Pedagogical pebbles

Preface

These "Pebbles" were suggested and jotted down while I was engaged in the actual supervision of graded school work. This account of their origin explains the form in which they are presented. Each pebble is independent, being related to the others only in the order of its birth.

The book aims to be merely suggestive. The teacher who needs more than suggestion needs more than detail. A teacher's greatest need is inspiration, not direction. No copyist ever inspired a dull pupil. We have already had too much copying. No one ever achieved success in the school room by blindly following authority. Success in teaching comes from a conscious knowledge of correct methods and tact in applying them.

This little book is not a school room guide. It has a higher mission than mere direction. It is a modest attempt to call the attention of young teachers to many small points in the theory and practice of teaching which they may not have learned in the study of pedagogy. It is published in the hope that it may lead many teachers to look within for the inspiration, purpose, and self-reliance which make teaching real.

o^ T TXT T ionr; J- N. Patrick.

iii

Speciai, Suggestions ---..-_ 47.93

SpeIvWng - - 53-54

Language - 55-62

Geography - 77-82

History - . . _ 83_g4

IV

PART FIRST. General Suggestions

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VI

Pedagogical Pebbles.

^ The teacher is on the decline who does not find in the presence of a class of children the inspiration which fills him with the spirit of love and helpfulness.

^ In the primary grades the teacher is the only source of inspiration. During the first four years of a child's school life, fifteen minutes a day with a breathing teacher is worth more to him than an hour with a text-book. With pupils under ten years of age the teacher is the text-book.

^ The one great habit which pupils should acquire during the first four years of school life is that of selfreliance. Facts are valuable, but habits are more valuable. The teacher who helps a pupil to acquire proper habits of study has done him a substantial service. Correct methods of instruction establish correct habits of study. Method is the mother of habit. Habit is self.

* The most impressible period of a child's school life is spent in the primary grades. Easy and careless teaching during that period is intellectually destructive. Under the direction of timid and ignorant inexperience, children acquire habits that the tact and the patience of even the ablest teachers cannot always dislodge. As children acquire but little lasting information in the primary grades, they should acquire correct habits of vu study. There is no reason why the six year old child should not be as correctly taught as the twelve year old child. In the primary grades especially, the teacher's presence should be felt as well as seen. Earnestness, energy, and sympathy on the part of a primary teacher usually find a ready response in the heads and the hearts of little ones.

^ During the first four years of school life, a pupil should master the mechanical part of reading and the fundamental rules of arithmetic. In reading, he should learn to call words readily and correctly; he should learn the meaning and the use of punctuation marks; he should learn something of emphasis and inflection. In arithmetic, he should master the four fundamental rules. He should be able when he enters the grammar grade to add numbers as rapidly as he can speak results; to read differences and quotients as quickly as he names words in the reading lessons. This the average pupil can do, if he is properly taught the work of each grade.

® If a pupil does not acquire correct reading habits in the first four grades, the chances are that he will never acquire them. If he does not learn to do the work of the fundamental rules in arithmetic in accordance with the established laws of mind and facts of number, the chances are that he will hesitate and blunder, in the merely mechanical work of arithmetic, throughout life. The place for the most exact teaching is in the first four grades. Only the most conscientious, competent, and earnest teachers should be placed in those grades. The determining habits of pupils are formed in the primary grades.

■^ No one who has not been trained in a training school, or in the actual work of the school-room and at the expense of children, can properly teach or govern children. The bad habits acquired by pupils under the misdirection and indifference of unthinking and immature boys and girls, are known only to those who have given the subject intelligent consideration. A school may be a help or a hinderance; whicTi, depends entirely upon the kind of teacher it has. The ideals which it creates may bless or blight. It is a self-evident fact that wrong methods of instruction establish wrong habits of thinking. Pleasure in the pursuit of knowledge depends upon methods of study. The mind when properly exercised is always pleased with its experiences.

® The recitation of the words of a text-book, without ample illustration, is a school room farce. Without the ability to illustrate, a pupil learns much he will never know; that is, he merely recites the words of another, and mere recitation does not involve the understanding; it has little intellectual or moral value. Ample and clear illustration by the pupil is the only measure of his knowledge of the lesson, hence teachers should insist upon illustrations of definitions and rules.

® The three great obstacles in the way of American school children are, (1) the youth of many of the teachers, (2) the lack of training on the part of a large majority of teachers, (3) the use of too many text-books in the lower grades. Text-books have put many schools to sleep. Humdrum, text-book recitations soon stupify the brightest class.

lo PEDAGOGICAL PEBBLES.

