Everyday pedagogy

Preface

No claim is made that the ideas here set forth are new. The best of them are very old. Some of them are told more than once in this book, but those are the ones it has been found necessary to tell many times to student teachers. The material is in part oversimple, and in part, perhaps, overelaborated. It has been made so purposely. In those things that might be called faults lies the merit of the work, if it has any merit. The plans herein given are practical not theoretical, most of them having been tried in our own school and gathered through close association with many teachers. They are stated in the way which has seemed to meet the needs of young teachers in everyday work.

Not all the books and other material, nor all the ideas, are supposed to be used by any one person. Enough has been suggested to leave freedom for choice. In cases of doubt, application has been made to the rural school, though most of the suggestions will serve as well for any other school.

Repeated requests for information along these lines and a long-continued service in connection with young teachers in training classes and institutes have furnished the occasion for the making of the book. It is hoped that the volume may be of practical value.

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The writer wishes to take this opportunity to express her indebtedness and gratitude to Payson Smith, LL.D., Litt.D., Superintendent of the Public Schools of Maine. His kindly assistance and encouragement have been unfailing. His corrections, suggestions, and additions, made in connection with the reading of the manuscript, have added much to its practical value.

LILLIAN I. LINCOLN

State Normal School, Farmington, Maine

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Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE TEACHER i

II. THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT 7

Introduction

It is trite to say that the success of a school system is to be measured in terms of the efficiency of the teaching force.

Yet, in a day when the emphasis on system and machinery is great, it is worth while to reiterate that plans, policies, and theories for the improvement of education are effective only in the degree that they find expression in the life of the individual school and that this expression must come by means of the individual teacher.

To make the teacher more efficient is to make the school better, hence improvement of the teacher remains the important function of the educational machinery we establish.

Much stress is laid, in the work of teacher improvement, on the need of the widest possible knowledge on the part of the teacher of the principles underlying successful instruction and school management. Happily there is no longer any serious discussion of the desirability of this knowledge. One may as well admit, however, that general information in regard to the theories of education is not of itself a guaranty of effective teaching. Unless these theories find concrete expression in daily practice, the knowledge of them is quite without value.

It happens not infrequently that teachers — and especially beginning teachers — find themselves embarrassed in

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a wealth of theory. How to summon to their aid in a crisis of the day's work just the principle the occasion requires constitutes an educational problem by itself.

Admitting, then, the very important place of the schoolroom teacher in making the school system effective, and emphasizing the necessity of a sound basis in educational theory for schoolroom procedure, we find there must be a large place for those who — whether by book, lecture, or sermon — shall aid teachers to interpret their theories into sane educational practices. Progress in the making of better schools will be less halting and hesitating, will be less disturbed by unnecessary repetitions of experiments and by much traveling of bypaths with profitless ends, as teachers find ways of coming in contact with the experiences of other teachers and especially those whose business it has been to test daily in the crucible of experience the freshly wrought theory.

This book, reflecting a thorough study of schoolroom needs on the one hand and of carefully tested theory on the other, with their constant application, cannot fail to bring to any teacher that satisfying inspiration which results from the worthy accomplishment it will help to bring. Especially to those thousands of teachers, who, in rural and other small schools, must rely so considerably upon their own resources its pages will bring constant help.

PAYSON SMITH

Augusta, Maine

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Chapter I The Teacher

Preparation for the work. There are certain things in the way of preparation that will soon be absolutely demanded of the young person who wishes to teach. Even now, every one who plans to be a teacher, if only for a little while, should demand of herself that she have the equivalent of a good high-school course followed by normalschool training. This, at least, is essential if she is not to waste much precious material in unwise experimentation. She may indeed, by direct school practice and careful observation, gain skill in her calling without this, but she will always be hampered, as is one who picks up a trade, by lack of knowledge of the best ways of going about things. She will waste time, energy, and material, and will fall short of what her success might have been if she had been well prepared for her work.

School training not sufficient. The high-school and normal courses should form the foundation upon which a young teacher should build her power. They should be supplemented continuously by reading (both general and particular), by travel (though one may be a good teacher without having gone to Europe), by school visiting, and by attendance at teachers' meetings and conventions. If teaching becomes a life work, there may come a time when a convention, a school-visiting day, or an educational book may bring only one or two new ideas, but a single idea is worth working for at that point, and the stimulus of such things is of more value than can be counted. Many teachers feel that when once they are graduated from normal school or college and placed in a school, no further work is necessary. Such teachers, somewhat undesirable to start with, grow more so with every additional year of service.

