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j

DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING INELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NBW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., Limitbd

LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTAMBLBOURNB

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Dm.

TORONTO

I

f X.

Departmental Teachingin Elementary Schools

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BY

VAN EVRIE KILPATRICK, A. M.


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PREFACE

Ever since President Charles W. Eliotof Harvard emphasized the necessity of en-riching the elementary curriculum throughdepartmental teaching, there have been anumber of eflforts in various cities of the


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country to try out the suggestion.

Dr. William H. Maxwell, the chief ex-ponent of departmental teaching in theUnited States, has encouraged its growth inNew York City during the last seven years.

It has there become the prevailingmethod of teaching in the last two years ofthe elementary schools. Its success is pro-nounced. Numerous inquiries indicate thatthe leaders of other educational systems aregreatly interested in the new departure.

In adding to the literature of the subject,I have written entirely from the standpointof a teacher. I have spoken from years ofexperience, both in private and in public

vi PREFACE

schools. I have taught in schools where

the departmental plan was not used and inschools where it was used. I have taughtin large schools and in small schools. Ihave organized departmental teaching andhave supervised it.

Out of all these years of experience hasgrown a positive conviction that a properform of departmental teaching would bringa wealth of gain to any elementary school.But it must be effectively adapted.

The purpose of this little treatise has

been to present the most effective plan ofadaptation and use. An effort has alsobeen made to base the plan upon well-known principles of school organization.These principles may seem commonplace,but they are necessarily fundamental.

I have never witnessed a failure indepartmental teaching, but that I havemarveled why it did not take place beforeit really did, as the mistakes in methodwere plainly apparent. This work has,

_ V w * .

PREFACE vii

therefore, been made for the most part apractical text-book of method.


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I have never listened to a speaker, orread an author, who argued against de-partmental teaching, but that I have ob-served that they objected to conditions andresults which should not exist in a depart-mental system.

They have all voiced with unstinted zealthe shortcomings of the special teachersystem as belonging alike to the depart-mental. This work has, therefore, beenmade argumentative.

They have all voiced with unstinted zealopposed to the departmental, but it is evensupplanted by the departmental plan.

The value of both the special teacher sys-tem and the one-teacher plan is preserved inthe new common-subject plan of depart-mental teaching.

Van Evrie Kilpatrick.

Public School 52, New York,February, 1908.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Introduction i

z. Definition i

2. No Educational Panacea 2

3. Historical Statement 3

4. Special Teacher Phase 4

5. Nomenclature 8

CHAPTER n.

Advantages zz

z. Expert Teaching 12

2. Improved Discipline 13

3. Improved Physical Conditions 17

4. Better Equipment 20

5. Enriched Curriculum 23


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6. Unity and Force in School Management 25

7. Other Considerations 30

(a) High School Articulation 30

(b) Greater Interest 30

(c) Teachers will be Attracted 31

(d) Teachers will be Better Prepared 31

(e) Distribution of Sex Control 32

(f ) Recreation Provided 32

(g) Special Talent Developed 32

(h) Responsibility and Independence of Children

Developed 3^

(i) Individuality Increased 33

(j) Favoritism Lessened 33

CHAPTER III

Objections 34

X. Overwork 3^

ix

X CONTENTS

2. Correlation Difficult 37

3. Teachers Become Narrowminded 41

4. School Organization May Become More Difficult. . . 44

5. Teacher's Personal Influence Lessened 46

6. Miscellaneous Objections 47

7. The New, Absent or Incompetent Teacher 49

CHAPTER IV.

Principles of Adaptation 51

X. The Prime Functions of the Teacher 51

(a) Relation to the Pupil 51

(b) Relation to the Branches of Study 53


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(c) Relation to the School 54

2. The Threefold Nature of the Child 56

(a) The Intellectual Nature 56

(b) The Moral Nature 56

(c) The Physical Nature 59

CHAPTER V.

Plan of Adaptation 61

1. Personal Control of Children 61

2. Presentation of Studies 62

(a) A Common Subject English 62

(b) Departmental Studies 65

3. Faculty Organization 66

4. Equipment of Departments 67

5. Movement of Classes 69

6. The Introductory Organization 69

(a) Selection of Classes 69

(b) Assignment of Studies 71

(c) Preparation of Program 77

Particular Advantages of the Common-Subject Plan

OF Departmental Organization 77

X. Personal Control of Children is Secured 77

2. School Management is Simplified 78

CONTENTS xi

3. The Plan is easily Adaptable to all Ordinary School

Conditions. Two Grades to a Teacher 78

CHAPTER VI.

Details of Adaptation 81

1. Assignment of Studies 8x

2. Programme 82


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CHAPTER VIII.

Limitations io6

1. Size of School xo6

2. Size of Class and Room xo6

3. Part of the Course to be Departmentalized X07

4. Number of Teachers xo8

CHAPTER IX.

Other Plans of Departmental Teaching 109

X. The Study-Hall Method X09

2. All Teaching under Specialists xix

3. The Peripatetic Method ixx

4. A Departmental Unit for each Year xxa

CHAPTER X.

