Practical pedagogy

Preface

This work is designed to present in a brief, concise manner a few principles and rules of teaching, and to discuss their application to methods and management in public or common schools. Only such rules and principles are presented as the author has been able to apply successfully year after year in actual schoolroom work. Necessarily, therefore, the work is brief; but it is hoped that it is vitalized by the true teaching spirit, and that being born of experience it will be of practical value.

If this volume renders assistance to students in normal schools and training classes, to young teachers who have not received a course of instruction in a professional school, but who are compelled to prepare themselves by independent efforts for the work of teaching, its purposes will have been accomplished.

S. M. BARRETT.

Central State Normal School,

Edmond, Oklahoma.

JUL 3 W8 2-° J Jit

Copyright, 1908, By S. M. BARRETT.

PREFACE

This work is designed to present in a brief, concise manner a few principles and rules of teaching, and to discuss their application to methods and management in public or common schools. Only such rules and principles are presented as the author has been able to apply successfully year after year in actual schoolroom work. Necessarily, therefore, the work is brief; but it is hoped that it is vitalized by the true teaching spirit, and that being born of experience it will be of practical value.

If this volume renders assistance to students in normal schools and training classes, to young teachers who have not received a course of instruction in a professional school, but who are compelled to prepare themselves by independent efforts for the work of teaching, its purposes will have been accomplished.

S. M. BARRETT.

Central State Normal School,

Edmond, Oklahoma.

Chapter I Ideation

In order to secure the best results from a study of methods of teaching, it is well first to review briefly the psychological processes by which ideas are formed, and then to hold these processes of ideation firmly in mind as a means by which to determine the worth of proposed methods of instruction. For that reason this review of the processes of ideation is given.

Sensation. — We shall begin with sensation, which is the earliest and most elementary of mental processes and may be denned as a mode of conscious experience in the use of an organ, or sense, of the body. This provisional definition of sensation serves to show that a study of elementary sensation is not of prime importance in this discussion of ideation ; hence, the province of pure sensation will be overstepped and attention called to the process by which new sensations are determined or modified, not only by immediate sensations, but also by others more remote in time. This takes place by the new sensation reexciting former sensations.

Sensations are deepened by repetition, and the psychological importance of this consists in the fact that (the power of reproduction being assumed) it is possible for consciousness to combine earlier with later sensations or experiences. Not only is this repetition valuable in deepening impressions and combining earlier with later sensations, but sometimes the influence of it, coupled with memory, will call up duplicates of sensations which otherwise would not rise.

Percepts. — The recall of an earlier sensation or experience does not amount to an accurate and distinct image of it, because reawakened sensations fuse immediately with the present sensation or sensations, and cannot be said to stand out as free and independent representations, but rather to undergo an involuntary recognition. This immediate and involuntary recognition and fusing is called perception, and we may describe this psychological process of perception as the fusing of a reproduction and as actual sensation. The result, a percept, is therefore compounded out of representation and sensation without the representation coming into consciousness as a free or independent factor. Sensations fuse only in case of similarity of the present and former sensations, and the more frequently this act is performed, the more easily and quickly will former sensations be recognized and percepts formed. The more percepts of a given subject are formed in the mind, the more permanent and valuable the result.

IDEATION 5

Memory Images. — From these percepts united with other sensations and other percepts come free ideas or memory images, and the more numerous the free ideas or memory images, the more there is formed in consciousness an independent field of free ideas or memory images which confront with more or less independence all sensations and percepts that may arise from immediate environment. This field of memory images enables the mind properly to classify and fully recognize all new sensations, images, and percepts that may be presented. These free ideas combat new ideas in such a way as to subject them to strict analysis, which may result in adoption, modification, or rejection.

Thus we have in our minds two distinct currents of thought, one the modified, rising from immediate environment, and the other the free, rising from representation. We cannot completely isolate ourselves from the external or immediate ones, because sensations are received at every instant, even when we are principally occupied with free ideas. One of these currents might be called the ascending current in the mind, and the other the horizontal. Equilibrium can never, by the very nature of the case, be established between these two opposing currents. Frequently by our own will we abandon ourselves almost completely to the one or the other of these currents, of thought, — as to immediate sensation when listening to music, and, again, to representation when concentrating our mind upon a book or lesson.

