202 TRAINING OF SF.CONDARY TEACHERS \^202
The study of the historical development of the method of
teaching various subjects of study is a profitable one for
advanced students who are looking forward to the profession
of teaching; far more important in the judgment of the
writer than an equal amount of drill on a particular method.
We submit below the outline on beginning reading taken
from the set on methods of instruction, omitting the bibli-
ography.
Beginning Reading.
Preliminary considerations.
1. Importance of the subject.
{a) A key to the store-houses of knowledge.
{b) The foundation of successful work in other subjects.
(c) A valuable aid to independent and original thinking.
{d) Aids moral judgments by giving correct interpreta-
tions of thought.
2. Poorly taught and why.
{a) Ignorance of the end in view.
(i5) Force of habit in continuing methods once used.
{c) Tendency of teachers to seek methods requiring least
effort.
(//) Lack of intelligence in adapting the exercises to the
needs and the capacity of the child.
(
of reading and the inability of most teachers to
read well.
3. Nature of the problem.
{a) Three points to be considered : the idea, the sound
by which it is represented, and the symbol or
printed word.
(b^ These are variously combined, as idea plus sound, as
in speaking ; sound plus idea, as in listening ; idea
plus sign, as in writing ; sign plus idea, as in silent
reading ; sign plus idea plus sound, as in oral
reading.
(^) The child knows many words by sound but not by
sight.
203] PEDAGOGICAL INSTRUCTION 203
(
(formal) process; the second, more of a thought
process, ;". e., a stage in which most attention is
given to the acquisition of new forms, and a stage
in which these forms become lost in the thought
itself. Before the child can read he must know
words at sight. At first, most attention must be
given of necessity to form, or word recognition, but
as the knowledge of the forms of words (sight
vocabulary) increases more and more, attention
can be given to the content.
4. To economize time and enable the child to read intelligently
and well,
(a) Arrange the work in accordance with the interests
and natural development of the child.
(^) Simplify by bringing in but few new elements at a time,
(r) Bring into play as many senses as possible.
(
5. Different methods of teaching reading.
I. Synthetic method-
Starting with letters, syllables or sounds, and gradually
building up words.
i^a) Alphabetic method.
Learning to recognize letters by names and
uniting the letters to make words.
{b) Syllabic method.
Meaningless syllables are pronounced as a
foundation for reading,
(f) Phonic method.
The ordinary powers of the letters are given
first with the thought that the uttering
of the sounds of the letters of a word
rapidly gives the sound of the word.
(^) Phonetic method.
Similar to the above, with the exception that
each of the ordinary letters is given but
a single sound.
204 TRAINING OF SECONDARE TEACHERS [204
New letters being added to supply the de-
ficiency.
II. Analytic method.
Beginning with words, phrases or sentences, and later
coming to the parts through analysis.
{a) Word method.
Words are considered the unit of thought
and recognized first as wholes.
{b) " Look and say " method.
Words are recognized by their look as wholes
and pronounced without reference to the
letters composing them.
(£■) Objective or Pictorial method.
Where either the object or illustrative draw-
ings are used to enliven the interest and
quicken the process of word and thought
getting.
(ill) Sentence method.
Here the sentence is considered the unit of
thought and made the basis of teaching
reading, and by analysis, of teaching
words.
III. Phono- analytic methods are various combinations of
the above methods.
Pollard Synthetic Method.
(a) Rational method.
A word and phonic method.
(^) Thought method.
From the first the principal stress is placed
upon the thought, which is always kept
prominent. The object being to help
the child realize that reading is thought
getting.
6. The evolution of the methods of teaching reading and its
significance.
It was a common practice with oriental people to teach
reading^by committing words and even whole books to
205 PEDAGOGICAL INSTRUCTION 20$
memory without first knowing their meaning. The
Hindu boy learned the alphabet by heart and some ten
or twenty pages of Sanskrit before understanding a
word. The Greek Sophists were the first to make a
proper analysis of the alphabet, probably 400 B. C.
