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TEACHING SELF–EDUCATION

 

" Teaching pupils how to study—or better, how to educate them­selves—is obviously as important as teaching them to know certain facts and to do certain things. The willingness and ability to study efficiently—to educate oneself well—involves:

1.  Having purposes or aims
2.  Putting questions to oneself
3.  Bringing to bear upon any problem whatever relevant facts one knows
4.  Organizing these facts according to their bearings upon the problem
5.  Searching for more in the writings of men competent to inform one about the problem in question
6.  Judging the merits of the suggestions thus receive
7.  Observing and experimenting in first-hand contact with facts
8.  Economizing time and energy in the triple task of forming habits, acquiring skill, and memorizing what is permanently needed
9.  Using the knowledge or skill or interest when it is gained, and cherishing ideals of open-mindedness, fairness, accuracy, thorough­ness, and caution."

EXERCISE.—Write out your present ideas on the topic, "How to Assign a Lesson."

The greatest thing you will ever teach your pupils is that they can get along without you!

 

<>The test of the swimming pool is the test everywhere; he is the best master who can teach his pupils to strike out alone. He was a wise - Frenchman who insisted that his object was to make himself as useless as possible to his pupils.

 

Books and education.—To the ordinary observer educa­tion is a kind of book business. So often do we resort to books for wisdom that we are in danger of mistaking the book for the wisdom. "It is written" has come to mean, "It is true"; and some are heedless enough to attach that meaning to the phrase, "It is printed."

 

But we must not be slaves to the book. Education ex­isted long before books, and even yet it should always begin without them. It is enlightening for every teacher to ponder what she would do if fire or flood should destroy all books, or at least all her pupils' books,—how she would contrive to continue their education by some other means than the assignment and recitation of lessons.

 

The book as a substitute for the teacher.—When we ex­plore a new and somewhat dangerous country, a guide is valuable and oftentimes indispensable. But independence grows of experience, and a guide book at length takes the place of the living leader.

 

Having acquired skill in understanding the book, we can travel safely alone.

 

Education is the exploring of a country that is new to the young adventurer. His guide, on whom he is at first utterly dependent, is the teacher. But the teacher's daily contact with each child is very limited; to extend her presence, to multiply her influence, to afford aid that may be drawn upon in any time of need, she provides a guide book in the form of a textbook. It would be altogether desirable if every able teacher could prepare her own textbook, a per­sonal "first aid" that would tell what to do till the teacher comes. As it is, she is apt to bow meekly before the tradi­tional authority of whatever appears in print. It is all too easy for her to believe that the education she is trying to give the children is shut up in the book, and must be wormed out of it in some way. But the art is in the artist, not in his brushes and pigments.

 

The first studying should be done with the teacher.—The guide book should be consulted in the presence of the guide, until it can be correctly interpreted in his absence. When the first grade child learns to read, he gets along most happily for some time without the book. When at length the print is placed in his hands, he and the teacher should work together over the lessons, until he shows that he is ready to go on alone.

 

Nor should this study recitation, as it has been called, be confined to primary grades. The student who is learning a foreign language should learn the pronunciation of its declensions and conjugations, in large measure, from the lips of his teacher; and instead of being turned loose to puz­zle out his own translations and incidentally fall into bad habits, he should first learn "the tricks of the trade " by following a master through all the mental operations re­quired to make strange-looking words and sentences ac­tually mean something in good English.

 

Frequently, before the learner can appreciate or under-stand the book, he must be put through a course of apper­ceptive development; that is, he must have some actual first-hand experiences before he can read meaning into the words that refer to such experiences. The student who has received a stunning blow from the opening definitions and discussions of some old-fashioned text in physics, grammar, geometry, or psychology, will know exactly what is here referred to. The first duty of a teacher who is starting such a class is not to assign a book lesson, but to talk to and with his students in a cordial, informal way, until they under-stand, however crudely, the general situation and purpose; to give experiments and other experience if need be,—and need there usually is,and then to read and study with them some portion of the textbook, until he finds that they can master it, for the most part, alone.

