Special Method in Primary Reading and Oral Work with Stories Part 2

Experience shows that teachers are p.r.o.ne to be loose and careless in bringing their stories into such a well-ordered series of distinct topics. It is really a sign of a thoughtful, logical, and judicious mastery of a subject to have thrown it thus into its prominent points of narration. Oral work often fails of effectiveness and thoroughness, because of these careless habits of teachers. Such an outline, when put into the children's regular note-books, serves as the best basis for later surveys and reviews.

6. The oral narration and presentation of stories has a curious way of being turned into _development lessons_, in which the teacher deals in questions and problematic situations and the children work out many of the facts and incidents of the story by a series of guesses and inferences. These are well known as development lessons, and they are capable of exhibiting the highest forms of excellence in teaching or the most drivelling waste of time. The subject is a hard one to handle, but it needs a clear and simple elucidation as much as any problem in the teaching profession. Generally speaking it is better for young teachers not to launch out recklessly upon the full tide of development instruction. It is better to learn the handling of the craft on quieter waters. Development work needs to be well charted. The varying winds and currents, storms and calms, need to be studied and experienced before one may become a good s.h.i.+p's master. Let young teachers first acquire power in clear, simple, direct narration and description, using apt and forcible language and holding to a clear-cut line of thought. This is no slight task, and when once mastered and fixed in habit becomes the foundation of a wider freedom and skill in development exercises. The works of the great story-tellers furnish excellent models of this sort of skill, and teachers may follow closely in the lines struck out by Scott or Hawthorne in narrating a story.

A book story cannot do otherwise than simply narrate; it cannot develop, set problems and questions and have children to find solutions and answers. It must tell the facts and answer the questions. But in oral narration there is room not only for all the skill of the story-writer, but also the added force of voice, personality, lively manner, gesture, action, and close adaptation to the immediate needs of children and subject. This is enough to command the undivided effort of the young teacher at first, without entering the stormy waters and s.h.i.+fting currents of pure development work.

Yet the spirited teacher will not go far in narrating a story without a tendency to ask questions to intensify the children's thought, or to quicken the discussion of interesting points. Even if the teachers or parents are but reading a good story from a book, it is most natural, at times, to ask questions about the meaning of certain new words, or geographical locations, or probabilities in the working out of the story. These are the simple beginnings of development work, and produce greater thoughtfulness, keener perceptions of the facts, and a better absorption of the story into a child's previous knowledge.

A sharp limitation of development work is also found in the circ.u.mstance that a large share of the facts in a story cannot by any sort of ingenuity be developed. They form the necessary basis for later development questions. Even many of the facts which might be developed by a skilful teacher are better told directly, because of the difficulty and time-devouring nature of the process. There may be a few central problems in every story, which, after the necessary facts and conditions have been plainly told, can be thoroughly sifted out by questions, answers, and discussions. But to work out all the little details of a story by question and surmise, to get the crude, unbaked opinions of all the members of a cla.s.s upon every episode and fact in a story, is a pitiful caricature of good instruction.

The purpose of good development work is to get children to go deeper into the meaning of a story, to realize its situations more keenly, and to acquire habits of thoughtfulness, self-reliant judgment, and inventiveness in solving difficulties. These results, and they are among the chiefest set for the educator, cannot be accomplished by mere narration and description. Their superior excellence and worth are the prize of that superior skill which first-cla.s.s development work demands.

With these preliminary remarks, criticisms, and limitations in mind, we may inquire what are the essentials of good development work in oral lessons.

(1) Determine what parts of a story are capable of development; what facts must be clearly present to the mind before questions can be put and inferences derived. In a problem in arithmetic we first state the known facts, the conditions upon which a solution can be based, and then put a question whose answer is to be gained by a proper conjunction and inference from these facts. The same thing is true in reasoning upon the facts in a story.

(2) In placing a topic before children it is always advisable to touch up the knowledge already possessed by the children, or any parts of their previous experience which have strong interpretative ideas for the new lesson. At this point apt questions which probe quickly into their _previous knowledge and experience_ are at a premium. The teacher needs to have considered beforehand in what particulars the children's home surroundings and peculiar circ.u.mstances may furnish the desired knowledge. The form of the questions may also receive close attention.

For these words must provoke definite thought. They should have hooks on them which quickly drag experience into light.

