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Teaching Methods Observed While Instructing the Blind
TEACHING METHODS OBSERVED W H I L E INSTRUCTING T H E BLIND R. R. HANNAS N E W JERSEY AGRICULTURAI, E X P E R I M E N T
STATION
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
Methods used in teaching a class of blind students do not differ greatly from those used in teaching a class of sighted students. Lectures are given, recitations are held, examinations are given, laboratory work is required, and flock practice, too, is a part of the work. Yet these various items must, of necessity, be somewhat modified to meet the changed conditions ; lectures must not last longer than forty minutes—thirty minutes is better —and must contain only about half the material that would be given to a class of students with sight ; frequent repetition is necessary as well as a ten to fifteen minute recitation period each day on the preceding day's work or the work of the last few days to fix some special points in mind ; laboratory work cannot be too long—an hour is long enough—and a great deal of individual work is required ; practical work is absolutely essential. We are told that Nature provides for a loss in one part of the body by added strength in other parts and skill in the use of them. So with the loss in sight. When a man becomes blind, the other senses are quickened ; the hearing is keener, the sense of touch becomes more acute, and the memory is more highly developed. Since the main channel through which learning is acquired, namely sight, is eliminated, it is therefore up to the teacher to use the other channels more than he has been accustomed to. It is my opinion that this is the test of a successful teacher, for with a class of sighted students, many things explain themselves ; with a class of blind students, everything must be explained and taught and proper impressions formed. In my short experience in teaching the blind, I found that there a few pointers that I could use very profitably in teaching people with sight. One of the things that impressed me greatly was the necessity of creating in the minds of the students an accurate impression of the thing about which I was talking or the thing I was teaching them. This was true without a doubt with the blind, but is it not also true with those who can see? Just recall your school or college days and see if there were not some false impressions which you had obtained, impressions that
ME ΤΗ ODS OBSER VED INSTR UCTING THE BLIND
57
One of the best ways of fixing points in mind, in my experi ence, is by means of a short oral quiz at the beginning of each h o u r on the previous lecture. I t may easily be seen t h a t study ing from a book oir a series of lecture notes each evening is out "of the question for a blind man. T h e r e are only two books, as far as I know, on poultry subjects t h a t have been printed in the raised type for the blind. A t Evergreen we had several copies of these books but not enough for each s t u d e n t to have one. I t was therefore impossible for s t u d y i n g to be done by all at once. A s a result, no s t u d y i n g was done at all, and the only way in which I could get the material across was by lectures and by m a k i n g sure t h e y " got the stuff." T h e way I did this was by quizing and reviewing the previous lecture before starting another. Indeed, I frequently had to quiz t h e m about the same lecture several days in succession if I wanted a particular point to sink in. Do we who are teaching s t u d e n t s who see quiz t h e m as much as we should ? Are we sure t h a t it sinks in or a r e n ' t we generally in a h u r r y to cover so much ground t h a t we h a v e n ' t time to take for quizzing? I believe much could be cleared u p — m a n y wrong impressions, as suggested above, could be righted.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
clung for a long time and which m i g h t easily have been cleared u p had your instructor taken the trouble to form a correct im pression at the beginning. I n other words, do we n o t too often t a k e too much for granted ? I had a splendid example of this in my own case. I had been teaching housing and construction for about three weeks, and had explained or t h o u g h t I had explained, the arrangement of the interior of the laying house. On this particular day I have in mind, I had the class out in one of the houses e x a m i n i n g the construction, when one of the students suddenly made a discov ery ; he had found that the dropping boards ran along the rear wall instead of from back to front as he had supposed. He couldn't see the house ; he had never seen a chicken house with dropping boards before he lost his sight. W a s it his fault? T h e others in the class had gotten it, but he h a d n ' t . T h e r e was at least one mind in which I had not made an accurate impression of what I was t r y i n g to teach. I had t a k e n too much for granted. I feel t h a t we should be more careful to create accurate impres sions and to make sure that the points we are t r y i n g to make are firmly fixed in mind before going ahead.
