Principles of Teaching
by Adam S. Bennion · English · Gutenberg #17307 · 328,954 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Principles of Teaching
Author: Adam S. Bennion
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING ***
Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson, Amy Cunningham and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net
Principles of
Teaching
BY ADAM S. BENNION
_Superintendent of Church Schools_
Designed for Quorum Instructors and Auxiliary Class
Teachers of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
Published by
THE GENERAL BOARDS OF THE AUXILIARY ORGANIZATIONS
OF THE CHURCH
1921
1952
Reprint of the original
FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS IN TEACHING RELIGION
Copyright, 1921
By Adam S. Bennion
For the General Boards of the
Auxiliary Organizations
of the Church
PREFACE
to the 1952 Edition
Two texts have been written for the teacher training program of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since Dr. Adam S. Bennion's
Book _Principles of Teaching_ was published, yet in spite of the fact
that this book has been out of print several years so many requests for
it have poured in that the General Superintendency has decided to
satisfy the demand with this new edition.
This book with its classic qualities in many ways fits Shakespeare's
description of a beautiful woman when he said, "Age cannot wither her
nor custom dim her infinite variety." Anyone who knows Dr. Bennion or
has read his writings knows that neither custom nor age has dimmed his
infinite variety. Furthermore, a glance at the table of contents of this
book will reveal the fact that the problems and principles treated
herein are just as real today as they were when the text was written.
This little volume is republished in the hope that it again will become
one of the basic texts in the teacher training program and fulfill its
mission as an instrument in the hands of sincere people who have the
devout wish of learning how to teach the principles of the gospel by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
H.A. Dixon, Chairman
Teacher Training Committee
_Contents_
Chapter Page
Preface vii
I Purposes Behind Teaching 1
II What Is Teaching? 7
III The Joys of Teaching 14
IV Personality 20
V Personality 26
VI Attainment 33
VII Native Tendencies 40
VIII What to Do With Native Tendencies 46
IX Individual Differences 53
X Individual Differences and Teaching 61
XI Attention 68
XII What Makes for Interest 74
XIII A Laboratory Lesson in Interest 80
XIV The More Immediate Problems in Teaching 88
XV Organizing the Lesson 96
XVI Illustrating and Supplementing a Lesson 103
XVII The Aim 111
XVIII Application 116
XIX Methods of the Recitation 126
XX Review and Preview 134
XXI The Question as a Factor in Education 142
XXII The Problem of Discipline 149
XXIII Creating Class Spirit 157
XXIV Conversion--The Real Test of Teaching 164
Bibliography 171
_Preface_
That ever-old question, "How to Teach," becomes ever new when made to
read, "How to Teach Better." This volume aims to raise those problems
which every teacher sooner or later faces, and it attempts to suggest an
approach by way of solution which will insure at least some degree of
growth towards efficiency. These chapters originally were prepared for
the course offered to teacher-trainers in the Summer School of the
Brigham Young University, in 1920. The teachers in that course were an
inspiration to the author and are responsible for many of the thoughts
expressed in the pages of this book.
The successful teacher ever views his calling as an opportunity--not as
an obligation. To associate with young people is a rare privilege; to
teach them is an inspiration; to lead them into the glorious truths of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is heavenly joy itself. This little volume
hopes to push open the door of opportunity a little wider, that more of
that joy may be realized.
"Perchance, in heaven, one day to me
Some blessed Saint will come and say,
'All hail, beloved; but for thee
My soul to death had fallen a prey';
And oh! what rapture in the thought,
One soul to glory to have brought."
ADAM S. BENNION.
CHAPTER I
PURPOSES BEHIND TEACHING
OUTLINE--CHAPTER I
The worth of souls.--The Father's joy in the soul that is
saved.--The teacher's responsibility.--Teaching, a sacred
calling.--Our Church a teaching Church.
Our three-fold purpose in Teaching:
a--To guarantee salvation of the individual members of the
Church.
b--To pass on the wonderful heritage handed down by our pioneer
forefathers.
c--To make more easily possible the conversion of the world.
"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
"For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh;
wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent
and come unto him.
"And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men
unto him, on conditions of repentance;
"And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth.
"Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people;
"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying
repentance unto his people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me,
how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father?
"And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have
brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your
joy if you should bring many souls unto me?" (Doc. & Cov., Sec.
18:10-16.)
"For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39.)
If this is the work and glory of the Lord, how great must be the
responsibility of the teachers of Zion, His copartners in the business
of saving humankind! Next to parenthood, teaching involves us in the
most sacred relationship known to man. The teacher akin to the parent is
the steward of human souls--his purpose to bless and to elevate.
The first great question that should concern the Latter-day Saint
teacher is, "Why do I teach?" To appreciate fully the real purposes
behind teaching is the first great guarantee of success. For teaching is
"no mere job"--it is a sacred calling--a trust of the Lord Himself under
the divine injunction, "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15). For the teacher who
has caught a glimpse of his real responsibility there is no
indifference, no eleventh-hour preparation, no feeling of unconcern
about the welfare of his pupils between lessons--for him there is
constant inspiration in the thought, "To me is given the privilege of
being the cupbearer between the Master and His children who would drink
at His fountain of truth."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been variously
designated by those not of us: "The Great Industrial Church," "The
Church of Pioneers," "The Church of Wonderful Organization." It might
well be called "The Teaching Church." There is scarcely a man or woman
in it that has not at some time been asked to respond to the call of
teacher. Our people have been a remarkable people because they have been
remarkably taught--taught of the Lord and His prophets. Our future can
be secure only as it is guaranteed this same good teaching. Every
teacher must come to realize that "Mormonism" is at stake when he
teaches. "Why do I teach?" goes to the very heart of teaching.
The answer to this question is to be found, in part at least, in the
three-fold objectives of our Church. First, the salvation and exaltation
of the individual soul. As already pointed out, this is the very "work
and glory" of the Father. Man is born into the world a child of
divinity--born for the purpose of development and perfection. Life is
the great laboratory in which he works out his experiment of eternity.
In potentiality, a God--in actuality, a creature of heredity,
environment, and teaching. "Why do I teach?" To help someone else
realize his divinity--to assist him to become all that he might
become--to make of him what he might not be but for my teaching.
Someone has jocularly said: "The child is born into the world half
angel, half imp. The imp develops naturally, the angel has to be
cultivated." The teacher is the great cultivator of souls. Whether we
say the child is half angel and half imp, we know that he is capable of
doing both good and evil and that he develops character as he practices
virtue and avoids vice. We know, too, that he mentally develops. Born
with the capacity to do, he behaves to his own blessing or condemnation.
There is no such thing as static life. To the teacher is given the
privilege of pointing to the higher life. He is the gardener in the
garden of life. His task is to plant and to cultivate the flowers of
noble thoughts and deeds rather than to let the human soul grow up to
weeds. This purpose becomes all the more significant when we realize
that the effects of our teaching are not only to modify a life here of
three-score and ten--they are impressions attendant throughout eternity.
As the poet Goethe has said, "Life is the childhood of our immortality,"
and the teachings of childhood are what determine the character of
maturity. The thought is given additional emphasis in the beautiful
little poem, "Planting," by W. Lomax Childress:
Who plants a tree may live
To see its leaves unfold,
The greenness of its summer garb,
Its autumn tinge of gold.
Who plants a flower may live
To see its beauty grow,
The lily whiten on its stalk,
The rambler rose to blow.
Who sows the seed may find
The field of harvest fair,
The song of reapers ringing clear,
When all the sheaves are there.
But time will fell the tree,
The rose will fade and die,
The harvest time will pass away,
As does the song and sigh.
But whoso plants in love,
The word of hope and trust,
Shall find it still alive with God--
It is not made of dust.
It cannot fade nor change,
Though worlds may scattered be,
For love alone has high repose
In immortality.
If the teacher, as he stands before his class, could project his vision
into the future--could see his pupils developed into manhood and
womanhood, and could see all that he might do or fail to do, he would
read a meaning well-nigh beyond comprehension into the question, "Why do
I teach?"
A second answer to this query lies in our obligation to pass on the
wonderful heritage which we here received from our pioneer forefathers.
The story of their sacrifice, devotion, and achievement is unique in the
history of the world. Only recently a pioneer of 1852 thrilled a
parents' class in one of our wards with the simple narrative of his
early experiences. His account of Indian raids, of the experience with
Johnston's army, of privations and suffering, of social pastimes--all of
these things rang with a spirit of romance. None of his auditors will
ever forget the story of his aunt who gave up her seat in her wagon to a
sick friend for whom no provision had been made, and trudged across the
plains afoot that one more soul might rejoice in Zion. Every pioneer can
tell this sort of thrilling story. Could our young people enjoy the
companionship of these pioneers there would be little need of alarm
concerning their faith. Unfortunately, each year sees fewer of these
pioneers left to tell their story. It is to the teacher, both of the
fireside and the classroom, that we must look for the perpetuation of
the spirit of '47. The ideals and achievements of the pioneers are such
an inspiration, such a challenge to the youth of the Church today--that
teachers ought to glory in the opportunity to keep alive the memories of
the past. Our pioneer heritage ought never to be forfeited to
indifference. It is a heritage that could come only out of pioneer life.
Such courage to face sacrifice, such devotion to God, such loyalty to
government, such consecration to the task of conquering an unpromising
and forbidding desert, such determination to secure the advantages of
education, such unselfish devotion to the welfare of their
fellows--where could we turn for such inspiration to one who would
teach?
Nor is it enough that we strive to perfect the individual membership of
the Church and preserve the social heritage out of the past--we assume
to become the teachers of the world. It is our blessing to belong to a
Church built upon revelation--a Church established and taught of the
Lord. But with that blessing comes the injunction to carry this gospel
of the kingdom to every nation and clime. "Mormonism" was not revealed
for a few Saints alone who were to establish Zion--it was to be
proclaimed to all the world. Every Latter-day Saint is enjoined to teach
the truth. Whether called as a missionary, or pursuing his regular
calling at home, his privilege and his obligation is to cry repentance
and preach the plan of salvation. The better we teach, the sooner we
shall make possible the realization of God's purposes in the world. The
two thousand young men and women who go out each year to represent us
in the ministry should go out well trained, not only that they may
represent our Church as an institution which believes that "the glory of
God is intelligence," but also that they may win intelligent men and
women to the truth. Only he who is well taught may become a good
teacher--hence the need of intelligent, devoted service. "Why do I
teach?" far from being an idle question, goes to the very heart of the
future of the Church.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER I
1. How many of the members of your ward are actively engaged in other
than parental teaching?
2. What significance is attached to calling our Church a teaching
Church?
3. Discuss the significance of Jesus' being a teacher.
4. Compare the responsibility of teaching with that of parenthood.
5. Enumerate the chief purposes behind teaching.
6. In your opinion, which is the greatest purpose? Why?
7. To what extent does the following statement apply to the welfare of
our Church:
"That nation that does not revere its past, plays little part in the
present, and soon finds that it has no future."
8. Discuss our obligation under the injunction to teach the gospel to
the world.
9. Discuss the need here at home of better teaching.
10. In what sense are we trustees of the heritage left by the pioneers?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Doctrine & Covenants: James, _Talks on Psychology and Life's Ideals_;
Brumbaugh, _The Making of a Teacher_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School
Teachers_; Strayer, _A Brief Course in the Teaching Process_; Betts,
_How to Teach Religion_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_; Sharp,
_Education for Character_.
CHAPTER II
WHAT IS TEACHING?
OUTLINE--CHAPTER II
Teaching a complex art.--What teaching is not.--What teaching
is.--What it involves.--Presentation of facts.--Organization and
evaluation of knowledge.--Interpretation and elaboration of
truth.--Inspiration to high ideals.--Encouragement and direction
given to expression.--Discovery of pupils' better
selves.--Inspiration of example as well as precept.--Application of
truths taught in lives of pupils.
The query, "What constitutes teaching?" cannot be answered off-hand. It
is so complex an art, so fine an art, as Professor Driggs points out,
that it has to be pondered to be understood and appreciated. It is often
considered to be mere lesson-hearing and lesson-giving. The difference
between mere instructions and teaching is as great as the distinction
between eating and digestion.
The following definition of _teaching_, contributed by a former state
superintendent of schools, is rich in suggestion:
"Teaching is the process of training an individual through the
formation of habits, the acquisition of knowledge, the inculcation of
ideals, and the fixing of permanent interests so that he shall become
a clean, intelligent, self-supporting member of society, who has the
power to govern himself, can participate in noble enjoyments, and has
the desire and the courage to revere God and serve his fellows."
Teaching does not merely consist of an inquisition of questions with
appropriate answers thrown in; it surely is not mere reading; nor can it
be mistaken for preaching or lecturing. These are all means that may be
employed in the process of teaching. And they are important, too. We
have been cautioned much, of late years, not to lose ourselves in the
process of doling out facts--but that rather we should occupy ourselves
teaching boys and girls. That all sounds well--the writer of these
lessons has himself proclaimed this doctrine--but we have discovered
that you cannot teach boys and girls _nothing_. They no more can be
happy _listening_ to _nothing_ than they can be content _doing nothing_.
And so we now urge the significance of having a rich supply of subject
matter--a substantial content of lesson material. But the doctrine holds
that the teacher ought not to lose himself in mere facts--they are
merely the medium through which he arrives at, and drives home the
truth.
"It is the teacher's task to make changes for the better in the
abilities, habits and attitudes of boys and girls. Her efficiency can
be evaluated fairly only in terms of her success at this task. In
other words, if a teacher is rated at all, she should be rated not
only by the clothes she wears, or the method she chooses, but by the
results she secures."--_Journal of Educational Research_, May, 1920.
We have said that teaching is a complex art. It consists of at least
these eight fundamentals, each one of which, or any combination of
which, may be featured in any one particular lesson:
1. Presentation of facts.
2. Organization and evaluation of knowledge.
3. Interpretation and elaboration of truth.
4. Inspiration to high ideals.
5. Encouragement and direction given to expression.
6. Discovery of pupils' better selves.
7. Inspiration of example as well as precept.
8. Application of truths taught in lives of the pupils.
I. PRESENTATION OF FACTS
Facts constitute the background upon which the mind operates. There may
be many or few--they may be presented in a lecture of thirty minutes, in
the reading of a dozen pages, or they may be called forth out of the
mind by a single stimulating question. But we ought not to confuse the
issue. If we are to discuss any matter in the hope of reaching a
conclusion in truth, we must have material upon which the mind can build
that conclusion. We are not concerned in this chapter with method of
procedure in getting the facts before a class--the important thought
here is that the facts in rich abundance should be supplied. A certain
young lady protested recently against going to Sunday School. Her
explanation of her attitude is best expressed in her own words: "I get
sick and tired of going to a class where I never hear anything new or
worth while." Exaggerated, of course, but students are crying for bread,
and ought not to be turned away with a stone.
II. ORGANIZATION AND EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE
We have hinted that a lesson may not have facts enough to justify the
time it takes--there is, on the other hand, danger that the whole time
of the class may be consumed in a mere rehearsal of facts as facts. Only
recently a significant complaint was voiced by a young man who has gone
through training in practically all of our organizations. "I don't seem
to know anything at all," he said, "about the history of Israel, as a
whole. I can recall certain isolated facts about particular persons or
places, but I can't give any intelligent answer at all to such questions
as these:
"Who were the Israelites? What were their big movements relative to the
Promised Land? What is the history of Israel up to the time of the
Savior? What is their history subsequently? Are we of Israel and how?"
The young man was not complaining--he merely regretted his ignorance on
points of vital interest. He was in need of further organization of the
knowledge he had. He had not been given the big central ideas about
which to build the minor ones. Relative importance had not been taught
him through that organized review that is so valuable in review. The
teacher ought to come back time and again to pause on the big
essentials--the peaks of gospel teaching.
III. INTERPRETATION AND ELABORATION OF TRUTH
It is really surprising how many various notions of an idea will be
carried away by the members of a class from a single declaration on the
part of a teacher. A phase of a subject may be presented which links up
with a particular experience of one of the pupils. To him there is only
one interpretation. To another pupil the phase of the subject presented
might make no appeal at all, or linked up with a different experience
might lead to an entirely different conclusion. Truths need to be
elaborated and interpreted from all possible angles--all possible phases
should be developed. An interesting discussion recently took place with
a young man who had "gone off" on a pet doctrinal theory. His whole
conception built itself up about a single passage of scripture.
Satisfied with a single notion, he had shut his eyes to all else and
"knew that he was right." Properly to be taught, he needed to be trained
to suspend his judgment until _all the evidence_ was in.
