Pedagogical pep; a book of help and inspiration for teachers

Foreword

The aim of Pedagogical Pep is to help and inspire the school teachers of America. To this end an open invitation was extended to the readers of Normal Instructor-Primary Plans to enter, in a prize contest, articles that would be of assistance and inspiration to their fellow teachers.

Teachers from every state in the Union, as well as from our territorial possessions and a few foreign countries, responded to our invitation with articles telling of various phases of their experience in school work. The response was both enthusiastic and generous. More than two thousand manuscripts were submitted for the contest, out of which one hundred and twenty-nine prize articles have been chosen to make Pedagogical Pep.

The articles in this book deal with the teaching of school subjects, with the children, with the community, and with the schoolroom itself. The selection of each article was based upon its educational value.

The judges for this contest were Mr. E. J. Bonner, Principal, City Normal School, Rochester, New York, chairman; Miss Harriet Stillman, Primary Supervisor, Rochester, New York; Miss Rena C. Stebbins, Teacher of Education, City Normal School, Rochester, New York; Mr. William E. Hawley, Principal, Francis Parker School, Rochester, New York; Mr.

FOREWORD

George D. Taylor, Principal, John Walton Spencer School, Rochester, New York ; and Mrs. Elizabeth P. Bemis and Mr. W. J. Beecher, Editors, Normal Instructor-Primary Plans.

The progressive teacher is always looking for ways in which she may make her work more effective. She turns to the experiences of other teachers in order that she may learn how they have solved the problems that confront her. Their success gives her courage to fry the same method or to adapt it to her needs. This is the kind of constructive and inspirational help which we hope the readers of this volume will receive. We feel sure that its readers will be those teachers who are daily striving to find the most satisfactory solution of every problem that arises in their teaching experience.

The Editors.

EXTRA PRIZES AWARDED

Otie thousand dollars was originally offered as prizes for the best material submitted by teachers for publication in Pedagogical Pep. The number of manuscripts submitted tvas so great and the standard so high that a larger book has beeii made than was contemplated and the amount distributed in prizes increased to tivo thousand dollars, the writer of each article selected for publication being awarded a cash prize.

The Publishers.

Getting Them to Come 17

The School Newspaper — a Force in the Community 21

A Miniature Reproduction of Our Community

on the Sand Table 23

A Parents' Institute 25

How to Produce a Community Pageant 28

Go-to-School Week 31

Securing Equipment for the School

Our Library Obtained Through Community Interest 33

A Novel Way to Secure a Phonograph 36

Playground Equipment Earned and Made by

the Pupils 38

How We Procured a Projection Lantern 41

Our New Piano the Result of a Court Trial. ... 43 A Beautiful Painting Secured Through an Appreciation of Art 46

Missing the Fun Reformed My Mischievous Pupils 52

The School Bully Transformed Through the Power of Love . 56

Solving the Discipline Problem on the Playground 59

Find the Child's Interest and Turn It into the

Proper Channel 62

Training in Right Habits Is True Discipline .... 64

The Transformation of an Unruly School 67

Good Physical Conditions Essential to Discipline 70

Starting the Year with a Clean Slate 73

Let Us Discipline Ourselves and Study Our

Pupils 75

The Forgetful Child 79

How I Solved the Problem of Punctuality 82

What an Attractive Schoolroom Means to the

Child 83

Desks in Order! 85

Our Improvement Club and Its Work 86

Pertaining to School Grounds — an "Original" . . 89

Seat Work Provided by Many School Subjects. . 91 The Appeal of Seat Work Not Limited to the Eye

and Hand 96

An Educational Seat Work Outfit That Has

Proved Successful 100

Profitable Primary Seat Work 103

Creating a Desire to Read 107

Primary Reading Devices 109

First-Year Phonics as a Game 112

How I Teach Reading in the First Grade 116

Introducing Dramatics into Reading 120

The Importance of Silent Reading 123

"Doing Errands" Makes Silent Reading a Joy. . 126

A Concrete Lesson in the Study of Literature. . 128

Leading My Pupils to Read Good Books 131

Knowing a Few Authors Well 134

Instilling a Love for the Best Writings 136

Handwriting Defects Overcome by a Great Incentive 140

Every Written Lesson Should Be a Writing

Lesson 145

Handwriting Motivated by Interest 150

A Successful Method of Teaching Handwriting 154 Handwriting Made a Live Subject by a Teacher's Enthusiasm 155