1° Sound methods put tlie burden of the work upon the pupils. The successful teacher does not recite the lesson for the pupils nor feed them with suggestive questions. He talks but little. Pupils go to school not to learn to lean upon teachers and books, but to be trained in habits of self-reliance. They go to school not to hear teachers tell things, but to tell things themselves; not to be filled, but to be unfolded. Schools are supported not that teachers may recite to pupils, but that pupils may recite to teachers. Telling a pupil is not training him ; mind is developed only by its own activity. Mere filling is not culture; culture is the ability to reason. Think of this fact, talking teachers. Divide your talking by two and thus multiply the value of your services by four. A pupil's greatest need is training, not cramming. Text-book recitations are only means to an end; habit is the end.

^^ The soul rejoices only in self-won victories. It feels no special pleasure in results obtained through the direction of others. The earlier a child is trained to rely upon itself, the less the total burden of teaching it. The pupil's greatest need throughout school life is inspiration, not direction. Pupils should be encouraged to realize their aim through their own efforts. Much help on the part of the teacher weakens the will of the pupil and leads him to look for help when he should not receive it. In many schools the pupils are not required to think for themselves. The teachers tell and the pupils believe. Traditional routine is master. Real teachers train pupils to rely upon themselves; school-keepers train them for beggars. Teachers stimulate activity; school-keepers stupify it.

PEDAGOGICAL PEBBLES. ii

^^ Pupils do only what they are permitted, or rather encouraged, to do. If they are noisy, it is the teacher's fault; if they do not sit and stand erect, it is the teacher's fault; if they look down upon the floor or out of the window while reciting, it is the teacher's fault; if they fall into their seats while uttering the last words of a sentence, it is the teacher's fault; if they use both hands in holding their books, it is the teacher's fault; if they lean against the wall or hold fast to a desk while reciting, it is the teacher's fault; if they fill the air with wriggling hands, it is the teacher's fault; if non-reciting pupils disturb a reciting pupil, it is the teacher's fault; if pupils are not respectful to the teacher, it is the teacher's fault. The teacher is responsible for the school habits of his pupils. A teacher may have both head and heart culture and be a school room failure. She may be faithful, but still unsuccessful. The beginning of success is a gift.

^^ It is strange, passing strange, how little of improper bodily habits some teachers see. They have eyes but see not. It is stranger still how few ungrammatical expressions some teachers hear. They have ears but they hear not. Every ungrammatical expression should be heard and corrected at the time. Every such correction is more valuable than a regular lesson in formal grammar.

^* Restlessness on- the part of pupils can be cured only in one way — that is by getting them to work. Give them all they can do. Make the recitations so exacting (not so long) that they must study. Do not use the recitation time in talking, but use it in hearing.

^' Telling pupils to ''go to work" or to "get their lessons," never yet caused one pupil to go to work or to get his lesson. Make the recitations so personal, so exacting, that the average pupil will go to work. Self respect will compel him to work. In your method, appeal to the man that is in the boy. There is an undeveloped man in every average boy. The average boy has brains and honor. Reach his honor through his brains. You cannot reach either through cheap devices or through his skin.

" "Picking" at pupils — telling them to "sit up," "to keep quiet," "to study" — does little or no good. In a short time the disregard for the oft repeated injunction is seen in increased restlessness and disorder. When pupils learn that the injunction is only formal — a sort of habit — they do not even hear it, for pupils hear only what has meaning. The remedy is in the teacher — in the recitation. Get the pupils to work, and there will be little use for phrases which only irritate. Or, stop the recitation, say nothing, and stand still until the room is quiet. Stop the work of the school whenever necessary to give meaning to your general regulations. A teacher who cannot command and maintain order is a failure.

^^ Teacher, seldom or never repeat a question or the assignment of a lesson. Once is enough. By repetition you encourage the habit of inattention, increase your own work, and consume time. Give your pupils to understand that you must have their attention. Do not permit them to trifle with you nor with themselves.

^® Pupils should not be permitted to leave their seats during school hours for imaginary wants or for trifling needs. Their wants will usually keep until recess or noon. Only for a real want or urgent necessity should a pupil be permitted to leave his seat while the school is in session. Every time a pupil leaves his seat or crosses the room he disturbs the entire school.

^® If a teacher cannot govern a school without daily recourse to some form of physical force, he is a failure. The fear of punishment cannot long control children. Brute force is a questionable agency in the government of humanity. The frequent use of the rod is a frequent acknowledgement of natural unfitness. Without discipline, firm but kind, a school is but a school in name. Without the discipline which inclines an attentive ear to the voice of the teacher, instruction is fruitless. Without the quiet which invites thought, the school is but a farce. The price of proper school discipline is constant vigilance on the part of the teacher. Purpose, energy, and tact are always combined in successful teachers.

