1083673

Educational Objectives and the Joys of Teaching Author(s): Philip W.
Jackson and Elizabeth Belford Source: The School Review, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 267-291 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1083673 . Accessed: 05/11/2013 19:55
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PHILIP W. JACKSON ELIZABETH BELFORD

University of Chicago
and theJoys Educational Objectives of Teaching

INTRODUCTION
In teaching,as in every craft, there are mastersfrom whom apprentices can and should learn. The professionas a whole might gain much from such persons,but, as Dewey observed,"the successes of such individualstend to be born and to die with them; beneficial consequencesextend only to those pupils who have personal contact with such gifted teachers." He continued, ". . . the only way
by whichwe can preventsuchwaste in the futureis by methodswhich enable us to make an analysisof what the gifted teacher does intuitively, so that something accruing from his work can be communicated to others."' A majordifficultyin following Dewey's advice is containedin the first step of deciding which teachersshall be consideredgifted. The criteria of teaching effectivenessare notoriouslyelusive. Selection accordingto one standard,such as growth in student achievement, will not necessarilyreplicatethe results obtained by applyingsome other standard,such as the judgment of administrative superiors.2 Under these circumstances, the best approachto the problemmight be to apply many differentcriteria, selecting as gifted only those teacherswho are outstandingon all or most of them. Unfortunately, the cost and complexity of such a proceduremake it impractical except in researchfocusing exclusively on the question of teacher effectiveness.If we are to move ahead in answeringother questions before the debate over the definitionof good teachingis adequately
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resolved, the only alternativeis to select the criterionthat seems most appropriatefor each research project, and then use proper caution and restraintin treatingthe results. In the presentstudy the judgmentsof administrators were used to teachers.It is recognizedthat adminidentify a groupof outstanding istratorsmay differin their definitionsof "good teacher,"and their direct knowledge of some teachers'classroompracticesmust surely be minimal.Nonetheless,in most school systems, reputationshave a way of spreading,and after a time a teacher'smerits,as perceived by students, parents, and fellow teachers, and as reflected in test scores and other indicators of student achievement, are likely to become known to the administrator, particularlywhen the teacher is judged to be unusuallygood or bad. Of course,when the evidence is scanty or conflicting,the administrator may have to rely on his own contact with a teacherto make a judgment.But hopefully,for a few fortunateindividualsthe signs of teaching talent are neither If the administrator were requiredto nominate scantynor conflicting. as outstandingonly a very small number of his staff, presumably he would tend to choose those for whom there is this surfeit of evidence. His nominees-the teachersto whom he points with pride -seem like reasonablyattractiveobjectsof study if we hope to learn something about teaching from those who have the reputationof practicingit with great skill. After identifying the objects of the administrator's pride, we are next faced with the questionof how best to study them. Perhaps,as Dewey's suggestion implies, the ideal way to learn from such teachersis to watch them in action. Certainlymost of our teacher educatorsbehave as if this were so. Observationtypically plays an But the teacher'sclasspart in teacher-training important programs. room behaviordoes not always reveal the orienting attitudes from which specific actions spring. Talk is necessary, particularlytalk about the professionalaspects of life in the classroom.Two aspects of that life are especially intriguingbecause they are related to so many other educationalquestions:the ways by which the talented teacher judges her own professionalsuccess, and the qualities of
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life from which she derivesher majorsatisfactions.These classroom in teaching-provide two interrelated topics-success and satisfaction the focus of the study describedhere.3
THE SAMPLE
Intensive interviews were conducted with twenty elementaryschool teacherswho were consideredoutstandingby their principals or superintendents or both. The samplewas drawnfrom a metropolitan private school and from the public schools of three suburban communities.The private-schoolteachers were well known by one of the authorsand were selected on the basis of a consultationwith the principaland a personalknowledge of their reputationsin the school. The public school teacherswere identifiedby administrators who were requested to select a small number of their very best teachers.The generalpurposeof the interview ("to learnmoreabout how outstandingteachersview their work") was disclosed to both and the teachers.With but two exceptionsall of the administrators were interviewed. the teachersnominatedby the administrators A sampleas small and as highly select as the one consideredhere is difficultto treatas representative of any largergroup.Nonetheless, the responsesof these particulartwenty teacherswere examinedin the hope that they would contribute to our understandingof the teaching process in general. The question of how many other teachers share our subjects'views of life in the classroomis more relevantto some aspects of the findingsand their implicationsthan to others. This question will be treated in some detail after the findings have been presented.Meanwhile,to the extent that inference to a larger population is warranted, the present sample is probably best thought of as representingthose elementary-school teachers who rise to positions of leadership and respect in "advantaged"school systems.