IV. INSPIRATION TO HIGH IDEALS
Men and women like to be carried to the heights. They like to be lifted
out of their lower selves into what they may become. It is the teacher's
delight to let his class stand tip-toe on the facts of subject matter to
peep into the glories of the gospel plan of life and salvation. In 1903
Sanford Bell, of the University of Colorado, reported the results of a
survey conducted with 543 men and 488 women to ascertain whether they
liked male or female teachers better and just what it was that made them
like those teachers who had meant most in their lives. The survey showed
that the following influences stood out in the order named:
Moral uplift.
Inspiration.
Stimulus to intellectual awakening.
Spur to scholarship.
Help in getting a firm grip on the vital issues of life.
Personal kindness.
Encouragement in crises.
What a testimonial to the force of inspiration to higher ideals!
V. ENCOURAGEMENT AND DIRECTION GIVEN TO PUPILS' EXPRESSION
Most pupils in class are ordinarily inclined to sit silently by and let
someone else do the talking. And yet, everyone enjoys participating in a
lesson when once "the ice is broken." It is the teacher's task first of
all to create an atmosphere of easy expression and then later to help
make that expression adequate and effective. The bishop of one of our
wards in southern Utah declared, not long ago, that he traced the
beginning of his testimony back to a Primary lesson in which a skillful
teacher led him to commit himself very enthusiastically to the notion
that the Lord does answer prayers. He said he defended the proposition
so vigorously that he set about to make sure from experience that he was
right. The details of securing this expression will be more fully worked
out in the chapter on Methods of the Recitation.
VI. DISCOVERY OF PUPILS' BETTER SELVES
One of the most fascinating problems in teaching is to come to know the
real nature of our pupils--to get below surface appearances to the very
boy himself. Most of the work of solving this problem necessarily must
be done out of class. Such intimate knowledge is the result of personal
contact when no barriers of class recitation interfere. It involves time
and effort, of course, but it is really the key to genuine teaching. It
makes possible what we have named as factor number eight, which may be
disposed of here for present purposes. We read of bygone days largely
because in them we hope to find a solution to the problems of Jimmie
Livingston today. How can we effect the solution if all that we know of
Jimmie is that he is one of our fifteen scouts? We must see him in
action, must associate with him as he encounters his problems, if we
would help him solve them. Our discovery of our pupils' better selves,
and intelligent application, go together hand in hand.
VII. INSPIRATION OF EXAMPLE AS WELL AS PRECEPT
When Emerson declared, "What you are thunders so loudly in my ears that
I can't hear what you say," he sounded a mighty note to teachers.
Hundreds of boys and girls have been stimulated to better lives by the
desire "to be like teacher." "Come, follow me," is the great password to
the calling of teacher. The teacher conducts a class on Sunday
morning--he really teaches all during the week. When Elbert Hubbard
added his new commandment, "Remember the week-days, to keep them holy,"
he must have had teachers in mind. A student in one of our Church
schools was once heard to say, "My teacher teaches me more religion by
the way he plays basketball than by the way he teaches theology." It
was what Jesus did that made him Savior of the world. He was the
greatest _teacher_ because he was the greatest man.
Surely teaching is a complex art!
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER II
1. What is teaching?
2. Why is it essential that we get a clear conception of just what
teaching is?
3. Discuss the importance of building the recitation upon a good
foundation of facts.
4. Why are facts alone not a guarantee of a successful recitation?
5. What is the teacher's obligation in the matter of organizing
knowledge?
6. Discuss the significance of teaching as an interpretation of truth.
7. Discuss the teacher's obligation to discover pupils' better selves.
8. What is the relative importance of expression and impression in
teaching?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Betts, _How to Teach Religion_; Gregory, _The Seven Laws of Teaching_;
Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a
Teacher_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_.
CHAPTER III
THE JOYS OF TEACHING
OUTLINE--CHAPTER III
The Joys that attend Teaching: Enrichment of the spirit.--Guarantee
of the teacher's own growth and development.--Restraining and
uplifting influence on the moral character of the
teacher.--Satisfaction that attends seeing pupils
develop.--Inspirational companionship.--Contentment that attaches
to duty done.--Outpouring of the blessings of the Lord.
Chapters one and two emphasized the thought that the purposes behind
teaching impose a sacred obligation on the part of those who aspire to
teach. But lest the obligation appear burdensome, let us remind
ourselves that compensation is one of the great laws of life. "To him
who gives shall be given" applies to teaching as to few other things.
Verily he who loses his life finds it. The devotion of the real teacher,
though it involves labor, anxiety and sacrifice, is repaid ten-fold.
Only he who has fully given himself in service to others can appreciate
the joy that attends teaching--particularly that teaching enjoined upon
us by the Master and which is its own recompense.
It is difficult to enumerate all of the blessings that attend the
service of the teacher, but let us consider a few that stand out
pre-eminently.
If there were none other than this first one it would justify all that
is done in the name of teaching; namely, "the enrichment of spirit."
"There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth
them understanding." To feel the thrill of that inspiration is a
compensation beyond price. The Lord, having commanded us to teach (see
Sec. 88:77-81, Doc. & Cov.), has followed the command with the promise
of a blessing, one of the richest in all scripture.
"For thus saith the Lord, I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto
those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in
righteousness and in truth unto the end;
"Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory;
"And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden
mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come will I
make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all
things pertaining to my kingdom;
"Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to
come will I show them, even the things of many generations;
"And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to
heaven: and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the
understanding of the prudent shall come to naught;
"For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make
known unto them the secrets of my will; yea, even those things which
eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of
man." (Doc. & Cov. 76:5-10.)
This constitutes a promissory note signed by our heavenly Father
Himself. A blessing beyond compare--a dividend unfailing--and our only
investment--devoted service! Companionship with the Spirit of the Lord!
That is what it means, if we serve Him in faith and humility.
"Be thou humble, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand,
and give thee answer to thy prayers." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 112:10.)
Like all other gifts and attainments, the Spirit of the Lord has to be
cultivated. Teaching insures a cultivation as few other things in life
can. An enriched spirit, then, is the first great reward of the teacher.
A second satisfaction is the guarantee of one's own growth and
development. Teachers invariably declare that they have learned more,
especially in the first year of teaching, than in any year at college. A
consciousness of the fact that it is hard to teach that which is not
well known incites that type of study which makes for growth. A good
class is a great "pace-setter." Intellectually it has the pull of
achievement. The real teacher always is the greatest student in the
class. The "drive" of having a regular task to perform, especially when
that task is checked up as it is by students, leads many a person to a
development unknown to him who is free to slide. "Blessed is he who has
to do things." Responsibility is the great force that builds character.
Compare the relative development of the person who spends Tuesday
evening at home with the evening paper, or at some other pastime, and of
the person who, having accepted fully the call to teach, leads a class
of truth-seekers through an hour's discussion of some vital subject.
Follow the development through the Tuesday evenings of a lifetime.
How easy to understand that there are varying degrees of glory
hereafter.
A third value of teaching lies in the fact that the position of teacher
exercises a restraining influence for good on the moral life of the
teacher. He is sustained by a consciousness that his conduct is his only
evidence to his pupils that his practice is consistent with his theory.
His class follows him in emulation or in criticism in all that he does.
"Come, follow me," lifts the real teacher over the pitfalls of
temptation. He cannot do forbidden work on the Sabbath, he cannot
indulge in the use of tobacco, he cannot stoop to folly--his class
stands between him and all these things. A teacher recently gave
expression to the value of this restraining force when she said, "I urge
my girls so vigorously not to go to the movies on Sunday that I find my
conscience in rebellion if anyone asks me to go."
Many a man in attempting to convert another to the righteousness of a
particular issue has found himself to be his own best convert. He comes
to appreciate the fact that the trail he establishes is the path
followed by those whom he influences. He hears the voice of the child as
recorded in the little poem:
I STEPPED IN YOUR STEPS ALL THE WAY
"A father and his tiny son
Crossed a rough street one stormy day,
'See papa!' cried the little one,
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'
"Ah, random, childish hands, that deal
Quick thrusts no coat of proof could stay!
It touched him with the touch of steel--
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'
"If this man shirks his manhood's due
And heeds what lying voices say,
It is not one who falls, but two,
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'
"But they who thrust off greed and fear,
Who love and watch, who toil and pray,
How their hearts carol when they say,
'I stepped in your steps all the way!'"
Still another joy that attends teaching is the satisfaction of seeing
pupils develop. The sculptor finds real happiness in watching his clay
take on the form and expression of his model; the artist glories as his
colors grow into life; the parent finds supreme joy in seeing himself
"re-grow" in his child; so the teacher delights to see his pupils build
their lives on the truths he has taught. The joy is doubly sweet if it
is heightened by an expression of appreciation on the part of the
pupils. Few experiences can bring the thrill of real happiness that
comes to the teacher when a former student, once perhaps a little
inclined to mischief or carelessness, takes him by the hand with a "God
bless you for helping me find my better self."
An officer of the British army, in recounting those experiences which
had come to him in the recent world war, and which he said he never
could forget, referred to one which more than compensated him for all
the effort he had ever put into his preparation for teaching. Because of
his position in the army it became his duty to discipline a group of
boys for what in the army is a serious offense. In that group was a boy
who had formerly been a pupil under the officer in one of our ward
organizations. Chagrin was stamped on the face of the boy as he came
forward for reprimand. Regret and remorse were in the heart of the
officer. They soon gave way to pride, however, as the boy assured him
that worse than any punishment was the humiliation of being brought
before his own teacher, and he further assured him that never again
would he do a thing that would mar the sacred relations of pupil and
teacher.
A further compensation attached to teaching is that of inspirational
companionship. It is a blessed privilege to enjoy the sunshine of youth.
Every pupil contributes an association with one of God's choice spirits.
To live and work with children and adolescents is one of the finest of
safeguards against old age. The teacher not only partakes of the joy of
his group--they constitute him a link between his generation and theirs.
Their newness of life, their optimism, their spontaneity, their joy,
they gladly pass on to their teacher.
Moreover, the teacher enjoys the uplifting associations of his fellow
teachers. Among those consecrated to a noble service, there is a spirit
unknown to him who has not enjoyed such communion. Whether he is
conscious of it or not, the teacher responds to the pull of such a
group. Scores of teachers have testified that the associations they have
enjoyed as members of a local board, stake board, or general board, are
among the happiest of their lives.
And finally there is the contentment of mind that comes as a result of a
duty well done. The human soul is so constituted that any task well
performed brings a feeling of satisfaction, and this is doubly
heightened when the duty performed is of the nature of a free will
offering. Still more so when it is shared in by others to their
blessing. Just as we hope for an eventual crowning under the blessing,
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant," so we treasure those
benedictions along the way that attend the discharge of a sacred
obligation.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER III
1. Quote some of the promises of the Lord to those who do His will.
2. How is teaching one of the surest guarantees of the blessings of
eternal life?
3. What are the immediate joys attached to teaching?
4. Discuss the application to teaching of the truth--"He who loses his
life shall find it."
5. What types of companionship are assured him who teaches?
6. As you now recall them, what distinct pleasures stand out in your
teaching experience?
7. Discuss Section 76 of the Doctrine & Covenants as one of the most
valuable promissory notes ever given to mankind.
8. Discuss the force of a duty done as a guarantee of joy.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Doctrine and Covenants: Slattery, _Living Teachers_; Sharp, _Education
for Character_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_; Betts, _How
to Teach Religion_.
CHAPTER IV
PERSONALITY
OUTLINE--CHAPTER IV
The worth of a great teacher.--Good teachers not necessarily
born.--Some boys' observations on teachers.--A high school
survey.--Clapp's _Essential Characteristics_.--Betts' _Three
Classes of Teachers_.--His list of qualities.
"A great teacher is worth more to a state, though he teach by the
roadside, than a faculty of mediocrities housed in Gothic
piles."--_Chicago Tribune_, September, 1919.
We may stress the sacred obligation of the teacher; we may discuss in
detail mechanical processes involved in lesson preparation; we may
analyze child nature in all of its complexity; but after all we come
back to the _Personality of the Teacher_ as the great outstanding factor
in pedagogical success. _That something in the man_ that grips people!
Very generally this _Personal Equation_ has been looked upon as a
certain indefinable possession enjoyed by the favored few. In a certain
sense this is true. Personality is largely inherent in the individual
and therefore differs as fully as do individuals. But of recent years
educators have carried on extensive investigations in this field of
personality and have succeeded in reducing to comprehensible terms those
qualities which seem to be most responsible for achievements of
successful teachers. Observation leads us all to similar deductions and
constitutes one of the most interesting experiments open to those
concerned with the teaching process.
Why, with the same amount of preparation, does one teacher succeed with
a class over which another has no control at all?
Why is it that one class is crowded each week, while another adjourns
for lack of membership?
The writer a short time ago, after addressing the members of a ward
M.I.A., asked a group of scouts to remain after the meeting, to whom he
put the question, "What is it that you like or dislike in teachers?" The
group was a thoroughly typical group--real boys, full of life and
equally full of frankness. They contributed the following replies:
1. We like a fellow that's full of pep.
2. We like a fellow that doesn't preach all the time.
3. We like a fellow that makes us be good.
4. We like a fellow that tells us new things.
Boylike, they were "strong" for pep--a little word with a big
significance. Vigor, enthusiasm, sense of humor, attack,
forcefulness--all of these qualities are summed up in these three
letters.
And the interesting thing is that while the boys liked to be told new
things, they didn't want to be preached at. They evidently had the boy's
idea of preaching who characterized it as, "talking a lot when you
haven't anything to say."
Still more interesting is the fact that boys like to be made to be good.
In spite of their fun and their seeming indifference they really are
serious in a desire to subscribe to the laws of order that make progress
possible.
A principal of the Granite High School carried on an investigation
through a period of four years to ascertain just what it is that
students like in teachers. During those years students set down various
attributes and qualities, which are summarized below just as they were
given:
_Desirable Characteristics_
Congeniality.
Broadmindedness.
Wide knowledge.
Personality that makes discipline easy.
Willingness to entertain questions.
Realization that students need help.
Sense of humor--ability to take a joke.
Optimism--cheerfulness.
Sympathy.
Originality.
Progressiveness.
Effective expression.
Pleasing appearance--"good looking."
Tact.
Patience.
Sincerity.
Among the characteristics which they did not like in teachers they named
the following:
_Undesirable Characteristics_
Grouchiness.
Wandering in method.
Indifference to need for help.
Too close holding to the text.
Distant attitude--aloofness.
Partiality.
Excitability.
Irritability.
Pessimism--"in the dumps."
Indifferent assignments.
Hazy explanations.
Failure to cover assignments.
Distracting facial expressions.
Attitude of "lording it over."
Sarcasm.
Poor taste in dress.
Bluffing--"the tables turned."
Discipline for discipline's sake.
"Holier than thouness."
_Desirable Capabilities_
They also reduced to rather memorable phrases a half dozen desirable
capabilities:
1. The ability to make students work and want to work.
2. The ability to make definite assignments.
3. The ability to make clear explanations.
4. The ability to be pleasant without being easy.
5. The ability to emphasize essentials.
6. The ability to capitalize on new ideas.
7. The ability to be human.
A number of years ago Clapp conducted a similar survey among one hundred
leading school men of America, asking them to list the ten most
essential characteristics of a good teacher. From the lists sent in
Clapp compiled the ten qualities in the order named most frequently by
the one hundred men:
1. Sympathy.
2. Address.
3. Enthusiasm.
4. Sincerity.
5. Personal Appearance.
6. Optimism.
7. Scholarship.
8. Vitality.
9. Fairness.
10. Reserve or dignity.
George Herbert Betts, in his stimulating book, _How to Teach Religion_,
says there are three classes of teachers:
"Two types of teachers are remembered: One to be forgiven after years
have softened the antagonisms and resentments; the other to be
thought of with honor and gratitude as long as memory lasts. Between
these two is a third and a larger group: those who are forgotten,
because they failed to stamp a lasting impression on their pupils.
This group represents the mediocrity of the profession, not bad
enough to be actively forgiven, not good enough to claim a place in
gratitude and remembrance."
Mr. Betts then goes on with a very exhaustive list of positive and
negative qualities in teachers--a list so valuable that we set it down
here for reference.
_Positive Qualities_ _Negative Qualities_
1. Open-minded, inquiring, broad. Narrow, dogmatic, not hungry for
truth.
2. Accurate, thorough, discerning. Indefinite, superficial, lazy.
3. Judicious, balanced, fair. Prejudiced, led by likes and
dislikes.
4. Original, independent, Dependent, imitative, subservient.
resourceful.