Devices for Encouraging Improvement in Handwriting 157

Devices for Drill in the Four Fundamental Operations 161

Visualizing Primary Arithmetic 163

Arithmetic Motivated by the Children's Interest in Baseball 165

How I Secured Speed and Accuracy in Multiplication 168

Arithmetic Made a Live Subject in the Curriculum 169

The Play Element Introducted into Arithmetic . . 171

The House That the Class Built 172

Defects and Remedies in the Teaching of Spelling . 176

The Importance of the Assignment in the Spelling Lesson 179

A Spelling Match Between Parents and Pupils Arouses Interest 181

A Successful Method of Teaching Spelling. . . . 186

Spelling Should Occupy an Important Place in the Curriculum 188

Language Language Lessons That Lead the Children to

Talk 192

Better Speech Stimulated by Posters 194

Putting Pep into an English Lesson 196

Interest Aroused in Correct Speech 198

The Right Word in the Right Place 200

The Three Types of Letters 204

Letter Writing Links Our School with the Outside World 207

Correspondence with Another School Motivates

Letter Writing 211

Spontaneous Expression Essential to Good Compositions 213

Introducing the Dictionary 218

Systematized Instruction in Dictionary Use .... 220

Exit "Mrs. Malaprop" 223

Music Good Results Obtained in Music in the First

and Second Grades 226

How I Taught Third-Grade Music Without a

Supervisor 228

An Appreciation of Music Gained Through a

Study of Grand Opera 231

Self-Expression Through Drawing 233

When Children Love to Draw 236

Relating Drawing to a Practical Problem 239

Children Led to See and Express the Beauty in Things That Grow 243

Nature Study Studying Nature's Wonders with the Children . . 248

Westover Junior Audubdn Society 250

How I Happened to Teach Nature Study 252

The Ripple-View Bird Study Club 254

The Joys of Nature Study 258

Bird Life in Our Community 262

Geography Local Geography as a Step to World Geography 267 How to Make Geography Interesting and Up-to-

Date 272

How Geography Became a Joy to My Pupils. . . 274 Government Material a Valuable Aid in Teaching Geography 276

The Travel Club 280

Let Your Town Teach Your School 284

How I Enlivened a Dead History Period 289

The Use of Stories in Teaching History 290

The Dramatic Element in History 291

A Helpful History Game 293

An Interesting History Notebook 294

Use the Child's Love of Moving Pictures in

Teaching History 296

Learning by Doing 298

Current Events in the Rural School 301

Keeping Up with the Busy World 302

"We Know!" 303

Civics Teaching the Meaning of the Constitution to

Primary Children 305

The Little Citizens' Club 307

How Civics Was Changed from a Dry to an Interesting Subject 309

Thrift an Essential of Good Citizenship 312

Relating Civics to Everyday Life 314

The Bank of Health 317

Health Education in Place of Anatomy and

Physiology 319

A Concrete Demonstration of the Value of

Nutrition 322

The Children's Health Band 324

Cleanliness the First Law of Health 325

Relating School Activities to Health 328

Hot Lunches in Spite of Great Obstacles 331

Let the Children Prepare the Hot Lunch 333

The Hot Lunch as a Project 335

Miscellaneous Seven Qualifications of a Successful Teacher. . . 339 The Value of the Personal Touch in the Schoolroom 342

