A brief course in the teaching process

CHAPTER III
THE TEACHING PROCESS

Education means change, growth, development. The process is one of adjustment in which the individual is not only affected by his environment, but is also capable, in turn, of changing or even in a measure creating the situation in which he lives. The experience of any individual grows in meaning and significance through successive demands for new adjustments. Among the lower animal forms there are those who have very little power of adjustment; regardless of the situation presented, they can react only in one way, or, as the animal structure increases in complexity, in a very few ways. The power of adjustment being small, the possibilities of learning and of education are small. As has already been indicated in our discussion of instincts, human beings are equipped with many tendencies to react, and with power to react in a very great variety of ways. Man has power beyond all other animals to profit by experience, and is distinguished from them by his power to learn by means of ideas, not simply by the process of trial and error. Our problem is, then, to inquire concerning the conditions under which a situation demands adjustment, under which experience is reconstructed, and, further, to discuss the manner in which socially desirable reactions may be made the permanent possession of the learner, while those inimical to social welfare are eliminated.

In general adjustments are made in response to one of the following situations: (1) when satisfaction of some instinctive need results; (2) when satisfaction of an idea of an end to be reached, the attainment of which will satisfy some instinctive or acquired need, results; (3) when satisfaction of an acquired need, functioning at the time the adjustment is made, is the immediate result. In these cases a type of adjustment not instinctively demanded and not originally in itself pleasing reaches a point where it is in itself satisfying. The value of the experience is intrinsic.

Little need be said concerning the first class of adjustments in addition to our discussion of instincts in the previous chapter. When one finds himself in a situation which threatens bodily harm, he instinctively tries to get out of the way. In the presence of materials, children instinctively handle them, or make a noise with them, or attempt to construct something. The schoolboy, with his questions, his collection of stamps, his adherence to his gang, is making adjustments which satisfy instinctive needs.

Under the second class are included reactions in which the satisfaction of the instinctive need is not the immediate result, and those cases where satisfaction may be explained only by reference to an acquired need. The essential characteristic of this class of adjustments is the fact that the idea intervenes. It is for the satisfaction of our idea of an end which may be remote for which the adjustment is made. A pupil may try to read well because he has the idea that reading well pleases the teacher. The end desired may be simply to get along with the teacher without the discomfort of a scolding, or because of his instinctive desire for praise. A boy may labor diligently in building a sled because of his idea of the pleasure which will result to himself or possibly to others. A group of children may save their pennies to buy books, instead of satisfying their desire for candy, because of their idea of satisfaction to be derived from the books to be bought. A man may endure many hardships because of his idea of future wealth, political preferment, fame, or other good which he hopes will result.

After a time activities which were stimulated by the idea of a satisfactory end to be achieved may be repeated for their own sake. This gives us our third class of adjustments. The boy may find it very difficult to spend five hours a day with books, while the man finds his chief delight in this form of activity, altogether aside from a result beyond his present satisfaction. A child may begin to read because of the authority of the teacher and his fear of unpleasant consequences, and yet may later come to find great delight in reading. In teaching we should strive to bring as many as possible of the adjustments to be made under this last category. The boy or girl who finds his greatest satisfaction in making the adjustments, in gaining the experience, in doing the work that the school provides, is getting the best possible preparation for the life of the man or woman who finds his own greatest joy in his everyday activity. We need not be discouraged because of the seeming impossibility of the task, since its achievement would indicate perfection, toward which we strive, and which, because it is perfection, we never achieve. Adjustments are to be made, experiences must be had; and our appeal, whether based upon the satisfaction of instinctive tendencies, the idea of ends near or remote, or the satisfaction of acquired needs which are socially advantageous, must be the highest appeal which can now be made with the assurance that the resulting reaction will be secured.

There is one point which all of these situations which call for adjustment have in common; that is, satisfaction. This fact is fundamental in teaching. Not only are we limited in our work by native tendencies and capacities, but the results must give satisfaction, else the reaction induced will tend not to be repeated. Of course satisfaction or pleasure is a relative term; possibly it would be fairer to say that the individual reacts in the way which will result in the least dissatisfaction or pain. A boy may dislike to write in a copybook, but he may prefer that to a whipping or to being kept after school. There is one other possible misconception which must be guarded against. That which the individual considers most satisfactory may not be best for his well-being, nor for the welfare of others with whom he associates. It is the work of the teacher to encourage adjustments which are socially desirable, and to make unpleasant the results which are socially disadvantageous, even though they originally gave satisfaction to the individual.

Corresponding to the types of adjustment mentioned above are the types of attention. When the adjustment is made in response to an instinctive tendency to react, we have what is called passive or involuntary attention. The boy who looks at the door when it opens, who makes a paper boat instead of doing his work in arithmetic, or who talks to his neighbor about the ball game they are to play after school, is passive so far as any attempt to control his mental activities is concerned. He is following the line of least resistance. He does not will to make these adjustments, or to attend to these things; hence we say that he attends involuntarily, that he is passive in the situation.

