TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON ■ CHICAGO ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY ■ CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY THE GROUP SYSTEM APPLIED OLIVE M. JONES v. PRINCIPAL, PUBLIC SCHOOL 120 AND ELEANOR G. LEARY and AGNES E. QUISH TEACHERS, PUBLIC SCHOOL I2Q NEW YORK Nefo gods THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1909 All rights reserved Copyright, 1906, 1908, By " SCHOOL WORK." Copyright, 1909, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1909. Noriuoot! -JJiresg J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. LIBRARY of CONGRESSl Two Cooies Recerved Q Copynrnt Entry A vlKuS n AAft 1 PREFACE The purpose of this volume is to put forth in a practical manner the methods of using the Group System so as to secure the accomplish- ment of its two great aims: (i) To give the child habits of self-reliant study ; (2) to secure for the exceptional child, either the abnormally bright or the abnormally slow, teaching adapted to his indi- vidual needs. No effort has been made to write a scientific pedagogical treatise, but rather to pre- sent to the class-room teacher a clear and practi- cal exposition of the Group System, and definite suggestion as to the details of its plans and management. For four years the writers have been collecting suggestions on the subject of the Group System. From time to time they have written on this subject; first in School Work, in 1906, and later in Teachers Magazine, Much of the material has been used in lectures by Miss Jones. The writers, therefore, feel that it has been thoroughly vi PREFACE tested as to its truth and practical value. For publication in this volume, all the material gath- ered has been sifted and revised, according to the results of experience in its use, and the best of it all selected and explained. It would be impossible to mention by name the many principals of schools in New York, and superintendents and principals of schools in other cities, who have given much kindly help and suggestion. Especial mention of heartiest thanks for much valuable assistance must, however, be made to Dr. Andrew W. Edson, Associate City Superintendent, and Miss Julia Richman, District Superintendent, of schools in New York City, and to Miss Elizabeth S. Harris and Miss Mari- etta J. Tibbits, Principals of Public Schools 65 and 137, New York. *' O. M. J. 1909. CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER I PAGE The Development of the Group System i PART I THE GROUP SYSTEM IN PRACTICE CHAPTER II Limitations and Advantages .12 CHAPTER III Schemes of Grouping . . . . . . . 24 CHAPTER IV Classification into Groups . . . . . " '. '34 CHAPTER V The Daily Program "-.'-•'. . 47 CHAPTER VI The Instruction Period 58 CHAPTER VII The Study Period and Seat Work — Preparation and Supervision 68 vii viii CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII PAGE The Study Period and Seat Work — Practical Man- agement 79 PART II PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK CHAPTER IX Reading 86 CHAPTER X Composition, Language, Spelling . . * . .102 CHAPTER XI Arithmetic . . 133 CHAPTER XII History 147 CHAPTER XIII Geography . . 156 CHAPTER XIV Manual Training . . . . . . . .166 Index . 191 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY CHAPTER I THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GROUP SYSTEM AN EVOLUTION The phrase made immortal by President Lincoln "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," has become the expression of an American principle. Education On that principle our republic stands. A well- of Amencan recognized corollary of that principle is that the men™ first requisite for a safe administration of "govern- ment of the people, by the people, for the people," is education. Only through education can liberty be preserved from demagogism, monarchism, or an- archism. So rooted is this conviction that through- out our land the school system is probably the most thoroughly organized department of public work. The beginnings on which this system has been its begm- built contained no such elaborate machinery as is district familiar to us. The "deestrick school " made 2 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY familiar to us by play and story, had little of ma- chinery and little of imposed system. The master directed study, the pupils recited one at a time, and such actual teaching as was given was individual instruction. As the district school grew in numbers, the master's time for actual teaching decreased, the work degenerated into a mere hearing of lessons, its failures, and the child was overburdened with home study, work unexplained and little comprehended. To remedy these imperfect conditions the graded school was invented, and out of that the present school system has evolved itself, an enormous machine de- vised to educate children with the least waste of effort, time, or money. The graded Education became organized with definite stages leading to definite goals, recognized by teachers and pupils, and so arranged that many might be engaged in the same work at the same time. The system of class instruction had replaced individual instruction. Besides the advantage directly aimed at and already indicated, some other educative in- fluences at once resulted. These were the sub- Results for ordination of individual, selfish desires, the appeal good and . . . . . evil. to emulation, and the rousing of the spirit of com- petition. But almost immediately did it become THE GROUP SYSTEM AN EVOLUTION 3 evident that, although much unexpected good had accompanied the establishment of the graded school, with its system of class instruction, some of the old evils of the district school continued to exist. The work of the school had become organized, and children were classified according to attainments, so that there was much slighter degree of difference between the best and the poorest children grouped in the same room or class ; but lessons were still set and heard, rote memorizing of lessons ill taught and uncomprehended was the only form of study, and the burden of home work was as iniquitous as ever. In addition, it was soon learned that attempts to enforce a close grading resulted in the directing of instruction only to the needs of the majority, that this neglect of the needs of the majority caused a deadening influence, and that this deadening in- fluence manifested itself in the discouragement of the brightest and the slowest children and in de- creased numbers in the higher grades. The inevitable difficulties of the graded school Relief t r • sought in £ system once realized, relief was sought, at first in reform of methods of a reform of method, and method was made a matter teaching. of scientific study. The teacher's results, i.e. how much her pupils know, once tested by rigid examina- 4 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY tions and considered carefully in marking her rating and record, were forgotten in the criticism of how she prepared, presented, developed a lesson, ques- tions which became so important a part of our pedagogical catechism that we forgot that for the salvation of the child's soul intellectually, as well as morally, there must be much of the self-effort which means power. So it was that, instead of relief, other new evils followed. We have let our pendu- lum swing to the other extreme, and to-day we are anticipating and making easy every step, until the child has too little independent work to do and is unable to work alone. In consequence, he does not know how to fix knowledge in his mind for himself ; he cannot select essentials ; in a word, he lacks self- reliance, and does not know how to do independent study. Evils still Notwithstanding, then, the wonderful reforms in methods of teaching brought about in the last fifty years, the schools still faced an unsolved problem. There was still either too heavy a burden or too little training in habits of independent study. There existed the same worry and strain among children about promotion, among teachers about the ac- complishment of grade work. There still continued existing. THE GROUP SYSTEM AN EVOLUTION 5 the same frightful decrease in numbers as the upper Neglect . IT °f t ^ le eXCe P" grades were reached, pointing towards discourage- tionai 1 child. ment and distaste for school and study as among its causes. It became apparent that great injustice was being done to two classes of children, the bright child and the exceedingly dull. The scheme of a graded school produced higher general averages and enabled a larger part of a class to advance more rapidly; but, as Superintendent Kennedy says, "The machinery of our graded school ran amuck in its false assumption of uniformity in the nature of children and in their environment and in its mis- placed faith in uniform methods of teaching and treatment." The exceptional child, the one above as well as the one below the general average, was lost, neglected; habits of truancy and disorder were formed, or at best, when discipline was too strong for either of these, then, habits of listening with closed ears, inattentive minds, and a firm determi- nation to get away from the restraints of the school- room as soon "as permitted by law. Such conditions existing and allowed to continue, Therefore the school has failed in its mission. It is not pro- f a n s ca as°an viding the education which is to preserve our Ameri- prhSpie? can principle, for government by the people and for TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY Relief sought in special plans of promotion, Pueblo plan. the people demands that each individual be pre- pared to share individually and intelligently in the duties of government. Prominent educators have, therefore, sought a remedy in special plans of promotion and classi- fication, and of these the Group System is an evolu- tion as well as a compromise. Noting only those which were enthusiastically advertised as having specific power to assist in removing the conditions already described, we shall consider first the Pueblo plan, with its long study periods, class recitation, and pupils advancing under the individual direction of the teacher. But the Pueblo loses many, if not most, of the advantages of the graded system in its lack of a social whole. Probably of all these special promotion schemes, more was hoped for from the Cambridge Cambridge plan, permitting the child to finish his school course in four, five, or six years, according to his ability; but while the Cambridge plan allevi- ates the evils of the graded class system in that it provides a stopping place for the slow child and a point at which the bright child may forge ahead, yet many individuals drop out for lack of interest and of personal touch and aid of the teacher. Two promotion plans, which found little favor in America, plan. THE GROUP SYSTEM AN EVOLUTION 7 two worthy of mention as efforts elsewhere to seek relief, are the English Pupil-teacher plan and the European plans. German Blocking System, consisting of alternate class and study periods. In New York City schools have been tried several New York . City experi- expenments to meet the needs of the exceptional ments. child, not meaning thereby the mental defective. One of these, an interesting account of which ap- peared in the Educational Review of June, 1898, provides that each grade shall be divided into classes for slow and bright pupils. The same idea was ex- tended a little further in another school, where the plan entails three divisions : one, the bright children of the grade; second, the slow pupils of the same grade; and third, the over-age children of the two grades in the same year. In both these schemes the divisions progress at a different rate of progress, the brighter child doing more extensive and intensive work on the same subject-matter, and both plans allow the children to pass from one division to an- other at the end of a term, according to the differences in development of their mental capacity. Best known of all experiments is the Batavia plan, Batavia devised almost accidentally by Superintendent John Kennedy in 1898. The central idea is a stated period 8 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY for individual instruction to alternate with class work. Because the plan began with an accidental necessity of placing an extra teacher in an overcrowded room, it has been thought that the Batavia plan has as an essential two teachers in a room. But this is an error, for the plan may be worked with one teacher with one grade, one teacher with two grades, and two teachers with two grades in a room. It is organized individual instruction supplementing mass or class instruction; the child has all the educative influences, already referred to, that result from class instruction, and yet is systematically helped in his own weaknesses. Elizabeth A grouping system has long been in use in the grouping. schools of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Four or five groups are taught in one room ; reclassification is frequent, and promotion is made from group to group, room to room; but it has disadvantages, too, for there are the dangers of basing promotion on a knowledge standard only, and of having the same deadening uniformity prevail in the division into groups as into classes, since the grouping is formally made and maintained for definite, formally fixed periods. The experiment in the use of the Group System began in New York City through needs and con- THE GROUP SYSTEM AN EVOLUTION 9 ditions forced upon attention by the establishment The Group System in of the so-called special classes. These special special classes in classes, known as C, D, and E classes of each school New York City. year, were organized for three distinct purposes. The first, or C class, is to teach English to non-Eng- lish-speaking immigrant children. The second class, or E class, is to give the over-age child special, in- dividual, personal instruction which will fit him as rapidly as possible to advance to the grade in which his age entitles him to be placed, but below which he has fallen for various reasons. The D class, is to enable the child who is at or near the age when the law allows him to go to work, but who fails to meet the scholarship requirements of the Child Labor Law, and for whose personal or family needs it is imperative that he become wage-earning, to obtain the necessary teaching and training more rapidly than would be possible in a large class of the regular grade. The very manner