A Sense of Humor 346

The Oil of Courtesy 348

Relating All School Subjects to the Needs of the

Foreign Child 350

How I Teach Oral English to Foreign Children 354

The Most Successful Story I Ever Told 358

Writing Their Own Play 361

How to Give a Successful School Entertainment 364 Construction Work Motivated by the Furnishing

of a Room 368

Vitalizing a Rural School Through Manual

Training 371

A Novel Way to Create an Interest in Sewing, . 374 How I Made My Second-Grade Children Want

More Education 376

Teachers! Use Standardized Tests! 381

GETTING THEM TO COME

By" Manthei Howe

Every teacher finds it difficult to get the parents to visit school. The problem varies only in degree. Where there is an up and doing Parent-Teacher Association the difficulty is not so great. But in the town where the individual teacher has to be the "parental go-getter," she will need all of her wits and a superabundance of tact to establish visiting relations with the parents.

Some canny observer of human nature once laid down a diverting theory of how to get people interested. His rule amounts to this — if you want to keep yourself vividly in a person's mind, get in debt to that person.

It is not a bad idea at all! Just recall the times when you have loaned money to a friend. Immediately you became interested in what that friend did ; in his good or bad fortune.

Try this method on the mothers of your pupils. It will work. The suggestion is not that you borrow paper and stamps and street car fares from the parents, but that you put yourself and your school under obligations to them.

During the first month of school see that you visit the mother of every youngster in the room. These calls need not be long. If you are as keen a student of human nature as you should be, if you are to be a good teacher, a fifteen-minute call will tell you a great deal about the type of woman little Johnnie's mother is. It will enable you to discover her ability or her hobby. You may notice an unusually fine picture in her house, an odd bit of pottery, a plant, or an interesting relic.

After you have left the house jot down in your notebook the outstanding quality of that parent, her hobby, her talent, or her pet possession. File these notes for future reference. Then borrow from her!

Mothers stay away from the schoolhouse for four reasons, — because they are busy ; because they are not sure of a cordial welcome; because they just keep putting off the visit ; and because they are not interested.

In all fairness to the mothers, it should be noted that only a very small percentage stay away from the school because they are not interested. And if the teacher borrows from them intelligently even these mothers can be coaxed to work up a bit of enthusiasm as to what is being done in the school.

One of the best examples of the way this theory works out is found in the case of a bright, mischievous boy in the third grade. Collin's mother is one of the most popular and busy young matrons in town. Her son was getting into mischief continually, but it seemed next to impossible to get her to come to school where she could compare his deportment with that of the other children in his grade.

Then Collin's teacher happened to attend an afternoon tea and heard Collin's mother in a whistling solo. Immediately the young teacher annexed the whistler for a number at the following Friday afternoon's program at school. It was a definite invitation, a definite engagement, and so the young mother graciously promised to come. Of course, the children enjoyed it and Collin's mother was in equally good humor, for she had done a favor, had given something to the teacher and the school. From then on she had a personal interest in the doings of that grade and that teacher. She made other visits and Collin, disciplined a bit by his mother, settled down to make a record in something besides low deportment.

Every mother, we grant you, cannot contribute anything so spectacular as whistling; but there will be some possession, hobby, or talent that you can use. Possibly the parent will own a beautiful plant that she will be glad to loan to the school for a few days. She may have something to tell of a pioneer town where she once lived. The family may own an old patchwork quilt, or some historical relic with an interesting history.

Most of these "mother contributions" can be correlated with school work in reading, composition, spelling, geography, or drawing. The alert, ingenious teacher will find it possible to use this "borrowing method" to establish a real and lasting bond of interest between the home and the school.

"But," some busy teacher will object, "that works very well perhaps when there are only twenty or twenty-four pupils in a room. It becomes a real task when that visiting means calling on thirty-five or forty mothers living some distance apart." In such a case the Visitor's Book will be found an effective "parental go-getter."