5. Decisive, possessing convictions. Uncertain, wavering, undecided.
6. Cheerful, joyous, optimistic. Gloomy, morose, pessimistic, bitter.
7. Amiable, friendly, agreeable. Repellent, unsociable, disagreeable.
8. Democratic, broadly sympathetic. Snobbish, self-centered, exclusive.
9. Tolerant, sense of humor, Opinionated, dogmatic, intolerant.
generous.
10. Kind, courteous, tactful. Cruel, rude, untactful.
11. Tractable, co-operative, Stubborn, not able to work with
teachable. others.
12. Loyal, honorable, dependable. Disloyal, uncertain dependability.
13. Executive, forceful, vigorous. Uncertain, weak, not capable.
14. High ideals, worthy, exalted. Low standards, base, contemptible.
15. Modest, self-effacing. Egotistical, vain, autocratic.
16. Courageous, daring, firm. Overcautious, weak, vacillating.
17. Honest, truthful, frank, Low standards of honor and truth.
sincere.
18. Patient, calm, equable. Irritable, excitable, moody.
19. Generous, open-hearted, Stingy, selfish, resentful.
forgiving.
20. Responsive, congenial. Cold, repulsive, uninviting.
21. Punctual, on schedule, capable. Tardy, usually behindhand,
incapable.
22. Methodical, consistent, logical. Haphazard, desultory, inconsistent.
23. Altruistic, given to service. Indifferent, not socially minded.
24. Refined, alive to beauty, Coarse, lacking aesthetic quality.
artistic.
25. Self-controlled, decision, Suggestible, easily led, uncertain.
purpose.
26. Good physical carriage, dignity. Lack of poise, ill posture, no
grace.
27. Taste in attire, cleanliness, Careless in dress, frumpy, no pride.
pride.
28. Face smiling, voice pleasant. Somber expression, voice unpleasant.
29. Physical endurance, vigor, Quickly tired, weak, sluggish.
strength.
30. Spiritual responsiveness, Spiritually weak, inconstant,
strong. uncertain.
31. Prayer life warm, satisfying. Prayer cold, formal, little comfort.
32. Religious certainty, peace, Conflict, strain, uncertainty.
quiet.
33. Religious experience expanding. Spiritual life static or losing
force.
34. God a near, inspiring reality. God distant, unreal, hard of
approach.
35. Power to win others to religion. Influence little or negative.
36. Interest in Bible and religion. Little concern for religion and
Bible.
37. Religion makes life fuller and Religion felt as a limitation.
richer.
38. Deeply believe great Lacking in foundations for faith.
fundamentals.
39. Increasing triumph over sin. Too frequent falling before
temptation.
40. Religious future hopeful. Religious growth uncertain.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER IV
1. Think of the teachers who stand out most clearly in your memory. Why
do they so stand out?
2. Name the qualities that made the Savior the _Great Teacher_.
3. If you had to choose between a fairly capable but humble teacher, and
a very capable but conceited one, which one would be your choice? Why?
4. What is your argument against the idea, "Teachers are born, not
made"?
5. Discuss the relative significance of the qualities quoted from Betts.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
O'Shea, _Every-day Problems in Teaching_; Betts, _How to Teach
Religion_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a Teacher_; Palmer, _The Ideal
Teacher_; Slattery, _Living Teachers_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School
Teachers_.
CHAPTER V
PERSONALITY
OUTLINE--CHAPTER V
The six major qualities:--a. Sympathy.--b. Sincerity.--c.
Optimism.--d. Scholarly attitude.--e. Vitality.--f. Spirituality.
To set about to cultivate separate qualities would be rather a
discouraging undertaking. As a matter of fact, many of the
characteristics named really overlap, while others are secondary in
importance. For practical purposes let us enlarge upon five or six
qualities which everyone will agree are fundamental to teaching success.
The class in Teacher Training, at the Brigham Young University, in the
summer of 1920, named these six as the most fundamental:
1. Sympathy.
2. Sincerity.
3. Optimism.
4. Scholarly attitude.
5. Vitality.
6. Spirituality.
No attempt was made to set them down in the order of relative
importance.
1. SYMPATHY
This is a very broad and far-reaching term. It rests upon experience and
imagination and involves the ability to live, at least temporarily,
someone else's life. Sympathy is fundamentally vicarious. Properly to
sympathize with children a man must re-live in memory his own childhood
or he must have the power of imagination to see things through their
eyes. Many a teacher has condemned pupils for doing what to them was
perfectly normal. We too frequently persist in viewing a situation from
our own point of view rather than in going around to the other side to
look at it as our pupils see it. It is no easy matter thus "to get out
of ourselves" and become a boy or girl again, but it is worth the
effort.
Along with this ability at vicarious living, sympathy involves an
interest in others. Sympathy is a matter of concern in the affairs of
others. The rush and stir of modern life fairly seem to force us to
focus our attention upon self, but if we would succeed as teachers, we
must make ourselves enter into the lives of our pupils out of an
interest to see how they conduct their lives, and the reasons for such
conduct.
Coupled with this interest in others and the imagination to see through
their eyes, sympathy involves a desire to help them. A man may have an
interest in people born out of mere curiosity or for selfish purposes,
but if he has sympathy for them, he must be moved with a desire to help
and to bless them.
And, finally, sympathy involves the actual doing of something by way of
service. President Grant liked to refer to a situation wherein a
particular person was in distress. Friends of all sorts came along
expressing regret and professing sympathy. Finally a fellow stepped
forward and said, "I feel to sympathize with this person to the extent
of fifty dollars." "That man," said President Grant, "has sympathy in
his heart as well as in his purse."
2. SINCERITY
Surely this is a foundation principle in teaching:
"Thou must to thyself be true,
If thou the truth would teach;
Thy soul must overflow,
If thou another soul would reach."
A teacher must really be converted to what he teaches or there is a
hollowness to all that he utters. "Children and dogs," it is said, are
the great judges of sincerity--they instinctively know a friend. No
teacher can continue to stand on false ground before his pupils. The
superintendent of one of our Sunday Schools, having selected one of the
most talented persons in his ward to teach a Second Intermediate Class
was astonished some months later to receive a request from the class for
a change of teachers. The class could assign no specific reasons for
their objections, except that they didn't get anything out of the class.
A year later the superintendent learned that the teacher was living in
violation of the regulations of the Church, on a particular principle,
and it was perfectly clear why his message didn't ring home.
The sincere teacher not only believes what he teaches--he consecrates
his best efforts to the task in hand. He urges no excuse for absence or
lack of preparation--"he is there." He lets his class feel that for the
time being it is his greatest concern. He meets with boys and girls
because he loves to and reaches out to them with an enthusiasm that
cannot be questioned.
3. OPTIMISM
is the sunshine of the classroom. It is as natural to expect a plant to
develop when covered with a blanket as it is to expect a class to be
full of activity and responsiveness under an influence of unnatural
solemnity. Lincoln is quoted as having declared, "You can catch more
flies with a drop of honey than with a gallon of vinegar"--a homely
expression, but full of suggestion. A grouch is no magnet.
A little girl when questioned why she liked her Sunday School teacher
said, "Oh, she always smiles at me and says, hello." There is contagion
in the cheeriness of a smile that cannot be resisted. Children live so
naturally in an atmosphere of happiness and fun that teachers of
religious instruction may well guard against making their work too
formally sober. Frequently teachers feel the seriousness of their
undertaking so keenly that they worry or discipline themselves into a
state of pedagogical unnaturalness. There is very great force behind the
comment of the student who appreciated the teacher who could be human.
The experience is told of a teacher who continued to have difficulty
with one of her pupils. He so persisted in violating regulations that he
was kept in after school regularly, and yet after school hours he was
one of the most helpful lads in the school; in fact, he and the teacher
seemed almost chummy. Struck by the difference in his attitude, the
teacher remarked to him one afternoon, as he went about cleaning the
blackboard, "Jimmie, I have just been wondering about you. You're one of
my best workers after school--I can't understand how you can be so
different during school hours and after."
"Gee, that's funny," put in Jimmie, "I was just thinking the same thing
about you."
To be cheerful without being easy is a real art. Liberty is so often
converted into license, and a spirit of fun so easily transformed into
mischief and disorder. And yet cheerfulness is the great key to the
human heart.
An attitude of looking for the good in pupils will lead to a response of
friendliness on their part which is the basis of all teaching.
4. SCHOLARLY ATTITUDE
If a teacher would cultivate an appetite for learning among his pupils
he must himself hunger for knowledge. Most young people will "take
intellectually if sufficiently exposed." A scholarly attitude implies
first of all a growing mastery of subject matter. To quote an eminent
writer on religious education, "A common bane of Sunday school teaching
has been the haziness of the teacher's own ideas concerning the truths
of religion."
Fancy the hostess who would invite her guests to a dinner, and upon
their arrival indicate to them that she had made only vague plans to
receive them. No special place for their wraps, no entertainment for
their amusement, and then fancy her asking them to sit down to a
warmed-up conglomeration of left-overs.
Of course, it is only in fancy that we can imagine such a service. Yet
reports frequently indicate that there are class recitations,
intellectual banquets, for which the preparation has been about as
meagre as that indicated. Surely he who would feast others upon His word
should prepare unceasingly. Let us keep in mind the comment--"We like
the fellow who tells us something new."
Along with this mastery of subject matter, a scholarly attitude implies
both broadmindedness and openmindedness. Seekers after truth should
welcome it from all available sources, and ought not to be handicapped
by bias or prejudice. Tolerance and a willingness to entertain
questions--a constant effort to view a subject from every possible
angle--a poise that attends self-control even under stress of
annoyance--these things are all involved in a truly scholarly attack
upon any given problem.
5. VITALITY
One of the qualities most favorably and frequently commented on by
students is what they call "pep." A certain vigor of attack that seems
to go directly to the point at stake, putting at rest all other
business and making discipline unnecessary, is what twentieth century
young people seem to like. The element of hero worship prompts them to
demand that the leader shall "do things." They like the "push" that
takes a man over the top, the drive that wins a ball game, the energy
that stamps the business man with success. Vitality is an inherent
factor in leadership.
6. SPIRITUALITY
The crowning glory of the successful religious teacher is that spiritual
glow which links up heaven and earth.
"And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the power of faith, and if
ye receive not the Spirit, ye shall not teach." (Doc. & Cov., Sec.
42:14.)
This divine injunction is given us because we have undertaken to teach
His Gospel. We would lead others to Him. And this is possible only as we
lead by the light of His Holy Spirit. Above our knowledge of facts and
our understanding of child nature must be placed our communion with that
Spirit which touches the hearts of men.
If a teacher would prepare a young man for a place in a modern business
house he must teach him the ways of business,--buying, selling,
collecting, managing, etc.,--matters of fact, governed by the laws of
barter and trade. If that same teacher would teach the same young man
the way of eternal life, he must substitute for the laws of man the word
of the Lord, and for the spirit of exchange, the Spirit of Heaven. A
pupil can be prepared for the kingdom of God only as he is led to
respond to and appreciate His Spirit, and to do His will. While it is
true that the best way to prepare for heaven is to live the best
possible life here on earth, yet we need the Spirit of the Lord to
interpret what constitutes that best possible life.
There is power in the intellect of man; there is glory in that power
when it is heightened by the Spirit of the Almighty.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER V
1. What is sympathy?
2. Why is it so essential in teaching?
3. Why is sincerity a foundation principle in all teaching?
4. Discuss the obligation on the part of the teacher to leave his
troubles outside the classroom.
5. Discuss the statement--"Cheerfulness is spiritual sunshine."
6. Illustrate the value of cheerfulness.
7. What is the significance of the term, scholarly attitude?
8. Just what constitutes vitality?
9. Show how it is essential to teaching.
10. Why name spirituality as the crowning characteristic of the good
teacher?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter IV.
CHAPTER VI
ATTAINMENT
OUTLINE--CHAPTER VI
The possibility of growth in teaching.--How to develop
spirituality: a. By cultivating the spirit of prayer; b. By leading
a clean life; c. By obeying the principles of the Gospel; d. By
performing one's duty in the Church; e. By reading and pondering
the word of the Lord.--How to develop other qualities: a. By taking
a personal inventory; b. By coming in contact with the best in life
through reading and companionship; c. By forming the habit of
systematic study; d. By assuming responsibility.
While we may agree as to what constitutes the desirable characteristics
in teachers it is far easier to name them than to attain them. We have
already pointed out that teaching is a complex art proficiency in which
is the result of a long, painstaking process. But success in teaching as
in all other pursuits is possible of achievement. We have heard so
frequently that teachers must be born, not made, that many prospective
teachers, feeling that they have been denied this pedagogical
birthright, give up in despair. Of course, it is naturally easy for some
individuals to teach--they do seem born possessed of a teaching
personality, but they are not given a monopoly on the profession.
The Lord has too many children to be taught to leave their instruction
to a few favored ones. The qualities listed in chapter five may be
developed, in varying degrees, of course, by any normal person anxious
to serve his fellows. The "will to do" is the great key to success.
To him who would develop spiritually, these five suggestions may be
helpful:
First, cultivate the spirit of prayer. The president of one of our
stakes made the remark once that he believed only a few of the men and
women of his stake really pray. "They go through the form, all right,"
he said; "they repeat the words--but they do not enter into the spirit
of the prayer. If the Lord doesn't draw nearer to them than they do to
Him I doubt that their prayers are really of very great force."
The ability to pray is the great test of a spiritual life. "The faith to
pray" is a gift to be cultivated through devoted practice. The teacher
who would have his pupils draw nearer to him must himself draw near to
the Lord. The promise, "Ask, and ye shall receive, seek, and ye shall
find," was given only to those who ask in faith. This constant prayer of
faith, then is the first great guarantee of the Spirit.
The second is a clean life. Just as it is impossible for water to make
its way through a dirty, clogged pipe, so it is for the Spirit to flow
through a channel of unrighteous desires. A visitor was interested a
short time ago in Canada in attempting to get a drink out of a pipe that
had been installed to carry water from a spring in the side of a
mountain to a pool at the side of the road. Due to neglect, moss and
filth had been allowed to collect about the bottom of the pipe, until it
was nearly choked up. Getting a drink was out of the question. And yet
there was plenty of water in the spring above--just as fine water as had
ever flowed from that source. It was simply denied passage down to those
who would drink. And so with the Spirit. The Lord is still able to
bless--all too frequently, we so live that "the passage is clogged." The
Word of Wisdom is not only a guarantee of health--it is the key to
communication with the Spirit. And what is true of the body applies with
even greater force to cleanliness of mind. The teacher might well adopt
this prayer:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within
me."
The third great guarantee of the Spirit is an unswerving obedience to
all principles of the Gospel. To teach belief a man must believe. Firmly
grounded in all the cardinal principles the teacher may well inspire a
spirit of the Gospel, but not otherwise. Doubt and uncertainty will keep
the teacher from the position of counsel and leadership.
The fourth assurance in the matter of developing spirituality is the
consistent performance of one's religious obligations. The complaint is
often made that teachers in a particular organization will meet their
classes regularly, but that done they seem to consider their religious
duties discharged. Teaching does not excuse a person from attending the
other services required of Latter-day Saints. He is asked to attend
Sacrament meetings, Priesthood meetings, Union meetings, special
preparation meetings--they are all essential to the full development of
the Spirit of the Gospel, which is the spirit of teaching. The teacher
may rightly expect to be sustained only as he sustains those who preside
over him.
"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." (Matt. 7:2.)
And finally, if we would enjoy the spirit of our work we must
familiarize ourselves with the Word of the Lord. To read it is to
associate in thought with Him. His Spirit pervades all that He has said,
whether in ancient or modern times. One of our apostles frequently
remarked that if he would feel fully in touch with the spirit of his
calling he must read regularly from the Doctrine & Covenants. "That book
keeps me attuned as no other book can." It is not given to us to
associate here with the Master, but through His recorded words we can
live over all that He once lived. Thereby we not only come really to
know what He would have us do, we partake of a spirit that surpasses
understanding.
"Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life."
As for attainment in other matters involved in the teaching process, the
teachers who attended the course at the Brigham Young University were
agreed that regular practice in the following processes will insure
marked growth and development:
1. The taking of a personal inventory at regular intervals. "Am I the
kind of teacher I should like to go to?" starts an investigation full of
suggestiveness. The qualities listed in chapter four constitute a
reference chart for analysis. A teacher can become his own best critic
if he sets up the proper ideals by way of a standard. A teacher in one
of our Church schools in Idaho carried out an interesting investigation
during the year 1919-1920. Anxious that he should not monopolize the
time in his recitations, he asked one of his students to tabulate the
time of the class period as follows:
Number of questions asked by teacher.
