school enough to know what is being done. 4. Uphold the teacher as long as she is right. 5. See that the teacher does not have to be janitor. 6. Have a monthly meeting with the teacher, where prob- lems are freely discussed. 7. So far as possible, do what the teacher wants done. 8. Prepare financial statements which show the people how their money has been spent. 9. Make a budget, showing the people how much money is needed and for what it is needed. C. The Patrons' Part Before a good school is possible, the patrons must : 1. Visit the school — not to find fault, but to help the teacher help the child. 2. Not adversely criticize the teacher in the presence of the children. They should not become angry at what they hear until they hear both sides. 26 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 3. See that their children get to bed early, and get to school on time. 4. See that their children get good food at the right time and in the right way. 5. Never boast of childhood experiences that might mis- lead their children. 6. Encourage their children to read good literature. 7. Encourage helpful and wholesome conversation at home, and especially in the presence of their children. 8. Become companions to their children and be interested in what interests their children. 9. Help the children at night with their lessons. See that they have a good light and a quiet place for study. 10. Control their children. They should keep them from questionable places. 11. See that the children have all necessary school materials. 12. Cooperate with the teacher and directors and help pro- mote every cause that makes for a better community. Note : Where pupils do not cooperate the school will fail, but pupils will cooperate when they see parents, teachers, and school boards working together for a good school. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Davies, The Social Environment; Gillette, Constructive Rural So- ciology, Chapters 16 and 18; Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural Schools, Chapter 10 ; Ross, Social Psychology, Chapter 2. IX. WHAT PATRONS WANT TO KNOW Teachers who have no children of their own can- not fully appreciate how anxious most parents are in regard to the part that schools play in the life and edu- THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 27 cation of their children. Teachers are sometimes im- patient and think parents are meddhng. Most parents are sincere. They reahze that their children are usually their greatest contribution to society and that the value of this contribution is very likely to depend to a very appreciable extent upon what the public schools do for their children. In the rearing of a child, there is one time which thoughtful parents approach with much anxiety ; namely, the time when the public school begins to help determine the child's destiny. Parents who sit idly by are unworthy of the sacred responsibility of parenthood. It is easy to help a child get some text- book lessons, but to bring a child up in the way it should go is impossible unless all forces pull together. The teacher who refuses to set forth the school's point of view on the questions asked by parents and patrons refuses to cooperate. No teacher can discuss these questions with parents without getting a broader vision of her work and a greater respect for her pro- fession. The following are some things that parents want to know. The worthy teacher has a good answer for each question. What is your answer to the questions which you think most worth while ? I. Which is of greater importance, what our children think or what they do, what they learn or the way they learn it ? 28 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 2. Some newspapers, movies, billboards, and associates destroy high ideals faster than parents, teachers, and ministers can build them. What can be done about it? 3. We want a committee of seven, composed of a teacher, a minister, and five parents, to censor all motion pic- tures before they are shown in our community. Should this be done ? 4. How may we keep our children clean in person, speech, and thought, when this is not the fashion ? 5. To what extent should we demand strict obedience from our children? 6. How can we keep our children from smoking and danc- ing when the majority smoke and dance? 7. How can we get our children interested in church and Sunday School when their teachers and classmates are unconcerned? 8. Our children think it is innocent pastime to play "keeps," match pennies, play cards, ''swipe" pencils, etc. They learned these somewhere after starting to school. What can we do about it ? 9. Our children look on their teachers as being ideal. What their teachers do is all right. Should we discourage this absolute confidence ? 10. Our children think that there is no harm in giving or receiving aid on examinations. How can we correct this false notion ? 11. Our children are boarding in town and going to school. We do not know how, where, or with whom they spend their leisure. What should we do about it ? 12. In our parent- teacher meeting, the superintendent told us to stop saymg ''don't" to our children. Was his advice good ? THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 29 13. Should a teacher ever punish our child for the good of others ? 14. Which is society's bigger problem, illiteracy or the " every-fellow-for-himself " attitude ? 15. How may we keep our children at home evenings when other children do not stay in? 16. Our children are not satisfied with a few Christmas pres- ents, such as we used to get. Their associates, they say, get so and so. To what extent should we let the presents received by other children determine what we get for our children ? 17. Our boy thinks it is ''sissy" for him to ask us for per- mission to go to places. We do not know where he goes or what he does. What should we do about it ? 18. Why do our younger children like school so much better than our older ones do ? Why do our children, as well as their teachers, rejoice at the announcement of holi- days? 19. A great majority of people have to be followers. Is it best to encourage all children to become leaders ? 20. One of our teachers is "keeping company" with one of the students. This affects adversely the teacher, the student, and the school. What should we do about it? 21. We have a teacher who advises us to play cards with our children in our own homes. She says it will keep our boys from sneaking away to some questionable place and playing with questionable companions. Is her advice good ? 22. We recently had a community rally. A teacher from one of our higher institutions said to us, ''John and I were boys together. We had equal opportunities. Last week I saw him between the plow handles. Do you see the difference? I took advantage of my op- 30 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING portunities and he didn't." Is such talk good for a community ? 23. We want to cooperate with our teacher, but she has never asked for our cooperation. What should we do about it? 24. How often should parents visit the school? What should be the purpose of the visit? What should they do while visiting? after visiting? 25. We want to be interested in the curriculum, but it is so foreign to our life experiences that we find it impossible. Are we narrow? Should we broaden out to this sub- ject matter ? Should the schools meet us half way ? 26. We have a School Improvement Association (S. I. A.). We have improved conditions to the best of our ability but in so doing we have been called the School Inter- ference Association. Do we deserve it? How may we be of the greatest service without interfering? 27. We believe in sex education for our boys and girls. We want this sacred subject taught on a high moral plane. Our present teacher is doing more harm than good trying to teach this subject. What can we do about it? 28. Our child is making poor grades. The teacher has said nothing about it except to send us the report card. The child says the grades are unjust. What should we do about it ? 29. In school, the children go in gangs o.r groups. We are not satisfied with the group our children are in. What determines these groups? Can we not have one group that will take in the entire school ? If not, then how may our children get into a more desirable group ? If we should move to a new community would our children choose better companions ? THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 31 30. Our teacher stays in at recess and reads. She compels her pupils to get out and play. Is this right? What should we do about it ? 31. Two boys had a fight in our school. The teacher made them shake hands and say, ''I forgive you." The boys say they both acted and told a lie. Did the teacher do right? 32. Should we keep our children in school when they are in- terested in nothing but society and athletics ? 33. Should children be made to go to school when their absence is more welcome to the teacher than their presence ? 34. Our children deface school furniture, but take fairly good care of the home furniture. What makes the difference ? 35. Three-fourths of our children never reach the high school. Should they be given the same kind of instruction as the other one-fourth that go on ? 36. Should our children be encouraged to live now, or should they be told that they are preparing to live ? 37. The school environment is causing our children to want things beyond our means. They are not satisfied with our manner of living. Is this attitude good for them? 38. Our child is not interested in good grades. All she wants is a pass, and is not greatly concerned about that. What has caused this attitude ? 39. Our school grounds and buildings are dirty. We have been waiting three months for the teacher to suggest a "clean-up" day. Is it time for us to start some- thing ? 40. We have a teacher who boards in a nice home, but she keeps her room in an untidy condition. Her desk at 32 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING school is no better. It is having a bad influence on our children. What can we do about it? 41. We want to have singing and opening exercises in our school. The teacher says there is no time for them. What can we do about it? 42. There are many little things that we want to suggest, but do not because we are afraid that it will be counted meddling. If we talk to any one about these things, should it be the board, the superintendent, or the teacher herself ? 43. Our teacher has no time to teach. Her time is spent in "hearing lessons." We feel that she is employed to teach. We are busy with our own work and are tired helping our children prepare lessons for the teacher to "hear." What should we do about it? 44. My daughter has a cold nearly all the time. I visited the school in search of a cause. All windows were down and the thermometer at 91°. What should I do about it ? 45. Our teacher is causing the children to think that all great men and women are found somewhere besides on the farm. What can be done to overcome this in- fluence ? 46. Our teacher gives a great deal of time to dull children, letting the exceptionally bright ones take care of themselves. To what extent is she justified in doing this? 47. The teacher often punishes the children by keeping them in at recess. How may we show her that she is doing wrong ? 48. Our teacher often sits on her desk or on the back of a pupil's desk. Should she do this? THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY S3 X. WHAT TEACHERS WANT TO KNOW Teachers who never let their problems be known will receive very little help in solving them. The superintendent or supervisor knows that the live teacher will ask for help. A teacher's success can well be measured by the number of good questions she asks her superintendent or supervisor. It is possible for teachers to ask questions that are unimportant. Study the following inquiries. Select the ones which you consider worth studying. What is your answer to each inquiry ? Sincere teachers want to know : 1. How to get pupils to be more altruistic and less selfish. 2. How to help pupils to be more courteous. 3. How to reduce tardiness. 4. When and how to teach pupils to use the dictionary and encyclopedia. 5. How to interest patrons in the school and secure their full cooperation. 6. What to do with patrons who are so interested that they interfere. 7. What to do with patrons who cannot or will not help teach their children the lessons at home. 8. What to do with patrons who object to their children's being punished. 9. What to do with children who have no books or equip- ment. 10. What to do with the exceptionally bright or exception- ally dull pupils. 34 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 11. What credit to give to the pupil who makes an earnest effort. 12. How to secure and keep good order in the schoolroom and on the school ground. 13. How to cause indifferent pupils to be ambitious. 14. How to secure regular attendance. 15. How to get the school board to do its part. 16. How to get the school board to see the worth of trained teachers. 17. What to do for a community where the people have the habit of dancing and card playing. 18. What to do for a pupil who permits others to impose upon him. 19. How a rural teacher can find time to handle eight grades. 20. What to do with disorderly visitors. 21. How to deal with disturbing religious or political fac- tions in a community. 22. How to keep pupils from listening to recitations during their study periods. 23. The best and quickest way to learn about the problems of a community which one is about to enter for the first time. 24. The extent to which children should give immediate and implicit obedience. 25. How to keep pupils from defacing school furniture. 26. How to cause pupils to want to get out and play at recess. 27. How to cause pupils to keep the buildings and grounds clean. 28. How to break a pupil from stealing. 29. How to get pupils to feel at ease in the recitation. 30. What their attitude should be toward "puppy love" cases. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 35 31. What credit should be given for doing ''chores" at home. 32. What credit should be given for Sunday School attend- ance. 33. How to recognize their own mistakes and how to correct them. 34. How to start a little social life in a socially dead commu- nity. 35. How to secure school equipment. 36. How to secure a good boarding place. 37. How to overcome low community ideals, low moral standards, and lack of interest in church work. 38. How to induce parents to keep their children at home evenings. 39. How much time to take away from books for excur- sions, entertainments, physical education, etc. 40. How to make a subject interesting to children. XI. EVIDENCES OF AN EDUCATED PERSON If an educated man does not differ from an unedu- cated man, then education does not pay. There is a difference and it can be seen. It is true that the world is not agreed on all these differences between the educated and the uneducated. If two men were to enter a strange crowd to pick out the educated men and women, they would likely differ on some of the evidences that distinguish the two groups. Two lists of statements are given here, one on evi- dences of an educated person, another on evidences of an uneducated person. Some of the evidences are 36 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING questionable. It may be well to define an educated person before trying to select the true evidences. After this definition is agreed upon, then select the evidences which distinguish the educated person. The same method should be used in studying the evi- dences of the uneducated person. An educated person is one who : 1. Is well dressed. 2. Uses correct English. 3. Has a degree from a college. 4. Has a friendly disposition. 5. Has soft hands and well manicured finger nails. 6. Gives liberally to worthy causes. 7. Is kind to children and animals. 8. Loves home and flowers. 9. Has ability to sing and speak in public. 10. Is loved by one's own family and neighbors. 11. Is prompt in meeting all engagements. 12. Is polite and has good manners on all occasions. 13. Thinks well of his neighbors; of himself. 14. Has a good influence 15. Has a good library. 16. Is well informed on the issues of the day. 17. Has a good personal appearance. 18. Has a good bank account. 19. Has a well equipped house and a happy home. 20. Has ability to adapt himself to his surroundings. 21. Has ability to appreciate wit, and to tell funny stories. 22. Has an appreciation of art, nature, and music. 23. Has perfect self-control. 24. Says nothing but good about people. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 37 25. Has convictions and the courage to stand by them. 26. Thinks straight, works hard, and loves much. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Butler, The Meaning of Education, Chapter 5 ; Moore, What is Education, Chapters i, 2, 4, 5, and 6; Smith, Education of All the Children, Chapters i, 2, and 3; Spencer, Education. EXERCISES 1. In your observations of people during the past twenty- four hours, what evidences have you noticed that characterized these people as educated? 2. If you were asked to select the two hundred best edu- cated people in your city or county, how would you proceed to name the right ones ? 3. What is your opinion of President Butler's idea of an educated person? — "The five characteristics, then, I offer as evidences of an education: (i) correctness and precision in the use of the mother tongue; (2) refined and gentle manners, which are the expression of fixed thought and action ; (3) the power and habit of reflection ; (4) the power of growth ; and (5) effi- ciency, or the power to do." — Butler : The Meaning of Education, Pages 11 5-1 16. XII. EVIDENCES OF AN UNEDUCATED PERSON What is your opinion of the following evidences ? An uneducated person is one who : 1. Has no college degree. 2. Has no high school diploma. 3. Has no extra suit of clothes. 4. Has no love for children. 38 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 5. Refers to parents as "the old man" or ''the old woman," or who is ashamed of parents. 6. Is unwilling to help sister or brother have a good time. 7. Gossips, boasts, or complains. 8. Gambles, cheats, steals, lies, and deceives. 9. Tries to live like other people. 10. Violates the customs of his community. 11. Has no love for music, dancing, plays, picture shows, paintings, fiction, or home life. 12. Does not love and appreciate nature. 13. Lives beyond his means, or is extravagant. 14. Buys articles that he does not need. 15. Is unable to tell what he needs. 16. Takes or accepts something for nothing; or who gives or accepts bribes. 17. Fails to make a respectable living. 18. Always obeys without question. 19. Fails to get along peaceably "with his fellows, 20. Fails to enjoy visiting or being visited. 21. Thinks himself better than others. 22. Has a poodle dog in his arms. 23. Does not know how to act at a banquet. 24. Has a bad personal appearance. 25. Fails to show appreciation for all favors. 26. Whispers or yawns in school, chu'rch, or in any company. 27. Keeps his seat while a lady stands. 28. Seeks or accepts a position beyond his ability. 29. Loses his temper, or yields to temptation. 30. Works for the good of a few rather than of all people. 31. Acts without first counting the cost. 32. Is unable to learn from the experience of others. 33. Is satisfied. 34. Fails to respect the rights of others. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 39 35. Is unable to judge the value of what he uses. 36. Thinks less of another person on account of his clothes, his bank account, his home, his associates, his politics, his religion, his relatives, his work, or his complexion. 37. Practices false economy. 38. Thinks that one's success is measured by money rather than service. 39. Is guided by conscience more than by reason. 40. "Does as Rome does." 41. Worries over things that cannot be helped. 42. Has a bad breath, a weak body, or an ugly face. 43. Is out of work. 44. Handles money, belonging to the city, county, or state, in a careless way. EXERCISES I. In your observations of people during the last two days, what evidences have you seen that characterized these people as uneducated ? XIII. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Teaching school is no longer limited to the "three R's." It is as broad as life itself. The world has asked so often and so loud: "What can you do?" that it has compelled teachers and patrons to get a new vision of an educated person. Not "What do my pupils know?" but "What can my pupils do?" is the big question that should confront each teacher. A knowledge of textbooks is not enough to insure a teacher's success. She must be broad enough and 40 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING enough of a leader to guide the pupils, not only men- tally, but morally, socially, and vocationally. The following statements on vocational education and guidance should be studied carefully. Evaluate each statement. Select the ones that will best fit you and your school. 1. All subjects studied in the first six grades will help one in his life work. 2. Any subject which helps one in his life work is voca- tional. 3. A subject that is purely vocational for one may be purely cultural for another. 4. Any subject is worth while that is given for a definite purpose, and that guides pupils to a definite goal. 5. Vocational education should begin at home. 6. Lemech must have given his three sons vocational education. Jabal became a cattle man, Jubal be- came a musician, Tubal-Cain became a mechanic. 7. The true teacher will help all her pupils to learn what they are best fitted to do. 8. Each term the pupils should be taught those things which they would be taught if that term were to end their school days. 9. By the time pupils enter the high school, they should know what life work they will follow. 10. No one is educated until he or she has a vocational edu- cation. 11. A large majority of boys and girls who quit school do so because they get no vocational education. 12. The home is more to blame for misfits and failures than the school. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 41 13. Every schoolroom should be a vocational bureau and every teacher a vocational counselor. 14. A teacher should know enough about one hundred vo- cations to enable her to guide boys and girls toward them. 15. In each subject, the teacher has an opportunity to give each pupil some vocational guidance. 16. To teach a subject independent of vocational guidance and vocational education is to teach in vain. 17. The normal-minded pupil can succeed at whatever he undertakes. 18. People fail, not because they are square pegs in round holes, but because they have had no vocational edu- cation. 19. If schools are to serve the nation, they must stop pre- paring pupils for some higher school, and prepare them for a definite life work. 20. Children, like adults, work best when impelled by a real life-work motive. 21. There are no high vocations or low vocations. If they are honorable vocations, they are all on the same plane. 22. The one who is working hard preparing for a definite life work deserves more credit than the one who works hard merely to graduate. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bizzell and Duncan, Present Day Tendencies in Education, Chap- ters 6, 7, 8; Bobbitt, The Curriculum, Chapter 7; Davenport, Education for Efficiency; Davis, Vocational and Moral Guidance; Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 10; Dickson, Vocational Guidance for Girls; Forbush, Child Study and Child Training, Chapters 33 and 34; Gillett, Vocational Education; King, Edw 42 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING cation for Social Efficiency, Chapters 12 and 13 ; Lasalle and Wiley, Vocations for Girls; Puffer, Vocational Guidance; Robbins, The School as a Social Institution, Chapter 7 ; Showalter, Handbook for Rural School Officers, Chapter 17; Smith, Educational Soci- ology, Chapters 15, 16, and 17; Snedden, Problems of Educational Readjustment, Chapters 8 and 9; Snedden, Vocational Education, Bulletin No. 14, 1914. XIV. SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK One is educated by what he does regardless of where his activities take place. Teachers are coming to reahze that their work reaches beyond the school ground, and that they should help guide the lives of their pupils twenty-four hours per day and seven days per week. Parents and teachers are realizing that they have a common problem, namely, the proper education of the children. Without cooperation, both parents and teachers will fail to guide the lives of the children. Cooperation between teacher and pupils and between parents and children is equally essential to the proper education of all the children. School credit for home work will encourage this complete cooperation. Teachers differ in regard to what kind of home work should have school credit, how much credit, who should say when the work has been done, etc. Criticize the hst that is given on the following page, both from the nature of the work and the amount of credit that each kind of work is given. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY Report of Week ending 43 Working in garden 30 minutes . Coming to school tidy .... Cleaning finger nails Brushing hair and teeth night and morning Sweeping room Dusting room and furniture . . Making bed Setting table Washing dishes for four or more . Drying dishes for four or more . Churning Bringing day's supply of wood or coal, one stove or fireplace . Taking care of baby 30 minutes Feeding and watering horse or cow Currying one horse Cleaning barn or poultry house . Milking one cow Taking care of chickens one week Building a fire Scrubbing a floor Washing and ironing one's clothes Bathing without assistance . . Sleeping with windows open . . Each increase of savings account Sunday School and church at- tendance w I certify to the correctness of this report. Signed . . . 44 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Children can make their own cards. Add any work that is good. Give it the credit it deserves. EXERCISES 1 . Criticize this statement that a teacher made to the parents : "This plan of giving school credit for home work will fail unless all of us work together. I shall send you a school credit card each Friday afternoon. Begin Sunday morning. At the end of the seventh day make a summary of all the points your child has earned. Send the card to me Monday. At the end of the month I shall add one per cent to the child's grades for each — points given for home work." 2. Write a better list for your school. 3. Write a better letter to the parents than the one given above. 4. Would you have separate lists for boys and girls ? 5. Should there be a special list for the small children and another one for the larger children ? 6. Should the parents fill in the blanks or should this be done by the children ? 7. What good methods do you suggest for rewarding pupils who earn a large number of school credits for home work? 8. What should be done for a room whose pupils have earned school credit for home work ? XV. A FEW THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN DONE FOR SOME RURAL SCHOOLS All schools do not need the same things. Furniture, playground equipment, organizations, etc., differ for different schools. The following is a hst of things THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 45 that many schools have secured or accompHshed. Check the ones that you think would be good for your school, and tell why they would be good. How would you get them ? 1. A library in every schoolroom, in a bookcase. 2. A senior S. I. A. (School Improvement Association) in the community (adults). 3. A junior S. I. A. in the school (pupils). 4. A literary society in the school. (Debating, spelling bees, etc.) 5. Every frame schoolhouse well painted. 6. Good blackboards in each schoolroom. 7. Good patent desks in each schoolroom. 8. An ample playground free from rubbish, equipped with at least three pieces of apparatus. 9. Organized play, supervised by the teacher. 10. A janitor, paid from public funds. 11. Clean floors, desks, walls, and windows. 12. Building, furniture, outhouses, etc., free from unsightly cuttings and markings. 13. Two good outhouses, well located and well kept. 14. Good water. A drinking fountain or individual drink- ing cups. 15. Vocal music taught. Group singing emphasized. 16. Each teacher following the state course of study. 17. Every teacher cooperating with all other worthy educa- tional agencies. 18. A boys' club and a girls' club in the school. 19. A definite daily schedule posted and well followed. 20. A United States flag and a state flag for each room. 21. A telephone for the schoolroom. 22. Two or more good pictures for each room. 46 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 23. Maps, globes, charts, pictures, erasers, etc., for each room. 24. Concrete walks and other structures in concrete to con- form to buildings or grounds. 25. Mail boxes for the school. 26. A first-aid kit in each room. 27. Scales with height and weight table in each room. 28. Hot lunch for all the children. XVI. A RURAL SCHOOL SCORE CARD (To be used by the county superintendent and teachers) County Name of School Dist. No. Date of visit 192 — Enumeration Enrollment Average daily attendance Name of teacher Points given _ Class . County Superintendent I. Grounds and Outbuildings 14 Points Points Points Allowed Given 1. Ample playground, clean and well drained — at least one acre for a one-teacher school .... 2 2. Two well kept, separate sanitary outhouses or closets .... 2 3. Two or more good shade trees . . 2 4. The teacher on the ground to su- pervise play 2 THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 47 5. At least three pieces of playground apparatus 6. Good sheds for fuel and stock . . 7. Water supply, from safe source . Points Allowed Points Given 11. School Building 20 Points 1. Ample schoolroom, or rooms, well built, in good repair . . . 2. Painted outside and inside, pleas- ing to the eye 3. Windows one-sixth of floor space . 4. Windows on left side only . . . 5. Windows supplied with good shades 6. Well heated and ventilated . . . 7. The building and furniture clean, well kept 8. State and national flag, properly displayed 9. Good doors with locks and keys . . Points Allowed Points Given III. Material Equipment 20 Points 1. Patent desks (single preferred), of at least three sizes, properly spaced 2. Good teacher's desk and chair . . Points Allowed Points Given 48 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Points Points Allowed Given 3. At least sixty library books ap- proved by the superintendent 2 4. Maps, globes, charts, dictionary, weights, measures, etc. ... 2 5. Sanitary drinking fountain, or its equivalent 2 6. Crayons, erasers, pointers, brooms, and " floor sweep " 2 7. Wash basin and sanitary towels i 8. At least two appropriate pictures to the room 2 9. Ample equipment for primary work I 10. Good blackboard, 20 feet to the room ; 26 in. and 32 in. from the floor 2 11. Musical instrument i IV. Community Activities 16 Points Points Points Allowed Given 1. One or more agricultural clubs organized and at work ... 2 2. An active parent- teacher or school improvement association . . 3 3. Literary society, debating club, singings, etc., for pupils and teachers 4 4. Represented in county fair, and in county educational rally . . 3 5. Other community activities . . 4 THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 49 The Teacher and the School 30 Points Points Points Allowed Given 1. Teacher with first or higher grade certificate 3 2. One teacher for every 35 or fewer pupils 2 3. Two or more years' tenure ... 2 4. Daily program on wall closely fol- lowed I 5. State course of study properly fol- lowed 2 6. Registers well kept, teachers' re- ports promptly made, pupils well graded i 7. School visited by all directors . . i 8. Homes of all pupils visited by the teacher i 9. Flowers in the building or on the ground i 10. Work done on adult ilHteracy . . 2 11. Community work, such as starting a community laundry, a com- ^ munity potato house, etc., milk testing, seed testing, pig and poultry clubs, domestic science, manual training, current events, special day programs, commu- nity singing, 90 per cent of all children of school age enrolled, and average daily attendance of 90 per cent or better ... 14 50 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Schools scoring 90 to 100 points will be rated as Class A, those scoring 75 to 90 points as Class B, those scoring 60 to 75 points as Class C, and those scoring from 60 points down, as Class D. EXERCISES 1. Who should score a school ? When? 2. Select the parts of this score card which apply to any school. 3. What items would you add to this card to make it apply to your school? 4. Study the score card to see if proper value has been given to each item. XVII. PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION Parents and teachers are recognizing the fact that they have a common problem in the education of boys and girls, and that success can come only through cooperation. Each must have the other's help. The following statements should be discussed freely in the parent-teacher meeting. The program should take the form of round table discussions. Two or three statements are enough for one program. Some of the statements may be used as subjects for debate. Keep away from personalities, factions, or petty jeal- ousies that tend to destroy harmony. 1. Parents should "chum" with their children, and should accompany them to all places where they are deter- mined to go for amusements. 2. Do not make slaves of your children. The slave cannot grow. Personal liberties should not be denied to children. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 51 3. A child can be given freedom to act without being given license to act. 4. Parents and teachers should avoid the use of "don't.'' They spend their time and energy in telling children what not to do, when they should be telling them what to do. 5. Parents or teachers have no right to say, "Quit doing that," to a child until they are ready to follow it with, "Do this." 6. When parents or teachers say, "I'll spank you," or, "I'll wear you out," or, "I'll skin you alive," etc., they should make good their threat, or the children will lose confidence in them. 7. Never threaten. 8. Parents and teachers should be interested in everything which interests the children. 9. Think twice before giving a command. If you think it will be seriously questioned by the child, do not give it. 10. Let your children feel free to ask you for a reason for all things that you ask them to do. 11. No bad child is to blame for being bad. 12. There are no bad children. Badness is only misdirected energy. 13. People need a course in the rearing of children much more than a course in Latin, ancient history, or in the raising of hogs, chickens, and corn. 14. Children are more unruly than they were in 1850. 15. Children do no wrong until some one leads them to do wrong. 16. Modern life is making it impossible for parents to spend enough time with their children. Formerly parents and children worked together ', now parents work where there is "no admittance." 52 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 17. Work builds character. Children do not work enough. Many of them go to school until they lose their desire to succeed through service. 18. When a child appears naughty, it may be sick or hun- gry. There is always a good cause for the child's behavior. 19. The good parent or teacher will find out why children do what they do, before punishment is administered. 20. Most parents are sparing the rod and spoiling the child. 21. A kind talk from a sympathetic parent or teacher is far more effective than the ''rod." 22. Good parents and teachers are consistent. They ap- prove or disapprove the same things at all times. 