Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel], July 11, 1907, Page 6, Image 6

About Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
6
ART IN TEACHING
BY NEW METHODS
EXPRESSION AS IMPORTANT AS
KNOWLEDGE
Whether by Poetry or Prose, by Ob.
Ject Lesson or by Mechanical
Demonstration, Fact Is Al
ways Necessary
Many helpful Ideas and hints wire
given to the teachers at the meeting of
me department o£ elementary education
of the .National Educational association
In lmmanuel .Presbyterian cnurch yester
day morning.
Henry Suzzallo, adjunct professor of
elementary education, 'i'eacliers college,
Columbia university, in hla address on
"The Story and the Poem," made a thor
ough canvass of the topic.
Mr. Suzzallo saiu in part:
"it may bu saiu trial, tsood instruction
In the command of language involves a
thorough asaoeiatluii between experience,
or the ideas which stand tor them, uuu
their corresponding symuols. Experiences
•will influence people similarly. Out ot
tne same experience most people will get
Borne meaning. Symbols aie quite va
naDie. Almost every nationality has its
own symuols. A word dura a given lan
guage may give you a meaning and it
may not. An Englishman and a French
man may have the same experiences, but
their words or symbols lor them will
dltter greatly. Language instruction is,
therefore, largely a matter ol memory,
getting a more or less arbitrary symbol
associated with an experience.
"In every language mere are really two
languages or two sets of symbols, an
oral symbol and a written symbol. Oral
rtadlng and oral language represent one
aspect of instruction in English, iheie
are two functions connected with oral
language, appreciation and expression.
•Listening and understanding' is oral ap
preciation. 'Thinking and speaking' is
oral expression.
"As a function, appreciation Is prior to
expression. We appreciate more than we
can express. Expression recruits itself
from appreciation. Expression in turn
intensifies appreciation. Oral expression
Is hopelessly restricted If our apprecia
tion is restricted to the language we hear
m ordinary life and class room work.
So we read what absent masters have
written, give them voice so that appeal is
made to the ear and sound association.
The story and tha poem read aloud arc
instruments for the deepening of our oral
appreciation of language.
"In reading and language three prob
lems present themselves; (1) mastering
the mechanic.-!; cji obtaining or express
ing thought; (3) sensing or giving form to
aesthetic or literary feeling. The story
and the poem iind their greatest value in
Instruction in what they contribute to
the solution of the third of these prob
lems. Wherever we strive for literary
feeling or form, even in the slightest de
gree, the story and the poem are the
rcaln materials. In the highest degree
they represent the combination of the
three elements in the beauty of literature,
the beauty of U) material, (1) form, and
(3j meaning."
Science in Weaving of Words
Mr. Suzzallo made an exposition of the
subject, and Miss Emma C. Davis, super
visor of primary schools, Cleveland, 0.,
followed with a discussion of the use
and advantages of the story and the
poem. She said in part:
"The consideration of the relation of
story telling to oral reading and oral
language leads at once to the question of
the relation which these bear to the edu
cational process, and this in turn looks
forward to the educational aim.
"What is education and what Is its
gcal may be answered in brief as "char
acter building,' and the two great
agencies that life employs to this end are
the individual experiences and activities,
and the experiences of other people por
trayed or communicated eithtr by word
of mouth or through literature and other
Arts.
"And as we ponder It, does It not seem
clear what part the story and poem play
In this process? What interpretations of
life, what self revelations, what innishts,
what clarifications, what harmonizing in
fluences, what unifying effects, what ex
planations in terms of the imagination
are possible through stories and poems
■which, if properly selected, have power
to reveal the world to the child and the
child to himself.
Practical Results
"As for the practical results we have
not far to seek. We have seen how story
and poem may touch the whole range of
life— a magic town at which thought and
feeling spring to greet the pictured
thought and feeling; experience matches
experience and Is illumined; words and
expressions come into consciousness to
clothe thought in speech and the language
power expands.