(3) In order to give direction to the children's thoughts on the story's line of progress, _interesting aims_ should be set up. These aims, without antic.i.p.ating precise results, must guide the children towards the desired ends and turning-points in the story. The mind should be kept in suspense as to the outcome, and the thoughts should centre and play about these clearly projected aims. Such aims, floating constantly in the van, are the objective points, towards which the energy of thought is directed. Every good story-teller keeps such aims expressly or tacitly in view. Novelists and dramatists hinge the interest of readers or spectators upon this curiosity which is kept acutely sensitive about results. Such an aim should be simple and concrete, not vague or abstract, or general. It may be put in the form of a question or statement or suggestion. It will be a good share of the teacher's work in the preparation of the lesson to pick out and word these aims which centre upon the leading topics of the lesson. For it is not enough to have an aim at the beginning of a story, every chapter or separate part of the story should have its aim. For aims are what stimulate effort and keep up an attentive interest.

(4) Self-activity and thoughtfulness in working out problems find their best opportunity in development work. The book, in narrating a story, cannot set problems, or, if it does, it forthwith a.s.sumes the task of solving them. But in the oral development of a story the essential facts and conditions may be clearly presented and the solution of the difficulties, as in arithmetic, left largely to the ingenuity and reasoning power of the children. In the story of Hiawatha's boat-building the problem may be set to the children as to what materials he will use in the construction of the canoe, how the parts were put together, and how he might decorate it. Not that the children will give the whole solution, but they can contribute much to it. In "Robinson Crusoe" many such problems arise. How shall he conceal his cave and house from possible enemies? Where can he store his powder to keep it from the lightning and from dampness? In fact, nearly every step in Crusoe's interesting career is such a problem or difficulty to battle with. In Kingsley's "Greek Heroes" and other renderings of the Greek myths, the heroes are young men who have shrewdness, courage, and strength to overcome difficulties. To put these difficulties before children in such a way that they by their own thinking may antic.i.p.ate, in part at least, the proper solutions, is one of the chief merits of development work. The story of Ulysses is a series of shrewd contrivances to master difficulties or to avoid misfortunes, so that his name has become a synonym for shrewdness. The story itself, therefore, furnishes prime opportunities to develop resourcefulness. How shall he escape from the enraged Polyphemos in the cave? His invention of the wooden horse before Troy; his escape from the sirens; his battle with the suitors and others. The story of Aladdin has such interesting inventions, and even the fairy tales and fables have many turns of shrewdness and device where the children's wits may be stimulated. The turning-points and centres of interest in all such stories are the true wrestling-grounds of thought. To put them point-blank before children in continuous narrative, without question or discussion, is not the way to produce thoughtfulness and inventive power. Merely reading or telling stories to children without comment is entertaining, but not educative in the better sense. Children will have plenty of chances at home and in the school library to read and hear stories, but it is the business of the school to teach them how to think as they read, to produce a habit of foreseeing, reviewing, comparing, and judging. The serious defect of much of young people's reading, from ten years on, is its superficial, transitory character. It lacks depth, strength, and permanency. It is not many stories that can be orally treated in this thorough-going way, but enough to give the right idea, and to cultivate habit and taste for more thoughtful study.

For skilled teachers, therefore, development lessons, within certain limits, const.i.tute a most important phase of oral instruction. It has been sometimes a.s.sumed that a child acquires greater self-reliance and a stronger exercise in self-activity by learning his lesson by himself from a book. This is probably true in much of the arithmetic, where he works out the solution of problems unaided; but in history and literature the book work is chiefly memory work, and oftentimes becomes of such parrot-like character as to be almost dest.i.tute of higher educative qualities. It is advisable, therefore, to strengthen the educative value of story work by giving it, through oral instruction, this problem-solving character, this thought-stimulating, self-reliant att.i.tude of mind.

7. When the teacher has shown his best skill in presenting and discussing a section of a story, it then devolves upon the children to show their knowledge and grasp of the subject by reproducing it. The task of getting this well done requires, perhaps, as much skill and force of character as all previous work of oral instruction. Obstacles are met with at once. It is dull work to go back over the same thing again, and the children soon get tired of it. They want something new and more exciting, and press for the rest of the story. Many children are at first deficient in power of attention and in language, so that their efforts at reproduction are clumsy and poor. The interest is weak, the attention of the children scattering, and the cla.s.s is apt to go to pieces under the strain of such dull work. This is an emergency where a teacher needs both skill and force of character. (What a comfort it is to a writer to have such a plat.i.tude as this to fall back upon, when he gets a teacher into a place where nothing but his own devices can save him.)

