A brief course in the teaching process

by George D. Strayer

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

You would begin by reading the whole poem, calling to mind the experiences of the children in going to bed before dark on the long summer evenings and of the cold, dark winter mornings when they may have dressed before it was light. The number and the kind of explanations which will need to be made will, of course, depend upon the previous experience of the children and the time of the year. Then the poem might be read again a time or two. After this preliminary work has been done, you might ask some one to tell you the story. Let us suppose that the reply was about as follows: “A little boy had to get up before it was light in the winter, and go to bed before it was dark in the summer. In summer when he went to bed he heard the birds hopping on the trees and the people walking past him in the street. He thought it was hard to have to go to bed when it was still daylight, when he wanted so much to play.” If the main facts were less well told, or if there were notable omissions, it would be necessary to get at least an outline of the main thought before proceeding. Now we are ready to call the attention of the children to three main thoughts, each told in a stanza. First, the difference between getting up in winter and going to bed in summer. Second, what did the boy in the story see and hear when he went to bed before dark? Third, how do you feel when you have to go to bed in summer while the sky is still so clear and blue, and you would like so much to play?

It will be very easy to get the thought of the first stanza impressed in the words of the author. It will help to read the whole poem again, the teacher meanwhile asking the children to pay particular attention to the way the author says it. Possibly there will be some difficulty with “quite the other way,” but skillful questioning will get the correct form. And so for the second and third stanzas; if the thought is clear, the words will follow very easily. After each thought has been thus carefully developed, with the whole story always in mind, and the words of the author have been made the vehicle of expressing the thought by the children, it will be advantageous to have the poem repeated several times by individual members of the class. In this repetition the dramatic element should enter as far as possible. To suit the action to the word, to really feel what one recites, helps greatly to strengthen the impression, and thus aids recall.

It may be thought that the illustration used was particularly well adapted to illustrate the theory advanced. Or some teacher may say that children would memorize Bed in Summer without teaching. It may, therefore, not be out of place to suggest that the best way to discover for one’s self the value of the method is to try it. It will work equally well if the subject is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, a selection from the Declaration of Independence, the Twenty-third Psalm, or any other masterpiece of English.

The principles to be applied are essentially the same even when verbatim memorization is not required. To get lasting control of the facts of geography or of history, one must have reduced them to a system. There must be a relating of less important facts to more important, a clustering of important points of reference to any other facts which are logically related. This, indeed, is just what scientific organization means, and the main purpose of such organization is to render facts more available, to save labor. The memory is relieved of much of its burden when once we have established the relationship of cause and effect, of equivalence, of similarity, or of analogy among facts. It is this association of ideas on a logical basis which counts most in the possibility of recall.

It is quite possible for children, very early in their school life, to begin to apply these principles and to become conscious of the fact that the way they do their work has an important bearing upon the ease with which it is accomplished and the permanency of the results gained. The work of the teacher is not done by merely dictating the method, even though that may help greatly to establish right habits of study; our best assurance that the method will be employed when the teacher is not present to direct the work is found in our knowledge that the children not only habitually, but also when a question arises or there is a suggestion of another way, consciously employ the right method.

Teaching children how to form habits: Our next problem is to inquire how children may be led consciously to employ the principles of habit formation when their school work involves work of this type. They can be taught the function of drill or repetition, and can be led to see under what conditions such work will prove most successful. It is not difficult to prove to a boy that his listless, half-hearted work in repeating the spelling of the words he has missed is making little improvement in his ability to spell them. A boy can be led to see by an illustration in which he himself is the chief actor that concentrated attention will make much difference. Let him see how much he can accomplish in ten minutes, and thus get him in the habit of using this means when he finds that he is not working up to his normal capacity. Show him that a new impetus will be given and that attention will be easier if he reverses the order, writes instead of spelling orally, or closes his eyes and attempts to visualize the words. No matter what motive the boy has for the attempt he is making, he will welcome the suggestions which make the task easier.

Later you can teach this same boy the need of verification before drilling himself whenever a question of fact is raised. In the beginning, of course, the doubt or question will be raised by the teacher, and it will be the chief work of the child to find an authority and assure himself that he has the right idea or form before proceeding. A big step in the education of a child has been taken when he is able to say, “I know I am right, because I have consulted the commonly accepted authority.” Occasions will arise constantly in the study of any subject where, instead of asking the teacher or being satisfied with information which is of questionable validity, the child should, as a matter of habit, turn to the authority for verification. It is not at all unusual for children to have misgivings, but they too frequently end by going ahead and ignoring their doubt. To respect one’s doubts, to be somewhat critical, is significant for education only when one is led thereby to endeavor to discover the truth. Children will work to advantage when they realize that these steps of doubt, verification, repetition, with undivided attention, are essential to good work.

Children can be taught the necessity of accuracy in practice. Any day’s work in a schoolroom will furnish illustrations of the danger of lapses and the necessity of guarding against them. The fallacy of the notion that “this one doesn’t count” can be made just as clear to children as to adults. So, too, the mistaken notion that cramming may be substituted for systematic work day in and day out can be brought to the attention of pupils.