"The expansion In language which
comes In this most vital way Is reinforced
and made permanent by the memory and
imitation of n- w language forms in which
the stories were clothed. It transcends
the language development that comes
through ordinary conversation upon act
ual aetivitfes and experiences, because
these being inte.iißible by the use of the
more common words and forms, make
few demands upon the language power,
whereas the literature in which most
Btorles are embodied supply a higher type
and wider scope of language."
Dramatization as Emphasis
Dramatization is a new factor In the
school curriculum, and Thomas C. Blals
dell of the department of English, State
Agricultural college, Lansing, Mich., .in
his paper yesterday morning on "Drama
tizing," explained what was meant by the
term, the interest the pupils took in turn
ing the story into a drama and the
heightened effect of the story upon the
children when acted out by them or be
fore them.
Mr. Blalsdell spoke, in part, as follows:
"Dramatizing or the informal 'playing'
of stories by pupils, although already a
potent factor In the school room, has
been developed almost entirely within a
half dozen years. That it has had so
rapid a rise in favor is easily understood,
for children, with their active imagina
tions, are naturally actors, In their hun
ger to comprehend life they are impelled
to reproduce In their play the life about
them. Thus they are ready at a sugges
tion to reproduce In the school i m the
occupations of their parents and the
stories which they hear and read, for
such concrete presentation of them gives
a vital meaning and one that the child
readily understands.
Life Makes Orator
"Power to live through an experience
Imaginatively makes good oral readers as
will as appreclators "f literature. It Is
this power that dramatizing develops. In
order to play the parts in the story of
the boy who tailed wolf when there was
no wolf, thus alarming the reapers, the.
pupil must be the foolish boy or the
frightened and later impatient reapers,
or must have the cunning and ferocity of
the wolf. Every time he enacts such a
part he is training his mind to understand
more readily other stories, and thus to
lead with more expression Dramatizing
also makes self-conscious pupils forget
themselves and gives an interest and a
purpose i" the dull and listless pupils,
Ihus helping them to become better
readers.
"As a factor in teaching oral language
dramatizing Is potenl because it teaches
erve details, and thus to
think more clearly. It shows them a di
rect relation between literature and the
little events of their lives, and thus sug
gests their own unnumbered experiences
. bui j is ni conversation. It makes
their voices clearer when they speak,
as it removes self-consciousness. Besides
merits, dramatizing helps pupils
socially, teiches manners, improves con
duct In the school room, adds Interest and
spontaneity, develops Ihe love of litera
ture, and, ■■• tter than all else, gives boys
and sii!:-' unalloyed pleasure.
Dramatizing in Grades
"Although In in. i.,i schools dramatizing
is confined to pupils of ihe early years, it
la more and more being introduced into
grammar grades. Every teacher who be
gins thiM to make use of It finds it a
rful help. In time a system of
'dramatization running through all grades
the h!??h school will I"- developed.
It will prove especially helpful In mak
ing dudlls familiar \vith Ihe beautiful
makes them concrete.
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and thus easily remembered, in a way no
ether plan oan. And when used to make
vivid icenej from Rip Van Winkle, from
Miles Standlnh, and from other literary
masterpieces it Elves them new power.
"Sceniu accessories are seldom used,
and only such costunre.s as the cloak room
piovldes. The plays are given at such
times as the teacher may choose, but me
especially suitable to recess when out-of
doors play is Impossible. The school room
becomes thn stage, although some schools
are using the. play groirnd as well; and
the extension of this plan Is desirable.
Lastly, dramatizing is being introduced
with exceptional success Into the primary
york of Sunday schools. Here its power
of making the splendid stories of the
Bible simple and concrete Is making It a
potent factor both for arousing Interest
DRd for teaching truth."
The various topics of the morning were
summarized and unified in the general
discussion, led by John 8. Welch, super
visor of grammar grades, public schools,
Salt Lake City, I'tnh, which followed the
reading of the papers.
