Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
COMMENTS
ILLUSTRATION
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
COMMENTS
By calling on all or nearly all of the pupils, you will accustom the
boy who wants to speak all the time, to the idea that he must take his
turn with the others.
By substituting an intelligent interest in the recitation for the
raising of hands and the mere pleasure of being the central figure in
the class, you will raise the class standard to a higher level. By
assuming an attitude of attention, the pupils will unconsciously
become interested in each other’s recitations.
The teacher may not hope entirely to do away in a day with the
excessive raising of hands, or of speaking without waiting to be called
upon, but the fact that she has secured her point during one
recitation makes it easier the next time to suppress the excessive
desire, on the part of one or two pupils, to monopolize the time and
attention of the class to the exclusion and detriment of others.
Miss James was a strict teacher who kept her word and was both
feared and respected by her pupils. Technically she was a good
teacher, too; that is, she knew how to present a subject to the child
mind, to organize and emphasize the vital points in a lesson. There
was apparently no reason why the children of the eighth grade room
should not accomplish as much as the individual ability of each child
would permit.
But they were not doing it. Mildred, who Interrupting the
had gotten averages of 90 in most subjects Studious
throughout the seventh grade, was hovering just above the passing
mark. The same was true to a lesser degree of others, and there was a
continuous effort on the part of Miss James, the teacher, to suppress
small naughtinesses in children who had good records for previous
years.
The children never finished tasks in the time assigned and the
work done was mediocre in quality. Miss James did not realize how
badly things were going until Mildred’s mother presented the case to
her.
It was just after the monthly issue of report cards. Mildred’s card
showed some unusually low marks—one that was far below passing
grade. Mildred was a conscientious girl and could not herself
understand why she failed to do as good work as she had done the
year before. She knew she worked hard but she never seemed to
accomplish results. Things always managed to happen just so that
she had to skip over the last few paragraphs of her history lesson in a
hurry, and look up all her reading words at recess because she had no
other time to spend on them.
When she showed her card to her mother, bitter tears of hurt pride
were in her eyes, for in the past there had never been anything but
commendation at home when she brought home her month’s record.
Her mother, being a wise woman, drew her little daughter to her and
asked:
“What’s the matter, dear? Father and I know you don’t waste your
time at school. There must be a reason for these low marks. Is it that
Miss James is unfair? Doesn’t she give you what you deserve to get?”
“No,” sobbed Mildred. “It isn’t that. She marks higher than Miss
Johnson did last year. I really don’t deserve to get any more than
this. I do well enough on tests when I can study up, but I don’t do
good work every day.”
And Mildred cried out her trouble in her mother’s arms. That lady
resolved to visit Miss James the next day and have a serious talk with
her.
Miss James had seen that the eighth grade was doing uncommonly
poor work and had cast about in her mind for the reason. She had
shortened lessons until she was in danger of not complying with the
schedule, and she had watched with an eagle eye for inattention and
laziness. When Mildred’s mother pointed out the contrast between
this year’s and last year’s work she was forced to admit that Mildred
was always busy and was by no means a dull pupil.
What was the trouble?
She decided to watch more closely than before the events in her
school-room.
The next morning after opening exercises were over, her glance
over the room showed her every head bent over a book. The room
was so quiet that Robert Woods’ wheezy breathing (he had a very bad
cold) was distinctly audible.
Then the stillness was broken by John. He saw Miss James looking
at him and asked a question about the lesson. Most of the children
looked up from their work, shifted their positions, or gave some
other evidence of having noticed the break. In a few minutes
someone else asked permission to leave the room. And so on through
the period.
Not until she had watched for several periods did Miss James
realize the stir each one of these speeches aloud made, and how
frequent they were. Then she saw that the speaking aloud disease
had reached an advanced stage in her school-room and that it, and it
alone, was responsible for the seemingly causeless deterioration in
her pupils’ work.
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
Do not sit still in the front of the room during a study period and
let children ask questions whenever they please. Require them to
raise their hands and then go to them and settle the difficulty quietly
without disturbing the rest of the school.
Develop the social consciousness in the child as early as possible.
Make him realize that, for the general welfare of the whole school, it
is worth his while to forego satisfying his need immediately.
COMMENTS
In this case the teacher was a good one and a good disciplinarian,
but one minor weakness in her fabric of control had undermined all
the rest of her good work.