Sometimes the attention (which may be denned as inhibition of all impressions and memory images except those to which the mind is directed, or as " intensified consciousness") can be directed almost wholly to one of these trends of thought. At other times the attention vibrates from one to the other, and we have the so-called divided attention. But it should be borne in mind that attention is necessary in all the processes of ideation. Attention, however, is never absolute, but merely relative. The process of attention is, therefore, the relative inhibition of one or the other of these two currents of thought, the modified or the free. Both elements or currents are present in every state of consciousness, but with different degrees of strength. In some moments we are almost wholly under the control of sensation and perception ; in others, of reflection and deep thought; but never are we under the control of both at the same time.

Concepts.— The process of associating or fusing the common properties of images and percepts is called conception, and the result a concept, which is the finished product in the process of ideation. It should be remembered that in order to obtain a valuable concept it is necessary to have a predominant interest, so that the attention may be firmly directed to such images and percepts as are employed in forming the concept ; also that the concept may be vivid rather than indistinct.

IDEATION 7

It will be observed that the elements in ideation are arranged as follows : first, sensations ; second, percepts ; third, mental images, or free ideas ; fourth, a concept. The first three processes, sensation, perception, and the forming of memory images, should be experienced many times, and each of the four processes should be performed with close attention if the final result — the concept, which is to become a permanent mental equipment — is to be of much value.

Sensations

Sensations

If these principles are applied to schoolroom work, the absolute necessity of performing these processes in the order given should be obvious. To illustrate : if a child undertakes to form a concept from one memory image, he might only make the mistake that the little son of a chaplain of a penitentiary made. As this fiveyear-old boy was finishing looking through an elementary book, he came to the picture of a zebra and said, " Mamma, here is a convict mule ! " He had formed but one percept and had but one memory image of individuals in stripes, and whatever wore stripes it seemed to him must be a convict; hence, his formation of an imperfect and immature concept. He had not had enough repetitions of sensations and percepts ; hence, the concept was not in accordance with psychological principles and was unreliable.

Numerous other illustrations might be added to show the correctness of these statements concerning the essential processes of ideation ; but since this work is intended primarily for teachers, those who have some knowledge of psychology, it is not thought necessary.

Those who undertake to teach should hold in mind the processes of ideation and see to it that their methods of instruction do not violate these psychological principles.

Perception supplies raw material, conception elaborates crude percepts into finished concepts. Percepts must be, in order that concepts may be. Here we find the key to correct teaching.

— Joseph Baldwin,

Percepts are stored in memory, and from this accumulated store we draw as we need. Out of percepts we build concepts ; but percepts themselves give us many of our keenest pleasures and purest delights, as in the colors of a sunset sky, or an October forest, or in the blending of musical tones. — Ruric N. Roark.

Chapter II The Recitation

Mental Growth. — It is usually true that a student's advancement will be in proportion to his diligence in study, and this is what we naturally expect. But there have always been enough instances of successful men who were poor students to keep some excellent people explaining, and to afford great comfort to indolent and conceited pupils who want the reward of hard work without being willing to do the work. Then there are, in every community, people who have no aspiration for mental or moral improvement. Their feeling toward all that is above them is one of envy and hate, with no ambition to attain this excellence themselves.

If then we desire to promote mental growth, let us try to apprehend clearly the conditions and the means of this growth. There are certain processes of development which go on in us unconsciously. This passive growth is no more credit to us than our increase in stature or avoirdupois. Such growth, however, never raised any person above mediocrity. The growth that leads to real excellence is always accompanied with conscious effort.

Intellectual growth requires first, a consciousness of one's need of growth ; and second, a consciousness of one's

IO PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY

capacity for growth. There are some people who feel no need of improvement ; they are self-complacent in the belief that they are already great. And there are some people whose sluggish and benighted minds never discover their own ignorance and feebleness. It is only as one realizes his need that we can hope for his improvement.

Many who are conscious of their need distrust their capacity for growth. Faith in ourselves, in the capacity of our faculties to respond to the demands that will be made upon them, is no less essential than the consciousness of our need of improvement. It is safe to say that no one ever attained to eminence who did not have a definite knowledge of his need of improvement and unbounded courage to follow out his plans for development. Pupils develop their powers by overcoming the difficulties which confront them. They that are over-confident neglect the preparation necessary to success. But they that are self-distrustful cannot rouse their powers to their fullest exertion, and are apt to yield to difficulties that might be overcome. It is the duty of the teacher to show the over-confident the need of preparation and to encourage the self-distrustful to undertake greater things.