23. When a parent or teacher says "No" to the child, this answer should be final, and the child should know it. 24. Answer all questions asked by children. Answer them truthfully. Give the child the information he seeks, then stop. 25. Parents should give their children information about sex questions, before they learn it from immoral sources. Make the question a sacred one. 26. Before working for or against any issue a good citizen will ask, ''What effect will it have on the entire com- munity?" rather than, "What effect will it have on me?" XVIII. QUESTIONS FOR DEBATES — SUGGESTED FOR TEACHERS' MEETINGS Resolved : 1. That formal examinations should be abolished. 2. That corporal punishment be abolished from the school- room. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 53 3. That school is for the building of character more than for the acquiring of facts. 4. That character is formed through play more than through study. 5. That a teacher, after teaching five days in the week, should not teach a Sunday School class. 6. That our country would be benefited if all adults had a four years' college education. 7. That it takes a better teacher to succeed in a rural school than in a city school. 8. That grade teachers have as important a work as high school teachers and should receive as large a salary. 9. That any teacher can learn to be a good disciplinarian. 10. That a teacher is as free to do what she pleases as a merchant is. 11. That what one knows, one can teach. 12. That a city bred person can never become a good rural teacher ; that a rural bred person can never become a good city teacher. 13. That since a majority of the leading men and women of America came from the country, rural schools do bet- ter work than city schools. 14. That no teacher can see herself as others see her. 15. That when a teacher does not enjoy teaching a subject, it is because she does not know the subject. 16. That a teacher cannot teach boys and girls to enjoy that which she does not enjoy. 17. That there is a way of reaching and saving every bad pupil. 18. That there are no bad pupils, but that badness is only misdirected energy. 19. That a good teacher, like a good physician, should stay in one community. 54 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 20. That the aim to be a good follower is as worthy and as necessary as the aim to be a good leader. 21. That some people are born leaders, and others are born followers. 22. That people in town should plan to spend their old age in the country. 23. That the great emphasis given to foreign languages has retarded the progress of our country. 24. That a person is not educated until he is prepared for some definite life work. 25. That a good teacher can predict the effects of each reci- tation as well as a physician can predict the effects of a dose of medicine. 26. That pupils learn more from their classmates than from their teachers. 27. That pupils can be made to succeed in spite of their protests. 28. That when pupils are not interested, their teacher is responsible. 29. That teaching is as important as voting and no one should be licensed to teach before she can vote. 30. That no successful physician, minister, or teacher can afford to remain in a rural community. 31. That marching in and out of the schoolroom weakens a pupil's initiative. 32. That a rural community should be as proud of the people it holds as it is of the people who go away to fill the so-called ''higher places." 33. That we do not care so much for the clothes we wear, the work we do, or the houses we live in, as we do about what people think of our clothes, work, and houses. 34. That there are neither high positions nor low positions, THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 55 but that all people who are making an honest living are on a level. 35. That the person who looks after our health by keeping our streets and premises clean, is doing as honorable a work as the person who waits on us after we get sick. 36. That the taxes of the entire state should be distributed for educational purposes so as to be most effective in educating all the children of the state. 37. That schools should continue for twelve months in the year. 38. That one can go to school so much that he will miss an education. 39. That what we do determines what we are, not that what we are determines what we do. 40. That we cannot conclude that anything is harmful until we have seen it tried and have had time to study its results. 41. That one teaches individuals and not groups. 42. That the elementary curriculum should be the same for both city and rural communities. 43. That the usual system of grading and reporting causes pupils to lose sight of the living problems and to think only of their grades and rank. 44. That report cards should be given bi-monthly instead of monthly. 45. That a grade teacher has as great responsibility as a college teacher. 46. That to prepare a pupil for life is to prepare him for col- lege. 47. That standards maintained by colleges have been a hin- drance to progress. 48. That teachers cannot do good work so long as they de- pend on other work to supplement their salaries. 56 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 49. That it is as essential for a teacher to be a graduate of a normal school as it is for a physician to be a graduate of a medical school. 50. That pupils should help make the rules and regulations which govern their school. 51. That each teacher should help make the curriculum that she is asked to follow. 52. That no one should teach unless he or she intends to make teaching a life work. 53. That it does no good : 1. To compel a child to study the Bible. 2. To compel a child to say, ''I'm sorry." 54. That a good teacher will not keep pupils in at recess or playtime. 55. That a person who does not know parliamentary rules or who cannot help pupils organize a literary society should not be permitted to teach school. 56. That the country is suffering more from a lack of people who can speak and debate in public than it is from a lack of people who know technical grammar. 57. That most pupils are taught to be passive rather than to be active. 58. That we should teach boys and girls to be docile. XDC. TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED IN TEACHERS' MEETINGS The value of a teachers' meeting depends largely upon the program. A program should not only be made up of live questions, but the program committee should assign the questions to people who are able and willing to give the teachers a helpful message. Each THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 57 member on the program owes it to himself and the audience to come ''prepared" or to notify the program committee in time for other arrangements to be made. 1. Laggards in our schools, and what to do with them. 2. Minimum essentials of elementary arithmetic, history, etc. 3. The moral value of play and how to get good playground equipment. 4. What to do with the exceptionally bright pupil. 5. Characteristics of a good teacher. 6. Causes of bad order (definition of good order). 7. How teachers waste time. 8. Report on some educational meeting by . 9. My problems, how I am meeting them, and the help I need in solving them. 10. Methods of teaching arithmetic, geography, etc. 11. How to keep pupils from being tardy. 12. How to secure regular attendance. 13. How to interest patrons in the school. 14. A school library and how to use it. 15. How to socialize the recitation. 16. How to encourage the timid pupil. 17. How to teach pupils to study. 18. Helping pupils to find what life work they should follow. 19. How to give mental tests. Their values. 20. How to supervise plays and games. 21. How to secure good English in all recitations and on the playground. 22. How much drill work is necessary? In what subjects? 23. Wholesome recreation for pupils. 24. The weaknesses of a one-room school. 25. The advantages of a consolidated school. 58 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 26. School credit should be given for home work. 27. Who is an educated person? 28. What is good teaching ? 29. A good personality, and how to secure it. 30. Arrange the following characteristics of a teacher in or- der of their importance : personal appearance, sym- pathy, tact, sincerity, enthusiasm, optimism, vitality, scholarship, fairness, dignity. 31. The need for a junior high school. 32. How I make opening exercises worth while. 33. Stories and how to tell them. 34. The value of a parent-teacher association for each com- munity. 35. The influence of good "house-keeping" on the lives of pupils. 36. Habits desirable for pupils. 37. How to get better lunches brought to school. 38. What to do with pupils at their seats who want to listen to the recitation. 39. What part pupils should have in determining the quality and quantity of work done in school. 40. How to get pupils to be more altruistic and less selfish. 41. When and how to teach pupils to use the dictionary and encyclopedia. 42. How to break up disturbing factions in a community. 43. What to do with patrons who are so interested in school • that they interfere. 44. Should a teacher ever encourage a timid pupil to fight ? 45. The best and quickest way to learn about the problems of a community which one is just entering. 46. To what extent should we demand prompt and implicit obedience ? 47. How may we keep pupils from defacing school furniture? THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 59 48. How may we make pupils want to get out and play at recess ? 49. Good indoor games for rainy days. 50. How should ''puppy love" cases be handled in school? 51. How may snobbishness and cliques among pupils be broken up ? 52. How can the timid child be made to feel at ease when reciting his lessons? 53. How much time can a teacher afford to spend on school entertainments ? Note : For other topics see Sections VIII, IX, XVII and XVIII, Chapter I. XX. QUESTIONS FOR DEBATES — SUGGESTED FOR LITERARY SOCIETIES Resolved : 1. That boys and girls do not injure themselves mentally, morally, or physically except through ignorance. 2. That country life furnishes greater opportunities for success than city life. 3. That country life is more healthful than city life. 4. That boys and girls can be what they want to be. 5. That the rich man's son deserves as much credit for suc- ceeding as the poor man's son. 6. That all the talents and wealth which any one has should be used for making the world better. 7. That it requires more effort to succeed to-day than it did in 1850. 8. That a high school education pays in dollars and cents. 9. That there is no such person as a self-educated person. 10. That the use of tobacco lessens one's chance for success. 6o ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 11. That there should be an educational qualification for suffrage. 12. That — — ^is the most profitable business for this community. 13. That is more profitable than . 14. That every farmer can and should own the land that he farms. 15. That the government should own and control the rail- roads. 16. That ex-President Wilson will rank in history as one of our greatest statesmen. 17. That the President of the United States should be elected for a term of six years and be ineligible for reelection. 18. That the farmer is more independent than the merchant. 19. That it is better to cultivate a small farm than a large one. 20. That stock should be allowed to run out in this commu- nity. 21. That country people do not work together for their wel- fare as city people do. 22. That there are as many ways of cooperating in the coun- try as in the city. 23. That it does not pay any one in town to keep a cow. 24. That every good farmer should have a cream separator. 25. That it is as necessary for a farmer to keep books as it is for the merchant. 26. That a good farmer will keep nothing but thoroughbred stock and poultry. 27. That no one should buy a car until he owns a bathtub. 28. That it is good business to go in debt for land. 29. That bad dispositions are more harmful to this country than tuberculosis, THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 6i 30. That more people throughout the world are dying from overeating than from starvation. 31. That people are not naturally selfish. 32. That there is greater satisfaction in pursuit than in pos- session. 33. That we cannot be strong and healthy unless our neigh- bors are. 34. That we cannot be morally strong unless our neighbors are. 35. That boys in school should be taught how to build a house. 36. That pupils should be taught to judge the quality and the worth of all articles which they purchase. 37. That by the age of fourteen, boys and girls should know what life work they will follow. 38. That one can learn more from traveling than from read- ing. 39. That opportunity never comes to one who is unpre- pared. 40. That we have acquired all our territory honestly. 41. That our government, in all of its wars, has been on the right side. 42. That war occurs only when people are not civilized. 43. That wars have been necessary for the progress of man- kind. 44. That Alaska is a wealthier territory than Canada. 45. That he who controls business is a hero. 46. That the citizen who does right is as great a hero as the bravest soldier. 47. That it takes a braver person to refrain from fighting than it does to fight. 48. That our grandparents got more satisfaction out of life than we do. 62 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 49. That the world is growing better. 50. That we should always patronize home industry in pref- erence to mail order houses. 51. That the President of the United States has nothing to do with bringing hard times or good times. 52. That each community should have a community laun- dry. 53. That each community should have a community potato house. 54. That people should do cooperative buying and selling for their economic improvement. 55. That each community should have a union public school and a union Sunday School. 56. That people are educated for the good of others, rather than for themselves. 57. That the happiest people are those who work for the good of others, rather than for themselves. 58. That he who sows wild oats must reap wild oats. 59. That the kind of boy or girl one is, always indicates the kind of man or woman one will become. 60. That people ''gossip" for lack of other things to talk about. 61. That postmasters should be elected by the people. 62. That our state legislature would be more efficient with fewer members. 63. That our state highways should be built and repaired by the people who use them. 64. That the wealth of a state should be taxed where it is, to educate the children where they are. 65. That to be great is to be a servant. 66. That to be successful and happy one must be honest in all dealings with his fellows. 67. That to be prosperous one must be temperate. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 63 EXERCISES 1. Criticize the following score card for judging reading and declamation. 1. Ease and stage appearance 15% 2. Voice (Pronunciation, Enunciation, Articu- lation) 20% 3. Literary interpretation 20% 4. Rendering 20% 5. Memory 25% 2. Change this score card so as to apply to a debating con- test. XXL COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES A community without activities to bring its mem- bers together where they can plan and work with and for each other, is not a growing community. One of the biggest things a teacher can do for a community is to assist in the organization of community activities. The people must have some common problems or there can be no community. In discussing these common problems, the interdependence of the people of the community is emphasized and the citizens are drawn closer together. The country is suffering for leaders who will call conamunity meetings and give the people an oppor- tunity to cooperate in solving their common problems. Good leaders will prepare community programs on topics of common interest. These programs will bring people together for both pleasure and profit. 64 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Communities grow by common effort rather than by individual effort. They grow by the effort of their own people, and not by the effort of people on the out- side. A person from the outside may give the people new ideas, but ^'stored up'' ideas do not help commu- nities. Study the following statements on community activities. Evaluate each statement. Select the ones that you think apply to your community. 1. Programs that are worth while in one community, are worth while in any community. 2. Every community can and should have a live Sunday School, a literary society, a school improvement asso- ciation, a community forum, community singings-, a Y. M. C. A., a Y. W. C. A., a Boy Scouts' organiza- tion, and a Camp Fire Girls' organization. 3. People want to work together. All they need is a leader. 4. Without a leader an army would fail. A leader is as essential to a community as to an army. 5. If a teacher expects to have live community meetings, she must carry out the following suggestions : a. The teacher should know the patrons personally and, if they have confidence in her, they will gladly respond to her leadership. h. Advertise thoroughly for the meeting — in the county papers, through the pupils, and by means of posted notices. c. Begin planning for the meeting two or three weeks before the time set for the program to be rendered. d. Make the meeting a good one — one that will long be remembered by those attending. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 65 e. Make each meeting worth while. If it is to be an entertainment, the program must entertain; if instructive, it must instruct. Make the people feel that they have been repaid for coming. /. See that the meeting begins on time and does not drag at any time. g. Have one or more local citizens placed on the pro- gram. h. Do not scold the people for not coming. If they do not come to any given program, see them and say you missed them and invite them to come to the next program. 6. Before a chairman of the meeting (or the program com- mittee) can have a good meeting, he must carry out the following suggestions : a. Get the proper person for each topic. Help find a book or an article bearing on each topic. h. Begin on time. Keep things moving with a snap. Close on time. c. Ximit speakers who might talk too long. d. Throw interesting topics open for ten minutes' dis- cussion. e. Arrange the program to meet community needs. 7. By making a few changes to meet local problems, the following programs could be given to advantage in any community. What changes would you suggest ? a. Road Program 1. State Song — by the children 2. Have a map on the board showing the public roads of the community. (This can be drawn before the meeting.) 66 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 3. Inconvenience of the roads as they are — by a citizen 4. Are our roads properly located? — by a citizen 5. How much does the community lose yearly by not having better roads ? — by a pupil 6. What good roads would mean to this commu- nity — by a citizen h. Farmers' Evening Both young and old should take part in this program. 1. Song 2. Recitation 3. How can we make farm life more attractive? Two eight-minute talks by a man and a woman 4. Better farm machinery — how to care for it 5. Song — ''America" or State Song 6. Why I am going to be a farmer — by a boy 7. The best farm I ever saw 8. Declamation 9. Description of an ideal farm that a farmer should have 10. How can we get this ideal farm ? Let as many answer this question as will. 11. Description of an ideal home that a majority of people can have 12. How can we get this ideal home? Let as many answer this question as will. 13. Have twelve little farmers (children), one for each month, stand in a row. Each farmer tells what is done on the farm in that month. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 67 Country Life Evening 1. Song 2. Advantages of living in the country 3. How we can make life in this community more attractive 4. A quartet 5. Why the country is the best place for boys — by a boy 6. Why the country is the best place for girls — by a girl 7. A recitation 8. Conditions in this community that would at- tract families that are seeking homes 9. Conditions in this community that might cause families to pass us by 10. How this community depends upon other com- munities 11. Song — by the children d. Then and Now in This Community 1. Song 2. A history of the churches of this community. Select an old member from each church for this topic. 3. A history of our school, showing a gradual growth 4. How we used to farm as compared to our present method 5. A recitation 6. How our live stock differs to-day from what it was thirty years ago 68 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 7. A declamation 8. Debate: Resolved that the hill to success is steeper to-day than it was fifty years ago 9. What the farms of this community will look like fifty years from now — by a boy 10. What the homes of this community will look like fifty years from now — by a girl 11. Song 8. A program committee can make a good program for any community on any one of the following subjects : a. Better corn b. Better fruit c. Our best money crop d. The cause of hard times e. The best hay for this community /. Better cows (also hogs, sheep, goats, horses) g. Making chickens pay h. Cooperative buying for the community i. Why have a community laundry? potato house? road drag ? slaughtering pen ? etc. j. Better schools — consolidation k. Old settlers' program (history of the community) I. The value of fertilizer m. Diversified farming n. How to make housekeeping easier 0. George Washington Day, Lee Day, Lincoln Day, (loi other days) p. Trees of this community — their uses q. Birds of this community — their uses r. Flowers of this community — their uses s. Playgrounds of this community — their uses t. Things we import — why ? u. Things we export — why ? THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 69 V. How to select good wearing apparel w. How to keep well X. Legitimate ways of economizing y. The causes of crime z. Games for our young people SUGGESTED REFERENCES Hanifan, The Community Center; Jackson, A Community Center; Ward, A Community Center. CHAPTER II PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION I. AIMS OF AN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Teachers should have an aim for everything they do. They want to give only that kind of education which leads to a definite goal. They want also to know that the goal is a worthy one, and that the work of each day, each month, and each year takes the pupil nearer the goal. The good teacher consciously sets up a goal and guides her pupils to it. Different teachers may have different goals. Some goals may be good, some may be bad. The following statements on the aims and purposes of the elementary school have been collected from various sources. Examine each aim carefully and tell why you do or do not agree with it. Select those aims which a good teacher will accept as "guiding principles." The aims of an elementary education are : 1. To prepare pupils for high school. 2. To prepare pupils for complete living. 3. To give pupils a foundation on which to build, regardless of what they want to be. 70 EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 71 4. To help pupils know that they are now living and to live well. 5. To help pupils find out what they are best fitted for in life. 6. To give pupils habits and knowledge which they will later need. 7. To take children from all kinds of home environment and equalize their opportunities for success. 8. To help pupils think straight, work hard, and love much. 9. To add the ''four H's" (head, heart, hand, and health) to the "three R's." 10. To eradicate ignorance, poverty, and wickedness. 11. To adjust boys and girls to society. 12. To help pupils see, understand, and appreciate nature. 13. To help pupils work with and for others. 14. To do for children what their parents cannot or will not do. 15. To help pupils to think, to talk, and to feel at ease be- fore the public. 16. To make good leaders. 17. To make good followers. 18. To help pupils get through life on less work. 19. To teach pupils to sing, fight, and dance. 20. To furnish a place for children while mothers are at work, visiting, attending clubs, etc. 21. To help pupils until they can help themselves. 22. To see that pupils master the common school branches. 23. To preserve, improve, and transmit the best things which mankind has done. 24. To establish such habits and mental attitudes in pupils that they will at all times be able : a. To do clear, systematic thinking. h. To be self-reliant. 72 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING c. To be cool, calm, and deliberate. d. To be thrifty and industrious. e. To be respectful to all people. /. To put first things first and to see relative values. g. To think well of themselves. h. To be sociable on all occasions, to all people. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 3 ; Betts, Social Principles of Education, Chapter 3 ; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter i ; Boone, Science of Education, Pages 271-396; Butler, The Meaning of Education, Chapter i ; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 3 ; Finney and Schafer, Administration of Village and Consolidated Schools, Chapter i; Judd, Genetic Psychology for Teachers, Pages 129-160; Keith, Elementary Education, Chapter 2 ; Moore, What Is Education; O'Shea, Education as Adjustment; Ruediger, The Principles of Edu- cation, Chapter 3 ; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chap- ters I and 2 ; Smith, All the Children of All the People, Chapters i, 2, 19, and 20 ; Snedden, Problems of Educational Readjustment, Chapters 1-3 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter i ; Sut- ton and Horn, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter i ; Swift, Mind in the Making, Pages 307-329; Thorndike, Education, Chapters 2 and 3; Turner, Essentials of Good Teaching, Chapter 2 ; Vincent, Social Mind and Education, Pages 91-113. 11. WHAT AN EIGHTH GRADE GRADUATE SHOULD KNOW, FEEL, AND DO What the eighth grade graduate should know, feel, and do may differ for different individuals and for dif- ferent communities, but there are many ideas, attitudes, and habits that should be common to all eighth grade graduates. The name "common branches" signifies EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 73 a scope of work that should be common to all boys and girls who complete an elementary education. The program of studies for the elementary school is con- stantly changing, both by addition and subtraction. The following statements are made by people who have tried to agree on this stock of ideas, attitudes, and habits common to all eighth grade graduates. Evaluate each statement. Select those which you think are most vital. Add others which you think are essential. All eighth grade graduates should : 1. Know well the common school branches. 2. Be interested in the welfare of all humanity alike, know how to help all humanity, and let every thought and act be for the common good. 3. Know how to diagram, analyze, and parse. 4. Know their own abilities and possibilities. 5. Know what life work they will follow. 6. Speak, write, and read correctly and fluently. 7. Love the good and hate the evil. 8. Know the value of a dollar. 9. Respect all honest labor. 10. Know how to cook, sew, and keep house. 11. Know how to do elementary carpentering, plumbing, blacksmithing, and farming (if boys). 12. Know how to choose a balanced ration for themselves. 13. Be able to judge the value of clothes, furniture, and food. 14. Have both the science and the art of caring for their bodies. 74 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 15. Be able to sing and dance welL 16. Be able to entertain themselves and others. 17. Know how to take care of chickens, flowers, children, poodle dogs, and stock. 18. Have the habit of reading the best literature. 19. Know and appreciate the way the other half lives. 20. Be able to draw the maps of all the continents, locating the countries, their capital cities, their principal rivers, mountains, and towns. 21. Know where exports go, and where imports are made. 22. Be interested in political issues, and know the stand taken by prominent men and women. 23. Be able to recognize the flowers of the community. 24. Be able to recognize the birds of the community. 25. Be able to recognize the trees of the community. 26. Know and be interested in the community problems. 27. Beable to answer the questions of a prospective land buyer. 28. Be able to make an honest living. 29. Be strong, honest, trustworthy, obedient, well poised, and polite. (See references on Section III, Chapter II.) EXERCISES To what extent should a teacher in the elementary school make certain that her eighth grade pupils possess all the skill, knowledge, etc., mentioned above? III. PROGRAM OF STUDIES It has been said that we are a part of all that we touch. If this is true, the pupil should touch a course of study that is broad, safe, and sane. The average EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 75 teacher feels that the course of study is already pre- pared and that she is employed to see that her pupils meet its requirements. Some of the following state- ments of the course of study may be questioned, but it is hoped that they will help the teacher to see her part in determining the course of study, as well as methods for presenting it. In discussing the following statements it should be understood that a program of studies includes all that a school offers ; a course of study includes all that is offered in one subject, e.g., history; and a curriculum includes that part of a program of studies which one pupil or student takes. Evaluate each statement. Select the ones that should guide the teacher. Be able to tell why each one is or is not a safe guide. 1. A good course of study is composed of activities that are vital to the lives of the pupils. 2. A written course of study is dead. It has no life activities. 3. No useless subject matter should get into the course of study. Who should say what is essential and what is non-essential ? 4. No lesson should be taught until teacher and pupils see a practical need for it. 5. a. A lesson that is practical for one pupil may not be for another. b. It may be practical for one class and not for another. c. It may be practical in one community and not in an- other. 76 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING d. It may be practical at one time and not at another. 6. No teacher can succeed with a course of study that some one else has prepared. 7. No teacher can prepare a curriculum before she has made a survey of her community, any more than a physician can prepare medicine before the diagnosis. 8. Most courses of study, like patent medicines, are pre- pared for all and fit none. 9. A course of study can be made to fit only one community, for only a short time. It can be made only by one who knows the community. 10. Courses of study are such misfits that some pupils have to leave school to get an education. 11. The course of study is already made, and the teacher is helpless. 12. Never have pupils study a subject merely because they may some day need it. They will not learn it until they feel a need for it. 13. Most pupils are motor-minded and should spend most of the school day in seeing, handling, and doing. 14. At some time in a pupil's school life, he should make or help make every kind of article that his community uses. 15. The reason pupils mar furniture or destroy property is because they have never helped make it, therefore know nothing of its value. 16. No one can appreciate any situation unless his experience enables him to do so; therefore the best course of study provides for the greatest variety of activities. 17. The reason that some people do not respect an honest ditch digger is because they have never dug ditches. 18. The poorest course of study provides for the fewest ac- tivities and the most time on "book learning." EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 77 19. Children learn by doing. This fact should guide any one who makes a program of studies. 20. Hard work is an essential factor in the making of good citizens. From the eighth grade on, pupils should have to earn a part or all of their spending money. 21. Pupils should not study anything in which their parents are not interested. 22. Get a good teacher ; she will get a good course of study. 23. A rural school should have a rural course of study, and a city school should have a city course of study. 24. There are three hundred trades and professions. They should be recognized in the course of study. 25. School is not a good place for home economics and man- ual training. These subjects can best be taught in the home. 26. School gardens in rural schools are like brooms in city schools ; the pupils get enough of them at home. 27. The course of study should join, not overlap, home ac- tivities. 28. The average course of study gives rural children a de- sire to go to the city, and city children a desire to stay in the city. 29. A good course of study prepares pupils for something definite. 30. Broad is the way that leads to destruction and broad is the course of study that leads to no definite goal. 31. Truth is narrow and definite; so is a good course of study. 32. A teacher cannot have a good course of study until pa- trons want it. First educate the patrons. 33. As the sunflower changes to keep up with the sun, so will a good course of study change to keep up with new vocations, new activities, and new conditions. 78 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 34. The good teacher wants to modify, not to destroy, the present course of study. 35. A good teacher will neither drop old subject matter nor admit new, without a good reason. 36. No good teacher will teach a lesson, without first Being able to answer this question: ''Why teach this sub- ject matter to this class at this time?" 37. In schools for adult illiterates, the teacher gets problems from the lives of the students. Why not do it with children ? 38. A pupil graduating from a city high school will never be a good farmer. 39. Before putting anything into the program of studies ask the following questions : a. Will it help the pupils physically ? h. Will it help them morally? c. Will it help them vocationally ? d. Will it help them to be better citizens ? e. Will it help them to enjoy leisure ? If the answer is "yes," the subject matter should be admitted. 40. The following ways of making a program of studies are good: a. Get good textbooks and you have a good program of studies. h. Compile from various programs of study an average program for your school. c. Let good teachers name the minimum essentials. These will constitute the program of studies. d. Examine the most successful citizens of your com- munity. The things they do not know are non- essentials and should be left out of the program of studies. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 79 e. Let experts in a subject say what should be taught. This subject matter will make a good program of studies. /. Make a community survey. Find out what the peo- ple are doing. Make a program of studies that will prepare young people for these activities. g. Find out what parents want their children to study. Let this determine the program of studies. h. Find out what children are interested in. Let this interest determine the program of studies. i. Measure the ability of children, and make a program of studies that they can, with much effort, master. