Blog #3 - Myers Article

Hello again, Everyone.

I would like to begin today's blog by saying: It's good to see how far we've come. In Myers article sent to us via email from Dr. Kist, an excerpt from Changing Our Minds: Negotiating English and Literacy, Myers writes about some of the more antiquated tactics (to say the least) used by teachers to teach discipline and naturalization of American culture to students.

Myers writes that a very popular role of the teacher was "Drillmaster", a role in which the teacher would lead students through the lesson- providing the students only with the information the teacher deemed appropriate. Much more interesting than the role of the teacher in the classroom were the methods that teachers of the time employed to teach their lessons to students.

One method Myers gives us is called the "toe-the-line" method. This method required that students stand perfectly erect, with good posture, and read aloud to the class. This exercies was intended to increase students' mastery of volume control and oral recitation. And while yes, this is a somewhat silly sounding exercise, I believe that we still see its subtler applications in schools today. I remember many times when growing up when I would have to read aloud to the class for a length of time, whether it be for an in-class reading activity or reciting our papers to the class, we had to read aloud on many occasions throughout the school year.

Another tactic used by these "old-time" educators was a method used for voice control, called the "spelling board". The spelling board was a chalkboard, fixed on a fulcrum and able to spin, that the teacher would use to facilitate spelling lessons. If the board were positioned upright- students were to spell words quietly to themselves; if the boad was angled- in a low voice; if the board was flipped- students were allowed to shout the spelling words as loud as they liked. This kind of concept seems strikingly similar to methods I've seen used since I've began my student teaching. I haven't busted out any of my old pedigogy texts to sift through countless pages in order to bring this method's name to light for all of you; but I can describe it to you. The main idea that I see in this "old-time" method and what I've seen in our modern schools is this: It's a good idea to let students to raise a ruckus on occasion when it is discretely sanctioned by the teacher to do so. In other words, students often tend to be restless and easily distracted in school. If they are allowed to relieve some of that restlessness they will be more apt to pay attention when they are brought back to focus by the teacher. So, the teacher permits, rather encourages, the students to be loud and boisterous for a controlled length of time.

The third tactic used by the teachers of yester-year were mouth-movement exercises. This was an exercise in which the students would move their mouths to form all the basic sounds of the English language. Students with the best "mouth wagging" abilities would be complemented on their good form.

The interesting thing about all of these strategies in how "lower-order" they are in relation to Bloom's Taxonomy. Basically, the ideas only require that students be able to recite text, complete basic oratory motor functions such as voice control and sound articulation, and recall basic facts or lines of text from memory. These srategies reflected the notion of education at the time: Teachers are distributors of knowledge and students are to retain what they are taught and be able to recall it.

I think that it's safe to say that, in general, today's teachers have come a long way since the "oldin-days" of education. Thank goodness. Although, you will see a lot of similar exercises still used in modern ESL classrooms.

Keep it classy, Kent State.

-Sam