Illustrations of all kinds, from the concrete to the story form, have
been grossly misused in teaching, so that to-day teachers are almost
afraid to use any. The difficulty has been that illustrations have been
used as a means of regaining wandering attention. It has been the
sugar-coating. The illustration, then, has become the important thing
and the material nonimportant. The class has watched the experiment or
listened to the story, but when that was over the attention was gone
again. Illustrations should not be the means of holding the attention;
that is the function of the material itself. If the lesson cannot hold
the interest, illustrations are worse than useless. Illustrations, then,
of all kinds must be subordinated to the material--they are only a means
to an end, and that end is a better understanding of the material.
Illustrations, further, should have a vital, necessary connection with
the point they are used to make clearer. Illustrations that are dragged
in, that are not vitally connected with the point, are entirely out of
place. If illustrations always truly illustrated, then children would
not remember the illustration and forget the point, for remembering the
illustration they would be led directly to the point because of the
closeness of the connection.
Fourth, telling or lecturing is the best way to get appreciation. This
was discussed in the chapter on appreciation, so need only be mentioned
here. The interpretation by the teacher of the character, the picture,
the poem, the policy, or what not, not only increases the understanding
of the listener, but also calls up feeling responses. It is in this
telling that the personality of the teacher, his experiences, his
ideals, make themselves felt. One can often win appreciation of and
allegiance to the best in life by the use of the telling method in the
appropriate situations.
Fifth, the lecture method should sometimes be used as a means of getting
the desired mental attitude. The general laws of learning emphasize the
importance of the mind's set as a condition to readiness of neurone
tracts. Five or ten minutes spent at the beginning of a subject, or a
new section of work, in introducing the class to it, may give the
keynote for the whole course. A whole period may be profitably be spent
this way. Not only will the telling method used on such occasions give
the right emotional attitude towards a subject, but also the right
intellectual set as well.
It is evident then that the lecture or telling method has its place in
all parts of the educational system, but its place should be clearly and
definitely recognized. The danger is not in using it, but in using it at
the wrong time, and in overusing it. Bearing in mind the dangers that
adhere to its use, it is always well, whether the method is used in
grades or in college, to mix it with other methods or to follow it by
another method that will do the things that the lecture method may have
left undone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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