Table Of ContentTEACHING TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES FOR OFFICE PRACTICE
STUDENTS IN THE SAN BERNARDINO HIGH SCHOOL
A P ro ject
Presented to
the F aculty of the School of Education
The U n iversity of Southern C alifo rn ia
In P a rtia l F u lfillm en t
of the Requirements fo r the Degree
M aster of Science in Education
by
Don Sandlin
August 1950
UMI Number: EP46563
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
Dissertation ftablishing
UMI EP46563
Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
All rights reserved. This work is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346
isi 'sT) s $ . / 7
This project report, written under the direction
of the candidate’s adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
Date.
Adviser
Dean
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I . THE PROBLEM........................................................... 1
In tro d u ctio n ................................................................... 1
Statem ent of the p r o b le m .................. 1
Im portance of the p ro b le m ................... 1
J u s t i f i c a t i o n s ............................................. .2
L im ita tio n s ......................... 2
O rganization of the rem ainder of the
p ro jec t ............................................................................. 3
I I . REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE....................... 4
L ite ra tu re on m o ti v a ti o n ................... 4
L ite ra tu re on o b jectiv es and aims of
O ffice P ra c tic e ......................................................... 6
L ite ra tu re on subject n a tte r .......................... 8
L ite ra tu re on m iscellaneous co n trib u tio n s 12
I I I . ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM............................. 15
P resen t O ffice P ra c tic e setup .......................... 15
Suggestions fo r varied in stru c tio n . . . 17
S uperior stenographic stu d en ts ..................... 20
Students in te re ste d in bookkeeping . . . 22
Boys in te re ste d in O ffice P ra ctice . . . 23
Those in te re ste d in c le ric a l work . . . 24
Those in te re ste d in t y p i n g .............. 26
i i i
CHAPTER PAGE
Tbose in te re ste d in m iscellaneous
a c tiv itie s .................................... . . . . . 28
IY. TECHNIQUES.......................................................................... 30
O ffice machine techniques . .......................... 35
D uplicating techniques ..................................... 37
P ilin g techniques . . . ..................................... 44
D ictatio n techniques ......................................... 46
Typing techniques ................................................... 47
Communication techniques ............................... 50
Y. MOTIVATION ACTIVITIES................................................ 54
VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS........................................... 67
C o n c lu sio n s................................................................... 69
Recom m endations......................................................... 70
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................. 72
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
In tro d u c tio n . The O ffice P ra ctice course a t the San
Bernardino High School is a p reparato ry c la ss fo r th e student
who plans to o b tain e ith e r a c le ric a l or stenographic p o si
tio n upon graduation. G-reat stre ss has been placed on the
im portance of th is o n -th e-jo b p ra c tic e . The value of t h is
course lie s in th e fa c t th a t a ctu al in cid en ts occur ju s t as
they do in a business o ffic e . A utom atically, th e students
receive an in sig h t into an o ffic e situ a tio n . Through m oti
v atio n and guided techniques O ffice P ractice procedures can
be improved, and th ere fo re the g re a te st possib le e ffo rt can
be secured from th e stu d en ts.
Statem ent of the problem . I t was the purpose of th is
study to develop sp e c ific procedures, m aterials and teaching
techniques fo r the author to use in m otivating p u p ils in th e
O ffice P ra ctice classes in the San Bernardino High School.
Im portance of th e study. T he.O ffice P ractice c la ss a t
th e San Bernardino High School, because o f the wide range in
a b il i ti e s o f the stu d en ts, needs a d d itio n al in stru c tio n a l
m ethods. The d isin te re s te d student has a tendency to learn
very l i t t l e and th e re fo re needs to be stim ulated. T his study
has served to secure the best p o ssib le work from th e stu d en ts
through enlightened p resen tatio n of the su b ject.
Ju stific a tio n * There has always been room fo r improve
ment in any c la ss. I f care i s not taken the O ffice P ractice
c la ss can be the place where stu d en ts a re tra n sfe rre d when
th ere is nowhere else fo r them to go. In some schools th is
c la ss is regarded a s the most im portant in the business de
partm ent, w hile in o th ers the treatm ent is o ften the opposite.
In d iv id u al c lasses in typing and shorthand are im portant, but
th ere is in s u ffic ie n t tim e to show the a ctu al manner in which
th e s k ills fu n ctio n in an o ffic e . O ffice P ra ctice should be
the most fle x ib le and u p -to -d ate course in the departm ent.