THE INTERVIEW
The interviews,with one exception,were conductedin the schools in which the teachersworked.In all but two or three instancesthe
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teachers were interviewed in their own classrooms. The classroom setting was chosen for two reasons. First, it was believed teachers would feel most comfortable there. Second, because the interview focused on classroom events, it was thought desirable to surround the teacher with as many memory aids as possible. It is not known whether or not these expectations were justified, but in the one case in which the interview was held in the office of one of the authors, the teacher in question seemed rather uncomfortable and gave shorter and less elaborate responses than did the other teachers. Typically the interview lasted an hour, although some ran as long as two hours. With one exception the interviews were taped and a typed transcript was prepared later. An interview schedule was used, but the order in which the questions were asked varied slightly from one subject to the next. Leading questions (e.g., "What are the major sources of satisfaction in your work?") were asked at several points in the interview and the teacher was encouraged to elaborate upon her initial response. In many instances the teachers covered the questions on the interview schedule without having them specifically asked, but if it appeared that a particular question was not going to be covered spontaneously, the interviewer asked it directly. Because the sample was small and the interview loosely structured, a quantitative summary of the teachers' responses is inappropriate. Further, only a small portion of the total interview material is treated in the present paper. Accordingly, verbal descriptions of the total group of responses are given, supported by verbatim excerpts from representative interviews. Unless otherwise indicated, the quoted excerpts are intended to illustrate points of view judged to be typical of the total group or a dominant subgroup of these outstanding teachers.
RESULTS
In the most global terms, the goal of the schools is to promote learning. Thus, ideally, we might expect teachers to derive a major
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source of their satisfactionsfrom observinggrowth in achievement on tests of amongtheir students.Further,the students'performance achievement (commercialor teacher-made)would seem to provide objectiveand readilyobtainedevidence of this growth.Logically at least, the conscientiousteacher ought to point with pride or disappointment to the gains or losses of students as measured by test But, as is often true in human affairs,the logical did performance. not occur. One of the most interesting features of the interview materialwas the absenceof referenceto objectiveevidence of school learningin contexts in which one might expect it to be discussed. Indeed, even when asked how they knew when they had done a good job, these outstandingteachers almost never mentioned looking for gains in test scores. Instead they more often describedcues obtainedfrom student behaviorduring the teaching session. As an instance, success in capturingand holding students' attention was frequentlymentionedas an indicatorof teaching effectiveness.One teacherdescribedin the followingway the evidence of effectiveness on which she typically relies.
When the kids are sparking and interested and excited in what they're doing. I think it's the feeling of the class and it's the way the class behaves. I don't think you can tell off in a vacuum and I don't think you can tell by the objectives and I don't think you can tell by the tests. It's the degree to which, I guess, they feel part of the activities of the room and participate in
them with some pleasure. [T 11, p. 34]4
The student'sexpressionof interest and enthusiasm-his willingness to become involved and to participate in classroomaffairsprovides the teacher with immediatefeedback on the effectiveness of her behavior.The following commentsare typical of those that mentionthe student'sinvolvementas a measureof teaching success.
. . . when they are eager, I think that's your best clue to whether it's going across or not. [T 3, p. 14] Their interest in something, whether I've gotten my points across to them, without a test, or just in casual conversationif they're making use of those points, I can tell whether I've gotten acrossto them or not. [T 9, p. 32]
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Although teaching might be thought of as being chiefly concerned with cognitive reorganization-with producing invisible changes within the student-this select group of teachers did not rely very much on pious hopes concerning the "unseen harvests" of their labor. In their view the results of teaching were quite visible. In some instances the most important behavioral indicators were those reflecting intellectual progress; in others, as we have seen, the visible signs that counted most were those that give evidence of the students' total involvement in the task at hand.
But I think you can see your progress-oh, one instance this year that happened, they were having a modern math demonstration and I really didn't know if I was doing this right or if they were learning anything, and so they
happened to pick my room to give the demonstration in. . . . And I didn't
know how it would turn out. But behavior-wise and everything, they were beauti-- They just were wonderful. I couldn't believe it was my group of children. And I think times like that it shows up . . . I was very pleased; so I got an idea they were getting some of this.. Little things like that go on--. [T 17, p. 22]
For some teachers the expressions on the students' faces are sufficient. When asked how she would determine when a lesson had gone particularly well, one teacher replied:
The reaction, I think, of the children and what they seem to have gained from it. Their interest, their expressions, the way they look. [T 2, p. 18]
A teacher in the middle grades reported this example of intellectual discovery and its facial consequences:
. .. the day we were talking about (language) one of them wondered, came up later and said, "If we didn't have words, there'd be no knowledge and we couldn't tell anybody anything. All we could do is feel." And you could just tell from the look on her face that this whole thing suddenly had dawned on her. [T 13, p. 9]
Of course the teacher's interpretation of these signs is not infallible, as is indicated by the following comment from a teacher who was asked how she knew when she was doing a good job:
It's a feeling, also, as I said before. And maybe I am overly enthusiastic; I may not be reaching them, I may just be so elated and think "Boy, that's
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great!"and then I get down and they may be sitting there, "What'sshe doing?" [T 12, p. 17]
Somewhat less fleeting than alert expressions and raised hands are indications that the student is willing to work above and beyond minimal expectations. These signs of a more enduring interest appear in a variety of forms.
They bring things to you, well, like articles out of magazines; maybe they'll draw a picture. Especially for science or geography, they'll draw maps or something. I mean, to me, that shows they must be interested if they've taken time and they'll bring it on paper . . . They'll ask me things they can do so to me that shows me that they're interested. [T 9, p. 32] Oh, another way, whether or not they bring . . . slides of a certain thing; whether they bring in little pamphlets from the World's Fair, you know, for current events. A visitor, a cousin from out of town, "Could she please stay here for the morning?"You figure you've got something. Maybe the mother tried to get rid of the child for the afternoon. But there are, well, parents, who come in to school; the child wants them to see what we're doing. [T 12, p. 16] I think, their responses and their interest-well, for science, if they bring the things in that they need for experiments. [T 3, p. 14] If I have encouraged them to do more than what is basic, the type of thing that they have to do, the textbook readings in the basic text-if they have gone out into other books and tried to find pictures and other things, then I feel that at least I-they are interested in the subject and have tried. [T 1, p. 14]
Testing, when it is mentioned at all, is given little emphasis. These teachers treat it as being of minor importance in helping the teacher understand how well she has done. Among the twenty interviews the most enthusiastic statement about testing was the following from a fifth-grade teacher who described how she knew when she was doing a good job.