After the acquisition of letters the child passed to the
study of syllables and syllabizing, and then to beginning
reading.
7. Criticisms of the various methods, including reasons for
using some form of the word or sentence method or
better a combination of the word, sentence, and
phonetic methods ; taken up in the order named
and after the first few weeks used mutually to en-
force one another.
{a) The child first sees things as wholes.
{b) Words are the units of ideas. Words, phrases and
sentences are the units of thought. Letters are but
parts of the forms of words, and are more complex
to the child than the word itself.
(r) Drill in rapid recognition of the words is not reading,
but a valuable aid to it. Word getting should
never be confused with thought getting.
(
8. When shall reading be taught ?
{a) Shall we accept the views of Patrick, Henderson, and
others, deferring reading until after ten?
(^) Why reading should not be deferred to a later period.
I St. It is the key to nearly all other school studies,
and the means through which the child can
help itself.
2d. By the accumulated experiences of the race
it has become a natural process.
3d. Children of five and six are especially inter-
ested in the names of things, and have bet-
ter memories for mere words than children
of ten and twelve.
4th. Children enjoy drill and are benefited by it,
if it is intelligently applied.
206 TRAINING OF SFXONDARY TEACHERS [206
5th. The plasticity of the child's mind and its
freedom from extraneous material makes it
easier to acquire the mechanics of reading
then, if wisely presented, than at any other
time. (But a study of form or technique
as such should be reserved in all subjects
until a later period.) The development
of the senses should be such as to mutually
enforce each other.
9. The aim.
Good reading consists, first, in the ready and accurate in-
terpretation of the printed page, and second, in the nat-
ural and clear expression of the thoughts thus obtained.
10. The school reader.
ist. It should be carefully graded and adapted to the in-
terest and comprehension of the children.
2d. It should be stimulating to the imagination and
elevating in tone.
3d. It should represent ideas of industry, persistence,
courage and honesty in the form most easily com-
prehended by the child, and tend to increase the
child's love for the beautiful and true.
4th. Its selections should represent complete wholes of
thought and possess literary merit.
5th. The material should have permanent value, and be
of sufficient interest to hold the attention of the
child. In thought it should be progressive.
There are many excellent books to select from. I need
only mention The Baldwin Readers, The Cyr
Readers, the Werner Readers, the Primers and 5
and 10 cent Classics of the Educational Publishing
Co., Stepping Stones to Literature, Silver, Burdett
and Company, and Ward's Rational Method
Readers.
Another problem which is attracting much
interest and no small amount of anxiety on the
TEACHING , •'
part of professors of education, is that of obser-
2oy'] PEDAGOGICAL INSTRUCTION 207
vation and practice-teaching. How shall university students,
who are preparing to become teachers, obtain actual exper-
ience in teaching? Shall it be under intelligent supervision
and direction while yet connected with the university, or
shall it be obtained wholly independently after they leave
the university? In the latter case it is often difficult for
them to obtain the positions for which they are best adapted,
and discouragements are sure to follow, which many times
prove fatal.
School officers are loath to employ teachers who have not
had experience, and this is becoming more general even
for the less desirable positions. Scholarships, maturity,
sound judgment and professional ability are often turned
aside for experience in teaching which may mean much or
little according to whether it has been wisely directed and
intelligently performed.
It is the prevailing opinion of professors of
HIGH SCHOOL , ,
TEACHERS educatiou, an opmion with which the writer
REQUIRE LESS fully agrees, that secondary teachers, in prep-
pRACTicE- aration, require less drill in practice-teaching
than do elementary teachers, some going so far
as to question the advisability or necessity of any practice-
teaching on the part of secondary teachers, though those
who hold the latter view are largely in the minority.
The reasons for thinking that less drill is required of
secondary than of elementary teachers are quite apparent.