Personal appearance. A teacher's personal appearance is also of moment. She may not be beautiful, but she should look beautiful to the children — a thing surprisingly easy to accomplish if one goes about it with intention. The first essential is good health, which may usually be attained by proper attention to food, exercise, rest, and sleep. A teacher should not remain in a boarding place in which the food is insufficient or unpalatable, either to save a few pennies or to spare her landlady's feelings. She should not make her chief articles of diet candy and pickles, nor serve herself continuous lunches through the evening. She should not omit her out-of-door exercise because of the miles walked in school, nor her rest on account of uncorrected papers, nor her sleep because of school worry or social dissipation.

Dressing properly also helps to preserve good health and has undoubted effect in production of beauty. Too thin clothing in cold weather causes great waste of energy in keeping warm. If the room is right for study, one ought not to be uncomfortable in reasonably warm clothing. The teacher who goes to and from school and to the

THE TEACHER

playground at recess with no greater protection against cold and damp than that given by the regular indoor dress is not only endangering her own health, but is setting a poor example to the children. Again, school dress should be suitable for school. The schoolroom is not the place for wearing out one's old silk dresses. It is not necessary for a teacher to have many or expensive clothes, but those she does have should be appropriate to the occasion. Children like change, so the element should be furnished, not usually by many different dresses, but by the collar, ribbon, or bit of embroidered tie, that will delight the eyes of the little people and not take much from the teacher's scanty funds. By her own scrupulous care of hair, teeth, and nails the teacher should stimulate the desire for personal daintiness in her pupils.

A child's admiration for his teacher is a great help in discipline. Children are always delighted to tell of their pretty teacher. Mothers are invited to come to school to see how attractive she is. One mother was invited to come in the afternoon, because the teacher's hair seemed to curl best then. It is no uncommon thing for children to raise hands and ask the teacher to come to them for a minute, while they confide admiration for dress or ring or touch of beauty. It pays to make one's self look well to the school.

Of even more importance are manner and speech. If a phonograph could be set up secretly in our schoolrooms, and we could hear at night all we have said during the day, repeated with the monotonous tone, or the irritation, or the whine, which are so often there, many of us would not sleep so easily. If we had these remarks to analyze and parse, our remorse would often be still greater, and we should cease to wonder that the children's language lessons do so little for them. A teacher should be as polite to her pupils as she requires them to be to her. Her every word and deed should suggest the courtesy that she wishes to teach. Too often, in demanding obedience and politeness in the schoolroom, the teacher uses tones, and even words, that would not be tolerated elsewhere.

Position in the community. A teacher's personality counts for much in a community. Sweet temper, sympathy, an interested and animated attitude toward life in general and school life in particular, tact, common sense, a willingness to take hold and help whenever help is needed, a sturdy dignity when dignity is desirable — all these will go far to aid the teacher in making and holding a right place for herself in the schoolroom and in the children's homes. She is in a position to be of much service to the young people of the neighborhood. A little girl once said to her mother in regard to the teacher : "I love her, mamma. I touch her dress as she goes by." " Does she know it? " asked the mother. " Oh, no; but I love her so, I like to touch her." Another child bent in humble adoration and kissed the teacher's hand as she stood by his desk a moment during a recitation. These things being so, how can a teacher lower herself to lend the force of her example toward making slang the regular language of the boys and girls, or to associate with them on any but the highest plane ! A complaint was once made concerning a teacher that through her one of the pupils made her first acquaintance with the question of beaus, the teacher having spent her time in the discussion of no other subject when in the girl's company.

THE TEACHER

A teacher should not enter in any way into the neighborhood quarrels that in many places exist perennially and do their worst toward lowering the community spirit and ideals. She should identify herself with the life of the people with whom she is working, call upon them, attend their social gatherings, and mingle with them freely, but she should not forget that her business is to teach school, that her position tends to make her an example, that her life should be lived worthily, and that she must keep herself above reproach. If she is musical, she should be willing to help out in that line, but she should not sacrifice her regular work for it. If she dances or plays cards, she may do both in moderation, unless the community as a whole objects to these amusements. She should be sure that she permits attentions only from young men of good standing, and then only to a reasonable extent. In many communities teachers receive eagerly the attentions of young men who are looked down upon in the neighborhood. Any teacher who knows all the men. in the place in a few weeks, or who is the subject of conversation in stores or on street corners, is doing herself, her school, and her profession a serious injury. If the community as a whole does not respect her, she might much better give up her school and go home before further mischief is done. Even with every intention of doing right a teacher often finds herself too deeply involved socially to be at her best for school work. In general, Friday and Saturday evenings may be given to amusement, but the others should usually be employed in finishing the work of the day, preparing for the morrow, reading, resting, and such occupations.