Well, I don't rely entirely on tests. And their attitude toward their work, and I usually find out what they knew before we started, and see-well, I can tell by their tests, I can tell by their attitude, and we usually make notebooks and I rely quite a bit on the notebook and that type of research-[T 1, p. 14]
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Several reasons for the teacher's avoidance of paper-and-pencil tests are hinted at in the interviews. In the very early grades, for example, there are few commercial tests available even if the teacher wanted to use this kind of formal evaluation.
Well, as far as testing goes in second grade, you really-if you want to look at the test results to get the answers there really isn't anything in second grade. Oh, I mean just little basic things that you've made up, like they use the Iowa Test and so forth in third grade, and the only way you can tell from these is to look the following year. You have no way the whole year to find out. [T 17, p. 22]
Also, in schools having a formal achievement-testingprogram, the results,if they are ever reportedto the teacher, arrivetoo late to do much good. When asked whether she used objective achievement data providedby the central office,one teacher commented,
Sometimes. Sometimes I-for instance when the kids get the standardized scores at the end of the year, I'm always very anxious to see those and see how they made out. By that time it's too late to do anything about it; that's one of the things. [Interviewer: But might it affect what you do with the next group?] With the next class? Not terribly. [T 11, p. 35]
From a psychologicalviewpoint, however, the scarcity of useful instruments and poor administrativepractices in handling them are not as importantas is a general distrust of tests that was evident in several of the interviews.Two majorforms of this distrust can be identified.First is the belief that childrenbehave atypically on tests; that test informationoften does not confirmthe teacher's when judgmentderived from her classroomcontacts. Furthermore, these contradictionsbetween test scores and teacher judgment occur, the teacher seems more likely to deny the accuracy of the than to alterher previousassessmentof the student. test information The following set of remarkstypify this point of view.
Well, I have written tests, but I don't count that as a large part, because I know myself, I've gotten C's on a written test and-especially if I knew I was going to have it . . . I think oral participation in class I stress; their interests. .. . [T 9, p. 30]
I mean tests of course will help some, but I don't think the child always responds on a test so that you can tell exactly what progress he's made. I
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mean, a lot of them just never do well on a test, but on their daily work they probably show that they're making some progress. And I think their attitude too; you find that they come in sometimes and they-they have so many dislikes, and "I don't like this," "I can't do this." And when their attitude begins to change, and they enjoy it and they can do something, why then I find that-I feel that they're making progress then, and I can see progress too. [T 10, p. 20] And actually I'd say that at times it's discouraging, because you feel like you have-well, you feel like you've covered stuff very thoroughly, and you give a test and you see the scores, and you think "Oh my! Did I really teach this?" And then I stop and I say, I think, well, they have certainly learned more than they knew before, and you can't expect them to get every little detail.... [T 1, p. 6]
A second form of distrust is represented by the suspicion that performance on achievement tests is more a reflection of native ability than of teaching effectiveness. Thus, when annual gains or losses are observed, they are often interpreted as "natural" phenomena whose informational value to the teacher is very small. A third-grade teacher puts the matter this way:
Don't you think your test grades-Well, of course, the achievement is part, but then you can't compare this classroom's results with another classroom's results because you have entirely different children. And I don't think we should judge accomplishment by the test results, by the child's achievement. No, I think-well, I so well recall the class that I had that went all the way from 3-1 to 4-2 and just imagine, workbook and all, and still had time left over. I've never had a class like it-since or before. Well, I would hate to have that class's achievement records put beside, well, let's say, last year's which wasn't very good. The achievement was all right, district-wise and nationalwise, but to put those two side by side, I either didn't do a good job last year, or I did an outstanding job that other year. And it wasn't that. It's just that I had the material to work with. That was all. [T 3, p. 15]
A fourth-grade teacher made the following comment when asked to describe the conditions under which her teaching behavior would be influenced by the test performance of her students:
It would if, for instance, all my kids had low reading scores. This isn't going to happen. I mean, it may not have anything to do with the teacher when that happens. [T 11, p. 36]
In the extreme case objective testing is perceived as being under the control of the authorities, completely unconnected with teaching
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objectives and with the routine of the classroom. When this point of view is present, it is hardly surprising to find the teacher looking upon testing as if it were just a nuisance.