The construction of the book itself may be made the subject of drawing work, or special privilege work during the first month of school. Have as many pages as there are children in the room. Each child may draw, paint, or cut out the decoration for the page that bears his name. When all the pages are finished, they may be fastened together with ribbon, raffia, or clips, loose-leaf fashion. The covers for the book may be made of stiff bristol board, cretonne- covered paper, or mounting board. The decorations or design may be put on the covers by the teacher or by the child who had the best record for the first month of school.

The book completed, the grade is ready to make use of it. Explain to the boys and girls that as each parent visits the room he is to sign his name on the page bearing his child's name. Then Johnnie or Mary will have the privilege of writing up in brief, on the same page in the book, the work done during the session when Mother or Father visited school. A blank is left at the bottom of the page, and each time thereafter that a parent calls, his child places a silver star in this space on his page, as a record of the visit.

If you have a kodak take a picture of the children and paste one on each page of the book, giving each child his page to take home on the last day of school. The Visitor's Book is not much work and it will interest the children as well as the parents.

There will be rivalry between the children to see whose parents will come first and of tenest. An eager youngster coaxing, "Mother, come and visit my room,'* will usually accomplish more than the teacher's most earnest efforts. When the children get their parents to come to school it is our duty to make them want to come often.

If a teacher can get half a dozen silver stars on each page, she may congratulate herself on having made a record in getting parents to come to school.

THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER— A FORCE IN THE COMMUNITY

By Mary Bladon

Two years ago I went into a rural school where the pupils represented ten different families. The school building and grounds were neglected; the equipment was either broken or lacking; and the community, divided by neighborhood differences into various factions, was far from unified. The children had no pride in the school, and were grouped in cliques on the playground. .While no one was hostile to me, neither was anyone very appreciative of my efforts. Quite often some precocious youngster would say, "Mother doesn't see what good that will do." "Father says they didn't do that way when he went to school."

I believed that any school, to be entirely successful, needed a community spirit behind it. I tried community meetings and contests, but they were only fairly successful, because some of the parents would not attend.

Finally, I decided to prepare a monthly paper containing a record of the month's work, and what we hoped to accomplish the coming month. I had a secondhand typewriter, and a homemade hectograph. The children hectographed the copies and thought it great fun. The first year I furnished the paper for printing. The second year the parents contributed the price of the material. Next year the school board has promised to furnish all material, and every family in the district is to receive the newspaper, whether it has children in school or not.

The newspaper has accomplished much in our school. The following are some of the chief results:

1. A knowledge of parliamentary law. Business meetings are held every month to elect new editors for the following edition. I insist that these meetings be businesslike.

2. A healthy spirit of rivalry among the various editorial staffs, who try to make their paper better than the preceding ones.

3. A common interest which has eliminated cliques on the school grounds.

4. Good compositions and articles expressed in clear, concise English carefully revised by the children themselves. Only the best is accepted.

5. Better attendance. A special Honor Roll for regular attendance is published.

6. Observance of Health Rules. There is also an Honor Roll for those who obtain a certain percentage in their health work.

The results in the community were very gratifying. These may be summed up as follows:

1. General interest. One or more of the patrons are asked each month to contribute a short article regarding some phase of school work.

2. Contributions of books and magazines for the school library. One contribution, publicly commended, usually calls forth others. Sometimes the patrons do not know what we need until we tell them.

3. An increase in visits from parents. In each issue of our monthly newspaper we urge them to visit us, and we publish the names of those who came to see us the previous month, together with any of their remarks which are of school interest.

4. Any patron may have a pertinent question regarding school work answered in the magazine by the pupil editors, myself, or the county superintendent.

5. Interest in the hot lunch. This project had oeen strenuously condemned, because misunderstood. The pupils who desired it were indefatigable in finding arguments and statistics. The parents finally gave grudging, then tolerant, and then enthusiastic consent.

The community has shown its interest by repairing the school building and furnishing equipment. The children keep the school grounds attractive. They all take pride in the school property, and in the school activities. Not much money has been expended, but a great deal of good will and hard work.