It is generally conceded that the high school teacher should
have at least a full college preparation. This requires time,
maturity, and a certain degree of culture. Hence, the reasons
might be stated as those of greater scholarship and maturity,
broader culture and more pronounced professional training
upon which to base intelligent judgments for action.
Again, the nature of the problem is different; the methods
of the high school differ less from the methods of the college,
2o8 TRAINING OF SECONDARY TEACHERS [208
with which the student is familiar; the ways of high school
students are more those of adult ways than are those of
primary pupils, and it is easier for the adult to put himself
into touch with his high school experiences than with his
earlier primary experiences.
High school teaching is of necessity more individualistic
than elementary teaching, and the methods have not, and
probably can not, become so well established and efficient
as those in primary education. High school students are
better able to help themselves ; hence primary teaching is a
more delicate art than secondary teaching and requires
greater skill in preparation. It is also true that a larger
number of college and university students who are looking
forward to the teacher's profession have already had some
experience in teaching, and consequently have less need of
practice.
There are other reasons not so apparent, which probably
suggest themselves to the reader, why secondary teachers in
the course of preparation need less drill in practice than
elementary teachers. But a large majority of those who
have had anything to do with the supervision and training
of teachers are of the opinion that secondary teachers need
a certain amount of practice-teaching under skillful direction.
A few would go further, and say that they required as much
practice under direction as elementary teachers.
Granting that practice-teaching is a requi-
HOW IS ... , . , . . , ,
PRACTICE- ^^^^ ^" ^"^ professional trainmg of secondary
TEACHING teachers, the question that immediately arises
TO BE jg^ How can it be obtained? This is a difficult
OBTAINED? ^. , e 1 J J
question to answer. So much depends upon
the environment and the opportunities which it offers. Even
normal schools — the great centers for the training of ele-
mentary teachers — are all at sea regarding the solution of
this problem. Mr. A. P. Hollis, who made a study of " Prac-
tice Teaching in State Normal Schools," says:
209] PEDAGOGICAL INSTRUCTION 209
" For convenience of reference, the syllabus divided all
practice departments into four classes, as follows :
" Case I. Practice Department includes all public schools
of the town.
" Case II. Practice Department consists of a ward school
or schools not on the Normal School grounds, the arrange-
ment being authorized by the city board of education.
"Case III. Practice Department is in Normal school
building or grounds, pupils being sent to it by authority of
city board.
" Case IV. Practice Department is in Normal school
building or grounds, and no arrangement existing with the
city, pupils attending from preference of parents."
He says further : " At the present writing, Case IV. is far
and away the favorite form of practice departments among
all types of Normal schools, large and small, east and
west." '
Turning to university departments of education, we find
somewhat similar arrangements for practice-teaching, but
probably with less consensus of opinion regarding the merits
of any one plan. In universities still retaining preparatory
departments, or fitting schools, some opportunity is offered
through these for observation and practice. In other uni-
versities, as in the University of California, city or ward
schools have been designated by the school board for this
purpose; in some instances the university authorities are
made responsible for the employment of the teachers. In
still other universities there are both model and experimental
schools supported, controlled, and conducted by university
authority, as in the University of Chicago and in Teachers
College Columbia University. In these institutions the
model school (Horace Mann School in the latter) represents
all grades, beginning with the kindergarten and including
1 Ped. Sena., 8 : 496, 508.
210 TRAINING OF SECONDARY TEACHERS [21O
the college, thus affording complete opportunity for observa-
tion of the most efficient teaching.