 

The assignment of lessons.—Perhaps the most necessary point to keep in mind here is that the lesson must be adapted to the pupil at his stage of advancement. Of course the teacher cannot act intelligently, unless she knows both the lesson and the learner. Next, the length of the lesson must be determined carefully in its relation to the ability of the pupil, and the time he can reasonably be expected to devote to it. This is of especial importance in schools conducted on the departmental plan, for each teacher must recall constantly that several other teachers also are assigning lessons for her pupils. There is danger that each will at-tempt to magnify his office. A happy method of adjustment is the determination, in faculty meeting, of the amount of time each teacher may claim.

One of the most fatal methods of lesson assignment consists in determining, at the beginning of a term or a year, how many pages of text shall be completed in this period, and then dividing the number of pages by the number of recitations. Not only are pages of unequal value, but the whole process is likely to result in dawdling or forcing. The same danger threatens, when a number of differing classes are compelled to advance at the same pace. Each class, provided it does faithful work, is the measure of what it can do.

 

One of the best means of insuring the mastery of the lesson is to clear up its precise purpose. Frequently the pupil fails because he does not know just what is expected of him. The dominant purpose of the task can often be indicated by a question or a series of questions, or a brief outline for the direction of study may be given, or signif­icant passages in the text may be marked. In addition, all obscure language, or unusual difficulty of meaning should be made plain in advance. The fundamental excellence of all good teaching is clearness.

 

Teaching pupils to study.—The only one who knows thoroughly the science of studying is the expert psycholo­gist. To attempt to teach his intricate science to children is folly. But we can practice the art of study with our pupils, thus heading off bad habits and setting up good ones. And the more the children mature, the more we can teach them of mental self-management.

 

The most general method of attack, one which it is safe to encourage in dealing with any ordinary lesson, consists of three stages, (1) getting a comprehensive first view, (2) working thoroughly through the minor steps that make up the body of the task, and (3) looking back over the lesson as a whole to make sure that all parts are correctly related.

 

(1) The pupil may well be encouraged to think of the lesson as a range of territory to be explored; it is well to see it as a whole, from some vantage point, first of all. If he is to read a chapter or a section, he should turn to the table of contents and see where and how this assignment stands with reference to other portions of the book,—what has led up to it, what follows. Next, he may read rapidly over the whole assignment, even if the meaning is not yet perfectly clear at some points. Having taken such an airship view, he will know where the new territory abuts on old, familiar ground, and so be less likely to get lost in details when he begins the actual work of exploration.

 

(2) The second part of the process consists in working over the smaller units, making each topic, paragraph, and sentence deliver its meaning. If a real classic is being studied, it pays to work with dictionary and reference book at elbow. This searching out of bypaths, beating of bushes, and turning over of stones may continue as far as time and purpose warrant.

 

(3) Finally, when one has gained the hilltop of mastery, he should turn and make a careful review of the ground covered, fixing in mind irremovably the chief landmarks. A brief outline or analysis will help to accomplish this.

 

The habits we try to train into pupils will depend on the kind of lesson. The importance of pointing out the precise purpose of the lesson at the time of its assignment has been emphasized above. The pupil need not be very old, before he can understand whether he is to collect facts ("infor­mation"), or work out a problem ("thought"), or master some process ("skill"), or form an estimate of something ("appreciation").

 

Training for the information lesson demands that the pupil be taught (1) how to find and collect information, use reference books, source books, etc.; (2) how to organize the material collected; (3) how to commit it to memory most easily, or place it on file for future use.

 

The art of thinking requires that pupils habitually (1) look for what is given to think from;

(2) consider what is demanded, what they are to think their way to; (3) search for a way from the one to the other.

 

The precepts most necessary in working for appreciation:

 

Study Chapter Ten, "Thinking"; and "The Lesson for Thought," as treated in Chapter Fourteen and for skill have already been presented.  The pupil must catch the correct procedure, for the most part, by working with his teacher and imitating her practice.

 

It is evident from all this that we must regard our pupils as apprentices in the art of learning, and we must spend many a period in practical study with them, instead of merely hearing lessons. Such periods are not wasted; they are like the time the mechanic spends in sharpening his tools.

 

Conditions for successful study.—There are certain phys­ical and mental conditions for study which every teacher aims to secure in her schoolroom, and which every learner, as soon as he is capable of independent work at home or in his study, should be exhorted to secure for himself. It is well, on entering either schoolroom or study, to let the words "heat, light, air," flit through one's mind habitually, and to proceed first of all to the regulation of these primitive necessities,—the first in accordance with a thermometer.