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Arp, Rurd Education and the Consolidated School, Chapter 6 ; Ben- nett, School Efficiency, Chapter 11 ; Betts, Social Principles of Edu- cation, Chapter 10; Bobbitt, The Curriculum; Carney, Country Life and the Country School, Pages 239-246 ; Chamberlain, Standards in Education, Chapter 2 ; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages 26-41 ; 208-223 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapter 9 ; Coursault, The Principles of Education, Chapter 1 2 ; Cubberly, Rural Life and Education, Chapter 1 1 ; Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 4 ; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter i ; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, Pages 225-279 ; Judd, The Scientific Study of Education, Chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11 ; Kennedy, Rural Life and the Rural School, Chapter 9; McMurry, Elementary School Standards, Chapters 8 and 9; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 2, Pages 214-224; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 7 ; Robbins, The School as a Social Institution, Chapters 12 and 13; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 11 ; Smith, All the Children of All the People, Chap- ters 23 and 24 ; Turner, Essentials of Good Teaching, Chapter 3 ; Wil- kinson, Rural School Management, Chapter 9; Educational Review^ Sept., 1915 ; N. E. A., 1916, Page 953;/- y 8o ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING IV. DAILY SCHEDULE A good daily schedule does not just happen. It is a result of much thought on the teacher's part. A teacher can find plenty of daily schedules already made, but she will not find one made for her room. She will find some that are more suitable than others, but like patent medicines, they are prepared for all and will fit no individual case. There are some principles, however, that should guide any teacher who makes out a daily schedule. Study the following statements carefully. Evaluate each statement and tell why you consider it a safe or an unsafe guide. Also add other statements which would help a teacher to make a daily schedule. 1. The daily schedule should provide study periods for each pupil. A study period should come just before each recitation. 2. Since the primary pupils cannot study except in the reci- tation, they should be given more time than older pu- pils who can study independent of the teacher. 3. The recitation is a place to arouse interest in a subject. The pupils should go from the recitation to the im- mediate study of the questions raised in the recitation. 4. There is no necessity for having a fifth grade geography class and a sixth grade geography class. Combine them. The same thing is true of other subjects and other grades. 5. A recitation that is not more than seven minutes long is of no value to pupils. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 8i 6. No teacher can have two classes reciting at the same time and be of any real assistance to either of them. 7. From ten to eleven o'clock the pupils are mentally more alert than at any other hour of the day. This is the hour that reading and English should be scheduled. 8. The last hour of the day the pupils are mentally least alert. Geography and spelling should be scheduled for this hour. 9. The mind does not get its rest on "nothing to do," but rather on a change of work. 10. The average daily schedule does not provide for enough work and play. 11. A daily schedule that provides for the proper amount of work, study, and play, will enable the pupils to be as mentally alert at the close of the day as at the begin- ing. With the program of studies becoming more and more congested, it is apparent that pupils in the one- room school cannot be divided into eight groups or grades. In most rural schools, an observer can see pupils at their seats, giving undivided attention to some topic being discussed in a recitation. There is no good reason why all pupils interested in a question should not recite together, provided the class is not too large. The program given below shows the pupils to be divided into three groups : grades 1,2, and 3 ; grades 4, 5, and 6 ; and grades 7 and 8. The teacher spends her time with each group every third day. The figures (i), (2), and (3), indicate the days on which groups have 82 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING the assistance of the teacher in whatever they are doing : e.g., (i) shows that the teacher is with grades i to 3 from 9 : 30-10 : 00, with grades 4 to 6 from 10 : 00-10 : 30, and with grades 7 and 8 from 10 : 45-11 : 15. This schedule is made for a one-teacher school. Justify each hour's work for each '^ grade," or make a better schedule. T(ME Grades 1-3 Grades 4-6 Grades 7-8 9-9 : 30 Opening exercises in which all three groups take part. One group may entertain the others, or the teacher may read or tell a story. This period should never drag or become monotonous. 9:30- 10: 00 Oral Language (i) Silent Reading (2) Problems in Number Work (3) 10: 00- 10:30 Busy Work (3) Helping pupil to read for expression (i) Reading Literature for enjoyment (2 ) 10: 30- 10:4s Recess Recess Recess 10:45- 11:15 Reading (Apprecia- tion of ex- pression of others) (2) Silent Reading (3) Supervised History Study (i) ii:iS- 11:30 Writing Penmanship Penmanship 11:30- 12: 00 Free Play (i) Arithmetic — techni- cal work for practi- cal purposes (2) History. Study on problems raised (3) EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 83 Time Grades 1-3 Grades 4-6 Grades 7-8 1 2 : 00- Noon Hour — Lunch eaten at tables ; warm dish prepared I P.M. by children ; cleaning up done by children — PLAY i-i : 30 Observation for Nature Study (3) Hygiene (i) Working together on Civic Problems of the Community (2) 1:30- 2: 00 A socialized recitation on Nature Study (2) SpelHng (3) Manual Training (i) 2: 00- 2:30 Construc- tion or other ac- tivity as basis for Number (I) Language (2) Manual Training (3) 2:30- 2:45 Recess Recess Recess 2:45- 3'. 15 Expression in Number (3) Construction (i) Oral Spelling and Language (2) 3:45 Reading (2) Reading and Oral Composition (i) Making conclusions and testing (i) 3:45- 4: 00 General period for all — Music, Literature, and Art. 84 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Criticize the following work-study-play programs, as made by Alice Barrows Fernandes in Bulletin, 192 1, No. 25, Department of Interior, Bureau of Education, with reference to the order in which the subjects ap- pear upon the program, the length of time devoted to each, and with respect to other accepted principles of program making. The following is one type of program that may be used. In this program each school (A and B) is divided into three divi- sions: Division i, upper grades; division 2, intermediate grades; division 3, primary grades. The "A" School ^mnnr Regular Activities Special AcnvniES Hours Academic Instruction Auditorium Play and Physi- cal Training Cooking, Shop, Science, etc. 8:30- 9: 20 9: 20- 10: 10 10: lO- II ' 00 Arithmetic-Divisions Language-Divisions i> 2, 3 Division i Division 3 Division 2 II : 00- 12: 00 12: 00- 1 : 00 1 : 00- 1:50 1:50- 2:40 2:40- 3:30 (Entire "A" School at luncheon) Reading-Divisions i, ■^7 History and Geogra- phy-Divisions i, 2, 3 Division 3 Division 2 Division 2 Division 3 Division i Division i EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION The "B" School 85 School Hours Regular Activities Special Activities Academic Instruction Auditorium Play and Physi- cal Training Cooking, Shop, Science, etc. 8 : 30- 9: 20 9: 20- 10 ' 10 Division 2 Division 3 Division i Division 3 Division 2 Division i Division i 10: 10- II ' 00 Arithmetic-Divisions ^1^,3 Language-Divisions 1,2,3 (Entire "B" School at luncheon) II : 00- 12 : CX5 12:00- 1 : 00 1 : 00- 1:50 1:50- 2:40 2:40- 3:30 Division 3 Division 2 Reading-Divisions 1,2,3 History and Geogra- phy-Divisions I, 2,3 SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, The Educative Process, Pages 50-70 ; Bennett, School Effi- ciency, Chapter 16 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Pages 176- 188; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, Chapter 7; Judd, Scientific Study of Education, Chapter 7 ; Lincoln, Everyday Peda- gogy, Chapter 5; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Pages 78-87 ; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 8 ; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 12; Showalter, Handbook for School Officers ; Chapter 12; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom Teacher J Chapter 10; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Chap- ter 8. 36 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING V. CONSOLIDATION A consolidated school is made by the union of a number of small schools. Many people claim that con- solidation is the only hope for the one- and two-room schools. Others say that this plan is unwise. Study the following statements on consoHdation and evaluate each one. A. The one-room school should be abolished for the following reasons. 1. The teacher has to teach so many grades, so many sub- jects, so many classes, and look after so many odds and ends that thorough work is impossible. 2. The enrollment is small, the attendance is irregular, the term is short, and the recitations do not average more than eleven minutes in length. 3. The program of studies is narrow and inadequate. 4. Special teachers of music, manual training, domestic science, physical culture, drawing, etc., are impossible. 5. The teacher is usually young and ''getting experience" by practicing on innocent children. Yet she is asked to be superintendent, principal, sometimes janitor, art teacher, science teacher, and all the special teachers provided in a good consolidated school. 6. The work is so hard, the hours so long, the pay so inade- quate, and the sympathy and cooperation of patrons so meager, that good teachers accept the first oppor- tunity to teach in large, well organized schools even at a less salary. 7. The small district is not able to put up a good building, EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 87 equip it well, keep it in good condition, and employ a good teacher for a long term. 8. A small community often suffers for lack of real leaders. The teacher is seldom a citizen of the community, but often spends her week-ends in another community. 9. The population and taxable area and wealth of the dis- trict are too small to furnish either pupils or taxes necessary to a good school. 10. Individual instruction and supervised study in a one- room school are impossible. 11. The weaknesses of the one-room school cause pupils to leave school too soon. 12. No high school work is possible in the one-room school. 13. Only ten per cent of the children from one-room schools ever reach the high school. 14. The best families are leaving the rural communities to find better schools. B. Two or more one-room schools should unite to form one consolidated school for the following reasons : 1. Consolidation not only helps to hold the best people in the community, but attracts other desirable families. 2. It increases the value of property. (Result of No. i.) 3. It makes possible a social life, the lack of which is driv- ing many young people from the country. The social life is made more attractive by "rubbing elbows" with more people, through community singings, community forums (where vital issues are discussed), Sunday schools and churches, junior and senior S. I. A's., literary societies, orchestras, Chautauquas, athletic games, etc. 4. Better community leaders are available and others can be more easily developed. 3 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 5. It gives to both children and adults a needed training in cooperation, in working with and for each other. It causes people to think in terms of a bigger community and about bigger problems. 6. It makes it possible for athletics to be well organized and supervised. 7. It makes for efficient gradation and classification of pu- pils. 8. It puts a good rural high school within reach of every home. 9. The course of study is broader, more vital, therefore more interesting, and because of these conditions pupils are glad to remain longer in school. 10. Better teachers can be employed, because the work is more pleasant, the term longer, the supervision better, and the social life more satisfying. 11. It enables a teacher to have only one or two grades, thus making it possible to secure teachers who are trained for their special work. 12. The enrollment is larger and the attendance better than in all the separate schools combined. 13. It not only keeps children in the grades longer, but it causes many more to go on to the high school. 14. It enables rural boys and girls to get a good high school education at a place and in a way that will not divorce them from rural life and rural people. 15. It gives pupils all the advantages of a city school without exposing them to the glare and temptations of city life. 16. It enables the county superintendent to visit the teachers more often and to render them greater service. 17. "In union there is strength." The united districts can build a better building, heat it better, and equip it EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 89 with better books, seats, libraries, pictures, globes, charts, laboratories, etc. 18. It makes it possible to transport pupils to and from school, enabling them to arrive on time, dry and warm. Transportation also helps to solve many of the personal difficulties that arise on the road to and from school. 19. A larger taxing area is better for all concerned. 20. It enables a community to secure free the services of a Smith-Hughes agricultural teacher. 21. The consolidated school costs no more per pupil per month than the one-room school. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Arp, Rural Education and the Consolidated School, Chapters 10 and 1 1 ; Carney, Country Life and Country School, Chapter 8 ; Cubberly, Rural Life and Rural Education, Pages 230-244; Cubberly, Public School Administration, Chapter 10; Finney and Sc\i2iitr , Adminis- tration of Village and Consolidated Schools, Chapter 18 ; Foght, The American Rural School, Pages 302-324; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, Chapter 4 ; Kennedy, Rural Life and the Rural School, Chapter 6 ; McCready, Rural Science Reader, Chapter 34 ; Monahan, Consolidation of Rural Schools, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, i9i3,No. 8; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 11, Pages 185-189; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Chapter 3 ; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 29 ; Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural Schools, pp. 169-17 1 ; Rapeer, The Consolidated Rural School; Sho- walter. Handbook for School Officers, Chapter 15 ; Smith, Introduction to Educational Sociology, Pages 390-396; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Pages 368-374. VI. ECONOMY OF TIME IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT The teacher who does not plan to save time will kill time. The plans must not stop with the daily schedule. 90 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING They must be made for a week, a month, a year, and in general, for several years. But possibly the most time is lost by not carefully planning to save time in each recitation. In many recitations the pupils will need maps, globes, charts, papers, pencils, rulers, and materials of many kinds. There is one best way and many poor ways for this material to be distributed. The best way can be approached only after careful planning. It is not likely that the teacher can have all this material for immediate use, but she can have it for immediate distribution. Teachers often kill time without knowing it. We are told that we are not fifty per cent efficient. Teachers who save time are in demand. Some teachers have formed habits of economizing time, others have formed habits of wasting it. The following statements have been made relative to the common ways of killing time. Read and eval- uate each statement. 1. Teachers may not begin each recitation promptly. They may even be tardy. The pupils soon feel, and rightly so, that since the teacher is sometimes late, they too can be late. In a short time the pupils feel no personal responsibility for being prompt, and the recitation must wait until all are ready to begin work. 2. It takes some teachers much longer to get classes to and from the recitation than it does others. The teacher does not save time by nagging, scolding, or threatening but by studying the situation, planning for economy of time, and by expecting the pupils to help save time. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 91 3. Some teachers are not careful to begin work promptly even when everything is in readiness. They may be finishing a little piece of work for themselves or for their pupils. This delay creates a wrong attitude in the class that takes time to overcome. 4. Teachers often lose time by not closing the recitation promptly. If the teacher succeeds in carrying out her plans, she must have a schedule and stick pretty close to it. When the pupils see that the school is running on a fairly definite plan, they will be more ready to cooperate with the teachers in saving time. 5. Time is often wasted in irrelevant matter. What teacher has not allowed some shrewd, but unprepared pupil (unprepared on the lesson) to lead her away from the subject? Before teachers can tell whether they are the victims of their pupils, they must see themselves as their pupils see them. 6. It is usually a loss of time to spend the geography period, the history period, etc., listening to the children read. Enough time is spent in a questionable way during the regular reading periods. 7. Some teachers have an excellent method for killing time by sending the classes to the blackboard. Some of these pupils are thinking ; others are not. The period is often gone before any real work has been accom- plished. 8. Time is lost trying to explain to one a point that all the others know. While all learning must be individual, yet individual instruction is questionable, especially in a group where others are not interested. 9. Teachers often allow pupils to kill time by talking a great deal without saying anything, at least without adding new points. Time is saved by both pupils and teachers 92 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING talking direct to the question, and by knowing when they have finished a topic. 10. Time is lost in having pupils spend the recitation at something that they knew before they came to the class. For example, it is a waste of time to have all the pupils in the number class count, repeat the mul- tiplication table, etc. 11. Time is usually lost in calling the roll. 12. Teachers often kill time by compelling pupils to answer every question with a complete statement. What should be the answer to the question : When did Co- lumbus discover America? Under what conditions should a teacher demand complete sentences as an- swers ? 13. Pupils are often asked to stand every time they recite, or even to come forward and face the class. Under what conditions would such a practice be justified? 14. Teachers often kill time by correcting pupils for minor offenses. Is it killing time to correct a pupil during the recitation, when the teacher's correction causes more general disturbance than the pupil was making? 15. Some teachers kill time by correcting each grammatical error made by the pupils. When should a teacher correct grammatical errors made by her pupils ? What are some safe and sane methods for making these corrections ? 16. Teachers often lose tune on non-essentials. They do not see relative values. They do not attend to first things first. Most people have more than they can do. How can they determine the essential thing to do ? 17. There is a great deal of time wasted in attempting to have pupils master subject matter which they will never need. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 93 18. The teacher kills time by saying "ah," *'well," ''now then," " all right," etc. What useless "sayings" have you? 19. The teacher kills time when she repeats her questions or the pupil's answer. 20. The teacher who has no well planned daily program, or a clear, definite plan for each recitation, is sure to kill time groping in the dark. 21. The physical conditions may be such as to prohibit good work. The teacher who ignores such conditions is killing time. Mention some physical conditions that would prohibit good work and tell how they could be remedied. 22. The teacher kills time by talking too much. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Baker, Economy of Time in Education, Bureau of Education, Bul- letin No. 38, 1913 ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter i ; Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teaching, Chapter 7; Committee on Economy of Time in Education, Proceed. N. E. A., for 1913, Pages 217-246; Gilbreath, The Psychology of Management; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. i, Pages 390-394 ; Parker, Methods of Teaching in the High School, Chapter 3 ; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 4; Perry, Problems in the Elementary School, Chapter 7 ; Roark, Economy in Education; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 15. VII. RULES GOVERNING THE SCHOOL A good school is well governed. No government can exist without rules or laws. What rules are neces- sary in school? When, how, and by whom should they be made ? These are the questions that confront 94 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING every teacher. Different teachers may have different answers. Differences may even arise between the teacher and her patrons relative to rules governing the school. There are very few schoolroom problems more far-reaching, and no teacher can afford to begin school without giving this question careful considera- tion. Most of the following statements have been made by both teachers and patrons. Many of them have been made by pupils themselves. Evaluate each statement. Select those which you think are essential to the suc- cess of a teacher. 1. Make no rule the first day except : ''Do right." 2. Make no rule until the action of pupils demands it. 3. Make no rules that cannot be strictly enforced. 4. See that all rules are obeyed by all pupils all the time. If rules are not enforced, they are worse than no rules. 5. Make no rules that will be opposed by the pupils or pa- trons. 6. The pupils should help make all rules. 7. Pupils should have a voice in saying when a rule has been violated and how the offender should be punished. 8. All pupils who violate a rule should be punished alike. 9. Rules should be written and posted in a public place. 10. Rules should be printed in the school catalogue and in textbooks. 11. Rules should never be written anywhere. 12. Pupils, by nature, like to break rules. 13. The school board should make all rules. 14. Rules that are good for one pupil are good for all. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 95 15. Rules that are good for one room are good for another. 16. Rules that are good for one community are good for an- other. 17. Rules should be made and kept year after year. 18. Through evil suggestions, rules often do more harm than good. 19. Never say "don't." It makes pupils want to "do." 20. Make no rules, then your pupils cannot break them. 21. The following rules are good for all schools : a. Do not smoke, gamble, fight, or cheat. b. Do not whisper. c. Do not leave your seat without permission. d. Do not be tardy. e. All pupils must get out on the playground at recess. /. Do not leave the school ground without permission. g. No pupil shall get to the school ground before eight o'clock. h. Pupils must go directly home as soon as school closes. i. No pupil shall be permitted to chew gum in school. (See references on Section VIII, Chapter II.) VIII. SCHOOLROOM DISCIPLINE No teacher can expect to succeed until she is able to govern her school. The first thing that patrons ex- pect of their teacher is to "keep order," and the second thing they expect of her is to teach. If she can't do the first, she can't do the second. Probably more teachers fail on account of poor discipline than from any other one cause. Good order is obtained, not by beg- ging or commanding, but by the mental attitude and 96 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING the general behavior of the teacher. The eye is more powerful than the rod, provided the teacher's steady eye reflects a sympathetic soul. The good teacher knows that temper begets temper, that noise begets noise, and that order begets order. She knows that the teacher who would control her pupils must first con- trol herself. There are some teachers, however, who enter the schoolroom to control the pupils, without thinking of themselves. They say by word or action : "If you want to see who is boss, just start something." Pupils are willing to help keep order, but when the teacher relieves them of this responsibility and assumes control of the room, she usually has plenty to do. The following statements have been made on school- room discipline. Some of them are questionable. Examine and evaluate each statement. From these statements, select the principles that, if put into prac- tice, would make nearly every teacher a better dis- ciplinarian. 1. When the pupils are so still that you can hear a pin fall, the room is well disciplined. 2. A well disciplined room, like a bee hive, is a place where there is some humming. 3. So long as a pupil does not disturb others, he is orderly. 4. The teacher is to blame for the greater part of all bad order. 5. Any one who disturbs others, is disorderly, 6. A teacher is often disorderly. Nagging, scolding, worry- ing, getting excited, snapping the fingers, etc., on her part create disorder. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 97 7. There are no bad pupils. Badness is only misdirected energy. 8. Poor teaching always results in bad order. 9. Good teaching insures good order. 10. The best disciplinarians give the least attention to "keep- ing order," 11. The ability to discipline a school is natural, not acquired. 12. All good disciplinarians do unto their pupils as they wish their pupils to do unto them. 13. All pupils who quit school before graduating from the high school represent just so many blunders made by the teacher. 14. The following situations will cause bad order : a. The teacher's odd dress, or the same dress worn too many days in succession. h. Failure of patrons to understand the teacher. c. The teacher's detective method. d. The teacher's lack of preparation for the day's work. e. The teacher's failure to hold herself on a higher plane than her pupils. /. The teacher's voice may be too high, too low, unde- cided, or unfriendly. g. The teacher may not understand children. h. The teacher may be too giddy, too boyish, too girl- ish, or too insincere. i. The teacher's hair may be dressed inappropriately. j. Theteacher'sout-of-schoolconductmaybequestionable. k. The teacher may be too familiar with her pupils. /. The teacher may use too much paint, powder, or per- fume. m. The teacher may not treat all her pupils alike. n. The teacher may give all her attention to the one re- citing and ignore the others. 98 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 0. The teacher may let the pupils know that they can worry her. p. Pupils may be permitted to disturb the recitation by asking the teacher for help on a problem in arith- metic, or in pronouncing a word, by moving from their seats, etc. q. The teacher may lack vim, snap, and energy. r. The teacher may lack confidence in herself. s. The teacher may arrive late and leave early. t. The teacher may stay in at recess and go home for lunch. u. The pupils may be restless on account of (i) poor lighting, (2) poor seating, (3) an unclean room, (4) poor ventilation or heating, (5) dissipated en- ergy, (6) being in their seats too long, (7) being tired or hungry, and (8) being led by one or two bad pupils. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Arnold, School and Class Management, Chapters 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12; Bagley, Classroom Management, Chapter 8; Bender, The Teacher at Work, Pages 192-213 ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapters 25 and 26 ; Brooks, Education for Democracy, Chapters 9 and 10 ; Colgrove, The Teacher aiid the School, Chapter 24 ; Colvin, An In- troduction to High School Teaching, Chapters 4 and 5 ; Cronson, Pupil S elf -Government ; Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 5 ; Dutton, School Management, Chapter 8 ; Dutton and Snedden, Admin- istration of Public Education in the United States, Chapter 28 ; Gessell, The Normal Child and Primary Education, Chapter 21 ; Gordy, A Briefer Elementary Education, Chapter 27 ; HoUister, High School Administra- tion, Chapter 9 ; King, Education for Social Efficiency, Chapter 10 ; Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 28; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Community, Chapter 2 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Educa- tion, Vol. n, Page 336; Vol. v, Pages 274-286; O'Shea, Everyday EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 99 Problems in Teaching, Chapters i and 2 ; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 20; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 4; Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural Schools; Scott, Social Educa- tion, Chapter 12 ; Seeley, A New School Management, Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10. Swift, Mind in the Making, Chapters 2 and 3. IX. SCHOOL PUNISHMENT ''When I began teaching I punished my pupils a great deal more than I do now. I have learned to get along more peaceably." This is a statement that one often hears made by experienced teachers. There are some teachers and patrons who still feel that to spare the rod is to spoil the child. The true teacher has one purpose for doing what she does, namely, to help the child become a better citizen. She has set up a goal for each child, and uses various means to direct the child to this goal. Whatever form of punishment she uses, she reasons that the end, or the goal, justifies the means. The teacher may need to help set up the goal, but if the pupils do not see the goal as their own, the teacher will have to spend a great deal of energy try- ing to force them to it. The good teacher will do more than set up a goal, (i) She will spend more energy in getting her pupils to want to reach the goal than she spends in driving them to it. (2) She will give the pupils all the responsibility that they will take, and increase it as fast as the pupils can take it. lOO ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING (3) She will help the pupils to keep the goal far enough ahead to stimulate the maximum of effort. If the goal is too far away the pupils will become discour- aged ; if it is too close, it will fail to challenge the best that is in the pupils. Since teachers cannot always control the thoughts of their pupils, they resort to various kinds of punish- ment to control their actions. The following state- ments on punishment should be studied carefully. Read and evaluate each statement. Select the state- ments that contain principles which you will try to practice. 1. Punishment, in some form, is necessary in all schools. 2. No two pupils should receive the same quantity or qual- ity of punishment though they may seem to have com- mitted the same offense. 3. A pupil should never be punished publicly. 4. There is a better way of reaching any pupil than through corporal punishment. 5. Corporal punishment is a confession of the teacher's weakness. 6. A teacher should never punish a pupil when either the pupil or the teacher is angry. 7. Never punish one pupil for the good of others. 8. Punishment which does not make a pupil ashamed of his conduct has a bad effect. 9. Natural punishment is better than artificial punish- ment. 10. Pupils should realize that teachers suffer more pain in giving punishment than the pupils do in receiving it. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION loi 11. No pupil should be punished until he first sees that he deserves it. 12. The pupils themselves should sometimes help the teacher decide what kind of punishment their class- mate needs. 13. The offense is often caused by the teacher's neglect. When this is the case, no punishment should be given. 14. No principal or superintendent should punish a teacher's pupil for her. 15. Pupils should never be punished for their first offense. 16. The switch has harmed more pupils than it has helped. 17. Order, secured by whipping, is better than no order at all. 18. Order, secured through fear, is bad order. 19. There are some pupils who boast of getting a whipping every day. Such a pupil has been harmed by the switch. 20. A good teacher seldom sends a pupil to the principal's office. 21. Never say, "Do this because your parents think it is right," or "Do this because your teacher thinks it is right." 22. Teachers should seldom, or never, call on parents to help control a child. 23. The pupil may be sent home with instructions not to re- turn until one or both of his parents return with him. 24. No true teacher will use sarcasm. 25. A pupil who creates a continual disturbance should be made to work and play alone. 26. A good teacher punishes with kind words or a sympa- thetic look. 27. The most effective punishment is given by pupils them- selves when they show that they are disappointed in the behavior of their classmate. I02 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 28. The following kinds of punishment are wrong and should be avoided : a. Keeping pupils in at recess. h. Thumping on the head. c. Pulling the hair. d. Making pupils shake hands before the school. e. Making pupils show the school what they were doing. /. Depriving one of necessary privileges. g. Making pupils apologize publicly for an offense. h. Lowering a pupil's grade on account of bad deport- ment. i. Making pupils do anything which hurts their pride. j. Punishment of any kind immediately following the offense. k. Making pupils memorize verses from the Bible or work examples. I. Keeping pupils after school to make up time lost by being tardy, for having poor lessons, etc. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Arnold, School and Class Management, Chapters 10, 11, and 12; Bagley, School Discipline, Chapters 10, 11, and 12; Bagley, Class- room Management, Chapter 8 ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 24; Betts, Classroom Methods ajui Management, Pages 369-374; Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, Chapter 9; Colvin, An In- troduction to High School Teaching, Chapter 6 ; McFee, The Teacher, the School and the Community, Chapter 3 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. v, Pages 82-93 ; Morehouse, The Discipline of the School, Chapter 10 ; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Child- hood, see index; O'Shea, Social Development and Education, Chap- ter 15; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 20; Phillips, Fundamentals of Elementary Education, Pages 21 1-2 14; Seeley, A New School Management, Chapter 8; Sharp, Education for Character, Pages 48-50 ; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 7 ; EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 103 Wait, Practical Problems of the School, Chapter 7 ; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Pages 260-268, 27-287. EXERCISES 1. a. During school hours a teacher noticed a pupil who was committing a small offense. She said aloud, "John, I want to see you at recess." h. Another teacher noticed a similar offense but said noth- ing. As the pupils passed out for recess, the teacher asked John to remain in for a minute. She did it so quietly that it was hardly noticed. Question: Which teacher showed the better judgment? Why? 2. a. It was time for recess. Some pupils had been a little disorderly. The teacher had their names. She read them aloud and asked them to remain in. The others were excused. b. It was time for recess. Some pupils had been a little disorderly. The teacher said : " I feel sure that you boys and girls know right from wrong. Those of you who think that you have done right this morning may pass out for recess." Question : Which teacher showed more tact ? Why ? What should the teacher say to the pupils who stayed in? What should she do to the guilty ones who did not stay in ? X. EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,'^ is an educational thought that is as old as Jack. The game idea has always been an important factor in the I04 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING education of children. The foot race, spelling match, ciphering match, and school contests in general have great educational values because they encourage the play element. Teachers, parents, and leaders in general are recognizing, as never before, the impor- tance of appeahng to the play instinct in the education of boys and girls. Many communities employ one or more playground teachers. The aim of such leaders is to educate the boys and girls through play. The teacher who is not emphasizing the play spirit in her daily program is not abreast with modern educational thought and practice. Any good thing can be over-emphasized. It is possible to over-emphasize the play idea in education. In the following list of statements the reader may find some false ideas as to the educational value of play. Study each statement carefully and tell why you think it is or is not sound. Select those statements which contain ideas that would be good in your school. 