Well, I was very upset that I had to spend an hour on standardized testing. Just for the SMSG book, to find out whether or not they know the math, because I know what they know. Except it is a survey, so we have to do that. [T 12, p. 21] I think of some of the things that make me tired-today was a very tiring day, because the children were tested this morning, and actually I didn't do much. You know, I graded their papers and that's it. I'd rather have an active day. I think I'm more tired after a day of doing nothing. [T 9, p. 12]
In sum, then, the interview excerpts suggest that the outstanding elementary teacher does not often turn to objective measures of school achievement for evidence of her effectiveness and as a source of professional satisfaction. The question of how well she is doing seems to be answered for most of these teachers by the continual flow of information from the students during the teaching session. Spontaneous expressions of interest and enthusiasm are among the most highly valued indicators of good teaching, although the quality of the student's contributions to daily sessions is also mentioned frequently. Before leaving this discussion of teachers' attitudes toward tests, it is necessary to point out that the focus of the interview questions was on the teacher's evaluation of her own work, rather than on the teacher's evaluation of her students' work. This distinction may not seem too important at first glance because the teaching and learning are closely intertwined in most educational discussions. If the teacher were doing her work well, we might expect to find that the student was doing his work well. Logically, at least, evidence of teaching effectiveness ought to be interchangeable with evidence of learning effectiveness. But, as most educators know, things are not that simple. The criteria of good teaching are not necessarily synonymous with the criteria of scholastic attainment. Thus, teachers might respond quite differently if the question "How can you tell when you are doing a good job of teaching?" were changed to "How
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can you tell when your students are doing a good job of learning?" In the presentset of interviewsthe emphasiswas on teachingrather than learning. Thoughfleetingsigns of studentattentionand involvementdoubtlessly are gratifyingto the teacher, they are not the greatest satisfactionsthat life in the classroom has to offer.The joys of teachingfor at this least of devoted is a more and, group professionals, "joys" accurate word than "satisfactions"-the of are joys teaching many. are as we not have the to business of official limited, seen, They achieving educational objectives (though that may account for and part of them); instead they reflectthe variety of responsibilities of the elementary-school opportunities that comprise the role teacher. One way of organizingthis assortmentof pleasures is to orderthem in terms of the intensity of emotionalinvolvementeach entails. At one extreme would be the continual satisfaction,usually of low intensity,that comes from thinkingof oneself as servinga good cause.A sense of personalusefulnesscomes closest to describingthis class of satisfactions.As one suburbanteacher puts it,
I think it's kind of like missionary work. I've always been very socially minded, and I think that we really do have a lot of work to be done right in these communities,not just in the underprivileged-of course the other, too. [T 12, p. 20]
A distinguishingfeature of the elementaryteacher'smissionary The teachernot only work,is, of course,the age of its beneficiaries. helps people, she helps them at the most crucial time of their lives -when they are young.
Well, I think when you're helping young people, and-I don't know, it's rather hard to answer. You're teaching them something new all the time, you're helping them to develop, especially down at this age, if they do not get a good background-this is my feeling anyway, I don't know about anyone else, but I feel that if they do not have a good backgroundby the time they come out of second grade, that they will have trouble going on. [T 17, p. 23]
Underlyingthe sense of usefulness, then, is a spirit of urgency. Like the missionary, the teacherhas only a limited time to complete
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her work. Moreover, if she does not succeed, the ill effects may be irreparable. The possibility of failure, of time running out, and of wasted efforts introduces an element of risk and danger to the teacher's task that is absent in many of the "safer"forms of social service-such as the ladies' aid volunteers. Also, the fact that the teacher might fail means, of course, that she might succeed. Her perception of student progress, as an informal indicator of her success, is mentioned by several teachers as an important source of satisfaction providing a more intense emotional experience than those derived from the mere fact of membership in a good cause. The following set of quotations eptomizes this point of view.
Let's see, the rewards. I think just seeing them happy and seeing them progress is the biggest reward. [T 3, p. 27] Seeing a child be successful. I think this is the thing we are striving for, really, in education. We want to see a child find his place in life and be successful, and when he's on the road to this, even in school-We watch, at least I do; I watch my youngsters as they go along and progress. I check up with the fourth-grade teachers and see if-whether or not there are strengths or weaknesses or things that I should have been doing with them to help them along the way. [T 2, p. 20] Well, progress for one thing. I mean we try to keep a very close-I try to keep a very close check as to how they're getting along. I feel that if I have a child that comes in the fall and has many problems, many difficulties, and he overcomes some of those, then I feel that we're making progress, and we're getting someplace. [T 10, p. 20] I get a bang out of seeing their faces light up with an idea, or a sense of accomplishment. [T 11, p. 50]
In the last quotation, the words "bang"and "light up" call attention to a characteristic of classroom life that provides an additional source of emotional arousal and satisfaction: the frequent occurrence of unexpected events. The fact that no one can predict with great accuracy what a day's teaching holds in store creates, at least for the teacher who craves variety, an atmosphere of pleasant anticipation about her work, perhaps even excitement. This feeling is well expressed in the following quotation:
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. . I just wish that everyone could feel an excitement that there is in teaching of-the eagerness to get into the classroom. And it's the strangest thing, I'm sure that you must feel it too, even on your level, that no matter if you're sad, or if you don't feel well, or, you know, even if things aren't the rosiest, you can come in in the morning and someone will come up, and it's gone. All of a sudden if he's sad, if the child is sad, you forget, you know. Because either you're needed, or maybe a child has come in with something they just have to tell you, you know, and it's just the biggest thing in the world. And all of a sudden you know you forget. And I just wonder if there are other occupations like this, where people, you know, find the same gratification. [T 16, p. 11]
Elements of the unexpected and of surprise are also prominent in the following statement:
Oh-well, I've mentioned some of them. Class discussion that veers in a surprisingdirection, that you never thought it'd go. And it goes higher than you ever dreamed possible. A child who will-well, for example, who never had any ideas that showed, and suddenly makes an observation, brings two things together: "That's just like this." Well, sometimes it's a joy from one kid who suddenly made a spurt and did something that you never thought he could do. Sometimes it's a whole class that does something together that you never thought a class could do. ... Well, a little girl one year, she was in the fifth grade, and after class one day she came up and she said, "I just learned how to divide." That was that day-it was that class period, I don't know how it happened, but it happened. [T 13, p 41]
Of course, surprising and unexpected classroom events do not always have to do with the attainment of learning goals. Sometimes a student's behavior is just plain amusing or entertaining, and has little or no relevance to educational matters.