^° Spasmodic teachers cannot govern children. Energetic, methodical persistence is the key to success in the school-room. Pupils readily recognize just what a teacher is and govern themselves accordingly. Correcting a pupil occasionally will not dislodge his bad habits. Pupils do not respect spasmodic efforts to govern them. Persistency of purpose distinguishes the successful teacher from the failure. If you would dislodge a bad habit, you should always oppose it.

21 It is a sad sight to see an untrained boy or girl, fresh from some traditional high school or quack normal school, trying to instruct children. Without the slightest idea of how children are governed, they resort to force to cover their unfitness. With but a scanty knowledge of the subjects they are called upon to teach, their instruction is timid and soulless. But human nature is so self-helpful, so assertive, so divine, that it will unfold and develop notwithstanding the obstacles frequently put in its path. Teaching school requires the whole of a man or a woman: boys and girls are not larofe enouofh to teach others. The teacher needs the enthusiasm born of purpose. He needs the zeal of a lover. He should feel that his work is a necessity and that he is indispensible. The man who succeeds, feels that he has a mission to fill.

^2 If inexperienced children are to have places in our schools as teachers, they should be assigned to the upper grades. Many can teach pupils who are old enough to help themselves, but few can teach children in the primary grades. The more a pupil can help himself the less he needs a skillful teacher.

2® A real teacher never fails to leave an indelible impression upon every pupil he instructs. Pupils grow to believe and to act like their teachers. It is a real thing to teach school. No other work is so important or so complex as the work of the teacher; no other work requires a maturer mind, a clearer judgment, a more perfect self-control, or a larger knowledge of human nature. No other profession demands so much of its devotees. No other calling requires so many eyes, so much patience, so much perseverance, so much faith, so much love. The mother and the teacher are responsible for the man. Teacher, do you feel that you are building for the future? Do you know that the habits which children acquire under your direction, or by your permission, usually accompany them throughout life? Do you know that the ideals formed in early life lead to success or failure in later life?

^* Teachers should ever be students. No teacher can succeed who is content to remain in a state of rest, or who stops to ask the cost of his labor or what will be his reward. The world owes nothing to its contented men and women. Contentment means decline. The only way to do well is to strive to do better. This law of growth through striving is as universal in its application as the law of gravitation. A teacher without an ideal — an ever movable ideal — is intellectually, if not morally, dead.

^^ Attention, attention, attention. Teacher, if you cannot get the attention of your pupils, you cannot teach them. Without the ability to secure and retain the attention of your pupils your work is worthless. The pupils* attention you must have. Get it. Get it in some way. No one can tell you just how you can get it. Personality is greater than method. If all of a class attend, each pupil recites the entire lesson. Only those pupils who attend are really present; the inattentive are practically absent, present yet absent. Without attention, there can be no perception; without perception, there is nothing to remember; hence there is no advancement without attention. The art of teachi6 PEDAGOGICAL PEBBLES.

ing is the art of getting attention. Giving attention is acquiring knowledge. Though a teacher possess all knowledge and speak vvith the tongues of men and of angels, if he has not the tact which secures and retains the attention of his pupils, he is a school room failure. Without the indescribable art which holds the attention of pupils, instruction is in vain; the work and the prayers of the teacher avail nothing. Without the tact, the earnestness, the enthusiasm, born of developed purpose, a teacher cannot reach the heads and the hearts of children.

^® Teacher, you can by tact, patience, and methodical perseverance get most of your indolent pupils to studying by requiring them to revise every careless, inaccurate, or wordy statement or explanation. You can generally compel an inattentive pupil to become attentive by requiring him to exhibit himself at every recitation — by leading him to see himself as the studious pupils of the class see him — by being firmly and uniformly exacting with him in all he is called upon to do. Train yourself to see your pupils. A glance of the eye should cause every wandering pupil in the room to return to his work. Teach pupils that you are ever on the alert.

^^ The pupil must give attention to one thing at a time, if he would acquire lasting impressions. The clearest images and the deepest impressions are made when the mind is concentrated upon a single object or thought. The greater the number of objects simultaneously in consciousness, the less distinct the impression of each. The clearness of an impression depends upon concentration of attention upon a single thing. The strength and durability of a perception depends upon the quality of the attention which occasioned it. We may perceive so feebly that the impressions will become confused with other feeble impressions and soon pass out of consciousness. It is thus clear that dissipation in teaching means a confusion of impressions and little advance in mental power or knowledge. Pupils may recite the same lesson several times and not intellectually perceive a single principle in it.