There are, however, some hopeful considerations which may encourage a teacher whose feet are not already too deep in the bog of discouragement.

Children enjoy the retelling of good stories with which they are familiar. They will do it at home, even if they are not very proficient at it in school. In every cla.s.s there are some talkative children who are always willing to make an effort. Again, it is not always difficult to interest boys and girls in doing a thing that requires skill and power, such as memory, attentiveness, and mastery of correct language.

The force of the teacher's influence and authority is worth something in setting up high standards of proficiency. Indeed, children respect a teacher who makes rigorous demands upon them. The retelling of stories is, after all, no harder nor duller than the reciting of a lesson learned out of a book.

On the other hand, the whole effectiveness of oral work depends upon the success of these oral reproductions. If children know that the teacher is in earnest they will be more attentive, so as to be able to fulfil the requirement. Such a reproduction reveals at once a child's correct or incorrect grasp of the subject, and in either case the teacher knows what to do next. Errors and misconceptions can be corrected and such explanations or additional facts given as will clarify the subject.

In such reproductions it is praiseworthy to help the children as little as possible, to throw them back upon their own power as much as possible. If the teacher constantly relieves them with suggestive questions, they lean more and more upon her direction and lose all self-reliant power of continuous narrative. No, let the teacher keep a prudent silence, let her seal her lips, if necessary, in order to teach boys and girls to stand on their own power of thought.

Under this sort of discipline, kindly but rigorous, children will gradually acquire confidence in manner, variety and choice of language, in short, the ability to grasp clearly, hold firmly, and express accurately the ideas which are presented to them.

The whole purpose of this sort of instruction is not so much to see how skilfully a teacher can present a lesson (though that is a fine art) as to determine how well a boy or girl can master or express knowledge, can learn to think and speak for himself.

8. Some teachers despair of treating stories orally in large cla.s.ses of primary children. The task of holding together such wriggling varieties of mental force and mental inertia is great. Some children are quick and excitable, others are unresponsive and dull. Some are timid and sensitive, others bold and demonstrative. Some are talkative and irrepressible, others silent or listless.

It is interesting to consider the function and value of a good child's story to fit in to such varying needs and personalities. If the purpose of the primary school is simply to keep children busy at some kind of orderly work, there are other tamer employments than stories. But if the idea is to put children's minds and bodies into healthy, vigorous action, it would be difficult to find a more suitable instrument than a fitting story.

But a good primary teacher knows better than to establish brusque and fixed standards of uniform success for all children. It will take much time and patience to get anything like good oral responses from some children. Like budding flowers some unfold their leaves and petals much quicker at the touch of suns.h.i.+ne than others. But the sun does not stop s.h.i.+ning because all do not come out at once. The crudest efforts of little children must be received with kindness and encouragement. The power of reproducing thought and language is very slowly acquired by many children. They are timidly self-conscious, distrustful of their own powers, and have not learned to throw themselves with confidence upon the good-will of their teachers. It may take months with some children to overcome these obstacles, and to bring them to a confident use of their powers, but it is the highest delight of a teacher to reach this result.

Some children, on the other hand, are so talkative and impulsive that they will monopolize the time of the cla.s.s to no good purpose. Their enthusiasm requires tempering and their soberer thought strengthening.

Another difficulty lies in the necessary effort to get correct English, to gradually mould the language of children into correct forms. The perverse habits of children, the influence of home and playground, the inveterate preference for slang and crude, cra.s.s expressions, and their sensitive pride against unusual refinements of speech, make the cultivation of good English an uphill task. But roads must be laid out through this wilderness of hills and valleys, stumps and brush. And these roads must be gradually worked down into smooth highways of travel. It is pioneer toil, requiring the steady use of axe and mattock and spade.

There is no kind of school training where good English can be cultivated to better advantage, where the power of correct, independent, well-articulated speech can be so well strengthened as in oral story. It is in the close contact of this work that the teacher is dealing directly with the original stock of experiences, ideas, and words of every child, and with these as instruments of acquisition, helping him to get a spirited introduction to the world of ideas in books and literature.

It is here that we can get a glimpse of that vast work which the elementary schools of the country are doing in the way of Americanizing the children of various nationalities and in giving them not only a common language, but a common body of ideas rooted in the earliest experiences of childhood and already laying hold of many of the richest treasures of American history and of the world's literature.

9. As children advance from the first year into the second and third years the character of the oral story-telling gradually changes.