 

Mentally, one should be (1) fresh, (2) comfortable, (3) composed, (4) attentive.

 

(1) The fagged-out student would often succeed better by loafing or dozing through half his study hour, in order to spend the remainder in quickened accomplishment. It pays the chopper to keep his ax sharp.

 

(2) It is evident that one must be free from all distracting discomforts, such as may arise from too recent eating, or tight clothing, or improper furniture, or physical ailment.

 

(3) We have learned that deep thinking and turbulent feel­ing tend to 'crowd each other out; it is well if one does not even feel too feverish an interest in the lesson. If fear, worry, or any other emotion is present, it must be calmly but decisively abandoned to death. (4) The best method of insuring the desirable mental attitude is to proceed promptly, quietly, and steadfastly about the business in hand. The engine runs better as it warms up.

 

This last condition, that of attention, is the one for which all the others exist.

 

Concentration is the student's word of magic; his mind should thrill with the subject before him, and with nothing else. He must learn to work concentrat­edly amidst distracting surroundings, as the typist or teleg­rapher works in a room where many other machines are going; as the business man reads his letter or carries on a personal conversation in a crowd, if necessary. Conditions should be made as favorable as possible, in order to econo­mize nerve energy, but the pupil must learn to work and win, whatever the distractions about him. The surest guaranty of such learning is a heart set on victory. He who makes up his mind to "get there or die" is likely to live to get there.

Books other than the textbook.—From the time when the pupil has learned to read, he should be encouraged to make the acquaintance of books other than those forced upon him. This practice should begin with the juvenile lore borrowed from the little library of his grade or room, should expand into an acquaintance with the school library, spread to the library of his town, and finally embrace the largest and choicest collections of books to which he is fortunate enough to have access. Those schools are to be congratulated whose town library will cooperate with them, set apart books for their use, aid in guiding the student's reading, teach him the use of indexes, and in general make itself as educationally influential with the younger generation as with the older.

As the student at length finds his way into a vocation, he should be put into touch with all the chief sources of infor­mation concerning his chosen field, including government departments, publishers, and the leading periodicals.

 

Student helps.—One's ability for practical accomplish­ment depends largely on taking advantage of labor-saving contrivances and mechanical aids. The average student keeps many notes on vagrant slips of paper, or buys a bound book for each subject, instead of procuring a single loose-leaf book which, with suitable markers, would serve for all classes and permit him to re-arrange and permanently file his notes as he pleased. Further, he often attempts to tran­scribe all details, or else lets the whole matter go by the board and records nothing. The medium method of catch­ing important points only is best. In collecting notes for an essay, it is a good plan to use a small pad or loose-leaf book, placing a single note only on each leaflet. The leaves can then be quickly arranged according to the heads of the out-line. The use of library cards in the preparation of bib­liographies and for recording the names of books to be pur­chased later; of a simple and cheap alphabetical file for stowing clippings, catalogues and other matter liable to misplacement or loss; even such simple devices as clips and binders and program calendars, and the marking of one's books to insure quick reviews of important passages, will all make a difference in the practical efficiency of one who is learning to plan and execute his work independently.

 

FOR FURTHER STUDY

 

1 Should pupils be encouraged to criticize their text-books? Why? Should they be allowed to criticize their teachers? Their teachers' opinions?

 

2. Have you ever had lessons too long, too difficult, or too trifling? Describe your feelings in each case.

 

3. Do you know of any instances in which classes have been "rushed" to complete work in a set time? What were the results, both immediate and remote?

 

4. The best teachers are usually said by their pupils to be "good at explaining things." Why is this?

 

5. Have you thoughtfully adopted what you regard as the best plan of note taking?

 

6. Have you decided which periodicals will be best for you to subscribe for as teachers? How can you determine this?

 

7. List the advantages and disadvantages of trying to master a subject without a teacher.

 

8. Resolved: that the first study of any foreign language should be carried on with an interlinear translation. Debate this.

 

9. Have you a thermometer in your study? Do you keep a window or other efficient ventilator open? What candle power of light have you?

 

10. Did you progress most satisfactorily when your teacher confined the work almost wholly to a single book, or when you had no single book to rely on, but were referred to many sources of information? What practice do you advocate, for fairly mature pupils?

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