Dr. Frank F. Chamberlain of Los
Angeles ivii.i appointed chairman of the
nominating committee, and the other
members chosen were 3. L. Heeter of St.
LOS ANGELES HERALD: THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 11, 1907.
Paul. Minn., and Charles H. Kays of
Hartford, Conn.
The Art of Expression
Prof. McNelll spuoke on "Expression
by Hand." his address being in part
as follows:
"The school Is life as well as a train
ing for life. All movement toward self
realization Is at first vague, crude and
indefinite. The all-wise Creator decrees
It should be thus. Man In his systems
of science, philosophy, art and business
must never move from the vague, crude
and Indefinite to the clear, the finished
and the comprehended. The move
ment Is natural and the only possible
way of freedom of action, mental or
physical, lies in this direction.
"The utility of expression by the hand
Is no exception to the principle stated.
Some have thought of its coming
through music, some through drawing,
some through manual arts, some
through domestic science or domestic
arts, and others through artisan work
In wood. Iron, clay, leather or other
kinds of skilled labor. All nre right
In part, yet expression by the hand
means more than deftness In any line
of human effort. It is the soul express
liir- itself, in doinß what the mind has
Imagined, conceived or constructed. If
Is a test of the fullness of the execu
tive agencies of stimulation, guidance
and control. It is a high form of re
action by which the free play of motor
activity reinforces the development of
mental images or ideals. It is the
guided expression of motor impulses
which stimulates the senses to do their
work, a lack of which would inhibit
mental growth by letting the motor
Impulses go out towards wrong or triv
ial ends.
Harmonizes with Science
"A definition of expression by the
hand should harmonize with the latest
findings of science. It Is now held by
investigators of the localization of brain
functionb that manual expression en
riches the centers In front of the tissues
of Rolando and makes brain activity
more easy and vigorous In other direc
tions. It is known beyond any reason
able doubt that brain activity and brain
efficiency move together; that the en
richment of one urea by use makes
growth and development more certain
and more easy in other areas; and that
well developed lobes in front of the
flssue of Rolando were characteristic of
brains and some great men who gave
to the world thought expression
through the hand In one or more of Its
manifold modes of self-revclatlon.
"The mind works with images. There
ought to be a close relation between
tho motives for expression and the
images of the needs of tho home and of
the larger social units with which
pupils of different sections are familiar.
The images that form the most valunble
contents of children's minds are those
that appeal to Individual and social
necessities they can understand and ap
preciate. A scientific application of
expression by the hand would hardly
warrant children's making wooden nut
megs since thn national pure food laws
prevent their nttempted export sale .is
food. The ethical end of effort and the
Idea of practical utility come together
at many points; and true educational
guidanco makes all expression one's
best and therefore In some degree
ethical.
"In the modern interpretation of ex
pression by the hand, science guides
and precedes art. Science orders tho
doing and art, expressed, reveals and
reinforces the mind's perceptions, Im
ages and relations. The educator, hav
ing reached large and clear views or the
meaning of things ho teaches, causes in i
to follow scientific, knowledge. Ih«
wise superintendent requires general
culture, specific training In thn sole
and the art of teaching, and a compre
hensive and Kulded education In the
technical work to he done, of nil who
are to assume leadership In expression
by the hand.
"There are many who, having only an
empirical view of, oxprcssion by the
hand, make a great outcry imalnst the
crowded course of Instruction and object
to motor studies and rail them fads. I
quite agree with Superintendent 1,. D,
Harvey of Wisconsin In Haying that wo
teach too many details In subjects not
worth touching and In no doing waste
the time and energy of puplln; that
when books full Industrial training
which calls forth a high order of mental
activity is a time-saver; and that the
mental power gained by contact with
things gives a capacity for mastery
which holds tlm ihi|illh in IchOOl and
thus brings them under the Inlluenco of
cducatlonul agencies."
THE REASON
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MOTHER GRAYS
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