A second type of attention is that in which the individual makes an adjustment, follows a given line of activity, voluntarily. He is active in his determination to accomplish certain ends, and in order to secure these results he resists the tendency to wander, to give his attention to other elements in the situation which may be natively more attractive. This type of attention we call active. We have this type of attention wherever the individual works for the satisfaction of his idea of an end worthy to be accomplished. It corresponds to the second class of adjustments mentioned above.

Through the exercise of active attention over a considerable period, the necessity for effort, for the exercise of the will in order that we may not wander from the main purpose, becomes less and less, until finally a passive attitude is again reached. This type of attention is designated as secondary passive attention.[6] It corresponds to the third type of adjustments named above.

In teaching, we begin most frequently with passive attention; we work most earnestly to secure and to hold active attention; and if our work is successful, children will reach the stage of secondary passive attention, at least with reference to some of the activities found in the school.

In the first grade, in the beginning reading class, the teacher appeals to the children on the basis of their instinctive delight in movement, their desire to be like or to excel others, their pleasure in drawing with pencil or crayon, their love of a good story, and other like instinctive tendencies to react. The adjustments made are in response to instinctive needs, and the attention is largely passive. Gradually, as the work progresses, the ends to be achieved will become more remote, and instead of immediate satisfaction of instinctive needs, the children will work for the satisfaction of their ideas of ends which are desirable, whether based on instinctive or acquired needs. They may work diligently in the phonic or word drill because they have the idea that this must be done in order to read the story, and the end ultimately to be satisfied may be to give pleasure to others. The adjustment is made here in response to the idea of an end to be secured, which represents the satisfaction of a need which probably has been acquired in the school or at home. Later in the history of these same children they may read, overcoming whatever difficulties may present themselves, simply because this process is for them in itself worth while. Here we have the adjustment which gives immediate satisfaction of an acquired need, and the type of attention which has been designated as secondary passive.

The problem for the teacher is to secure continued attention to one thing. Almost any exercise which the school offers will be interesting for a brief time because it is something new. The difficult task is not to get attention, but to hold it. Children attend to the situation at hand just as long as it proves more attractive than some other. The boy who is called inattentive may be most attentive to the plan he is making to earn money to go to the circus. The teacher must endeavor to discover ends sufficiently attractive to command the active attention of children for a considerable period. The child must be willing to exert himself, and the motive for his effort must be strong enough to bring him back to the task in hand every time that he tends to wander. Often the success of the work will depend upon a recognition of the fact that it is very difficult to attend for any considerable period to a situation in which the elements do not vary. We may secure continued concentrated attention by recognizing the fact that variety in procedure, or in appeal, will make it possible for the child to keep his attention fixed. Take, for example, a topic in geography. The teacher will question to bring out different aspects of a topic, show the children pictures or use illustrative materials, have children read the map, tell a story or incident relating to the situation under consideration, and in this manner keep children actively thinking on one topic for half an hour. We shall discuss at some length the problem of aim, in connection with the inductive development lesson. Suffice to say here that often we fail to secure the continued attention of children because we ask them to attend to that which for them lacks interest or significance.

Children work hardest when the problem to be solved is one that they recognize as their own. They make adjustments which mean immediate satisfaction, or which they believe will ultimately give satisfaction. Our difficulty is often that the end we set up is too remote. The idea of becoming a well educated man will not ordinarily be powerful enough to keep a boy at work on a composition, but the desire to be the author of a paragraph in the school paper, to write to a boy in another city or country, or to compose part of a drama which the class will act for their friends, may mean the hardest sort of work, the most concentrated attention of which he is capable.

The children with whom we work come to us with tendencies to react, and are capable of reacting in a great variety of ways. They learn by making adjustments to a great variety of situations. The teaching process consists in providing the situations and the stimuli to action, in guiding the individual in such a way that the undesirable reactions will be eliminated by disuse or because the results are unpleasant, in making permanent desirable native reactions or those which have been grafted upon or derived from them by making the results pleasant.

The teaching process is, in general, as described above; but the actual work of the teacher varies greatly as she strives now for one end and again for another. There is a methodology of habit formation which the teacher must command if she is to do successful work in equipping her pupils with desirable habits. If our problem is one that lends itself to the inductive method, we have one sort of procedure; while if the thinking involved is deductive, certain other elements enter. There is a kind of work in which we aim primarily for appreciation, and at another time we are chiefly concerned in teaching children how to study. The proper conduct of a review or examination, and the type of exercise commonly known as a recitation lesson, need to be discussed in some detail. In the chapters which immediately follow, each of these types of schoolroom exercises will be considered. Success in teaching consists quite as much in working definitely for well defined ends which may be accomplished in this fifteen minutes, this half hour, or during this week, as in keeping in mind the more general aims of education. Indeed, the only way in which we can secure the larger ends is by successfully achieving the lesser tasks. The teacher who knows that she has fixed this desirable habit of thought, feeling, or action, that this bit of knowledge has taken its place in a usable system, that this ideal or purpose has been awakened, that certain methods of work are available for the group of children whom she is teaching,—that teacher can be sure that she is fulfilling her mission.