GENERAL SUGGESTIONS AND SUMMARY
=Modification of Outlines.=--All the projects outlined in the foregoing
pages are capable of modification and adaptation to the needs of several
grades. For this reason, in nearly every problem, many more suggestions
are offered than will often be applicable in any one instance of its
development. The directions are, for the most part, given from the
standpoint of the first grade, on the principle that it is easier to add
to the detail of a problem than to simplify it. On the other hand, the
directions are not generally specific in detail, in order to prevent as
far as possible a mechanical copying of any project.
=Emphasis on Self-expression.=--It is desired to place special emphasis
upon the point that each project undertaken, if it is to reach its highest
value, must come as fully as possible from the children themselves and be
to the very fullest extent _their self-expression_.
_Not any house described in this book, nor any house seen in another
schoolroom, nor even the house which I, as teacher, plan in detail, will
be most valuable to my class_; but rather _our house_, which _we, teacher
and pupils_ working together, evolve to suit our own needs and fancies,
using suggestions gathered from every available source, but adapting them
to our own needs.
=Self-directed Activity and Discipline.=--The terms "self-directed
activity" and "self-expression" must not be confounded with the idea of
letting the children do as they please in any random and purposeless
fashion. If one were to start out to escort a group of children to a
certain hilltop, it is quite probable that some of them would run part of
the way. Others would walk in twos and threes, and these would change
about. They would halt to look at things that attracted their attention.
The leader would halt them to observe some interesting point which they
might otherwise miss. Should any of them wander from the right path the
leader would call them back, and any frail child would be helped over the
hard places. Yet with all this freedom the group might move steadily
forward and reach the hilltop in due time.
All progress up the hill of knowledge should follow a similar plan. The
teacher should have a very definite idea of the end to be attained. The
children should work with a purpose, and that purpose should be of such
immediate interest to them that they would be anxious to attain it. They
would then work earnestly, and discipline would settle itself. Handwork
projects should be sufficiently simple to allow each worker to see his way
through, or at least find his way without waiting for directions at each
step. Instead of a blind following of such directions the worker should at
all times feel himself the master of his tools and materials and be able
to make them obey his impulse and express his idea. This attitude toward
work can be secured only when the work is kept quite down to the level of
the child's ability and appreciation. Only by this means can we hope to
establish the inspiring and strengthening "habit of success."
=Introduction of New Methods.=--The question arises, How shall work of
this sort be adapted to a course of study which is already full and does
not provide time for handwork? Handwork takes more time than bookwork, and
children evolve plans but slowly. If the teacher waits for the children to
evolve plans and then carry them out on their own responsibility, the
quantity of work produced will be small and the quality poor compared with
the results gained by other methods.
The freer method must be justified, not by its tangible results, but by
its value as a means of individual development. If it is true that
"One good idea known to be thine own
Is worth a thousand gleaned from fields by others sown,"
then it follows that a small quantity of crude work may often represent
greater genuine growth than a larger quantity of nicely finished work, if
the latter has been accomplished by such careful dictation that individual
thought on the part of the pupils was unnecessary.
Common sense is the best guide in introducing a new method of work. Any
sudden transition is likely to be disastrous. Responsibility in new fields
should be shifted from teacher to pupils as rapidly as they are able to
carry it, but it should never be transferred in wholesale fashion. This is
especially true of a class that is accustomed to wait for the teacher's
permission or command in all the small details of schoolroom life, such as
speaking, moving about the room, etc.
The freer methods may be introduced by either of two plans. In carrying
through the first sand-table project, for example, the teacher may plan
the details quite as definitely as is her custom in general work, assign
each part to a particular pupil, and guide his execution of it as far as
necessary. With each succeeding project more and more freedom may be
granted, as the children become accustomed to community work and learn how
to use the materials involved. Or, the work may be introduced by allowing
two or three very trustworthy pupils to work out, quite alone, some simple
project which will appeal to the entire class as very desirable. Other
projects may be worked out by other pupils as they show themselves worthy
of trust. Such a plan sets a premium upon independence and ability to
direct one's own actions, and has a beneficial effect upon general
discipline. Each individual teacher must follow the plan which best
accords with her individual habits and the conditions under which she
works. No rule can be rated as best under any and all circumstances.
=New and Different Projects.=--Teachers frequently spend time and nerve
force seeking new projects supposedly to stimulate the interest of the
children. Often a careful examination into the true motives back of the
search would prove that it is not so much to stimulate the interest of the
children as to call forth the admiration of other teachers. Because a
house was built last year does not hinder the building of another this
year. If the children are allowed ample freedom, the houses will not be
alike. If the teacher is centering her interest in the development of the
children and not in the things the children make, the projects will always
be new because worked out in a new way by a different group of children.
