Evening star., 1936-09-22

Needed in
Teaching
Child's Ability
Before Assigning
Special Work.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

WHEN teaching children to do any
sort of work be sure to arrange
things so that the results will be
acceptable to the working child. II
his finished work is not up to ex-
pectations he is discouraged and 1t
takes a lot of initiative to overcome
such discouragement.
Make the first steps easy. If there
is a difficult place for the beginner,
be on hand to help him get by. If
he gets into trouble with his material,
or tools, go to his rescue. straighten
him out, let him rest while before
going on. The first steps in any new
work are hard to master, the learner
is timid, his hands are inexperienced
in the movements. and so are clumsy
Don't act as though this surprised
you, but smooth it over and help the
child carry on. He will master the
difficulties sooner. and his desire to
continue the work will last longer.
The brighter the intelligence Of
the worker the less help he will need.
The duller the intelligence, the more
help. the simpler the task. the sooner
completed job are indicated. When
the teacher is dealing with children
of low intelligence she will find 1t best
to hand the child an almost COM
pleted task. He is shown how to
make the finishing stitches, or strokes,
and he has the satisfaction Of feeling
he has completed a good job. 1t looks
we'll.
The finished job must look well to
the worker or he will not want to
own 1t. There is no pride Of work.
manship to be had in a poor job.
This pride, however. is the stimulus
that is needed to make worker carry
on over the difficulties to completion.
If the child can have the satisfaction
Of feeling he has completed the job,
and that it is good. he has a fine
start for the next step. That holds
good in every situation of learning,
but it Is crucial where children have
dificulty in accomplishing their work.
Assure a finished job that looks well.
No, this will not teach him that
he can claim work he did not do.
He knows he did not do it all. BY
finishing it well, and getting the JOY
out of the doing, he is stimulated to
want to do more That is the way
to keep him interested and at work.
I saw q shop teacher practice this
principle of teaching in class OF
boys who were making boats. The
boats were in all stages of construc-
ton. One boy, plainly Of lower power
than the others, was painstakingly
sandpapering a hull. He was taking
great care in rubbing along the grain,
changing his paper, dusting the wood.
Plainly this sandpapering was Of the
utmost Importance. asked him
about his boat.
This is the teachers boat. He
made it, and he is letting me sand
paper 1t for him. 1t is coming on
fine. If get it good and smooth,
with no scratches on it, it will take
q good finish. I'm the only one that
he can let sandpaper his boats"
This lads hands were clumsy and
they trembled as they rubbed the
dainty hull, but the lad was happy
and he was doing a good job by the
end Of the school year, just 10 months
Of practicing 40 minutes q day, this
boy made a boat that was the rival of
the best in the shop. But remember,
he began at the end of the job and
worked slowly backward.
Didn't you eat cookie before you
ever made one?
Mr.. Patri will give personal atten-
ton to inquiries from parents and
school teachers on the care and
development of children. Write
him in care Of this paper, inclos-
ing q Scent stamped, self-ad-
dressed envelope for reply.
tcopyrisht, 1850