1. All work should be made play and all play should be made work. 2. All that pupils do can be classified as play, work, or drudgery. 3. There is no educative value in drudgery. 4. The teacher or playground supervisor should be on the playground. 5. A playground supervisor who does not know children's games, and who cannot be a child, is worse than no supervisor. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 105 6. Any teacher can learn to be a playground supervisor. 7. More real citizenship is taught on the playground than in the schoolroom. The playground is a place where pupils develop character. 8. The average recess is only half long enough. 9. Robbers and liars are those who have not been taught to play fair. 10. Children learn more during the first six years of their lives than they do during the next twelve years, be- cause they play so much during the first six years. 11. No game is good unless it leads to something better. 12. Parents cannot educate their children at home. Edu- cation is obtained through play, through association, through giving and taking. 13. Life is team work, which must be learned through play. 14. There should be one acre of playground for every fifty pupils. 15. One grade should be on the playground every period of the day. 16. Teachers can learn more about child nature in ten min- utes of play than in ten hours of classroom study. 17. Play is as good for the mind as for the muscle. 18. An athlete is not usually a good student. 19. Play teaches pupils to observe the golden rule. 20. A playground supervisor is more useful than an algebra or Latin teacher. 21. A good playground supervisor would soon have all the people of the community enjoying plays and games. 22. It is wicked to keep a pupil in at recess. 23. A good playground is one that is well equipped. 24. Any school can make most of the equipment that is necessary for a good playground. 25. No meanness is ever done except by idlers. io6 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 26. A properly supervised playground is as great a blessing to a community as is a Sunday School. 27. A good playground supervisor is more essential than a good playground. 28. Crime increases as opportunities for play decrease. 29. Teachers should take their pupils on a picnic hike each week. 30. On the playground one learns obedience, respect for the rights of others, honesty, cooperation, unselfishness, patience, self-control, and his dependence on others. 31. Without play, order in the schoolroom is impossible. 32. Pupils should be allowed to be on the playground early and late. 33. Boys and girls should have separate playgrounds. 34. The playground is America's melting pot. Without it, Americanization would be impossible. 35. Playgrounds are not so essential in the country as in the city. 36. Some games develop individuality, some develop team work ; but one is as essential as the other. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bancroft, Plays and Games; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 27 ; Cary, Plays and Games for School; Clark, Physical Education through the Eight Grades; Curtis, Play and Recreation, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9; Finney and Schafer, Administration of Village and Consolidated Schools, Chapter 11; Forbush, Child Study and Child Training, Chapter 17; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, Chapter 6 ; HaU, Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene, Chap- ter 6; Johnson, What to Do at Recess; Johnson, Education by Plays and Games; Judd, The Scientific Study of Education, Chapter 19; Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 27; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iv, Pages 725-727 ; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psy- chology of Childhood, Chapter 1 2 ; Newton, Graded Games and Rhyth- EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 107 mic Exercises; Palmer, Play Life in the First Eight Years; Perry, Discipline as a School Problem, Chapter 25 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Chapter 18; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 4 ; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Pages 235-238 ; Smith, Introduction to Educational Sociology, Pages 83-90 ; Stoneroad, Gymnastic Stories and Plays; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 9 ; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 20 ; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Chapter 7 ; Wray, Jean Mitchell's School^ Chapter 10. XI. STUDENT ACTIVITIES Before studying the following statements, the students or teachers should decide upon a meaning for the term '' student activities." So far as the state- ments given below are concerned, the author has had in mind those group activities which take place out- side the regular classroom work, such as athletics, literary societies, school orchestras, club work, enter- tainments, and different kinds of special programs. These activities are becoming more and more a regular part of the school work. It is possible for a teacher to give student activities undue emphasis. It is also possible for a teacher to neglect student activities to such an extent that success for her is impossible. But no true teacher will take a stand for or against student activities until she has carefully studied their real aim and value. Study the following statements, and in the light of your reading and past experiences, tell why each statement is or is not true. lo8 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 1. Student activities are to be tolerated, not encouraged. 2. The pupils' instinctive needs demand student activities. 3. Pupils learn facts more quickly, and retain them longer, through student activities. 4. Pupils should take part in the social events of community life. 5. Self-control, cooperation, leadership, initiative, respon- sibility, etc., are secured through student activities. 6. One gets more real benefit from student activities than from the study of textbooks. 7. Anything that the students do whole-heartedly is a stu- dent activity. 8. Student activities are more important in the upper grades and in the high school than in lower grades or in col- lege. 9. The teacher should supervise all student activities. 10. No student activity should be begun without the teach- er's approval. 11. Without student activities, school life is drudgery. 12. Each school should be divided into two equal groups. These groups should compete mentally and physically. 13. Inter-school contests are bad because : a. They create hate, envy, jealousy. h. They take pupils away from home. c. They keep pupils up late at night. d. They are too exciting. e. They cause precocity — the curse of American children. 14. Pupils would be better ofiF if they remained quietly at home more than they do. 15. If the teams must make trips, they should be well chap- eroned. 16. Intra-group contests are as interesting as, and more wholesome than, inter-group contests. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 109 17. Strenuous games, such as football for boys and basket ball for girls, are to be discouraged. 18. Music, both vocal and instrumental, has far too small a place in school life. 19. The board of education makes a better investment when it employs a music teacher or a playground supervi- sor than when it employs a Latin teacher. 20. Each school should compose, edit, and print a school paper. 21. A school paper would add life to each common school branch. 22. Dancing should be prohibited because : a. It is overstimulating. b. The habitual dancer is bored by ordinary socials. c. Some pupils are not permitted to dance. 23. Some schools have too many student activities. 24. The teacher must encourage some pupils and discourage others as to time spent in student activities. 25. Student activities keep pupils on the "go" so much that home ties are broken. 26. Student activities t^ke so much time that pupils not only make low grades in their regular work, but they often lose too much sleep. 27. The home, not the school, should be the community center. 28. Only Friday and Saturday nights should be open to school activities. 29. No activity is harmful or helpful in itself. It is what it leads to that determines its value. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Ayers, Williams, and Wood, Healthful Schools, Chapter 12; Ben- nett, School Efficiency, Chapter 27 ; Carlton, Education and Industrial .110 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Evolution, Chapter 14; Cooley, Social Organization, Chapters 3, 4, and 5 ; Curtis, Play and Recreation in the Open Country; Curtis, Education through Play, Chapter 15 ; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, Pages 305-318; Hanifan, The Community Center, Pages 115-208; Jackson, A Community Center; King, Social Aspects of Education, Chapters 5, 6, 14, and 15 ; King, Education for Social Efficiency, Chapters 6 and 16 ; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Community, Chapter 7 ; Pearson, The Vitalized School, Chapter 17; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Chapters 10, II, and 19; Scott, Social Education, Chapter i ; Snedden, Recreation for Rural Communities ; Smith, ^w Introduction to Educational Soci- ology, Chapter 6 ; Stern, Neighborhood Entertainments. XIL EXAMINATIONS There are different types of examinations, but every teacher has some method of examining her pu- pils. It is necessary that pupils be tested. Without examinations of some kind, promotions would be given on mere guess work. The modern tendency is toward letting short tests and daily grades have more weight in determining the pupil's final grade. It is argued, however, that this modern tendency is causing our pupils to become less studious and more careless. No true teacher wishes to follow custom unless it is evident that the customary way is the right way. The formal examination is a custom that is being put in the balances. The teachers are studying the ''causes and effects" of examinations. Children would like to dodge examinations. Adults who enjoy them are EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION iii scarce; but if examinations are necessary evils, we must make the most of them. Evaluate the following statements which are made on examinations. Select the statements which you think should guide the teacher who wants to do the best thing for her pupils. 1. Examinations should be given each year of the child's school life. 2. The more advanced the pupil, the more difficult the ex- aminations should be. 3. Examinations should count one-third, daily grades one- third, and the teacher's common sense judgment of the child one-third. 4. Examinations are good and should be given because : a. They train the pupils for examinations which will come all along through life. b. They cause a general review, thereby giving a new view, and a unity to the entire course. c. They furnish an incentive to study, fix an aim, and prevent ''scattering." d. They train pupils to pick out important points and neglect the non-essentials. e. They show the teacher her own weakness as a teacher. /. They give mentab training. g. They train in self-control, ease, concentration, and conciseness of expression. h. They help the teacher to show the parents that pupils are or are not prepared for promotion. i. They enable the superintendent to unify the work in all his schools. 5. Examinations do more harm than good because : 112 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING a. They cause pupils and teachers to think of examina- tions rather than social efficiency. h. They cause pupils to neglect daily work and trust to "cramming," to pass examinations. c. They test memory, not efficiency. d. They furnish false ideas of what is important.^ e. They tempt pupils to be dishonest. /. They excite pupils, make them nervous, and lower their general health. g. They are usually unfair. h. No two teachers grade alike. i. They put unnecessary work on the teacher. 6. Every recitation should be a test. 7. Frequent tests should be given. 8. Announce tests in time for pupils to prepare for them. 9. Give no catch questions in examinations. 10. An excellent daily record should excuse one from final examination because : a. It would create a habit of daily study. b. It would help punctuality, deportment, etc. c. Daily grades are more effective and more nearly fair. 11. To excuse some pupils from final examination creates talk, envy, jealousy, factions, etc., and should not be done. 12. Examination questions should not be made by the teacher, nor should she grade the papers of her pupils. 13. The city or county superintendent should make all ex- amination questions. 14. The state examiner should make all questions for pupils taking the examination for elementary school diplomas. 15. There should be some optional question on any written examination. 16. Pupils should help make the questions. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 113 17. A teacher should never give an examination without handing back all papers plainly corrected. 18. No grades should be put on papers that are handed back. 19. The busy teacher is justified in giving papers a hasty glance and throwing them into the waste basket. 20. Elementary pupils should not be made to worry over a ^'pass." 21. School work would be more effective if teachers would say less about grades, '^ passes," " flunks," etc. 22. Pupils should be taught to grade each others' papers. 23. The time spent grading papers could usually be more profitably spent at something else. 24. As a rule, pupils pay very little attention to corrected papers. 25. Pupils should be asked to recopy all corrected papers and hand both papers again to the teacher. 26. The next lesson after the examination should be spent on the examination questions, giving equal emphasis to all questions. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 242-249; Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 22 ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapters 13 and 14; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages 255-364; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 13 ; Finney and Schafer, Administra- tion of Village and Consolidated Schools, Chapter 7 ; Hollister, High School Administration, Chapter 12; Kitson, How to Use Your Mind, Chapter 1 1 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. n. Pages 632-638; Pearson, The Vitalized School, Chapter 23 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Pages 1 60-1 61 ; Smith, All the Children of All the People, Chapter 25 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Pages 101-106; Seeley, A New School Management, Chapter 13. 114 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING XIII. MEASURING RESULTS OF CLASSROOM WORK The value of examinations, as we have seen, is being questioned. They are being displaced by various forms of mental measurements. When a teacher grades an examination paper, she hardly knows how much faith to put in her own judgment. Starch and Elliott^ had a student solve a problem in geometry. The solution was given to forty-nine geometry teachers. They were asked to examine the paper and grade it on the scale of o to i2|. Mathematics being an exact science, one would expect all to give at least approximately the same grade, but their grades were as follows : 6 gave it 6 9 gave ito I " " 2 2 " "3 6 " "4 2 '' "4i lO '' " 5 2 " ''5i 2 6i 4 7 I 8 2 9 I lO I I2i These results might well cause a teacher to doubt her ability to give a fair mark to an examination paper. Such investigations have shown the necessity of stand- ard tests. The actual value of tests and measurements to the classroom teacher is still a question to be decided. ^Reliability of Grading Work in Mathematics. — School Review, Vol. XXI, Pages 254-259. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 115 Some argue that they are being over-emphasized, and that a few years will see them follow in the way of ^^ other fads." Others are opposed to this view and believe that tests are only in their infancy. Study the following statements on tests and measure- ments. Evaluate each one. Select those statements which you consider sound both in theory and in practice. 1. Everything that exists has quantity and can be measured. 2. Nothing can be accurately measured without a definite scientific unit of measurement. 3. The formal examination does not enable one to measure classroom results because : a. No two people will give the same value to an exam- ination paper. b. No one person will give the same value to a paper to- day that he gave to it yesterday. c. The examination may be too easy, too difiicult, too long, or too short. 4. The pupil that makes the best grade is usually the one that guesses best at what is in the teacher's mind. 5. No one knows whether he has succeeded or failed until the results of his efforts have been measured. 6. A teacher can measure a pupil's ability as accurately as she can measure his height. 7. Pupils differ as much in mental strength as in physical strength. The mental difference is as easily measured as the physical difference. 8. One's ability to jump can be measured only as it is com- pared with the distance that others jump. 9. One's ability in arithmetic can be measured only as it is compared with what others can do in arithmetic. Il6 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 10. How much should a twelve-year-old child weigh? How tall should he be? How fast should he run? How far and high should he jump? These questions can- not be answered until the average weight, height, and ability are obtained for twelve-year-old children. 11. How much should a twelve-year-old pupil know in the common school branches? This cannot be answered until thousands of twelve-year-old pupils are examined — thus enabling one to obtain an average or stand- ard. 12. A teacher has no way of determining whether a pupil is weak, strong, or medium, except as the pupil's ability is compared with the average or standard. 13. Education is nothing more than the change which takes place in an individual. In the past, teachers have guessed at the amount of this change. To-day, through the aid of standard tests, the amount of this change can be accurately measured. 14. The business of the teacher is to change pupils. The changes most worked for by good teachers and most needed for the betterment of mankind are changes of character, of ideals, of daily living, of mental attitude, of social Hfe, etc. Such changes cannot be measured by standard tests. 15. No person, in any business, commercial or educational, can tell whether he is succeeding or failing until he measures the results of his effort and compares it with what is being done by others in his field of work. 16. Teachers and pupils will not do excellent work until they are stimulated by facts brought out by standard tests and measurements. 17. Comparisons are not worth while unless results are ob- EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 117 tained by similar methods and compared with similar standards. 18. A standard grade or ability is obtained by giving a test to a large number of pupils and getting the average. The greater the number of pupils, the more accurate the standard. 19. The work which is necessary to secure an accurate stand- ard is more than the classroom teacher has time to do. 20. Standard tests are already worked out for all the common school branches. Good teachers use them to measure the ability of their pupils. Any teacher can give these standard tests. 21. Standard tests should take the place of formal examina- tions. 22. Tests and measurements are of more value to the super- visor than to the classroom teacher. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Chapman and Rush, The Scientific Measurement of Classroom Products; Finney and Schafer, Administration of Village and Consoli- dated Schools, Chapter 8 ; Monroe, Measuring the Results of Teaching; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. v, Pages 568-570; Parker, Methods of Teaching in the High School, Chapter 22 ; Phillips, Funda- mentals in Elementary Education, Chapter 21 ; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Chapters 3 and 4; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 15 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 19 ; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom Teacher, Chapter 9 ; Strayer and Thorndike, Educational Adminis- tration, Pages 207-249; Thorndike, Education, Chapter 11; Turner, Essentials of Good Teaching, Chapter 14 ; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Chapter 13. For Standard Tests and Measurements, address : The Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington, Illinois; State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas; World Book Company, Ii8 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York; Russell Sage Foundation, 130 E. 22nd St., New York; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Min- nesota ; Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana ; Teachers College, Columbia University, New York; University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Write to your state normal school or state university. Also confer with your superintendent. XIV. A TEACHER'S RESOLUTIONS Tell why you would or would not adopt each of these resolutions as your own. Resolved : 1. That I scatter more sunshine and less shadow. 2. That I will know my pupils and patrons better and love them more. 3. That I will know the problems of my community better, and take a greater interest in helping solve them. 4. That I will be a citizen in the community as well as a teacher in the schoolhouse. 5. That I will read more papers and magazines and become more familiar with what is going on in the world to- day. 6. That I will be what I ask my pupils to be. 7. That I will keep still long enough to give my pupils time to think. 8. That I will require more thinking and less memory of my pupils. 9. That I will help boys and girls to help themselves. 10. That I will make my school an educational center that will raise the ideals of the community. 11. That I will be clean in person, speech, and thought. EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 119 12. That I will act in such a way that my pupils can aflFord to respect and imitate me. 13. That I will not talk about others unless I have something good to say. 14. That I will forget sorrows and remember joys. 15. That I will teach my pupils and patrons the joys and the dignity of labor. 16. That I will know every lesson before I try to teach it. 17. That I will know why I teach what I teach. 18. That I will earn more than I am paid. 19. That I will read more professional books and magazines. 20. That I will make the schoolhouse and grounds a clean and safe home for the children. 21. That I will have regular habits of sleeping, eating, work- ing, and recreation. 22. That I will meet my pupils each morning with a clear conscience, a cheerful face, and a surplus of energy. EXERCISES 1. What value, if any, have resolutions? 2. How of ten should they be made ? When? CHAPTER III THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING I. FACTORS THAT DETERMINE METHODS IN TEACHING A FARMER will not handle two mules by the same method. A child will not handle two pets by the same method. A mother will not use the same method with two children. The nature of the mules, pets, and children will determine the methods used. The same is true in regard to the methods used by teachers. As children differ, methods must differ. No two children are alike. Even if they were, their different environments would soon make them different. Children come to school differing in temperament, in knowledge, in ambition, in habits, in mental attitudes, in prejudices, etc. All this must help determine the methods used by the teacher. The school building, its location, lighting, ventila- tion, and heating systems, the amount and kind of equipment, etc., will help determine methods. The good teacher will do the best she can with what she has. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 121 The community, its customs and ideals must not be ignored. Methods, however good, will fail unless the community can be made to see their value. The teacher herself is an important factor. No two teachers can use the same method in the same way. There are many minor factors in any environment that help to determine method. The following statements regarding factors that de- termine method in education have been made by teachers and patrons. Some of them are questionable. Read and evaluate each statement. Select the ones which you consider most important. 1. Method and content in education are determined by the age and disposition of pupils. 2. Method and content are determined by the aim of educa- tion. The methods used in Eskimo schools are dif- ferent from ours because their aim of education differs from ours. 3. Method and content do and should differ for different communities. In communities where the homes and churches do less, the schools must do more. 4. The good teacher is the one who makes use of the child's likes and dislikes. The poor teacher is the one who ignores them. 5. The reason that pupils want to quit school is because the course of study ignores their likes and dislikes. 6. When a teacher has trouble with a pupil, it is because she is interfering with his native tendencies. 7. The good teacher will encourage som.e instincts, discour- age others, and some she will let alone. 122 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 8. The child learns more during its first six years than dur- ing the next twelve years, because during the first six years it is free to follow its instincts to imitate, con- struct, play, etc. 9. No teacher can say what she will teach or what methods she will use until she meets and studies her pupils. 10. Play has an educative value. School work, for pupils in the elementary school, should not be far removed from play. 11. The more freedom a pupil has, the more he will follow his native tendencies, the longer he will stay in school, and the faster he will develop. 12. Children instinctively like to construct, and a good teacher will arrange each child's schedule accord- ingly. 13. All elementary school pupils should do some construc- tion work daily, both at home and at school. 14. The teacher who leads the leader, leads the school, be- cause pupils instinctively follow the leader. 15. The instinct of rivalry causes one to want to keep ahead of his classmates. The teacher should use methods that will encourage this instinct. 16. The teacher should use methods that will guide rivalry, because rivalry, unguided, will run into envy and jealousy. 17. The child's mind instinctively jumps rapidly from one thought to another. The adult's mind has been trained to stay in one channel. Method and content should not ignore this difference. 18. Children instinctively want to own something. Par- ents and teachers who ignore this tendency will fail to inspire children to do their best. 19. All children arrive at the "collecting period." This THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 123 collecting tendency never leaves a person — and should not. A good teacher helps the child to collect ideas. 20. Curiosity is an instinct that comes early. It never leaves a person — and should not. Method and con- tent should be such as to encourage a pupil's curiosity. 21. Children instinctively like to be guided. They instinc- tively dislike to be driven. Good teachers respect these likes and dislikes. 22. Children instinctively wonder at God's handiwork. Such reflection is good for character building and should be encouraged. 23. Each person is instinctively fitted to do a certain kind of work. The teacher should help pupils find the work they are best fitted to do. This can be done through the proper method and content. 24. Before a teacher can know the proper method and con- tent, she must ask and answer the following questions about each of her pupils : a. What are the natural tendencies and abilities of this pupil ? b. What training has this child had? c. What habits, physical, mental, or social, has this pupil formed ? d. How can I best help this child to overcome his bad hab- its, and how can I help him to form good habits ? e. What goal should I set up for this pupil this term ? /. How, with this child and his environment, can the the goal be reached ? SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, The Educational Process, Chapter 10; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 8; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Chapters 3, 8, 9, and 10; Dynes, Socializing the Child, Chapter 4; 124 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING James, Talks to Teachers, Chapters 5, 6, and 7 ; Kirkpatrick, Fun- damentals of Child Study, Chapters 7-15 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education y Pages 463-467 ; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 2 ; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 14 ; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 3. II. INDUCTIVE TEACHING Ideas do not travel. They develop in the minds of individuals. Teachers cannot give their own ideas away. They may say something or act in a way that will cause their pupils to have certain trains of thought but the pupil's idea may be entirely different from the teacher's idea. Different pupils will get different ideas from the teacher's instruction. The ideas which one gets from an experience depend on his previous experiences. Teachers sometimes try to teach a child without knowing what the child knows. Teaching under such conditions is mere guess work. The good teacher studies the child's mind. She sees the prob- lem as the child sees it. She puts herself in the pupiPs place and attacks the problem with him. Study the following statements to see which ones you think are safe and sane for the classroom teacher. Be able to tell why you think each statement is or is not safe and sane. I. Inductive teaching is helping the child, by means of examples, to make his own definitions, rules, princi- ples, or conclusions. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 12$ 2. Before a teacher can help a child get an idea, she must first know what ideas the child already has. 3. The following examples would enable a pupil to make a good definition of an adjective: The red apple, the round apple, the rotten apple, the green apple, the big apple, five apples. 4. Rules, definitions, and principles are meaningless and useless to pupils till they have helped make them. 5. Never say, "Work this by the rule," unless it is the pupil's rule. 6. When a pupil discovers that his rule is better stated by the text, then, and not until then, he should be allowed to memorize the rule. 7. The child can understand nothing that is foreign to his experience. 8. The child can learn nothing without going through the steps of preparation, presentation, comparison, and generalization. 9. The step of preparation means the teacher's preparation of the subject matter. 10. It is as important to prepare a child's mmd for studying the lesson as it is to prepare the ground for the seed. 11. Books encourage memory; the world demands thinking. 12. The inductive lesson leads through experience to a concept. 13. No child has a clear concept of anything, because his experiences are too limited. 14. Most adults have false concepts of most things. 15. One is not fully justified in saying that all crows are black, until he has seen all crows. One cannot truth- fully say that all wood burns until he has burnt all wood. 16. One cannot accurately define a dog until he has seen all kinds of dogs. 126 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 17. One can never see all dogs, all rivers, all crows, etc., therefore, he will never have a true concept of them. 18. 3^+4^=5^. This one example enables the pupil to make the following rule: Of three consecutive num- bers, the square of the first, plus the square of the sec- ond is equal to the square of the third. 19. (2i)2 = 6} ; (3!)^= 1 2 J. These two examples are enough to enable the pupil to say that the square of a whole number and a half is got by multiplying the whole number by one greater than itself and adding one- fourth. 20. Teaching by t3^es is a short and safe method of induc- tive teaching. 21. One gets a better notion of a city by learning all about St. Louis, than by learning a little about one hundred cities. 22. The idea expressed in No. 21 is also true in getting a no- tion of a river, mountain, tree, dog, chair, man, house, and farm. 23. The child learns faster out of school, because there he is permitted to learn inductively. 24. All that one knows for certain was learned inductively. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Adams, Illustration and Exposition in Teaching, Pages 26-29; 145-166; Bagley, Educative Process, Chapter 19; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 24 ; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Chapter 19 ; Colvin, Introduction to High School Teaching, Pages 288-293 ) Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Page 308, /. ; Dexter and Gar- lick, Psychology in the Schoolroom, Chapter 12; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 5 ; Judd, Psychology, Chapter 1 1 ; McMurry, Method of the Recitation, Pages 74-117; 185-256; McMurry, Ele- ments of General Method, Chapter 5 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. Ill, Pages 422-424; Vol. v, Pages 537-538; Phillips, Funda- THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 127 mentals in Elementary Education, Pages 135-141 ; 197. Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural School, Pages 84-86 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 5 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Pages 201-203 ; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Pages 154-160. EXERCISES 1. Define knife, man, chair, apple, horse, weed, and dirt. Tell how each concept developed. 2. Name a concept that has changed during the past year. 3. How must a child learn the following general truths? (a) Fire burns; (b) Apples are good to eat; (c) A verb agrees with its subject in number ; (d) An island is a body of land surrounded by water. III. DEDUCTIVE TEACHING Inductive thinking takes one from particular cases to the general ; deductive thinking takes one from the general to the particular cases. There are lessons in which inductive thinking should predominate, other lessons in which deductive thinking should predom- inate, but it is not often that either induction or de- duction is used alone. If one apple costs ^ve cents, what will ten apples cost? Before a child can solve this problem he must apply a certain rule. This is deductive reasoning. The best way to learn a rule is inductively, but teachers often make the mistake of saying, ^'Here is the rule, commit it to memory." A burnt child dreads fire not because it has committed any rule to memory. 