In earlier childhood great dependence should be placed on the elementary processes of ideation — gathering from immediate sensation ; but with more advanced pupils the use of representation — free ideas or mental images — may be more fully relied upon. In

THE RECITATION II

every instance vigorous effort tozvard a definite aim should be the rule, and the teacher should never lose sight of the fact that the recitatio7i is for the benefit of the pupil ; hence, the pupils, not the teacher, should do the reciting.

The application of the principles of mental growth to schoolroom instruction is essentially a study of the recitation, and hence is of vital importance. We shall therefore discuss in detail the different steps in the recitation, which are as follows: —

a. Preparation.

b. Presentation.

c. Association.

d. Recapitulation.

e. Application.

Preparation. — The assignment of the next lesson should usually be at the beginning of the recitation. Frequently it is not assigned until the end, and then in the hurry the teacher says, "Take the next two pages," or, " Take the next lesson," and the pupils go to their seats without any definite idea of what is expected of them and they become discouraged in their preparation. A few words of wise discussion and instruction from the teacher at the time when the lesson is assigned would enable the pupils to proceed intelligently with their work. It should always be a part of the assignment of the new lesson to call attention to essentials ; to point out special difficulties ; and to give the necessary suggestions as to method of study. If the lessons are thus properly assigned, the pupils will not only know what the task is, but will also know how to accomplish it.

Not only is it important that the assignment should make plain what is to be learned and how the work is to be accomplished, but the programme and the management of the school should be so arranged that a pupil will not be allowed to turn from one lesson to another at every impulse. " A place for everything mid everything in its place ; " also " One thing at a time and that the right thing" are appropriate mottoes for study periods in the schoolroom. This would tend to prevent pupils from studying in a desultory manner and would insure honest and systematic effort on their part in preparing lessons.

It is not the length of time spent on the lesson, but the intensity of the work, that counts. Therefore it is important that the pupils know the value of concentration in the preparation of any and all lessons. They should be trained to bend their whole energies to the task at hand.

Presentation. — When a pupil is called upon to recite, he should feel that this is his opportunity to express himself, and the teacher should see to it that the pupil does express himself and not repeat the words of the author in a meaningless, mechanical manner. To be sure that the pupil has expressed himself the teacher

THE RECITATION 1 3

should require frequent illustrations; in fact, illustration rather than definition should be the rule. It has been said that an ounce of illustration is better than a pound of definition.

It would be valueless for the teacher to proceed in conducting a recitation without the attention of the whole class. " Yes " and " No " questions, so frequently asked, are usually void of any power to stimulate thought Questions should, of course, be simple and clear, so as to leave no doubt in the mind of the pupil as to what the teacher means, and they should also be given in logical sequence so as to prevent any confusion in the child's mind ; but these questions should be the outgrowth of the teacher's fuller knowledge of the subject and not stereotyped text-book questions. Under no condition should the teacher do the reciting. The only time at which the teacher should do the talking is when the pupils have expressed all they know of the subject and all that they could be reasonably expected to know. Then, and not until then, may the teacher offer some added suggestions to throw new light on the subject.

Association. — Again and again the teacher will find it necessary to bring the new and the old ideas into relation that" they may become assimilated and familiar. The field of free ideas in the child's mind will help him to identify all new percepts, but the teacher must be sure by associating the unknown with the known that the child's mind performs this process correctly. Only by repetition and drill in a variety of methods, by numerous devices, illustrations, and careful questioning, can the teacher know that this process has been accomplished.

Recapitulation. — When the pupil can restate the whole theme of his lesson in a summary, the lesson has been well learned. The best way to train children to acquire this power is to require them to state the principal thoughts that have been brought out in a recitation. The teacher should not direct by asking suggestive questions, but should require the pupil to make the selection of important topics and to discuss them in the order in which they occur in the lesson. In this work the teacher should be careful that the readier pupils do not trespass upon the rights of the slower ones and cheat them out of their opportunity. Each pupil should be held severally responsible for every important point made during the recitation, and should understand that he is required to give an account of it when called upon without being guided by suggestive questions from the teacher.

Application. — The final purpose, of course, is to apply the knowledge gained to everyday life ; to bring school life into touch with everyday duties ; to find in the home the practical application of the themes treated in school. The cultural and the practical should be brought into complete harmony.