^^ Clearness of statement is evidence of culture. The mere ability to state a fact in careless or slovenly English does not suggest culture nor learning. A large majority of text-book facts are valueless in themselves; they are means to an end. That end is training in habits. Clearness of expression in the statement of a fact or in the analysis of a sentence or a problem, has a ofreater intellectual and moral value than the mere acquisition of the text-book fact. The parrot-like recitation of facts in the language of others is not significant.

^® A feeling recognition by the teacher that his methods are founded upon correct principles does much to sweeten his labor and to strengthen his faith in himself. The inspiration which yields success in the school room is born of intelligent aims.

^° Attention to little things often distinguishes the successful from the unsuccessful teacher. The former sees, the latter does not; the former hears, the latter does not. The former is sympathetically exacting, the latter is indifferently exacting. One is positive and uniform; the other passive and spasmodic. Teachers should i8 PEDAGOGICAL PEBBLES.

train themselves to see and to hear because * ' we see only what we have been trained to see ' ' and ' ' we hear only what we know.'^ A teacher should be all eyes, all ears, all earnestness, all purpose. The sum of many little things in school- work is success or failure.

^^ In a school of thirty or more pupils, but little time should be given to individual instruction. With the exception of an occasional hint, the instruction should be class instruction. In classes, pupils teach each other. If several pupils are required to illustrate a principle or to state a text-book fact in their own language, each one will get a wider view of the matter than when taught alone. Class recitation gives each pupil in the class an opportunity to measure himself with every other pupil in the class. It gives the teacher an opportunity to grade his pupils and to draw upon each for all. In class instruction, the teacher is less apt to tell than in individual instruction. A class does not so directly ask for help as an individual. Individual instruction tends to destroy the pupil's self-reliance. If help can be had for the asking, the pupil will often get it when he should not receive it.

^^ Never have pupils recite consecutively; that is, in the order in which they sit or stand during the recitation. Never do anything in a routine way. Keep each pupil in the class constantly on the alert by tact in your method. Be always new, yet always the same.

33 ''Roy, you may read that again. Now be careful about calling the words." Thirteen words — quite a lecture. Only two were necessary. *'Roy," to call his attention, and ''again/' to call upon him to correct his mistakes. Fully one-half of the teacher's talk is a trespass upon the pupil's time.

^* The little word again may be made a very helpful word in the school-room. If properly used, it will save much unnecessary talk on the part of the teacher and much time for the pupil. When a pupil blunders in reading, mispronounces a word, makes a statement in slovenly English, or uses twice as many words as he should use in making an explanation, the teacher should say "again,'' just one word, and the pupil should try again. Why should the teacher say "John you may recite again, ' ' or " Mary you know better than that." The persistent use of "again" will do more for a pupil than a scolding or a lecture. In this way every recitation may be made a valuable language lesson — a training in the use of language. The liberal use of this little word will do more toward teaching the use of good English than high-school rhetoric in later years.

^® A pupil should not be permitted to begin his recitation until he is in proper position. " Position " — just one word — should adjust a pupil. " Position" is more concise and personal than "stand away from the desk," " stand in the middle of the aisle," "hands out of your pockets," "look at me," and many other traditional school room phrases. One word, "position," should correct all improper attitudes. Insist upon position until it becomes a habit. An occasional position will not establish a habit. The persistent use of the two little words "again" and "position" would save teachers three-fourtlis of their unnecessary talk, save time, and encourage quiet and industry on the part of pupils. Teachers should teach brevity and quietness by being brief in statement and quiet in movements.

^^ Such stereotyped commands as * ' Take your places quietly" and "See how quiet you can be to-day," make little or no impression upon pupils. Without vigilance, teachers will, unconsciously, grow into routine habits of speech and action. Without an ever-present high ideal, human nature tends to automatic conditions. It requires inspiration and purpose to keep awake.

37 ((

Be careful of your commas to-day " was the warning given a second reader class before the recitation was commenced. The pupils did not even hear the warning. If it reached one ear, it passed right out of the other. It took time to utter it, and the utterance disturbed the whole school. It was silly.

^^ Fully one-half of the movements of pupils and classes should be indicated by a motion of the head or the hand. Every movement that can be indicated by a sign or a gesture should be so directed. Fully one-half of the oral commands should be avoided. Quiet not only saves time, but it induces thought.