128 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING but because it learned inductively that fire burns. The application of this rule or principle is deduction. Study carefully the following statements. Be able to tell why each statement is or is not true. 1. Deductive teaching and inductive teaching are found together in all lessons. 2. Deductive teaching is going from the general to the particular — ''Working the problem by the rule." 3. Testing a generalization, trying it out, seeing if it works, etc., are examples of deduction. 4. In telHng why this or that is true, one does deductive thinking. 5. We spend so much time in memorizing what others have learned, that we learn very httle ourselves. 6. There are four steps in deductive thinking : i. A problem. 2. A search for the rule or the reason. 3. Inference which is followed by an act. 4. Verification, to prove the inference. 7. No rule, principle, or truth is understood until it is learned inductively. 8. Deduction enables one to understand rules. 9. Induction is a method of educating; deduction is a method of instructing. 10. Induction makes one independent; deduction makes one dependent. 11. Induction is an unnatural way of learning; deduction is the natural way. 12. Inductive method is getting truths first hand; the de- ductive method is getting the truth, rule, or principle second hand. 13. AU rules, definitions, and truths were first learned in- ductively. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING lag 14. To get a rule or truth inductively enables one to remem- ber it longer than to get it deductively. 15. One can get a rule or truth much more quickly deduc- tively. 16. The deductive method is usually safer and saner. 17. The little child learns most of what it knows inductively. 18. The inductive method is a method of finding out; the deductive method is one of explanation. 19. In answering the question: "Which is heavier, a quart of milk or a quart of cream ? " one must think inductively. 20. A greater part of school work is, and should be, deduc- tive. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 20; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 24 ; Charters, Methods of Teaching^ Chapter 20; Colvin, Introduction to High School Teaching, Pages 302-309; Dewey, How We Think, Pages 74-100 ; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 6 ; Judd, Psychology, Chapter 1 1 ; McMurry, Method of the Recitation, Chapter 9 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iii, Pages 422-424; Vol. V, Pages 538-539; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Pages 203-204 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 6 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Pages 141-145 ; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Pages 86-87 ; Thorndike, The Principles of Teaching, Pages 160-164. IV. THE PROPER USE OF TEXTBOOKS Many pupils have been advised to "see what the book says,^' until they have become dependent on the text. They have acquired the habit of believing all that is printed. Many teachers have taught the text and nothing but the text, until they are not in I30 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING touch with the busy, practical world. It is not the purpose of this study to show that teachers and pupils do not need textbooks. It is hoped, however, that a discussion of the following statements will enable the teacher to see the proper relation which the textbooks bear to the process of education. These statements have been made by both teachers and supervisors. The pupils themselves have made some of them. Study each statement and tell why you think it is or is not true. 1. Textbooks may be useful, or they may be harmful. 2. Interest should be aroused in a subject before the pupil sees the text. 3. Textbooks should not be used except to help pupils solve liviitg questions in which they are vitally interested. 4. The textbook work is the least part of school life. 5. Most subjects could be better taught without a text. 6. Textbooks are good to draw the attention of teachers and pupils away from the main issues of life. 7. Textbooks cannot be made to fit any one county, com- munity, or class. 8. The teacher who sticks to the text is a hindrance to her community. 9. A teacher who does not know the text is a hindrance to her community. 10. Teachers and pupils should help make the textbooks. 11. It is a mistake to have pupils tell what the text said. 12. The pupil should study five ''things" rather than dead ''texts." 13. Dead texts are driving many pupils from school. 14. Textbooks are making teachers and pupils dependent. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 131 15. The average text is never needed again, after examina- tion. 16. Pupils should be taught to take what the book says "with a grain of salt." 17. No good teacher will ask pupils to close their textbooks while she keeps hers open. 18. Most courses could be made more interesting and help- ful if the pupils had different kinds of textbooks. 19. Adults read only when they want information. Chil- dren should enjoy the same freedom. 20. No good teacher will ask the questions that are found in a textbook. 21. No good teacher will depend on only one textbook. 22. Modern textbooks are one of the greatest factors for the improvement of instruction. V. TEACHING PUPILS HOW TO STUDY If teachers spent as much time in teaching pupils how to study as they spend in telling them to study, many of our school problems would be solved. A teacher's big work, however, is not so much to teach pupils how to study as it is how to study geography ; how to study history; how to study arithmetic, etc. No good teacher will do a child's thinking for him, nor will she leave him to struggle alone. The teacher should get a lesson from the mother eagle that teaches her Httle one to fly by pushing it off the high cliff. The Httle one is permitted to struggle but the mother remains near. When the little eagle begins to fall, the mother darts under it and gives it help by letting it 132 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING ride long enough to be carried to a higher and safer po- sition. This the mother repeats — helping just enough and no more — until her "pupil" learns to fly. A well meaning teacher often helps her pupils before they have tried to help themselves. Such aid is question- able. The child that looked at the pipped egg and "helped" the chicken by removing the shell did the chicken an injury. When a child asks for help, the true teacher will neither give it nor reject it without first asking herself this question: "How will my act affect the life of this pupil?" Graduates may have ever so much knowledge, but unless they know how to study they are not good teachers. Teachers are trying to find out the best methods for teaching pupils how to study. Much has been written and said on this question. Examine each of the following statements carefully, and tell why you do or do not think it is good. 1. There is one best method for writing on a typewriter. When left alone, one will acquire a slow, clumsy method. The same is true with the method of study. Teachers should help pupils find the best method. 2. One's method of study determines his rapidity in learn- ing and his progress in life. 3. In teaching pupils to study, a greater responsibility rests on the elementary teacher than on any high school or college teacher. 4. A problem is haK solved when the pupil can state it clearly. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 133 5. If the pupils do not study, the teacher is to blame. 6. If a tenth grade pupil has not a good method of study, he or she never will have one. 7. Pupils can't study unless they want to, and they can't want to unless they are interested. 8. Pupils can't be interested in any problems except their own. 9. Pupils should be taught to estimate or guess at the re- sults. 10. Pupils should be encouraged to question what the text, their classmates, and their teachers say. 11. Pupils are made dependent by being encouraged to ''lean" on texts, teachers, and parents. 12. Pupils read and listen so much that they have no time to reflect. 13. Studying (reflecting, thinking) educates. Nothing else does. 14. Drill or memory work, map drawing, habit formation, etc., require no studying. 15. Life out of school furnishes more occasions for real study than life in school. 16. Studying with books is not so good as studying with materials and people. 17. No one pupil can get a good method of study for all sub- jects. 18. Meaningless subject matter and dogmatic teachers are causing pupils to form anti-study habits. 19. There are more demands for good thinking on the farm than in the study of Latin. 20. To know what one's life work is to be, is essential to real study. 21. The teacher who does not respect all questions asked by pupils, is not helping pupils to study. 134 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 22. Pupils that ask no questions are not studying. 23. The teacher's business is not to teach subjects, but to teach pupils how to study subjects. 24. When a teacher merely says, ''Take the next lesson," or "the next chapter," or ''the next four pages," the pupils will do poor work in preparing such a lesson. 25. One period may well be spent in teaching pupils how to study the next lesson. The following advice to pupils is good : 1. Have an aim for studying each lesson. See the goal and work toward it. 2. Each pupil must do his own studying, or he will become dependent. 3. Study in a quiet place, but do not allow little things to disturb you. 4. Be systematic. Have a definite time to study each of your school subjects. 5. If you cannot concentrate on a subject, let it alone. 6. Know thyself, in order to select the time, place, and way for effective study. 7. Know what you want to do before you start. 8. Do not study at random. Have a definite problem to solve. 9. Have everything ready before you sit down to study. Get busy at once. 10. Read the lesson once. Read it again and pick out the main points. 11. Close the text and see if you have retained the main points. 12. Talk to some one about your lesson. 13. Eat, sleep, play, rest, and work at the right time and in the right way. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 135 14. Study your lessons daily. It is easier to keep up than to catch up. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 206-210; Bagley, Crafts- manship in Teaching, Chapter 8 ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 22 ; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Chapter 17 ; Chamberlain, Standards in Education, Chapter 8 ; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Chapter 25 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapters 19 and 20; Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teaching, Chap- ter 17; Culter and Stone, Rural School Management, Chapter 11; Dearborn, How to Learn Easily, Chapter i ; Dewey, How We Think; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 14 ; Earhart, Teaching Children to Study; Hall-Quest, Supervised Study; Hamilton, The Recitation, Chapter 3 ; Horn, Story-telling, Questioning, and Studying, Chapter 3 ; Kitson, How to Use Your Mind, Chapter 4 ; McMurry, How to Study; O'Shea, Everyday Problems in Teaching, Chapter 6 ; Parker, Methods of Teaching in High Schools, Chapters 16 and 21 ; Sand wick. How to Study; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 13 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 8 ; Stra- yer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 14; Whipple, How to Study Effectively. EXERCISES 1. If thinking causes the pupil to differ from the teacher, to what extent should thinking be encouraged. 2. Give one instance in which a teacher taught you how to study. 3. Give one instance in which a teacher caused you to do some real thinking. 4. To whom do you give credit for your ability to study ? 5. Give instances in which you have taught pupils how to study. 6. A father said, ''I shall rear my children to think as I 136 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING think, feel as I feel, and live as I live." Is this a worthy ambition for a parent to have? VI. PLANNING THE LESSON During the recitation the teacher is expected to make every minute count. She is expected to do a great deal in a short time. This means that each les- son should be well planned. The shorter the recita- tion, the more careful and definite should be the lesson plan. There are different kinds of lesson plans, but the busy teacher should make the kind that will best answer her individual needs. A good lesson plan which a teacher may prepare for herself might have very little meaning to another teacher. A good teacher has an aim for each recitation, and plans the lesson so as to accomplish her aim. The teacher who has no aim except to ''hear the lesson" does not see the need for a lesson plan. It requires less energy to let things drift. The following statements on lesson plans have been collected from various sources. Evaluate each state- ment. Select those statements that a good teacher will try to put into practice. I. No lesson is planned until the teacher: a. Has a definite aim for teaching the lesson. h. Knows why the pupils study the lesson. c. Becomes familiar with the subject matter. d. Organizes it psychologically. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 137 e. Selects the essentials and rejects the non-essentials. /. Has a good method for presenting the lesson. g. Has at least ten good questions she will ask. h. Has collected data, materials, references, illustra- tions, etc. i. Has a good summary that can be given quickly. j. Has planned the next assignment. 2. No good teacher will go before her class without a definite lesson plan. 3. The teacher who does not plan each lesson, drifts and gets nowhere. 4. The teacher who has not studied and planned the lesson usually says to her pupils, "You may read the lesson ' to-day," "Pass to the board," etc. 5. If the teacher has no aim, the class will have no aim. 6. Without a plan a teacher does not know why, how, or what to do. 7. The teacher should have a definite daily plan, a definite weekly plan, and a general plan for each month and term. 8. To have any one of these plans (in 7) without the other is useless. 9. Plans are as necessary for the teacher as blue prints are for the carpenter. 10. The teacher's plan of the lesson is as important as the general's plan of battle. 11. A minister does not need to plan more for a sermon than a teacher does for a lesson. 12. It is as necessary for a teacher to plan a lesson for a par- ticular class as it is for a physician to plan a course of treatment for a particular patient. 13. The teacher who does not plan each lesson is as certain to fail as the lawyer who does not plan each case. 138 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 14. No teacher can use another person's plans. 15. No teacher can succeed this year with her last year's plans. 16. A teacher who has taught one subject for twenty years does not need to make her lesson plans. 17. A lesson plan is for particular subject matter, for par- ticular children, and for a particular time. The three are all the time changing. 18. No lesson plan should be destroyed, but kept for refer- ence. 19. A teacher can no more make a lesson plan without know- ing her pupils, than a cook can prepare a meal without knowing the people who are to eat it. 20. Lesson plans must vary to suit : (i) the teacher, (2) the pupils (age, maturity, number in class, etc.), (3) the community, (4) the season, (5) the aim of the recita- tion, (6) the subject matter, (7) length of the recitation. 21. Teachers should have a written plan on the desk. 22. The good teacher will carry out her plan to the letter. 23. The plan should call for the exact number of minutes to be given to each part of the recitation. 24. Teachers who fail, do so because they do not plan their lessons. 25. A good lesson plan is more in the mind than on paper. 26. It takes more time to make long lesson plans than they are worth. Experienced teachers do not make them. 27. The subject matter and method should not be divided into separate columns. 28. A good lesson plan can be put on one side of a postal. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Beuder, The Teacher at Work, Pages 34-58 ; Chamberlain, Stand- ards in Education, Chapter 9 ; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 139 208-223; 430-434; Colvin, A71 Introduction to High School Teach- ing, Chapter 16; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 15; La Rue, The Science and Art of Teaching; McMurry, Methods of the Recita- tion, Chapter 14; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iv. Page 721 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 16. VII. ASSIGNING THE NEXT LESSON Some teachers do not assign lessons. They merely tell the pupils what the lesson is without telling them what to do or how to do it, and without helping them to realize a vital purpose for doing the work. In a spelling class the teacher said, "Take the next twelve words." The pupils did not know whether they were to spell the words, define them, use them in sentences, mark them diacritically, or whether the teacher ex- pected them to do something else with the words. The pupil who guesses best at what the teacher wants is too often the one who makes the best grade. The farmer who told the hired hand to go to work in the south field, without telling him what to do or how to do it, was as definite and as inspiring as the teacher who says, ''Take the next lesson." No one would ask a boy to drive an automobile without first showing him how to do it, yet this is the kind of task some pupils are expected to do. The assignment is to teach the pupils what to study and how to study. A good lesson assignment not only causes pupils to think but it makes them hungry for more knowledge. I40 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Three teachers assigned the same lesson — Causes of the Revolutionary War — to the same grade of chil- dren. The first said, '^Take the next lesson." The second said, "Take the next lesson. Study it hard." The third said, "We are ready to study the causes of the Revolutionary War — a war in which some of our forefathers fought. When did this revolution take place? Where? In any war there are two or more interested parties. Who were they in this Revolution- ary War ? Did you have any ancestors in this war ? Why is one of the parties to this war called the ^mother country'? Might the thirteen colonies be called the children? How far apart did the mother country and the thirteen children live? Point toward England. How far is it from here? Point toward the thirteen colonies. Why did the Pilgrims leave England? These relatives, separated by the Atlantic Ocean, three thousand miles wide, have fallen out. We are to study the causes of this family row. You may think England was to blame ; you may think the col- onies were to blame ; or you may say that a third party had something to do with this fuss. To-morrow, when we try to settle these questions, be able to give reasons for your opinions. On pages — your author tells you what he thinks about it. Some other authors may tell you a different story. Refer to any books that you may have, but here are some library books that will help you" (naming books and pages). THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 141 The following statements have been made on lesson assignments. Look them over carefully. Evaluate each statement and tell why you do or do not agree with it. Pick out the ones which you are willing to try to put into practice. 1. It requires five minutes, or more, to make a good assign- ment. 2. Often a whole period should be spent in assigning a lesson. 3. The teacher who says, "Take the next lesson," "Next six pages," "Next chapter," etc., is a poor teacher. 4. No teacher can assign a lesson well until she knows her pupils well. 5. No teacher can assign a lesson until she knows it well. 6. Never assign a lesson until you know how it will affect the conduct of your pupils. 7. Never assign a lesson until you can give a good answer to this question : "Why assign this lesson to this class at this time?" 8. No lesson is well assigned until pupils are interested in it and feel a vital need for studying it. 9. No lesson is well assigned until the pupils have been taught how to study it. 10. Let the pupils help select the quantity and quahty of the next lesson. 11. Lessons may be assigned at the beginning, in the middle, or at the close of a recitation. One place is as good as another. 12. The assignment should be written on the board and the pupils should copy it. 13. When pupils come to class saying, "I did not know where the lesson was," the teacher is to blame. 142 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 14. Never make an assignment until all are listening. 15. Always have pupils recite on what you assigned, and hold them responsible for the assignment. 16. Assign nothing more than all the class can get. 17. An assignment that is good for one sixth grade pupil may be poor for another. 18. An assignment must appeal to the pupil's experience, his home life, therefore assignments must be made to individuals, not to the entire class. 19. No lesson can be properly assigned until the teacher finds out what the pupils already know about the sub- ject. 20. In a good assignment the teacher and the pupils will ask questions. 21. Of the five formal steps of the recitation, the assignment may well be called the first step — preparation ; study- ing the lesson may be called the second step — pres- entation. 22. Before a teacher assigns a lesson she should know : a. What effect it will have on her pupils. h. That all the pupils are able to solve the problems or understand the subject matter. c. That all the pupils have time, health, and opportunity to prepare it. d. The entire course of study and how this one lesson is connected with the entire course of study. e. The amount of real study required to prepare the lesson, not merely the number of pages. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 192-206 ; Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 21 ; Bender, The Teacher at Work, Pages 59-66 ; Betts, The Recitation, Chapter 5 ; Briggs and Coffman, THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 143 Reading in the Public School, Chapter 25 ; Chamberlain, Standards in Education, Pages 205-209 ; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages 396-414 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapter 19 ; Dewey, Interest and Effort, Page 57 ; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 8 ; PhilHps, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Page 93 ; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Pages 178-185; Seeley, A New School Management, Chapter 16; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Pages 88-89. EXERCISES 1. Of the methods employed by the three teachers who as- signed the lesson — Causes of the Revolutionary War — which method is the most common ? Which is the best? Why? Tell how you would assign this lesson. 2. Are there lessons that cannot be assigned in any way ex- cept to say, "Get it"? VIII. THE RECITATION When a superintendent is looking for a teacher, he wants to know how she conducts a recitation. She may be ever so strong along other Hues, but if she is a failure in the recitation, she is a failure as a teacher. There are a great many ways to conduct recitations. There is more than one good way. A majority of teachers conduct recitations about the way their teach- ers did, but each teacher should respect her own indi- viduality. A teacher may have a fairly good method of conducting recitations without being able to tell where she got the method or why she uses it. 144 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING It is said that knowledge commands respect, but the ''walking encyclopedia '' who sees no relations be- tween facts, and whose ability lies in "reciting'^ is not necessarily a progressive citizen. The good teacher no longer demands of her pupils the bare ability to recite what the book says. She wants them to see living issues and to reason from cause to effect. Some of the following statements are questionable. They should be carefully studied and evaluated. Pick out the ones that you consider to be safe and sane. Give reasons for your opinions. 1. A good teacher will never begin a recitation until she can answer this question: ''Why should this subject matter be taught to this class at this time?" 2. No two recitations should have the same aim. 3. In each recitation, there should be several aims. 4. A teacher should have the following aims in all of her recitations : a. To test the pupils' knowledge. h. To discover and clear up difficult points. c. To train pupils to reason. d. To teach pupils how to study. e. To furnish opportunity for pupils to express their thoughts. /. To encourage a friendly debating spirit. g. To stimulate and direct the social side of pupils. h. To help pupils see relative values. i. To awaken inquiry and arouse curiosity. j. To form good habits of attention, thinking, expression, and acting. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 145 k. To train pupils in morals and manners. I. To develop the true spirit of cooperation. m. To teach new facts. n. To entertain the pupils. 0. To drill in work that should be made habitual. 5. Classes should be called and dismissed by signals, such as the tapping of a bell, counting, etc. 6. Some teachers have pupils seated in a straight row, some in a semicircle, some in a double row, some let them remain at their seats, but one method of seating pupils during a recitation is as good as another. 7. If pupils remain seated at their desks for the recitation, they should remove all useless material from the tops of their desks. 8. The good teacher will not only discover any inattention but she will quickly check it. 9. One can always judge a good teacher by the amount of talking she does during the recitation. 10. Children think rapidly, but a good teacher will always keep in the lead. 11. A teacher is always reflected in the facial expressions of her pupils. Some teachers see themselves, others do not. 12. When a teacher sees a cold, indifferent, and uninterested class of pupils it is herself that she sees reflected in her pupils. 13. Give equal attention to all pupils in the class. 14. Give equal emphasis to all points in the lesson. 15. A recitation is not a place to settle questions, but a place to raise them. It is not a time to recite, but a time to study. 16. Pupils should recite and then study on the problems raised during the recitation, rather than study and then recite on what they have studied. 146 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 17. A good teacher is not dogmatic during the recitation but encourages the pupils to think for themselves and to draw their own conclusions. 18. The pupil who gets the best grade is not the one who thinks, or takes issue with the teacher, but the one who can guess best at what the teacher has in mind. 19. Illustrate one or more points on the blackboard during each recitation. 20. Pupils should feel free at all times to ask the teachers the following question: ''What reasons have you for wanting us to do this?" 21. A good teacher will encourage all her pupils to ask ques- tions at any time. She will never embarrass a pupil because he asks a simple question. 22. When interest lags, the recitation should be dismissed. 23. When interest in the recitation lags, it means that either the teacher or the subject matter should be changed. 24. A good teacher will often take the wrong side of a ques- tion long enough to stimulate pupils to think. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 242-249; Bender, The Teacher at Work, Pages 63-66; Belts, The Recitation; Chamberlain, Standards in Education, Chapter 9 ; Charters, Methods oj Teaching, Pages 266-270 ; Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teaching, Chap- ters 8, 9, 10, II, 12, 13, and 14; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Pages 239-245 ; 254-262 ; Culter and Stone, Rural School Manage- ment, Chapters 9 and 10 ; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 9 ; Hamilton, The Recitation; Kennedy, Fundamentals in Methods, Chap- ter 4 ; Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 24 ; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Community, Chapter 6; McMurry, Methods oJ the Recitation; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. i, Pages 123- THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 147 125; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Chapters 9 and 10; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 14; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Pages 101-113 ; 129- 138 ; Strayer and Nors worthy, How to Teach, Chapter 13 ; Sutton and Horn, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter 9 ; Thorndike, Education, Chapters 9 and 10 ; Wait, Practical Problems of the School, Pages 76- 80 ; Woofter, Teaching in Rural Schools, Chapter 6. IX. THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION The socialized recitation is not a new idea. It is as old as the recitation. All teachers socialize their reci- tations — more or less. Some teachers can socialize the recitation in one subject better than they can in another. If pupils enjoy going to the geography reci- tation more than to the history recitation, perhaps it is because the geography recitation is more socialized. There is a great effort made by good teachers to social- ize every recitation. The time is past when teachers think the most good comes from studying the subject which is most despised. Evaluate the following statements on the socialized recitation. Be able to tell why you do or do not think the statements are sound in theory and in practice. Select those which you consider most vital to the teacher. 1. A socialized recitation is one in which the pupils are working together to solve some vital problem. 2. In a socialized recitation, the teacher guides, but does not dictate. The pupils feel free to express their opinions. 148 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 3. In the individualistic recitation, the teacher does most of the talking; in the socialized recitation the pupils do most of the talking. 4. The more a teacher talks in a recitation the less help she is to her pupils. Her big work is to get the pupils to think and to express their thoughts. 5. The question-and-answer recitation crushes individual activity and development; the socialized recitation encourages them. 6. The socialized recitation will not permit of mere reciting what some one else has said. The pupils are inter- ested. The stimulus comes from within. 7. In a socialized recitation there is free conversation among the pupils. This conversation often takes the form of discussion, debates, criticisms, etc. 8. The socialized recitation affords a pupil greater opportu- nities for initiative, self-control, and moral development. 9. The socialized recitation encourages rambling, poor thinking, and lack of thoroughness. It brings about long discussions but no conclusions. 10. The socialized recitation enables pupils to get an excel- lent give-and-take attitude which every true citizen must have. 11. In a socialized recitation pupils learn to act rather than listen. They become leaders as well as followers. Their interest is active rather than passive. They learn to cooperate and to work with and for each other. 12. The recitation should occasionally be turned over to the pupils. They should select a leader. The teacher should be one of them. 13. In a socialized recitation the teacher gradually makes her pupils independent, thereby making her services more and more necessary. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 149 14. The socialized recitation trains pupils to watch them- selves, rather than to be watched. 15. The freedom that is given to pupils in a sociahzed reci- tation fails to help the weak pupils. The more a pu- pil needs activity along any line, the less likely he is to seek it; the less a pupil needs activity along any line, the more likely he is to seek it. The good pupils become better and the poor pupils become poorer. 16. The socialized recitation enables the bright pupil to monopolize the time. 17. A socialized recitation may be formal or informal, it may be organized or unorganized, it may be in the nature of some club, league, convention, etc., but in- terest and democracy must always be present. 18. Some say that the pupil's greatest need is initiative, others say it is self-control. Neither can be neglected. Both are cared for in the socialized recitation. 19. Since the pupils do most of the talking in a socialized recitation, it is easier on the teacher than the individ- ualistic recitation. 20. The pupils could do most of the talking and still the recitation might not be socialized. The teacher could do most of the talking and the recitation might still be socialized. 21. The socialized recitation trains pupils to think and speak in public, to be polite, and to assume responsibilities. 22. Some teachers can succeed with the socialized recitation, others will fail. 23. No teacher can socialize all of her recitations. 24. No teacher should socialize all of her recitations. 25. Life itself is one large socialized recitation. 26. The socialized recitation is more than a preparation for life ; it is life itself. I50 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 27. The socialized recitation is better than the usual recita- tion, because : a. It enables pupils to have their own purposes for study. b. It encourages initiative and cooperation instead of passivity and competition. c. It helps the pupil to be independent instead of de- pendent. d. It encourages thinking instead of memory. e. It encourages pupils to seek principles instead of an- swers. /. It encourages more reading and more outside work. g. It draws on the experiences of the pupils and encour- ages them to do their part of the talking. h. It encourages the pupils to ask questions. i. It encourages constructive criticism. j. It encourages good English, oral and written. k. It interests pupils and reduces disciplinary problems to the minimum. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Driggs, Our Living Language, Pages 24-29; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 1 1 ; King, Education for Social Efficiency, Chapter 15; Pearson, The Vitalized School, Chapter 15; Robbins, The So- cialized Recitation; Scott, Social Education, Chapters 6 and 7 ; Smith, An Introduction to Educational Sociology, Chapter 19; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 12 ; Weeks, Socializ- ing the Three R^s; Wilson and Wilson, Motivation of School Work, Chapters 2 and 3 ; Whitney, The Socialized Recitation. EXERCISES 1. Give an example of a socialized recitation in which you took part, either as a teacher or as a pupil. 2. Give an example of a recitation that was not socialized and tell how the teacher could have socialized it. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 151 X. THE PROJECT METHOD The project method, like the socialized recitation, is a new name for an old idea. Parents and teachers used the project method before there were any public schools. The many things that children under six yea/s old do and make, represent projects. Children make mud pies, playhouses, kites, stilts, etc., because they want to. When the teacher takes advantage of child nature and ties her work up with the interests of the pupils, she is using the project method. There are some teachers who say the project method repre- sents "soft pedagogy" and that children should have to study certain lessons and do certain things whether they enjoy it or not. True teachers mean to do the best thing for the pu- pils. Most of the following statements on the project method have been made by earnest teachers. Eval- uate each statement. Select the statements that you are willing to put into practice. Why ? 