of formation of these special classes will naturally enough bring to- gether in one room the careless student, the mentally inapt, the unwilling and the disorderly pupil, children widely different in mental power and attainment. It necessarily follows that three or four grades wil] be represented in one room, and that practically io TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY the same condition exists as in ungraded or country- schools. Teaching such a class as a whole is a practical impossibility, is manifestly unfair to the children, and is the cause of the failure and con- sequent discredit which attended the formation of such classes in some places. To work with the class as a whole, where would the teacher begin work? Could she carry each with any degree of rapidity? What about the fairness of making those of the highest grade wait while the others were catching up to them? Experi- The advantages resulting from the use of a Group with G g roup System in these special classes led to experiment with regular " its use in regular classes in the schools of New York schools. City. Its recommendation by the city superin- tendent for general adoption in all schools, and its earnest advocacy by other members of the super- intendents of New York followed. A study of the methods and plans in use in other cities, where similar conditions have suggested similar remedies, must result in an enthusiastic belief that the Group System has been found a way out of the difficulties and evils so well recognized and deprecated everywhere. The Group System is an evolution out of all the plans and experiments we have briefly considered in this chapter. It bears marked resemblance to THE GROUP SYSTEM AN EVOLUTION n the Elizabeth and the Batavia plans. It is not at The Group all the ungraded or district school plan, but it does evolution apply to a well-graded school all that was good in promise. the old district school. It plans for the alternation of study and instruction, as in the German Blocking System. It allows for a different rate of progress for the slow and the bright child, as in the experi- mental schemes in New York. It is not a reaction against method, but it is an emphasis on the last of the five steps in teaching — application. It includes the old-fashioned drill we've lost sight of, trans- lated into the new thought of self-reliant study. Its aim is not to cover the work of any grade neces- sarily more quickly, but to cover it so that every child is given the opportunity to progress according to his individual capabilities. Its aim is not neces- sarily to advance the bright pupils, although the brighter child should, and may, through its use, be allowed to advance as rapidly as he can cover the ground with thoroughness. Its particular advantage in our schools is that it brings the backward child up to grade. Historically considered, then, the Group System is a natural development of conditions, a nat- ural sequence. The pendulum swings to one side, then to the other, but finally rests between the two. CHAPTER II LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES Very earnestly must a warning be urged against being too precipitate in adopting the Group System in wholesale fashion, against using group instruction solely to the exclusion of all whole-class teaching with a consequent loss of the virtues of the graded class system, against limiting the teacher's opportu- nities to discover by experiment the solution of her difficulties. We are prone to think that in some one new method of teaching, or method of discipline, or method of classification and promotion, we have found a panacea for all the educational ills we have known. Such hasty, ill-considered use of the Group System will produce disorganization and evils greater than those it is intended to remedy ; therefore, until after work with the Group System has advanced beyond the experimental and introductory stage, it will be wise to proceed slowly and cautiously. A careful consideration of the limitations of the Group System will prevent the possibility of such disorgani- LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES 13 zation and consequent discredit to the method ; fur- thermore, having the difficulties clearly set before them, principals and teachers will comprehend how thoroughly these difficulties are offset by what is gained through the use of group teaching. Among some half dozen difficulties which have been advanced as arguments against the use of the Group System, several apply only to city schools. Two are general, applying equally to the graded schools of the cities and towns and the ungraded schools of the country districts, and are very real problems to either. The first of these has to do with the use of busy work. The nature and style Seat work a difficulty. of the material published in most of the magazines for teachers testify to the demand there must be for suggestion along this line. It is hard to find employ- ment for the group or groups not receiving oral in- struction from the teacher. Still harder is it to insure that such employment shall be profitable occupation of real and permanent value to the child, and not merely "busy" work. In the city is added to this hardship in providing busy work of proper character, the fact that teachers have become so accustomed to a discipline which includes attention from every child in the class at every moment of the 14 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY day that they are confused by the loss of the old-time, machine-like quiet. They find it a great strain to teach one group and at the same time supervise one or two others at busy work. Discipline This brings us to a consideration of the second of as affected by Group these two general difficulties which affect a safe Svstem. introduction of the Group System, and that is the effect on discipline. In places where the Group System has been long in use, including such schools in the large cities as have given the method sufficient testing, certain beneficent results in discipline have been generally recognized and acknowledged. Chief among these are the following : — i. The busy work interests the "bad boy," and can be used as a means of reward for good behavior. 2. Working in small groups holds the flighty attention of the child with little power of connected thinking. 3. Eye, hand, and mind are kept equally busy. 4. The Group System necessitates independent work; it therefore teaches self-reliance, with self- government as a natural outcome. 5. Every child is kept usefully employed, so that he has no idle moments in which to devise mischief. 6. The Group System, rightly managed, teaches LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES 15 care for other people's property and regard for other people's rights, since the books, papers, and busy work devices and material the child uses are not his and must be preserved intact for his mates to use later. 7. When any disorder does arise, it is much easier to detect the offender. Such disorder as can occur in the class of a teacher who has any power of con- trol will seldom or never arise in the group receiving oral instruction from the teacher. This fact limits the possibilities at once, and moderate care in the supervision and testing of the busy work of the other groups will at once betray the offenders, since they must necessarily have slighted or neglected the tasks assigned. Yet so constantly has the discipline problem been argued as a limitation of the value of the Group System that, in order to get at the teacher's point of view and ascertain the real source of her diffi- culty, a questionnaire was circulated among several hundred teachers. Two conclusions are forced upon the readers of the replies to that questionnaire : first, the truth of the old story that a good discipli- narian never finds any conditions adverse to the securing of good discipline; second, the uselessness 16 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY of trying to decide such a matter on the basis of answers to questions, viewing those answers as votes. To illustrate the contradiction in these statements from teachers in response to the question, "Is the use of the Group System an aid or a hindrance in disciplining your class? Why?" the following rep- resentative papers are quoted : — One teacher writes: "The Group System solves the question of discipline. The discipline is more natural, because busy work is another outlet for natural activity; the children are busy, and there- fore quiet. Requiring the entire class to concentrate on the same thing at the same time demands a more strenuous effort by teachers and pupils. Group work removes this strain of discipline, and at the same time gives the child the ability to concentrate, so invaluable to him." The next answer says: "The influence of the Group System on discipline is positively pernicious. Not all finish their work at the same time, and the quick ones sit and talk while waiting. If the teacher stops to speak to such children, she loses the atten- tion of the group taught." The third in order reads: "Group teaching has a bad effect on the discipline of the class: first, LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES 17 because it works against unity; second, it destroys class spirit; third, it gives an opportunity for lying and cheating, inattention and idleness; fourth, it destroys the spirit of emulation, and, consequently, learning by imitation; and fifth, the impetus that the bright child might give to the backward one is lost." A terrible arraignment, if true. But the fourth teacher answers: "According to my judgment, the Group System aids the discipline of a class, for by it every child is taught self-control, so that it is im- possible for him to create any disorder. The busy work group, kept busily engaged, has no time for disorder. If the class is taught as a whole, these advantages are utterly impossible; especially is it impossible to stop to teach a slow child, for then the bright one loses interest and becomes disorderly." It is easy to see just where the question rests if left to a vote of this kind, for nearly as many an- swers say that the effect upon discipline is good as the contrary. The questionnaire was not without its value, however, since the answers clearly indicate wherein lie the teacher's troubles in discipline after adopting the Group System. They arise mainly from the teacher's own errors, inexperience, or want 18 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY of judgment, and most of these errors are due to the newness of the venture and the lack of adequate information and practical aid. Teachers make the mistake of trying to keep the groups "in order," not realizing that absolute quiet and the old-fashioned kind of attention are not only unnecessary, but injurious, and not understanding that the children employed in busy work should be working as individuals and should be receiving training in self-reliance and self -helpfulness. In addition, the further, complete discussion, in later chapters, of types of busy work and practical plans for the management of the groups, the two factors in the discipline problem as complained of by teachers, will remove any lingering doubt. Considered in this new light and with respect to the beneficent results upon discipline already noted as generally acknowledged, all statements similar to the two quoted in condemnation of the Group System lose all worth or semblance of truth. Since we must agree that the Group System teaches self-reliance, truthfulness, industry, and devotion to work, and gives confidence and encouragement to continue at work, and since these are, after all, the final aims of school discipline, have we not reached in the Group LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES 19 System the surest and most natural means of accom- plishing our aims? Among the difficulties which apply more spe- The city teacher's cifically to graded schools undertaking the use of the training as affecting the Group System are four which need recognition and Group System. discussion. The first of these lies in the teacher's training. In the cities, the teachers are almost all city born and bred, and have no background of personal experience in anything except whole-class teaching. Scarcely any of them have seen any country school teaching, and consequently they have not even such second-hand experience. Their peda- gogical training has not included any instruction in methods of teaching by groups or plans of busy work. Is it any wonder they are afraid and un- willing, and is it fair for them not to have a chance to learn how to use it ? An earnest, willing teacher, one who has had just enough years of experience to realize the important and serious nature of her work, and not so many as to be unable to bend to new con- ditions, such a teacher should do the work in its experimental stage, especially if she has had out-of- town or common evening-school experience. Then let the others benefit by what such a teacher can teach them. 20 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY Size of The second difficulty, if removed, would lessen the classes. force of all other objections ; for it is the size of our classes which makes the amount of preparatory work so great, and it is the size of our classes which makes it impossible for any group to be small enough to make sure that real, concentrated effort is put forth, or to enable the teacher thoroughly to correct her busy work. To offset this obstacle, various schemes have been tried, and will be described to you when we reach the topic of ways and means of adapting the Group System to conditions. Daily pro- The third difficulty arises from attempts to make grammes. the work fit into programmes or orders of exercises. Teachers are worried about the time schedule — how to give each subject its due amount of time, and how to accomplish in each subject the exact amount required by the course of study. Of course, there must be a programme, — every good teacher recog- nizes the need of one, — but the set, red-lined orders of exercises have always seemed of doubtful value except as crutches for the new teacher or the poor teacher. What can be done in the way of pro- grammes will be illustrated in a later chapter, and evidence given to show that in thinking of the pro- gramme as being a special or specific limitation of LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES 21 the value of the Group System, we are conjuring up a difficulty where none