3» One tap of the bell or a motion of the hand or the head should call a class or dismiss a room. A pupil should take his seat as soon as he reaches it. He should not be required to stand until all the class are ready to sit down or for a signal from the teacher. A movement once indicated by the teacher should be completed by the pupils without further notice.

*° While hearing a recitation, the teacher should remain in about the same position, that he may give undivided attention to the work of the class. Moving from place to place not only disturbs the pupils, but prevents the teacher from concentrating his attention upon the class. Restlessness of body disturbs the mind.

*^ A teacher should never permit a pupil to annoy him with questions while he is hearing other pupils recite, or is otherwise engaged. Pupils should ask all questions during recitations. Teachers should not encourage pupils to seek individual instruction; it lessens the value of the recitation. Pupils should be trained to look to the recitation for answers to questions and for explanations of difficulties.

Teacher, train yourself to see and to hear more, that you may see and hear less. Teachers who can see only one pupil at a time and only part of him should not hope to govern a school properly, or to hold the attention of a class. Seeing pupils is an art. They should be seen all the time, yet not watched. As you learn to see and to hear, your pupils will learn to do. Thus by training yourself, you train others. The inability of teachers to see and to hear things is the cause of many failures.

*^ Pedagogically wise is the teacher who sees even a glimpse of the great truth that telling is not teaching. Telling implies mental activity on the part of the teacher only. The pupil may be merely a passive listener; he may not even hear the teacher. Teaching implies mental activity on the part of the pupil as well as the teacher. To teach is to develop, to awaken, to cause a pupil to think, to help him to help himself. Telling merely fills a pupil with facts; teaching leads him to discover his own facts. *' Gifts do not enrich.'' Real wealth is an acquisition.

** The child begins to acquire his school habits the first day he goes to school. From the hour he enters the school room he is trained by teacher and pupils. In a very large measure their habits become his habits. At any age we are influenced by our associates, but the child of six years is so impressible, so imitative, so unsuspecting, so believing, that he is little more than putty in the hands of others.

*^ The cost of undoing the bad habits which pupils acquire while in charge of incompetent or indifferent teachers is known only to those who know something of the tenacity of lial)it. Some teachers permit pupils to become so listless and inattentive that when they are promoted to a higher grade, they cannot do the work of the grade. If the work of each grade is not correctly and thoroughly done, there is great injustice done the teacher in the next higher grade. Teachers who cannot or who will not do the work of their respective grades should be dropped from the pay-roll. The superintendent who is too timid to superintend should seek a place where compromises do not ruin children and rob parents.

*° Teachers should ever bear in mind the fact that the primary function of the school is the training of pupils in correct methods of study — that but few of the text-book facts learned in schools are remembered one year, and that fewer still have any value as knowledge.

Until a pupil acquires the study habit, he can make but little progress in his studies. Teacher, you can help him to acquire the study habit only in one way — by interesting him in the work of the school.

*' Many teachers try to make everything easy for their pupils. Teachers may make their schools pleasant, but they should never try to make them easy places. There are no easy places in this world. Breathing teachers do not seek easy places for themselves or their pupils. Only the "living dead'^ seek ease. Young man, if you want an easy place, do not try to find it in the school room. I^eaders are workers. If you want to sit in a chair and dream, children should not be made the victims of your indifference and unworthiness. If you do not feel the responsibilities of a teacher's work, enter some profession where less of purpose, energy, and honesty is required. If you do not really love children, enter some work where less of sincerity and genuine humanity is needed. If you are teaching for " pin-money," find some place where your services will prove less disastrous.

*® Formal routine is not experience; it is too mechanical. The work of a teacher is real work. It demands the earnestness and enthusiasm of an idealist. Wakefulness on the part of a teacher is necessary to success. No one succeeds in any work by simply hoping, praying, and weeping. Physical, intellectual, and moral growth is the result of physical, intellectual, and moral activity. Mere belief in dogma, sound or unsound, never awakened a sleeping soul or aroused a dull boy. Purpose and enthusiasm are the conditions of progress.

The tact, the patience, and the persistence required to govern and instruct forty or fifty children six years old are found in but few families. The successful primary teacher is a special creation. She cannot be made to order in Normal schools nor anywhere else. No amount of pedagogical patience and skill can turn nature out of its own direction. We can cultivate only what we have; we cannot create. Training cannot complete what God did not begin. Success in any department of life depends upon natural fitness. It is the result of normal conditions. Tact, energy, and enthusiasm are the distinguishing characteristics of the successful primary teacher. More is required of teachers in the primary than in the grammar grades. As pupils become self-helpful, tactful teachers become less necessary.