Oh, I enjoy children's reactions to things, and the things that they say. Things that they do; they're so funny, sometimes, I have wished sometimes that I had time to write a book, but you can't put them down on paper and make them sound as funny as they really are when they happen. [T 2, p. 10]
The unexpected events of the classroom vary considerably in size and importance, from small happenings that are often merely funny or annoying to great leaps of progress and motivational awakenings. The more dramatic transformations, which in some ways resemble acts of religious conversion, add yet another source
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of satisfactionfor the teacher to experience-at a deeper level of emotion than those already described. If unexpected events in general bring excitement to the teacher's work, these classroom and of greatpsychological "miracles," which are of majorproportions significance,affordthe teacher who is fortunateenough to witness them somethingclose to a thrill. In their descriptionsthe teachersoften use literarydevices, such as metaphor andalmostmagical andsimile,to emphasize the dramatic
quality of some of these transformations. The students in question do not simply change for the better, they "see the light of day," they "wake up," they become "uncorked," and so forth.
There are the advanced ones, who you see you have helped advance more; there are the very very slow ones who all of a sudden see the light of day, and you feel like you've shown them the way; even if it was just their own development, you sort of give yourself credit. [T 3, p. 27] I think I have satisfaction seeing someone progress, especially a slow child or an average child who all of a sudden comes out, maybe in the middle. I had one in here, at the beginning of the semester who wouldn't work, he'd just sit; he's very intelligent, on the verge of being a genius I understand, writes like a second-grader, wouldn't bother doing work, would forget things. This went on and on, and he was sick, and he was (absent?) and all of a sudden in January he came back-he's got average handwriting now, but he finishes everything, he gets almost straight A's, I mean, it's the satisfaction maybe you have gotten across to him; maybe it's him, he just woke up. [T 9, p. 33] ... let me cite one case specifically where a child did a series of triangles and thought it was beautiful, and it wasn't beautiful. So I asked her to use her eyes and observe and see if she could make it better, and she was quite agreeable to going, looking out the window and looking at the forms that windows make, and looking at the forms that a building makes, and we worked on her drawing, and I don't think I've ever seen a more thrilled face than when she realized that she could do something to make it more interesting. She sort of became uncorked. [T 5, p. 18]
The sources of satisfaction discussed thus far have been presented in order of increasing emotional intensity-from a sense of personal usefulness, to a feeling of accomplishment, to excitement created by the unexpected, to the thrill of witnessing dramatic change. The
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most dramatic change of all, and, hence, one of the greatest thrills of teaching, occurs when the person who changes is a student whom other teachers, or adults in general, have given up for lost. This situation, which is epitomized in the story of Helen Keller's childhood, and which was so movingly portrayed in the play and movie, The Miracle Worker, might not happen too often, but when it does it is memorable, as the following comment indicates:
It's also the successes you've had when you've had, say, a child that's been a real severe problem and some way you've reached him and you've done something for him. And I don't-I just don't think there's almost any job that has the depth of feeling that you have in a situation like this. Oh, perhaps a doctor, when he saves a life or something. But I think in most professions, they don't have-well, it's almost a spiritual thing that you get when you've had a success reaching a child or helping him. [T 7, p. 16]
Because these transformations cannot be accurately predicted, and because they sometimes seem to happen despite, rather than as a result of, what anyone has done to the student, it is impossible to give credit for their occurrence wth much certainty. Nevertheless, their unpredictability neither dulls the teacher's enjoyment of these events, nor discourages her from taking at least partial credit for them.
But it's a real satisfaction to see someone change, a great change, this little girl that I mentioned, the first of the year I was about to give up on her, I thought she wasn't getting anywhere, and now I think probably she's doing pretty well, doing quite well in science and I would hope in other subjects. I think I want to take a part of that credit, but maybe she'd have done it anyway. With these things you never know. [T 20, p. 40]
The desire to witness these most moving of all classroom experiences, and possibly to have a hand in their occurrence, doubtlessly increases the attractiveness of troubled, "lost" unwanted children in the eyes of many teachers. When room assignments are made, it is not unusual for a teacher to seek out such students for her class. In a sense, these youngsters are academic long shots: there is small chance of their ending in the money, but the assurance of an enormous emotional payoff to the teacher if they do. The refer-
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ence to gamblingmust not leave the impressionthat the teacher is merely playing games-selfishly stacking the membership of her class to produce the biggest emotional "bang."But there is something attractive about the underdog, and many teachers feel an affection and closeness to these children quite unlike that which
they feel toward the more "well-adjusted" or successful student.