General Considerations X14

X. Optional Introduction 114

2. Preparation of Teachers 1x4

3. Examination of Teachers xx6

4. Comparative Results xxy

5. Units of Work xx8

6. Laboratory Work x2o

7. Individual Education X2Z

APPENDIX.Special Description of Illustrations X25

ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate I: Special Departmental Room 68

Plate II : Teachers' Programmes 73

Plate III : Teachers' Programmes 74

Plate IV: Class Programmes 75

Plate V: Class Programmes 76

Plate VI: A Model Departmental Programme in


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Graphic Outline 80

Plate VII: Special Departmental Attendance Record 88

Plate VIII: Special Departmental Attendance Record 89

Plate IX: Departmental Report Card (Face) 91

Plate X: Departmental Report Card (Back) 92

Plate XI: Pupils' Box for Holding Pencils and other

Articles, 97

CITY OF NEW YORK':./:

DEPARTMENTAL TEACHINGIN ELEMENTARiY^SCHOOLS

i^ V * *

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION

That method of school organization un-der which each teacher in an elementaryschool instructs in one subject or in onegroup of related subjects only is generallyknown as departmental teaching. Thisplan of teaching is very well understoodfrom the almost universal practice in highschools and colleges.

It has also been employed in varying de-grees in the private elementary schools,and, for that reason, its general manner ofuse with young children has long been com-prehended. The employment of the de-partmental plan in private schools hasdoubtless been continued, both because more


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PLAN OF ADAPTATION 77

Teacher B English, History

Teacher C English, Geography

Teacher D English, Science


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Teacher E English, Manual Training

Teacher F English, Music, Grammar

Teacher G English, Physical Train-ing, Composition

c. The program should be carefully pre-pared so that no conflicts will occur.

An appropriate one should be given eachteacher and pupil, and then the systemshould be ready to operate successfully,provided the interior organization is madeto conform to the suggestions of the fol-lowing chapter.

The more pronounced gains secured bythe above plan over all other plans of de-partmental teaching may be stated asfollows :

I. The same personal control of children

is attained as under the single-teacher plan.This is accomplished by assigning eachpupil to the care of a class teacher, and by

78 DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

providing ample time for the class teacherto establish his influence. The physicalwell-being of the child is cared for throughthe development of the first function of theteacher.

2. School management is simplified.Whatever advantages follow the single-teacher plan are preserved. The entranceand exit of pupils, the disposal of clothing,the keeping of class records, the distribu-tion and control of all supplies, can all bemanaged directly through the class teacher.The making of a program is greatly sim-plified. The time for the departments isfirst assigned, then the remaining time istaken by each class teacher for English.

3. The plan is easily adaptable to allordinary school conditions. The aboveplan is much more flexible than any other.It can be introduced as readily in a smallschool as in a large school.

Even in a small school where there aretwo grades to each teacher it can be em-


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PLAN OF ADAPTATION 79

ployed with great advantage. The methodof application is to have the two gradesmove at the same time, and in each depart-ment one grade recites while the otherstudies as in the regular classroom.

"~ /


CHAPTER VI.

DETAILS OF ADAPTATION

In discussing the details of departmentalteaching the writer has drawn freely uponthe results of four questionnaires whichhave been placed at his disposal.

One was conducted ^ v Dr. Edward W.Stitt, District Superintendent of Districts8 and 12, New York, in 1903; two wereconducted by the Board of Superintendentsof New York in 1903 and 1905, and an-other was conducted by the Schoolmen ofNew York in October, 1905.

I. Assignment of Studies

The principle that the teacher shouldselect his own specialty should prevail asfar as possible. Compromises, however,must often be made.

81

8a DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

2. Program

The time before and after all recesses,entrances, and dismissals should be givento the class teacher. This secures properopportunity for the recording of attend-ance, care of clothing and books, and is thebest time to use for the common study.


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The departmental time will take up themiddle periods.

This arangement may be graphicallyshown: see plate VI.

3. Coordination of Departments

It is very important that the special workof each teacher be as nearly equal to thatof every other as possible.

Content studies may be placed in groupsso that each group shall embrace relatedstudies.

It will be found very difficult to equalizethe time of each department exactly ac-cording to the requirements of most coursesof study. But, the best courses of study

DETAILS OF ADAPTATION 83

leave a margin of "unassigned time** whichassists to balance the periods within the re-quirements.

Exact time limits are immaterial andshould never be insisted upon in the execu-tion of a school program, but relativetime periods are important. Each studyshould be given its proportionate time.When the plan of proportionate equaliza-tion of departments has been carried out,it will be found to facilitate greatly the

making of a program.

4. Length of Periods

The preferable length of the period isforty minutes. However, it is often de-sirable to have some periods, as manualtraining, longer, and some, as music,shorter. A variation of five or ten minutesin the length of a period to suit particularconditions is not material.

5. Movement of Classes

The movement of classes between periods


should take from three to five minutes.Some speak of this time as lost, but thegreat necessity of physical relief ought to


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convince one that an intermission of fiveminutes between periods for free move-ment between departments is both possibleand profitable. This movement betweenclassrooms may be used as a brief recreativerecess, and in modern schools, where thehalls are wide enough, it will be found pos-sible to allow some free play during thisbreathing spell.

On account of the varying heights ofseats and desks, children should be asked toform lines according to size, /. e., the small-est pupil first. The seating of most class-rooms is graduated from the lowest desksin front to the highest desks in the rear.