THE RECITATION 1 5

Occupational Education. — It is evident that the trend in education is now toward the useful, but this does not in any way imply that the tendency is away from the cultural. It implies simply that true culture may be obtained from practical as well as from obsolete subjects. This tendency toward what we shall term occupational education may be illustrated by familiar examples, and the conclusions drawn will then be forcibly impressed.

For instance, if we asserted that teachers should receive normal (occupational) training ; that physicians and lawyers should have professional (occupational) training; or that ministers should be trained for the ministry (occupational) training, no one would deny it. The same line of reasoning will lead us to assert that the farmer, the mechanic, the housewife, — in fact, persons entering any occupation, — should, in addition to the usual cultural knowledge gained in school, receive some rudimentary occupational education to fit them better for their life work.

A part of this result can be obtained if the teacher is 1 tactful enough to apply the knowledge gained in the schools to such occupations as predominate in the community in which he teaches. To illustrate : in a commercial center, when supplementary work is given in arithmetic, let it be calculations from the trades of the commercial world. In an agricultural community let it be calculations from the farm life, and always let there be calculations from the household. Not only may these applications be made in a study of arithmetic, but added i6 material may be brought to each subject, and this added material used to illustrate and verify. By so doing the pupils will be better prepared for the various occupations which they will enter.

Questioning. — Socrates, the greatest questioner of the ages, sought to lead persons to see the defects of their own definitions or statements. The Socratic method of teaching may be illustrated by the following example : —

Meno. Socrates, we come to you feeling strong and wise ; we leave you feeling helpless and ignorant. Why is this?

Socrates. I will show you (calling up a young Greek and making a line in the sand). Boy, how long is this line ?

Boy. It is a foot long, sir.

Soc. How long is this line ?

Boy. It is two feet long, sir.

Soc. How much larger would be the square constructed on the second line than on the first line ?

Boy. It would be twice as large, sir.

Under the direction of the boy, Socrates constructs two squares in the sand, thus : —

THE RECITATION

Soc. How much larger than the first did you say the second square would be ?

Boy. I said it would be twice as large.

Soc. But how much larger is it ?

Boy. It is four times as large.

Soc. Thank you, my boy, you may go. Meno, that boy came to me full of confidence, thinking himself wise. I told him nothing. By a few simple questions I led him to see his errors and discover the truth. Though really wiser, he goes away feeling humbled.

This is the method which practical teachers of to-day use — leading, by judicious questions, the young pupil to discover his own errors.

Questions, whether oral or written, should be so arranged as to bring out what the pupil knows and how he knows it, and to test his statements thoroughly.

In oral questioning a good plan is to propound the question and then designate the pupil who is to recite. It is well to form a habit of asking a question but once ; for to repeat the question is to cultivate or allow inattention in the recitation, which is one of the worst possible faults.

Non-reciting pupils should never be allowed to ask questions while the teacher is conducting a recitation. Their wants can be attended to after the recitation is finished. Nothing should come between the teacher and the reciting pupils.

It is well to encourage pupils to ask questions when there is a point in the lesson that they cannot understand, or when they desire more information than the text furnishes. But they should not be allowed to waste the time of the recitation with unnecessary or unimportant questions.

A good recitation is one of the best tests of the pupil's moral character. It gives him an opportunity to describe himself.

— William T. Harris.

Give laggards and dullards a chance. After a pupil has made two or three failures call on another pupil to do the work, but do not forget to give the one who made the failure another trial.

— /. IV. Patrick.

Good methods of teaching are important, but they cannot supply the want of ability in the teacher. The Socratic method is good, but a Socrates behind the teacher's desk to ask questions is better.

Chapter III

The mental processes involved in reading and the consequent nature of the problems which its teaching presents form the content of this chapter. The mental processes in reading are discussed only in so far as methods of teaching will influence the learner. To the child it makes little difference what the mental processes are or whether he understands these processes; but to the teacher these processes determine what is correct and what is incorrect in methods of teaching this subject

Psychology of Reading. — The understanding of speech is gained through a process of trial and error, the concepts being corrected and thoroughly established through frequent exemplification, and also through use in repeated, persistent practice. When a child enters school he has relatively few concepts of word sounds and no concepts of conventional word symbols. He has, however, a working vocabulary of several hundred words, the use of which he knows. The first step in the task of teaching reading is to familiarize the child with these same words in their written and printed forms.