Attitude toward school officers. The attitude of the teacher toward her superintendent, her principal, or her associate teachers, if there are such, should be cordial and friendly. She should be open to suggestion and should give her opinions when they are desired, but should not force them into notice. She may not always agree with her superintendent, but she should remember that he is in authority and is usually aiming at the same result that she is — the good of the school. He may have ideas with which she so disagrees as to make the position difficult for her, but while she stays she should be subordinate to his direction. It is well for a teacher to talk over school conditions freely and to ask for things needed for the work, but she should not at every meeting with the superintendent overwhelm him with complaints, with demands for working material or for help in discipline, or with requests for an increase in salary.

The teacher makes the school. This first chapter is given to the teacher, because she is the important thing in any school. The room may be unpleasant and poorly equipped, the books worn and out of date, the neighborhood undesirable, the school officers difficult in many ways, and still the school may be of value ; but if the teacher is not right, the term can never be profitable. A teacher should take to her school every possible aid, but she herself must be the greatest thing of all. She must have the spirit of the mother and the missionary, and this will usually supply her with ways and means to conquer the situation.

Chapter II The Teacher's Equipment

Why needed. A wise teacher, disregarding the fact that school authorities are supposed to furnish all things needful for school work, equips herself with many small necessities, to tide her over waiting times and to supplement supplies. It is right that a superintendent should be asked to furnish what is needed, and a teacher is rarely ranked the higher for asking little ; yet through indifference of authorities, lack of funds, or other causes, a school is often hampered in its work unless the teacher fills the gap and provides that which it may not be her place to provide, but which it is hard to do without.

The equipment box. Every teacher should secure a large wooden box having a cover (hinged if possible) that may be screwed down, and provided with a padlock or other fastening. It should also be fitted with rope handles, that it may be shipped as baggage. This box should be the home of her school equipment and should be kept at the school building. The advantage of the box is that if one takes the material in a trunk, one gets along with little, and that little must be conveyed to school bit by bit. The equipment should include the following things at least, with such others as may occur to the teacher.

Books. A teacher's collection should contain educational books and books meant for relaxation. The educational books include those intended for the teacher only and those to be used by her and the children. Every teacher should have a library, and every teacher should have at hand what may serve as a library for the children. The books best suited for the purpose are usually those to be obtained from the firms that publish schoolbooks. Most of them are inexpensive. The teacher may acquaint herself with them through the samples displayed at teachers' conventions, and to a certain extent by the study of publishers' catalogues. Dealers will usually be willing to send books to be looked over ; these may be retained if they prove to be what is desired, the money and the remaining books being returned at once. A teacher should aim to start a permanent school library immediately, if she does not find one established, but it will take time to acquire a library of any size, and in the meantime the books that go in the teacher's box will have to serve. As has been said, most of them are cheap. They may be purchased a few at a time, — as few as must be each term, — but their value in saving time and friction, furnishing spice for the regular lessons, and establishing a bond of sympathy between teacher and pupils will make them worth considerable sacrifice on the part of the teacher. It was said in the last chapter that the teacher should have the spirit of the mother and the missionary, and the missionary who has formed the taste of a child community for the right kind of books has performed a saving service to mankind. The children should be welcome to use the books from the teacher's outfit in preparing their lessons, for filling in spare (otherwise wasted) minutes, and for entertainment at noon and before school, and should be allowed to take them home when they wish. The parents

THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT

often get as much from the books as the children do. " Papa and I were talking of Damon and Pythias," said a seventh-grade boy to his teacher. "Would you let me take home your * Stories of the Greeks ' for a day or two, so we can read it again together? " "As long as you please," said the teacher, and the book stayed a fortnight, and both father and son were pretty well up in Greek history when it came back. Even where there is a public library the teacher's books are often preferred, partly because failure of memory does not mean a fine, and partly from a feeling that the books are a little more desirable.