Monotony comes about through the teacher's attempt to plan out details and
impose them upon the children, a process quite similar to the use of
predigested foods.
=Quality of Work.=--Methods such as outlined above are sometimes criticized
because of the crudity of the results. It is sometimes argued that the
crude work establishes low standards and that better finished work of a
more useful type is more desirable in school projects. Certainly
everything which is done in school should be useful. School years are too
precious to be wasted, in any degree, on a thing which is useless. But it
is important to have a right standard for measuring the usefulness of a
project. Since it is the child's interest and effort which are to be
stimulated, his work must be useful from his point of view. The things
that he works upon must be valuable to him personally. It is not enough
for the teacher to be satisfied with the value of the subject matter. It
must, as far as possible, be self-evident to the child himself.
In the growing period a child is always anxious to excel himself and
attain a higher level, nearer the adult standards. He measures his growth,
not only in inches, but in ability to run faster, jump farther, count
higher, and so on. So long as he is stimulated by an interesting motive he
puts forth his best effort. It is only when we set him tasks and demand
blind obedience that he lags. If his crude work represents his best
effort, honestly put forth, he will, and he does, desire to do something
better each time he tries. If he is permitted to work freely upon projects
of immediate interest to him, he not only becomes familiar with various
materials and the purposes they may serve, but he also begins to realize
his inability to make them always obey his impulse. As soon as he
discovers that there are better and easier ways of working which bring
about more satisfactory results, he is anxious to learn the tricks of the
trade; and he comes to the later, more technical courses in handwork, not
only with more intelligence, but also with an appreciation of their value
which is reflected in the quality of his work.
=Summary.=--The last word, as the first in this little book, would stress
the fact that it is always possible to improve present conditions.
Activity is an essential factor in a child's development in school as well
as out. Handwork is an important phase of this necessary activity. Neither
lack of time, scarcity of material, nor lack of training on the part of
the teacher is a sufficient excuse for failure to use some handwork in
every school. Much can be accomplished with materials which are to be
found anywhere, without using more time than is ordinarily devoted to the
subject, and with better results, if we will but realize that educative
handwork is not confined to the making of a few books, boxes, mats, or
baskets after a prescribed pattern, however good in themselves these may
be, but is also a means through which we may teach other subject matter.
We not only learn to do by doing, but we come to _know_ through trying to
_do_. And we often learn more through our failures than through our
successes. We defraud the children if we deprive them of this important
factor in their development. Any teacher who is willing to begin with what
she has and _let the children do_ the best they can with it, will find
unexpected resources and greater opportunities at every hand.
Let us not allow ourselves to grow disheartened through vain wishes for
the impossible or for the advantages of some other field, but attack our
own with vigor and determination; for
"The common problem, yours, mine, every one's
Is--not to fancy what were fair in life
Provided it could be--but, finding first
What may be, then find how to make it fair
Up to our means."
REFERENCES
DEWEY--The School and the Child; School and Society; The Child and the
Curriculum.
O'SHEA--Dynamic Factors in Education.
SCOTT--Social Education.
DOPP--The Place of Industries in Elementary Education.
BONE--The Service of the Hand in the School.
SARGENT--Fine and Industrial Arts.
ROW--The Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and Industries.
CHARTERS--Methods of Teaching.
BAGLEY--The Educative Process.
RUSSELL--The School and Industrial Life. Educational Review, Dec. 1909.
SYKES AND BONSER--Industrial Education. Teachers College Record, Sept.
1911.
BENNETT--The Place of Manual Arts in Education. Educational Review, Oct.
1911.
RICHARDS--Handwork in the Primary School. Manual Training Magazine, Oct.
1901.
REFERENCES FOR CLASSROOM USE
Coping Saw Work JOHNSTON
School Drawing DANIELS
Little Folks Handy Book BEARD
World at Work Series DUTTON
Big People and Little People of Other Lands SHAW
How We Are Fed CHAMBERLAIN
How We Are Clothed CHAMBERLAIN
How We Are Sheltered CHAMBERLAIN
Continents and their People CHAMBERLAIN
How the World is Fed CARPENTER
How the World is Clothed CARPENTER
How the World is Housed CARPENTER
Around the World Series TOLMAN
Youth's Companion Series LANE
The Bird Woman CHANDLER
The Tree Dwellers DOPP
The Early Cave Men DOPP
The Later Cave Men DOPP
Printed in the United States of America.
Footnotes:
[1] In scoring cardboard cut about halfway through the board on the
_outside_ of the fold.
[2] See Scott's "Social Education."
[3] See Riverside Primer.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate
both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as
presented in the original text.
Printer's inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained.