Chapter 6 Summary: How the Lessons Should be Given
Fundamental Approach: The Lesson as Experiment
⢠Lessons are experiments, not lectures - Teacher must understand experimental psychology methods
"In this method the lesson corresponds to an experiment. The more fully the teacher is acquainted with the methods of experimental psychology, the better will she understand how to give the lesson"
⢠Individual lessons, not collective ones - Children's freedom means they won't all attend to group lessons
"The collective lessons, in fact, are of very secondary importance, and have been almost abolished by us"
Three Essential Characteristics of Lessons
⢠Conciseness - "Let thy words be counted" - Every word must be carefully chosen and necessary
"The more carefully we cut away useless words, the more perfect will become the lesson. And in preparing the lessons which she is to give, the teacher must pay special attention to this point, counting and weighing the value of the words"
⢠Simplicity - Only absolute truth - Strip away all unnecessary complexity
"Another characteristic quality of the lesson in the 'Children's Houses' is its simplicity. It must be stripped of all that is not absolute truth"
⢠Objectivity - Teacher's personality disappears - Focus entirely on the object or concept being taught
"The lesson must be presented in such a way that the personality of the teacher shall disappear. There shall remain in evidence only the object to which she wishes to call the attention of the child"
The Proper Response to Non-Understanding
⢠Never insist or repeat immediately - Respect the child's natural rhythm
"If the lesson rigorously prepared in this brevity, simplicity and truth is not understood by the child, is not accepted by him as an explanation of the object,âthe teacher must be warned of two things:âfirst, not to insist by repeating the lesson"
⢠Never make the child feel they failed - Preserve their natural state for observation
"Second, not to make the child feel that he has made a mistake, or that he is not understood, because in doing so she will cause him to make an effort to understand, and will thus alter the natural state"
Examples of Poor Teaching Methods
⢠The color lesson gone wrong - Traditional teachers confuse children with unnecessary complexity
"Now in the mind of the child after he has made the useless effort of trying to guess there revolves a confused mass of ideas,âthe sky, the apron, the cherries, etc."
⢠Arithmetic with dancing dolls - Distracting props obscure the mathematical concept
"If I remember the dancers more clearly than I do the arithmetic process, how must it have been with the children?"
⢠Geometric forms analyzed incorrectly - Teaching mathematical abstractions instead of simple form recognition
"It is the geometric analysis and the mathematics of the thing. It would be possible to have an idea of the form of the quadrilateral without knowing how to count to four"
The Art of Teaching
⢠Give a ray of light and go on - Illuminate understanding then step back
"And such is our duty toward the child: to give a ray of light and to go on our way"
⢠Stimulate life, then let it develop - The teacher's role is to awaken, not control
"To stimulate life,âleaving it then free to develop, to unfold,âherein lies the first task of the educator"
⢠Touch soul to soul - Create genuine connection that enables natural discipline
"When the teacher shall have touched, in this way, soul for soul, each one of her pupils, awakening and inspiring the life within them as if she were an invisible spirit"
The Magic of Collective Discipline
⢠Discipline emerges from individual preparation - Like musicians in an orchestra
"A concert-master must prepare his scholars one by one in order to draw from their collective work great and beautiful harmony"
⢠Natural obedience from inner development - Children follow because they want to grow
"Fifty or sixty children from two and a half years to six years of age... know how to hold their peace so perfectly that the absolute silence seems that of a desert"
Preparation for Social Life
⢠Begin with practical life exercises - First teach care of person and environment
"The first step which we must take in our method is to call to the pupil... we must begin our work by preparing the child for the forms of social life"
⢠Four foundations: cleanliness, order, poise, conversation - Daily routine builds social awareness
"Cleanliness. Order. Poise. Conversation."
⢠Children help each other - Mutual aid develops naturally
"We teach the big ones to help the little ones, and, so, encourage the younger children to learn quickly to take care of themselves"
The Power of Simple Truth
⢠Children recognize authentic teaching - They respond to genuine respect for their intelligence
"Their gentleness is so absolute, so sweet, that we recognise in it the infancy of that humility which can remain oppressed by every form of yoke"
⢠Remove artificiality and violence - Let children show their true nature
"But if we cut away the artificiality with which we have enwrapped them, and the violence through which we have foolishly thought to discipline them, they will reveal themselves to us in all the truth of child nature"