1. A project is any purposeful act that one does whole- heartedly. The act may continue for a few minutes or a few years, but there is always interest because one is going toward a goal of his own choosing. 2. Most school work is done on tasks assigned by the teacher, and cannot be called projects. 3. Children work harder on their own problems than on problems assigned by the teacher. 152 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 4. The curricula, so far as possible, should be made up of the child's own vital problems. 5. All that any one does is for his own satisfaction. 6. If one is not interested, he cannot do good work. 7. The greater the interest, the greater the effort. 8. A project for one member of the class is a project for all. 9. The following are projects : Making a kite ; building a boat ; caring for a cow ; baking a cake ; solving a prob- lem in arithmetic ; making a dress ; painting a pic- ture ; listening to a story ; conjugating a verb. ID. One's life activities should be projects, never tasks. 11. Pupils should select their own projects. 12. Pupils should be guided in selecting all their projects. 13. Teachers can select safer, saner, and better projects for pupils than the pupils can select for themselves. 14. The tactful teacher will select pupils' projects for them, and let them feel that they have done the selecting. 15. If pupils are not interested in a lesson, do not assign it to them. 16. All school work can and should be made interesting. 17. Some work cannot be left to childish whims. Pupils must be made to take it whether they like it or not. 18. No pupil should be excused from any elementary subject. 19. Pupils should have two hours per day in which they can do whatever they please. 20. Children learn more the first six years of their life than the second six, because in the first six they are allowed to choose their own projects. 21. Adults do only those things which interest them; chil- dren should have the same privilege. 22. Activities that we enjoy prepare us for life much more than activities that we do not enjoy. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 153 23. One's project depends upon the age of the pupil, sex, ex- perience, and home life. 24. A project for one may be a task for another. 25. Activities that a pupil enters into whole-heartedly make him better morally, while tasks give him habits of ' hating, dawdling, deceiving, etc. These habits will injure him morally, socially, and physically. 26. If one cannot be interested in a subject, let him drop it or it will injure him. 27. The spirit of play should pervade all school work. 28. The greatest need in the public schools to-day is teachers who can select the essentials and make them inter- esting. 29. No teacher can have pupils interested in school work un- til she is interested in both the pupils and the work. 30. A disinterested teacher is a handicap to her pupils and to the community. 31. If one is not interested in a subject, it is because he knows nothing about it. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 23 ; Bonser, The Elementary School Curriculum, Chapters s, 6, and 7; Branom, The Project Method in Education; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Chapters 9-1 1; Cor- son, Our Public Schools, Chapter 5 ; Dewey, How We Think; Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 3 ; Freeland, Modern Elemen- tary School Practice, Chapter 3 ; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 11; Kilpatrick, "The Project Method," Teachers College Bulletin, Oct., 1918 ; Kilpatrick and Others, "A Symposium," Teachers College Record, Sept., 1921 ; McMurry, How to Study, Chapter 3; Moore, What Is Education? Chapter 8 ; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapters 10, 11, and 12; Stevenson, The Project Method; Stockton, The Project Method; Wilson and Wilson, Motivation of School Work. 154 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING XI. THE PROBLEM METHOD One cannot study the project method independent of the problem method. A project is made up of a number of problems. Good teachers are trying more and more to see that their pupils work only on pupil problems. They are studying their children as well as their texts. They are teaching children instead of books. No teacher can succeed until she knows the likes and dislikes of her pupils. She must know the child's problems before she can make a good assignment. To say, ''Take the next lesson," is usually to ignore the child's problems. Study the following statements on the problem method. Be able to tell why you agree or disagree with each statement. Select those statements which contain sound pedagogical principles. 1. Problem 24 on page 49, is too often task 24 on page 49. 2. A task is not one's own problem. It has been given by one in authority. 3. A pupil works well only on his own problem, but it is nec- essary that all pupils work on problems other than their own. 4. School work is made up mainly of tasks assigned by the teacher. 5. A pupil often spends more energy in trying to escape work than it would take to do the work. Such effort is a hindrance to moral growth. 6. Pupils get tired of solving assigned tasks. They leave school to work on their own problems. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 155 7. A child's world should be enlarged. It has many big problems which it could never see or feel without the help of a teacher. 8. A pupil never thinks or studies just because he is asked to. 9. Memory, without thinking, is useless. 10. Without childish problems, a child would never learn to think. 11. Every lesson should contain a living problem for each pupil. 12. No lesson should be formally assigned. Find out what pupils are already thinking about, and help them to think better on their problem. 13. All worth-while subject matter can be given in the form of living problems. 14. Primary pupils will work well on assigned tasks, older pupils will not. 15. Nothing is a problem for a pupil until he wants to solve it because he sees how it will help him reach his goal. 16. The pupil does just enough to get by, because the teacher sets the goal and assigns the task. 17. Every pupil that quits school before the age of eighteen represents one or more teachers who have not given enough time to the child's own problem. 18. Nothing is learned well until it is learned in connection with solving one's own problems. 19. Teachers should skip all lessons that cannot be made liv- ing problems for the pupils. (See references on Section X, Chapter III.) EXERCISES I. If a pupil cannot become interested in history, should he be compelled to study it ? 156 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 2. If one is never to be a druggist, why should he have to study "apothecary" problems? 3. Name some "tasks" that have helped you. XII. METHODS OF QUESTIONING The success of a teacher depends as much upon her skill in asking questions as upon any other single fac- tor. The teacher may be a great scholar, a good dis- ciplinarian, and an excellent organizer, but if she is not skilled in asking questions, she is a poor teacher. Asking questions is like playing chess, in that to be successful one must look ahead. The teacher should not only ask definite questions, but should have a good reason for each question, knowing that it will help accomplish the aim of the recitation. The test question has its place, but it has been over- worked. In the main, the teacher should ask ques- tions to lead her pupils to see the subject in a bigger way. It would be interesting to know the teacher's reason for asking the following questions : "Henry, have you finished your problem?" "Yes, ma'am." "Is your answer 6f ?" "Yes, ma'am." "You reduced 4I to an improper fraction, did you?" "Yes, ma'am." "That gave you |, did it not?" "Yes, ma'am." THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 157 "Then you multiplied f by f, did you?" "Yes, ma'am." "The product is ^, is it not?" "Yes, ma'am." "You multiplied that by 2, did you?" "Yes, ma'am." "That gave you 6f, did it not?" "Yes, ma'am." "How many got that? " There are still a few teachers who think this "yes, ma'am" method of questioning is permissible. But a great number of teachers are studying the art of questioning. They realize that good questions result in good thinking. The following statements have been made largely by teachers in service. Some of these statements may be questionable. Evaluate each state- ment and tell why you think it is or is not true. Select the statements that you are willing to put into prac- tice. 1. Ask only one question at a time. 2. Ask only thought questions. 3. Avoid questions that may be answered by yes or no. 4. Talk so all pupils can hear you. Use simple language so they can all understand you. 5. Never repeat questions. Never repeat pupils' answers. 6. Ask questions that have only one right answer. 7. A teacher must not only know before the recitation be- gins, what questions she will ask, but she should have them written in logical order. 158 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 8. Ten good questions are enough to ask during one recita- tion. 9. A question should never suggest or include the answer. A teacher should not, by a nod or shake of the head indicate to a pupil whether the answer is right or wrong. 10. The teacher should ask each pupil one or more questions at each recitation. 11. A question that is good for one member of the class is good for the others. 12. No one pupil should be asked more questions than any other. 13. After one pupil has been asked a question, he should be given no more until all others in the class have been called upon to recite. 14. It is a bad plan to begin at the head of the class and ask questions to the pupils in a regular order. 15. It is the business of the teacher to do all the questioning. 16. Ask the question, then call on a pupil to answer it. This will cause every pupil to think the answer for every question. 17. When visitors are present, ask questions of those pupils only who can answer the questions, or ask the dull pupils easy questions. 18. In each recitation, the teacher should ask some test ques- tions. 19. Every question should be asked to an individual stu- dent, and never to the class as a whole. 20. Never ask the questions found in the textbook. 21. The text has questions that are as good as, if not better than, any questions which the teacher can make. Therefore, use the author's question. 22. Tell why each question given below is or is not good : THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 159 a. What can you tell me about the lesson? b. Can some one tell me something about the lesson? c. John, tell me something about the lesson. d. Tell me something about the lesson, John. e. What do you understand by the Monroe Doctrine ? /. Why did Washington cross the Delaware? g. Which is heavier, a quart of milk or a quart of cream ? h. What event took place in 1870? i. Discuss the causes of the World War. j. Where are our largest trees grown? How long do they live ? How are they brought from the forest ? What is made from them ? Where are these articles sent? (All one question.) k. Tell all you know about President Wilson. I. Did Washington's men have plenty of clothes and food at Valley Forge ? m. How many loaves of bread can be made from a twenty-five pound sack of flour ? n. To betray one's country is wrong, is it not? 0. Which has the greater future — Kansas City or St. Louis ? Why ? p. How much would it cost to rebuild and refurnish this schoolhouse ? q. What would it cost to feed your family one week? r. What about Roosevelt ? s. Name the Southern States and their capitals. t. Name four products of the Pacific States. u. From what two sources do we obtain sugar? V. Why is the population of North America double that of South America? w. If you were a lumberman, where would you rather work? i6o ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING X. Why are there more foreigners in the North than in the South? y. What was the ostensible purpose that prompted Washington to take advantage of the psychologi- cal situation and cross a river full of floating ice ? SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, The Educative Process, Pages 224-326;^ Baldwin, School Management, Part vi, Chapters 3 and 6; Bender, The Teacher at Work, Pages 74-84; Belts, The Recitation, Chapter 3; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages 296-313 ; Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teaching, Chapter 15; De Garmo, I Jiterest and Educa- tion, Pages 181 ff. ; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Pages 97-101 ; Horn, Story Telling, Question, and Studying, Chapter 2 ; Keith, Elementary Education, Chapter 9; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. v, Pages 97-98 ; Stevens, The Question, Pages 72-86 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 11 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Pages 213-218; Thorndike, Education, Pages 190-192, XIII. THINGS A GOOD TEACHER WILL DO IN EVERY RECITATION A teacher can well do one thing in one recitation that might be questionable in another. One teacher may be able to do some things in a recitation that an- other teacher should not attempt to do. There are, however, a number of ideas that are common to all recitations. The following statements on what a good teacher will do in each recitation should be studied and evaluated. Let each teacher select the state- ments that she will try to put into practice. Each teacher should be able to tell why she selected certain statements and rejected others. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING i6i In each recitation a good teacher will : 1. Begin the recitation by reviewing the last lesson. 2. Hold the attention of all the pupils all the time. 3. Get all the pupils to recite. 4. Get pupils to recite ideas rather than words. 5. Keep "hands off" and give pupils a chance to think. 6. See that classmates do not interrupt the one reciting. 7. See that only one pupil talks at a time. 8. Correct each mistake in English as soon as it is made. 9. Inspire all the pupils to do their best, both in and out of school. 10. Make an assignment that will inspire each pupil to study. 11. Use the experience of the pupils to add interest to the lesson. 12. Help the morals and manners of each pupil. 13. Permit a good, hearty, free-for-all laugh. 14. See that pupils are at ease, and feel free to talk, even if their opinions differ from hers. 15. See the subject matter as the pupils see it. 16. Spend haff the time sitting and half the time standing. 17. See that pupils stand when reciting, so that they will talk to the point, get through more quickly, and hold the attention of the class. 18. Be patient, whatever happens. 19. Get pupils to control themselves. 20. See that pupils do not whisper, cheat, chew gum, mark on desk, throw pencil shavings or paper on floor. 21. See that each pupil enjoys the recitation. 22. Get pupils to discover and correct their own mistakes. 23. Find out why each unprepared pupil was unprepared. 24. Embarrass each unprepared pupil, b}^ talking to him or her in the presence of the other pupils. i62 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 25. Stick to the assigned lesson, permitting nothing to make her wander. 26. See that the pupils get one new idea which they will re- tain. 27. Give credit for reasoning rather than memorizing. 28. See that each pupil does some real thinking. 29. Praise some of the pupils. Reprove some. 30. Make the work practical. 31. Teach pupils to work in groups without discord. 32. Summarize the lesson, so as to help pupils retain the big ideas. 33. Assign the next lesson in a way that will not only enable the pupils to know what to do, and how to do it, but in a way that will make them want to study it. EXERCISES 1. Was the teacher asking too much of his pupils when he said, "We shall spend the last five minutes of the reci- tation in writing a summary. You may write what I have told you during the last forty minutes." 2. At the close of the day ask the pupils to write the new ideas they have learned that day. (See references on Section VIII, Chapter III.) XIV. ''DON'TS," OR THINGS A GOOD TEACHER WILL NEVER DO ^' Don't'' has been over-emphasized. Many parents and teachers have spent so much time in telling chil- dren what not to do that they have had very little time to tell them what to do. The destructive critic can use don't, but it takes a constructive critic to use THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 163 do. In spite of all our talk against the use of "don't," the author has been encouraged to write a list of '^don'ts." Most of them are safe. Some of them are questionable. The teachers should study each " don't " and decide for themselves whether the advice is good or bad. In the main, these "don'ts" are confined to the recitation. A teacher should not : 1. Begin the recitation until all the pupils are comfortably seated. 2. Be slow in beginning the recitation. 3. Have the pupils scattered or seated in a straight row. 4. Have a regular order for calling on pupils to recite. 5. Do more talking than the pupils do. 6. Do the pupils' thinking for them. 7. Do anything for pupils which they can do for themselves. 8. Help pupils solve problems until they have tried and failed, nor settle any question before the pupils have had time to think about it. 9. Ask the pupils to do anything until she knows they can, will, and should do it. 10. Ask pupils to commit to memory that which she does not know. 11. Fail to use the blackboards. 12. Be cold, dignified, or emotionless. 13. Pose as one who knows it all. 14. Scare her pupils by grading each recitation. 15. Stick to the textbook. 16. Ask parents to teach their children at home in order that she may hear them recite at school. 17. Scold pupils for not knowing their lessons. i64 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 1 8. Secure obedience through fear. 19. Be dogmatic. 20. Argue with pupils. 21. Use sarcasm. 22. Expect too much of children. She knows they develop slowly. 23. Accept a half answer and let the pupils think the answer is complete. 24. Talk while some of the pupils are not listening. 25. Laugh at the mistakes of her pupils. 26. Notice all the mistakes that pupils make. 27. Give attention to one pupil only. She will see all the pupils all the time. 28. Assign one lesson and ask pupils to recite on another. 29. Ignore the likes and dislikes of children. 30. Fail to capitalize the pupil's experience. 31. Try to teach too many things in one recitation. 32. Use ''don't," when there is an opportunity to use ''do." XV. THE SCHOOL LIBRARY Some school libraries are good, some are poor. Some school libraries are good for some of the pupils and poor for others. The good teacher will not only get a library, but she will get one that is good for all the pupils. Boys and girls will never become good readers without more than textbooks to read. The pupils may be made hungry for knowledge, but unless there is a library where they may go and encourage this hunger, it cannot last long. Study the following statements and tell why you do THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 165 or do not agree with each of them. Which statements might be true for one community and not for another ? Which statements suggest ideas that could be carried out in your community ? 1. A good teacher will see that her school has a library. 2. More children are starving for something to read than for something to eat. 3. The home library is made up largely of books, papers, and magazines for adults, not for children. 4. Books, papers, and magazines are more important than single desks. 5. There should be five times as many books in the library as there are pupils. 6. Each room should add twenty dollars' worth of reading material to its library annually. 7. A good library can be acquired by getting patrons to give a book each year. 8. No patron will give a choice book to the library. Money should be donated by patrons. Then good books may be purchased. 9. No one person is capable of selecting the library books. 10. The books should be selected by the superintendent, the supervisor, the teacher, the pupils, and the patrons. 11. Many books and magazines are so dangerous that they should be quarantined. 12. The national or state government, the university or normal school, the state or county superintendent will help any community select a good library. 13. Select only those books that pupils like. 14. A library that does not attract pupils to it is worse than no library. i66 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 15. The library room or bookcase should be kept locked. 16. Teachers should make the library the community center. 17. Teachers and pupils can read too much and think too Httle. 18. A reading habit may be as bad as the cigarette habit. 19. It is better to read dime novels than nothing at all. 20. There is a remedy for each disease, so is there a book that will help each bad pupil. 21. An entertainment should be given to secure library money. 22. If pupils do not get the reading habit in school they will never get it. 23. A good teacher will compel pupils to read. 24. No good teacher will or can compel pupils to read that which they do not like. 25. A good teacher will know what her pupils read at home. 26. A good teacher will cooperate with parents in getting pupils to read good literature. 27. A good teacher will have a plan for knowing what each pupil has read during the term. 28. No teacher can keep a pupil from reading trashy litera- ture. 29. A good teacher will see that patrons as well as pupils form the reading habit. 30. A good teacher will keep in touch with some circulating library. 31. A good teacher will organize a reading club, where pu- pils and patrons meet and talk about the latest books or magazine articles. 32. A teacher's work that stops with the pupils is only half done. 33. This should be pasted in each library book : Case Shelf No. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 167 Rules : — Books must not be injured or defaced. They must be returned within two weeks. For every day a book is kept beyond two weeks, a penalty of one cent a day must be paid. These books are for the exclu- sive use of the children of the schools of and must not be reloaned to others by members of the school. If books are defaced or injured, damages must be paid by the one who took the book from the library or a new book of equal value put in the place of the damaged book. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Briggs and Coffman, Reading in the Public School, Chapter 28; Brooks, Education for Democracy, Chapter 26; Carney, Country Life and Country School, Pages S3, 35^; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Pages 203-205 ; Culter and Stone, Rural Scho^^l Management, Chapter 13 ; Foght, The American Rural School, Pages 254-265 ; Kern, Among Country Schools, Pages 116-117; McCready, Rural Science Reader, Chapter 9 ; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Community, Chapter 15; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iv, Pages 14-18 ; Rice, Lessons on the Use of Books and Libraries. W rite for information to : a. The county superintendent. b. The state superintendent. c. The state normal school. d. The state university. e. The state librarian. /. The Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. g. Any reputable publishing company. XVI. APPRECIATION One whose sense of appreciation has not been trained has no chance to get real enjoyment out of life. Teach- ers do not purposely neglect this important factor in 1 68 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING education, but they are watched by patrons more carefully along the line of ''book learning." This has a tendency to cause teachers to neglect the feeling side of education. The time will come when patrons will be as interested to know the ability of their children to enjoy the beauty in nature or the beauty in art as they are now to know how they are progressing in their books. If rural children could only be taught to see the beauty in trees, flowers, birds, clouds, corn fields, landscapes, etc., country life would be far more attractive, and there would be fewer people moving to the cities. If city children could only be taught to see the beauty in character, in nature, in clean streets, back alleys, lawns, signboards, and buildings, the city would be a better place in which to rear a family. Study the following statements on appreciation. Evaluate each one. Be able to tell why you think each statement does or does not contain a vital truth. 1. To teach children to appreciate a beautiful sunset is as important as to teach them to spell. 2. Children will no more learn to appreciate the beautiful without a teacher than they will learn mathematics. 3. If a teacher does not teach her pupils to appreciate art, music, and nature, she does not earn her salary. 4. Feeling, sympathy, emotion, and appreciation are syn- onymous. 5. One who can look on a touching scene, listen to or read a touching story, without shedding tears is not so de- sirable a citizen as the one who weeps. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 169 6. No true citizen can see a dirty street or lawn, or a poorly kept farm, without having a feeling of shame. 7. Pupils will neither love the good nor hate the evil unless they are taught to do so. 8. When left alone, pupils learn to appreciate the low, questionable things rather than the good. 9. One can be so skilled in music or painting that he fails to appreciate anything in these fields except the pieces which are free from all errors. 10. Before we can sympathize with one who is suffering, we must have suffered ourselves. 11. Since we want our children to be in sympathy with all mankind, we should give them the experiences of all mankind. 12. Some people have not had enough experience to be good neighbors. 13. Textbook education will never cause people to be sym- pathetic and unselfish. Pupils should have more work with and for other people. 14. The more ideas people have in common, the more they appreciate each other. 15. The common school is to give all people a common body of information. 16. The lack of common ideas is the cause of divorces, riots, factions, and wars. Two people cannot enjoy each other's company unless they have some ideas in common. 17. The teacher's greatest work is to teach pupils to appre- ciate ''small favors." 18. Children must be taught to appreciate parents, home, and friends. 19. Appreciation, once learned, will not be lost. 20. The best way of teaching appreciation is to deprive one of the thing you would have him appreciate. 170 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 21. People will not appreciate strength of mind and soul un- less they are taught to do so. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bonser, The Elementary School Curriculum, see index ; Earhart, Types of Teaching, see index; Kirkpatrick, The Fundamentals of Child Study; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. v, Pages 540- 541 ; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 16 ; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Pages 59-63 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 7 ; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom Teacher, Pages 83-87 ; Strayer and Nors worthy, How to Teach, Chapter 8 ; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 1 2 ; Parker, The Principles of Msthetics. CHAPTER IV SCHOOL HYGIENE I. A STANDARD ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL BUILDING It is not right for money to be spent on a poor school building when the same amount would put up a good building. It is the business of the teacher to know the elements of a good school building. Her advice is usually sought. Many times her lack of knowledge is embarrassing. Her information is often meager and indefinite. The builders then proceed, in a blind way, to put up a home for the teacher and her children. Teachers may not agree on minor elements of a good school building, but they can agree on the essentials. Below is given a suggested standard for a one- teacher building. Much of this can be found in different state standards. Select the parts which you think are good. Select the parts that would be good for any school building. 1. Size a. 15 sq. ft. of floor space for each pupil h, 200 cu. ft. of air space for each pupil c. Width should be four-fifths of length 2. Light 171 172 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING a. Light should come from left, or from the left and rear b. Window space should equal one-fifth of floor space c. Shades, adjustable from top or bottom 3. Walls a. Weather boards b. Plaster ceiling or beaver board on inside c. Walls colored light green, gray, or any color pleasing to the eye 4. Blackboards a. Beaverblack, greenboard, slate, or hyloplate, 3 ft. wide, — at least 90 sq. ft. of blackboards b. 24 inches and 32 inches from the floor c. Chalk and eraser tray 5. Desks a. Four sizes (preferably single desks) b. Only one size in a row, attached to the floor c. One and one-half foot aisle d. Two feet between seats and wall e. A teacher's desk and chair 6. Extra rooms a. A workroom, for manual training and home economics b. A cloak room, with plenty of hooks and shelves, under teachers' supervision c. A fuel room d. A storage room (possibly the basement or attic) 7. Heat and ventilation a. A jacketed stove in one corner of room b. Supply of 30 cu. ft. of fresh air per pupil per minute. c. A thermometer, three feet from the floor 8. Pictures and flowers a. At least one good picture for each wall b. Pictures changed each month to break monotony c. Potted flowers during the entire school term SCHOOL HYGIENE 173 9. Moving picture machine 10. Wall clock, placed where all may see 11. A telephone, near the teacher's desk 12. School garden, a set of farm tools 13. Scales where children may be weighed monthly, with charts for correct height and weight 14. Water supply a. Well within 75 yd. of school building h. Located not closer than 100 yd. to any source of contamination c. Concrete cover, surface well drained d. Wash basin, mirror, and towels placed the proper height for children e. Individual drinking cups, or sanitary drinking foun- tain 15. Toilets a. Two well-kept toilets, attractive enough to command respect h. If not in the building, then at least 100 yd. apart c. Free from writing or pictures d. Well lighted and ventilated e. One seat for each 25 boys and one seat for each 25 girls 16. A three-acre site, well fenced with plank or woven wire 17. A clean, level playground furnished with swing, 'teeter- totters, giant stride, sand pile, volley ball and net, a vaulting pole, a baseball, mask, glove, and bat 18. Strong bookcases containing a school library of at least 100 well-chosen books 19. Wall maps of each continent, the United States, and the state 20. At least a lo-in. globe 21. A primary reading chart, an agricultural chart, and a physiology chart 174 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 22. The national flag and the state flag, properly displayed 23. A supply of dustless crayons, erasers, brooms, floor sweep, toilet paper, and paper towels 24. Dictionary and stand 25. Pencil sharpener, door mat, call bell, pointers, sand table, and bulletin board Teachers should advise their boards to get suitable building plans from the state department of educa- tion. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapters 3-7 ; Challman, The Rural School Plant; Dressier, School Hygiene; Dutton and Snedden, Administration of Public Education in the United States, Chapters II and 12; Shaw, School Hygiene; Wheelwright, School Architecture. 11. THE TEACHER'S HEALTH The teacher's success depends largely on her health. The teacher's health depends largely on her manner of living. The following statements on the teacher's health have been made by people who have given much thought to the question. Evaluate each statement. Select those that contain guiding health principles. 1. If a teacher has poor health, she is to blame for it. 2. If doing a certain work injures the health, the work should not be done. 3. When a teacher injures her health, she lessens her chances for success. 4. It is over-worry, not over-work, that injures health. 5. A teacher who is physically unfit, is a poor teacher. 6. A teacher who does her duty will injure her health. SCHOOL HYGIENE 175 7. The schoolroom is an unhealthful place; this condition cannot be entirely remedied. 8. Teachers should know both the symptoms and the reme- dies for the common diseases. 9. Every teacher should room alone. 10. Every teacher should eat three light meals daily. 11. Every teacher should board at least one mile from the school building. 12. For a teacher to burn midnight oil shows poor judgment. 13. A teacher is not justified in sitting up to grade papers. It would be better to throw them into the waste bas- ket. 14. A good teacher will have a well-balanced schedule of work, play, exercise, and rest, and will carry it out daily. 15. A teacher should set aside a monthly allowance for inno- cent amusements. 16. To keep physically fit, a teacher should daily have some time alone, and some time with people of other pro- fessions. 17. People laugh and grow fat. Most teachers are too dig- nified. 18. Teachers should be interested in things that interest the patrons. Thinking and talking school all the time is injurious to one's health. 19. Each teacher should have a hobby outside of school that will give the mind a rest. 20. The tired teacher does not need a rest from work so much as she needs a change of work in a new environment. 21. The teacher who is not physically fit cannot inspire boys and girls to be physically fit. 22. A good teacher will be on the school ground two hours daily, playing with the pupils. 176 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 23. The thoughtful teacher will sleep eight hours, drink plenty of water, be temperate, be regular in all habits, and keep a clean mouth, a sweet breath, and a clear conscience. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Curtis, Recreation for the Teacher; Dressier, School Hygiene, Chapter 20; Fisher and Fisk, Zfow ^(? Lm; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. V, Pages 527-528; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 18; Terman, The Teacher's Health; Walters, Health Control. III. THE PUPIL'S DAILY HEALTH CHORES Whether boys and girls grow to be strong men and women depends largely on the habits they form while young. Teachers can render no greater service to children than to help them acquire worth-while daily habits. If keeping up with the pupil's daily health chores does not help the pupil to form better habits, the plan is a failure. Pupils can begin Monday night and make a mark after each chore that has been done that day. There are different methods for keeping the records, but the main purpose is to help the child to be able to "make his mark" daily, until good habits are formed. Parents will and should keep up with what the chil- ren are doing, but the pupil is the one to say whether he deserves a mark. Things I have done to-day : 1. I have tried to observe the Golden Rule. 2. I have used no tobacco in any form. SCHOOL HYGIENE 177 3. I have kept my fingers and pencils out of my mouth. 4. I have tried to sit, stand, and walk erect. 5. I have washed my hands before each meal. 6. I have washed my face, ears, and neck, and brushed my hair. 7. I have been careful about where I expectorated and how I sneezed. 8. I have tried to be unselfish and helpful to others. 9. I have played in the fresh air for one hour. 10. I was in bed ten hours last night with windows open. 11. I have drunk a glass of water before each meal. 12. I have rinsed my mouth well after each meal and have brushed my teeth twice. 13. I have drunk no coffee or other injurious drinks. 