The newspaper, I firmly believe, started the ball rolling the right way. Every push gave it an added impetus, until now the school is a community interest. The plain truth, stated in a tactful and friendly way, and reaching every patron at the critical time accomplished results far in excess of the effort expended.

A MINIATURE REPRODUCTION OF OUR COMMUNITY ON THE SAND TABLE

By Marie Case

Most children of school age are absolutely indifferent to their surroundings. If attention is not called to certain things, they rarely ever see them at all. Last Spring I happened opportunely upon a plan which aroused the children's interest in the community and, later, the interest of the parents as well.

I helped the children form a miniature reproduction of the community upon the sand table. Small pieces of glass represented the creek; sprinkles of gravel marked the roads; small sticks with strips of paper attached, bearing the name of each place, showed the sites of houses, bams, and dump-heaps.

Of course, there were many changes to be made each day, as the children now saw things of interest in the community which they had never seen before. When our toy community was completed, we began a systematic study of the real community.

First, we talked — or rather the children talked, guided by suggestions from me — of the undesirable things in the community, taking one at a time and discussing ways and means of disposing of it. When we had finally decided upon a way to rid ourselves of the undesirable object, it was taken from our community sand table. We proceeded in this manner until all undesirable things that could be removed from a real community were removed from our sand table.

We then started the improvement of what was left. Much stress was put upon the necessity of clean back yards. Each day brought new and exciting accounts of things found and done in the back yards at home. These improvements were indicated on the sand table by the erection of a small paper flag in the yard corresponding to that in which the work was being carried on.

When improvements were completed our task was to put desirable things in the places formerly occupied by the undesirable things. Round flower beds were made on the sand table, and later reproduced by the children — many times enlarged — on their lawns at home. Morning-glory vines were trained over unsightly buildings which could not be removed.

Our next problem was an old, unused one-room log building near the schoolhouse. It was very unsightly, so we asked the owner if we might improve its appearance. Being given permission to do so, we set to work.

We conceived the idea of converting it into a club house. We laid a neat walk to the road, planted flowers in the yard, and placed two rustic seats under a tree near the house. With the help of the older boys and girls and a few dollars from an ice cream supper, the interior of the house was made attractive.

When our work was completed we arranged a short program for a community social at our club house. This meeting was largely attended and served to bring the patrons of the school into closer touch with one another, as did the other meetings which followed each week. Both old and young looked forward to these little socials with much interest.

A PARENTS' INSTITUTE

By Gertrude O. Jones

All teachers and educators will agree that the common cause of dissension and school difficulties is the lack of understanding and sympathy between the school and the home.

In most states there is a law which compels the teachers to attend an Institute at least once each year. I have hoped that state legislation might give us such a law for parents.

We always return from our Teachers' Institutes with a better understanding of the new methods and what is expected of us if we would be classed as progressive and up-to-date teachers.

But it is this very up-to-dateness which we acquire, through our own ambitions for the advancement of the public school and in compliance with our state laws, that often brings such discord betv\7een the parent and the teacher, the pupil and the school.

We must admit that methods, devices, discipline, in fact everything in and about the public school of to-day, is different from what it was twenty, ten, or even five years ago.

To us, who are in the work, these changes have come so gradually that they do not seem at all radical. But if one of us had been out of school fifteen years and in that time had become a parent, and was starting her child in school for the first time would she not be surprised to learn of the new phonograph record he had heard; of the half -hour spent in making a bird or a doll house ; or that he did not know his A B C's in regular order, or the multiplication table in succession? She might think, as many do : The new teacher is just wasting time on a lot of foolishness that doesn't mean anything, and she is being well paid for it, too. And why! Because she didn't realize or understand the changes.

Children cannot take home accurate accounts of the happenings and doings at school, because they, themselves, do not understand the cause, the motive, or the result hoped for, hence the parent does not understand what we are working for, and so the seed of much misunderstanding is sown.

I have long hoped that sometime there might be a compulsory Parents' Institute conducted along exactly the same lines as the Teachers' Institute. This seems to me to be the only way that all parents can learn what the public schools are trying to do, and what is expected of both teachers and pupils.