I have favorites as people. I mean, there are some kids who are just plain more attractive than other kinds. And it's not always in terms of what an adult would think attractive. I can find a kid with a lot of problems extremely attractive. (Take Billy, for instance). I first saw him get up in front of a whole audience and make a goddamn fool of himself, this little bitty boy. I asked for him for my class. He is a thoroughly unattractive child in many, many ways. But there was a kind of a bond. Just from watching everybody laughing and not being sure whether they were laughing with or at him. You see, there's this kind of attractiveness too. [T 11, p. 22]
For some teachers a sudden change in a child's behavior releases special feelings of warmth and affection.
This little girl whose drawing I just described, I didn't have much feeling for her for a long time, because she was kind of colorless and was kind of neutral, and all of a sudden she's kind of popping out, and I love her for these discoveries that she's making. [T 5, p. 18]
The use of the word "love"in the above quotationintroducesa source of satisfactionthat transcendseven the thrill of observing a student'smetamorphosis. During their interviews many teachers of their affection for particularchildren. At this level spoke deep of emotionalattachmentthe role of teacher qua teacher begins to blur and to merge with the role of mother. Occasionallya teacher referredspecificallyto the relationship between teaching and mothering and spoke franklyand poignantlyof the motives underlying her own behavior.
I think a teacher has to find where she enjoys, what age she enjoys-and I'm sure a lot of that's the personality of the teacher. Like with me, I kind of like the mothering; probably part of this is we never could have children of our own. And I feel a real loss here. And so it pleases me, you know, inside, to get some of this love and affection. Which I think I'm missing. Where probably with another woman, or man, they would enjoy teaching a little
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more stimulating material, and, you know, they don't have this other need. [T 7, p. 7] Well, for me, of course, it's working with the children-I am married, I do not have any children of my own. And I feel that I get a lot from being with them; this is the thing that I probably would miss most about teaching, because I just feel that-And some of them become, to you, very close, and yet in teaching you just cannot treat one child different from the other child, and yet, you figure this is- "If I had one, I would like it to be-" you know, have a child to be like this child, or something like that. I mean, that for me is the one thing I enjoy, because I do enjoy being with them. [T 10, p. 23]
Not all teachers, of course, admit to feelings as deep as those discussed here. One, in fact, explicitly denied the appropriateness of the term "love" when used to describe her relationship with her students.
I think respect, I would call it, rather than love or affection, I'd call it respect. [T 6, p. 25]
Yet this same teacher, when asked what the close of the school year was like, remarked,
Well, I'm very unhappy sometimes [at the end of the year] because I'd like to teach them again. You know, another year? You become so attached to them sometimes that you just would enjoy having them again. [T 6, p. 25]
The pain of separation was mentioned by several of the teachers. Although it is the opposite of satisfaction, this discomfort at the thought of the students' departure deserves mention because it attests to the closeness of the ties that develop, sometimes even against the teacher's will.
Then, he says, comes June, "Oh, I hate to see these children go." So you do, you just get attached to them. [T 3, p. 27] In the beginning of the next year, for years, I've resented the next teacher. Because she's got my kids. Then, as the years go by, I'm learning to live with this kind of thing. [T 5, p. 20] I don't know just why, but I do get very attached to them through the years. . . . One of the joys of the holiday season is hearing from so many youngsters. Some of them are now in high school. [T 18, p. 27]
As the preceding interview excerpt indicates, in a few happy instances the teacher-pupil relationship never truly ends. The reward
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of being remembered with affection by former students is important to many teachers. Also, many continue to participate vicariously in a student's accomplishments long after he has left the classroom. This extension of the teacher-pupil relationship over time adds a final (though somewhat milder) type of satisfaction to those already discussed. The probability of deriving pleasure from the remembrances or achievements of former students obviously increases with years of teaching experience.
I had a lot of satisfaction in picking up youngsters who probably would never go to college and encouragingthem to go to college, and loading them into my car on Saturdaysand taking them to a college campus and helping them to apply for whatever it was they had to apply for, and get them started in college. And I've had some real rewardsin that; one of them is a Ph.D. and now. I don't know, they may have all gotten into is on the faculty of--hard it's to know. But this was a real satisfactionto me. without me, college [T 20, p. 39] Well, this year, probably I won't see any specific gains in the youngstersyes, he's grown though, but I won't really see what's happened to him until he gets into fourth grade, then you begin to see, and this gives you a real pleasure. Another pleasure is when they come back to see you from high school, and from college and they have been successful, and some of the youngsterswho were no great shakesin third grade have become valedictorians or something in their high school careers and this makes you feel real good, that maybe a little of what you tried to teach them has really rubbed off. [T 2, p. 10] I still think of whatever these kids become I put my licks in somewhere along the line. And I still have a terrificfeeling of pride. [T 5, p. 20]
This last set of comments creates the image of a mature teacher smiling with pleasure as she looks back over the experiences of her career-a modern version, in female dress, of the closing scene in Goodby, Mr. Chips. Such a scene, despite its mildly saccharine quality, provides a fitting backdrop for a discussion of the over-all significance of the interview material.