The purpose of th is research has been ju s tifie d because the
elem ent o f m otivation, although p resen t in an O ffice P ractice
c la s s , has not been the guiding force which enabled students
to understand fu lly how the assignm ents can help them in d i
v id u ally .
L im itatio n s. The w rite r has made no attem pt to con
s tru c t a course of study, a syllabus or to set up lesson plans
fo r th is course as th is has already been done. Since th is
p ro je c t has been a general study and an aly sis of d iffe re n t
m otivation techniques, th e devices them selves have been only
a means of enriching standard procedures.
3
O rganization o f th e rem ainder o f the p ro je c t* I t was
th e plan of the author to cover the various areas of an up-
to -d a te O ffice P ra c tic e course and to show the re la tio n sh ip
between the te a c h e r's dem onstration of good teaching methods
and th e stu d e n ts' a d a p ta b ility to th ese methods through
stim u latio n and illu s tra te d m otivation devices. The author
has developed in the rem ainder of the study how an a ctu al
O ffice P ractice course operated in the San Bernardino High
School, suggestions fo r varied in stru c tio n and techniques
and m otivation devices. Methods of in stru c tio n have been
presented in such a manner so th a t they tend to become re a l
to th e student by arousing h is in te re s t.
7ery l i t t l e has been w ritte n on O ffice P ra ctice tech
niques and w hile a few have been selected from p e rio d ic a ls,
the m ajo rity are o rig in a l. The a u th o r's plan was to present
m a te ria l th a t was not found in the w ritte n lesson. Adhering
s tr ic tly to the textbook may be sa tis fa c to ry fo r some teach ers,
but th e re is so much more to teach th an what can be found on
the p rin ted page. The author has presented a study th a t w ill
serve both as a guide and as an in cen tiv e to continue to
improve h is O ffice P ra ctice methodology.
4
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Although a g rea t deal has been w ritte n about the
O ffice P ractice class in g en eral, l i t t l e has been said about
the techniques to use in m otivating the p u p ils. I f one
wanted to set up an a c tu a l course or perhaps co n stru ct le s
son plan s, th a t would not be d if f ic u lt. But when i t comes
to the su bject of providing enrichm ent m aterials and tech
niques of procedures, th a t is a d iffe re n t sto ry . Through
th e a u th o r’s search fo r lite ra tu r e he has found th a t standard
o ffic e procedures f i l l our. business education p e rio d ic a ls,
but the actu al lis tin g of sp ecific devices and techniques of
improved procedures, supplemented w ith enrichm ent m ateria ls,
have not been developed to a larg e ex ten t. T herefore, the
referen ces selected fo r th is chapter a re those th a t approach
as nearly as possible what the w rite r considered h elp fu l in
com pleting the study.
1
L ite ra tu re on m otivation. W ebster’s Dictionary*1, has
defined ’’m otive” as th a t w ith in the in d iv id u a l, ra th e r than
w ithou t, which in c ite s him to a ctio n ; any id ea, emotion or
^ W ebster’s C olleg iate D ictio n ary , F ifth E d itio n ,
(S p rin g field , Mass: G. & C. Merriam Company, P u b lish ers,
1948}
s ta te th a t prom pts to an a c tio n . The synonyms include
inducem ent, in cen tiv e, and im pulse. Since actio n is the key
word, th is study has brought out the way to develop th is
drive fo r ‘a c tio n in teaching.
The author has chosen to regard m otivation in th is
p ro jec t on the basis of i t s a p p lic a tio n to business educa
tio n . The p ra c tic a lity of applying th is stim u latio n to an
everyday situ a tio n was the basis f o r composing th is study.
2
Feldman considered th ree p rin c ip le s of m otivation as
a check l i s t to good teaching:
1. Make m aterials in te re stin g .
2. Make lea rn ers aware of th e ir progress.
3. u se p raise and reproof e ffe c tiv e ly .
The business world of today is guided by sh o rtcu ts
and lis tin g s th a t are condensed are valuable because they ean
th en be p a rtia lly remembered.
B lackstone and Smith^ pointed out th a t a fte r the teach
ing u n it had been decided upon, the student should be stim u
la te d into a s itu a tio n of su ffic ie n t in te re s t and immediate
u sefu ln ess to him th a t he w ill recognize the d e s ira b ility of
^ Feldman, H arold, "A Check L ist fo r Good T eaching/1
Balance S heet, 28:5, Septem ber, 1946.
^ B lackstone, E. G.., and Sm ith, S. L. , Improvement of
In stru c tio n in Typing. (New York: P re n tic e-H all, In c .,
1945), P. 122.
