42. Analysis of a Teacher's Equipment [Courtesy of W. C. BAGLEY, Teachers College, Columbia University.] 1. A good "teaching personality" 2. General scholarship, culture, and refinement-Basic education 3. "Stock in trade" a. Knowledge of subject-matter to be taught b. Mastery of skills to be imparted c. Clear vision of ideals to be passed on 4. Mastery of the art of teaching, involving— a. Technical knowledge (1) Of facts and laws of mental growth-Educational Psychology (2) Of peculiarities of childhood and adolescence- (3) Of individual differences and their laws (a) Of pupils' attainments-Tests and Scales (c) Of educational standards crystallized in laws, b. Technical skills:-habituated processes governing economy of classroom (laboratory, field, shop) procedure-Class Management c. Teaching-insight and resourcefulness, expressed in:(1) Aptness in and fertility of illustration. (2) Clearness and lucidity in explanation and illustration (3) Keen sensitiveness to evidence of misunderstanding and misinterpretation upon the part of pupils and students (4) Dexterity and alertness in devising problems and framing questions that will focus the attention upon just the right points (5) A sense of humor that will relieve tense or wearisome situations (6) Ability to suspend judgment and yet avoid chronic neutrality (7) The intellectual humility that means a bias toward a reasoned support of each point presented (8) Ability to create an attitude in the class that is favorable to industry and application and which makes good work and adequate results as matters of course (9) Sensitiveness to evidences of inattention and lack of aggressive effort upon the part of the pupils (10) Ability to develop interests in pupils that will be more than transitory and that will carry over to other subjects and other phases of life (11) A sense of proportion that insures the emphasis of salient topics and distinguishes clearly between the fundamental and the accessory; partly dependent upon (12) A clear perception of ends 5. Professional ideals and attitudes a. Appreciations of educational aims and functions b. Sensitiveness to acts and motives inconsistent with professional standards [professional ethics] c. Professional perspectives, mental backgrounds, points of view, etc., due to (1) An understanding and appreciation of educational evolution (2) An understanding of the present organization and 43. Personality-Its Twenty Factors and How You Can Develop Them [CHARTERS, W. W., from an interview, American Magazine, April, 1924. Courtesy of Thomas Y. Crowell Company.] There are twenty traits without which, though you may have plenty of ability, skill, and information, you can hardly expect to succeed in competition with other men. Here they are. Question yourself with regard to your standing on each trait: 1. Ambition. Have you the will to improve yourself? This means real will; not merely a vague, intermittent desire. If this article points out certain important defects, will you take energetic steps to remedy them? 2. Industriousness.-Have you the ability to drive yourself steadily? Examine yourself to see whether you hold yourself to the faithful performance of tasks that are distasteful. 3. Persistence and Patience.-Look back over the various plans you have made during the past year; enumerate all you can remember, and see how many of them you have actually put through. 4. Dependability.-Can you be relied upon to carry out plans assigned to you by other people? How many times in the past month have you failed to get work done within the period in which it should have been done? How many times have you fallen down in your social obligations in the past month? 5. Forcefulness.-Do you give people the impression that you are capable and self-controlled? Are you self-reliant? You will find out a good deal about how you stand in these things by your ratings on (6) effectiveness of speech; (7) self-confidence; (12) initiative, resourcefulness; (13) sensitiveness to criticism. 6. Effectiveness of Speech.-Can you express your ideas clearly and convincingly? Do you speak with a "piping" noise, or have you studied how to place your voice so that you are not unpleasant to listen to? 7. Self-Confidence.-What are the things you have done of which you have a right to be proud? If you lack self-confidence, think up at least half a dozen of these things, and then follow the directions in the accompanying article. 8. Friendliness.-Are you too critical in your judgment of other people? Make a list of six people whom you dislike, and analyze impartially your reasons for disliking them. Have you been acting justly? 9. Adaptability.-Do you find it easy to listen to what other people are saying? Are you keen to ask questions when people bring up a new subject or business plan? If so, you may be strong in this attribute. But if you are hardly able to wait for a chance to air your opinion, you need to cultivate this trait. 10. Tact.-Can you work in harmony with other people? Do other people like to be with you? Do you know a man who especially likes to be given credit for the work he does? Do you give it to him, or do you like to make him think that you, or some one else deserves the credit, because you gave him the idea he has carried out, or because you assisted him in some other way? How often do you find yourself praising people for what they have done? 11. Cheerfulness.