It is somewhat difficult to enumerate the books best fitted for the box, but many of them are of the supplementary-reader kind. A list of such is included in the chapter on Apparatus. There are countless books suited to the need. Sixty cents is the highest price I recall for any of the more usual ones. Many do not cost half of that. They may all be read by the children with delight. The box, starting with three or four of them, may grow as fast as possible to include many.

The other class of books under the educational head includes those helpful in getting lessons. Every teacher has a few arithmetics, language books, or other common textbooks. These should be taken along, as they may prove useful. There should be also books of special helps for different subjects, at least one for each subject. Many of these are suggested in the lists at the ends of the chapters. They may be accumulated gradually, starting with the one of which the greatest need is felt, but a teacher should never rest until she owns them all. Back numbers of educational magazines should go along to supplement the one that will be received each month. These may be reduced in bulk if the teacher chooses to go over the numbers and select the articles she finds most useful, making them into a scrapbook collection such as is spoken of later.

Besides the material mentioned there should be books of poems and any book which the teacher may have that will furnish rest and relaxation — general reading matter, to serve if no libraries are at hand.

Pictures. Almost as important as the books that go into the box are the pictures. We are awaking to the work done by pictures in the training of communities. All the magazines are recognizing this, and we find them vying with each other in the beauty and abundance of their illustrations. It is quite possible to keep well informed on most subjects of general interest through a study of the illustrations of various articles, without doing much reading of the articles themselves. Advertisers content themselves with a striking picture and a few words and do not fail to reach the public. Schoolbooks are equipped with beautiful and truthful illustrations at enormous cost, and the publishers find themselves paid for the outlay. The children study the pictures with delight, but it is surprising how indifferent the teachers often are to the need of making the illustrations of greater value by a judicious use of them. Many teachers never use intentionally even the pictures furnished them in the books. The child does profit by them, but the profit may easily be doubled. Nor is it sufficient to use only those in the book. Indeed, pictures shut up in books are difficult to handle for class work, as one has to spend too much time in getting at

THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT

them and they cannot be put up to be gazed at for as long as is needed. So a teacher should have an abundance of pictures in her equipment box. The manner of getting and using them is discussed at length in the chapter on Apparatus.

Illustrative articles. Every odd nook and corner of the equipment box should be filled with illustrative material. If the teacher has any real curios, so much the better, but it is not necessary that this material be either odd or valuable ; the little things that one might pick up anywhere may find a place in the collection — a bit of iron plate or wire, or any small metal object ; a little lump of each of the different kinds of coal ; a piece of quartz, marble, or slate ; a bit of ivory, or bamboo, or rattan ; a few pretty shells ; a box of mixed spices ; the dried, clean backbone of a fish ; samples of various breakfast foods and of the different grains — anything, everything, that may serve to brighten and make clearer the lessons of any day.

Many teachers fail to realize what such things mean to children, but when a teacher has once fallen into the habit of using them, she thereafter knows their value and saves greater and greater space in the box for them. Teachers have seen the objects many times, so at first they seem common, valueless. The child has seen them less often, has usually failed to make connections between them and his school work, and is in the perceptive state, when everything that appeals to the senses is very dear to him. Description may serve in many cases for older people, but children need to see the things. The simplest object may serve many, many times. A few years ago the toy shops contained dolls made to represent different races ;

one teacher gathered in a number of these, and their appearance was always greeted with as much delight as if they were being seen for the first time.

Besides the little odds and ends that cost nothing, the judicious expenditure of ten cents or a quarter here and there will in time produce a really good collection. If a teacher keeps her eyes open, and if she prefers her collection to ice cream and certain forms of entertainment, the increase is rapid and the product becomes worth while. Besides serving for illustration, the collection grows to be a great aid in the drawing work. Little vases, kitchen utensils, toys, and the like reach out beckoning hands at every turn.

Material for desk work. The teacher's equipment should contain material for desk work for the little children. The most important of all is the hectograph, without which no teacher should feel herself able to exist. Then there should be colored papers, sometimes called oak tag, outlived calendars (the larger the better), colored sticks, tiny pictures cut from advertisements, and other like aids. The way in which these should be used will be indicated under the head of " Desk Work."

Material for industrial work. Industrial material is a valuable addition to the contents of the school box, and the teacher will easily find at home many things which will prove useful in this line. They may include bits of ribbon, velvet, silk, muslin, linen, and flannel ; pieces of denim, silkaline, cretonne, and cheesecloth ; balls of bright wool, remnants of silkateen or embroidery silk, empty spools, and bits of wall paper, bright-colored papers, and cardboard ; knitting needles, tape needles, bonnet wire, and

THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT

twine. Anything which may serve as a help in the various lines of work suggested in the chapter on manual training should be saved to go into the big box.