exists. The fourth difficulty is in the demand on the teach- The de- er's time, and here we are facing a very real and the teach- er's time. very serious obstacle. The amount of labor which is put upon a teacher by the first term's work in the use of the Group System is enormous. The amount of preparation the teacher must make in the plan- ning of work to meet the special requirements of different groups in a class, in the preparation of so-called " busy-work" or occupation for the group not actually receiving instruction, is apparently so much greater in amount over and above what whole - class teaching would require that it is hard to see just how this difficulty can be surmounted. The testimony of teachers is almost unanimous that it takes longer to plan the work, the length of time varying from one to ten hours weekly. All agree that there is a greater tax on the teacher's memory and judgment in planning the work, and this with- out consideration of the amount of time needed for the correction of busy work, which must, of course, always receive correction, or it is absolutely valueless. Yet with proper cooperation of teachers, one with another, and the saving of plans of work and of 22 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY busy-work devices from term to term, the burden will steadily become lighter, although this question of demand on the teacher's time made by the use of the Group System is great, and will help to disgruntle, indeed, the teacher who keeps more accurate count of hours of labor outside of school than of good accomplished for her pupils. In closing this effort to give frank recognition and discussion to all the difficulties and limitations ad- vanced against the adoption of the Group System, attention is invited to the following quotations from Bagley's "Classroom Management": "Any system of class and individual instruction" (which is, of course, what we mean by the Group System) "must be applied with a full recognition of its pitfalls. It requires teachers of skill and scholarship for its effective application, and it must not be looked upon as a royal road to learning. One must not think of eliminating in any degree the struggle and effort that are always essential to growth, whether of a child in school or a teacher in her profession." Advantages Somewhat full consideration has been given to the System. difficulties confronting the teacher who undertakes to teach her class in groups, as it was felt that only by a preliminary removal of any preconceived idea LIMITATIONS AND ADVANTAGES 23 that the Group System has many hardships and limitations could just and thorough attention be secured to the ways and means of putting the method into practical use. Lengthy discussion of the ad- vantages of the Group System is unnecessary at this point, since later development of the subject em- phasizes them, one by one. Briefly summed up, the advantages of the Group System are as follows : — 1. It makes possible true individual teaching. 2. It fixes individual responsibility on the part of the child, with resultant self-reliance and ability to study independently. He knows a thing because he Learned it. 3. It provides work in advance for the bright boy and brings the slow one up to grade. 4. It includes attention to proper methods of teaching, and at the same time the absolutely indis- pensable advantage of study on the part of the child. 5. It insures drill, the weak point in our modern methods. 6. Its work is more thorough because it makes possible greater concentration on the part of both teacher and child. CHAPTER III SCHEMES OF GROUPING Three Three distinct and well-systematized schemes of grouping. division into groups are fairly well recognized, al- though methods of division into groups and of mak- ing promotions and the basis of classification may vary greatly. Of these three plans of grouping, which we shall denominate the Constant Group scheme, the Shifting Group scheme, and the Grade Group scheme, the second is the one best adapted for use in graded schools, and the third is a combination of the first two intended for use in very large city schools, while the first precedes the other two in priority of use and historic importance. To the plan of Con- stant Groups, then, consideration must first be given. The Con- In the scheme of Constant Groups, the method stant Group ...... . A , . plan. of division into groups is, as the name implies, formal, the distinction between the groups being kept up for fixed periods. Promotion, whether from group to group within a room or from room to room, comes at set intervals. The Constant Group 24 SCHEMES OF GROUPING 25 scheme allows for two or three groups in a room, known as the "fast" group and the "slow" group, when there are two, or as "fast," "normal," and "slow" groups when there are three ; but, in any case, one group is always in advance of the others, and finishes the grade work sooner than the others. The Con- stant Group scheme demands that grouping be maintained in all the subjects of the course of study, and the basis of classification is the child's power to advance. By modifications of the formality of these charac- The Shift- ing Group teristics of the Constant Group scheme has been de- plan. veloped the second method of grouping, known as the Shifting Group scheme. The distinction between the groups is kept up for indefinite, unfixed periods, and the division is informal and varying, permitting children to pass from group to group, advancing or halting, as their own proficiency determines. While there may be promotion from room to room of the "fast" children in a class, it does not necessarily follow that there must be. The basis of classi- fication is again the child's power to advance, but it is judged step by. step, decided, not by his natural endowment and mentality, but by his power to grasp each new point and by the security and thor- 26 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY oughness with which he masters each task prepared for him. It necessarily follows, then, that there is no demand for grouping in all the subjects of the course of study. Instead, the Shifting Group scheme puts no compulsion on the teacher as to the number of subjects in which she uses the grouping system or as to the number of groups in each or any of the subjects of study. The Grade The third scheme of grouping, referred to before as the Grade Group scheme, has been tried in several very large city schools in New York, and, I think, in Rochester. It is in many ways a combination of ideas and of ways and means suggested in the two schemes already described. For its use, large num- bers of children in the same grade are necessary. All the children in a particular grade are regarded as one whole class, and are grouped as "fast," "normal," and "slow." Three classes in a grade are then formed, each class consisting of a constant group of the grade as a whole. The teacher of each of these classes or constant groups gives her instruc- tion with the use of the Shifting Group plan within the class, not necessarily in all subjects, but certainly in English and Arithmetic. To illustrate the Grade Group scheme: — SCHEMES OF GROUPING 27 Grade 4 B (Fourth Year, Second Half) has 126 children : 45 are classified as " fast " or " bright " ; 51 as " normal"; 30 as "slow." Three classes are formed in that grade ; these are known as 4 B 1, con- sisting of the 45 "fast" children; 4B2, consisting of 51 "normal" children; 4 B 3, consisting of the 30 "slow" children. Class 4 B 1 is a constant group which is allowed to advance rapidly and to cover the ground in less than one term, if possible. Class 4 B 2 is a constant group which, by means of the plan of shifting groups in the essential subjects, infor- mally used within the class, covers the grade work fully and thoroughly in one term. Class 4 B 3 is a constant group, taught also by the informal use of the Shifting Group plan; and, covering only the minimum requirements of the course of study, is promoted to the next grade at the same time as 4 B 2. In favor of the Constant Group scheme many arguments have been advanced which, however, resolve themselves into three. The first of these three is that the bright child is in favor enabled to pass more rapidly from grade to grade, Constant and is not compelled to wait for the majority. Since scheme, he is therefore likely to retain his interest in study, 28 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY he will remain in school until graduation, the result being a lessening of the decrease in attendance as the upper grades are reached, and an improvement in the standard of scholarship. The second argu- ment has also to do with the aid of the bright child, for it claims that no child is held back because of his deficiency in one subject, and that this is especially helpful to children in the "fast" group. Being naturally bright, and receiving individual instruction from the teacher, as is possible in a small group, the child is allowed to progress as rapidly as he may in subjects in which he is proficient, and is prevented from falling behind in the grades because of inap- titude for some one subject. The third argument urged in favor of the Constant Group scheme is that it is good school economy. Since the bright child is advanced from grade to grade as fast as he is able to go, room is made for new admissions in the grades below without a demand for increase in the number of rooms or the number of teachers. Against the Placing so much emphasis on the advance of the Constant Group plan, bright child, the Constant Group scheme is accom- panied by two dangers. The first is the temptation to push the bright child ahead so fast that one of two things results, — either he is pushed ahead with SCHEMES OF GROUPING 29 consequent neglect of his health and resultant nerv- ousness, or his quickness in grasping a subject makes it possible for him to go ahead without any real, lasting grasp of subject-matter, such as will cause it to remain in his mind for all time. I think that we cannot neglect serious consideration of this point, since I firmly believe that superficiality in knowledge and lack of power to study are the great causes for the discredit put upon our public school children when they go out to work, or enter the high schools and colleges. The second danger is the temptation to the teacher to neglect the children of the " slow" group, so that their case is worse than ever, in her concentration of mind on the advancement of the "fast" group. Two other adverse criticisms may be brought forward against the Constant Group scheme. One, that since the groups are fixed, it removes none of the formality and loss of individual touch, the injurious influences resulting from the graded school system. Two, that it makes the standard of advance one purely of knowledge, re- sulting in the placing of undue importance on me- moriter acquirement of subject-matter and of undue emphasis on examinations and tests. None of these criticisms holds good against the 30 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY Differences Shifting Group scheme. The difference between between two plans the two schemes lies really in a difference in aim. of grouping. In the plan just discussed, the aim is to advance the bright child. In the Shifting Group plan, there is no danger of neglect for any child, slow or bright. The fast group is made to do thorough and more intensive study on the same subject on which the in favor slow group is receiving additional oral instruction of Shifting Group plan, from the teacher. Drill comes in as a matter of course, and there can be no superficiality. Furthermore, the child is forming habits of study which are going to be of invaluable assistance to him when he reaches the upper grades, or when he desires to study up some subject for himself after he leaves school. The slow group is not neglected, for it really receives more instruction than the fast group does. As a neces- sary consequence of the plan of work, the children in the slow group are brought up to grade and are enabled to pass an examination and go on to the next grade with the children in the fast group, al- though, of course, they may not have covered as much ground in each particular subject as the chil- dren in the fast group. The Shifting Group plan is more properly in line with the principle spoken of previously; that is, if SCHEMES OF GROUPING 31 popular education is designed to fit people for the proper administration of our form of government, then any and every individual must be included. It cannot be the education of the few, or the educa- tion of the majority, but the education of all. Each individual child must receive individual instruction, and obtain the personal sympathy and aid of the teacher in his individual needs. The Shifting Group plan is sufficiently elastic to allow of this individual attention, since it requires grouping in certain subjects only and makes feasible the teach- ing of the class as a whole in certain other subjects. Also, taken in this manner, it retains the benefit to be obtained from whole-class teaching. If the sub- jects in which grouping is done are — as in most places where this plan is followed — reading, writ- ing, and arithmetic, then have we solved the prob- lem of the drill in the three R's in which our schools are said to-day to be deficient. Against the Shifting Group plan, however, it is Against the i • i t * Shifting true that one urgent objection can be made. It is Group plan, clumsy and difficult to plan, since it is almost impos- sible for a teacher to make or use a set programme, and since it requires her to change her plan fre- quently, and, therefore, to do a great amount of 32 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY planning and preparation. This is really the only valid argument against the Shifting Group scheme, the only point in which the plan of Constant Groups apparently excels. The claim of superior school economy is not justified, if one looks below the sur- face of things, for although there may be no im- mediate saving of teachers, there is room made for new admissions below. It is better made, too, since it is not done by the advancement of a few brighter children, but by the sure advancement of all or nearly all ; in other words, by the saving of room formerly needed for held-over children. Where numbers in each grade in a school are large enough to make it possible, the Grade Group plan, really combining the other two schemes, is particu- larly advantageous. By applying to the grade as a whole the plan of Constant Groups and to each class the plan of Shifting Groups, we secure all the benefits of each, and guard against all the deficiencies experiment has found in each. But most schools must confine themselves to one of the first two, the conclusion in favor of either depending entirely on which aim is regarded as the ideal, — whether it seems more desirable for the bright child to advance rapidly, or whether it is better to bring the slow child SCHEMES OF GROUPING 33 up to grade, and thus secure definite instruction for all classes of children. In schools and classes for special problems, the teacher will inevitably find herself forced to use the plan of Constant Groups, since her conditions resemble the ungraded school, and there are few, if any, subjects which she can teach to the class as a whole. In regular classes of the graded schools, the plan of the Shifting Groups is the ideal one. CHAPTER IV CLASSIFICATION INTO GROUPS Basis of classifica- tion. In the Con- stant Group. As stated in the last chapter, the basis of classi- fication in both the Constant Group and the Shifting Group schemes is the child's power to advance, but there is a difference in the judgment of his power to advance. In the Constant Group scheme, it is almost inevitably decided by the child's natural en- dowment of mentality. Hence there is little diffi- culty experienced by the teacher in classifying her children into groups, once she knows her children and has tested their acquirements. That this is true is clear at once after a moment's recall of what is included in the working out of the Constant Group scheme : that definite, formal divisions shall be made within a class; that the divisions shall be kept up for definitely fixed periods; that grouping shall be maintained in most or all of the subjects of study, although, of course, the groups need not be con- stituted the same in all the subjects. 