Therefore, if a class always comes in andgoes out of a room arranged in this same or-der, each pupil will be in his own properlyadjusted seat at each recitation.

If conditions are such that freer move-


ment can be permitted, each pupil maytake such seat in each room as has been as-signed him. If each pupil is required tosit in the same seat at every appearance in agiven department it will greatly assist innoting attendance. The number of vacantseats shows the number of absentees.

In schools containing boys and girls, care

should be taken to form the girls in linesseparated from the lines of the boys. Thehalls are usually best supervised by requir-ing each teacher to stand in his classroomdoor during change of classes.

6. Study

Children in the elementary school are ingreat need of a proper amount of time forindependent preparation of lessons. It isimportant to see that five hours is about allthe time that a child should be held to his

daily school work. Therefore, a largepart of this time should be given for inde-pendent study. The full school time pre-


scribed for a subject should be at thedisposal of the departmental teacher so


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that he may use it for study or recitation.Therefore, each departmental teachershould control all the time assigned to hisdepartment. The time for study is what-ever time the teacher may think best toassign for such an exercise.

The "omnibus study period" threatens towork great harm to the principle of school

study, and is, therefore, not recommended as

a part of a departmental school program.

Every study period should be set apart

for preparation in a certain study or studies,and the work done during this period mustbe supervised and examined by the teacherof the appropriate department. Everychild should feel that he must render asstrict an account of the use of his time dur-ing a study period as during any otherperiod. Study to be done at home should

be carefully controlled by the faculty to theend that overwork may not take place.


7. Discipline

In general, the teacher who is in imme-diate charge of a class should be responsiblefor its conduct. The responsibility for thediscipline between periods must be placed

by some faculty plan, as conditions varygreatly.

Acts of disorder may be profitably re-ported to a class teacher so that he maysupport the departmental teacher by meansof his own class organization, but theteacher in immediate charge should beprimarily responsible.

8. Attendance

The attendance of a class should be noted

and recorded in the usual way. The classteacher should be held responsible for thegood attendance of his class and should useall proper means to perfect it. The at-tendance of pupils in each department iseasily kept by the class president or secre-tary who enters the record in a book which


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should be signed by each departmentalteacher. Any pupils tardiness or absencefrom the room may be recorded in the sameway. Each day the class teacher attends tothese reports and other such reports as itmay be found best.

9. Correlation

Correlation is a proper subject forfaculty conference. The curriculum willprovide for most correlations, but thosecorrelations which can be taken up to ad-vantage, as points of contact between de-

partments, are easily adjusted as the workprogresses.

10. Absent Teachers

Of course the effectiveness of the workleft by the absent teacher depends entirelyupon the ability of the substitute as it doesunder any system. In some schools, ableteachers from lower grades have acted as"understudies", so that the substitute couldtake up the easier work of a lower grade.


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II. Records and Reports

The record of each pupil's work shouldbe recorded as it is performed. It shouldbe made in each subject and given by theteacher of that subject. Records shouldalways be proportionate to educationalvalue. Reports may be collected by theclass teacher and made to supervisors andparents as recorded. It is highly essentialthat the record of individual pupils be re-corded and reported to parents and super-visors of departments, and exactly as givenin those departments.

12. Spelling and Penmanship

Every departmental teacher, as he is alsoan English teacher, should be very watch-ful of and largely responsible for all thespelling and penmanship done in his de-partment. This subject is a proper one forconference.

It may be helpful to suggest one meansof perfecting the use of written English


throughout the departments. Fifteen percent, of every piece of written work mightbe agreed upon as its English valuation.One per cent, might be deducted for eachmisspelled word, one per cent, for eacherror in capitalization or punctuation, five


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per cent, or more for poor penmanship andother errors. All deductions are to bemade from the mark attained in the givensubject on the paper being considered upto the maximum of fifteen per cent. Thisplan could be worked without any maxi-mum. Also, to a limited extent, papers maybe rewritten for the sake of English form.

13. Text-books and Supplies

As far as possible each departmentalteacher should have charge of the text-books and supplies which belong to hiswork.

14. Fire Drills and Regular Dismissals

At the sound of the fire alarm eachteacher should take charge of the class


under his immediate control, and proceedas directed for classes in his room. Classteachers should receive and dismiss theirclasses at regular entrances and dismissals.

15. Detention

If children are detained after schoolhours difficulty will arise from the fact thattwo or three teachers will require the samepupils at the same time. This conflict maybe easily overcome by a plan which pro-

vides that each department or teacher maydetain only for a certain day of each week.Thus, the teacher of history may be giventhe first right to detain delinquent pupilson Monday.

16. Signals

The best plan for signals is doubtless toring the call-bell twice to give notice of theend of the period. Each teacher knowsthen that he has a certain period (three tofive minutes) in which to prepare his class

for the passage to another room. At the


end of this brief period the call-bell shouldring once and all classes may march inorder to the assigned room.


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17. Location of Departments

The classrooms used by any departmentaldivision should be as near together as pos-sible, as the movement of classes is liable todisturb pupils not in the departmental plan.

