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Working
At the Gunningschool, the curriculum mostly consisted of arithmetic and reading. Thomas usually gave a collective instruction, and the pupils worked individually or in small groups on their tasks as Thomas moved through the classroom to answer questions. The pupils were divided in A, B and C levels, where C level stood for an arithmetic level equal to 5th form. Only a few pupils were coded A, the arithmetic level equal to 8th form. Pupils were addressed by these labels, and they constantly nagged teacher Thomas to promote them to a higher level. A lesson lasted around twenty minutes, after which another subject was turned to. Through a weekly rotating schedule, two pupils functioned as classroom assistants (klasse-assistant), distributing books and notebooks for the next lesson. The pupils considered this to be break time and started chatting. Thomas aimed to keep the class quiet at all time, except during fun activities. He used an intricate punishment scheme where each incident landed the offender five minutes of detention. As verbal communication was hindered, pupils communicated through passing notes. This was a secretive and dangerous operation, although the messages were usually innocent (‘how are you?’).
At the Kantlijn, Luck hardly ever taught the group collectively, and instead, pupils who were at the same level sat in groups and helped each other. Luck introduced tasks by connecting them to the pupils’ lived experiences. For instance, a reading comprehension assignment about gusts of wind was introduced by asking who had ever encountered such a gust. The pupils often worked on dissimilar topics, almost as in the Montessori Method. Luck set out the tasks for the week, and the pupils decided for themselves which task they did first, with Luck available for questions and corrections. Whilst working, the class was noisy and instead of collaborating, the pupils often just chatted. Moreover, Luck often left the class. At these times, the pupils were loud for a bit, but settled to their work after a few minutes. Punishment was rare at the Kantlijn, and Luck preferred either talking to the violator or a frivolous solution instead.