34 CLASSIFICATION INTO GROUPS 35 In the Shifting Group scheme, the judgment of the in the child's power to advance is decided by the thorough- Group, ness with which he grasps each new step, each new detail of each subject, as it is taught. Hence there is considerable difficulty involved for the teacher in classifying her children into groups, since these groups are necessarily a variable quantity; and the method of classification into groups under the Shift- ing Group scheme must have fuller explanation and illustration. When the instruction in each new step of a lesson How to . classify into is completed with the class as a whole, grouping shifting begins, decided by a test given at the close of the period of teaching. In other words, when the time has arrived for the teaching of a new point, the teacher drops all group divisions and teaches it to the class as a whole. At the close of the period or periods devoted to the presentation of this new point, a test, oral or written, as circumstances decide, enables the teacher to divide her class into two groups ; the first is composed of children who have thoroughly grasped the new point, and the second, of children who need fuller instruction. Group A, then, consists of children who have com- prehended the entire lesson as taught ; they need no 36 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY further instruction, but they do need drill, which they receive through seat- work study in the next period. Group B consists of children who have failed to comprehend the entire lesson as taught in the first period. They do need further instruction and help from the teacher, and to them the teacher must give her personal attention in the next period. At the end of this second period, the teacher gives to Group B a test similar to the one used to test the whole class at the end of the first period. Consideration of this test reveals the necessity for a further sub- division of the class into groups, since even after a second lesson, there will still remain children who have not made satisfactory progress. The teacher makes note of this remnant as constituting a third group, to be known as Group C. When the third period for the same lesson arrives, the teacher divides her class into three groups, A, B, and C. Group B is now in need of drill, and must spend the period in doing the same or similar seat-work study as- signed to Group A for the second period. At the beginning of the third period, the teacher's personal attention is given to the children of Group A, who receive a short drill in a rapid fire of questions cover- ing the point taught and the seat work of the pre- CLASSIFICATION INTO GROUPS 37 vious day. This should occupy less than half the period, and during the rest of the time allowed, Group A does seat work in the same, or possibly some other, lesson. The children of Group A must have this short period of teaching time in order to insure that their needs are not neglected and that dis- covery is made of the children whose apparent grasp of the subject-matter during the first period lacked real thoroughness. They must feel that the teacher's interest and attention are theirs equally with their classmates, and that their work receives as careful correction. While the teacher is personally at work with Group A, Group C may listen, for the sake of the benefit which they may derive from their classmates' answers, or they may be occupied in manual work or in seat work in re- lation to some other lesson. The major part of this third period the teacher uses in giving final, de- tailed, and individual teaching to Group C. Even if a test of Group C at the end of the third period discovers that there are a few very slow chil- dren still unable to comprehend the point taught, further subdivision is unwise. It is better to trust to their receiving aid from their neighbors or from pupil teachers during later periods. In the later 3§ TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY Illustration of classify- ing into Shifting Groups. periods, Group A will do more seat work in drill on the point taught, or manual work, or seat work in drill on other lessons in which individual members of Group A may be weak. In one of these later periods, Group B will be treated as was Group A in the third period; in the others, Group B will proceed in similar manner to that just outlined for Group A. In all later periods, Group C will be oc- cupied with the same or similar seat-work study as was assigned to Group A in the second period and to Group B in the third period. Throughout these later periods, the teacher will give as much individ- ual attention as possible to the slow, weak students. In the last period, before instruction in a new point is begun, the teacher will take the class once more as a whole, and by a short, sharp drill and question- ing, decide whether it is safe to advance to the next step outlined in her grade work. Application to a specific lesson of the foregoing explanation of the method of classification into groups under the Shifting Group scheme will make per- fectly clear how the method will work out in actual practice. To illustrate, then, by a lesson or series of lessons in arithmetic in Grade i A, First Year, First Half : — CLASSIFICATION INTO GROUPS 39 The new point to be taught to the class is that three plus two equal five. The teacher presents it, with careful attention to all that she has learned of methods of teaching, to the class as a whole. By tests, by questioning during the lesson or at its close, by in- cidents which may occur as the lesson is presented, — some way, somehow, the teacher discovers that a certain percentage of her class has completely grasped the point of the lesson, and that the rest need fuller explanation and drilling. She divides her class accordingly into Groups A and B. Next day, when her program calls for an arithme- tic exercise, Group A, for the entire period, does seat work in application of the point taught, and fixes permanently in mind by self-reliant study that three plus two are five. Such seat work may consist of the following exercises, each child receiving a few pre- liminary directions from the teacher and an envelope containing all the material he needs for all the exer- cises : — Ex. 1. Strings and beads of several colors, ten of each color. On one string he arranges white beads, thus: — three beads, space, two beads, larger space, five beads. 000 00 00000 4o TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY If he has beads of five colors, he must arrange five strings in this manner. Ex. 2. Splints of several colors, ten of each color, arranged on his desk in similar manner. in ii iiiii Ex. 3. Cut-up slips on which the teacher has written 3, 2, 5 and the plus and equality signs. Child uses the slips and builds up on his desk several rows of 3 + 2 Ex. 4. Cut-up slips to be used as in last exer- cise, or this exercise may possibly precede. Ex. 5. Splints and cut-up slips; splints to be arranged to make the combination, and the cut -up slips to be placed as indicating the answer. 3 splints, space, 2 splints, space, 5 splints, space, cut -up slips reading "5 sticks." II 5 sticks CLASSIFICATION INTO GROUPS 41 Ex. 6. Beads, buttons, etc., as in Ex. 5. An additional difficulty is found in that the child must see that his answer slip is placed correctly, 5 beads next to beads, etc. Ex. 7. Child to write the combination 3 + 2 = 5. While Group A is so occupied, Group B is in- structed again by the teacher, with just as careful attention to the methods of presenting the subject- matter ; in fact, she will probably seek a new means of approach and be more detailed in her teaching than on the previous day. At the end of this second lesson, a certain proportion of this group gives satisfactory evidence of knowing, without guessing or prompting, that three plus two are five, although there may be still an appreciably large number of children who have failed to do so and must have patient, individual drilling. On the third day, when her period for arithmetic comes, the teacher finds, therefore, that she has three groups to work with. Group B is set busy at once on the same exercises already described as being required of Group A on the second day, and is left to work by itself throughout the period. The teacher's time and attention are given to Groups A and C. If it is a forty-minute period, she uses the 42 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY first fifteen minutes to drill and test Group A in a rapid fire of questions which keeps every child alert. Meanwhile, Group C listens to the work of Group A, or is occupied in manual work or seat-work drill or some other lesson. At the end of the first fifteen minutes, Group A is given seat work in further application, to fix in the child's memory by frequent repetition that three plus two are five. The exer- cises may be similar to those used during the second period, or the same worked out with different materials, varied in some way so as to continue the interest. Group C's turn for instruction comes when Group A begins its seat work. In this third teaching of the same point to these children, the teacher tries to reach individual difficulties, and corrects typical errors and misapprehensions which are keeping the children of Group C behind their classmates of Groups A and B. This division of the class into three groups is maintained throughout all succeeding periods until the teacher feels that the class is ready to advance to a new point. During the fourth period, the teacher proceeds with Group B in the manner out- lined for Group A in the third period, and assigns to Group C the seat-work exercises already used by CLASSIFICATION INTO GROUPS 43 Group A in the second period and by Group B in the third period. The latter and major part of this fourth period, the teacher uses to supervise and correct the seat-work exercises and give individual aid to the children of Group C. Group A could again be assigned seat work for the entire period. There would be, however, this difference. The seat work for Group A during this fourth period need not necessarily be in application of the same point. It may be review ; it may be work of a more intensive character, thought problems, etc. ; it may be even in preparation for the study of a new point soon to be taught to the class as a whole ; it may be work in an entirely different subject, planned so as to provide drill for these children of Group A along lines in which they may not be so proficient. In many schools has been tried successfully the use of the brightest and best of the children of Group A as pupil teachers of children in other groups. This may be their seat work for the fourth period. During later periods which may follow before the teacher deems it wise to advance, the division of the period into teaching time and seat-work time, for each or any of the three groups, will depend upon conditions, and will vary from class to class, term to term. 44 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY Once ready to advance, the class becomes a whole Why this classifica- tion is ad- vocated. Subjects in which to group. One can readily see that this method of classifica- tion into groups used in the Shifting Group scheme must result in a frequent changing and shifting of the children from group to group, whence the name given to it. The teacher is thereby able to insure from every child satisfactory progress in his acquire- ment of each new step in a subject of study, and yet to present each new step to the class as a whole. Just as surely, each child's work will alternate be- tween periods of study and periods of instruction, and the periods of instruction will alternate between class instruction and individual instruction. In the use of the Group System, planned as here ex- plained for the Shifting Group scheme, the teacher retains all the advantages of the graded school and whole-class teaching, secures the advantages of the Batavia system of individual instruction, and obtains an opportunity to train children in self-reliant study. Before leaving this question of classification into groups, it is needful to give some thought to its bear- ing upon the different subjects of the Course of Study. Immediately, there must be recognized another great gain resulting from the Group System; for CLASSIFICATION INTO GROUPS 45 its use, with the Shifting Group scheme, makes not only possible, but actually unavoidable, very careful drill in the three R's, since in most schools, the subjects in which grouping is done are arith- metic and the English branches, particularly among the