18. Management of School Implements

The distribution, collection, and propercare of pencils, pens, rulers, and other arti-.cles is one of the most unsatisfactorily con-ducted exercises in the public schools. Alarge amount of time and money is wastedin the confusion of the process and the lossof material. A still greater waste is theloss to education in that so many teachersare quite willing to work without properimplements or with none rather than as-sume the responsibility of their care. Ex-ercises that should thus be enriched by use-

Fully extended showing how each article is held in pli

Closed ready for carrying

On desk ready for usePupil's Box for holding Pencils and other hitvd.


ful tools are reduced to little more than abarren lecture.

A child should be given the essentialtools for all his lessons, and held responsiblefor their condition. He should use thesame implements at all times, and, there-fore, they must be often inspected. When apupil leaves his classroom to enter other

departmental rooms, he should take withhim such books as he needs together withhis regular school implements, which may^ be carried in a tin box suitably arranged\r for that purpose. In this way all delay^ in giving out and taking up material inoi each department will be avoided.


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CHAPTER VII.

MISTAKES IN ADAPTATION

The view of departmental teachinghereinbefore presented has been the posi-tive form. If there is general agreementas to the value of the plan presented, thenmistakes in adaptation and use will befound in the failure to cx)nform to its gen-eral requirements. I^ s doubtless profita-ble, however, to call attention to the morecommon errors which are customarilymade.

Many principals introduce a system ofteaching which they call departmental thathas little or no relation to any approvedmethod. They actually invite disaster bytheir own errors.

Another class of principals are conduct-ing departmental teaching, as it were, "bymain strength." It is applied in such a

way that the ordinary changing conditions

98

MISTAKES IN ADAPTATION 99

of the school affect it too much. New

school terms, new teachers, absences, andphysical conditions entail unwonted andwasteful effort. Usually this conditionfollows an over-adaptation of the plan.

A large number of principals, therefore,hesitate to undertake a plan which seems tobe so easily interrupted. They fortify theirposition by citing particular conditions intheir schools which appear to them insur-mountable. But the point to be made isthat if departmental teaching is funda-mentally more vaiuable than the single-

teacher plan, then it is valuable because, byits introduction, conditions are positivelybettered. If, then, the general conditionsof any school are undesirable, the properintroduction of the departmental planshould improve these conditions.

There may be conditions in a givenschool which hinder the introduction ofdepartmental teaching, but such instances


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are extremely rare. The conditions most

^>^^-c^^ j


commonly offered as detrimental to depart-mental teaching are really only those con-ditions which hinder the wrong adaptationof departmental teaching. The plan ofdepartmental teaching which experiencehas evolved as best is clearly one whichadapts itself rapidly, and greatly improvesconditions and results in all schools, largeand small.

The following errors in adaptation areselected for discussion as most common.

I. All studies have been department-

alized.

This practice is directly opposed to themore flexible plan offered above. It istruly over-departmentalization. It ignoreslargely the first function of the teacher byproviding no time for its exercise. Theordinary physical changes involved inschool management become too burden-some with young children. Penmanship,spelling, entrances, dismissals, deten-tions, care of books, clothing and supplies

MISTAKES IN ADAPTATION loi

all become sources of endless difficulty.

2. Children have remained in the sameclassroom during the entire day.

It is difficult to understand how this errorcould be made in view of the added inter-est, the physical relief, the better equip-ment, and other gains made possible by the

passing of pupils from one departmentalroom to another.

The teacher, who is then compelled to gofrom room to room, is either obliged to dowithout equipment altogether or to carryit for instantaneous adjustment. This isone of the greatest objections to the specialteacher plan. Imagine a science teachercarrying apparatus, or a geography teacher


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carrying maps and globes from room toroom ! The example of the high schools inthis regard is ever present to temper andguide the elementary school.

3. Music and drawing have been as-signed to the class teacher.

Among the chief advantages of depart-

I02 DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

mental instruction are the gains of expertteaching and the enrichment of the course.Music and drawing have suffered long forwant of expert instruction, and should bethe last studies to be left to the class teacherunless, of course, that teacher is a specialist.

4. Class teachers have been held re-sponsible for the discipline of their classesat all times.

This error is palpable, and one couldhardly imagine a college or high schoolpursuing such a scheme.

The class teacher, however, may exert agreat influence for good behavior over eachand every member of his class, and, indi-rectly, his class organization should sup-port the good discipline of his class at alltimes.

5. Teachers have been assigned to studies

in combinations unnecessarily disassociated.

There is evidently great loss of time and

strength in preparing for expert teachingin unrelated studies. This refers partic-


ularly to the waste which follows the prac-

tice of making up a program, so that"odds and ends", as it were, are left over.For example, the science teacher must teacha period of grammar and another of history;the history teacher must take a period ofarithmetic and another of composition.Every means should be taken to avoid thisnecessity. One of the advantages of theabove plan of adaptation is that such con-tingencies are minimized, if not wholly


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avoided.

Yet again, in no sense should the depart-mental teacher become too narrow by anundue specialization.

6. No head of department has beennamed where two or more teachers areteaching the same subject. In largeschools two or three teachers are oftenteaching history or arithmetic. Much isgained by naming one as a responsible head.

7. The study period has been ineffec-tually managed.

I04


Some sort of effort by way of prepara-tion should be made by each pupil, un-assisted and unhindered, before each formalrecitation. The study period is very im-portant and should, therefore, be placed atthe beginning of each session, and, if this isinsufficient, a part of each recitation periodshould be taken. The practice of placingthe study period late in the day is ob-jectionable, because the incentive or needof learning a lesson is too remote to over-

come the fatigue of children who havebeen in school all day.