14. I have done my best to eat the right kind of food, at the right time, and in the right way. 15. I have tried to control my temper. 16. I have taken a bath (at least two a week should be taken). 17. I have taken ten deep breaths of fresh air. 18. I have tried to take care of my clothes and books. 19. I have tried to take care of home and school furniture. Note: Health-chore cards can be secured from the National Tuberculosis Association, 370 Seventh Ave., New York. IV. HEALTH WORK IN THE SCHOOL What is the teacher's duty in regard to the child's physical development? This is the big question that both teachers and patrons are asking. The teacher who thinks her work is limited to training the minds of children, has a small vision of her profession.. ^' May I spend this day improving the bodies as well as the 178 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING minds of my children" is a good daily prayer for the teacher. A properly planned daily schedule has a place for physical education, but the good teacher will see to it that the health of the children is cared for during the entire day's program. A visitor should be able to look at the daily program and see that the child's health has been kept in mind. Study the following statements on the health work of the school. Some of them are questionable. Eval- uate each one. Select those statements which contain principles that are sound both in theory and practice. Be able to tell why you select one and reject another. 1. No one is educated until the mind, spirit, and body are well developed. 2. Teachers think too much of mental education and too little of physical education. 3. Any one who will pay the price can have health. 4. Some had rather die than live temperately. 5. No one knowingly injures his health. 6. Each generation is responsible for the physical fitness of the next generation. 7. A good teacher will have her pupils undergo a physical examination annually. 8. A good teacher has a medicine cabinet in her schoolroom. She knows the symptoms of the common diseases. She knows what to do the moment the symptoms appear. 9. A good teacher will educate the parents so that they may help their children to live better. SCHOOL HYGIENE 179 10. A good teacher knows when and why parents neglect children. 11. Teachers and parents are the cause of high mortality among children. 12. A good teacher will have a well-lighted, heated, and ven- tilated room. The seats will fit the pupils. The floor, seats, and walls will be clean. 13. At home the children do not sit still for more than twenty minutes at a time. Twenty minutes is long enough for children to remain in their seats anywhere. 14. Exercise, to be helpful, must be pleasant. 15. An athlete is usually a good student. 16. A good teacher is always on the playground at recess and is a playground supervisor. 17. Clean teeth are more important than clean hands. If the teacher does not teach children how to use a tooth- brush, many of them will never know. 18. A sound body is necessary for : a. Vocational efficiency b. Good morals c. Pleasure to self and others d. Mental strength e. A good personality 19. Physical education demands good food, air, sleep, work, rest, play, clothing, habits, and sunlight. 20. The fact that one-third of our men of draft age were physically unfit for war service was due to lack of physical education in the school. 21. A healthy body can be had only by right living, not by mere knowledge. 22. A five-year-old child walks or runs ten miles daily. Children of any age should be given this oppor- tunity. i8o ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 23. Physical education is living, not learning; acting, not studying. 24. Calisthenics is of little value because it is too closely supervised, therefore uninteresting. 25. A five minutes' run on the playground is better than ten minutes' calisthenics. 26. Children need opportunities for outbursts of pent-up en- ergy, which only play can give. 27. Adults won't take calisthenics, why force it upon pupils. 28. Army exercise is good for men. It is equally good for pupils and should be put in schools. 29. Physical education must transfer to home or it fails. 30. A game that is good for boys is good for girls. 31. A game that is good for one grade is good for all, 32. A game that is good in winter is good in summer. 33. An exercise that is once good for pupils is always good for them. 34. No school is justified in employing a coach for athletics who devotes most of his time to teams of five, nine, or eleven players. 35. A good teacher will give physical education to the entire community. 36. City children are better cared for than country children. 37. Parents take better care of stock than of children. 38. Without help of parents and community, a teacher is helpless in giving physical education. 39. Pupils will listen to a coach quicker than to others. 40. Physical education does not seek size, but energy, steady nerves, endurance, poise, etc. 41. The best exercises are automatic, playful, rhythmic. 42. Splitting wood will not take the place of games. 43. Playgrounds pay economically, morally, socially, men- tally, and pedagogically, as well as physically. SCHOOL HYGIENE i8i 44. There are only four types of students : athletes, sports, scholars, and idlers. 45. One who gets a college education at the expense of health has lessened his chances for success. 46. A teacher's success depends on her health. 47. No one can have health without paying the price. 48. It is the teacher's duty to look after the child's habits of eating, sleeping, playing, etc. 49. To put health first means failure in one's profession. 50. The government looks after the health of live stock more than the health of children. 51. School children should have free medical treatment. 52. There should be a school nurse to every five hundred pupils. 53. The school nurse should visit homes as well as schools to see that the home environment is good. 54. The nurse should educate parents in dietetics, sex edu- cation for the children, ventilation, the proper quality and quantity of exercises, etc. 55. A school nurse is more important than any one teacher., 56. An angry child has enough poison on its tongue to kill a cat. 57. This creed should be pasted in the child's textbook : I will keep my body clean within and without. I will breathe pure air and live in the sunlight. I will do no act that might endanger the health of others. I will try to learn and practice the rules of healthy living. I will work and rest and play at the right time, and in the right way, so that my mind may be strong and my body healthy, and so that I may lead a useful i82 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING life and be an honor to my parents, my friends, and , to my country. I will strive always to be happy and to make others happy. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Allen, Civics and Health; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 9; Bobbitt, The Curriculum, Chapters 14, 15, and 16; Clark, Physical Training for the Elementary School; Dressier, School Hygiene, Chap- ters 20-23 ; Fisher and Fisk, How to Live; Foght, The American Rural School, Chapter 14; Gesell, The Normal Child and Primary Education, Chapter 23 ; Hoag and Terman, Health Work in School; Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 7 ; McCready, Ricral Science Reader, Chapter 23 ; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Com- mimity; PhiUips, Fundamentals of Elementary Education, Chapter 17 ; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 13 ; Pittman, Successfid Teaching in Rural Schools, Chapters 20 and 21 ; Rapeer, School Hygiene; Shaw, School Hygiene ; Sho waiter. Handbook for Rural School Officers , Chap- ter 20 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 13 ; Terman, The Hygiene of the School Child; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Chapters 3, 4, and 5 ; The following bulletins of the United States Bureau of Education: No. 16, 1913; No. 18, 1913; No. 44, 1912; No. 48, 1913; No. 52, 1913; No. 10, 1914; No. 17, 1914; No. 20,1914; No. 40, 1914; No. 4,1915; No. 21, 1915; No. 50, 1915 ; and Public Health Bulletin No. 77. V. SANITATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS Minimum Sanitary Requirements for Rural Schools (As proposed by the Joint Committee on Health Problems in Education of the National Council of Education of the National Education Association and of the American Medical Association. Study these requirements and select the ones which are good for any school.) SCHOOL HYGIENE 183 It is the desire and purpose of this committee, to help estabhsh a standard of fundamental health essentials in the rural school and its material equipment, so that attainment of this minimum standard may be de- manded by educational authorities and by public opin- ion of every rural school throughout the country. Possession of the minimum sanitary requirements should be absolutely necessary to the pride and self- respect of the community and to the sanction and ap- proval of county, state, and other supervising and in- terested officials or social agencies. Neglect of anything essential for health in construc- tion, equipment, and care of the rural school plant is at least an educational sin of omission and may reason- ably be considered a social and civic crime or misde- meanor. The country school should be as sanitary and whole- some in all essential particulars as the best home in the community. Further, it should be pleasing and attractive in appearance, in furnishings, and in sur- roundings, so that the community as a whole may be proud of it ; so that the pupils and teacher may take pleasure in attending school and in caring for and im- proving it. I. Location and Surroundings 1. The school should be located in as healthful a place as exists in the community. 2. Noise and all other objectionable factors should be 1 84 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING eliminated from the immediate environment of the rural school. 3. Accessibility. — Not more than two miles from the most distant home, if the children walk. Not more than six miles from the most distant home, if school wagons are provided. 4. Drainage. — School ground must be well drained and as dry as possible. If natural drainage is not adequate, artificial subsoil drainage should be provided. 5. Soil. — As every rural school ground should have trees, shrubs, and a real garden or experimental farm, the soil of the school grounds should be fertile and tillable. Rock and clay soil should always be avoided. If the soil is muddy when wet, a good layer of fine sand and fine gravel should be used to make the children's play- ground as useful as possible in all kinds of weather. 6. Size of school grounds. — For the schoolhouse and play- ground, at least three acres are required. 7. A playground is not a luxury but a necessity. A school without a playground is an educational deformity and presents a gross injustice to childhood. 8. Arrangement of grounds. — The school grounds should have trees, plants, and shrubs grouped with artistic eflFect, but without interfering with the children's playground. II. Schoolhouse I. The schoolhouse should be made as nearly fireproof as possible. Doors should always open outward and the main door should have a covered entrance. A sepa- rate fuel room should be provided, also separate cloak rooms for boys and girls. SCHOOL HYGIENE 185 2. A basement or cellar, if provided, should be well venti- lated and absolutely dry. 3. The one- teacher country school should contain, in addi- tion to the classroom : a. A small entrance hall, not less than 6 by 8 feet. b. A small retiring-room, not less than 8 by 10 feet, to be used as an emergency room in case of illness or accident, for a teacher's conference room, for school library, and for health inspection, a feature now being added to the work of the rural school. c. A small room, not less than 8 by 10 feet, for a work- shop for instruction in cooking, and for the prepara- tion of refreshments when the school is used, as it should be, for social purposes. 4. Classroom should be not less than 30 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 1 2 feet high. This will provide space enough for a maximum of thirty pupils. III. Ventilation and Heating 1. The school should always receive fresh air coming directly from out of doors in one of the following arrangements : a. Through wide-open windows in mild weather. b. Through window-board ventilators under all other conditions, except when, with furnace or jacketed stove, special and adequate inlets and exits for air are provided. 2. Heating. — Unless furnace or some other basement system of heating is installed, at least a properly jacketed stove is required. (No unjacketed stove should be tolerated in any school.) 3. The jacketed stove should have a direct fresh air inlet about 12 inches square, opening through the wall of i86 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING the schoolhouse into the jacket against the middle or hottest part of the stove. 4. The exit for foul air should be through an opening at least 16 inches square on the wall near the floor, on the same side of the room as the stove is located. 5. A fireplace with the flue adjoining the stove chimney makes a good exit for bad air. 6. Temperature. — Every school should have a thermom- eter, and the temperature in cold weather should be kept between 66 and 68° Fahrenheit. IV. Lighting 1. The schoolroom should receive an abundance of light, sufficient for darkest days, with all parts of the room adequately illuminated. 2. The area of glass in windows should be from one-fifth to one-fourth of the floor area. 3. The best arrangement, according to present ideas, is to have the light come only from the left side of the pupils and from the long wall of the classroom. Windows may be allowed on rear as well as on the left side. High windows not less than seven feet from the floor may be permitted on the right side as an aid to cross- ventilation, but not for lighting. 4. There should be no trees or shrubbery near the school- house which will interfere with the lighting of the class- room. 5. The school building should so face with reference to the windows that the schoolroom will receive the direct sunlight at some time during the day. 6. Shades should be provided at tops and bottoms of win- dows with the dark shades at top, so that light may be properly controlled on bright days. SCHOOL HYGIENE 187 7. Schoolroom colors. — The best colors for the school- room in relation to lighting are: Ceiling — white or light cream Walls — light gray-green Blackboards — black V. Cleanliness I. The schoolhouse and surroundings should be kept as clean as a good housekeeper keeps her home. a. No dry sweeping or dusting should be allowed. h. Floors and furniture should be cleaned with damp sweepers and oily cloths. c. Scrubbing and airing are better than any form of fumigation. VI. Drinking Water 1. Drinking water should be available for every pupil at any time of day which does not interfere with the school program. 2. Every rural school should have a sanitary drinking foun- tain located just inside or outside the schoolhouse en- trance. 3. Drinking water should come from a safe source. Its purity should be certified by an examination by the state board of health or by some other equally re- liable authority. 4. A common drinking cup is always dangerous and should never be tolerated. 5. Individual drinking cups are theoretically, and under some conditions, all right, but practical experience has proven that in schools individual cups, to be used more than once, are unsatisfactory and unhygienic. There- 1 88 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING fore, they are not to be advocated or approved for any school. 6. Sufficient pressure for runnmg water for drinking foun- tain or other uses in the rural school may always be provided from any source without excessive expense by a storage tank or by pressure tank with force-pump. VII. Water for Washing 1. Children in all schools should have facilities for washing hands available at least : a. Always after the use of the toilet. b. Always before eating. c. Frequently after playing outdoors, writing on black- board, or doing other forms of handwork connected with the school. 2. Individual clean towels should always be used. Paper towels are the cheapest and most practicable. The common towel is as dangerous to health as the com- mon drinking cup. VIII. Furniture 1. School seats and desks should be hygienic in type and adjusted to the size and needs of growing children. Seats and desks should be individual — • separate — adjustable — clean. 2. Books and other materials of instruction should be not only sanitary, but attractive enough to stimulate a wholesome response from the pupils. IX. Toilets and Privies I. Toilets and privies should be sanitary in location, in con- struction, and in maintenance. a. If water-carriage system for sewage is available, sep- SCHOOL HYGIENE 189 arate toilets for boys and girls should be located in the schoolhouse, with separate entrances on dif- ferent sides or corners of the school building. b. If there is no water-carriage system, separate privies should be located at least fifty feet in different di- rections from the schoolhouse, with entrances well screened. c. The privy should be rainproof, well ventilated, and one of the following types : (i) Dry earth closet (2) Septic tank container (3) With a water-tight vault or box 2. All containers of excreta should be water-tight, thor- oughly screened against insects, and easily emptied and cleaned at frequent intervals. 3. No cesspool should be used unless it is water- tight and easily emptied and cleaned. 4. All excreta should be either burned, buried, treated by subsoil drainage, reduced by septic tank treatment, or properly distributed on tilled land as fertilizer. X. All Schoolhouses and Privies Should Be Thoroughly and Effectively Screened against Flies and Mosquitoes XI. Schoolhouses and Outhouses Should Be Absolutely Free from Defacing and Obscene Marks XII. Buildings Should Be Kept in Good Repair and with Whole Windows Standards The provision and equipment of an adequate school plant depend on the intelligence, interest, pride, and financial ability of the community. igo ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING The maintenance of a clean and sanitary school plant de- pends on efficient housekeeping and on the interest and the willing cooperation of pupils. No community should be satisfied by the minimum require- ments indicated in the foregoing, but every country school should be so attractive and well equipped as to minister with some abundance of satisfaction to the physical, mental, aes- thetic, social, and moral well-being of those who provide it, who own it, who use it, and who enjoy it. Present Conditions Among the reasons which explain the present deplorable con- ditions of rural schoolhouses, the following are prominent : 1. Low architectural and sanitary standards in rural re- gions generally throughout the country. 2. Ignorance regarding the physical, mental, social, and moral effects of the unattractive and insanitary buildings on the children and on the community as a whole. 3. False economy expressed by local school boards in failure to vote enough money to build and maintain suitable school buildings. 4. Lack of supervision or assistance by the state, which is usually necessary to maintain desirable standards. Improvements How shall the rural schools throughout this country be im- proved up to a reasonably satisfactory standard ? I. By a popular campaign of education regarding the con- ditions desirable and possible for country schools. Such a campaign would profitably include many or most of the following : SCHOOL HYGIENE IQI a. The United States Bureau of Education and state departments of education should furnish plans and instructions for construction and equipment of rural school buildings. The United States Bureau of Education in Wash- ington is already supplying on request valuable help of this kind, and a few state departments of educa- tion are demonstrating what may be done by super- vision and support which aid without controlling. b. State departments of education should supply super- vision of rural schools and should have power: (i) To condemn insanitary and wholly unsuitable buildings. (2) To give state aid to rural schools when the local authorities fulfill certain desirable and reason- able conditions. c. Ideas and standards of school sanitation should be inculcated in minds of local school patrons and school authorities who control school funds and who administer the affairs of the schools. Public lec- tures on health topics should be provided in the schoolhouse and elsewhere. d. Effective school health courses should be introduced in normal schools and teachers' institutes. Better education of rural school teachers, county superintendents, and rural school supervisors in the principles and practice of school hygiene and sanitation should be assured. e. Interest in, and enthusiasm for, the improvement and care of all features of the school and its surround- ings which affect health and happiness, should be inspired in the minds of rural school pupils. Organizations such as ''Pupils' Board of Health," 192 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING "Civic Leagues," or "Health Militias," may profit- ably be formed among pupils. /. Organizations like the Grange, women's clubs, county medical societies, and other groups so situated that they may further the cause of health and efficiency should cooperate with the rural school. g. Attractive but reliable health information should be furnished abundantly by the public press. 2. Emulation and competition should be recognized and rewarded in ways that will promote wholesomely and progressively the welfare of the community. Ten Sanitary Commandments for Rural Schools In every school which may be considered passably sanitary the following conditions shall obtain : 1. Heating by at least a properly jacketed stove. (No unjacketed stove to be allowed.) 2. Lighting from left side of room (or from left and rear) through window space at least one-fifth of floor space in area. 3. Cleanliness of school equal to that in the home of a care- ful housekeeper. 4. Furniture sanitary in kind, and easily and frequently cleaned. Seats and desks adjustable and hygienic in type. 5. Drinking water from pure source provided by a sanitary drinking fountain. 6. Facilities for washing hands, and individual towels. 7. Toilets and privies sanitary in type and in care (with no cesspools unless water-tight) and no neglected privy boxes or vaults. 8. Flies and mosquitoes excluded by thorough screening of schoolhouse and toilets. SCHOOL HYGIENE ' 193 9. Obscene and defacing marks absolutely absent from schoolhouse and privies. 10. Playground of adequate size for every rural school. CHAPTER V HUMAN NATURE I. CHILD NATURE Teaching is a science, but not all teachers are scien- tists. The teacher who has studied child nature until she knows how, when, and what to teach is a scientist. The physician who gives medicine indiscriminately is not a scientist. The scientific physician knows each individual patient and gives each one the treat- ment he needs. The scientific teacher knows each individual pupil and gives each one what he needs. A physician sometimes fails to diagnose his case and the patient gets no better. The same thing often hap- pens with teachers. Knowledge of children is as es- sential to successful teaching as knowledge of the sub- ject matter. The less that teachers know about child nature, the more they will have to guess at what to do. This guess work is what causes a large per cent of pupils to become uninterested, to fail, and finally to quit school. Below is a Hst of statements on child nature. Some of them may well be questioned. Study them care- 194 HUMAN NATURE 195 fully and evaluate each one. Select the ones that must be kept in mind by a scientific teacher. 1. A child is naturally neither good nor bad. Either is a result of training. 2. A child is naturally neither sociable nor unsociable. Either is a result of training. 3. A child is not afraid until he is taught to be afraid. 4. There is no human instinct of self-preservation. One must learn to protect himself. 5. An instinct is a natural or unlearned tendency to act in a certain way. 6. Child nature is wrapped up in the nervous system. 7. A child inherits a love for some things and a hatred for others. 8. A teacher needs to give more attention to inborn tenden- cies than to instincts. 9. Learning is making new connections in the nervous sys- tem, or modifying old ones. 10. By instinct a child tries to put everything in his mouth. He learns to discriminate. 11. The child nature of to-day is not different from the child nature of 20,000 B.C. 12. By nature the child is plastic and is dependent on environ- ment to determine his destiny. 13. Environment determines what a child will do; heredity determines how well he will do it. 14. No one is naturally nervous, but one may learn to be nervous. 15. It is natural for children to tremble in the presence of some teachers. 16. Children are so constituted that ghost stories have a bad effect on them. 196 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 17. A child, at birth, has very few instincts, and no habits. 18. Instincts appear at different times and disappear at different times. They come gradually and go gradu- ally. 19. When instincts appear they remain with one the remain- der of his life. 20. Some instincts must be encouraged, some discouraged, and some modified. 21. There are some instincts that children do not need. Among them are jealousy, envy, rivalry, anger, fear, and bullying. 22. Instincts cause the failure of more people than any other one cause. Without instincts one could not succeed. 23. Instincts may be inhibited or controlled by disuse, pun- ishment, or substitution, but the best of these is sub- stitution. 24. It is natural for children to sing, dance, fight, and love. These tendencies should be encouraged. 25. Curiosity is an instinct and is as great a factor in the lives of adults as in the lives of children. 26. Instinct is intellectual, physical, and social. 27. A child does not instinctively imitate, but he may learn to imitate. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 9 ; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapter 3 ; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 3 ; Gessell, The Normal Child and Primary Education, Chapters 3 and 6 ; James, Talks to Teachers, Chapters 6 and 7 ; Kirkpatrick, Funda- mentals of Child Study, Chapters 4, 5, and 6; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. i, Pages 611-621; Vol. iii. Pages 463-467; Nors- worthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapters i, 2, 3, and 4; Pyle, Outlines of Educational Psychology, Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 ; HUMAN NATURE 197 Pyle, The Science of Human Nature ; Strayer, The Teaching Process, Pages 16-24 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 2 ; Tan- ner, The Child, Chapter 6 ; Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Vol. i ; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 3 ; Waddle, Introduction to Child Psychology, Chapters 4 and 5. II. IMITATION Until recently, Indian children got most of their knowledge, ideals, and habits by imitating their elders. The Eskimo children learn largely through imitation. All children are quick to imitate their elders. Teachers and parents have taken advantage of the fact that children are great imitators and have led them to cer- tain goals, through imitation, when children least sus- pected what was being done. But imitation as a factor in educating children has been neglected. It often happens that pupils learn more through imitating their classmates than through anything that the teacher has them do. Children are changing all the time for better or for worse, depending largely on whom they imitate. The good teacher will not neglect this important factor in education. Evaluate the following statements that have been made on imitation. Whether you agree or do not agree with the statements, be able to give reasons ^or your opinions. Select the ones which you consider of most worth to the teacher. 1. One cannot associate with others and not imitate them. 2. The greatest need of our schools to-day is teachers and igS ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING parents worthy to be imitated. Teachers and parents are being imitated when they do not know it. 3. Children cannot rise above those whom they imitate. 4. School children imitate only those people whom they admire. The same is true with adults. 5. Imitation is not an instinct, but an inherited tendency for one to do what he sees others do. 6. Young people are more imitative than adults. 7. People do not get in a rut until they quit imitating. 8. Communities become non-progressive only when they have no leaders to be imitated. 9. Leaders as well as followers are in need of some one to imitate. 10. If there were no acts except acts of imitation, there could be no progress. 11. Children often try to walk, talk, laugh, dress, sing, write, and eat as nearly like the teacher as possible. 12. The nervous, nagging, impatient, threatening, and wor- rying teachers and parents are imitated by the chil- dren. 13. The child will not and cannot imitate an act which he has not previously seen performed. 14. The child accidentally does many things. He then imi- tates (repeats) many of his own actions until they be- come habitual. 15. No other animal has such a long, plastic, and helpless period of infancy as the human. This is to enable one generation, through imitation, to determine the des- tiny of the next generation. 16. Children imitate immediately, but adults wait until no one will recognize what they do as imitation. 17. If, during the next seventy-five years, all the American children could be brought up in Chinese homes by HUMAN NATURE 199 Chinese people, and all the Chinese children could be brought up in American homes by American people, the government, religion, customs, etc., in both China and America would be the same as they are to-day. The only change would be that of blood. 18. A leader is one whom the people will imitate. 19. Before one can be a leader, he must become ''one of the gang." 20. The tactful teacher will lead the leader. 21. People have more followers (imitators) through daily living than through preaching. 22. Japan owes her rapid progress to the fact that she imi- tated other nations. 23. China owes her lack of progress to the fact that she has not imitated other nations as much as she has imitated her own customs. 24. Custom imitation is an enemy to progress. 25. There are four principal causes for custom imitation : a. The giving of authority to old people who are set in their ways, b. Physical isolation. c. Linguistic isolation. d. Social isolation. 26. There are four principal factors that help break up cus- tom imitation : a. Improved methods of communication. h. Education often so broadens one that he opposes prevailing customs. c. Citizens may travel, return home, and introduce new ideas, or new blood may move into a community. d. Freedom of speech and the press. 27. Many years of imitating our associates have given us our present ideals, habits, and character. 200 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 28. We need to consolidate schools so as to give the pupils more and better examples to imitate. 29. A child can and does imitate ideas secured from reading, as well as ideas secured from his associates. 30. In planning a curriculum, the student should be as care- ful in selecting the teachers as in selecting the subjects. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 16 ; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 16; Dewey, Democracy and Education, Pages 40-43 ; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 5 ; Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, Chapter 10 ; McDougall, Social Psychol- ogy, Pages 102-107; 325-345; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. ni, Pages 388-390, Vol. v. Page 544; Norsworthy and Whit- ley, Psychology of Childhood, Pages 70-74 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Pages 114-116; 178-180; Pyle, Outlines of Educational Psychology, Chapter 9 ; Pyle, The Science of Human Nature; Ross, Social Psychology, Chapter 8, 12, 14, 15, and 16 ; Tan- ner, The Child, Chapter 16; Thorndike, Education, Pages 75-76; Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Vol. i, Chapter 8. III. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES It is agreed that pupils differ, but it is not agreed that methods in teaching them must differ. Our sys- tem of schools demands that teachers handle children in groups. This means that the teacher must teach groups, but it does not mean that individual differences in the groups must be ignored. Learning is not a group act, but an individual act. The teacher's explanation may be meaningless to all members of the group except one. The group is facing the teacher, but it is as es- HUMAN NATURE 20i sential for her to see and recognize individuals as it is for the lawyer to see individuals when he stands before a jury. The following statements on individual differences have been collected from various sources. Evaluate each one and tell why you think it is or is not a guiding principle for the teacher. 1. No two children are alike. Some are timid, others are not ; some are nervous, others are not ; some are bright, others are dull; some have very little energy, others have a surplus ; some are studious, others are not. 2. No two children can be taught alike. 3. Most teachers teach as if all children were alike. 4. Children differ mentally, morally, and socially more than physically. 5. To know our pupils we must first know ourselves. 6. No one can know or understand a person who is very different from himself or herself. 7. There is a greater difference among children than among adults. 8. There is a greater difference among boys than among girls. 9. All one-year-old children are more nearly alike than all eight-year-old children. 10. Temperament, disposition, strength of mind, and phys- ical features are inherited. 11. Morals, ideals, self-control, habits, and religion are ac- quired. 12. Some bright pupils cannot learn to spell; some cannot learn history; others cannot learn mathematics. 13. Children should not be compelled to study any subject for which they have no interest. 202 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 14. There should be only one course of study for the elemen- tary schools, and all pupils should take it. This com- mon body of knowledge is to make all pupils more nearly alike. 15. Maturity, ancestry, environment, and sex are the prin- cipal causes of individual differences. 16. Some pupils are more mature at the age of six than others are at the age of twelve. 17. The reason why some people succeed while others fail is that their original natures are different. 18. Physicians do not treat any two patients alike. No good teacher will treat any two pupils alike. 19. In any grade the pupils range from very poor to very bright, some doing five times as much work as others. They differ in ability to give attention and to think. 20. Good teachers will give as much attention to bright pupils as to dull pupils. It is not right to hold some pupils and to push others. 21. Treatment which will encourage one pupil may dis- courage another. 22. A teacher who does not consider the individual differ- ences of her pupils does more harm than good. 23. No two pupils need the same help. A good teacher teaches individuals in the class, never the class as a whole. 24. In a mile race the contestants will not go or finish in groups. The same is true of pupils in school. In a well-organized school, pupils will be promoted individ- ually, never by grades. 25. A good teacher assigns a lesson to individual pupils, never to the class as a whole. 