Correlated courses in woodwork and mechanical drawing

by Ira Samuel Griffith

At the close of the period a tap of the bell will be the signal for the boys to put away their tools and work, get their wraps, brush off the shavings from the bench top and from under the bench into the aisle. When all are ready and the tools have been inspected, the teacher’s signal to rise, and then to pass may be given. Have the rows instructed to pass out in a definite order.

A few schools require the boys of the last class of the day to clean up the entire shop. In many communities this is not advisable for there is some justice in their complaints that they are not janitors. There will be no objection by boys in any community, however, to brushing out from under and around their own benches. This practice makes the janitor’s work comparatively light and does not offend the boy’s sense of justice or fitness. They do not object to the cleaning of the room so much as to the idea of doing what another is paid for doing.

The discussion of ways and means of maintaining discipline is not appropriate in a book of such brevity as this. Sufficient to say that a manual training teacher to do his best work should be a teacher well trained in methods of teaching and the psychological bases back of them. He should at least understand the art if not the science of good teaching.

Where an instructor is engaged in teaching his entire time it is not just that he should be required to attend to formal disciplining of pupils. In most schools, therefore, an instructor, like the regular grade teacher, conducts his shop as best he knows how. When a boy insists in being unruly in spite of all the instructor can do, then that boy should be sent to the principal of the building in which he belongs for further treatment. The shop instructor will be expected to make use of the many little devices for maintaining order that are required of other teachers. Otherwise he will find himself wanting to send boys to the principals more frequently than he should. His maintenance of order will be a much easier task than is that of the regular teacher.

While these restrictions may occasionally work a hardship, they effectually prevent such injustices as the boy who is inattentive during the demonstration bothering the boy who was attentive, when it comes to doing the work. Our American boy is not in much danger of being injured by our school requirements of order and discipline. In fact, he would be benefited by a little more strictness than is now the custom, both at school and at home.

The high school shop bells will of necessity be those for other classes with the exception of the double period. There will be no necessity for a rest period, of course.

13. The Lesson.

An examination of the Lesson Outlines of [Part II] will make clear the component parts of the lesson. These parts are: Recitation, Preparation for Demonstration, Demonstration, Work.

In making an analysis of the lesson, let us begin with “Preparation for Demonstration.” The recitation really belongs to the preceding lesson, and will be discussed last. The preparation for demonstration consists in having a pupil read aloud sections of a text which bear directly upon the demonstration which is to follow. The purpose of this is primarily to assist in preparing the minds of the pupils for the demonstration. Of course this preparation could be made orally by the instructor. In centers where the classes repeat the work day after day for the full week, the instructor finds himself enthusiastic in giving the beginning classes their lessons but, in spite of good intentions, slighting the lessons of the classes that come the latter part of the week. The reading from the text insures every class equal attention. Of course, the instructor will enliven the text by the addition of information from his own experience. There are other uses for the text, such as a reference book in case the worker finds as he works that he has forgotten some point. Also it enables the instructor to formulate definite questions on the work with some assurance that the student can answer them the week following. The preparation must not be too elaborate. This is a common fault of beginners in teaching. It is a means, not an end.

Some instructors object to reading before the demonstration on the ground that it detracts from the demonstration. When one thinks only of the exercise of observation this seems reasonable. It must be remembered, however, that young pupils are not skilled in making observations as are grown people. It is wise therefore to give them some aid in making their observations by giving them preliminary hints. In fact, those instructors who object to the preliminary reading frequently do precisely the same thing, that is prepare the boys for the demonstration, when they talk during the demonstration—they usually explain each step just before taking it. With the preliminary reading of the text very little talking need interrupt the demonstration, which may proceed rather rapidly.