The members of the Training Classes, while under the general guidance of the heads of the schools, where they act as assistants, are helped and instructed in methods of teaching various subjects by the Town Supervisors of Instruction, appointed for those special subjects. The appointment of supervisors in drawing, singing, reading, etc., whose sole work is to visit the schools and conduct and examine classes, gives unity to the methods in the various schools of a town, and affords much practical help to the student-teachers in the various schools.
At Quincy, Massachusetts, there is a training class of thirty students. The pupil teachers act as assistants in the schools, receiving no compensation, except the guidance of experienced teachers, and theoretical instruction from the superintendent. They usually teach in several grades during the year, but those who show special aptitude or wish to teach in any particular grade are allowed an alternative of remaining in that grade. At the Coddington school, one of the training schools for the Quincy Training Classes, I heard very good lessons given in reading, phonics, number, English and geography. A reading lesson, given to ten or twelve children about seven years old, was to teach one new word, “Flag.” The class stood around the teacher at one part of the wall slate. After carefully revising many of the words learnt in previous lessons, the teacher drew a flag on the board. Then she wrote the word as a whole, underneath the drawing. Then she told a short story about a flag, wrote the word in different coloured chalks, wrote sentences involving only known words and the new word “flag.” When the children could read these sentences easily, they were made to pick out the word “flag.” Some were allowed to erase the word, some to write it again. Every possible device was used in the lesson to associate the complete written expression with the spoken word and the idea. At the end of twenty minutes, when the association was complete, the new word “flag” was written among the list of known words, kept constantly on the board, and the children were sent to their seats. I noticed in all the reading lessons in which words and sentences were taught as wholes, that clever teachers constantly used the device of erasing the word or sentence to be taught. This, when skilfully done, secures concentration of attention on each word, by allowing the children only a limited time to note its general shape, before being required to represent it on the board or slate. The constant erasure and repeated re-writing of a word ensure repeated short acts of intense attention on the part of the children, and so help greatly in the learning of the new word. A lesson in “number” or arithmetic, given to the same class, was devoted to problems in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers below ten. Many devices were used for interesting the class. The children were sent to work at different parts of the wall slate, and were encouraged to contribute problems for the class. The general use of the wall slate is seen to be of great advantage, especially in such lessons as these. By means of it, supervision of individual work is very easy, and corrections can be made valuable to the whole class.
The Training Classes of the State of New York show more uniformity of courses and methods than those of many of the other States. This is due to their organization by the State Superintendent, who issues regulations and a definite course of study. The course is a short one, from ten to thirteen weeks. Two hours each day is given to instruction. Methods in reading, spelling, number, language and primary geography are studied, and observation and criticism of lessons is a definite part of the work. Actual teaching is done wherever possible; but this is not a requisite. The time given to each subject is apportioned somewhat on the same principles as in the Normal Schools—viz., one subject is followed up for a very short time, another is taken up in the same way, and then another. On this plan, only a few days can be given to some subjects. The syllabus of work for 1889 gives four days to laws of mental development, seventeen days to school economy, ten days to the history of education, and four days to school law. Other set times are given to Methods. Such a course, lasting for a very short time, and including so many subjects, cannot but be inadequate and superficial when used as the only means of training. The experience gained in such a way is not sufficient in itself to qualify for responsible work in a town school. This is shown by the fact that those who have taken a course in the training class of a city are often expected to gain experience elsewhere, before taking responsible work in that city. In many instances, students are urged to take Normal School courses as well.
It may indeed be stated generally, that the work of Training Classes is to supplement a longer and more thorough course in training, rather than to train. Training Classes, for the most part, provide practice under supervision for those who have already gained some insight into the science of education and methods of teaching, but the small amount of time given to other sides of training prevents their work being at all adequate as the sole preparation for teachers. Training Classes exist, and will exist, to meet the needs of those would-be teachers who, in small towns, where there is neither Normal nor Training School, cannot afford to leave their homes to prepare for their work. The urgent demand for trained teachers for all the Common Schools has resulted in the establishment of many institutions, which, while fulfilling a present need, are existing under conditions which must prohibit work of the best kind. Among such institutions we must enrol the City Training Classes.
It is a noticeable fact, that in both Training Schools and Training Classes, the beginners usually practise first in the lowest grades. It is considered easier to teach little children than older ones, and less dangerous to the pupils. Indeed, the heads of many schools, far from adopting the theory that the primary teaching should be in the hands of the most skilled and efficient teachers, give their youngest classes into the care of those disqualified to teach in higher grades, on account of lack of knowledge, or want of skill. It may be urged in support of the plan of allowing teachers unqualified for other grades of teaching to become teachers in the primary schools, that the knowledge actually used in the teaching of little children is much less than that needed for work with elder children, and that certain devices for keeping children quiet, and for interesting them, can be followed empirically by the unskilful teacher. But this argument, instead of sanctioning the practice so commonly adopted, would serve to show that it is in the lower grades that bad teaching can remain undetected, and results, rather than means, made criteria of success. Much of the growth of the child-mind, in its early stages, depends on the teacher’s width of interest, a width only secured by a thorough knowledge of the subjects taught, and a broad range of subjects. This breadth of interest not only influences the class, but reacts on the teacher; for teachers of young children, having little necessity to make constant intellectual efforts, stand in great danger of becoming intellectually narrowed.
Partly as a result of the fact that most of the students in Normal and City Training Schools are prepared for work as primary teachers, and that others who hope eventually to teach in higher grades must first gain their experience in primary grades, we find that much more attention is given to primary methods than to methods of the Grammar School. This is true not only in Practising Schools and Model Schools, but elsewhere.
Therefore, the most rapid progress in American Education has been connected with elementary teaching. The present movement to reform the curriculum and methods of the Grammar School is only of recent development.
UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS OF PEDAGOGY.
The pedagogical courses connected with the Universities of the United States differ so much in organization and scope, and in the nature of their connection with the University, that it is impossible to consider them under one comprehensive title, unless the exact meaning of the term “University Department” be defined. In the present case, the title “University Department of Pedagogy” is used to include all higher courses of study in philosophy, psychology, history, science or art of education established by Universities or Colleges of high standing, in definite recognition of the fact that the work of secondary teaching requires distinct and special professional or technical preparation, beyond a sound general education. Such instruction may be given in connection with Chairs of Pedagogy by series of lectures on science and art of teaching, theory and practice of teaching, etc., or it may be so complete as to constitute a school of pedagogy in itself, thoroughly organized and equipped to carry out professional training in all its branches. Pedagogical study may be a so-called “elective”—viz., one of the subjects chosen by the student to count towards his degree, or it may be a course for post-graduates only. It may consist merely of courses in special pedagogy or “methods,” by the various professors of different subjects in a University, or it may be chiefly the study of education from a scientific standpoint, as in Clark University, Massachusetts, where experimental and physiological psychology is pursued, not with the view of meeting the needs of intending teachers, but of offering opportunities of thorough study to scientific experts, whose results may be of great value to education in general. The number of Universities or Colleges in the United States which report pedagogical courses of some kind is 114. In many of these, however, the work is mostly of the Normal School type, with a view to prepare for teaching in the Grammar Schools of the State, and the certificate of proficiency given on completion of the course is not such as to entitle the work to be called “Higher Instruction in the Theory and Art of Teaching.” Leaving such departments out of consideration, as not belonging to the field of higher education, the departments of pedagogy in connection with Universities may, for convenience, be considered under two heads:
1. Those in connection with State Universities.