Number of questions asked by pupils.
Amount of time consumed by teacher.
Amount of time consumed by pupils.
He was astonished to discover that of the forty-five minutes given to
recitation he was regularly using an average of thirty-two minutes.
Similar investigations can be carried on by any interested teacher.
2. Contact with the best in life. It is a fundamental law in life that
life is an adaptation to environment. The writer has been interested in
observing the force of this law as it affects animal life. Lizards in
Emery county are slate-gray in color that they may be less conspicuous
on a background of clay and gray sandstone; the same animals in St.
George take on a reddish color--an adaptation to their environment of
red sandstone.
Nor is the operation of this law merely a physical process. On a trip
into Canada recently the writer traveled some distance with a group of
bankers in attendance at a convention at Great Falls. On his way home he
took a train on which there was a troupe of vaudeville players. The
contrast was too marked to escape notice. One group had responded to an
environment of sober business negotiations--the other to the gayety of
the footlights. And so the teacher who would grow must put himself into
an environment that makes the kind of growth he desires
natural--inevitable. Through good books he can associate with the choice
spirits of all ages. No one denies his acquaintanceship. Great men have
given their best thoughts to many of the problems that confront us. We
can capitalize on their wisdom by reading their books. We re-enforce
ourselves with their strength.
Magazines, too, are full of stimulation. They constitute a kind of
intellectual clearing house for the best thought of the world today.
Business houses value them so highly in promoting the advancement of
their employees that they subscribe regularly. One manager remarked: "No
one factor makes for greater growth among my men than reading the
achievements of others--leaders in their lines--through the magazines."
There is scarcely a phase of life which is not being fully written about
in the current issues of the leading magazines.
Then, too, contact with men and women of achievement is a remarkable
stimulus to growth.
There are leaders in every community--men and women rich in
experience--who will gladly discuss the vital issues of life with those
who approach them. There still remain, too, pioneers with their
wonderful stories of sacrifice and devotion. To the teacher who will
take the pains there is an untold wealth of material in the lives of the
men and women about him.
3. Regular habits of systematic study. Thorough intensive effort finds
its best reward in the intellectual growth that it insures. In these
days of the hurry of business and the whirl of commercialized amusements
there is little time left for study except for him who makes himself
subscribe to a system of work. Thirty minutes of concentrated effort a
day works wonders in the matter of growth. President Grant was a
splendid evidence of the force of persistent effort in his writing, his
business success, and his rise to the leadership of half a million
Latter-day Saints.
4. Assuming the obligations of responsibility. In every organization
there are constant calls upon teachers to perform laborious tasks. It is
so natural to seek to avoid them--so easy to leave them for somebody
else--that we have to cultivate vigorously a habit of accepting the
obligations that present themselves. The difficulties of responsibility
are often burdensome, but they are an essential guarantee of
achievement. "Welcome the task that makes you go beyond your ordinary
self, if you would grow!"
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VI
1. Discuss our obligation to grow.
2. Point out the difference between praying and merely saying prayers.
3. Discuss the various means which guarantee spiritual growth.
4. Comment on the thought that a personal inventory is as essential to
teaching as it is to financial success.
5. What is your daily scheme for systematic study?
6. What plan do you follow in an attempt to know the scriptures?
7. Why is it so important that we assume the responsibilities placed
upon us?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter IV.
CHAPTER VII
NATIVE TENDENCIES
OUTLINE--CHAPTER VII
Importance of Child Study to teachers.--Teaching both a social and
an individual process.--A Child's characteristics--his
birthright.--What the nervous system is.--Types of original
responses.--The significance of instinctive action.--Colvin's list
of native tendencies.--Sisson's list.--A knowledge of native
tendencies essential to proper control of human behavior.
We have now discussed the significance and meaning of teaching, together
with the consideration of the characteristics that constitute the
personal equation of the teacher. It is now pertinent that we give some
attention to the nature of the child to be taught, that we may the more
intelligently discuss methods of teaching, or how teacher and pupil get
together in an exchange of knowledge.
Teaching is a unique process. It is both social and individual. The
teacher meets a class--a collection of pupils in a social unit. In one
way he is concerned with them generally--he directs group action. But in
addition to this social aspect, the problem involves his giving
attention to each individual in the group. He may put a general
question, but he gets an individual reply. In short, he must be aware of
the fact that his pupils, for purposes of recitation, are all alike; and
at the same time he must appreciate the fact that they are peculiarly
different. In a later chapter we shall consider these differences; let
us here consider the points of similarity.
The fact that a boy is a boy makes him heir to all of the
characteristics that man has developed. These characteristics are his
birthright. He responds in a particular way to stimuli because the race
before him has so responded. There is no need here of entering into a
discussion as to how great a controlling factor heredity may be in a
man's life, or how potent environment may be in modifying that life--we
are concerned rather with the result--that man is as he is. It is
essential that we know his characteristics, particularly as they
manifest themselves in youth, so that we may know what to expect in his
conduct and so that we may proceed to modify and control that conduct.
Just as the first task of the physician is to diagnose his case--to get
at the cause of the difficulty before he proceeds to suggest a
remedy--so the first consideration of the teacher is a query, "Whom do I
teach?"
Man may normally be expected to respond in a particular way to a
particular stimulus because men throughout the history of the race have
so responded. Certain connections have been established in his nervous
system and he acts accordingly--he does what he does because he is
_man_. We cannot here go into a detailed discussion of the physiological
processes involved in thinking and other forms of behavior, but perhaps
we may well set down a statement or two relative to man's tendencies to
act, and their explanations:
"The nervous system is composed of neurones of three types: Those
that receive, the afferent; those that effect action, the efferent;
and those that connect, the associative. The meeting places of these
neurones are the synapses. All neurones have the three
characteristics of sensitivity, conductivity, and modifiability. In
order for conduct or feeling or intellect to be present, at least two
neurones must be active, and in all but a few of the human activities
many more are involved. The possibility of conduct or intelligence
depends upon the connections at the synapses,--upon the possibility
of the current affecting neurones in a certain definite way. The
possession of an 'original nature,' then, means the possession, as a
matter of inheritance, of certain connections between neurones, the
possession of certain synapses which are in functional contact and
across which a current may pass merely as a matter of structure. Just
why certain synapses should be thus connected is the whole question
of heredity. Two factors seem to affect the functional contact of a
synapses,--first, proximity of the neurone ends, and second, some
sort of permeability which makes a current travel on one rather than
another of two neurones equally near together in space. This
proximity and permeability are both provided for by the structure and
constitution of the nervous system. It should be noted that the
connection of neurones is not a one-to-one affair, but the
multiplicity of fibrils provided by original nature makes it possible
for one afferent to discharge into many neurones, and for one
efferent neurone to receive the current from many neurones. Thus the
individual when born is equipped with potentialities of character,
intellect and conduct, because of the pre-formed connections or
tendencies to connections present in his nervous system.
"_Types of Original Responses._--These unlearned tendencies which
make up the original nature of the human race are usually classified
into automatic or physiological actions, reflexes, instincts, and
capacities. Automatic actions are such as those controlling the
heart-beats, digestive and intestinal movements; the contraction of
the pupil of the eye from light, sneezing, swallowing, etc., are
reflexes; imitation, fighting, and fear, are instincts, which
capacities refer to those more subtle traits by means of which an
individual becomes a good linguist, or is tactful, or gains skill in
handling tools. However, there is no sharp line of division between
these various unlearned tendencies; what one psychologist calls a
reflex or a series of reflexes, another will call an instinct. It
seems better to consider them as of the same general character but
differing from each other in simplicity, definiteness, uniformity of
response, variableness among individuals, and modifiability. They
range from movements such as the action of the blood vessels to those
concerned in hunting and collecting; from the simple, definite,
uniform knee-jerk, which is very similar in all people and open to
very little modification, to the capacity for scholarship, which is
extremely complex, vague as to definition, variable both as to
manifestation in one individual and amounts amongst people in
general, and is open to almost endless modification. This fund of
unlearned tendencies is the capital with which each child starts, the
capital which makes education and progress possible, as well as the
capital which limits the extent to which progress and development in
any line may proceed." _The Psychology of Childhood_, pp. 21, 22, 23.
Weigle, in his _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_, begins his second
chapter in a rather unique and helpful manner relative to this same
question:
"The little human animal, like every other, is born going. He is
already wound up. His lungs expand and contract; his heart is pumping
away; his stomach is ready to handle food. These organic, vital
activities he does not initiate. They begin themselves. The organism
possesses them by nature. They are the very conditions of life.
"There are many other activities, not so obviously vital as these,
for which nature winds him up quite as thoroughly--yes, and sets him
to go off at the proper time for each. He will suck when brought to
the breast as unfailingly as his lungs will begin to work upon
contact with the air. He will cry from hunger or discomfort, clasp
anything that touches his fingers or toes, carry to his mouth
whatever he can grasp, in time smile when smiled at, later grow
afraid when left alone or in the dark, manifest anger and affection,
walk, run, play, question, imitate, collect things, pull things
apart, put them together again, take pleasure in being with friends,
act shy before strangers, find a chum, belong to a 'gang' or 'bunch,'
quarrel, fight, become reconciled, and some day fall in love with one
of the opposite sex. These, and many more, are just his natural human
ways. He does not of purpose initiate them any more than he initiates
breathing or heart-beat. He does these things because he is so born
and built. They are his instincts."
As Norsworthy and Whitley point out, we are not especially concerned
with the boundary lines between automatic actions, reflexes, and
instincts--we are rather concerned with the fact that human beings
possess native tendencies to act in particular ways. Some psychologists
stress them as instincts; others as capacities, but they have all pretty
generally agreed that under certain stimuli there are natural tendencies
to react.
These tendencies begin to manifest themselves at birth--they are all
potentialities with the birth of the child--and continue to develop in
turn, certain ones being more pronounced in the various stages of the
child's life. Colvin in his _The Learning Process_, runs through the
complete list of possibilities. According to him man, in a lifetime, is
characterized by the following tendencies: Fear, anger, sympathy,
affection, play, imitation, curiosity, acquisitiveness,
constructiveness, self-assertion (leadership), self-abasement, rivalry,
envy, jealousy, pugnacity, clannishness, the hunting and predatory
instincts, the migratory instinct, love of adventure and the unknown,
superstition, the sex instincts, which express themselves in sex-love,
vanity, coquetry, modesty; and, closely allied with these, the love of
nature and of solitude, and the aesthetic, the religious, and the moral
emotions.
Sisson, in a little book that every teacher ought to know, _The
Essentials of Character_, emphasizes the importance for teaching of ten
tendencies: bodily activity, sense-hunger and curiosity, suggestibility,
tastes and aesthetic appreciation, self-assertion, love, joy, fear, the
growing-up impulse, the love of approbation.
As already indicated, the teacher should give attention to these
tendencies that he may the better know how to proceed. If he knows that
the one great outstanding impulse of a boy of seven is to do something,
he perhaps will be less likely to plan an hour's recitation on the
theory that for that hour the boy is to do nothing. If he knows that one
of the greatest tendencies of boys from ten to fourteen is to organize
"gangs" for social and "political" purposes, he will very likely
capitalize on this idea in building up a good strong class spirit.
Knowing that children naturally respond to certain stimuli in very
definite ways, the teacher can better set about to furnish the right
stimuli--he can be in a better position to _direct and control
behavior_.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VII
1. What significance attaches to the statement, "Children are born
'going'"?
2. Why is it of vital importance that teachers give attention to the
native tendencies in children?
3. What constitutes instinctive action? Illustrate.
4. Name the instincts that are essentially individualistic. Those that
are essentially social.
5. What native tendencies are of most concern to teachers?
6. Discuss the relative significance of heredity, environment, and
training in the development of children.
7. To what extent is a child limited in its development by its nervous
system?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Norsworthy and Whitley, _The Psychology of Childhood_; Weigle, _Talks to
Sunday School Teachers_; Colvin, _The Learning Process_; Sisson, _The
Essentials of Character_; Stiles, _The Nervous System and its
Conservation_; Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Harrison, _A Study
of Child Nature_; Kirkpatrick, _Fundamentals of Child Study_.
CHAPTER VIII
"WHAT TO DO WITH NATIVE TENDENCIES"
OUTLINE--CHAPTER VIII
Characteristic tendencies of the various stages of child life.--The
teacher's attitude toward them.--Follow the grain.
Four methods of procedure: 1. The method of disuse; 2. The method
of rewards and punishment; 3. The method of substitution; 4. The
method of stimulation and sublimation.
Having listed the native tendencies generally, we might well now
consider them as they manifest themselves at the various stages of an
individual's development. As already indicated, they constitute his
birthright as a human being, though most of them are present in the
early years of his life only in potentiality. Psychologists of recent
years have made extensive observations as to what instincts are most
prominent at given periods. Teachers are referred particularly to the
volumes of Kirkpatrick, Harrison, and Norsworthy and Whitley. In this
latter book, pages 286, 287, and 298-302, will be found an interesting
tabulation of characteristics at the age of five and at eleven. For the
years of adolescence Professor Beeley, in his course at the Brigham
Young Summer School, in the Psychology of Adolescence, worked out very
fully the characteristics unique in this period, though many of them, of
course, are present at other stages:
CHARACTERISTICS UNIQUE IN THE ADOLESCENT PERIOD
1. Maturing of the sex instincts.
2. Rapid limb growth.
3. Over-awkwardness.
4. Visceral organs develop rapidly (heart, liver, lungs, genital
organs.)
5. Change in physical proportions; features take on definite
characteristics.
6. Brain structure has matured.
7. Self-awareness.
8. Personal pride and desire for social approval.
9. Egotism.
10. Unstable, "hair-trigger," conflicting emotions.
11. Altruism, sincere interest in the well-being of others.
12. Religious and moral awakening.
13. New attitude.
14. Aesthetic awakening.
15. Puzzle to everybody.
16. Desire to abandon conventionalities, struggle for self-assertion.
17. Career motive.
18. Period of "palling" and mating; clique and "gang" spirit.
19. Positiveness,--affirmation, denial.
20. Inordinate desire for excessive amusement.
21. Evidence of hereditary influences.
22. "Hero worship," castle building.
23. "Wanderlust."
24. Hyper-suggestibility.
25. Ideals; ambitions.
27. Yearning for adult responsibility.
Having listed these tendencies we still face the question, "What shall
we do with them? What is their significance in teaching?"
It is perfectly clear, in the first place, that we ought not to ignore
them. None of them is wholly useless, and few of them can safely be
developed just as they first manifest themselves. They call for training
and direction.
"Some instincts are to be cherished almost as they are; some rooted
out by withholding stimuli, or by making their exercise result in
pain or discomfort, or by substituting desirable habits in their
place; most of the instincts should be modified and
redirected."--(_Thorndike._)
Our concern as teachers ought to be that in our work with boys and
girls, men and women, we are aware of these natural tendencies that we
may work with them rather than contrary to them--that we may "follow the
grain" of human nature.
Since these tendencies are the result of responses to stimuli they may
be modified by attention either to the stimuli or to the reaction that
attends the stimulation. Four methods call for our consideration:
1. The method of disuse.
2. The method of rewards and punishments.
3. The method of substitution.
4. The method of stimulation and sublimation.
No one of these methods can be said always to be best. The nature of the
person in question, his previous experience and training, together with
the circumstances attending a given situation, all are factors which
determine how we should proceed. The vital point is, that both as
parents and teachers we should guard against falling into the rut of
applying the same treatment to all cases regardless of their nature.
1. THE METHOD OF DISUSE
This method is largely negative. It aims to safeguard an individual
against ills by withholding stimuli. The mother aims to keep scissors
out of reach and sight of the baby that it may not be lured into danger.
Some parents, upon discerning that the pugnacious instinct is
manifesting itself vigorously in their boy, isolate him from other
boys--keep him by himself through a period of a year or more that the
tendency may not be accentuated. Other parents, observing their
daughter's inclination to be frivolous, or seeing the instinct of sex
begin to manifest itself in her interest in young men, send her away to
a girl's school--a sort of intellectual nunnery.
Frequently teachers follow this method in the conduct of their classes.
The tendency to self-assertion and verbal combat, natural to youth, is
smothered by an unwillingness on the part of the teacher to indulge
questions and debate or by a marked inclination to do all the talking.
It is clear that this method of disuse has its place in the training of
children, though grave dangers attend its too frequent indulgence.
Children and others of immature judgment need the protection of
withheld stimuli. But clearly this is not a method to be recommended for
general application. The boy who is never allowed to quarrel or fight
may very possibly grow up to be a man afraid to meet the battles of
life; the girl, if her natural emotions are checked, may lose those very
qualities that make for the highest type of womanhood and motherhood.