-Do you depress other people, or are you a cheerful companion? When your affairs are not going well, can you keep from showing it in your manner? When other people tell you of their plans and hopes, do you take an enthusiastic interest in their affairs or are you bored and unresponsive? 12. Good Judgment.-Examine yourself particularly as regards initiative and resourcefulness. How many suggestions have you made to your employer in the past six months? How many of these has he approved? If he gives you work to do and you run into some difficulty, do you always go to him for advice, or do you solve the difficulty yourself? Are you sometimes able to see half a dozen different ways of solving any ONE of the problems that come up in connection with your work? 13. Sensitiveness to Criticism.-How do you take the criticisms, direct or implied, from employer, friends, and associates? If you brood over them, if the sting of criticism keeps you from seeing that it may be USEFUL nevertheless, you may be OVER-SENSITIVE. 14. Ability to Size Up People.-Do you see only good in some people and only weaknesses in others? When you discover weaknesses in people, does this keep you from seeing their strong points? Are you observing enough to be able, after talking with a new acquaintance for fifteen minutes, to specify how he impressed you as regards the following traits on this chart-neatness of dress, effectiveness of speech, friendliness, tact, cheerfulness? 15. Memory. Are you good at remembering names, faces, and personal traits about the people you meet? In the accompanying article there are suggestions for developing this ability. 16. Neatness. Are you painstaking in regard to your personal appearance? 17. Health Habits.-This is not a matter of your endowment of physical health. Severe illness may not mean that you are short in this trait. Ask yourself whether your HABITS are those that make for or against good health, and how they tell on your working ability and mental attitude day by day. 18. Discrimination.-Can you discriminate between more important and less important matters? Do you clog your daily routine with unnecessary work on comparatively unimportant details? Have you realized the importance of putting aside work and personal problems when it comes time to relax and rest? 19. Economy.-Do you save time and effort by doing things in the right and easiest way without wasted motions? 20. Capacity to Delegate Work.-This quality is especially important for those who are, or hope to become, executives. Executives often fall short in this trait because they lack persistence of a certain kind or because of vanity or selfishness. Some of the things the average man should know about this trait are given in the accompanying article. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 1. Compare the different statements on the aim of education. Just how do the statements agree and wherein do they differ? 2. Which list of educational objectives do you prefer? Why? What should be the source of such objectives? 3. What contribution has psychology made to education? 4. What are the psychological outcomes of teaching and learning? Justify the statement that the schools should emphasize the adaptive controls rather than specific controls. Explain why attitudes and ideals are such important outcomes. 5. How would you test the success of your work as an instructor? 6. Contrast the methods of science and the methods of opinion. 7. What is necessary in order to make a body of facts and laws a "science"? Define an experiment. 8. How may a student of education expect to profit from a study of educational psychology? 9. What are the major problems of educational psychology? Which of these major problems do you consider the most important to the teacher? Why? 10. What is meant by behavior? What is consciousness? What does Bode mean by saying that "conscious behavior is essentially forward looking, controlled by the future"? 11. What is the social mind? How is the individual mind related to the social mind? Is the teacher in more need of a knowledge of social psychology or a knowledge of individual psychology? 12. Find in your experience of to-day some cases in which your consciousness has directed or controlled your action. find any instances of action or behavior that have not been directed by your consciousness? 13. Why does teaching require aims? Can you 14. What aims of education offer satisfactory guidance to the teacher in the direction of pupils' learning activities? 15. In what sense is speech a dominating form of behavior? 16. Show that speech is a form of bodily activity. 17. Describe the evolution of language. 18. Study the aims mentioned in the readings with a view of determining: a What they should accomplish Which are the more essential for present-day society с Whether any one of these aims would constitute a satisfactory guide for the teacher d Whether several, or all of them together, furnish satisfactory guidance to the teacher in directing the learning process e In what respects should they be supplemented, if unsatisfactory 19. Read Bulletin No. 35, 1918, Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior, entitled "Cardinal Principles of Education," pp. 9-16. This statement sets forth what this commission regards as the goal of education in the United States. Study this statement with a view of determining: a The purpose of democracy The function of education in democracy с The essential elements in education for democracy, pp. 9-11 d What should be the rôle of the secondary schools in achieving these objectives, pp. 11-16 |