Work, no matter how earnest it may be, can not be constantly
interrupted without suffering the consequences. The inspiration is
gone and interest flags.
The fullest and best work of which children are capable can never
be finished on time if it is accomplished under the stress of
interruptions and distracted attention. A steady noise, even a clatter
or roar, does not disturb a worker after he becomes accustomed to it.
It is the occasional outburst, the sudden breaking in upon a silence,
that confuses the mind.
ILLUSTRATION
A young engineer who was accustomed to Exhausted
working in a downtown office in a big city Nerves
was transferred to a branch office in a small town. In the city he had
been surrounded by the continuous clatter of typewriters and
adding-machines, the noise of the traffic in the street below and the
boom of elevated trains just outside the window. Because these
sounds were steady and relatively constant, the man did not notice
them. He paid no heed, though his work required intense
concentration and uninterrupted thought.
In the small town branch office he was the sole occupant of a little
room looking out upon an uncleared field. Shortly after the
engineer’s arrival the owner of the adjacent land began to clear it. He
used dynamite to blast out the stumps. The explosions of the blasts
would have been lost in the din to which this man had been
accustomed in the city, but breaking in upon a dead silence as they
did, they annoyed the engineer so much that he lost much time
trying to pick up the broken threads of his work every day.
Then, these noisy explosions began to get on his nerves, for he was
a high-strung man. At the end of two weeks he had a nervous
breakdown which was caused by nothing but these periodic
disturbances that set his nerves on edge and shattered his self-
control. Fortunately, by the time he had recovered from his illness,
the blasting was finished and he went on with his work undisturbed.
When Miss Barton had charge of the high school assembly room in
Geneva, Illinois, it was always a time for unlimited privilege on the
part of the pupils.
“Miss Barton, may I speak to Elsie?” Susan Emmons asked,
without raising her hand.
Two blonde heads were soon together talking over what they were
going to wear to Jeannette’s party.
Two minutes later: “Please, may I speak?” This was from a
demure-looking girl who was never known to ask this privilege from
any other teacher.
Several minutes passed without a reply from Miss Barton. She was
enjoying some peace in reading her home newspaper when again,
“Miss Barton, may I speak to Susan?”
“Yes” (said without thinking).
Then, when Elsie was on her way to speak to Susan, she recalled,
“Didn’t I just give you permission?”
“No, you gave Susan permission to speak to me.”
“All right.” Miss Barton sighed as she Too Frequent
turned her attention to another part of the Speaking
room, where two boys were amusing themselves looking out of the
window.
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
COMMENTS
In the case of Miss Barton, the pupils misused a privilege which
should have been reserved for special circumstances only.
The study period is not a time for idleness or recreation on the part
of the teacher. If she makes it so, she can not blame the pupils for
following her example.
Miss Herrick had charge of the study hall in the Pittsfield High
School the last period of every day. Her presence meant “Study.”
There was no time for foolishness when she came into the room. She
treated requests to speak in such a chary manner that a pupil would
think twice before asking the privilege.
“May I speak?”
Miss Herrick would not say a word, but Learn the
would beckon the pupil to her desk. Reason
“What would you like to learn, Jessie?”
“I wanted to ask Mary how to do an algebra problem.”
“Bring your book up to the desk; perhaps I can help you.”
So time after time a request to speak to a fellow pupil was turned
aside for something more helpful.
(3) Studying aloud. Probably few teachers realize the difficulty a
child meets in learning to suppress tone and muscular movement of
mouth and lips while reading. Indeed, the adult can assure himself
that in silent reading, even he does not suppress all movement of
tongue and vocal cords.
When Miss Smedley took charge of the third grade in the Russell
Sage School, she had to meet several new situations, one of which
was most annoying. Almon Metcalf insisted on studying aloud. Most
of the pupils in the room were accustomed to this, as he had been in
the same room with them for years.
Studying Aloud
Miss Smedley was conducting a class in arithmetic in the upper
division, when she heard a monotonous mumbling on the other side
of the room. Almon Metcalf was studying his reading lesson.
“Almon, I wish you would study silently. Don’t you know you are
interrupting our arithmetic lesson?”
All the children then turned around to look at Almon.
Again she started to take up the lesson, but the children’s attention
was all on Almon. Miss Smedley’s patience was taxed to the utmost.