Fortunately, in these days, it is pretty nearly impossible to bring boys
and girls up in "glass houses." Doubly fortunate, for they are made
happy in their bringing up and are fitted for a world not particularly
devoted to the fondling of humankind.
2. THE METHOD OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS
This method is clearly illustrated in the training of "trick" animals.
These creatures through innumerable repetitions are made to do
phenomenal "stunts." In the training for every successful "try" they are
rewarded with a cube of sugar, a piece of candy, or some other
pleasure-producing article; for every miss they are punished--made to
suffer pain or discomfort. This same sort of procedure carries over into
human affairs. Witness the hickory stick and the ruler, or count the
nickels and caresses. Ridicule before the class, and praise for
commendable behavior or performance, are typical of this same method. If
it is followed, and it clearly has a place in the training of children,
care should be exercised to see that in the child's mind in any case
there is clear connection between what he has done and the treatment
that he receives. With some parents it fairly seems as if their one
remedy for all offenses is a tingling in the epidermis--it is equally
clear that with some teachers their one weapon is sarcasm. All too
frequently these measures grow out of unsettled nerves or stirred up
passions, on the part of the parent or teacher, and have really but
little connection--remote at best--with the offense in question. There
may be an abuse in the matter of rewards, too, of course, but as a rule
few classes suffer from too much appreciation. The real art of
discipline lies in making the reward or the punishment naturally grow
out of the conduct indulged in.
3. THE METHOD OF SUBSTITUTION
Because of the fact that some stimuli inevitably lead to discomfort and
disaster--that some conduct is bad--there is need of a method of
substitution. The child's mind needs to be led from the contemplation of
an undesirable course of action to something quite different. Frequently
a child cannot be satisfied with a mere denial, and circumstances may
not be favorable to punishment--yet the correction must be made.
Substitution is the avenue of escape. A striking illustration in point
occurred recently in a cafe in Montana. A trio of foreigners, father,
mother, and two-year-old son, came in and sat down at one of the tables.
Soon after the parents began to eat, the child caught sight of a little
silver pitcher for which he began to beg. Whining and crying, mixed in
with the begging, created a good bit of disturbance. The only attempted
solution on the part of the parents was a series of: "Don't do that!"
"No! no!" "Keep quiet, Marti!" a continued focusing of the child's
attention on what he ought not to do, and an added note to the
disturbance. Then an American across the aisle having surveyed the
situation took out of his pocket a folder full of brightly colored
views. The charm worked beautifully--the meal went on free from
disturbance--and the child was happy.
This method involves a good bit of resourcefulness, calling at times
for what seems an impossible amount of ingenuity. As someone has said,
"It is beating the other fellow to it." It merits the consideration of
those who have to handle boys and girls who are regularly up to
"stunts."
4. THE METHOD OF STIMULATION AND SUBLIMATION
This method is rather closely akin to that of substitution, with the
exception that it capitalizes on tendencies already in operation and
raises them to a higher level. Stimulation, of course, merely means the
bringing of children into contact with desirable stimuli on every
possible occasion; in fact, it involves the making of favorable
occasions.
Sublimation involves building upon native tendencies to an elevated
realization. Educationally this method is most full of promise. It is
seen in kindergarten methods when a child is led from mere meaningless
playing with toys to constructive manipulation of blocks, tools, etc. It
is seen admirably in football where the pugnacious tendency of boys is
capitalized on to build manliness in struggle and to develop a spirit of
fair play. It is seen in the fostering of a girl's fondness for dolls,
so that it may crystallize into the devotion of motherhood. It is seen
when a boys' man leads a "gang" of boys into an association for social
betterment. It is seen when a teacher works upon the instinct to collect
and hoard, elevating it into a desire for the acquisition of knowledge
and the finer things of life.
Whatever our method, let us give due consideration to the natural
inclinations and aptitudes of boys and girls--let us help them to
achieve fully their own potentialities.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VIII
1. Point out the essential differences between boys and girls at the age
of six and seven and those of sixteen and seventeen.
2. Discuss the significance of the following phrase: "The grain in human
nature."
3. How can the hunting instinct be appealed to in religious stimulation?
4. Of what significance is the "gang spirit" to teachers of adolescents?
5. How can rivalry be made an asset in teaching?
6. How can the fighting instinct in children best be directed?
7. Why is biography so valuable in material for teaching?
8. Why is it so essential that we put responsibility upon boys and
girls? How should this fact affect teaching?
9. What are the dangers that attend an attempt to keep children quiet
for any length of time?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter VII.
CHAPTER IX
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
OUTLINE--CHAPTER IX
Fundamental significance of individual differences.--Typical
illustration.--The truth illustrated physically; in range of voice,
in speed, in mental capabilities.--The same truth applied
spiritually.--Some cases in point.
Everybody is like everybody else in this--that everybody is different
from everybody else. Having discussed how all men enjoy a common
heritage by way of native endowments, let us now turn to a consideration
of how men differ.
Two of the terms most frequently met in recent educational publications
are statistical methods and individual differences. There is nothing
particularly new in this latter term--it merely represents a new
emphasis being given to the old idea that no two of us are alike. Every
parent is aware of the very marked differences in his children. Even
twins differ in disposition and mental capabilities. In fact, one of the
difficulties that attaches to parenthood is just this problem of making
provision in one household for such various personalities.
A member of the stake presidency in one of the stakes in southern Utah,
in discussing this matter a short time ago, remarked that in his family
of four boys one very definitely had decided to become a farmer and was
already busy at getting acquainted with the details of the work; a
second boy was devoted to music and voiced a very vigorous protest
against farming; the third son was so bashful and reticent that he
hadn't given expression to any notion of preference; the fourth, a
happy-go-lucky sort of chap, free and noisy in his cutting up about the
place, wasn't worrying about what he was to do in life--he just didn't
want anything to do with strenuous effort.
"How can I drive a four-horse team such as that?" was the interesting
query of this father.
Practically every family presents this variety of attitude and
practically every parent is trying to work out a solution to the
problem, so there is nothing startling about the term individual
differences. Educators have just given the matter more careful and
scholarly attention of recent years.
If the matter of differences in children constitutes a problem of
concern in a family of from two to ten children, how much greater must
that problem be in a class from thirty to fifty with approximately as
many families represented. The problem has led to some very interesting
investigations--investigations so simple that they can be carried on by
anyone interested. For instance, if we could line up all the men in Salt
Lake City according to size we should find at one end of the line a few
exceptionally tall men, likely from six feet to six feet six inches in
height. At the other end of the line would be a few exceptionally small
men--undersized men from three feet eight or ten inches to four feet six
inches. In between these two types would come in graduated order all
sorts of men with a decidedly large number standing about five feet six
or eight inches. This latter height we call the average.
Practically we see the significance of these differences. No
manufacturer thinks of making one size of overall in the hope that it
will fit each of these men. He adapts his garment to their size, and he
knows approximately how many of each size will be called for in the
course of ordinary business.
If these same men could be taken one by one into a music studio and have
their voices tested for range, the same interesting variations would be
found. There would be a few very high tenors, a few exceptionally low
bassos, and a crowd with medium range with fillers-in all along the
line.
If we were interested in carrying the experiment still further we might
apply the speed test. In a 100-yard dash a few men would be found to be
particularly fast, a few others would trail away behind at a snail's
pace, while the big crowd of men would make the distance in "average
time."
Of course, it would be foolish to attempt to make tenors of all these
men--equally foolish to try to make speeders of them all. In these
practical matters we appreciate the wisdom of letting each man fit into
that niche for which he is qualified.
Nor are these differences confined to the field of physical
characteristics and achievements. Tests by the hundred have demonstrated
beyond all question that they hold equally well of mental capabilities.
In the past children have gone to school at the age of six. They have
remained there because they were six. At seven they were in grade two,
and so on up through the grades of our public schools. Tests and
measurements now, however, are showing that such a procedure works both
a hardship and an injustice on the pupils. Some boys at six are found as
capable of doing work in grade two as other boys at eight. Some boys and
girls at six are found wholly incapable of doing what is required in
grade one. One of the most promising prospects ahead educationally is
that we shall be able to find out just the capacity of a child
regardless of his age, and fit him into what he can do well, making
provisions for his passing on as he shows capability for higher work.
Not only has this matter of individual differences been found to apply
generally in the various grades of our schools--it has been found to
have significant bearing upon achievements in particular subjects. For
all too long a time we have held a boy in grade four until he mastered
what we have called his grade four arithmetic, spelling, geography,
grammar, history, etc. As a matter of fact, many a boy who is a
fourth-grader in grammar may be only a second-grader in arithmetic--a
girl, for whom fourth grade arithmetic is an impossibility, because of
her special liking for reading, may be seventh grade in her capacity in
that subject. In the specific subjects, individual differences have been
found to be most marked. Surely it is unfair to ask a boy "born short"
in history to keep up to the pace of a comrade "born long" in that
subject; so, too, it is unfair to ask a girl "born long" in geography to
hold back to the pace of one "born short" in that subject. The results
of these observations are leading to developments that are full of
promise for the educational interests of the future.
In order that we may more fully appreciate the reality of these
observations let us set down the concrete results of a few experiments.
The first three tests are quoted from Thorndike:
In a test in addition, all pupils being allowed the same time,
1 pupil did 3 examples correctly
2 pupils did 4 examples correctly
1 pupil did 5 examples correctly
5 pupils did 6 examples correctly
2 pupils did 7 examples correctly
4 pupils did 8 examples correctly
6 pupils did 9 examples correctly
14 pupils did 10 examples correctly
8 pupils did 11 examples correctly
7 pupils did 12 examples correctly
8 pupils did 13 examples correctly
5 pupils did 14 examples correctly
5 pupils did 15 examples correctly
6 pupils did 16 examples correctly
1 pupil did 17 examples correctly
5 pupils did 18 examples correctly
1 pupil did 19 examples correctly
2 pupils did 20 examples correctly
The rapidity of movement of ten-year-old girls, as measured by the
number of crosses made in a fixed time:
6 or 7 by 1 girl
8 or 9 by 0 girl
10 or 11 by 4 girls
12 or 13 by 3 girls
14 or 15 by 21 girls
16 or 17 by 29 girls
18 or 19 by 33 girls
20 or 21 by 13 girls
22 or 23 by 15 girls
24 or 25 by 11 girls
26 or 27 by 5 girls
28 or 29 by 2 girls
30 or 31 by 5 girls
32 or 33 by 3 girls
34 or 35 by 5 girls
36 or 37 by 0 girl
38 or 49 by 4 girls
40 or 41 by 1 girl
Two papers, A and B, written by members of the same grade and class in a
test in spelling:
A. B.
greatful gratful
elegant eleagent
present present
patience paisionce
succeed suckseed
severe survere
accident axadent
sometimes sometimes
sensible sensible
business biusness
answer anser
sweeping sweping
properly prooling
improvement improvment
fatiguing fegting
anxious anxchus
appreciate apresheating
assure ashure
imagine amagen
praise prasy
In a test in spelling wherein fifty common words were dictated to a
class of twenty-eight pupils, the following results were obtained:
2 spelled correctly all 50
3 spelled correctly between 45 and 48
5 spelled correctly between 40 and 45
11 spelled correctly between 30 and 40
6 spelled correctly between 20 and 30
1 spelled correctly between 15 and 20
And now the question--what has all this to do with the teaching of
religion? Just this: the differences among men as found in fields
already referred to, are found also in matters of religion. For one man
it is easy to believe in visions and all other heavenly manifestations;
for another it is next to impossible. To one man the resurrection is the
one great reality; to another it is merely a matter of conjecture. One
man feels certain that his prayers are heard and answered; another feels
equally certain that they cannot be. One man is emotionally spiritual;
another is coldly hard-headed and matter-of-fact. The point is not a
question which man is right--it is rather that we ought not to attempt
to reach each man in exactly the same way, nor should we expect each one
to measure up to the standards of the others.
An interesting illustration of this difference in religious attitude was
shown recently in connection with the funeral of a promising young man
who had been taken in death just as he had fairly launched upon his
life's work. In a discussion that followed the service, one good brother
found consolation in the thought that the Lord needed just such a young
man to help carry on a more important work among the spirits already
called home. His companion in the discussion found an explanation to his
satisfaction in the thought that it was providential that the young man
could be taken when he was, that he thereby might be spared the probable
catastrophies that might have visited him had he lived. Each man found
complete solace in his own philosophy, though neither could accept the
reasoning of the other.
An interesting case of difference of view came to the attention of the
teacher-training class at Provo when someone asked how the lesson on
Jonah could be presented so that it would appeal to adolescent boys and
girls. The query was joined in by several others for whom Jonah had been
a stumbling block, when Brother Sainsbury, of Vernal, startled the class
by saying Jonah was his favorite story. "I would rather teach that story
than any other one in the Bible," he declared, and illustrated his
method so clearly that the account of Jonah took on an entirely new
aspect.
Many men and women in the world are shocked at the thought that God is a
personality. To them the idea that God is simply a "man made perfect," a
being similar to us, but exalted to deity, is akin to blasphemy. And
then to add the idea of a heavenly mother is beyond comprehension. To
Latter-day Saints, on the other hand, these thoughts are the very glory
of God. To them a man made perfect is the noblest conception possible.
It makes of Him a reality. And the thought of Mother--Heaven without a
Mother would be like home without one.
And so with all the principles and conceptions of religion, men's
reactions to them are as varied as they are to all the other facts of
life. Everywhere the opinions, the capacities, the attainments of men
vary. The law of individual differences is one of the most universal in
our experience.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER IX
1. Just what is the meaning of the term Individual Differences?
2. Illustrate such differences in families with which you are familiar.
3. Apply the test to your ward choir.
4. Name and characterize twenty men whom you know. How do they differ?
5. Have a report brought in from your public school on the results of
given tests in arithmetic, spelling, etc.
6. Have the members of your class write their opinions relative to some
point of doctrine concerning which there may be some uncertainty.
7. Observe the attitude and response of each of the members of a typical
Sunday School, Kindergarten, of an advanced M.I.A. class.
8. Illustrate individual differences as expressed in the religious
attitudes of men you know.
9. To what extent are boys different from girls in mental capability and
attitude?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter VII.
CHAPTER X
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND TEACHING
OUTLINE--CHAPTER X
The causes of individual differences.--Norsworthy and Whitley on
the significance of parentage.--The teacher's obligation to know
parents.--The influence of sex.--Environment as a
factor.--Thorndike quoted.--B.H. Jacobsen on individual
differences.
So far we simply have made the point that individuals differ. We are
concerned in this chapter in knowing how these differences affect the
teaching process. Fully to appreciate their significance we must know
not only that they exist, and the degree of their variation, but also
the forces that produce them. On the side of heredity, race, family, and
sex, are the great modifying factors. Practically, of course, we are
concerned very little as Church teachers with problems of race. We are
all so nearly one in that regard that a discussion of racial differences
would contribute but little to the solution of our teaching problem.
The matter of family heritage is a problem of very much more immediate
concern. Someone has happily said: "Really to know a boy one must know
fully his father and his mother." "Yes," says a commentator, "and he
ought to know a deal about the grandfather and grandmother." The
significance of parentage is made to stand out with clearness in the
following paragraph from Norsworthy and Whitley, _The Psychology of
Childhood_:
"Just as good eyesight and longevity are family characteristics, so
also color blindness, left-handedness, some slight peculiarity of
structure such as an extra finger or toe, or the Hapsburg lip, sense
defects such as deafness or blindness, tendencies to certain
diseases, especially those of the nervous system,--all these run in
families. Certain mental traits likewise are obviously handed down
from parents to child, such as strong will, memory for faces, musical
imagination, abilities in mathematics or the languages, artistic
talent. In these ways and many others children resemble their
parents. The same general law holds of likes and dislikes, of
temperamental qualities such as quick temper, vivacity, lovableness,
moodiness. In all traits, characteristics, features, powers both
physical and mental and to some extent moral also, children's
original nature, their stock in trade, is determined by their
immediate ancestry. 'We inherit our parents' tempers, our parents'
conscientiousness, shyness and ability, as we inherit their stature,
forearm and span,' says Pearson."
The teacher who would really appreciate the feelings and responses of a
boy in his class must be aware, therefore, that the boy is not merely
one of a dozen type individuals--he is a product of a particular
parentage, acting as he does largely because "he was born that way."
We shall point out in connection with environmental influences the
importance of a teacher's knowing the home condition of his pupils; but
it is important here, in passing, to emphasize the point that even
though a child were never to live with its parents it could be
understood by the teacher acquainted with the peculiar traits of those
parents. "Born with a bent" is a proverb of such force that it cannot be
ignored. To know the parental heritage of a boy is to anticipate his
reaction to stimuli--is to know what approach to make to win him.