58
PO UL TR Y SCIENCE
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
We all learn by doing whether we see or whether we are blind. Practical work is the finishing touch, we might say, to our theoretical training. With the blind it is more than a finishing touch—it is the primary method of instruction. I,earning by doing is necessary with students of this class because they can be shown no .other way ; an instructor can show the ordinary class how to mix feed, for example, but a blind man must do it to learn how. I have always been an ardent believer in a large amount of theoretical work for the average student, if I may use that term, but my past year's experience has shown me the very great necessity for more practical work in the form of flock management. Some of my blind students knew nothing about poultry before they lost their sight, some knew a little about it, all needed to get out and work with the birds and learn how to care for them properly. At first, I started them on a small flock of about twenty birds, next, I had them taking care of five .small flocks, then I changed them to a large flock of loo birds, then to 200 birds, and finally the whole plant of 500 birds, housed in three large houses and five small ones. My plan was to start one man at a time and let him go the rounds. By the end of the term, each man was taking entire care of the whole plant for a week. You know it is one thing to talk about taking care of a certain number of chickens and quite another thing to do the actual work. The boys realized this. Such a scheme as I have outlined developed confidence in the men in their ability to get around by themselves, taught them the actual things which had to be done each day in caring for the birds, and showed me who were the fellows that had gumption enough to get up at 6:30 in the morning and do chores and do them right. I believe that more of this flock practice should be required of students, both short course and long course. Of course, I mean to make it worth while ; let a man have a decent sized flock to begin with— don't require him to start out with a handful of birds and poor ones at that. I believe in making conditions as near as possible like those on a well managed farm so that the student can see accurately what problems he is likely to run up against and hâve a chance to know how to meet these problems. It was my plan, if I had remained at Evergreen, to a.ssign a pen of one hundred birds to each student to take care of and manage the financial
ME THODS OBSER VED INS TR UCTING THE BLIND
59
When I first went to Evergreen, I was prompted through sympathy to help the men in getting about and in doing little things for them that they might easily have done for themselves, and not to require too much of them. I soon got out of the notion, however, when I saw that it was the policy of the Institution to make the men dependent upon themselves rather than upon someone else. I decided to make the men dependent only upon themselves as far as the poultry work was concerned also. I think there may be a lesson for us here in the instruction of sighted students—not, of course, in making the students independent so that they may get around and take care of themselves —but in making the students sure of themselves as far as poultry raising is concerned, enabling them first of all to prevent serious situations from arising on a poultry farm, and second, should a serious situation arise, to know how to cope with it and get the better of it as a man with training should, rather than get cold
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
end of it as well for a year. If there were not enough pens to go around, I would let one man manage it for a month at a time at least. I believe the more practical work we can give our students, the better. Understand, I do not mean to eliminate any of the theoretical work—I merely ask for more practical work in the laboratories or in the form of flock management. There is one other observation I have made which it may be well to mention here. I found the need of developing a quality which I feel is important in any line of teaching, particularly in teaching the blind, a quality which is possessed by most teachers, and which is very easy to lose, namely, patience. I found that a very large supply of it was needed in my case especially when it was necessary to repeat a great deal of the work at times, and when I was trying to have a recitation. A factor that made the work particularly difficult was the lack of background in many cases ; none of the men had gone beyond the grammar school and some had gone no further than the fourth grade. You may well imagine that patience was a quality that necessarily had to be developed. However; it was a good thing for me, and I do not regret it, and I merely mention it at this time as being quite as necessary in teaching those who see as in teaching those who do not see, for I can call to mind teachers and instructors I have had who were woefully lacking in this respect.
60
POUL TR Y SCIENCE
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
feet and sell out—thereby adding another name to the list of those who started in the poultry business and failed. These are a few observations I made during the most interesting year's work I have ever done. Aside from the rehabilatation end of it, which was in itself gratifying, the teaching of the blind was most interesting. I, for one, feel that poultry keeping, where a blind man has someone to help him a little, as some member of his family, is not impractical for the blind. Indeed, I am watching with interest the projection of a movement to establish a community for the blind, where each man can have a' piece of land and raise poultry. If such a colony or community is established, I'm sure we who can see will have much to learn that will be of value to us along educational lines.