Emergency helps. It is well to put in also a box of material that will be useful in case of sickness or accidents. A roll of old soft linen, which should be kept immaculately clean, a roll of absorbent cotton, a few fine needles, a little court-plaster, small bottles of camphor, peppermint, peroxide of hydrogen, aromatic spirits of ammonia, and creolin or sulpho-naphthol are the most useful.

Miscellaneous articles. Lastly, the box may hold a little paper of the kind known as arithmetic paper, a little manila language paper and manila drawing paper, a dozen or so of cedar pencils, a few pens, a tape measure, a yardstick, a foot ruler, a few colored pencils, colored crayons, and a box or two of cheap paints. These are to fill in the gaps when the regular school supplies give out ; periods of being " hung up " come in every school.

It is quite possible to get along without the school equipment box, or without any of the articles mentioned, but the teacher will be happier and her work will be far more effective with it, and the results accruing will more than make it pay in the long run. Starting humbly, the collection will grow to large proportions, and such a box, well started, is an eloquent prophet of future achievements, of promotions, and of good service generally. No teacher who has prepared herself for the meeting of school emergencies will allow herself to drift into the attitude of trusting to chance. She may be depended upon to meet situations and conquer obstacles.

Bagley. Classroom Management. The Macmillan Company. Charters. Methods of Teaching. Row, Peterson and Company. Colgrove. The Teacher and the School. Charles Scribner's Sons. Dexter and Garlick. Psychology in the Schoolroom. Longmans,

Green, & Co.

Finlay-Johnson. The Dramatic Method of Teaching. Ginn and

Company.

Fisher. A Montessori Mother. Henry Holt and Company. George. Teachers' Plan Books. A. Flanagan Company. Gesell. The Normal Child and Primary Education. Ginn and

Company.

Hall. Aspects of Child Life and Education. Ginn and Company. Hughes. Mistakes in Teaching. A. Flanagan Company. Kirkpatrick. Fundamentals of Child Study. The Macmillan

Company.

McMurry. Course of Study in the Eight Grades. The Macmillan

Company.

Montessori. The Montessori Method. Frederick A. Stokes

Company.

Roark. Psychology in Education. American Book Company. Scott. Social Education. Ginn and Company. Smith. Systematic Methodology. Silver, Burdett & Company.

Chapter III The School Building And Grounds

Cleanliness. The first requisite for the school building is cleanliness. A schoolroom may be roughly constructed, unadorned, uncomfortable, inconvenient, but there is little reason for its being dirty. If a teacher finds it so, she should see that it is made clean. Of course, it is the janitor's business to see to this work, but if he does not do his work properly, the teacher should look after it herself, till the time when she may be able to bring about an improvement in the janitor service. A teacher often feels it beneath her dignity to do any work of this sort, but it demands a greater sacrifice of dignity to live in dirt than to scrub a bit.

If the room is found littered and dusty, the teacher should sweep and dust it. If it is otherwise unsightly, she may organize the children into a brigade for cleaning. This may well be done on the first Saturday, or, if that proves difficult, the work may be done a little at a time after school. Everything that can be improved by soap and water should be looked after. The scrubbing should include chairs and desks, though if these are varnished, soap should not be used in the cleaning. Children may scrape or sandpaper desks and afterwards shellack them, but the work must be carefully superintended. Sandpaper is an efficient aid in removing ink stains from the floor. If the

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walls and ceiling are smoked and discolored, it sometimes has to be borne, but a pail of whitewash may be obtained, or a particularly earnest and fascinating teacher may be able to secure from the school authorities paint enough to cover the surface, if she will get it applied. Often it is the labor more than the materials that it is difficult to obtain from the school board. Paint is better than paper or whitewash because the walls can afterwards be washed, but it is more expensive, of course.

Organizing for permanent improvement. It is always well for a teacher to organize some kind of club whose purpose shall be to improve the appearance of the schoolroom, building, and grounds. Such an organization may be made up of the teacher and pupils only, or it may be extended to include the parents and any members of the community who may be interested enough to wish to ally themselves with such a society. Often it will prove a strong bond to unite teacher and children, and it will usually tend to produce a better feeling in regard to school property, which will result in improvement, additions, and more careful use.