8. Promotion marks have not been pro-portionately coordinated.

The amount of time given a subject bythe program should be paramount in de-termining the value of each "A,'' "B," or"C" of a given subject. The "B" of music(60 minutes) should not count the sametowards promotion as the "B" of English(360 minutes).

9. There has been too much giving of


instruction not enough individual workon the part of the pupils.


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There is no valid reason why this per-nicious tendency should be carried overfrom the single-teacher plan to the de-partmental.

10. Too many teachers have taken partin a single departmental unit.

In many schools it has been the practiceto unite all the teachers of the last two yearsinto one departmental division regardlessof the number. Surely, it needs no argu-ment to prove the absurdity of sending achild on a confusing round of ten or twelveteachers. Such a practice is unknown inhigh schools or colleges.

CHAPTER VIII.

LIMITATIONS

Departmental teaching from the nature

of the system can be employed only inschools which fulfil certain conditions.

1. Size of School

Departmental teaching may be used suc-cessfully in any school where there is atleast one teacher for each year of the course.This would mean that the school of mini-mum size would be one which contained atleast eight teachers in the entire elementarycourse.

There is no maximum size for the schoolcontaining departments, because, in verylarge schools, such as exist in some citiestwo or more departmental units might beorganized. Proper relations between theseunits may be easily established.

2. Size of Class and Room

The size of class is not material so long

zo6

LIMITATIONS 107

as the largest class can be accommodated inany room.

Likewise each and every room should belarge enough to seat each class. The sizeof classes may vary to any extent without


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affecting the system, providing the aboverequirements are met.

3. Part of the Course to be Depart-mentalized.

The work of departmentalizing shouldbegin with the last year, and it may includethe pupils of each lower year down to thefourth. The line of departure between thesingle-teacher and departmental systemsmay be drawn at any time in the last fouryears that the departmental plan seemsabout to work itself out as a complete whole.The particular point of cleavage is imma-terial. It should, however, be kept in mindthat a child is ready to enter a modifiedsystem of departmental teaching as soon ashe has mastered the mechanical parts of

Io8 DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

reading, writing, and arithmetic. There-fore, the departmental plan can be appliedto any or all of the last four years, alwaysbeginning with the last year.

4. Number of Teachers

In a departmental unit, there should notbe over eight teachers as a maximum, norless than three teachers as a minimum. Itis quite evident that there can be little de-partmentalization or expert teaching withless than three teachers, but three teachers

may work effectively under such a plan.

To allow a child to meet more than sevenor eight teachers is bewildering, and carriesspecialization entirely too far. The ele-mentary course should seldom be brokenup into so many highly personalized parts.

The preferable number of teachers toemploy in any departmental unit is four orfive. This number will usually suffice toaccomplish the work, and provide all theprofitable advantages of expert instruction.

CHAPTER IX.

OTHER PLANS OF DEPARTMENTAL

TEACHING

I. The Study-Hall Method


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The study-hall plan is the most commonmethod of using departmental teaching inhigh schools, and it has been employed inmany elementary schools for some years.The plan is conducted to the best advantagewhen all the pupils of a school or depart-mental unit have desks in one large hall.The departmental rooms in which all teach-ing is done are situated about the studyhall, and upon signals at the beginning andend of each period, the classes move to andfrom the study hall, which is reservedsolely for the preparation of lessons.

The chief advantages of this plan are :

a. The departmental rooms may be

more specially constructed and equipped

X09

no DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

into practical working laboratories thanunder other systems.

b. Economy of time is gained in beingable to examine, control, and direct an en-tire departmental division at one time andby one teacher.

The disadvantages of this plan are :

a. It destroys the possibility of a properpersonal control of young children.

b. The study hall and its managementpresent great and peculiar difficulties.The assemblage of large numbers in a hallseems to hinder the maintenance of a properrepose for study. The teacher in chargemust discharge a peculiar function whichseems separate from the common dutiesof a teacher, and which can be satisfactorilyperformed by very few. If a special direc-tor of the study hall should be employed,

he would be out of touch with the otherteachers, and his salary would entail addi-tional expense.

c. This plan necessitates a special and

OTHER PLANS OF TEACHING in


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expensive construction of the school build-ing on account of the extra seating required.

2. All Teaching under Specialists

In many large schools it has been possibleto use a plan by which each study was as-signed to a particular teacher, who soon be-came, in an elementary sense, the specialteacher of that subject. The childrennever recite with their class teacher in anycommon study, and in some instances do notmeet with their class teacher in any study.

The gain of this plan is great specializa-tion of teaching.

The losses are difficulty in school man-agement, and in personal control of andresponsibility for general results. Chil-dren meet too many different teachers dur-ing the week for effective work.

3. The Peripatetic Method

There can be no impropriety in termingthe plan, under which the teachers go fromclassroom to classroom to give instructionin their specialty, according to the method


of the celebrated Greek. By this methodeach class remains in its own classroom allday. This plan follows the practice of the

special teacher system, and entails most ofits faults, but it is by many believed to main-tain a condition of better discipline.