It was hard enough to pound two times two into the minds of
children when they were interested, but to have their attention
distracted by a boy who insisted upon studying out loud—this was
too much.
“Almon Metcalf, come here!”
The scared little boy hesitantly walked up to the front of the room.
“Aren’t you ashamed to take up my time this way?” Miss Smedley
shook him while the rest of the room looked on the scene with
greatest interest.
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
Give the boy an isolated seat for the time being. When with him
alone apply a test whereby you can find out the cause of his studying
out loud. Take a second grade reader and pick out a simple
paragraph:
“Almon, read this paragraph to yourself.”
If you discover he can not tell you what he has read when he has
finished the paragraph, teach him how to read silently. This matter
of teaching silent reading is a point neglected by a great number of
teachers.
Take one short sentence from the second reader. Read it to
yourself, first, so that he can watch you. Then ask him to read the
sentence the same way.
“What did you read?”
If he answers correctly, say, “That’s right. Now read two
sentences.” If he can not tell you what he has read, give him a
simpler sentence. Do not give up the test until he is able to read
something, no matter how easy the sentence may have to be.
On the following day give the whole class the same test. Select a
somewhat more difficult sentence. Let the one who can first give the
words orally, raise his hand. Make a game of silent reading and its
difficulties will soon disappear.
With third grade children, the teacher should show her class how
to study each lesson. It is not enough to give an assignment. The
method of study should be outlined.
For the preparation of the reading lesson, for instance (for that is
the subject in which a child is more likely to study aloud), put a list of
the most difficult words on the board and mark them for
pronunciation. Ask the class to examine the words. Then say, “Are
there any words you can not pronounce?” Give special attention to
the boy who studies aloud, asking him to pronounce the words which
you have written on the board.
For the fourth and upper grades, place a list of the more difficult
words on the board, the meaning of which the children should be
asked to look up in their small dictionaries; and do not forget that
children have to be taught how to use the dictionary. Have play drills
in this as in all other difficulties of a mechanical sort.
COMMENTS
Miss Smedley did not stop to figure out why Almon Metcalf
studied aloud. If she had, she would have taken into consideration
the fact that he had been two years in school without being taught
how to study. She would have realized that calling the attention of
the whole room to his deficiency would not help him to break the
habit.
The boy was not the only one who was to blame for distracting the
attention of the class in arithmetic. Miss Smedley’s own remarks
were instrumental here.
Almon Metcalf needed Miss Smedley’s special guidance in learning
how to study.
ILLUSTRATION (FIFTH GRADE)
When Rosa Bentley entered the fifth grade of the Lowell school,
Miss Sieger recognized her at once as an inveterate talker. This was
especially manifest in the study periods where Rosa had formed the
habit of studying aloud.
“Well, there must be some cause for the Teach Silent
child’s doing this,” thought Miss Sieger. Study
“She is another one of those untrained pupils.” Miss Sieger was
aware of the deficiencies in our school system.
“I’m going to teach Rosa how to study.”
That afternoon she worked alone with the child for fifteen minutes,
patiently helping her, sentence by sentence, to comprehend what she
was reading without pronouncing the words aloud. This was only the
beginning of a series of special lessons in how to study.
When Rosa had gained some headway, Miss Sieger held her up as
an example to an occasional delinquent.
“Rosa has learned how to study, now can’t you?”
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
COMMENTS
It did not help the children who had never learned how to study, to
be held up in ridicule before a third grade room, nor to be cited as
the product of a poor school system. Miss Algernon gave the children
the impression they were the ones at fault and, what was even less
excusable, that there was little hope for them in school. This would
hardly inspire them with courage for greater effort.
Daisy was a talkative child. Her eyes went everywhere and her ears
picked up all the news that passed her way.
“Teacher, Tommy’s whispering”—“Jennie “Telling on” the
lost her book”—“Philip said some bad Pupils
words”—“Annie’s papa’s dead, and she says she don’t care.” After a
few interruptions of this sort, her teacher broke out with:
“If you don’t shut up, I shall go crazy. Why don’t you go to work
and leave other people’s affairs alone?”
Such a rebuke closed up the torrent of tattling for only a very few
minutes.
The next string of remarks was cut off with, “Not another word
from you this morning. You’re a regular little tattle-tale.” When
another remark began it was blocked by:
“I can’t hear any more tales from you today.”
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
COMMENTS
CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT
COMMENTS