The Educator (Volume 45) - IAMPETH

Motivation
Appreciation for the value of good
writing must be cultivated. The
teacher's part in this cultivation is
motivation. "It is not enough to
conduct drill lessons each day. The
good teacher strives to develop a desire
to write skillfully."
Work prepared for display purposes
is a valuable means of increasing
effort and appreciation. I know
a certain school district in which the
annual school display forms the basis
of motivation for most of the school
subjects. Materials are collected
throughout the entire term for this
subject. Penmanship plays its part
in almost every department, and has
become the subject of comment many
times. Youngsters accompany their
parents to the various departments,
and the smile of satisfaction that
flashes when the teacher says to the
parents, "I want you to see how
John's writing has improved," is an
indication of practical appreciation.
The ability of various teachers in
departmental systems to strengthen
correlated subjects by means of devices
and projects has been a great
inspiration to me. I have selected
three of these projects and asked the
teachers to write their methods of
carrying out their work.
Miss Peebles' Project
The first project was directed by
Miss Lillias E. Peebles of West Newton,
executed by the pupils of her
seventh and eighth grades. I give
you the outline as Miss Peebles handed
it to me.
WRITING IN THE ENGLISH
SPEAKING AREAS
A. OBJECTIVES.
1. Major understanding to be
gained.
(A) That the writing of America
compares favorably
with writing systems used
in all parts of the world.
(B) Understandings of the inter-relations
between the
life of the English speaking
people and their natural
environments.
2. Suggested Activities.
(A) Study a physical-political
map of the world, find the
locations and list the
naines of the principal
parts of the British Empire.
(B) On an outline map of the
world have pupils color
uniformly each part of the
British Empire.
(C) Take imaginary journeys
to each; using the shortest
land and water routes
from Pennsylvania.
(D) Talk of the time it would
take a letter to make the
same joui-ney.
(E) Compare stamps and
stamp values. Bring in
stamp collections. Start
one for the class.
3. Development.
(A) Children were selected by
vote of the class to write
to a particular English
speaking country. (Each
child had previously demonstrated
his ability to
contact that special district.)
(B) A form letter was worked
out using the work from
each grade.
(C) Envelopes were addressed
as follows:
To the Eigth Grade
Teacher,
Kirkcaldy,
Fifeshire,
Scotland.
(D) Cities were chosen according
to population.
(E) Five cent stamps were
purchased.
4. Culmination.
(A) Upon receipt of a reply
each child gathered a
specimen from each grade,
mounted the examples,
and the class compared
values.
T. M. Minster, Greenburg,
Pa., the penmanship supervi-
sor came to the Zanerian to
specialize in handwriting and
supervision work in 1922. During
the summer school Mr.
Minster took a very active part
in the social part of the school
work. Mr. Minster has had
many years of valuable experience
in supervision work.
(B) Various kinds of printing
and script were compared
and the conclusions tabulated.
(C) The class voted American
writing was of superior
quality and style.
5. Evidence of Pupil Growth.
(A) Greater attention was paid
to the writing forms of
each individual. It had
been proven legible forms
were esssential.
(B) The habit of recalling that
world cultural changes
have been effected by geographic
adjustments was
strengthened.
(C) Skill in interpreting a map
showing distribution of
population was noticeably
increased.
(D) Skill in letter writing was
advanced.
(E) Vocabulary Concepts,
antipodes
commonwealth
15
isolation
monsoon
hemisphere
hydro-electricity in Tasmania
work market.
6. Desirable feelings, attitudes,
and appreciations.
(A) Appreciation of the advantage
of arm movement
compared with the jerky
drawing of each letter as
found in most countries.
(B) Appreciation of the similar
state of civilization in
English speaking areas.
(C) Recognition of opportunities
for mutual helpfulness
between the United States
and other countries.
7. Games which were used to keep
up the interest while waiting
for replies from Africa and
Asia.
(A) Each child gave an original
pantomime from his
selected country.
(B) Pictures and slides were
shown for correct tabulation.
(C) Each child pretended to be
a land owner and gave a
political speech giving his
platform and the reforms
which he would promise.
Miss Elwood's Project.
The second project is a device used
with much success by Miss Irene Elwood
of Vandergrift. Miss Elwood
teaches the fifth grade. The following
is her own description:
"Regarding your request for information
concerning the motivation of
writing in my classroom, please be
advised the following procedures
have produced in my opinion quite
satisfactory results.
"At the beginning of the school
term, there was instilled in each,
scholar the desire to achieve distinctive
handwriting. As a result writing
is of prime importance to each
individual in our classroom.
Six Quality Slips
"Since we stressed (1) Line Quality,
(2) Letter forms, (3) Size, (4)
Slant, (5) Spacing, and (6) Alignment
this month, each child was
given an envelope on which he inscribed
his name. Each envelope
contained six colored slips of paper,
one for each of the aforementioned
qualities. On all papers which were
handed to me for correction, including
writing, geography, and English,
these qualities were checked. If any
were lacking, the slip representing
the quality which needed special attention
was taken from the envelope
and placed on the child's desk as a
concrete reminder during the work
that followed. Specimens were carefully
checked to discover whether or
not this system was of practical
value. If during the month no slips
were removed, a special award was
made to that student.