DISCUSSION
Earlier the question was raised of whether or not the attitudes of these twenty teachers were typical of any larger group. At that
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point the small size and unusual qualities of the sample were mentioned as were the dangers of making unwarranted inferences on the basis of the present findings. At the same time it was acknowledged that the purpose of the interviews was to enlarge our understanding of the teaching process in general. A fruitful approach to considering the significance and implications of the interview material is to return to the question of what can be said about other teachers on the basis of the responses from the twenty who participated in this study. One way of rephrasing the general question is to ask whether or not an overwhelming majority of elementary teachers might answer our questions in much the same way as those we interviewed. Perhaps classroom life is just as rich and rewarding for the run-ofthe-mill teacher as for teachers with enviable reputations. Perhaps the joys of teaching are distributed equally among all who tend the young. The answer to this question is unknown and obviously would require comparing the responses of a group of "average" (almost as difficult to define as "outstanding"!) teachers with those of a group such as the one used in this study. Yet even without waiting for data from a more representative sample it is safe to predict that some teachers will look like the ones portrayed here and others will not. The question of how many are included in the term "some" would be of great interest if our goal were to produce a demographic description of the entire teaching population. It would also be of interest if our goal were to identify the unique characteristics of the good teacher. But the present study aims to do neither of these two things. Rather the aim is the more modest one of seeing how some highly admired teachers view life in the classroom and then speculating on the consequences of the views they hold. If a group of lawyers, selected as outstanding by circuit court judges, was found to be severely critical of the Supreme Court, that fact would be important within certain contexts whether or not the same views were held by the general membership of the legal
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profession. Similarly, if a group of teachers, thought to be unusually talented by their superiors, was found to be extremely suspicious of the value of objective tests for measuring teaching success, that fact would have significance whether or not the same views were shared by others. The importance of what such a group thinks stems from the fact that these are the teachers, presumably, to whom special awards would be given if merit pay or other methods of recognizing talent were instituted within the schools in which they work. These are the people to whom beginning teachers might be directed when they seek professional advice. These are the staff members most likely to have student teachers assigned to their rooms. They are also the ones to whom outside visitors are most frequently introduced. In short, these teachers often serve as models for others. If it turned out that these model teachers resembled the average teacher in important respects, it would be difficult to determine whether that resemblance spoke to the effectiveness of the model, or to the inability of the judges to discriminate between the average and the exceptional, or neither. In any event, judgments such as those just described are being made constantly in schools. The qualities of the persons on whom these professional kudos are bestowed may be expected to have consequences for both theory and practice. Teacher training is one area of practice for which the findings of the present study would seem to have special significance. If, as has been suggested, teachers such as the ones described here are likely to serve as models for student teachers, it is reasonable to ask whether the image of ideal teaching described in abstract terms in education courses matches the opinions and practices of the flesh-and-blood ideal with whom the student must work. In many respects these teachers do seem to be voicing a "progressive" point of view-the party line, as it were, of modern American education. They are interested in the "whole child" and in "meeting the needs" of students. They do seem to agree with the old saw about teaching children rather than school subjects. Thus,
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these teachersmight be counted on to reinforcemuch of the professional advice presentedin the student teacher'strainingcourses. There are some aspects of that advice, however, with which these seasonedteachersmight take issue or at least fail to mirrorin their own actions.The points of possiblecontroversy would include some of the classic admonitions theory presentedin coursesin curriculum In these courses students and educationaltests and measurements. are often told, for example, that the good teacher must define his educationalobjectivesbehaviorally,or that the good teacher must learn to make formal evaluation an integral part of the teaching process.Yet the highly respectedteachersinterviewedin this study do not seem to pay much attentionto the precise definitionof their objectives or to formal proceduresof evaluation. Indeed, as these teacherstalked,they left the impressionthat the schools'curriculum guides lay unread at the bottom of their supply closets, and that reports of the schools' testing programswere scanned but seldom studied. Of course one of the privileges that comes with increasedstatus in any job is to ignore some of the rules and regulationsthat are mandatoryfor the beginner. Usually, however, the rules the seasoned worker disregardsare those shown by experienceto be unnecessary or trivial. As mastery is gained, wasted efforts tend to be eliminated and essentials retained. But surely the college instructorswho exhort the teacher-to-beto define her objectives in behavioralterms and to test for the outcomes of her efforts do not believe they are advocatinga set of inane practices. One explanation of the apparent contradictionis that the expectations set by the traininginstitutionsare too high. Frequently in discussionsof the disillusionmentof the beginning teacher it is implied that the teacher does not live up to the ideal presentedin her trainingcoursesbecause of the overbearingdemandsof reality, not because any elements of the ideal were unworthyof emulation. But if the seasonedteachersaccepted the model of professionalbehavior set forth in so many training courses, they should at least