Then there is the plan at Harvard University, where the
department of education has arranged with a number of
suburban towns and cities to furnish students with observa-
tion and substitute teaching under the immediate direction
of the local school superintendent. To this may be added
the plan found at Brown University which has already been
partially described in Chapter III. It is more fully de-
scribed in a recent catalogue (1901-02) as follows: "By
special arrangement with the School Committee of the city
of Providence, student-teachers are appointed to places in
the Providence high schools. Appointments are made
from members of the senior class who have pursued the
undergraduate courses in education. These student-teachers
are of two types. Those of the first type — of which there
are at least six (three of each sex) — under the guidance and
direction of experienced teachers, have the control and con-
duct of classes. The time required each day is somewhat
more than half the usual school session. They receive from
the city $400 for their services for the year. Those of the
second type are occupied in a similar way for from three to
five hours a week. They receive no remuneration from the
city. An unusual opportunity is thus afforded student-
teachers to gain a thorough knowledge of the theory of edu-
cation and at the same time practical experience in the art
of teaching. In making appointments to places as teachers
of the lowest grade in the Providence high school, preference
is given to those who have successfully accomplished the
course as student-teachers. In this respect student-teachers
of the second type have the same status before the committee
that makes appointments as those of the first type."
This has the appearance of an efficient plan, especially
when the university is situated in or near a city large
2 1 1 ] PEDAGOGICAL INSTRUCTION 2 1 1
enough to give the needed practice without interfering
with the regular school work. The plan is somewhat sim-
ilar to that employed in the University of Nebraska, which
is outlined below.
By an arrangement with the public school
authorities of Lincoln, the university students
FOR OBSER- _ •'
vATioN AND ^^^e given opportunity for observation and prac-
pRACTicE IN tice under direct supervision, covering both
THE uNivER- elementary and high school grades. In order
SITY OF
»T^T,„»c,.. to obtain this privilege the student must have
NEBRASKA ■■■ '->
reached the rank of senior and be within one
year of the requirements for the university teacher's certifi-
cate. During this year of practical school experience the
students carry on their university work as usual, with prob-
ably few interruptions. In the department of education,
during the first semester they take the course in systems of
education, and the second semester they take the course in
school supervision and management. These courses are
made to supplement and strengthen their observation and
practice work.
Partly for their convenience, and partly on account of
their strength, the students are divided into two classes :
cadets and student-teachers. The former give attention
only to observation of the regular school work and to the
assisting of the regular teacher in the class work ; the latter,
in addition to the work of cadets, are called upon as substi-
tutes, or supply teachers, to fill temporary vacancies. Cadets
receive no pay, but student-teachers, when supplying, re-
ceive pay at about one-half the usual salary.
There are fifteen public school buildings in the city, to
each of which may be assigned one or more cadets or
student-teachers, depending upon the size of the building
and the number of students registering for practice work.
Students visit the building to which they have been assigned
212 TRAINING OF SECONDARY TEACHERS [212
at least twice a week, spending two hours on each visit.
They report to the principal for duty, and are sent by her
to one of the rooms, where they make themselves useful by
assisting the teacher in the seat and class work of the pupils,
in distributing material, etc. In this way they become familiar
with the general plan of the school work, with the names
of most of the pupils ; so that, when later they are called
upon to supply temporarily the place of any teacher in the
building to which they have been assigned, they feel at
home, and the pupils look upon and respect them as regular
employees or teachers. Consequently their success is more
assured, and they gain experience under the most favorable
conditions. The student-teacher obtains the needed prac-
tice and the school board the most efficient service that can
be procured for the outlay. When two or more students
are assigned to the same building, they arrange to have their
visits come at different hours.
The position of student-teacher calls for more respon-
sibility than that of cadet, since the former may be called
upon at any time to supply in the building to which he has
been assigned, though the supply work of any student-
teacher will probably not exceed ten days per year. This
may seem to be an insufficient amount of practice-teaching,
but when taken in connection with the cadet work, which is
carried on faithfully throughout the year, it becomes ex-
ceedingly valuable, and is accepted by the school board as
equivalent to two years of ordinary school experience.
To aid in giving strength and additional meaning to the
course in observation and practice, the city superintendent.
Dr. C. H. Gordon, has been appointed university lecturer on
school supervision and given the practical direction of the
cadets and student-teachers.