Because of the fact that in many of our organizations we are concerned
with the problem of teaching boys and girls together, the question of
the influence of sex is one which we must face. There are those who hold
that boys and girls are so fundamentally different by nature that they
ought not to be taught coeducationally. Others maintain that they are
essentially alike in feeling and intellectuality, and that because of
the fact that eventually they are to be mated in the great partnership
of life they should be held together as much as possible during the
younger years of their lives. Most authorities are agreed that boys and
girls differ not so much because they are possessed of different native
tendencies, but because they live differently--they follow different
lines of activity, and therefore develop different interests. To quote
again from Norsworthy and Whitley:
"That men and women are different, that their natures are not the
same, has long been an accepted fact. Out of this fact of difference
have grown many hot discussions as to the superiority of one or the
other nature as a whole. The present point of view of scientists
seems well expressed by Ellis when he says, 'We may regard all such
discussions as absolutely futile and foolish. If it is a question of
determining the existence and significance of some particular
physical sexual difference, a conclusion may not be impossible. To
make any broad statement of the phenomena is to recognize that no
general conclusion is possible. Now and again we come across facts
which group themselves with a certain uniformity, but as we continue,
we find other equally important facts which group themselves with
equal uniformity in another sense. The result produces compensation.'
The question of interest then is, what in nature is peculiar to the
male sex and what to the female? What traits will be true of a boy,
merely because he is a boy, and vice versa? This has been an
extremely difficult question to answer, because of the difficulty
encountered in trying to eliminate the influence of environment and
training. Boys are what they are because of their original nature
plus their surroundings. Some would claim that if we could give boys
and girls the same surroundings, the same social requirements, the
same treatment from babyhood, there would be no difference in the
resulting natures. Training undoubtedly accentuates inborn sex
differences, and it is true that a reversal of training does lessen
this difference; however, the weight of opinion at present is that
differences in intellect and character do exist because of
differences of sex, but that these have been unduly magnified. H.B.
Thompson, in her investigation entitled _The Mental Traits of Sex_,
finds that 'Motor ability in most of its forms is better developed in
men than in women. In strength, rapidity of movement, and rate of
fatigue, they have a very decided advantage, and in precision of
movement a slight advantage.... The thresholds are on the whole lower
in women, discriminative sensibility is on the whole better in
men.... All these differences, however, are slight. As for the
intellectual faculties, women are decidedly superior to men in
memory, and possibly more rapid in associative thinking. Men are
probably superior in ingenuity.... The data on the life of feeling
indicate that there is little, if any, sexual difference in the
degree of domination by emotion, and that social consciousness is
more prominent in men, and religious consciousness in women.'
"Pearson, in his measurement of traits, not by objective tests but by
opinions of people who know the individual, finds that boys are more
athletic, noisy, self-assertive, self-conscious; less popular, duller
in conscience, quicker-tempered, less sullen, a little duller
intellectually and less efficient in penmanship. Heymans and Wiersma,
following the same general method as Pearson, state as their general
conclusions that the female is more active, more emotional, and more
unselfish than the male. 'They consider women to be more impulsive,
less efficient intellectually, and more fickle than men as a result
of the first two differences mentioned above; to be gifted in music,
acting, conversation and the invention of stories, as a result in
part of the second difference; and to think well of people and to be
easily reconciled to them as a result of the third.' Thorndike finds
the chief differences to be that the female varies less from the
average standard, is more observant of small visual details, less
often color-blind, less interested in things and their mechanisms,
more interested in people and their feelings, less given to pursuing,
capturing and maltreating living things, and more given to nursing,
comforting and relieving them than is the male. H. Ellis considers
the chief differences to be the less tendency to variability, the
greater affectability, and the greater primitiveness of the female
mind, and the less ability shown by women in dealing with the more
remote and abstract interests in life. All the authors emphasize the
smallness of the differences; and after all the striking thing is not
the differences between the sexes, but the great difference within
the same sex in respect to every mental trait tested. The difference
of man from man, and woman from woman, in any trait is almost as
great as the differences between the sexes in that trait. Sex can be
the cause, then, of only a fraction of the difference between the
original nature of individuals."
It is reasonably certain, then, that a teacher may safely appeal to both
boys and girls on the ground of the fundamental instincts, feeling
confident that common stimuli will produce largely the same results.
Important as it is that we know what our pupils are from their
parentage, it is even more important in the matter of religious
instruction that we shall appreciate the force of the varieties of
environment that have been operative. Though boys and girls may be
essentially alike at the outset of their lives they may be thrown into
such associations as to make their ideals and conduct entirely
different. Fancy the contrast between the case of a girl brought up for
fifteen years in a household of refinement and in a companionship of
gentility, and the case of a boy who during the same years has been the
pal of bullies on street corners. Surely stimuli that are to promote
proper reaction in these two cases will have to be suited to the person
in question.
Then, too, the teacher must realize that one child may come from a home
of faith, confidence, and contentment; whereas, another may come from a
home of agitation, doubt, and suspicion. One may have been taught to
pray--another may have been led to disbelieve. One may have been
stimulated to read over sacred books--another may have been left to
peruse cheap, sensational detective stories. To succeed in reaching the
hearts of a group of such boys and girls, a teacher surely ought to be
aware of individual differences and ought to be fortified with a wealth
of material so that the appeal may be as varied as possible. To quote
from Thorndike's _Principles of Education_:
"A teacher has to choose what is for the greatest good of the
greatest number. He cannot expect to drive forty children abreast
along the highroad of education." "Yet the differences in children
should not blind us to their likenesses." "We need general principles
and their sagacious application to individual problems."
"The worst error of teachers with respect to individual differences
is to neglect them, to form one set of fixed habits for dealing with
all children, to teach 'the child instead of countless different
living individuals.' To realize the varieties of human nature, the
nature and amount of mental differences, is to be protected against
many fallacies of teaching."
Our treatment of individual differences was well summed up in the
following paper by B.H. Jacobsen, a member of the B.Y.U.
Teacher-Training class:
_The Significance of Individual Differences in Teaching_
"Individual instruction in our religious organizations as in the
public schools is under present condition impracticable. We are
compelled to teach in groups or classes of somewhat varying size.
Consequently, it is of prime importance for the teacher, in trying to
apply that fundamental principle of pedagogy--an understanding of the
being to be taught--to know first what characteristics and
tendencies, whether native or acquired, are known to a large majority
of the children in the class. Leaving out of consideration the
possible presence of subnormal children, the language used must be
clear and simple enough to be comprehended by all; the great majority
of the questions must be intended for all to find answers to; the
stories, illustrations, incidents, pictures, and various devices
employed must be reasonably within the range of experience and
comprehension of all members.
"At the same time, it is important to recognize the fact that, after
all, the class as a whole does not in any very fundamental,
pedagogical sense constitute the objective unit of instruction.
Though it seems natural for most teachers to look upon the class as a
more or less uniform mass, and the exigencies of the situation make
this to some extent unavoidable, still the individual child remains
always the real unit, and furthermore the units are all different--in
appearance, training and temperament.
"In general the methods and material will be uniform for all, but
there will still be abundant opportunity for exercising little
individual touches and tricks in relation to individual pupils,
especially those who vary somewhat widely from the average. Even such
a superficial matter as size, especially superior size, might
profitably receive a little special consideration by the teacher and
thus at times save some pupil a little physical embarrassment. The
boy unusually active might be given some physical task to perform,
even if it has to be provided for the occasion, though it must not be
too artificially created, as this is sure of detection.
"Questions requiring more than ordinary mental ability to answer may
be directed to those of superior alertness and intelligence, who may
also be given more difficult subjects to look up for presentation to
the class. Special interests in animals, flowers, books, aeroplanes,
industries, vocations, should be discovered and utilized by the
watchful teacher. Even though the connection may be a little remote,
any contribution of real interest and value is legitimate in order to
relieve the monotony of a dull class.
"Pupils differ very widely in temperament and disposition as well as
in capacity. The timid boy or girl should be given special
encouragement and commendation, while the over-bold will take no
injury from a mild "squelch" occasionally. The child of gloomy
disposition should if anything have more smiles and sunny words sent
his way than the cheerful one, who is in no danger of losing his
share. The talkative child will need cautioning and careful
directing, while the one who seldom speaks needs the frequent
stimulus of a kind and encouraging look or word. The child who is
naturally docile and obedient will develop smoothly and without great
need of special attention and direction, while the stubborn, the
rebellious, the untractable child, the cause of continual worry and
solicitude, is the one on whom special thought must be bestowed; for
his soul is no less precious in the sight of God, and the wise
teacher may be the means of making him a useful citizen, as well as
directing him in the way of working out his eternal salvation."
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER X
1. Discuss the relative significance of race, sex, family, and
environment as factors producing individual differences.
2. Why is it essential that teachers know the parents of pupils?
3. What are the advantages of having boys and girls together in class?
What are the arguments for separating them?
4. How can a teacher be governed by the force of individual differences
when he has to teach a group of forty pupils?
5. Discuss the statement that teaching is both a social and an
individual process.
6. Choose a subject of general interest and illustrate how it might be
presented to satisfy different types of pupils.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter VII.
CHAPTER XI
ATTENTION
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XI
Attention the mother of learning.--Gregory quoted.--The fact of
attention in the Army.--What attention
is.--Illustrations.--Attention and interest.--The three types of
attention: Involuntary, nonvoluntary, voluntary.--How to secure
attention.--Interest the great key to attention.
In that stimulating little book, _The Seven Laws of Teaching_, by
Gregory, _et al_, the second law is stated in these words:
"A _learner_ is one who _attends_ with interest to the lesson."
Expressed as a rule of teaching, the law is made to read:
"Gain and keep the attention and interest of the pupils upon the
lesson. Do not try to teach without attention."
As a matter of fact, it is impossible to teach without attention. A
person may hold class--go through the formality of a class exercise--but
he can _really teach_ only him who _attends_. The first big, outstanding
thought with reference to attention is that we should secure it, not so
much in the interest of order, important as it is in that connection,
but because it is the _sine qua non_ of _learning_.
A boy may sit in a class in algebra for weeks, with his mind far afield
on some pet scheme, or building palatial edifices in the air, but not
until he _attends_ does he begin to grasp the problems presented. It is
literally as well as scripturally possible "to have ears and hear not."
_Attention_ is the mother of learning.
Think of the force of that word _attention_ in the American Army. It is
a delight to see the ranks straighten to that command--would that our
messages of truth could challenge the same response from that vast army
of seekers after truth--the boys and girls of the Church. The soldier at
attention not only stands erect, nor does he merely keep silence--he is
eagerly receptive--anxious to receive a message which he is to translate
into action. His attitude, perhaps, is our best answer to the question,
"What is attention?" Betts says, "The concentration of the mind's energy
on one object of thought is attention."
As Magnusson expresses it, "Attention is the centering of consciousness
on a portion of its contents." And Angell adds, "Attention is simply a
name for the central and most active portion of the field of
consciousness."
The mind, of course, during waking hours, is never merely passive. With
its flood of ideas it is always recalling, observing, comparing,
analyzing, building toward conclusions. These processes go on
inevitably--go on with little concern about attention. But when we
narrow the field--when we bring our mental energy to a focus on
something specific and particular we then _attend_.
Betts, in his _The Mind and Its Education_, very happily illustrates the
meaning of attention:
"_Attention Measures Mental Efficiency._--In a state of attention the
mind may be likened to the rays of the sun which have been passed
through a burning glass. You may let all the rays which can pass
through your window pane fall hour after hour upon the paper lying on
your desk, and no marked effects follow. But let the same amount of
sunlight be passed through a lens and converged to a point the size
of your pencil, and the paper will at once burst into flame."
To follow another analogy, attention is to the energies of the mind what
the pipe line leading into the power plant is to the water in the canyon
above. It directs and concentrates for the generation of power. Just as
the water might run on and on to little or no purpose, so the energies
of a boy or girl may be permitted to drift aimlessly toward no
conviction unless the teacher wins him to an attention that rivets truth
to his life.
In a discussion of attention the question of the relation of interest to
attention is bound to arise. Do we attend to things because they are
interesting? Or are we interested in things because we give them our
attention? The two terms are so interwoven in meaning that they are
frequently treated under one chapter heading. Our purpose here is not to
attempt to divorce them, but rather to give them emphasis because of
their significance in the teaching process.
Attention denotes a focusing of mental energy on a particular idea or
object; interest, subjectively considered, is an attitude of mind.
Perhaps we can get a clearer idea of the two terms if we consider the
various types of attention. First of all there is what is called
_Involuntary_ attention. This is the type over which the mind has little
or no control. A person sits reading--his attention fixed on the page in
front of him--when suddenly a rock crashes through the window
immediately behind him. He jumps to see what is wrong. His attention to
his book is shifted to the window, not because he wills it so, but
because of the suddenness and force of the stimulus. The excitation of
the auditory nerve centers compels attention. The attendant feeling may
be one of pleasure or of pain--there may be an interest developed or
there may not. Involuntary attention clearly does not rest upon
interest.
Then there is what is called _Nonvoluntary_ attention. I go to a theatre
and some particular musical number is featured. It grips my interest and
I follow it with rapt attention, wholly without conscious effort. Unlike
the case of a sudden noise, in this experience my attention is not
physiologically automatic--I could control it if I chose--but I choose
now to give it. Interest clearly is the motor power behind such
attention. Then, finally, there is _Voluntary_ attention. I sit at a
table working out a problem in arithmetic. Outside there is being played
a most exciting ball game. My interests are almost wholly centered in
the outcome of the game, but duty bids me work out my problem. I make
myself attend to it in spite of the pull of my natural interests.
And so attention is seen to be purely the result of physiological
stimulus; it is seen to accompany--fairly to be born out of
it--interest. It is seen to be the result of an operation of the will
against the natural force of interest. This three-fold classification is
of particular significance to the teacher. He may be sure that if he
resorts to the use of unusual stimuli he can arrest attention, though by
so doing he has no guarantee of holding it; he may feel certain of
attention if he can bring before pupils objects and ideas which to them
are interesting; he may so win them to the purposes of his recitation
that they will give attention even though they are not interested in
what may be going on for the time being. It is evident, however, that
resorting to violent stimuli is dangerous, that forced attention is
ultimately disagreeable and certainly not a modern commonplace in
experience, that attention which attends genuine interest is the
attention most generally to be sought.
One question still remains: "How shall we proceed to secure and to hold
attention?"
In the first place we should remind ourselves that it is a difficult
matter to give sustained attention to a single object or idea, unless
the object or idea changes. The difficulty is greater with children than
with adults. In the second place we should be mindful that it is poor
policy either to demand attention or to beg for it.
Where attention has to be secured out of disorder we are justified in
making use of stimuli that shock pupils into attention. One of the best
illustrations of this sort of procedure was the method used in the David
Belasco theatre in New York to get audiences quiet for the opening of
the performances. Mr. Belasco was convinced that the orchestra had
become a mere accompaniment to the clatter and noise of the audience and
so he did not trust to that means to secure order. In fact, he discarded
the orchestra idea. At the appointed hour for the curtain to rise, his
theatre became suddenly dark. So dark that the blackness was startling.
Immediately upon the silence that attended the shock the soft chiming of
bells became audible which led the audience to strain in an attempt to
catch fully the effect of the chime. At that point the curtains were
drawn and the first lines of the play fell upon the ears of a perfectly
quiet audience.
It is safer and better, of course, to anticipate disorder by getting the
lesson under way in an interesting manner. These artificial devices are
serviceable as emergency measures as well as helpful as restful
variations in a class hour. Change in posture, group exercises, periods
of relaxation, all help to make attention the more easily possible.
The key to sustained attention, when all is said and done, is interest.
There is no substitute for the fascination of interest. As Magnusson
says: "Monotony is the great enemy of attention. Interest is the
attention-compelling element of instincts and desires." The teacher can
feel assured of success only when he is so fully prepared that his
material wins attention because of its richness and appropriateness.
Special thought should be given in the preparation of a lesson to the
attack to be made during the first two minutes of a recitation. A
pointed, vital question, a challenging statement, a striking incident, a
fascinating, appropriate story, a significant quotation--these are a few
of the legitimate challenges to attention.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XI
1. Discuss the statement: "There is no such thing as inattention; when
pupils appear inattentive, they are singly attentive to something more
interesting than the lesson."