It is sometimes tried in schools wherethe physical conditions of room^ and hallsmake undesirable the plan ui frequentmovement of classes composed of boys andgirls. Where such conditions exist, it isquestionable whether departmental teach-ing should be tried at all.

4. A Departmental Unit for each Year

In some large schools a departmentaldivision has been organized in the eighthyear and one in the seventh. Others haveadopted this plan by beginning in theeighth year and completing the division inthe seventh or lower and then beginningwhere the first division ended to form an-other in the sixth and fifth.


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The gains of this plan are that: first, it

OTHER PLANS OF TEACHING 113

keeps the number of teachers in a divisionat the most effective number; second, it pro-motes more intensive specialization by less-ening the amount of subject matter to becovered by each teacher.

However, there is a great loss in con-tinuity of teaching one subject and respon-sibility for results in that subject, due tothe fact that two or more teachers followone another in specializing the same sub-ject in the* same school. The first formof the fourth plan is very objectionablebecause, if the point of cleavage betweendivisions is made at the end of each year,great difficulty will be found in making aprogram and providing the proper num-ber of teachers, as the number of pupils

varies with each term.

Modifications of the above plans havebeen tried, but the plan that employs a com-mon study is surely best adapted to all thepresent conditions of public schools.

CHAPTER X.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. Optional Introduction

Until departmental teaching is popularlyaccepted, it should be introduced in eachschool at the option of the principal andteachers. This will mitigate the effect ofa reaction, which is bound to set in, as wellas enhance the genuine worth of the newplan of teaching. Departmental teachingin the elementary school is so radical a de-parture from the single-teacher plan thatits success must always presuppose an en-thusiastic faculty, and the adoption of an

effective plan.

2. Preparation of Teachers

The preparation of teachers for depart-mental teaching will become a problem byitself.

The striking peculiarity of the plan, how-ever, is that the very organization of de-


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114

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 1 1 5

partments in a school tends to the rapiddevelopment of expert teachers, that is,teachers who are at least elementary special-ists. So that, for the most part, the systemitself becomes its own teachers' trainingschool.

But how will the departmental methodaffect the teachers' training and normalschools?

For a long time students in these schoolshave shown a marked tendency to preparethemselves only in some specialty. Thishas promoted the training of high schoolteachers more than elementary schoolteachers. The very greatest difficulty has

been to prepare a sufficient number of theold fashioned all-around teachers for theelementary schools. Thus there is now andwill be a great dearth of nerly preparedelementary teachers. \ ' ' . jo, the de-mands of the elementary sdiool have in-creased greatly. A few years ago theteacher who could teach a smattering of

1 1 6 DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

reading, writing, arithmetic, geography,history and music sufficed for most elemen-tary schools ; now, he must be able to teachaccording to approved methods, the Eng-lish branches, arithmetic, algebra, geome-try, geography, nature study, history, civics,ethics, science, physiology, hygiene, phys-ical training, drawing, construction, cook-ing, sewing, and music.

If the above list were in the least over-drawn, it might become a source of amuse-ment, but it is too tragically true. Teach-

ers cannot be prepared to teach properlythe meager elements of one-half of this cur-riculum. Therefore, the normal schoolmust sooner or later prepare teachers forthe elementary school only in the pedagogicbranches, the English branches, and a de-partmental branch.

3. Examination of Teachers


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Those directing the examination andselection of teachers under a departmentalsystem must sooner or later recognize that

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 117

teachers cannot be examined critically in allthe branches which are now presented inthe elementary curriculum. A teacher canproperly prepare only to qualify in peda-gogy, English, and a special subject.

The academic part of an entrance exam-ination should then consist of no more thanthe above divisions comprehend.

4. Comparative Results

The determination of the comparativeresults of the single-teacher and depart-mental methods must evidently be broadlyconducted or very little of value will be

shown.

To examine a number of schools, whichuse both methods, in two or three subjectsof the curriculum only is surely worthlessas a true basis of comparative valuation.Or, to examine a school before the introduc-tion of departmental teaching, and thenafterward to reexamine in two or three sub-jects only is quite as valueless as a compar-ative test.

1 1 8 DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

One of the greatest advantages of depart-mental teaching is that it enriches the courseof study by giving to each branch its pro-portionate time under an expert instructor.

Now, it is one of the most patent deficien-cies of the elementary school that, regard-less of the course and the program, certainstudies only are taught and other studies areslighted.

It is probably no exaggeration to statethat in many classes where arithmetic wassupposed to be taught for forty minutes perday, that it was taught for two hours, andthose hours, the best of the morning. So,to examine schools using both methods inarithmetic and grammar and to expect todraw therefrom comparative results is idle.Any test to be of value must be compre-


113/122

hensive.

5. Units of Work

The value of recognizing the work thata child does, rather than the time that hespends in school, is of the greatest impor-


tance. The graded school of our greatcities is acknowledged to be a form of "masseducation" in its purest form. All agreethat children are promoted when unfit, andheld back when ready for advancement.Whole classes, possessing the most strikingindividual variation in attainment, moveforward in order that a higher grade andclassroom may be filled. The only com-mon element among these children is thatof the time spent in school. From the nec-essities of the graded system, under the

single-teacher plan, the time unit must con-tinue to be the paramount factor in require-ments for promotion. Departmental teach-ing gives an opportunity to recognize theunits of work. There lie before me thecatalogues of a prominent university and ahigh school, in which the students' namesare arranged alphabetically, and after eachname there is placed the earned credit ofwork. When the requisite number of"work-units" have been credited, the stu-

I20 DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

dent has standing in the next higher grade.The best promise, then, of departmentaleducation is in the fact that it makes pos-sible the division into "work-units" of thecourse in each department, and the credit-ing of each pupil only upon his mastery ofa "work-unit."

