Evening star., 1937-09-13
Start New
Term Off
Properly
First Week Is Most
Critical Period
for Training.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

HE new term brings new pupils.
The teacher is likely to forget
that the habits she drilled into the
last class are unknown to this one.
The routine established so carefully
last term has to be as carefully es-
tablished again if things are to move
with ease and speed and regularity.
First. traffic regulations. All move
ments to the right. Down this aisle,
up that. Always. All outer clothing,
sweaters and coats and caps and over
shoes in the wardrobe. on the hooks,
in the boxers assigned for them. All
group movements to signals. The
careful teacller teaches these move
ments as a lesson during the first
week and keeps at them until they
are routined.
Teach responses to rapid drills, or
fire alarms, the first week, and keep
teaching them until they are swift,
silent and sure Make these serious
class room exercises, no Jokes about
them. See that there are several
good leaders for such drills, 80 that
if one is absent there will be no hesi-
tation at critical points.
Teach children how to collect and
distribute materials. Train the moni-
tors. Good service means well-trained
servers. One cannot take monitors
for granted. Use different monitors
for each set of materials; train them
to responsibility and they will get
something very precious out of their
term Of Office. Memberships are not
prizes. They are responsibilities as
signed members of class. duties to
be performed and measured as 10
efficiency.
Don't make rules. Don't say, IF a
pupil does this l will do thus to him"
A young teacher grew weary of the
steady stream of leavers and said
The next child that asks to leave
the room is going to go to the princi-
pals office" The next child who
needed to go from the room was afraid
to ask. Make conditions the basis of
whatever statement you make. of
whatever action you take, and don't
meet things before they come to you.
Keep free to use your good sense.
AS to leaving the room There
will be no problem about this If the
children are interested in their work.
Improve the teaching; improve the
appeal of the lesson; get the children
to like what they are doing by giving
them work that they can do. They
like what they can do well. Make
that the starting place. Let anybody,
who asks, go. Keep record without
saying too much about it and at the
end Of the week look it over. Select
those who have gone too often and
have their health investigated at once
! The rest will take care of itself when
the work is right.
Make no loud complaint about the
late pupil. Impress him of the i'm
portance of those early minutes by
| making important use of them. Stop
| ping to scold the late pupil takes the
time of the class. If it we're really
important to use that time would you
waste it that way? Wave the child
70 his seat without stopping an in
stant. Do your talking TO him later,
| in private.
Do your correcting in private, If at
all Usually you will find that silence,
a keen interest in the preservation
of the lesson, its point, its time, its
result, will carry the whole of the
matter. Let the first week be set
right and the term has a fine start.
Mr.. Patri has prepared a leafet
entitled Annoying Habits" in which
he tells parents how to cope with
some of the common infantile faults
Send for it, addressing your request
to Mr.. Angelo Patri, Child Psychol-
ogy Department of this paper. and
inclose a self-addressed, stamped
l3-cent) envelope
| tCopyrisht. 1872