STATION
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
Methods used in teaching a class of blind students do not differ greatly from those used in teaching a class of sighted students. Lectures are given, recitations are held, examinations are given, laboratory work is required, and flock practice, too, is a part of the work. Yet these various items must, of necessity, be somewhat modified to meet the changed conditions ; lectures must not last longer than forty minutes—thirty minutes is better —and must contain only about half the material that would be given to a class of students with sight ; frequent repetition is necessary as well as a ten to fifteen minute recitation period each day on the preceding day's work or the work of the last few days to fix some special points in mind ; laboratory work cannot be too long—an hour is long enough—and a great deal of individual work is required ; practical work is absolutely essential. We are told that Nature provides for a loss in one part of the body by added strength in other parts and skill in the use of them. So with the loss in sight. When a man becomes blind, the other senses are quickened ; the hearing is keener, the sense of touch becomes more acute, and the memory is more highly developed. Since the main channel through which learning is acquired, namely sight, is eliminated, it is therefore up to the teacher to use the other channels more than he has been accustomed to. It is my opinion that this is the test of a successful teacher, for with a class of sighted students, many things explain themselves ; with a class of blind students, everything must be explained and taught and proper impressions formed. In my short experience in teaching the blind, I found that there a few pointers that I could use very profitably in teaching people with sight. One of the things that impressed me greatly was the necessity of creating in the minds of the students an accurate impression of the thing about which I was talking or the thing I was teaching them. This was true without a doubt with the blind, but is it not also true with those who can see? Just recall your school or college days and see if there were not some false impressions which you had obtained, impressions that
ME ΤΗ ODS OBSER VED INSTR UCTING THE BLIND
57
One of the best ways of fixing points in mind, in my experi ence, is by means of a short oral quiz at the beginning of each h o u r on the previous lecture. I t may easily be seen t h a t study ing from a book oir a series of lecture notes each evening is out "of the question for a blind man. T h e r e are only two books, as far as I know, on poultry subjects t h a t have been printed in the raised type for the blind. A t Evergreen we had several copies of these books but not enough for each s t u d e n t to have one. I t was therefore impossible for s t u d y i n g to be done by all at once. A s a result, no s t u d y i n g was done at all, and the only way in which I could get the material across was by lectures and by m a k i n g sure t h e y " got the stuff." T h e way I did this was by quizing and reviewing the previous lecture before starting another. Indeed, I frequently had to quiz t h e m about the same lecture several days in succession if I wanted a particular point to sink in. Do we who are teaching s t u d e n t s who see quiz t h e m as much as we should ? Are we sure t h a t it sinks in or a r e n ' t we generally in a h u r r y to cover so much ground t h a t we h a v e n ' t time to take for quizzing? I believe much could be cleared u p — m a n y wrong impressions, as suggested above, could be righted.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
clung for a long time and which m i g h t easily have been cleared u p had your instructor taken the trouble to form a correct im pression at the beginning. I n other words, do we n o t too often t a k e too much for granted ? I had a splendid example of this in my own case. I had been teaching housing and construction for about three weeks, and had explained or t h o u g h t I had explained, the arrangement of the interior of the laying house. On this particular day I have in mind, I had the class out in one of the houses e x a m i n i n g the construction, when one of the students suddenly made a discov ery ; he had found that the dropping boards ran along the rear wall instead of from back to front as he had supposed. He couldn't see the house ; he had never seen a chicken house with dropping boards before he lost his sight. W a s it his fault? T h e others in the class had gotten it, but he h a d n ' t . T h e r e was at least one mind in which I had not made an accurate impression of what I was t r y i n g to teach. I had t a k e n too much for granted. I feel t h a t we should be more careful to create accurate impres sions and to make sure that the points we are t r y i n g to make are firmly fixed in mind before going ahead.