The mastery of the system of conventional symbols in which written language consists is somewhat complicated by the fact that the ideas for which many of the words stand are only partly known, so that the young reader is confronted with a world of realities as well as with an unfamiliar set of signs. Translating the written symbols into mental images creates friction in the child's mind ; hence, the selection of reading matter should be from elements that are already familiar to the child, so that as nearly as possible his whole attention may be given to fixing in mind the relation between the symbol and that for which it stands.

The means by which this task must be accomplished consists in the child's possession of oral speech, which enables him to translate the printed symbols directly into significant terms. It is this which differentiates learning to read from the acquisition of speech itself. In the earliest processes the child sets out with no such interpretive basis, but has to discover the meaning of each sound or each combination of sounds from the situation in which they are uttered and from the action with which they are associated. After the child has mastered oral speech, learning name words is comparatively easy, but there still remains this difficulty : that in becoming conventional and abstract any logical relation between the sound and the thing signified vanishes, and the child must ask and be told the meaning of each term.

The only modification of this rule is embodied in the phonetic method by which the translation of any written combination into its auditory equivalent is performed according to definite rules. If our language were logically constructed, such a method would be of utmost value; but the value of this most excellent method is restricted in its application in proportion to the phonetic irregularities of the English language.

The several steps in the formal teaching of reading are usually enumerated as follows : —

First. Word mastery — recognizing a whole word in one mental effort.

Second. Sight reading, or recognizing and culling at sight short sentences as wholes.

Third. Getting the sense from the printed page.

Fourth. Interpreting, or oral expression.

To these we shall add another, —

Fifth. Creating and fostering a taste for good literature.

First Step. — In this step the object should be associated with the word until the recalling of one suggests the other. Concepts are represented by words, — -by common nouns, — but these words are meaningless unless they awaken in the mind of the child corresponding mental images or concepts already acquired. It is impossible to teach words that do not symbolize ideas already in the mind of the child. The teacher cannot give pupils ideas. Instruction can only awaken and enlarge what the mind has already acquired by its own activity. The clear recognition of these psychological facts is the beginning of success in teaching reading.

Charts containing pictures of familiar objects, and, where possible, the objects themselves, are invaluable aids in associating words and ideas. Teachers should be in no hurry to get pupils to reading in the formal classes, but, rather, patiently train them to see the many things in the pictures or in the objects ; then require them to tell what they see.

Words are learned in their written and printed forms that they may be used in these forms. Each word taken up should be practically mastered on the day that it is taken up, so that ever afterward it will be instantly recognized at sight by the child and he will be impelled to pronounce it properly and promptly. The proper mastery of a word means further that the sight of the word instantly calls into the child's mind the object or quality or act which the word represents.

Mechanical word mastery comes first in the steps to be taken in the teaching of reading, because it makes possible the succeeding steps. Nearly all the words found in the first reader are words that are already used by the child in his oral vocabulary.

Teachers should apply the sentence method with the words learned as soon as possible. The object of this is to do away with mere word calling. The blackboard is perhaps the best means of introducing the sentence method, for by it pupils may be early trained to see words in groups. This may be done by placing the sentence on the blackboard and asking the pupils to see what it says ; then erasing the sentence and having them tell what they read.

Second Step. — This step in reading is simply an extension of the first process of substituting sentences for words in sight recognition. Pupils, of course, should recognize the words which they learned in the first process ; but there are always new words in the lessons, so that the first step is necessarily continued while the second step is in process. Sometimes when children are learning to read, they hesitate to pronounce the words. When this is the case, it is evident that they are not reading, but have fallen back to the first step and are applying all their powers to recognizing the words. In such cases the preparation has not been sufficient. Pupils should not attempt to read a lesson aloud until all the new words and new ideas have been studied and mastered so that they will see a sentence in one mental effort, just as in the beginning they learned to see a whole word in one mental effort. In these earlier steps of reading quality should be sought rather than quantity, and it should be ever borne in mind that correct expression depends tipon correct interpretation.

Third Step : Getting the sense from the printed page. — Pupils should understand the subject of the lesson before they attempt to read it aloud, but the only means by which the teacher may know that the pupils understand the subject is by having them state the content of the lesson before reading it. Each lesson should be studied by the pupils and the teacher, and discussed by the pupils in class, so that it may be known that this step has been performed before reading aloud is undertaken. This step is one which in the main the pupils must make alone. The teacher should, however, give proper instruction for preparation, and then before allowing the pupils to recite, find out that the preparation has been made. When pupils read without a good understanding of what they are saying, the recitation is valueless.