latter grammar and reading. In some schools, grouping is done in other subjects, even under the Shifting Group scheme, but the majority of principals and teachers who answered a questionnaire in regard to this point, agreed that in other subjects, certainly in all the special branches, work can be done just as well as desired by the system of the whole-class instruction as by the Group System. All the other subjects, especially geography and history in the latter half of the course and the manual work in all grades, do, however, form an important part of the teacher's plan for group teaching as providing supplementary reading and other excellent seat work. Moreover, it is true that, as a school term ad- The group- , . . . ing in read- vances, the groups become more constant in charac- i ng apt to ter and personnel in some subjects than in others, constant. This is very apt to be so in reading; for the same child is always a good reader or a poor reader, — that is, he will learn quickly and read well a lesson given, or he will recognize words slowly and read 46 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY haltingly. The greatest variation in the constitution of a group is apt to occur in arithmetic or grammar. The same child may in one week be in Group A in arithmetic, and in the next week find great diffi- culty in getting out of Group C. In this characteris- tic of the Shifting Group scheme lies, however, as was said before, one of the greatest arguments to be advanced in favor of the Group System, since thereby are insured discovery and proper treatment of each child's individual weaknesses, and permis- sion and opportunity to the bright child to obtain broader and deeper knowledge of his subject-matter. In discussing later problems of the Group System, consideration will be given only to the Shifting Group plan, since it is felt that this plan lends itself to the surest accomplishment, in a graded school, of the aims and advantages looked for from the Group System. CHAPTER V THE DAILY PROGRAM Having considered the question of classification of a class into groups, and remembering that this classification will be constantly shifting, according to the child's power to grasp each point as it arises in the progress of the grade work, we now reach the point where we must give our attention to the plan- ning of the daily program. A great deal has been Planning • /->. o work in all written and said, implying that the Group System subjects i-rr i • i • easier under presents enormous difficulties to the teacher in the Group , r i m i i • r • • System. planning of a daily program, but a brief investiga- tion of these complaints reveals that they have little to support them and that the difficulties so loudly talked of are not new, but old, problems. In fear of every new method of procedure which seems to involve revolutionary changes, the teacher wonders, "How shall we ever be able to cover all of the course of study?" It always has been the teacher's cry, and it seems as if it always would be, and yet the difficulty is really less, not greater, when the Group 47 48 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY System is used. They forget that grouping is not to be done in all the subjects of the course of study, and that in all subjects where grouping is not done, the class receives the same teaching and does the same amount of work as the course of study re- quires, or as has always been the custom under the system of whole -class teaching. The labor is great, to be sure, but the worry of it disappears. The teacher is not harassed by the thought of a steadily increasing number falling behind in the grade work ; since in those subjects where grouping is done, it is with the specific purpose of making sure that every child in the class makes the necessary ad- vances in that particular subject, and there can be no neglect of the individual instruction which may remove a stumbling-block before it becomes a fatal impediment. No differ- The next question has an even more familiar sound, ence in r . . time assign- for it is a no new thing to hear teachers fret about ments on program. planning a time schedule so that a sufficient number of subjects of the course of study, and the total number of minutes allowed to each subject for the week, shall correspond with the official time assign- ment. That the Group System presents any real or any greater difficulty on this point is only a bug- THE DAILY PROGRAM 4 g bear which teachers have conjured up for them- selves. It is due to a failure to understand that the official time assignment does not require that every- one of the allotted minutes shall be spent by the teacher in giving actual instruction to the class, but merely a certain stated number of minutes shall be given to each subject. If, for example, out of one hundred and fifty minutes allowed for arithmetic, Group A spends seventy-five in study or seat work in arithmetic, it is just as much arithmetic time for the children in that group as are the other seventy- five minutes during which they are receiving in- struction by the teacher's voice. It is very wrong to conclude that there is any loss of time for arith- metic because the actual instruction by the teacher a group receives is cut short. When the teaching is done in groups, greater concentration and effort result in greater thoroughness ; and, provided that the seat work is properly planned and supervised, the independent study is probably more valuable than any further instruction from the teacher on the same point could possibly be. It is evident, then, that all idea that the Group System brings addi- tional difficulty in regard to time assignment is an error. The teacher calculates her division of the time 50 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY assignment into daily periods without reference to any question as to whether she shall use whole-class teaching or the Group System ; in other words, just as she always did. Writing a The third difficulty, how to form a time schedule schedule. for the Group System in such shape that it can be hung up for inspection in the class room, is annoying, but possible of solution. The real truth is, that it never was possible to draw up a program on paper beautifully ruled out in red ink, every moment of the day duly accounted for, and then honestly say that we lived by it, day in, day out. Yet not to require a daily program from teachers is to give a dangerous liberty, for no program means neglect of something, inevitably and always. The best pro- gram is one which is a guide, a daily reminder, yet allows change, alteration, deviation, to meet the occasions of the day's work or the needs of a class. Decidedly must the program be of such descrip- tion when the Group System is used in the manner explained in these chapters. The daily order of ex- ercises must be a variable one, and it is impossible to plan a time schedule or daily program for every day in the week or every week in the term. Nevertheless, the difficulty is only a trivial one to the earnest teacher. THE DAILY PROGRAM 51 In Bagley's "Classroom Management, " Chapter XIV, devoted to a discussion of the Batavia System, is given a program which can be copied and used, with slight modifications, by any teacher who uses the scheme of constant groups. In the chapter on school programs in White's " School Management," valuable hints may be obtained, although the pro- grams there given are designed particularly for the teacher in ungraded schools. An excellent sug- gestion is that the teacher shall prepare a plan of three days' work, calling them three typical days.. At least once in the three days every form of grade work will appear on the program; the use of the first three periods of grouping work will be illustrated for each group. On the other two days of the week her program may resemble any one of the three typical days, in whole or part, depending upon the progress the class has made or the interruption she has had to contend with. An illustration of a pro- gram planned for three typical days follows. 52 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY £ £ . Ph m a.S g d 1-3 1 1 1 1 all i ill Oh be u cJ — X! -> 'D b£> ■1* s s upD enma Stud £ d S.S . -d -d H=5 E<< d° , b CO .art c i £ 1 w «8 1 £5 1 t* u o >> 1 "S • ^ CJ _c ' ,d • -> Jll^Il >^.d -c •- 3 d w ■S bC bC bG- Jr: -d d j» n S CU co is I 1 1 1 1 8 § I i '£ I »-i . ' Ire ' M £ S io>oio H CN <* Os On On o o o o o o o m co m o co t O gram. THE DAILY PROGRAM 55 In the foregoing program, the abbreviations used are to be understood as follows : T. means Teach ; D. means Drill; S. means Seat Work. Attention must first be given to certain general considerations wise for every teacher to bear in mind when pre- paring her own group program. 1. The most difficult point to consider in planning Essential i -ii i n i • considera- the program is that the groups shall alternate in- tions in planning a struction and seat-work periods so that no child group pro- shall have two long, successive periods of study, even if in different subjects. It is easy to see that the ordinary laws of fatigue and interest require obedience to this injunction. 2. However, the children may vary their seat work from the subject of the lesson in progress, the pro- gram must be planned so that the teacher's periods of instruction in any one subject shall be continuous. To illustrate: The program calls for arithmetic, the fourth period in the development and drill of the point taught. Group A, therefore, is to do seat work for the entire period, probably not in arith- metic at all ; Group B is to receive a short drill from the teacher, and then do seat work in further ap- plication of the lesson; Group C is to begin with seat work, which may or may not be arithmetic, 56 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY and then receive detailed and individual instruction from the teacher. The teacher must give her short drill to Group B, and her instruction time to Group C, so that they follow each other, thus making the teacher's arithmetic work continuous. Any other arrangement complicates the teacher's problem by an unnecessary scattering of her own attention and nervous energy, which has its reactionary effect upon the children. Furthermore, there is such a thing as the spirit of a lesson pervading a room so that children and teacher work more rapidly and with less friction. For this reason, the seat work is somewhat easier to supervise if the group at seat work is studying the same subject as the work of the group receiving instruction. Therefore, if either Group A or Group C is to do arithmetic as seat work at any time during the day, this period, when the spirit and interest of arithmetic are in the air, is the time when the children of these two groups will work arithmetic most advantageously. 3. By judicious use of manual work as seat work, much time can be saved and applied to an extension of the time allowed for one or more of the three R's. Because this is possible is one basis for the claim that the use of the Group System insures drill. As a THE DAILY PROGRAM 57 result, the program may not show so many minutes devoted to actual class work and instruction in all the various forms of manual work, and may show many more minutes devoted to instruction and drill by the teacher in the so-called essential subjects. Yet the manual work suffers no loss in time, quantity, or quality, as will be fully shown in the discussion of seat work in a later chapter; for there is no valid reason to urge against using manual work as seat work for unoccupied groups or for children who finish their work ahead of the rest, and there are many valid reasons in favor, gained from actual experience. CHAPTER VI THE INSTRUCTION PERIOD In the last chapter frequent reference was made to periods of instruction and periods of seat work. Whether the use of the Group System is based upon the Constant Group scheme or upon the Shifting Group scheme, the daily program must provide for periods of instruction and periods of seat work, for each group of children and in each subject of study where grouping is done. The considera- tion of the period of instruction first invites atten- tion. Purposes It is during the instruction period that the children instruction in the particular group taught share in the develop- i. To ment of the lesson topic and derive the benefit of the teach. teacher's skill in its presentation and in the clear- ing away of its difficulties. Far from permitting a neglect of all that has been gained by the progress in the study of method during the last fifty years, the Group System demands that, during the in- 58 THE INSTRUCTION PERIOD 59 struction period, the teacher must use all that she has learned of apperception, of the five formal steps in teaching, of the principles of education. Since, in the seat -work period to follow, either on the same day or later, the children must apply, unaided, in self-reliant study, and to specific problems, the knowledge gained during the previous period, it is essential that the teacher conduct her instruction period so that no confusion of thought can remain to cause the child's seat work to be wasted effort. This presentation, development, and thorough ex- planation of the new lesson topic is the primary use of the instruction period. Unless the teacher is both earnest and conscien- 2 . To hear i i s~^ lessons. tious, there accompanies the use of the Group System a danger that the instruction period will degenerate into a mere hearing of lessons studied in memoriter fashion during the seat-work period. A very urgent warning, therefore, must be given against usurping time which belongs to actual teaching for the hearing of set tasks which have not been preceded by careful presentation and development. Yet recitations must be heard, the children's progress, whether that resulting from teaching or that resulting from independent study, 60 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY must be tested and noted. This constitutes the sec- ondary use of the instruction period, and a legitimate use, unless allowed to assume undue importance. 