The above plan of observation and practice has been in
operation for the past two years, and while there are a few
213] PEDAGOGICAL INSTRUCTION 213
weak places that need strengthening, it has proved in the
main thoroughly satisfactory. The students feel that they
are doing work that is really worth while, and the school
authorities receive, as well as furnish, benefit by the
arrangement.
A limited number of advanced students who are carrying
fewer hours of university work are employed as regular
assistants to the ward principals, and as assistants and
readers in the high school. They give daily service, and
receive pay for the same at the rate of twenty-five cents per
hour. This furnishes additional opportunity for experience
in teaching, but it is of necessity limited to a small number
of strong students who have sufficient time at their disposal.
CHAPTER VI
THE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF ELEMENT-
ARY AND OF SECONDARY TEACHERS
COMPARED
Every one who is familiar with the nature of the profes-
sional training of teachers in Germany, is aware of the
specific differences made in the training of elementary and
of secondary teachers. There is but little in common.
The great bulk of the instruction tends to make a distinct
gulf between the fields of elementary and of secondary edu-
cation. The training which the elementary teacher receives,
while probably well adapted to its purpose, really unfits him
for entrance upon, or success in, secondary education.
In this country there is not that marked distinction made
between elementary and higher education, the purposes of
the one not being clearly distinguished from those of the
other. Likewise in the professional training of teachers,
there has been little or no distinction made in the prepara-
tion, regardless of the field upon which the candidate is to
enter.
We have shown in another chapter how the state normal
schools, created for the distinct purpose of preparing ele-
mentary teachers, naturally enlarged their curricula to meet
the demands for more efificient secondary teachers. It was
simply the natural operation of the law of supply and de-
mand. But this has tended to make the professional train-
ing of all teachers the same without regard to their future field.
Later, when state universities took up the problem of the
214 [214
215] ELEMENTAR Y AND SECONDAR Y TEA CHERS 2 1 5
professional training of teachers, the same law of supply and
demand influenced them to make the same training answer
for both elementary and secondary teachers. Hence it is
that we find in the same classes in the history of education,
methods of instruction, etc., students, some of whom are
preparing to become teachers in the elementary, and others
in secondary education. Is this according to well-established
pedagogical principles?
Tc ^TTTrr.r. A The main problem which has been raised for
IS THERE A ^
DIFFERENCE considcratioH in this chapter, therefore, may be
IN THE stated as follows : Is there sufficient difference
METHOD j^ ^^ methods to be pursued in elementary
and secondary education to make a noticeable difference in
the preparation of teachers for the one field or the other?
If there is a difference, in what does it consist?
Since the establishment of departments of education in
colleges and universities, and the more general spread and
development of public high schools, there has been a grow-
ing feeling that the professional preparation of elementary
and secondary teachers should take place in different classes,
if not in different institutions. On this point Dr. William T.
Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, says: "I
have tried to set down in this paper the grounds for com-
mending the normal school as it exists for its chosen work
of preparing teachers for the elementary schools, and at the
same time urging the need of training schools with different
methods of preparation for the kindergarten below, and for
the secondary school, the college, and the post-graduate
school above the elementary school." '
For the purpose of discovering how general is the thought,
that there should be different methods of preparatioji for
elementary and secondary teachers, the writer submitted the
' The Future of the Normal School, by Dr. W. T. Harris, Educational Review,
January, 1899.
2i6 TRAINING OF SECONDARY TEACHERS \2l6
above questions to the presidents of the various state normal
schools, and to the professors of education in colleges and
universities.
The questions were sent out in the spring of 1900, and
were so worded as to obtain the individual views of this
large body of educators who above all others should be able
to speak with authority upon the subject. Most of them
have, no doubt, given to the question much serious thought.
Many of them have been engaged for years in the profes-
sional training of teachers, and have thus been in positions
to make intelligent observations.
The first question might be answered by the definite yes,
or no, and in many cases that was the form in which the