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have expressed some displeasure or regret over their inability to fulfil the standards set by that model. No evidence of such feelings was found in the interviews. Here then is a source of potential conflict for the student teacher. It is also an interesting problem for our test-makers and curriculumdesigners to ponder. If talented teachers tend to ignore tests and curriculum guides, is it merely because they have not been taught to use them effectively? Is it possible that these educational tools are most useful for those who are just beginning to teach and those who possess only mediocre teaching ability? Perhaps as teachers mature in their jobs they become less concerned with the attainment of specific curricular objectives and more concerned with the overall development of their students. If this were so, the job of helping experienced teachers to assess pupil progress might be very different from the job of equipping apprentice teachers with the rudimentary techniques of educational evaluation. Once again it is important to call attention to the distinction between teaching and learning. If we search exclusively for evidence of learning, we may be led to overlook some of the crucial signs of good teaching. Fom the standpoint of the school administrator the important question is whether these prized teachers, even though a bit unorthodox in their ways, are helping him work toward the achievement of institutional goals. The occupational satisfaction of the present group of highly select teachers certainly bears an ambiguous relationship to the objectives of the schools. From one point of view these people seem to care very little about the success of their efforts, or at least about conventional evidence of that success. As we have seen, class achievement and its measurement do not interest them very much. Even the assessment of individual students, when done by paper-and-pencil tests, does not absorb their energies. Thus, to the extent that educational goals are expressed in terms of group achievement and assessed by objective measures, they are viewed with relative indifference by these teachers. From another point of view, however, there is no limit to the
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teacher's concern with educational goals and her delight in their attainment. When these goals are stated in terms of the individual, rather than the group, and when the teacher is allowed to apply her own criteria of attainment, a totally different picture of the teacher's relationship to institutional objectives emerges. There is, to be sure, something a bit old-fashioned if not downright antiquated about the teacher's reliance on memory, supplied by unsystematic observation, to tell her how well she is doing in the classroom. In this respect her behavior resembles the physician who shuns the modern thermometer in favor of the old hand-onbrow method of estimating a patient's temperature. The disregard of these gifted teachers for precision and thoroughness in their evaluation procedures certainly seems antithetical to the advice being urged upon educators by teaching-machine enthusiasts, systems-developers, and other defenders of the human-engineering point of view. Yet, despite its anachronistic flavor in this age of the computer, the world view implied in the comments of these teachers is of a piece. Ideologically it is related to the romantic tradition in the arts, and shares with that tradition an idealized image of Man and his potential. It also softens the harshness of some of life's realities by perceiving them through the distorting lenses of optimism and innocence. It is the world view of Voltaire's Dr. Pangloss, untainted by cynicism or sarcasm. Though we all may not share the attitudes of these elementary teachers, and we may even find their sweetness a bit cloying, it is likely that this romantic orientation contributes to the teacher's ability to become totally involved, in an intensely personal sense, in the work of the classroom. This involvement, as we have seen, serves as the source of many of the teacher's pleasures, but, even more important, it serves to humanize the institutional environment of the school. Thus, it possibly eases the induction of the young student into that institution. It is difficult to overestimate the value
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of such a humanizing effect, for, as the famous social theorist, Charles Horton Cooley, reminds us:
An institution is a mature, specialized and comparatively rigid part of the social structure. It is made up of persons, but not of whole persons; each one enters into it with a trained and specialized part of himself. ... In antithesis to the institution, therefore, the person represents the wholeness and humanness of life; . . . A man is no man at all if he is merely a piece of an institution; he must stand also for human nature, for the instinctive, the plastic and the ideal.5
Thus, as the scene fades, and our kindly old teacher nods over the fire, it is visions of former students that dance in her head, not memories of last year's achievement-test scores. And as all we Robert Donat fans know, this is as it should be.
NOTES
1. John Dewey, The Sources of a Science of Education (New York: Horace Liveright, 1929), pp. 10-]1. 2. The interested reader will find several studies of the criteria of effectiveness discussed in the Handbook of Research on Teaching, ed. N. L. Gage (Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1963). Other recent discussions include J. W. Getzels and P. W. Jackson, "Research on the Variable Teacher: Some Comments," School Review, LXVIII (Winter, 1961); P. W. Jackson, "The Teacher and Individual Differences," in Individualizing Instruction: Sixty-first Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962), chap. v; and W. Rabinowitz and R. M. W. Travers, "Problems of Defining and Assessing Teacher Effectiveness," Educational Theory, III (July, 1953), 212-19. 3. Previous research on teacher satisfaction has focused almost exclusively on two questions: first, what draws teachers into the profession? (See, e.g., May V. Seagoe, "Some Origins of Interest in Teaching," Journal of Educational Research, XXXV [May, 1942], 673-82; and B. Wright and Shirley Tuska, "How Does Childhood Make a Teacher?" Elementary School Journal, LXV [February, 1965], 235-46.) Second, how do teachers respond to certain practices that affect the over-all organization of the school? Andrew W. Halpin and Don B. Croft's The Organizational Climate of Schools (Chicago: Midwest Administration Center, University of Chicago, 1963) is a recent example of this type of study. See also C. Mathis, "The Relationship between Salary Policies and Teacher Morale," Journal of Educational Psychology, L (1959), 275-80.
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Because of the interest of administratorsin school morale and retention of teachers, previous research has focused more on dissatisfactionsand complaints of teachers than on positive aspects of satisfaction.See, e.g., J. Gabriel, An Analysis of the Emotional Problems of the Teacher in the Classroom (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire, 1957); A. T. Jersild, When Teachers Face Themselves (New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University,1953); and P. M. Symonds,"Teachingas a Functionof the Teacher's Personality,"Journal of Teacher Education, V (March, 1954), 79-83. 4. The code following each interview excerpt identifies the teacher (T) and the page (p) of the interview transcriptfrom which the quotation was taken. 5. Charles Horton Cooley, "Institutions and the Person," in Sociological Theory, ed. E. Borgatta and Henry J. Meyer (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1956), p. 254.

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Educational Objectives and the Joys of Teaching Author(s): Philip W.

PHILIP W. JACKSON ELIZABETH BELFORD

and theJoys Educational Objectives of Teaching

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

THE SCHOOL REVIEW

THE JOYS OF TEACHING

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