2. Explain the force of attention in the learning process.
3. What is attention?
4. Discuss and illustrate the different types of attention.
5. Give some practical suggestions on the securing of attention.
6. Point out the distinction between attention and interest.
7. Discuss the effect of monotony on attention.
8. How do children and adults differ in their powers of attention?
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Pillsburg, _Attention_; Norsworthy and Whitley, _Psychology of
Childhood_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_; Betts, _How to Teach
Religion_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_; Fitch, _The Art of
Securing Attention_; Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Dewey,
_Interest and Effort in Education_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a
Teacher_.
CHAPTER XII
WHAT MAKES FOR INTEREST
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XII
Individual differences and interest.--What makes for
interest.--Interest begets interest.--Preparation is a great
guarantee.--Knowledge of the lives of boys and girls a great
help.--The factors of interestingness: The Vital, The Unusual, The
Uncertain, The Concrete, The Similar, The Antagonistic, The
Animate.
After discussing the relation of interest to attention we still face the
question: What is it that makes an interesting object, or an idea
interesting? Why do we find some things naturally interesting while
others are dull and commonplace? Of course, everything is not equally
interesting to all people. Individual differences make clear the fact
that a certain stimulus will call for a response in one particular
person, quite unlike the response manifested in a person of different
temperament and training. But psychologists are agreed that in spite of
these differences there are certain elements of interests that are
generally and fundamentally appealing to human nature. To know what it
is that makes for interest is one of the prerequisites of good teaching.
But before naming these "factors of interestingness," may we not also
name and discuss briefly some other essentials in the matter of creating
and maintaining interest?
In the first place it is good to remember that a teacher who would have
his pupils interested must himself be interested. If he would see their
faces light up with the glow of enthusiasm, he must be the charged
battery to generate the current. Interest begets interest. It is as
contagious as whooping cough--if a class is exposed it is sure to catch
it. The teacher who constantly complains of a dull class, very likely
is simply facing a reaction to his own dullness or disagreeableness.
"Blue Monday" isn't properly so named merely because of the drowsy
pupil. The teacher inevitably sets the pace and determines the tone of
his class. Many a teacher when tired, or out of patience, has concluded
a recitation feeling that his pupils were about the most stupid group he
has ever faced; the same teacher keyed up to enthusiasm has felt at the
close of another recitation that these same pupils could not be
surpassed. A student with whom the writer talked a short time ago
remarked that she could always tell whether the day's class was going to
be interesting under a particular teacher as soon as she caught the mood
in which she entered the classroom. Half-heartedness, indifference, and
unpleasantness are all negative--they neither attract nor stimulate.
Interest and enthusiasm are the sunshine of the classroom--they are to
the human soul what the sun's rays are to the plant.
The second great guarantee of interest is preparation. The teacher needs
to have his subject matter so thoroughly in mind that, free from
textbook and notes, he can reach out to a real contact with his boys and
girls. If his eyes are glued to his book, he cannot hope to arouse keen
interest. The eye is a great force in gripping the attention of a class
or audience. They want nothing to stand between them and the speaker.
Not long ago one of the most forceful and eloquent public speakers in
Utah failed miserably, in addressing a thoroughly fine audience, because
he was lost in the machinery of his notes. His material was
excellent--his power as an orator unquestioned--yet he was bound down by
a lack of preparation that cost him the mastery of his audience.
Not only does adequate preparation enable a teacher to reach out and
take hold of his pupils; it makes it possible for him to capitalize on
the situations that are bound to arise in class discussion. A concrete
illustration to clear up a troublesome question, an appropriate incident
to hit off some general truth, a happy phrase to crystallize a
thought--all these things are born only of adequate preparation.
Not long ago a candidate for the presidency of the United States
delighted an audience of ten thousand or more in the Salt Lake
Tabernacle by his remarkable handling of questions and comments thrown
at him from that vast audience. There was no hesitancy or uncertainty.
He spoke "as one who knew." He was prepared. He had so lived with the
questions of the day that they fairly seemed to be part of him. The
interesting teacher never teaches all he knows. His reserve material
inspires both interest and confidence. A class begins to lose interest
in a teacher the moment they suspect that his stock in trade is running
low. The mystery, "how one small head could carry all he knew," is still
fascinating. Thorough preparation, moreover, minimizes the likelihood of
routine, the monotony of which is always deadening. A class likes a
teacher--is interested in him--when it can't anticipate just what he is
going to do next and how he is going to do it.
A further aid in holding interest is to know intimately the life of the
boys and girls taught. To appreciate fully their attitude--to know what
sort of things in life generally appeal to them--is a very great asset
to any teacher. If a teacher knows that a boy's reaction to the story of
the Israelites' crossing the Red Sea is that that story is "some bunk,"
he is fortified in knowing how to present other subjects which are
similar tests to a boy's faith and understanding. To know pupils'
attitudes and mode of life is to know what sort of illustrations to use,
what emphasis to put upon emotional material, what stress to lay on
practical application. In short, it is to know just how to "connect up."
It stimulates to a testing of values so that a teacher selects and
adapts his material to the needs of the boys and girls whom he teaches.
And, finally, as a key to interest, a teacher needs to know what the
"factors of interestingness" are. According to the findings of the
Public Speaking Department of the University of Chicago, they are summed
up in these seven terms:
The Vital
The Unusual
The Uncertain
The Concrete
The Similar
The Antagonistic
The Animate
This list becomes more and more helpful as it is pondered. It is
surprising to find how experience can be explained on the score of
interest by reference to these terms. Those things are vital which
pertain to life--which affect existence. Dangers are always interesting.
Catastrophies are fascinating. Just today all America is scanning the
newspapers throughout the country to find an explanation of the Wall
Street explosion. We shall not soon forget the feverish interest that
gripped the people of the world during our recent world wars.
When life is at stake, interest runs high. So it does when property,
liberty, and other sacred rights, so vital to life, are affected.
Anything vital enough to justify the publication of an "extra" may be
depended upon to grip the interest of men and women.
It is equally clear that a fascination attaches to things that are
unusual. New styles attract because of this fact. Let a man oddly
dressed walk along a thoroughfare--the passersby are interested
immediately. A "loud" hat or necktie, or other item of apparel, attracts
attention because it is out of the ordinary. Much of the interest and
delight in traveling lies in this element of the new and unusual which
the traveler encounters. The experiences of childhood which stand out
most prominently are usually those which at the time riveted themselves
to the mind through the interest of their extraordinariness.
Every reader knows the fascination of uncertainty. "How will the book
turn out?" prompts many a person to turn through hundreds of pages of a
novel. An accident is interesting not only because of its vital
significance, but because there is always a question as to how seriously
those involved may be hurt. One of the clearest illustrations of the
force of the uncertain is found attending baseball games. Let the score
stand at 10 to 2 in the eighth inning and the grandstands and bleachers
begin to empty. Few spectators care to remain. The game is too clearly
settled. As the boys say, it is "sewed up" and there is nothing
uncertain to grip interest. But let the score stand 3 to 2 or 2 to 2 in
the eighth and even the man scheduled home for dinner stays to the end.
He wants to know how the game is "coming out."
It is easier also to be interested in concrete than in abstract things.
General truths are not gripping--concrete illustrations of those truths
are. If I declare that it is important to have faith, I create but
little interest in an audience. But if I tell that same audience how
some individual has been miraculously healed through faith, I have their
interest completely. Concrete illustrations fit into and link up with
our own experiences so easily and forcefully that they are particularly
interesting.
So, too, with things that are similar. The mind naturally links like
with like. We are fond of making comparisons. The interest in the
similar is due to that fundamental law of learning that we proceed from
what is known to that which is unknown and we proceed along points of
similarity.
And how natural it seems to be interested in things antagonistic! Our
love of contests of all sorts is evidence of the fact. Who can resist
the interest that attaches to a quarrel--a fight--a clash of any kind.
The best of classes will leave the best of teachers, mentally at least,
to witness a dog fight. Our champion prize fighters make fortunes out of
man's interest in the antagonistic.
And then, finally, we are interested in the animate. We like action.
Things in motion have a peculiar fascination. Who does not watch with
interest a moving locomotive? Advertising experts appreciate the appeal
of the animate, as is evidenced by the great variety of moving objects
that challenge our interest as we pass up and down the streets of a city
and we respond to the challenge. In fact, it is natural to respond to
the appeal of all of these seven terms--hence their significance in
teaching.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XII
1. Discuss the force of individual differences in choosing material that
will be interesting.
2. Why is it so essential that the teacher be interested in what he
hopes to interest his pupils in?
3. Show how preparation makes for interest.
4. Why is an intimate acquaintance with the lives of pupils so essential
a factor with the interesting teacher?
5. Illustrate concretely the force of each of the factors of
interestingness.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter XI.
CHAPTER XIII
A LABORATORY LESSON IN INTEREST
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XIII
Interest should be inherent in the lesson taught.--An illustration
of "dragged in" interest.--Interest and the "easy" idea.--A proper
interpretation of interest.--How to make the subject of _Fasting_
interesting.--The various possibilities.--How to secure interest in
the Atonement.--How to secure interest in the Resurrection.--How to
secure interest in the story of Jonah.
"Oh, that's all right," says one. "It is easy enough to talk about
interest, and it's easy to be interesting if you can choose anything you
like to amuse a class. But if you have to teach them theology, and
especially some of the dry lessons that are outlined for us, I don't see
how we can be expected to make our work interesting."
Of course, there is some point to such an objection. Having been asked
to teach the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we cannot defend the
practice of bringing in all kinds of material just because it is funny.
And, of course, it is true, too, that some lesson outlines upon first
thought do appear rather forbidding. But it is equally true that there
is a path of interest through the most unpromising material, though that
path does not always run alongside the teacher's highroad of ease and
unconcern. A false notion of interest is that it denotes mere
amusement--that it is something aside from serious and sober thought.
The writer recalls visiting a class taught by a person holding such a
notion. Having given his lesson but little thought he apologized for its
lack of interest by saying, "Now, boys and girls, if you will just be
quiet while we go over the lesson, even though it isn't very
interesting, I'll read you our next chapter of _Huckleberry Finn_." And
yet the lesson, hurried over, with a little intensive study could have
been made as fascinating as the reading of _Huckleberry Finn_ and
notably more profitable.
Another misconception relative to interest is the idea that to make a
subject interesting you must so popularize it that you cheapen it. This
idea is typified in the "snap" courses in school--courses made
interesting at the expense of painstaking application. As a matter of
fact, to cheapen a thing is ultimately to kill interest in it. Genuine
interest of real worth is born of effort and devotion to a worthy
objective. Far from dissipating the mind's energies, it heightens and
concentrates them to the mastery of the bigger and finer things of life.
A subject to be made interesting must present some element of newness,
yet must be so linked up with the experience of the learner as to be
made comprehensible. It must, moreover, be made to appeal as essential
and helpful in the life of the learner. The two outstanding queries of
the uninterested pupil are:
What is it all about?
What's the use?
Let us, then, turn to two or three subjects which at first thought may
appear more or less dull to see whether there is an approach to them
that can be made interesting.
Members of the teacher-training class at Provo were asked to name four
or five subjects which they regarded hard to stimulate interest in. They
named the following:
Fasting.
The Fall.
The Atonement.
The Resurrection.
The Story of Jonah.
Let us suppose that I have met my Second Intermediate class of eighteen
boys and girls to discuss the subject of fasting. I might begin by
relating an actual experience in which through fasting and prayer on the
part of the members of a particular family a little boy has just been
most miraculously restored to health, after an operation for
appendicitis. It was an infection case, and three doctors agreed there
was no possible chance of recovery. A fourth doctor held out the
possibility of one chance in a hundred. And yet a two days' fast,
coupled with a faith I have seldom seen equalled, has been rewarded by
the complete recovery of the boy, who is now thoroughly well and strong.
Such a concrete illustration is one possibility for arousing interest.
Or, I might proceed with a few definite, pointed questions:
"How many of you eighteen boys and girls fasted this month?"
The answers show that seven have fasted; eleven have not.
I proceed then to inquire why the eleven have failed to fast. Various
explanations are offered:
"Oh, I forgot."
"We don't fast in our home."
"Father has to work all day Sunday; and so, because mother has to get
breakfast for him, we all eat."
"I have a headache if I fast, so I think it is better not to."
"I don't see any use in fasting. Going around with a long, hungry face
can't help anyone."
"It's easy to fast when they won't give you anything to eat."
"I like to fast just to show myself that I don't live to be eating all
the time."
"I believe it's a good thing to give the body a little rest once in a
while."
"I feel different when I fast--more spiritual or something."
"It must be right to fast. The Church wouldn't ask us to if it wasn't a
good thing."
The definiteness of these replies, coupled with the suspense of
wondering what the next answer will be, keeps up a lively interest.
A third possibility would be to call for the experiences of the pupils,
or experiences which have occurred in their families, or concerning
which they have read. A very rich compilation of interesting material
can be collected under such a scheme.
Or, finally, I may choose to proceed immediately with a vigorous
analysis and discussion of the whole problem. I arouse interest by
quoting a friend who has put the query to me, "What is the use of
fasting?" and then enlist the cooperation of the class in formulating a
reply. Together we work out the possible justification of fasting.
The following outline may represent the line of our thought:
1. Jesus taught us to fast.
a. His forty days in the wilderness.
b. His injunction to his apostles.
2. Our leaders have instituted fasting in these latter days.
3. By fasting we develop a mastery over our appetites. The body is made
to serve the will.
4. Physiologically, it is a good thing to fast. Many scientists are now
recommending regular rests for the digestive organs.
5. Fasting makes possible an elevation of spirit.
6. Our system of fasting makes it possible to see that no one in the
Church wants for food.
7. Fasting enables us to appreciate the feelings of those who are less
fortunate in the world than we are, who are denied the blessings we
enjoy.
Of course, each idea needs to be introduced and developed in a concrete,
vigorous manner. So treated, fasting can be made a very fascinating
subject.
The following suggestions on introducing the lesson on the Resurrection
to little children have been drawn up by one of the most successful
kindergarten teachers in the Church:
"There are several things to be considered before presenting the lesson
on the Resurrection to little children.
"First, the teacher must feel that she _can_ present it. In other words,
she must love the story and feel the importance of it. She must also be
able to see the beautiful side and remember that she is teaching, 'There
is no death; but life eternal.'
"The next question to consider is: How are we going to present it? We
must lead the child from the known to the unknown, through the child's
own experience. Therefore we go to nature, because all nature appeals to
the child. But in order to create the right atmosphere, the teacher in
selecting the subject must feel that what he has selected is the very
thing he wants in order to explain to the child, 'There is no death.'
"There are several ways in which the subject may be approached through
nature. We may take the Autumn and let the children tell what happens to
the trees, flowers, and different plants. Lead them to see the condition
after the leaves are off. Then what will happen next Spring. Or we may
take one specific tree or brush and talk of the twig where the leaves
were in the summer, but have now fallen to the ground. The twig looks
dead. But on opening the bud and removing the brown covering we find the
tiny leaf inside waiting and preparing to come forth in the Spring.
"The bulb may be used in a similar way, leading the child to see the
bulb as it is before planting, then to see what happens when we plant
it.
"The caterpillar may also be used. Here we have the live worm getting
ready to go into his cocoon and is absent for some time; then he
returns, only in another form. A higher stage.
"Lead the child to see that every thing in nature has a period of
changing, of apparently going away for a short time, but is not dead--it
returns to life.
"Be sure to have the objects you are talking about before the class,
while you are discussing the subject. If not obtainable, use a picture,
or draw them."
The problem of the story of Jonah is usually submitted with a twinkle in
the eye of him who raises the question. The world has so generally
relegated it to the heap of the impossible that even some of our own
people look rather amazed when a champion for Jonah steps forward. And
yet this story properly approached is one of the teacher's greatest
opportunities. If it is to be presented to small children it can be told
very beautifully, either as a lesson on disobedience or, from the point
of view of the people of Nineveh, as a lesson on fasting and prayer.
Little children will not be troubled with doubt and disbelief unless the
teacher fosters such attitudes.
To older minds, of course, the story already is a good bit of a
stumbling block, and therefore needs to be given thoughtful preparation.
At the outset, with older students, we ought to lead them into the
beauties of the story--beauties which all too frequently are wholly
unknown to the ordinary boy or girl. Read the story:
The call that comes to Jonah.
His hesitancy.
His dodging of duty.
His selfish judgments.
His punishment.
His attitude toward the people of Nineveh.
The lesson taught.
"Yes," says the young skeptic, "but how about the whale idea? Do you
expect us to believe that stuff? It's contrary to all natural law."
Let's meet the issue squarely. The Bible says that Jonah was swallowed
by a big fish. Science is agreed that that part of the account is easily
possible--nothing contrary to natural law so far.