With these ideas in mind, I set about to do what little I could in a rural school in a western state. Several weeks before the proposed meeting I began planning. I selected a few of the poems suggested in the course of study and taught them to the respective grades for language work. I had one of the advanced classes dramatize a history lesson, and my civics class prepare a debate on a popular question of the day.

I planned a simple everyday reading lesson for my primary class, telling the story, developing words, phrases, and sentences. It was to be followed by seat work such as I always give them.

To another class I gave a regular lesson and assignment in arithmetic. This constituted my program, which was really just everyday school work.

The pupils wrote invitations while I added a personal note, urging both the father and mother to meet with us on a certain day.

When all had arrived I took the old course of study and with the aid of chalk and blackboard, showed how many classes we had by the old method, and how many minutes for each class, and asked the parents how much they thought it would be possible to accomplish under such conditions.

Then I explained as well as I could, the new course and its purpose, emphasizing how we hoped it would benefit the child individually. I spoke of the new subjects and methods, by which we hoped to create greater interest and better scholarship. Following this, I gave my "lessons" or program, illustrating the methods now in daily use in teaching.

After we were through I asked for free discussions. I answered many questions that afternoon which proved to me that the parents were both interested and appreciative.

In closing we had an old-fashioned "Spell Down," in which the parents took part, after which I passed cups of hot cocoa, wafers, and apples.

I have been repaid for my experiment, many times, for I have found that in our community it has served to lessen the friction which existed between the home and the public school.

HOW TO PRODUCE A COMMUNITY PAGEANT

By Mattie C. Blomquist

The value of a pageant based on the history of the community which produces it is :

1. It stimulates an interest in local history and acquaints pupils with the leading facts of importance in the history of the community.

2. It may lead to the preservation of knowledge of facts of value regarding local history.

3. It engenders good will and strengthens the community spirit.

4. It interests the community in the school.

5. It may be used as a means of raising money for the school.

6. It affords wholesome recreation for the pupils, and clean entertainment for the community.

7. It trains pupils in teamwork, and develops executive ability and leadership.

8. It affords a means of self-expression in prose, verse, artistic designing, dance, and song,

9. It trains pupils in the use of good English, and it familiarizes them with dramatic and verse forms.

10. It develops artistic, literary, and musical ability.

The method of writing and producing a pageant is, briefly stated, as follows:

1. Collect data. Organize classes, or appoint committees of pupils to make a thorough study of local

THE PARENT AND THE GOMMUNITY 29

history. The source of such information may be: files of nev/spapers; county, city, village, and school records; old letters and photographs; data secured from the local and state historical societies.

2. Draw up an outline of the pageant. This may be done by a language or literature class, by the school as a whole, or by a committee of pupils working under the leadership of the teacher or some other person in the community. This outline should sketch, briefly, the general plan of the pageant.

3. Appoint committees to write the various parts of the pageant. These committees may be pupils or adults who are interested in the pageant. Certain parts may be written by language or literature classes ; for example the verse and the dialogue. The historical setting may be prepared by the history class which has first made a detailed study of the information collected by the committee on data. The costumes may be designed by a drawing class and made by a sewing class. The music may be selected and arranged by the committee on music, by a music class, or by volunteers from the school ; or a musician in the community may compose, select, or arrange the music.

4. After the pageant is written it may be considered advisable to publish it. A committee on pageant text should then be appointed. This committee may select the paper and the type to be used in the book, read the proof, design a cover for the book, and provide photographs for the cuts.

5. Committees or directors for the playing of the pageant should be selected. The teacher should be the director of the pageant as a whole. The committee on production should choose th-e pageant players; it should secure one or more prompters; and arrange the pageant rehearsals. The committee on finances should have charge of all advertising. Gate receipts should be turned over to this committee. It should be authorized to settle all accounts in connection with the pageant production. The members of this committee may well be selected from the school patrons.