TEACHING 



5726 



TEACHING 



knife. All of the constructive and manual 

 training work in the schools is largely based 

 upon this interest of children. It results in the 

 children making simple birthday or Christmas 

 or Valentine gifts for parents or other relatives. 

 Often the children of an entire room or class 

 unite to produce articles needed about the 

 schoolroom or in the corridors of the building, 

 such as a bookcase, a rug, a couch cover, cur- 

 tains, a pedestal for a piece of statuary. 



(5) Entertaining. Children enjoy entertain- 

 ing. They like to have the pupils of another 

 room visit them or to have their parents or 

 other mature people come as their guests. The 

 instincts of imitation, play, sociability, expres- 

 sion, ambition, rivalry, love of approbation, 

 pride, and so on, find expression in entertaining. 

 The wise teacher, recognizing this tendency in 

 children, makes it the basis for securing good 

 work in all of the subjects which are drawn 

 upon when a program is developed to provide 

 entertainment for the guests. Such programs 

 will usually require music, story-telling, calis- 

 thenics, reading and dramatization. The mo- 

 tive of entertaining well through these means 

 supplies the impelling power which is necessary 

 to good work in these subjects. 



(6) Sharing. The activity of sharing is very 

 similar to that of entertaining, and is based 

 upon the same instinctive tendency. Just as 

 the adult wishes to share with his friends the 

 results of his labors, be they fragrant roses, a 

 model dairy, or an exquisite painting, so chil- 

 dren wish to share the products of their labors. 

 Hard work becomes a delight when there is a 

 prospect ahead of sharing with others the re- 

 sults of their efforts. 



Good schools plan to give the children large 

 opportunities for sharing with each other. Any 

 interesting experience enjoyed by a group of 

 children is shared with others who might enjoy 

 it and profit by it. They might write it up and 

 send it to different rooms or send children to 

 talk about it in the different rooms. The school 

 assembly, in which the entire school meets, is 

 an excellent plan for sharing with all the best 

 any room produces. 



(7) Advancing Self in the Estimation of 

 Others. Children, as well as older people, are 

 anxious to be highly esteemed by others. What 

 person is not happy in a task regardless of its 

 difficulty, if he sees that it will enable him to 

 rise worthily in the esteem of others for whose 

 good opinion he cares? Pupils strive hard for 

 good grades, that the teacher may think well 

 of them, that they may merit the esteem of 



their classmates and that they may please their 

 parents and others who care about their prog- 

 ress. 



(8) Promoting Self -development. This mo- 

 tive appeals more strongly with advancing years. 

 It leads the student to undertake tasks involv- 

 ing long periods of effort, sometimes months 

 or even years. It impels the student of science 

 to undertake difficult and extended investiga- 

 tions, to assume great risks and to endure great 

 privation. Success is assured when this motive 

 becomes dominant. 



Under the influence of this motive students 

 are found not only meeting the requirements 

 of the teacher in the preparation of lessons, 

 but visiting scientific and historical collections 

 and going to other sources of help outside of 

 the school, such as to the city, college, or state 

 library. Such students also insist upon solving 

 their difficult problems and performing their 

 science experiments unaided. 



(9) Preserving Products and Collections. 

 This motive has a strong basis in the instincts 

 of collecting, ownership, preservation. Children 

 collect and preserve beautiful stones, postage 

 stamps, pictures, postal cards, playthings, and so 

 on. Older persons preserve letters, gifts, heir- 

 looms or scientific collections. This motive 

 may be invoked in getting pupils to keep well- 

 organized outlines and complete notebooks. 



(10) Mastering and Conquering. The in- 

 stinct to subordinate and control both matter 

 and persons is one of the most imperious of 

 man's tendencies. It asserts itself in infancy in 

 the child's desire to know, to understand and to 

 rule or to lead in his group. It grows in strength 

 with succeeding successes and is checked only 

 when ambition is crushed. The presence of 

 this tendency in children is the school's great- 

 est hope of getting the pupils to do their work. 

 The school should train children to solve prob- 

 lems and to meet difficulties unfalteringly. 



(11) Fitting for a Life Career. While not 

 functional in early childhood, the goal of pre- 

 paring for a successful life career becomes a 

 strong motive quite early with ambitious chil- 

 dren. Under the stimulus of this motive, pro- 

 grams of work and hard tasks extending over a 

 series of years are undertaken with enthusiasm 

 and determination. An appeal to the child's de- 

 sire for future success is seldom devoid of re- 

 sults and is most often met with a hearty re- 

 sponse and a renewed will to work. H.B.W. 



For other phases of the subject, consult the 

 list of Related Subjects at the end of the article 

 EDUCATION, pages 1954-1955. 



