Biography
He immigrated to the United States by 1714, becoming a teacher at Skippack in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (present-day Montgomery County, Pennsylvania) by 1718. After teaching for ten years, he turned primarily to farming, and bought 100 acres (0.40 km2) in Salford Township in 1735. Three years later, he returned to teaching and continued as a schoolmaster until his death late in 1771, when he failed to return home from the Skippack school. He was found there on his knees, where it had been his habit to pray for his students.
He wrote, in German, the earliest known teaching methods text in the U.S., Schul-Ordnung (School Management), a book on general pedagogy. The book was completed on August 8, 1750, but was not published until 1769. It was written through the efforts of Christopher Saur of Germantown, a printer whose son Christopher was a student of Dock's. He was so impressed with Dock's teaching style, which was becoming well known, that he asked him to write a guide so that others who taught children could benefit as well. Saur's son printed and published the guide.
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