3 . To reach A third purpose of the instruction period, as the the individ- . . uai. .time devoted to any one lesson topic advances and the groups grow smaller, is individual teaching. Individual instruction is intended especially for the benefit of children in Group C, so that by a new T presentation, a new way of approach, the discovery of some peculiar, childish, or individual misappre- hension, the teacher may remove for them the diffi- culty with which they are struggling. It is this use of the instruction period for individual teaching that the Group System has borrowed from the Pueblo and Batavia plans. As was early discovered in those experiments, so in the Group System is it important for the teacher to remember that the child knows really only what he does for himself, and for the teacher to avoid, therefore, telling a child the point which he has been so slow to grasp. Neither should the period of individual instruction ever be used for the development of a forthcoming lesson topic in the grade work. The problem of seating the group to receive in- struction has received considerable discussion, and THE INSTRUCTION PERIOD 61 in crowded conditions may present real difficulty. Seating the group dur- Many plans have been suggested and tried, and all ing instmo of those which have practical value will be explained. The choice of which to use cannot be decided arbitrarily ; the teacher's own judgment must de- termine which is best adapted to her conditions, her program, her purposes. One plan arranges for the group receiving instruction to be isolated at the blackboard, the groups at seat work to remain in their regular places. According to a second plan, the teacher places at the front of the room a table with chairs around it for the use of the groups receiving instruction; the regular class seats are reserved for seat work and whole-class instruction. A third plan provides that the teacher calls up to her desk the group to receive instruction, leaving the other children in their seats at study or seat work. A fourth plan, more frequently used in city schools than any of the preceding, is that of reserv- ing one section of seats to be known as recitation section; the seats in the recitation section should not be assigned to any pupils as regular class seats, and when any one group is to receive instruction, the teacher merely gives directions to take seats in the recitation section. 62 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY In large city schools, the plan in most common use is a modification of this last plan. One section of seats, usually that most conveniently placed for the largest amount of blackboard space, is known as the recitation section. As crowded conditions preclude the possibility of reserving it unoccupied as class seats, some pupils must change seats. In order to arrange for this with as little shifting as possible, the pupils are grouped and seated accord- ing to the grouping in the subject where the group- ing is most nearly constant, usually reading. These places are their regular class seats. For all subjects in which grouping is not used, the children occupy these same seats. For all other subjects in which grouping is done, the children change seats, re- maining in these seats only for the time given for the subject. To illustrate by citing instances seen in three different public schools in New York: — In a class of Grade 3 A, Third Year, First Half, in Public School 65, Girls' Department, the pupils' regular seats were assigned according to their group- ing in reading, the class being divided into three groups. During the reading lesson, no changes of seats were made. Group B read silently as seat THE INSTRUCTION PERIOD 63 work throughout the period ; Group A was employed at seat work, part reading, part manual work, throughout the period ; Group C received instruction from the teacher, without changing from their regular seats. A penmanship lesson followed. The class was again divided into three groups, and the results of some previous period had evidently made them acquainted with their ranking. Group A, accord- ing to the penmanship grouping, received directions to take pens, penmanship papers, and arithmetics; Group B, to take sewing materials; Group C, to take pens and penmanship papers to the recitation section. It then developed that the seats occupied by Group C of the grouping for the reading lesson were the seats of the recitation section. The children already seated in that section, who were also in- cluded in Group C for penmanship, remained seated and made no change ; the rest of the children seated in that section left their seats and took those vacated by children who had been seated in other parts of the room, but must move to take seats in the recita- tion section as members of Group C in penmanship. The directions for seat work for Group A and Group B were meanwhile written on the blackboard by the teacher. The changes used up less than 64 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY three minutes, and the children settled down at once to their respective tasks. Observation was also made in a class of Grade 2 A, Second Year, First Half, in Public School 2. When the visitor entered, the boys were at work at arith- metic in two groups; Group A was working ex- amples from questions on papers distributed by the teacher; the rest of the class was receiving instruction from the teacher. At the end of the period, the teacher spent a few hasty minutes in collecting and inspecting the seat work of Group A, giving particular care to that of two boys only, who were chosen, she said later, because of an attempt on a previous day to neglect their seat work. During these few minutes, the rest of the boys worked an example, and the two or three who finished before the teacher was ready, took some raffia work from their desks. The arithmetic period at an end, the children returned to their regular class seats at the teacher's command. A two-minute physical drill and a nature-study lesson followed, during which there was no mention of groups. Next, the teacher gave directions for a reading lesson. Groups A and C were told to take out the same book ; Group B, a different book, in which the teacher assigned THE INSTRUCTION PERIOD 65 a definite portion for silent reading and certain facts of the story to be discovered. After a few minutes spent in reading aloud by individual children in Group A and quiet listening by those in Group C, the children of Group A were told to do illustrative drawing in relation to what they had read, and the teacher turned her attention for the rest of the period to drilling the pupils in Group C. Almost at the end of the period, the teacher called two boys from Group A to sit with two in Group C and help them. No seats were changed for this reading lesson, show- ing that in this class, also, the seats were assigned according to the grouping in reading. Still a third instance will be cited, so that teachers may have sufficient illustration of how to arrange the seating of their groups for instruction and seat work. This third observation was made in a third- year special class in Public School 120. Here the teacher had Constant Groups in both arithmetic and reading, and Shifting Groups in spelling and penman- ship. A reading lesson was first on the program. No changing of seats was necessary, the seating having been done according to the grouping in reading; in this case, however, the reason was the greater convenience in distributing books. To 66 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY Group A, seat work in a third reader was assigned ; to Group B and Group C together was given a short drill in phonics and phonograms, after which seat work in an easier third reader was assigned to Group B. With the use of a second reader, Group C re- ceived instruction from the teacher. After a two- minute physical drill, a penmanship lesson followed. It was the first lesson on a new letter, and the class received instruction as a whole. At the end of the period, the teacher glanced rapidly over the papers, saying, as she did so, " satisfactory, " or "need more drill," and listing them as Group A and B for the next penmanship lesson. An arithmetic lesson came next in order, and at the teacher's command, " Group B, take recitation seats," the boys seated as Group A for reading left their places and took seats vacated by those in Group B for arithmetic, guided somewhat by the teacher, who kept watch to prevent mischievous companionships. All the children in a group which is to receive instruction from the teacher must sit together. The other groups may or may not sit together, depending upon whether the teacher is willing that there shall be as- sistance given from pupil to pupil in the seat work, or whether she desires that the seat work shall be THE INSTRUCTION PERIOD 67 absolutely independent effort. With this final word, and the illustrations given, enough has been said to guide the teacher in seating her children in groups for either the seat work or the instruction period. CHAPTER VII THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK — PREPARA TION AND SUPERVISION The alternating period of study, or, as it is some- times called, the seat- work or busy- work period, needs careful attention, for the greatest problem of the Group System is to provide the groups not receiving instruction from the teacher with work having a definite end and possible of supervision and correction in the shortest possible space of time. If carelessly assigned, without proper relation to the subject-matter taught in the period of instruction, if not properly supervised, the seat work becomes an abuse. Instead of being trained in habits of self-reliant study, the great advantage we assert to be gained from the use of the Group System, the children become hopelessly given to careless, slovenly habits of thought and study, or, still worse, fall into ways of mischievous idleness. Aims of Properly planned, the seat work has four distinct seat work. aims: First, to make clearer the lessons already 68 THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 69 learned, and give the pupil a chance to get a firm grasp of the principles involved. Second, to provide drill or practice in a lesson just presented to the class, and thereby make it permanent. Third, to prepare for the teaching of some new point. Fourth, in the upper grades particularly, to train the child to get new knowledge by independent, unaided study. If the teacher is to accomplish these aims, there are several considerations which she must constantly bear in mind, both in the preparation of seat work and in the supervision of it in the class room. Teach^ ers must be earnestly cautioned in regard to these points, for in places where the Group System has failed to give satisfactory results, the failure can be directly traced to errors in management of the seat- work problem. Of the two points involved, the preparation and the supervision of the seat work, the former is the crux of the whole question of suc- cess or failure in the use of the Group System. It is the first point in this seat-work or study period problem to which attention shall therefore be given. In the preparation of the seat work in any or all Seat work . . must be of the subjects in which grouping is made, the teacher real study. must see to it that the seat work calls for real study, and is not mere busy work. From neglect of this 70 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY thought has come the discredit now generally at- tached to the term "busy work." The discredit has been justly earned, too, as may be readily dis- covered from the perusal of many of the books and journals supposedly meeting the demand for sug- gestive busy work. The teachers who prepared the plans and types of seat work given in the suc- ceeding chapters were compelled to read through an enormous mass of material in order to glean what had really pedagogic merit. Much of it had to be rejected as being without any purpose except to keep the child in the study group quietly busy. Such seat work is easy to think of, and requires little time in preparation. Yet the fact that teachers' mag- azines devote so much space to this sort of mate- rial shows that teachers are feeling and express- ing their need. Let the teacher, then, whether she prepares her own seat-work exercises or selects them from suggestions in books or magazines, submit every exercise to the test of its value as real study. Must have One of the best tests of study value of a seat -work lation to exercise is its relation to the grade work and to the course of . study. course of study. That relation must be very definite, and as clear to the pupil as to the teacher. If the child's seat-work exercise is the working of four or THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 71 five problems in arithmetic, he must understand, as well as the teacher, that those problems are in illus- tration of some point taught by the teacher, or in drill on some point in which he has a known weakness. If, during the reading period, Group A is to do seat work, and needs no further drill on the lesson the class is studying, supplementary reading in some other subject will be legitimate seat work of real study value, recognized by the pupil as well as the teacher ; for he will know that he is receiving practice in reading, and in addition is gaining new knowledge on the subject-matter of some other lesson. The definite relationship of the seat work to the grade work and the course of study is, then, the second considera- tion the teacher must bear in mind in the preparation of seat work. Another evil laid to busy work and bringing con- Must not r^ o «i require sequent discredit to the Group System is that seat constant work which really keeps children busy demands constant writing. The resultant injury to penman- ship, of course, is obvious. That this is necessarily so is entirely untrue. The best types of seat work for the lowest grades require little or no writing. Reference to the suggestions given in Chapter IV in illustration of the method of classification into 72 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY groups in a first-year class, will show that little use of writing is there demanded. Examinations of the types of seat work in the succeeding chapters will show that the intention of the seat work recommended is to get away from written exercises and to demand logical thought, systematic use of various materials, and trained use of a text-book. So shall seat work and the Group System accomplish its most valuable end, — teaching the child to study, — and so shall seat work be redeemed from the odium of injury to penmanship. The teacher's third consideration in the preparation of seat work is, therefore, that it must not demand constant writing. Must have In the fourth place, the teacher must be sure that the seat work will interest the child and