Departmental teaching ought to makethe idea prevail that, when a child has ac-

complished a certain unit of work, heshould have credit for the same and shouldnot be asked to repeat it. He should bemade to feel that school is not the mereservice of time, but a service of definite ac-complishment.

6. Laboratory Work

The system which emphasizes a plan,


114/122

where each child can go into a department,and seek information and do work as anindividual, is surest to succeed. It is truethat a child cannot successfully carry outthis plan to the same extent that a collegestudent can, but, within the limits of child-


ish application, Vie can learn most rapidlyby performing set tasks in a well equippedroom. This kind of work is but a part ofhis school routine, yet it is an essential part,and to neglect to provide it for him is tofail to provide the most natural and neces-sary means of development

7. Individual Education.

Through the placing of greater re-sponsibility upon each child, and theincreasing of his opportunities for self-

restraint and self-direction, under thedepartmental plan, one of the most funda-mentally educative processes is emphasized.The pupil, while acting with others, learnsto act under direction of his own free voli-tion. Real individual education is madepossible. This is directly opposed to the"mothering" plan which has been fosteredby the single-teacher system and defendedby many educators. This "mothering" hasled to a most pernicious system of over-helpfulness in the elementary school. The

8


child has been deprived oi proper oppor-tunities for initiative, invention, and self-mastery.

All kinds of pretty things have been saidabout the motherly teacher. This senti-mental tendency has fostered the so-called

"soft" education. The school is no placefor "mothering;" it should be a place forwork. If a child is so young as to need amother send him home. There is not, orshould not, be any substitute for a realmother. Not that teachers should not bekind, gentle, and wisely helpful, but aschool is not great because it is homelike,but because it is truly school-like.


115/122

Individual education is again intensifiedby the fact that the child, as a result of theinfluence of several teachers, is better ableto see, compare, and choose the strongestcharacteristics of each. Under one teacherhe is liable to acquire any objectionablepeculiarity which may be possessed by histeacher.


Whether the departmental teacher gives,or probably will give, greater individualattention to each pupil is quite anothermatter. But it must be noted that, so far astime is concerned, the teacher, under thedepartmental system, has just the same timeto devote to each pupil in each of thepupil's studies as he had under the single-teacher plan. Effectiveness in individualeducation is not comprehended by the no-tion that each teacher should give time to

each pupil to attain it, but it is ratherexpressed in the notion that the method ofeach teacher and the organization of eachschool should give the maximum oppor-tunity for every pupil to act freely in at-taining any given purpose.

Departmental teaching is simply amethod of school and class organizationwhich tends to offer this freedom. Teach-ers under this system may be highly in-dividualistic in teaching or not. Theiropportunities in this regard do not differ


materially under either the departmental orthe single-teacher system. But, as has beenstated, each pupil has a greatly superioropportunity of being differentiated in hisattainments from all other pupils.

-^'V ' s


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331 Lnv. ivv'.. \'-vt:L"'.. :J\

APPENDIX

SPECIAL DESCRIPTION OFILLUSTRATIONS

Special Departmental Room

The full development of the commonsubject plan of departmental teaching willresult in the condition that the class teacherwho specializes manual training and draw-ing, for example, will be obliged either touse one room for his common subject andanother for his specialty or combine the twoequipments as shown in Plate I, page 68.

This suggestion of combination presup-

poses that in each school building two orthree such rooms should be constructed outof every twelve. Science and cooking workalso demand the same development inequipment.

125


A Model Common-Study Program

Plate VI, on page 80 shows the time ofthe common subject brought out in propor-tionate contrast to the time for the depart-mental studies. The common subject takesup the most effective part of the school dayfor the work of any class with its own classteacher. In adapting this model, eachschool must modify according to particularconditions.

Attendance Records

Where classes are large some time-savingdevice must be used to record attendance inthe departments. The first plan, found onPlate VIII, page 89, shows a leaf of a bookto be carried by a trusted member of theclass acting as president or secretary. Hepresents the book in turn to each depart-mental teacher who verifies and signs it,the custodian then returns the book eachday to his class teacher.


117/122

The second form, on page 88 (Plate VII)

APPENDIX 127

is ruled so as to comprehend the record of

one month on one page. Circles are made

by the secretary to indicate "excused from

room", horizontal lines to indicate absence,

and lines drawn across circle to indicate

return to classroom. Vertical lines are

drawn by class teacher as a means of check-ing.

Monthly Report CardThe principal advantage of the monthly

report given on pages 91 and 92 is thatit gives each departmental teacher an op-portunity to record the work of each pupilin his department. The blank spaces afterEnglish may be used for any other subjectsthat the teacher cares to report upon.

Model Programs

The programs shown on pages 73, 74, 75,and 76 are an adaptation for four classes ofthe model program.

