German School Activities: Academic Classroom Activities


Figure 1.-- Here we see a first grade class in Kiel, Germany, taken in 1953. The boys have brought up their copybooks to be checked by their teacher. Kiel was heavily bombed by the Allies because of the shipyards building U-boats. After the War it was in the British occupation zone. The boy on the extreme left, standing, is Joachim Siegerist, a controversial German politician and writer, who was born in January, 1947. This would make the boys here 6 years old at the time of the photo. Joachim is wearing Lederhosen with a cross-bar halter and long stockings. Kiel is located in northern Germany, along the Baltic coast. The fact that he is wearing Lederhosen shows that Lederhosen or no longer regional Bavarian costume.

Class room photographs show changes in German education over time. The arrangement of the classroom is the mpst readily apparent feture, but a host of other interesting information can be drawn from these photographs. While many of the photographs are undated, it is usually posdsible to roughly assess the decade. German schools were highly academic, especially before World War II. Most photographs we have found of classroom work show the children working on the basic academic subjects in very formally arranged classrooms. The German classrooms we see seem very trsaditonally structured, with rows of benches or desks neatly arranged and apparently bolted to the floor or at least not meant to be moved. Rarely do we see individual desks. The benches faced the teacher who sat in front of the class and oversaw very structured lessons with little accomodation of individual diffrences. After World War II we begin to see much more flexible class rooms setups, although we do not yet have information on how educational approches differed in East and West Germany. We do not have a lot of information on the subjects studies. Most classroom photographs do not show actual teaching activities, but rather the apause in teaching where the children posed for a portrait. We can, however sometimes make out what is being tudies.

Chronology

Class room photographs show changes in German education over time. While we do not have much informatuon on the 19th century. We do know a great deal about the German classroom in the 20th century, The arrangement of the classroom is the mpst readily apparent feture, but a host of other interesting information can be drawn from these photographs. One notable onservation is how stark he classrooms were with few teaching aids beyond a blackboard a a fews maps. This did not begin to change until the 1960s. While many of the photographs are undated, it is usually possible to roughly assess the decade. Major chances did not occur when the German Empire was formed (1871) or when the Weimar Reublic was estanlished (1918) or even after the NAZI seizure of power (1933). There were, hoever major changes after World War II (1939-45). We do not yet have information on how educational approches differed in East and West Germany. We also see more informal relationships depicted in the classroom after World War II.

Classroom Organization

German schools were highly academic, especially before World War II. Most photographs we have found of classroom work show the children working on the basic academic subjects in very formally arranged classrooms. The German classrooms we see seem very trsaditonally structured, with rows of benches or desks neatly arranged and apparently bolted to the floor or at least not meant to be moved. Rarely do we see individual desks. The benches faced the teacher who sat in front of the class and oversaw very structured lessons with little accomodation of individual diffrences. After World War II we begin to see much more flexible class rooms setups.

Subjects

We do not have a lot of information on the subjects studies. Of course this depended on the level (primary/secondary) and the type of secondary school. Sometomes it is possible to fifure out what was being taught in the classroom photographs. Materials on the children's benches or tavles or teaching materials the instructor is using also provide clues. While the methods being used are not always clear, the subject being taught sometimes is.

Classroom Operations

Most classroom photographs do not show actual teaching activities, but rather the a pause in teaching where the children posed for a portrait. We can, however sometimes make out what is being studied. One thing we notice in many classroom photographs is copy books. I am not sure what the Germann term for copy book is. This is something we do not see to the same extent in America. We are not entirely sure why. We are also not precisely sure what went into the copy books. We do not think that the children were taking notes. Rather I think they were copying down information that the teachers were dictating to them. We are not entirely sure about this. Hopefully our German readers will tell us a little about went down into their copy books. There was agood deal of wrote moemory work, although perhaps not as much as in France. Passages and poems to be memorized may have been included in copy books. We note abacuses in some photographs so they must have been used in some math lessons.

Teaching Materials









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Created: 6:17 PM 2/28/2009
Last updated: 5:32 AM 5/11/2009