fix his at- tention. Interest does not at all necessarily mean please in the sense of amuse. If the three preceding cautions have been heeded by the teacher, little thought need be given to the interest of the seat work. Interest perforce accompanies an exercise the value and relationship of which are clear, and the material for which need thought and careful handling. Also, when, as is increasingly true, the manual work pro- vides seat- work occupations, the question of interest ceases to complicate the seat-work problem. In all THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 73 certainty, however, the teacher must insure the child's interest in his seat work and consequent attention, else he is likely to have a disorderly group, and will fail to give the child habits of self-reliant study. In the upper grades, where study from text-books use of a f"£*xt— honk can be required as seat work, the teacher's labor in as seat . . work. preparation of seat work is not nearly so great as in the grades below. Just as early in the grades as possible the teacher should begin to train the chil- dren to use a text-book for seat work and silent study. Even in the lowest grades, she can begin by training the little ones to look at a picture book, and next to read a story in quiet order throughout a seat-work period. It is becoming less and less the practice of parents in the home to oversee the home study of their children, and the duty of teaching the child to study a text-book rests upon the teacher more heavily than ever before. And the use of a book for purposes of study is something requiring definite teaching and no easy task. In assigning work from a text- book for study during the seat-work period, the teacher is not only preparing valuable busy work, but giving training in how to study. Still another suggestion may be added to assist 74 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY in the solution of this problem of preparation of seat work, for the teacher may save much labor by pre- serving the seat-work exercises for use by different groups. The same seat work may be used at differ- ent times in the term. In the second period devoted to a lesson topic, Group A does seat work; let Group B use the same exercise in the third period, and Group C, the same exercise at some later period. Care in preparing and preserving seat-work plans and devices will spare the teacher a vast amount of time and labor, and will teach the child to be system- atic and orderly. The teacher's preparation of seat work earnestly done with these considerations borne in mind, the difficulties which make the problem of supervision of the seat work are almost all removed. Some two or three points remain to be enforced as relating directly to the teacher's duties in supervising and correcting seat work. Neglect of these points will just as surely cause failure as will neglect of the con- siderations treated in the discussion of the teacher's duties in preparing seat work. Probably the first in importance is the correcting of the seat work assigned. That the teacher does not correct the seat work, that errors and faults, THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 75 whether of accident, ignorance, or intention, escape her detection, and that no explanation of errors due to ignorance or punishment of carelessness follows the doing of the seat work, — these things rapidly become known to the children. They feel that the work has no material value, and soon cease to do any real studying. The failure to correct and super- vise the seat work is one cause of the slovenly habits and mischievous idleness which have in some places been alleged to result from the use of the Group System. No need exists for the correction of the seat work to become a burden to the teacher. Poor methods of management with regard to preparation, as well as the correction of seat work, are responsible for the extraordinary number of hours some teachers report that they spend upon their class work in con- sequence of the use of the Group System. It is the written seat work which uses up so much time and effort in correction, and therefore, if the teacher plans seat work of a kind which demands little or no writ- ing, as suggested in the discussion of the preparation of seat work, the labor of correction has been con- siderably lessened. In the second place, each period of seat work in The super- 1 . ,. , . - vision of any study is, according to our planning of a pro- seat work. 76 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY gram as given in Chapter V, followed in the next period devoted to that subject, by a short drill. During the drill the teacher's questions will expose the faithfulness to study during the seat-work period preceding. In the third place, if the teacher has reasons for making immediately clear to the pupils that their work is not escaping correction, she may pass rapidly down the aisles, selecting apparently at random work to which she gives careful correction before the entire class. Let her include in this random selection the work of all children whom she suspects of neglect or idleness. A fourth suggestion for re- lieving the labor of correction comes from a plan followed by some teachers who have trained pupils of the brightest section to be helpers in the correction of busy work. Thus, Group A's seat work may sometimes consist in the correction of exercises done by Groups B and C. A fundamental fact in human nature insures the doing of this form of seat work without very much forcing or watching on the part of the teacher, and the close examination of papers demanded from the members of Group A insures the requisite amount of drill for Group A. Likewise is insured careful examination on the part of the members of Group B or Group C on the return of THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 7.7 their papers, so strong will be their wish to see that full justice is done them. It saves the teacher's labor and it prevents disturbance and interruption. The arguments and appeals to the teacher which follow the return of the papers, if wisely managed, are not disturbances, but another means of enforcing the point at issue. Finally, the supervision and correction of seat work Definite as- are considerably easier when the teacher makes her assignments clearly and definitely in simple language. Part of this defmiteness will consist in giving the assignments in written directions, whether on the blackboard or on charts or on slips of paper or cards distributed to each child, removing in such manner the possibility of disturbing questions from the for- getful or thoughtless child. By constant insistence upon responsibility for work assigned, by planning the seat work so that a rapid glance at the child's desk will detect glaring errors, if not all; by sharp questioning during the drill period following the seat-work period; by oc- casionally correcting immediately the work of a few children, always including that of the child of care- less habits ; by using pupil helpers ; by occasionally returning carefully corrected and marked papers 78 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY done during a period of written seat work, the teacher will secure opportunity to do the inevitable correc- tion of seat work without imposing upon herself an unnecessarily heavy burden outside of school hours. CHAPTER VIII THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK Practical Management A few suggestions on the management of the seat- work group and on the arrangement of seat-work ma- terials may greatly assist the busy, earnest teacher, and go far towards removing some of the discipline problems with which a weak teacher finds herself confronted. The secret of order in any group during the study Keep every child busy. period lies in keeping every member of the group busy. It is usually wise to give out more work than can possibly be accomplished in the time given. Of this work a certain amount should be fixed upon as the minimum ; for the accomplishment of this mini- mum the teacher must hold each pupil responsible, although, of course, she will not let any child know in advance that there is a minimum, or what the minimum will be. Pupils at seat work must not be allowed to dis- No dis- turb one another or the teacher by asking questions questions or r i t • mi • r i • directions. or for repeated directions. This is part of their 79 80 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY training in self-reliance. Neither must teachers dis- turb the thought of pupils at seat work or destroy the continuity of the lesson for the group under instruction by interrupting the work of the one to correct the work of the other. Definite assignments should avert any necessity for doing so. If occasion arises when it cannot be avoided, the teacher should give the needed explanation briefly and quietly, re- turning at once to the group she is teaching. Pupil The use of pupil teachers may be of great assistance teachers. . . . . _ m securing both the points just mentioned. One bright child may be designated to take charge of a group at seat work. He may be called " Captain" or "Helper," or some other term which will hold his interest in his task by its appeal to his natural am- bition and love of praise and will also confer upon him authority in the eyes of his mates. Making sure that he thoroughly understands the work assigned to the group, the teacher may then leave with him the duty of answering necessary questions, while at the same time he studies his own lesson. This is the third use of pupil teachers alluded to in this dis- cussion of the Group System. In one instance, they are used to give instruction to backward chil- dren or to children absent from school on the day THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 81 of the first presentation of the lesson. In another, to assist in the correction of seat work, and in the third, to act as a guide or helper to a group at seat work. In all these instances, the assistance to the teacher is great, and the training to the child of even greater value. Yet the teacher must be cautious in her use of pupil teachers, for there are many evils which might creep in. In the discussion of the teacher's preparation of seat Care of work, allusion was made in the last chapter to care in the preparation and preservation of seat- work plans and devices and their value in training the child to be systematic and orderly. In Chapter II, the statement was made that since the materials and busy work devices a child uses are not his, and must be preserved intact for his classmates to use later, he learns care for other people's rights and prop- erties. It is time to call attention to this training as part of the practical management of seat work. The teacher must make teaching and training in the care, arrangement, and systematic use of seat work materials definitely one of her aims. Even in the lowest primary grades she can begin. For example, the children may have received a box of numbers or number cards with which to perform certain opera- 82 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY tions by laying the cards out on their desks so as to make the required combinations. They should be taught that they must first assort their number cards so that all which bear the same number are in little orderly stacks, from which they select the needed numbers. By this means they avoid repeated han- dling and soiling of the cards; they have learned something in systematic arrangement; they have had the teaching value of successively repeated im- pressions of the same number and the same number combination. Further illustration may be obtained from the suggestions which follow. Distnbu- Many a teacher fails in discipline and in power materials, to interest her class without knowing that her failure is due to her lack of care and system in the distribu- tion and collection of materials. Trying under all sorts of class-room conditions, but likely to become the most intolerable torment under the Group Sys- tem, is just the distribution of material alone. Some general rules must be made and rigidly adhered to by both teacher and pupils. Some kinds of work and some materials the children may be allowed to keep in their desks and use at need. Some other materials may be placed conveniently, and the children trained to help themselves independently THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 83 of teacher or monitor. Some materials may be put into the care of children who are held responsible for their care, distribution, and collection. A few schemes actually in use in many class rooms in many different schools may be found helpful. 1. What tools are frequently in use may be kept together in boxes or bags, each individual child having his own box. Into these boxes may be placed pens, pencils, little pans for paint, a brush, a compass, a pair of scissors, instruments that may be needed for raffia or other forms of manual work, etc. These boxes should be distributed before school opens in the morning, and should be collected at dismissal time. During the day they remain the care of the child himself in his own desk. Distribution and collection may be the duty of a monitor appointed for the purpose. In any case, the boxes should be inspected daily to insure care and economy in the use of ma- terials. 2. Blank books, supplementary readers, etc., which will be needed for use during the day, may be laid out on a shelf or table. The child should be trained to help himself from this shelf or table to material that belongs to him. Monitors or helpers may be ap- pointed to the duty of sorting these materials at the 84 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY end of the day and of returning them to their proper places in the closet. 3. Materials like pegs, boxes of letters, etc., may have assigned to them given closet space. Helpers may then have the task of distributing such matter when need arises. 4. Much of the seat work can be written or printed on charts which may be put away in some fashion for ready reference. They may be kept on a line under the blackboard. When needed for use, a chart may be hung up by means of clasps on lines on the level with the blackboard. Lines for hanging charts may be made of fine wire kept in place by hooks. 