stead of saying that the lesson is good, say that skill was shown in stimulating pupil interest; the use of illustrations was effective, etc. (h) Distinguish between essentials and nonessentials. Do not squabble over details. (i) Express a friendly interest in the teacher's success. Be alert to specific improvements in teaching. (j) Criticisms of the teacher's work should be constructive. Mere faultfinding or tearing down of a teacher's work without something better to offer is inexcusable. 4. How to make criticisms: (a) Criticism should be given in a true sense of helpfulness to the teacher. Make service the ideal. Conduct yourself in such a manner as to inspire in the teacher the feeling that you can be depended upon for wise and kindly counsel. (b) Take the position of a learner. Do not let your attitude (c) Be infinitely patient. Allow time for growth. The day than create positive antagonism. (e) Do not appeal to authority. The thing should be done because it is right and not because it must. (f) Respect the other person's feelings. The brutally frank are cruelly disrespectful of the other person's feelings. Say what must be said as an individual might rationalize about it. (g) Where shortcomings must be pointed out, point out one at a time. The teacher is bewildered and discouraged by a fusillade of criticism. (h) Occasionally criticism must be positive, direct, and unmistakably plain. For example, a shirking teacher must be told to "Get busy or get out." (i) Make criticism informal, incidental, and by the way, when possible. (j) Make criticism suggestive and indirect when possible. For example, interest the teacher in a book on "The art of questioning." (k) Make criticisms in a courteous, businesslike, friendly, conversational tone. (1) Do not say, "You have failed." Set situations skilfully that will lead the teacher to discover and develop her own strong points, and remedy her own shortcomings. (m) Personalities and temperaments will differ widely. Make criticisms accordingly. 5. Results desired: + (a) Stimulate the teacher to self-analysis, self-criticism, and self-improvement. (b) Criticism should encourage initiative, independence, and responsibility on the part of the teacher. There is nothing more deadening than the rigid adherence to mandatory plans. (c) Strive for the proper attitude on the part of the teacher. No teacher should be able to say, "You can't do anything to please her." (d) Criticism should lead the teacher to see the importance of her work and the dignity of teaching. (e) Study the reactions of other people to your remarks. Strive for a better technique. Many people are most stupid in their observance of human reactions, and quite impervious to obvious indications of what other persons think. (f) Where there are honest differences of opinion, experiment. Strive honestly for a scientific attitude. SUGGESTED READINGS 1. BURTON, William H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching (Appleton, 1922). There is a good chapter on "Visitation and Conference." 2. CUBBERLEY, E. P., The Principal and His School (Houghton Mifflin, 1923). The chapter "Planning the Supervision" contains one of the best discussions of the constructive criticism of teaching. 3. DORSEY, Susan M., "Supervision as Liberating the Teacher," Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol. 55 (1917), pp. 239-243. A very suggestive article containing a number of helpful suggestions regarding visitation and conference. 4. GILBERT, C. B., The School and Its Life (Silver Burdett, 1906). Two chapters: "The Visitation of the School" and "The Private Conference" are particularly helpful. 5. KEYES, Rowena, "Vision and Supervision," The Journal of Education, Vol. 1, May, 1922, p. 348. A plea for sympathetic understanding and freedom from prejudice in supervision. 6. MCMURRY, Frank M., Elementary School Standards (World Book Company, 1917). 7. MORRISON, J. C., "Methods of Improving Classroom Instruction Used by Helping-Teachers and Supervising Principals of New Jersey," Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, November, 1919, pp. 208-216. Many concrete suggestions based upon an analysis of replies received from supervisors concerning their procedure in assisting teachers. 8. MORRISON, J. C., "Supervision from the Teachers' Viewpoint," Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 1, December, 1921, p. 634. Reports from teachers stating definite ways in which supervisors had helped them. 9. NEWLON, Jesse M., "Reorganizing City-School Supervision," Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 2, June, 1923, p. 404. A definite program for securing coöperation of teachers in the improvement of teaching. 10. NUTT, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton Mifflin, 1920). There is a good chapter on visiting the teacher at work and criticizing the work of the teacher. 11. POWER, L., "How to Make Visits Profitable to Teachers," First Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Principals, National Education Association, 1922, pp. 11 19. 12. RUGG, George, "Visitation as a Means of Diagnosis," First Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Principals, National Education Association, 1922, pp. 7-11. 13. WAGNER, C. A., "Supervision of Instruction," Educational Review, Vol. 59, February, 1920, pp. 137-141. A helpful discussion of the proper attitude to be maintained by the supervisor and the teacher in the criticism of teaching. 14. WAGNER, C. A., Common Sense in School Supervision (Bruce, 1921). There are many helpful suggestions scattered throughout the book. CHAPTER IV VISITING THE CLASSROOM Routine factors pertaining to the study and improvement of teaching. The discussion up to this point has neglected a number of general or routine factors pertaining to the study and improvement of teaching which need now to come in for special consideration; factors such as when to begin visits, how frequently to visit, entering the classroom, position in the room, leaving the room, records of visits, etc. These matters are closely related to the problems already discussed in the preceding chapters and in many cases condition the success with which they will meet. It is the purpose of this chapter to summarize as briefly as possible some of the best practices in caring for such activities. Units of classroom visitation. Some supervisors, particularly principals, make it their custom to drop in on teachers for just a few minutes. They rarely see the whole of a recitation. One such supervisor said, "I can judge the work of a teacher in a five-minute visit." This is obviously unfair to the teacher. A complete lesson unit, a period of twenty or twenty-five minutes in the elementary school, is the smallest legitimate period for observation. Better than this, several consecutive lessons, or a series of lessons in a subject on consecutive days, should be the unit of observation. One supervisor who criticized a teacher for her failure to summarize the main points in the lesson was informed, to his mortification, that this had been done after his departure from the classroom. The amount of time spent by the supervisor in the classroom and the number of visits on consecutive days will be determined by the problems that he is studying. Perhaps he wishes to know the method of assigning lessons used by the teacher, the degree of pupil-activity in recitations, the social value of the subject matter of problems assigned, the aims of the teacher in terms of modern standards, her use of collateral references, visual helps, the degree of judgment exercised by pupils. These facts can be determined only by remaining through several succeeding recitations. If, on the other hand, the supervisor wishes to make a study of the teacher's technique in silent reading, or in the teaching of fractions, he will visit the teacher at the same hour for several consecutive days. Each day the teacher may be met in a conference during which the class work is analyzed and evaluated and a suggestive procedure is outlined. Each succeeding day will be used to follow up the suggestions given and determine what refinements of method are necessary. The training and experience of the supervisor should determine the length of the visits. Burton says that the length of the visit should be determined largely by the training and experience of the supervisor: Preferably a supervisor should see a whole recitation at a time and a succession of whole recitations before passing judgment. The more expert the supervisor, the more he can determine in a given time. Experienced teachers will always admit that a supervisor can judge routine and disciplinary factors in a brief visit, but they object to the passing of pedagogical judgments on the basis of short visits. However, the same expertness can be gained for most of the common types of teaching, and short visits, when absolutely necessary, are a fair basis for judgment, though not the best. The important factor is the training and experience of the supervisor, not the time he spends in the room. It is assumed, of course, that the supervisor makes himself familiar with all the attendant circumstances, the previ |