58
PO UL TR Y SCIENCE
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
We all learn by doing whether we see or whether we are blind. Practical work is the finishing touch, we might say, to our theoretical training. With the blind it is more than a finishing touch—it is the primary method of instruction. I,earning by doing is necessary with students of this class because they can be shown no .other way ; an instructor can show the ordinary class how to mix feed, for example, but a blind man must do it to learn how. I have always been an ardent believer in a large amount of theoretical work for the average student, if I may use that term, but my past year's experience has shown me the very great necessity for more practical work in the form of flock management. Some of my blind students knew nothing about poultry before they lost their sight, some knew a little about it, all needed to get out and work with the birds and learn how to care for them properly. At first, I started them on a small flock of about twenty birds, next, I had them taking care of five .small flocks, then I changed them to a large flock of loo birds, then to 200 birds, and finally the whole plant of 500 birds, housed in three large houses and five small ones. My plan was to start one man at a time and let him go the rounds. By the end of the term, each man was taking entire care of the whole plant for a week. You know it is one thing to talk about taking care of a certain number of chickens and quite another thing to do the actual work. The boys realized this. Such a scheme as I have outlined developed confidence in the men in their ability to get around by themselves, taught them the actual things which had to be done each day in caring for the birds, and showed me who were the fellows that had gumption enough to get up at 6:30 in the morning and do chores and do them right. I believe that more of this flock practice should be required of students, both short course and long course. Of course, I mean to make it worth while ; let a man have a decent sized flock to begin with— don't require him to start out with a handful of birds and poor ones at that. I believe in making conditions as near as possible like those on a well managed farm so that the student can see accurately what problems he is likely to run up against and hâve a chance to know how to meet these problems. It was my plan, if I had remained at Evergreen, to a.ssign a pen of one hundred birds to each student to take care of and manage the financial
ME THODS OBSER VED INS TR UCTING THE BLIND
59
When I first went to Evergreen, I was prompted through sympathy to help the men in getting about and in doing little things for them that they might easily have done for themselves, and not to require too much of them. I soon got out of the notion, however, when I saw that it was the policy of the Institution to make the men dependent upon themselves rather than upon someone else. I decided to make the men dependent only upon themselves as far as the poultry work was concerned also. I think there may be a lesson for us here in the instruction of sighted students—not, of course, in making the students independent so that they may get around and take care of themselves —but in making the students sure of themselves as far as poultry raising is concerned, enabling them first of all to prevent serious situations from arising on a poultry farm, and second, should a serious situation arise, to know how to cope with it and get the better of it as a man with training should, rather than get cold
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
end of it as well for a year. If there were not enough pens to go around, I would let one man manage it for a month at a time at least. I believe the more practical work we can give our students, the better. Understand, I do not mean to eliminate any of the theoretical work—I merely ask for more practical work in the laboratories or in the form of flock management. There is one other observation I have made which it may be well to mention here. I found the need of developing a quality which I feel is important in any line of teaching, particularly in teaching the blind, a quality which is possessed by most teachers, and which is very easy to lose, namely, patience. I found that a very large supply of it was needed in my case especially when it was necessary to repeat a great deal of the work at times, and when I was trying to have a recitation. A factor that made the work particularly difficult was the lack of background in many cases ; none of the men had gone beyond the grammar school and some had gone no further than the fourth grade. You may well imagine that patience was a quality that necessarily had to be developed. However; it was a good thing for me, and I do not regret it, and I merely mention it at this time as being quite as necessary in teaching those who see as in teaching those who do not see, for I can call to mind teachers and instructors I have had who were woefully lacking in this respect.
60
POUL TR Y SCIENCE
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet University Library on June 1, 2015
feet and sell out—thereby adding another name to the list of those who started in the poultry business and failed. These are a few observations I made during the most interesting year's work I have ever done. Aside from the rehabilatation end of it, which was in itself gratifying, the teaching of the blind was most interesting. I, for one, feel that poultry keeping, where a blind man has someone to help him a little, as some member of his family, is not impractical for the blind. Indeed, I am watching with interest the projection of a movement to establish a community for the blind, where each man can have a' piece of land and raise poultry. If such a colony or community is established, I'm sure we who can see will have much to learn that will be of value to us along educational lines.