26. The brightest pupil in school is usually the most re- tarded pupil. HUMAN NATURE 203 27. Children, by nature, are divided into five groups : a. Those who like abstract ideas, such as mathematics. b. Those who like concrete ideas, such as the natural sciences. c. Those who like activities, such as leading in play, school activities, etc. d. Those who have strong feelings, such as the mission- ary mind. e. Those who are interested in nothing. 28. A good teacher will know each pupil and provide for his or her development by : a. Providing a desk that fits the child, h. Providing subject matter which is interesting. c. Acting so as to stimulate the pupil to do his or her best at all times. d. Providing an environment that will develop the child mentally, physically, and morally. e. Helping the pupil to find his or her appropriate place in life. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 1 2 ; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages 1 21-136; Coursault, The Principles of Education; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Pages 231-235 ; LaRue, Psychol- ogy of Teachers, Chapter 15; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. Ill, Pages 420-421 ; Parker, General Methods of Teaching in Elementary Schools, Chapter 2 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Pages 1 18-124; Smith, All the Children of All the People, Chapters i and 2 ; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Pages 27-29 ; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom Teacher, Chap- ter 4 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 10 ; Strong, Introductory Psychology, Pages 98-140; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 6 ; Thorndike, Individuality ; Thorndike, Edu- cational Psychology, Vol. iii, Part 2. 204 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING IV. ATTENTION AND INTEREST Until a teacher has the attention of pupils, she can- not teach. She can do nothing but waste time. At- tention is not to be secured by demanding it or by any unusual signal. Such tactics may secure momentary attention, but that is not what the teacher wants. She wants continued attention, and this is secured only by appealing to the pupils with something that has for them a lasting interest. But different children are interested in different things. The good teacher will study each pupil and will help him or her find some- thing that has a lasting interest. Study the following statements on attention and in- terest. Some of them may well be questioned. Pick out the best statements and point out the guiding prin- ciple in each one. 1. The child gives its attention, then becomes interested. 2. Interest must come before attention. 3. Interest and attention come at the same time. 4. A child gives attention to that which interests him most. 5. The state of inattention does not exist. 6. Attention, interest, and consciousness are inseparable. 7. A child gives attention to more things than adults do. 8. What one attends to depends on his age, aim, interests, sex, maturity, and experience. 9. One's stage of civilization is determined by what inter- ests him. 10. Education is learning what to attend to and what to neg- lect. HUMAN NATURE 205 11. What not to attend to is more important than what to attend to. 12. Attention to mathematics for fifty years weakens one's ability to attend to home economics. 13. Attention can be given to only one thing at a time. 14. Unbroken attention can be given to one thing for only six seconds. 15. The greater the interest, the better the attention. 16. Attention should be so concentrated that noise is un- noticed. 17. For one to be easily disturbed in his studies is uncom- plimentary. 18. Concentration depends on : a. Mental and physical condition b. Maturity c. Experience 19. Active attention is more educative than passive attention. 20. Teachers should strive to make all passive attention secondary. 21. The habitual act requires no attention. 22. One can do as many acts at the same time as he has habits. 23. If one knows nothing about a matter he cannot give his attention to it. 24. One can learn nothing without first giving his attention to it. 25. TJie business of the teacher is to make school life more interesting than the things on the outside. 26. The pupil who is not paying attention, is giving his atten- tion to something that for him is worth more. 27. Active attention results in divided attention. 28. Divided attention reduces one's efiiciency fifty per cent. 29. Active attention means a minimum of attention. 2o6 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 30. Active attention means a minimum of work in quantity and quality. 31. One should resort to "sugar coating" to get attention. 32. Attention got by "sugar coating" cannot be held. 33. Any one can get attention, but it takes a real teacher to hold it. 34. It is worse to secure attention and lose it than never to have secured it at all. 35. What interests one will not interest another. 36. What interests a pupil now will not interest him next year. 37. To interest pupils, the teacher must first know them. 38. Before one can become interested in a subject he must study until he learns something about it. 39. By nature, one is more interested in some things than in others. 40. To be interested in everything would impede progress. 41. If one's study is not interesting, it does more harm than good. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Arnold, Attention and Interest; Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 6 ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 23 ; Bobbitt, The Curriculum, Chapter 2; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 26; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapters 17, 18, and 19; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Chapters 2 and 4; Dewey, Interest and Efort in Education; Freeland, Modern Ele- mentary School Practice, Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8; James, Talks to Teachers, Chapters 10 and 11 ; Kitson, How to Use Your Mind, Chap- ter 6 ; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Community, Chap- ter 5 ; McMurry, Elements of General Method, Chapter 3 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. i, Pages 295-297; Vol. iii. Pages 472-476 ; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapter 6 ; Parker, General Methods of Teaching in the Elementary School, Chap- ter 9; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 11; Strayer, HUMAN NATURE 207 A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 3 ; Strayer and Nors- worthy, How to Teach, Chapter 3 ; Sutton and Horn, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter 19 ; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 5 ; Thorndike, Education, Chapter 6 ; Wilson and Wilson, Motivation of Classroom Work, Pages 21-25 ; 30-40. V. IMAGINATION Without a vivid imagination children could neither enjoy reading nor be entertained with a story. There would be no such things as word pictures, planned trips, or air castles. The teacher could no longer be- gin by saying, "Let us imagine that we are on our way to Europe," etc. Teachers spend a large part of their time playing on the imagination of children. This is as it should be. The good teacher is continually look- ing into the faces of her pupils to see whether they are getting the images which she wants them to get. The child's face and general behavior reflect the child's mental images. The teacher, being unable to see the mind, must read the reflections of the mind to see whether the child is thinking (imagining) or whether he is failing to grasp what she is trying to teach. The child whose imagination is not active, is not learning. The following statements have been made by teachers who see the big part that imagination plays in the edu- cative process. Evaluate each statement. Select the ones that should help the teacher in her daily work. I. Imagination is a mental process of reproducing or re- arranging past experiences. 2o8 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 2. Without memory, there can be no imagination. 3. Without imagination, there can be no learning. 4. From a one-inch cube one can saw sixty-four quarter- inch cubes. If the inch cube is painted red, how many of the quarter-inch cubes will be red on one side ? on two sides? on three sides? on no sides? 5. What difference would it make if the earth's axis in- clined 75°? 6. One should learn most things through all the senses, thus enabling the thing learned to be imaged througli all the senses. 7. A vivid imagination is not inherited, but acquired. To train the imagination is to increase the ability to think. 8. Without imagination, one will not and cannot plan for the future — not even for to-morrow's work. 9. The reason that people sow "wild oats" is because their imagination does not reveal the harvest. 10. The imagination of children is stronger than that of adults. 11. Good teachers can imagine themselves in the child's place, seeing the subject as the child sees it. 12. Too much emphasis is placed on memory work, and too little on imagination. 13. It is more important to imagine how a situation should be than to remember how it was or to know how it is. 14. Progress in all fields is dependent upon imagination. 15. Failure to enjoy history, geography, arithmetic, etc., is due to poor imagination. 16. People are satisfied with bad conditions only when they are unable to imagine good conditions. 17. Ideals are nothing more than imaginations. 18. Imaginations are limited to one's environment, therefore one cannot rise above his environment. HUMAN NATURE 209 19. One is usually what his parents are because he has no other images. 20. The artist, the inventor, the farmer, the physician, and the minister need the same type of imagery. 21. A child's imagination is so vivid that it often confuses images of imagination with memory images. 22. Fairy stories deal with imaginary situations only, and should not be taught to children. 23. One had better be illiterate than unimaginative. 24. Through the imagination, people get more pleasure in planning trips than in taking them. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Angell, Psychology, Chapter 8 ; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapters 18 and 19; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapters 7 and 8; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Chapter 15; Dearborn, How to Learn Easily, Chapter 4 ; Dynes, Socializing the Child, Chap- ter 5; James, Briefer Course in Psychology, Chapter 19; Judd, Psychology, Chapter 1 1 ; Kirkpatrick, Imagination and Its Place in Education; La Rue, Psychology for Teachers, Chapter 11; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iii, Pages 386-388 ; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapter 9 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, Chapter 6 ; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 9 ; Thorndike, Education^ Chapter 5. VI. MEMORY It is not v^hat one eats, but what he digests, that makes him strong. It is not what one experiences, but what he remembers, that develops his mind. It is memory that enables one to avoid trouble. It is memory plus imagination that enables one to solve prob- 2IO ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING lems. The good teacher will not neglect memory work in school, but she will not worry her pupils by com- pelling them to commit to memory useless material, or good material at the wrong time or in the wrong way. Study the following statements on memory. Eval- uate each one. Select those that a good teacher should remember. 1. All that one commits to memory should be worth re- membering throughout life. 2. Never ask a class to commit anything to memory until both teacher and pupils know why it should be com- mitted to memory. 3. A good teacher will not ask her pupils to commit to memory that which she does not know. 4. One's native ability to memorize cannot be strengthened but one's method of committing to memory can be improved. 5. One's memory is better when the body is rested. 6. The body, not the mind, gets tired. 7. One cannot commit to memory that which does not in- terest him. 8. The memory of a child is no better than that of an adult. 9. The memory of girls is better than that of boys. 10. In committing to memory poetry or prose, one will save time to read the entire selection over and over, rather than to take it by parts. 11. Committing to memory is nothing more than forming a habit. 12. Habit and memory are physiological. 13. One has a hahit of talking, but he remembers how to walk dress, eat, subtract, and read. HUMAN NATURE 2ii 14. If one wishes to remember a certain idea well, he must experience it through as many senses as possible. 15. Much that one learns he has more need to forget than to remember. 16. A grade pupil cannot learn his lesson by writing it. The art of writing demands most of the child's attention. 17. Repetition is killing time unless the pupils are interested in what they repeat. 18. Ability to recall depends on : (i) power or retention, (2) number of associations, and (3) organization of associations. 19. One is unable to recall an idea, name, or event, until something occurs to suggest the idea, name, or event. 20. One should use a great number of mnemonic devices, e.g., the War of the Roses between the Houses of Lan- caster and York. Which house was the red rose? It was Lancaster, for the last letter is r and the first let- ter of red is r. 21. The pupil who can learn a lesson quickly, forgets it quickly. 22. Ebbinghaus had some students commit to memory 2300 nonsense syllables. One hour later they had forgotten one-half of them. One day later two-thirds of the syllables were forgotten. One month later four-fifths of the syllables were forgotten. This is about the rate that all of us forget all that we learn. 23. To over-learn anything will cause one to remember it longer. 24. The teacher usually encourages memory, and discourages thinking. 25. One can remember one kind of material as well as an- other. One can memorize at one time of the day as well as another. 212 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 26. A child should not remember more than one-half of what he learns in the elementary school. 27. Students should not be expected to remember one-half of what they learn in high school and college. SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 1 1 ; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapters 13 and 15 ; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behav- ior, Chapter 15 ; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 10; James, Talks to Teachers, Chapter 12 ; Judd, Psychology, Chapter 9; Kitson, How to Use Your Mind, Chapter 5 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. IV, Pages 191-193 ; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapter 8 ; Pyle, The Outlines of Educational Psychology^ Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Pyle, The Science of Human Nature; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 5 ; Strong, Intro- ductory Psychology, Pages 69-91 ; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 8 ; Thorndike, Education, Chapter 8. VII. HABIT FORMATION Too often habits are thought of as something bad. The author once received a letter asking for a teacher who had " no habits at all." Man is a bundle of habits, good and bad. When a careful observer visits a school, the pupils are watched to see what habits they have, much more than to find out what they know. The human remains plastic for more than twenty-one years, and like clay, concrete, etc., the shape one takes during this period of plasticity is the shape one keeps. The worth of a teacher must be measured by the habits which she helps her pupils to form. A community is HUMAN NATURE 213 fortunate indeed when it secures a teacher whose pre- cepts and examples help young people to form good habits. Study each statement given below, and be able to tell why you think it is or is not sound in principle. Se- lect those statements that contain principles which should guide the teacher's work. 1. Habits may be mental, moral, or physical. 2. Education is nothing more than forming habits. 3. Education ceases where habits begin. 4. To encourage one habit is to discourage another. 5. To form one habit is to break another. 6. Habits are broken only by forming others. 7. If a child is not forming good habits, he is forming bad ones. 8. One forms no habits except as a result of activities that bring satisfaction. 9. If compulsory activities bring annoyance, habits of de- ception will result. 10. One can have good habits that make it impossible for him to be wicked. 11. Ugly or sweet dispositions, being kind, pretty, friendly, etc., are only habits. 12. Much of our practice is worse than no practice. 13. It is as easy to form good habits as bad ones. 14. There is no difference between a habit and a rut. 15. One who is not forming new habits has quit growing. 16. There are people who have no bad habits. 17. There are people who have no good habits. 18. Elementary education trains in habits of acting. 19. Secondary education trains in habits of thinking. 214 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 20. What one gains in skill (habit) he loses in adaptability. 21. The formation of a habit is the only motive that teachers can have for compelling pupils to do some things. 22. Children will drill to form a habit, adults will not. 23. Drill should be confined to lower grades, thinking to up- per grades. 24. Laziness is a habit and can be broken. 25. Teachers can and do teach pupils to be lazy. 26. Habit is a tendency to think and act as we have thought and acted. 27. Habits make for accuracy, self-confidence, speed, and economy of energy. 28. Habit is physical and can no more be erased than one can erase a scar. 29. Habits limit one's field of activities. 30. It is scarcity, not an abundance, of habits that forces one into a rut and makes him mediocre. 31. The more habits one has, the better off he is. 32. The two great laws of habit formation are exercise and effect. 33. Habit is not controlled by consciousness. 34. Lower animals have only instincts. Man has also habits. 35. All acts should be made habitual. 36. Some people have a habit of smoking, others a habit of not smoking. 37. The more habits a person has, the more freedom he has for initiative in thought action. 38. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," because he cannot form new habits. 39. After one is thirty years old he learns no new habits. 40. If one would form a habit he must : (i) be determined to form it; (2) never allow an exception to occur; (3) use every effort to carry out his determination. HUMAN NATURE 215 SUGGESTED REFERENCES Bagley, Classroom Management, Chapters 1,2, and 3 ; Betts, Class- room Method and Management, Chapter 6 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapter 23 ; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior ^ Chapter 1 1 ; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapters 3 and 4 ; Ear- hart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 12 ; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 8 ; James, Talks to Teachers, Chapter 8 ; Judd, Psychology, Chapter 8; King, Education for Social Efficiency, Chapter 15 ; Mon- roe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iii, Pages 201-205 ; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapter 11 ; Parker, General Methods in Elementary Schools, Chapter 10 ; Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural Schools, Pages 149-151 ; 241-246 ; Pyle, Outlines of Educational Psychology, Chapters 10 and 11; Pyle, The Science of Human Nature; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 8 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Study, Chapter 4 ; Sut- ton and Horn, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter 20 ; Thorndike, Edu- cation, Chapter 6; Turner, Essentials of Teaching, Chapter 7, VIII. HABITS AND ATTITUDES WHICH CHILDREN SHOULD FORM Select from the following list the habits and mental attitudes which pupils should form. Tell briefly how you would help pupils to form the habit of: 1. Being efficient in the mechanical side of reading. 2. Using skillfully the four fundamentals in arithmetic. 3. Writing, including position, holding the pencil, etc. 4. Being polite and courteous to others. 5. Being kind to teachers and playmates. 6. Wanting to know why. 7. Defending one's own opinion. 8. Feeling free and easy while talking to a class or audience. 9. Using correct English, both written and spoken. 2i6 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 10. Repeating necessary tables, rules, and definitions. 11. Keeping clean in person, speech, and thought. 12. Correct standing, sitting, and walking. 13. Handing a textbook to a visitor or to the teacher. 14. Being patient and helpful to little folks and old folks. 15. Listening attentively when some one talks. 16. Keeping a clean and well-arranged desk. 17. Taking advice and criticism in the right spirit. 18. Taking care of books, furniture, buildings, and grounds. 19. Concentrating on whatever is being done. 20. Always having a well-prepared lesson. 21. Eating, talking, and laughing at the right time and in the right way. 22. Assuming responsibility and being dependable. EXERCISES 1. To what extent is Section XIV, Chapter I, a discussion of habit formation ? 2. To what extent is Section III, Chapter IV, a discussion of habit formation ? 3. Name other habits and mental attitudes which pupils should form. IX. TRANSFER OF TRAINING "As the twig is bent, the tree will grow." What one is to-day is determined by his experiences yesterday. What one will be to-morrow will be determined by his experiences to-day. Each experience leaves one with a changed concept and a different mental attitude toward life. It is experiences that cause one to be HUMAN NATURE 217 proud or humble, selfish or altruistic, honest or dis- honest, happy or sad, loyal or disloyal, etc. Education is only the change which results from experiences. The child's change or growth is determined by his experi- ences, but the child has very little to do in determining his experiences. This must be left largely to his elders. Programs of study are written to give children the experiences which are necessary to render them good citizens. Children are often advised to study arith- metic, because it gives them experiences that will make them stronger in all other subjects. This is denied by people who say that the study of arithmetic will help a child in nothing but arithmetic or closely related subjects. They claim that habits are specific and can- not be transferred to different fields of work. This is answered by people who say that knowledge and skill may not be transferred so much as mental attitudes, methods of attacking problems, etc. They say that when a pupil acquires a good method of study- ing one subject, this same good method can be trans- ferred to the study of any other subject. Skill in playing tennis will help one to play hand- ball, because the two games have a number of identical elements. Skill in arithmetic will help one in algebra because the two subjects have a number of identical elements. One always hesitates to leave a work in which he is skilled and begin work in an unrelated field, where he has nothing that can be transferred. 2i8 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING Study the following statements on the transfer of training. Evaluate each statement and tell why you agree or disagree with it. 1. If an ax is sharpened to cut one kind of wood, it is sharp- ened to cut any kind of wood, 2. If one's mind is trained to solve problems in mathe- matics, it is trained to solve problems in any other field of thought. 3. One cannot put rocks into a bank and take out money. 4. One cannot put historical facts into the mind and take out anything else. 5. Learning to play tennis helps one to be a better baseball player. 6. Learning Latin helps one to be a better carpenter. 7. One gets very little mental training in doing that which he really likes to do. 8. The more one dislikes to do a thing, the better it is for him to do it. 9. If a child learns to be polite to one person, he will be polite to all people. 10. If a child learns to be rude to one person, he will be rude to all people. 11. If a pupil is taught to be neat in his language work, he will be neat in all his work. 12. Adults will learn a foreign language more quickly than will children, because adults have discipHned minds. 13. If one learns to concentrate well on one subject, he can concentrate well on any subject. 14. A good method of studying one kind of problem can be used in studying any kind of problem. 15. It is not what one studies, but how, that disciplines the mind. HUMAN NATURE 219 16. The mind can be disciplined as well on one subject as on another. 17. Studying in school is more for mental discipline than for information. 18. Not what one knows, but one's ability to concentrate, is what counts. 19. A sour disposition is general, but it was first specific. 20. The skeptic is skeptical toward everything except his own skepticism. 21. The good student is studious toward everything. 22. Children, like adults, will not do more than they are compelled to do. 23. The entertaining teacher is the pupil's greatest handicap. 24. Pupils get more mental training in working at their own vital problems, than on tasks assigned by the teacher. 25. It is unfortunate for one not to have met and solved some of life's most serious living problems, 26. Working at complex and vital problems was what made Lincoln great. 27. One can work so long doing one thing that he is fit for nothing else. 28. What one gains in skill, he loses in adaptability. 29. Learning to do one thing helps one to do nothing else except something related. 30. Habits are specific. What one learns in one line helps him in no unrelated line. 31. Schools should stop giving people an "education" and give them a training for more definite work. 32. What one does determines what one is, more than what one is determines what one does. 33. Long and serious study leaves one changed for the better. 220 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING SUGGESTED REFERENCES Angell, Pillsbury, and J ndd, Educational Review, June, 1908 ; Bagley, The Educative Process, Pages 25-39; 203-217; Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 28; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapter 14; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 13 ; Heck, Mental Discipline and Educational Values ; Moore, What Is Education ? Chapter 3 ; O'Shea, Education as Adjustment, Pages 246-283 ; Reudiger, Prin- ciples of Education, Chapter 6 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 12; Thorndike, Education, Chapter 15; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Pages 235-256. EXERCISES 1. When one has learned to study and enjoy geography, what other study will he be the better able to enjoy ? 2. When one has gained skill in playing ''mumble peg," what else will that skill help him to do ? 3. A student becomes skilled in reading Latin. She wishes to become skilled in art, music, sewing, English, and rope walking. Show how the skill in Latin can or cannot be transferred to these other fields. 4. Does one learn to be honest by practicing honesty, or may he have certain experiences, or study certain sub- jects that will transfer to his everyday living and help him to be honest ? X. MORAL-SOCIAL EDUCATION When a nation begins to neglect the moral education of its children, it begins to decay. If all teachers in all nations would only give proper emphasis to moral training, we would not have to worry over making the world safe for democracy. If our own seven hundred HUMAN NATURE 221 thousand teachers could only give proper emphasis to moral education, we should no longer need to worry over the report that our nation has reached its limit and is now crumbling. The community is fortunate if it is able to say, ''Our teachers are doing their part.'' Study the following statements and evaluate each one. Be able to tell why you think each statement is or is not sound, both in theory and in practice. 1. Education has no aim except to produce better citizens. The teacher is employed for nothing except to build character. 2. A slave cannot do a moral act. So long as one person is ruled by another he cannot live a moral life. This makes it necessary that children be given their freedom. 3. It matters little what a teacher advises ; it matters much what she does. The instructor is more influential than her instruction. 4. Good habits of acting and thinking can be so well grounded that the one possessing them cannot do wrong. 5. Virtues such as respectfulness, truthfulness, sincerity, promptness, sympathy, kindness, etc., like the oak develop slowly, and only in a good environment. 6. Good character is nothing but virtues habituated. 7. The virtues cannot be habituated except through the cooperation of the home, the school, and the church. 8. Each school should have a class in morals and manners. 9. History and literature are nothing but character studies for character building. 10. The school should be a litde republic — a training ground for citizenship. 222 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING SUGGESTED REFERENCES Adler, The Moral Instruction of Children; Bagley, Educational Values, Chapters i-6; Betts, Classroom Method and Management, Chapter 22; Bobbitt, The Curriculum, Chapter 13; Bolton, Prin- ciples of Education, Chapter 27 ; Brooks, Education for Democracy, Chapters 20-21 ; Davis, Vocational and Moral Guidance, Chapters 3 and 6 ; Dewey, Democracy in Education, Chapter 3 ; Dewey, Moral Principles in Education; Earhart, Types of Teaching; Engleman, Moral Education in the Home and School; Hall, Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene, Chapter 12 ; Kennedy, Fundamentals in Methods, Chapter 19; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Pages 306-313; Palmer, Moral and Ethical Instruction in School; Pearson, Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 1 5 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Edu- cation, Chapter 14 ; Pyle, An Outline of Educational Psychology, Chap- ter 12; Pugh, Moral Training in Our Public Schools; Robbins, The School as a Social Institution, Chapter 8 ; Sadler, Moral Instruction and Training in School; Scott, Social Education, Chapters i and 12; Sharp, Education for Character; Smith, Introduction to Educational Sociology, Chapter 13 ; Smith, All the Children of All the People, Chapter 34 ; Sneath and Hodges, Moral Training in the School and Home; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 14 ; Strayer and Nors worthy. How to Tecu:h, Chapter 2 ; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 2 ; Waddle, Introduction to Child Psychology, Chapter 9. For further references see bibliography in Johnson's The Modern High School, Pages 817-825. APPENDIX No. 1 TEACHER RATING CARD (For Recitation Work) This card is not for the supervisor only. The teacher should rate herself at least three times annually to see what progress she is making. She should be able to give good reasons for the answers given to the fourteen questions on this card. She will detect her weaknesses, study the causes, and seek the remedies. Teacher Observe Name of School Subject and Grade No. of Pupils in Class Date Management I. How does the teacher economize time? 2. What habits, good, bad, or indifferent, are the pupils forming ? 3. To what extent do all the pupils respond? 4. To what extent are all the pupils interested and respect- ful? 5. How did the teacher arouse individual effort? 6. How did the teacher take care of the pupils' health ? Instruction I. To what extent did the teacher have a clear, definite u ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING aim ? 2. What was the method of reaching this aim ? . 3. Did she have her subject matter well organized? 4. Did the teacher talk or did she teach ? 5. Did the teacher get the pupils to think or merely to re- member what the book said? 6. Did the teacher use her textbook to advantage? Summary I. What are the teacher's strong points?. 2. What are the teacher's weak points?. No. 2 TEACHER RATING CARD (For Work in General) The growing teacher does not wait to be rated. She rates herself, not only on the recitation, but on her entire work. County School White or colored Teacher's name Grades taught Scorer Date Personal Qualities 1. Health 2. Use of English 3. Enthusiasm 4. Appearance 5. Interest in community activ- ities v.p. Poor Med. Good Ex. APPENDIX 111 Relation to Physical Welfare of the Childrcjt 1. Cleanliness of schoolroom and grounds 2. Lighting 3. Ventilation and heating . . 4. Posture of pupils while stand- ing, sitting, or walking . . Relation to Intellectual Welfare of Children 1. Application of subject matter to lives of pupils .... 2. Interest of pupils in class . . 3. Interest of pupils not in class 4. Use of subject matter not in the text 5. Demand of the teacher for thought by the pupils . . Clearness of aim in every ac- tivity Use of illustrative material Grasp of subject matter . . Relation to Moral Welfare of Children I. Influence of the school on the child's character .... Relation to Management and Discipline 1. Courtesy of pupils .... 2. Disciplinary ability .... 3. Passing of children .... 4. Economy of time v. p. Poor Med. Good Ex. iv ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING SUGGESTED REFERENCES Boyce, Method for Measuring the Efficiency of Teachers, Fourteenth Yearbook, Part ii; Clark, "Teacher Qualifications Sought by Super- intendents," American School Board Journal, Feb., 1918, Page 28 ff. ; Connor, " A New Method of Rating Teachers," Journal of Educational Research, May, 1920; "Findings of the Evanston, 111., Committee of Teachers," American School Board Journal, March, 1918, Page 26 ff. ; Hill, " The Efficiency Ratings of Teachers," Elementary School Journal, Feb. 192 1 ; Nutt, Supervision of Instruction, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920, Chapter 15 ; Rugg, "Improvement of Teach- ers through Self Rating," Elementary School Journal, May, 1920. INDEX PAGE Aims of Elementary Education 70 Applicants i Appreciation 167 Assigning the Lesson 139 Attention and Interest 204 Child Nature 194 Community Activities 63 Consolidation 86 Cooperation 22 Course of Study 74 Daily Schedule 80 Deductive Teaching 127 Discipline 95 Economy of Time in Management 89 Educated Person, Evidences of an 35 Eighth Grade Graduates, What They Should Know .... 72 Examinations . no First Day of School, Before the 15 First Day of School 17 Habit Formation 212 Habits for Children 215 Health, The Teacher's 174 Health Chores for the Pupils 176 Health Work in the School 177 Home Work, School Credit for 42 How to Study 131 Imagination 207 Imitation 197 Individual Differences 200 Inductive Teaching 124 Interest 204 Library, The School 164 V VI INDEX PAGE Memory 209 Method, Factors That Determine 120 Moral-Social Education 220 Parent-Teacher Association 50 Patrons Want to Know, What 26 Personality, The Teacher's 12 Planning the Lesson 136 Play, Education through 103 Problem Method 154 Program of Studies 74 Project Method 151 Punishment 99 Questions for Debates for Literary Societies 59 Questions for Debates for Teachers' Meetings 52 Questioning, Methods of 156 Recitation, The 143 Recitation, The Socialized 147 Recitation, What a Teacher Should Do in Each 160 Recitation, What a Teacher Should Never Do in a 162 Resolutions, A Teacher's 118 Rules Governing the School 93 Rural Schools, What Has Been Done for Them 44 Sanitation in Rural Schools 182 School Building, Standard One-Teacher 171 Score Card, for Rural School 46 Student Activities * 107 Survey, A Community 19 Teacher Qualifications 4 Teacher, The, and Her Work 10 Teachers Want to Know, What $$ Teacher Rating Card No. i i Teacher Rating Card No. 2 ii Teachers' Meetings, Topics for 56 Tests and Measurements 114 Textbooks, Their Uses 129 Transfer of Training 216 Uneducated Person, Evidences of an 37 Vocational Education 39 22