Children should acquire more power of attention, greater command of language and ability to grasp and hold at one telling a larger section of a story. The stories themselves become more complex, the questions and problems set by the teacher more difficult. The necessity for sharp, logical outlines of leading topics increases as one advances in the grades. Older children can be held more rigidly to common standards of excellence in thought and language. In this, however, the teacher should always remember that children differ greatly in their natural powers of expression, and that a forcing process will not be so successful as a stimulating and encouraging att.i.tude in the teacher.

10. The good oral treatment of most stories leads the children to much activity in material constructions. Where the minds of children are brought to a healthy activity their bodies and physical energies are pretty sure to be called into play to work out the suggested lines of thought. "Robinson Crusoe" invariably leads the children to a mult.i.tude of building and making enterprises, such as moulding vessels in clay, constructing the barricade around his tent and cave, the making of chairs and tables, etc.

We have already noticed the readiness of children to make blackboard or other drawings of interesting objects in a story, or to cut them out with scissors from paper. This effort to experience the realities of life more directly by making objects of common utility and necessity is a characteristic and powerful tendency of childhood. It is commonly seen in children about the house, when, for example, they must have wagons, wheelbarrows, tools, or a set of garden implements with which to imitate the employments of their elders. Parkman and others often speak of the constant practice of little Indian boys with bow and arrows.

Our purpose here is not to discuss this matter at length, but simply to notice its prominent place in connection with the oral lesson in story.

The intense interest awakened in stories leads quickly to these efforts at construction. What shall the teacher do with this powerful tendency of children to carry over these ideas into the field of practical constructive labor? To the thinker this tendency is perhaps the surest proof of the value of the story. It does not stop with words nor ideas.

It pushes far into the region of voluntary, physical, and mental labor and application of knowledge.

The teacher who will make good use of this enterprising constructive desire of children must know definitely about tools, boards, shops, various industries, and technical trades, the special materials, inventions, and devices of artisans in the common occupations, such as farming, gardening, blacksmithing, the carpenter shop, the baker, the quarry, the brick kiln, etc.

It will not be strange if many teachers recoil, at first glance, from this leap into industrial life. It suggests that the schoolhouse must become a big machine shop, agricultural station, etc. The trouble is, of course, that teachers do not feel themselves qualified in these things.

They know almost as little as the children about such matters, and have much less inclination to know more.

But our modern education is taking a decided turn in this direction, and with good reason. The close acquaintance of our teachers with the common occupations of life, with their materials, tools, machines, constructions, and skill would supply them with a rich collection of practical, concrete, ill.u.s.trative knowledge of the greatest use in instructing children. It is impossible to mention anything which would be of more service to them in the details of instruction. The advantages to the children of such teaching, re-enforced by this concrete detail of common life, are so numerous and important as to deserve a special effort. The benefit to teachers would quickly more than recompense them for the labor involved. By occasional visits of observation in shops, fields, stores, and factories, by a.s.sisting children in their constructive efforts, the teacher will acquire knowledge, strength, and confidence for such work. The unfamiliarity of teachers with these everyday industrial matters, and their feeling of helplessness as regards things not in the usual routine of school, are the real hindrances to be overcome.

There are other subjects in the school course, like home geography and the early lessons in nature study, which deal more directly than stories with these practical forms of industrial life and constructive activity. They will also demand and cultivate an increasing knowledge of this practical phase of life and education. The lessons in oral story-telling stand thus closely linked with progressive experimental knowledge in other studies.

A brief retrospect and summary of the requirements necessary as a basis of good oral treatment of stories will impress us with the skill and resourcefulness needed by the teacher.

1. First-hand experience with the realities of life.

2. Intimate knowledge and sympathy with child life.

3. The many-sided mastery of the story for teaching purposes.

4. Skill in the use of simple, apt, and forcible language.

5. Power of narrative and description, together with various forms of graphic ill.u.s.tration, dramatic action, etc.

6. Clear and simple outline of leading topics.

7. Acquired power in the use of development methods, including question, problem, discussion, aims, and the training of children to self-activity and thoughtfulness.

8. The successful oral reproduction of stories by the children.

9. Tact in the handling of large cla.s.ses, with children of differing temperament and capacity, and the encouragement of timid children.

10. Changing character of oral work in advancing grades.

11. The need of insight and ability to supervise constructive activities.

These things include a wide range of clear knowledge and confident skill and resource. Teachers need first of all to cultivate resourcefulness in the use of their own knowledge and experience, and to add to both of these as rapidly as circ.u.mstances permit.