5. Many of the seat- work devices and directions can be written or printed on cards or sheets of paper of standard size. These may be filed away in en- velopes in boxes properly labeled, distributed at need, and preserved for use in many terms and classes. Frequent mention has been made of seat work. No matter what method of using the Group System may be adopted, skillfully planned busy work is indispensable and is in some respects the most valu- able feature of the Group System. It is by means of the busy work that we get our finest opportunity THE STUDY PERIOD AND SEAT WORK 85 to insist upon independent, self-reliant thought and work. But it must be strongly emphasized that unless this busy work is simply used as a device and is accompanied by careful teaching, according to the most approved methods, and by equally careful correction f . the result will be worse than under the uniform, machine-made methods of regular whole- class teaching. Neither must the preparation of the busy work be allowed to take so much time and labor that the much more valuable features of the Group System become obscured. We are now ready to give our attention to types of seat work which may be recommended. The illus- trations which are given in the succeeding chapters have been selected from over five hundred different devices which Miss Leary and Miss Quish have been nearly four years in collecting and experimenting with. They are arranged according to subject and in the order of difficulty. In preparing these plans of seat work, the teacher should make as many sepa- rate copies of each exercise as there are children in the group ; mimeograph and hektograph afford ready means of repeating. CHAPTER IX PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK Reading Exercise i Grade. — First school year. Aim and Value. — Drill is provided in the rec- ognition of new words. Hand and eye are both employed without injury to penmanship. The ex- ercise may be used either as preparation for a reading lesson to follow, or as drill on new words occurring in a lesson previously taught. Preparation and Method. — The teacher makes drawings with hektograph ink on oak tag and strikes off several copies. These are cut up and placed in envelopes so that each envelope contains one of each drawing. The drawings are in illustration of a reading lesson ; for example, a story of Alice going to school, carrying her lunch and a cup and saucer in a basket. Beside each pictured object in the drawing the name is written. 86 PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK 87 On separate sheets of oak tag she writes or prints several times each word found on the drawings, as : — Alice school cup saucer basket Alice school cup saucer basket Alice school cup saucer basket Alice school cup saucer basket basket CU P Sobucer After striking off on the hektograph as many copies as were made of the drawings, she cuts these copies up so that each word will be on a separate slip of oak tag. She places in the envelopes with the drawings several copies of each word. Consequently, each envelope contains one complete set of the draw- ings and several complete sets of the words. Each child who uses the exercise as busy work will receive an envelope. He will place a drawing at the back of his desk. In columns in front of the 88 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY drawing, he must then place the words found on the slips, corresponding to the words on the drawing, selecting every copy of each word from the slips he finds in his envelope. He must repeat this until every drawing and all the words have been correctly placed in columns or rows. The teacher can tel] at a glance, as she passes down the aisle, whether the work has been correctly done or not. Exercise 2 Grade. — First school year. Aim and Value. — It provides drill in the recog- nition of phonic elements, in the recognition of a word because it contains a known phonic element, and in the recognition of words previously learned because they have certain phonic elements in com- mon. Preparation and Method. — During its period of instruction, the group will talk with the teacher about the words having as common phonic element, all, at, ed. They will blend with these phonograms as many other sounds as time allows. They will learn to associate the phonogram all with the word ball, the phonogram at with the word cat, the phonogram ed with the word bed. PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK 89 On a large sheet of oak tag, the teacher makes drawings of a ball, a cat, and a bed. Beneath each, she prints the word ball, cat, or bed, underlining the phonograms all, at, ed. Several copies are made, cut up into separate slips and placed in envelopes, so that each envelope has one of each drawing. On a second sheet of oak tag, the following words are printed in columns : — ball cat bed fall rat fed call sat led wall fat Ned stall bat shed hall hat red Copies are made and cut ug into as many slips as there are words. The slips are placed in the en- velope with the drawings. The child takes from the envelope the drawing 90 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY of a ball with which he has associated the phono- gram all. He finds the word ball and lays it on his desk below the picture of a ball. He then arranges in a column on his desk all the words having the same phonic element, all. Similar work is done with the others. Exercise 3 This is really the same exercise as given in Ex- ercise 2, but it is somewhat more difficult. The method of work is the same, except in the preparation of the second sheet of oak tag. The columns of words this time are to be printed so that, when cut up, all the phonograms will be on separate slips, and the sounds to be combined with them to make words will also be on separate slips, thus : — b all c at b ed f all r at f ed c all s at 1 ed w all f at N ed h all b at r ed st all h at sh ed In doing the work on his desk, the child is given the additional task of forming the new words by laying the slips together. PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK 91 Exercise 4 Grade. — First school year. Aim and Value. — As in Exercise 2, with the ad- ditional value that the picture gives to the sound. Preparation and Method. — In the center of a circle draw or paste a picture of a pail to impress upon the child the sound of at. At intervals g] on the circumference of the circle, place letters or combina- * tions of letters to be used by the child in making other words containing the same sound of ai. Let him write his words on paper, or, better still, give him a box of printed letters to build up the words on his desk. Do not let him form only words ending in I, else the exercise becomes a drill in the phonogram ail. Exercise 5 Grade. — First school year. Aim and Value. — It provides drill in changing 92 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY from script to print and vice versa, and in the recog- nition of words previously taught. Preparation and Method. — On a sheet of oak tag, the teacher writes and prints, in alternate columns, the words required for the exercise. The words chosen should consist of words which have presented difficulties in spelling or reading. Each column of words should then be cut up so that each written form and each printed form of each word shall be on separate slips. Neither two different words nor two forms of the same word are to be on the same slip. The slips are placed in the envelopes. The child must select from his envelope all the printed and all the script copies of each word, and place them beside each other on his desk. When finished, his desk will look very much the same as the oak tag sheet before it was cut up. Exercise 6 Grade. — First school year. Aim and Value. — It provides drill in reading, in sentence building, in changing from script to print. Other values are similar to those stated in Exercise i. Preparation and Method. — The child is provided PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK 93 with a card of oak tag, on which the work is arranged as in the illustration. On the back of the card is pasted an envelope containing all the material needed to reproduce on his desk a facsimile of the I tave a, cat. I see a. cal card. The printed words must be book print, cut from old text books, as the teacher's print, although good enough for other exercises, does not resemble book print closely enough to provide just the drill intended. Exercise 7 Grade. — First school year. Aim and Value. — It provides drill in the recog- nition of words because of a common phonic ele- ment. Preparation and Method. — On a card of oak tag, the teacher draws a circle within which she writes a phonogram already known to the class. Lines are 94 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY drawn extending from the circle like rays. At the end of each line is placed a letter representing a single sound ; to illustrate : — This card is given to the child. He constructs words by combining the letters, as single sounds, one at a time, with the phonogram within the circle. As he constructs each word, he writes it on paper provided him for that purpose. Exercise 8 This exercise consists of a combination of the one described in Exercise 7 with a step in advance. The new step has for its PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK 95 Aim and Value. — The meaning and use of the words taught by the fact that the child must decide which is the appropriate word to use in each sentence. Preparation and Method. — The upper part of the card is arranged as in Exercise 7. In the lower part of the card are printed several sentences involving the use of the words constructed. The words are omitted from the sentences; the spaces where the words belong are filled with dots, a dot for each letter, thus: — I see the * * * I * * * see the * * * The * * * uses the * * * He is given an envelope which contains, on cut-up papers, all the words needed to make the sentences complete. He writes his list of words as in Exercise 7. He then builds up the sentences found on the lower half of the card, selecting from the list he has made words to put in the dotted spaces. Exercise 9 Grade. — First and second school year. Aim and Value. — Drill on certain frequently recurring phonograms. 96 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY Preparation and Method. — The teacher writes on oak tag lists of words containing the phonic elements: eed, each, ight. The writing is done so that a space separates the phonic elements from the rest of the word, thus : — f eed t ight r each This is done so that when a sufficient number of copies have been made with the hektograph, the sets can be cut up with the phonic elements all on separate slips of oak tag. The slips are placed in envelopes. The child builds up on his desk as follows : — w eed t ight t each f eed s ight r each n eed f ight b each h eed n ight p each On paper he writes the words he has built, thus receiving an impression of the appearance of each word when written as a whole. Exercise 10 Grade. — First and second school year. Aim and Value. — Drill on words containing cer- tain frequently recurring phonograms. Informal drill in spelling. PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK 97 Preparation and Method. — On a large sheet of oak tag, the teacher writes columns of words con- taining the phonograms: eep, ill, ay, et. Several copies are struck off on the hektograph, cut up so that each word is on a separate slip, and placed in envelopes. On the outside of the envelope the teacher writes: eep, ill, ay, et. The child selects the words from the envelope and places together on his desk all words having the same phonogram. His desk, when work is completed, will look somewhat as follows : — lay let deep deed hill pay bet weep feed bill stay set creep seed fill may met keep need rill bay get peep weed mill This exercise admits of infinite extension. Exercise 11 Grade. — : First and second school year. Aim and Value. — Drill in recognition of sounds and of words containing given sounds. The element of play introduced by calling the exercise a game and comparing the chart to a checkerboard is very 98 TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY valuable to children in special classes, who must often be deluded into doing mental labor requiring any amount of concentration. Preparation and Method. — Divide a sheet of oak tag or heavy paper into squares like a checkerboard. Cut out from books pictured objects to represent different sounds of a; for example, a cake, a can, a car, etc. All these can be obtained from adver- tisement pages. Paste each picture in a square, leaving plenty of space in the square for the child's work. Cut up printed slips on which are words containing the desired sounds. The children are to place each printed word in the space where the pic- tured object represents its particular sound of a. If desirable to aid the children still further, print beneath the picture its name, with the correct dia- critical marking of the a ; as, can, cake. Exercise 12 Grade. — Second school year. Aim and Value. — To aid child in recognizing sounds of letters and enable him to give the letters even when they occur in hitherto unfamiliar com- binations. Preparation and Method. — Give considerable pre- PLANS AND TYPES OF SEAT WORK 99 vious teaching to make children realize that add- ing an e at the end of a word makes the letter in the middle say its own name; as, slid, slide. Prepare hektographed copies of large sheets divided into two columns, the first column to contain a list of words which will illustrate the point to be drilled. In the second column, the child is to prove its truth by writing the word with the e added. Thus : — Teacher's Work Child's Work slid slide not note cut cute at ate bit bite mat mate At the close of the exercise require him to pro- nounce the words in both columns. Exercise 13 Grade. — Second school year. Aim and Value. — This exercise is one of the most valuable of all those suggested, and is capable of much imitation and amplification. It provides drill in sentence building, in reading, in the recog- ioo TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY nition of words having a common phonic element, and in building words from known phonic elements. Preparation and Method. — Make a drawing of a fish on a large card of oak tag. The word fin is printed above the fins of the fish, and the word fish beneath the picture. The phonic elements to be drilled by this exercise are found in these two words. In columns, below the picture of the fish, are printed several words having the same phonic element, thus : — /rUvjf^ &w- "^■&y yjwjt J u , ^>;r^2g^ r fish -— fish fin wish bin dish win