The meanings of the abbreviations used


are believed to be obvious for the most part,

but a 1

few are here expanded :

8B-

-Second half of eighth school year


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8A-

First half of eighth school year

7B-

"Second half of seventh school year

7A-

-First half of seventh school year

A-

-Arithmetic or Mathematics

C Composition

Cor-

-Correspondence

D-

-Drawing

Dic-

-Dictation

G-

-Geography

Gr-

-Grammar

H-


119/122

-History

L Literature

M-

-Music

MT-

-Manual Training

P-

-Penmanship

R-

-Reading

Sp Spelling

S-

Science

APPENDIX

129

Box for Articles used by Pupils

The illustrations of a receptacle for thecommon articles used by all children inschool work, given facing page 97, showa device that has been tried with excel-lent results. It may be used to hold anyor all of the following common articles:Drawing pencil, writing pencils, pen ruler,blotter, eraser, compass, scissors, protractor,triangle, pins, thumb tacks, paper fasteners,pen wiper, and pencil sharpener. It is


120/122

carried easily along with the books fromroom to room. Its chief advantages are:

1. Cleanliness and health.

Every pupil always uses the same articlesat all times. They can be cleaned, and theynever come in contact with the material ofany other child.

2. Economy.

It saves a great amount of time in givingout, collecting, counting, and caring formaterial. It also saves expense in that

IjO DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING

the responsibility placed upon each childthrough an easy inspection prevents loss ofarticles.

3. Educative life process.

It is essential to all right living that everyworker shall have a place for his tools andproduct. Responsibility for tools cannot betaught children unless a place for them beprovided. Only then can they be taughthow to care for property in a careful andeconomical way.

The Principles of Secondary

Education

By CHARLES DeGARMO, Professor of the Science andArt of Education in Cornell University. i2mo. Cloth.xii+299 pages. $1.25 net.

The author discusses the social and individual presuppositions till-derlying American secondary education; the chief bases for the selec-tion of studies; the classification of studies according to the nature oftheir content; the function and relative educational worth of variousstudies and study eroups; and the organization of studies into curricula.The ample scope o! Professor DeGarmo's work and the thoroughness of

his analysis will commend this book to teachers as a text-book ox unusualalue.

A Brief Course in the History

of Education

By CHARLES MONROE, Ph.D., Professor of Educationin Teachers College, Columbia University. i2nio.Cloth, xviii+409 pages. $1.25 net.


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This is practically a condensation of Professor Monroe's "Text-book in the History of Education," issued more than two years ago, andstill the most extensive work on the subject in English. The presentabbreviation has been made in answer to the demands of normal schoolsand teachers' training classes which have not the time to devote to thestudy of the larger text. Nevertheless it treats of all the generalperiods, and of most of the topics discussed in the larger work.

Methods in Teaching

Being the Stockton Method in Elementary Schools. ByMRS. ROSA V. WINTERBURN, of Los Angeles,and JAMES A. B ARR, Superintendent of Schools atStockton,Cal. i2nio. Cloth, xxii+355 pages. $1.25 net.

This book is the direct product of the schoolrooms. It treats thepresentation of subject-matter in the various studies usually taught inelementarpr schools from three points of view that of the superintendentor supervisor, of the teacher and of the pupil. The book grew out ofthe exhibit made by the Stockton schools at the Exposition in St. Louis,and later in Portland, which attracted widespread attention because oxthe honesty of the pupils' work, the "method sheets" by teachers, andthe efficiency of results. Many compositions by young pupils trained

under this method are given.


64-66 Fifth Ave., NEW YORK

Bottoa Chicaio Adanta lanPranciico

Methods in Elementary

School Studies

By BERNARD CRONSON, A. B., Ph.D., Principal ofPublic school, No. 3, New York City. i2mo. Qoth.167 pages. $1.25 net.

Thia is a brief outline of the atitlior'a leetores on teachiac theprincipal branches in the elementary course. The subjects treated arereading, dictation (including spelling, paragraphing, etb.,) composition,grammar, literature, nature study, geography, history, civics and arith-metic. The book is interleared with blank pages, making it a conreni-nt note book for the lecture room in normal achools and trainingichools. as well as for teachers in general.

Classroom Management: ItsPrinciples and Technique

By WILLIAM CHANDLER BAGLEY, Superintendentof the Training Department, State Normal School,Oswego, N. Y. i2mo. Cloth, xvii+352 pages. $1.25net.

This book considers the problems that are inTolred in the massingof children together for purposes of instruction and trainine It aims to


122/122

discover how the unit group of the school system the "class" can bemost effectively handled. The topics commonly included in treatisesupon school management receive adequate attention: the first day atschooh the mechanizing of routine: the daily program; discipline andpunishment; absence and tardiness, etc. In addition to these, however,a number of subjects hitherto neglected in books of this class are pre-sented: The *'Batavia system" of class-individual instruction; differentplans for testing the efficiency of teaching; a new treatment of schoolhicentives based upon modern psychology: and a formulation of thegenerally accepted principles of professional ethics as applied to school-craft. Appendices include plates showing quality of work that can bexpected from pupils of different grades and syllabi of topics andquestions for the use of "observation" classes.


(4-66 Fifth Ave., NEW YORKBoftoa Chiesge Atlsnu SanPraneisca

, I

l

4

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Documents

Relation Between Matter and Ether, 1907, Thomson, J. J._djvu