"But what about the three days? That surely is."
Here is a challenge. Is it possible that life can be suspended, "and
restored"? Let the scriptures testify. It was so in the case of the
daughter of Jairus. (Mark 5:22-43.)
So was it in the case of Lazarus. (John 11:23-44.)
Consider the case of the Son of God Himself! Buried in the tomb,
Jesus rose the third day. If you can believe in the resurrection, you
can believe in the restoration of Jonah. It is interesting to note that
Jesus Himself accepted the story of Jonah. See Matthew 12:40:
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly;
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth."
To doubt Jonah is to question the Master. Not only so, but if a person
throws out the story of Jonah, he faces a chain of miraculous events
from one end of the Bible to the other from which he will have
difficulty to escape. You ask me to explain Jonah, I shall reply by
asking you to explain:
The creation of man.
The flood.
The confusion of Babel.
The parting of the Red Sea.
The three Hebrews and the furnace.
Elisha and the ax.
The birth of the Savior.
His resurrection.
One-third of the account given by Matthew.
Your own birth.
May one not accept with confidence the word of God as contained in the
Doctrine & Covenants, Sec. 35:8?
"For I am God, and mine arm is not shortened; and I will show miracles,
signs and wonders unto all those who _believe on my name_."
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XIII
1. Discuss the proper use of stories in securing and maintaining
interest.
2. Point out the danger of bringing in foreign "funny" material.
3. Show how difficult subjects may be made of even greater interest than
easy ones.
4. Use the greater part of this class hour for illustrating how to
create interest in subjects ordinarily found hard to teach.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter XI.
CHAPTER XIV
THE MORE IMMEDIATE PROBLEMS IN TEACHING
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XIV
The steps involved in the preparation of a lesson: The aim;
organization; illustration; application; questions.--Problems
involved in the presentation of a lesson: The point of contact;
illustration; the lesson statement.--Various possibilities.--The
review: questioning; application.--The matter summarized.
So many textbooks have been written about teaching--so many points of
view have been advanced--such a variety of terminology has been
employed, even in the expression of a single educational notion--that
beginning teachers are frequently at a loss to know just how to set
about the task of teaching. Leaving for further consideration the more
purely theoretical aspects of our problem, let us face the questions of
most immediate concern:
HOW TO PREPARE A LESSON.
HOW TO PRESENT A LESSON.
Is there not a common-sense procedure which we can agree to as promising
best results in these two fundamental steps? At the outset let us agree
that preparation and presentation are inseparable aspects of but one
process. Preparation consists of the work done _behind the
scenes_--presentation involves the _getting over_ of the results of that
work to the _audience_--the class. Frequently teachers are confused
because they mistake directions governing _preparation_ as applying to
_presentation_. For instance, one teacher proceeded to drill a class of
small children on the memorizing of the aim--an abstract general
truth--unmindful of the fact that the _aim_ was set down for the
teacher's guidance--a focus for his preparation done behind the scenes.
Though in the _preparation_ of a lesson we keep the aim clearly in
mind, and though, when we stand before our class, we let it function in
the background of our consciousness as an objective in our procedure, we
ought not to hurl it at our class. As a generalized truth it can make
but little appeal to young minds, and it ought to be self-evident, at
the end of a successful recitation, to mature minds.
And so with the matter of organization. We skeletonize our thoughts
behind the scenes, but the skeleton is rather an unsightly specimen to
exhibit before a class. The outline should be inherent in the lesson as
presented, but it ought not to protrude so that the means will be
mistaken for an end. Subsequent chapters will illustrate both the
selection of an aim and its elaboration through suitable organization.
The successful preparation of a lesson involves at least five major
steps. They are named here that the problem of preparation may be
grasped as a whole. Later chapters will develop at length each step in
its turn.
1. _The Aim._ A generalized statement, a kernel of truth about which all
of the facts of the lesson are made to center. A lesson may be built up
on a passage of scripture, on the experience of a person or a people, or
on a vital question, etc. But in any case, though we are interested in
the facts involved, we are interested not in the facts as an end in
themselves, but rather because of the truth involved in the facts. In
other words, we seek to sift out of the material offered in a lesson an
essential truth which helps us in a solution of the problems of life.
Attention to the aim is a guarantee against mere running over of matter
of fact.
2. _Organization._ A teacher should outline his lesson so that pupils
may easily follow him through the subject matter presented to the
ultimate truth that lies beyond.
3. _Illustration._ Illustrations are what make truth vivid. Successful
teachers owe much of their success to their ability through story or
incident to drive home to the experience of pupils those fundamental
truths which in their general terms make but little appeal. One of the
most helpful practices for teachers who would become effective is the
habit of clipping and filing available illustrative material. There is a
wealth of rich, concrete matter appearing regularly in our magazines and
other publications. What is good today likely will be equally good a
year or two years hence when we shall face the problem of teaching again
today's lesson. An alphabetic letter file may be had for a few cents in
which can be filed away all sorts of helpful material. It pays to
collect and save!
4. _Application._ Having selected his aim, the teacher knows the result
he should like to have follow his lesson, in the lives of his pupils. He
knows, too, their tendencies and their needs. In giving attention to
application he is merely making a survey of the possible channel into
which he can direct his pupils' activities. In considering application
he asks, "Of what use will this material be in the experience of my
pupils?" The test-application is the real test--both of the subject
matter presented and of the effectiveness of the presentation.
5. _Questions._ Finally, lesson preparation is not complete unless the
teacher has formulated a few thought-provoking questions which go to the
very heart of the lesson. The question is the great challenge to the
seeker after truth. It is easy to ask questions, but to propound queries
that stir pupils to an intellectual awakening is a real art. Surely no
preparation can be fully complete unless it involves:
The selection of an aim.
The orderly organization of material.
The collecting of rich illustrations.
The pondering of facts to their application.
The formulating of at least a few thoroughly stimulating questions.
Can we not agree to these steps as fundamental in the proper preparation
of our lessons in all of our Church organizations?
With the subject matter well in mind--the work behind the scenes
completed, the teacher is then prepared for the problem of
presentation--is ready to appear on the stage of class activity. The
first outstanding problem in lesson presentation is that of the _Point
of Contact_. This is a phrase variously interpreted and often
misunderstood. Perhaps it is not the happiest expression we could wish,
but it is so generally used and is so significant when understood that
we ought to standardize it and interpret it as it affects our Church
work.
When a class assembles for recitation purposes its members present
themselves with all kinds of mental attitudes and mind content. The
various groups of a Mutual class may have been engaged in all sorts of
activities just before entering their classroom. One group may have been
discussing politics; another may have been engaged in a game of ball; a
third may have been practicing as a quartette; and still a fourth may
have been busy at office work. Facing such a collection of groups stands
a teacher who for an hour or more has dismissed all temporal matters,
and has been pondering the spiritual significance of prayer. Evidently
there is a great mental chasm between them. Their coming together and
thinking on common ground involves the _Point of Contact_. There must
be contact if an influence for good is to be exerted. Either the teacher
must succeed in bringing the boys to where he is "in thought," or he
must go to "where they are."
Teachers in Bible lessons all too frequently hurry off into the Holy
Land, going back some two thousand years, and leaving their pupils in
Utah and in the here and the present. No wonder that pupils say of such
a teacher, "We don't 'get' him." To proceed without preparing the minds
of pupils for the message and discussion of the lesson is like planting
seed without having first plowed and prepared the ground.
In the Bible lesson, it would be easy to bridge over from the interests
of today to those of Bible days. Suppose our lesson is on Joseph who was
sold into Egypt. Instead of proceeding at once with a statement as to
the parentage of Joseph, etc., we might well center the interests of
these various-minded boys on a current observation of today--a
wonderfully fine harvest field of grain. They have all seen that. Make a
striking observation relative to the grain, or put a question that will
lead them to do that for you. Having raised an issue, you continue by
inquiring whether or not the same conditions have prevailed elsewhere
and at other times. Did they prevail in the days of Israel? The step
then to the story of Joseph's dream, etc., is an easy one.
This illustration, though simple and more or less crude, indicates that
to establish a point of contact, we must reach out to where the pupil
now is, and lead easily and naturally to where you would have him go.
Surely we cannot presume that he has already traveled the same
intellectual road that we have gone over.
Suppose we face a group of adolescent boys to teach them a lesson on the
importance of their attending church. If we proceed with a preachment
on their duties and obligations, we are quite certain to lose their
interest. Boys do not like to be preached at.
We know, however, that they are interested in automobiles. By starting
out with some vital observation or question out of the automobile world,
we may count on their attention. Following the discussion thus raised,
we might then inquire the purpose of the garages that we find along all
public highways. We could dwell upon the significance of repairs in
maintaining the efficiency of cars. Now we are prepared for the query,
Is it not essential that we have spiritual garages for the souls of men,
garages where supplies and repairs may be had?
The "gas" of faith.
The "oil" of consolation.
The "adjustment" of repentance.
The "charging" of our spiritual batteries, etc.
Once led into the subject, boys can be made to see that spiritual
problems are even more vital than material ones.
The point of contact established, we next face the matter of _Lesson
Statement_. The subject matter must either be in mind already because of
home preparation, or the teacher must supply it. In the smaller classes
the teacher generally will have to tell in good part what he wishes to
convey; in the larger classes, there are the possibilities of home
preparation, topical reports, the lecture, and the socialized recitation
built up by questions and discussions. It is not intended here to
discuss the various methods of lesson presentation--the thought being
simply that in some way the lesson statement must be presented.
Then there is the problem of connecting up the present lesson with those
that have already been presented. The review is a vital factor in
fixing in the mind the relative value of material covered.
Then, too, there is the matter of questioning to test knowledge and
stimulate discussion, together with the weaving in of illustrative
material that has already been thought out or which may suggest itself
as the lesson progresses. If, as all this material has been presented,
the application has been made sufficiently clear to the pupils, the
presentation is complete; otherwise avenues of action should be pointed
out, care being taken to stimulate rather than to moralize.
In conclusion, then, we have the matter of preparation as follows:
PREPARATION
_As it involves subject matter_: _As it involves presentation_:
1. The Aim Point of Contact
2. Organization Lesson Statement
3. Illustration Review
4. Application Illustration
5. Questions Application
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XIV
1. Discuss the helpfulness of having a definite procedure in the matter
of lesson preparation.
2. Point out the differences between lesson preparation and lesson
presentation.
3. Name and discuss the essential steps in preparing a lesson.
4. To what extent would you favor adopting these steps as the
fundamental processes?
5. Discuss the meaning and significance of "The Point of Contact."
6. Why is some kind of lesson statement a prerequisite to a good
recitation?
7. Show how this statement may be made.
8. What do you consider your most valuable device in the preparation of
a lesson?
9. Discuss the importance of filing away the material looked up in the
preparation of the regular work of teaching.
10. Indicate some of the best methods of filing.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Betts, _How to Teach Religion_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School
Teachers_; Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Strayer and Norsworthy,
_How to Teach_; Earhart, _Types of Teaching_; Betts, _Classroom Method
in Management_; Bagley, _Classroom Management_.
CHAPTER XV
ORGANIZING A LESSON
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XV
A review of the steps in lesson preparation.--The values of
outlining.--Objections answered.--Outlining a means, not an
end.--The essentials in outlining.--An illustrative outline on
prayer.
Preparing a lesson is no easy matter, particularly for those teachers
who are new to the calling. There are those, of course, for whom reading
an assigned chapter through constitutes a preparation, but to the
successful teacher this preliminary reading is only the initial step in
the process. Adequate preparation involves the following questions:
What aim shall I select out of the material available as the focus for
my day's work?
How shall I build about that aim a body of facts that will establish it
as a fundamental truth in life?
How shall I illustrate the truths presented so that they will strike
home in the experiences of my boys and girls?
How shall I make sure that members of the class will go out from the
recitation to put into practice the teachings of the day?
What questions ought I to ask to emphasize the outstanding points of my
lesson?
What method of presentation can I most safely follow to make my lesson
effective?
How may I discipline my class so that no disturbances will interfere
with our discussions?
Reduced to simple terms, the matter of preparation together with
presentation, involves the problems of
Organization
Aim
Illustration
Application
Methods of presentation
Questioning
It is difficult to single out any one factor and treat it as if it were
independent of the others--teaching is a complex art with all of these
factors inseparably contributing to the results desired--but, for
purposes of clearness, may we not proceed to give attention to each in
its turn that in the end the teaching process may the more definitely
stand out in all its aspects?
For convenience, then, let us in this chapter consider the problem of
organization. How to outline a lesson is one of the most fundamental
considerations involved in the teaching process. In fact, it is doubtful
whether there is any one more helpful attainment than the ability
clearly to outline subject matter. It not only enables the teacher to
proceed systematically, thereby insuring clearness and adequate
treatment of a lesson, but it makes it so easy and profitable for a
class to follow the discussion. Outlining to teaching is what
organization is to business. Just as the aim points out the goal we
seek, so the outline indicates the route we shall follow to attain the
goal. Outlining is simply surveying the road before the concrete is
laid.
Occasionally a teacher objects to outlining on the ground that it is too
mechanical--that it destroys spontaneity and the flow of the Spirit of
the Lord. It has always seemed to the writer that the Spirit of the Lord
is quite as pleased to follow a straight path as it is to follow a
crooked one. Outlining is not in any sense a substitute for
inspiration--it is merely a guarantee, by way of preparation, that the
teacher has done his part and can in good conscience ask for that
spiritual aid and guidance which he then is entitled to. The fact that
order is a law of heaven rather indicates that there is no divine
injunction against outlining.
Of course, outlining is not an end in itself--it is a means merely to
more systematic procedure. Two difficulties frequently attach to
outlining: one is that the outline is made so complex that it hinders
rather than helps in the matter of clearness; the other is that a
teacher may become "outline bound," in which case his teaching becomes
mechanical and labored. Such a teacher illustrates clearly the force of
the passage, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
But if the outline is made simple--if it is considered as merely a
skeleton upon which is to be built the lesson--it is one of the greatest
assets a teacher can have. Perhaps we can make the matter clearest by
going through the process of outlining a lesson, indicating the
essential steps involved.
Suppose we are asked to prepare a lesson on prayer. Keep in mind that in
such a preparation we face the problems listed at the beginning of this
chapter: the aim, the illustration, the application, etc., and keep in
mind also that each of these subjects will be taken up in its turn and
that for the present we are concerned primarily with the query, "How can
I organize a lesson on prayer?" Let us assume, too, that we are
preparing this lesson for young men and women about twenty years of age.
First of all, I must decide why I am to teach the subject of prayer. In
view of the fact that the matter of the aim is to be considered fully in
the succeeding chapter, suppose we agree that our purpose in this lesson
shall be to establish prayer as a habit of life.
_Step number one_, then, is the selection of an aim--a focus for the
thought of the lesson.
_Step number two_ is the collection of random thoughts. As I begin to
ponder the subject of prayer and its influence on life, all sorts of
ideas crowd into my mind. Perhaps I read some one's discussion of
prayer--perhaps I talk to a friend relative to it--perhaps I just ran
the subject over in my mind. The thoughts that come to me may be vague
and wholly disconnected. My immediate concern is content--order will
come later. And so I jot down, either in my mind or on paper, such ideas
as these:
"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire."
The Song "Sweet hour of prayer."
What is the use of prayer?
Are prayers answered?
How often should I pray?
Does the Lord hear and answer our prayers, or do we answer them
ourselves?
What kinds of prayers are there?
How may I know how to pray?
Should prayers always be answered affirmatively?
What are the characteristics of a good prayer?
What prayers have impressed me most?
And so I go on. My task in step two is to scout about intellectually in
search of available, suitable material. Many of my jottings may
duplicate others already set down; others may not be appropriate for my
need; still others may be wholly irrelevant. But I am seeking a wealth
of material that I may make my recitation as rich as possible.
Now, _step three_ becomes a process of correlation and elimination--a
process of hitting upon my main headings--setting up the milestones to
mark my course of development. And I so sift the material in my mind and
sort it out under appropriate captions. After a good bit of intellectual
rummaging about, I find that my random thoughts on prayer fall rather
naturally into four main divisions, each capable of expression in a
question:
I. What is prayer?
II. Why should I pray?
III. How should I pray?
IV. When should I pray?
But now that I have these major headings, I still face the problems of
enriching them and elaborating them so that they will have body enough
to stand. In other words, I build up my sub-headings. Under the first
question, for instance, I group these thoughts:
I. What Is Prayer?
1. It is communion with God.
2. It is the key to God's storehouse.
3. It is the key to God's heart.
4. It is "The soul's sincere desire."
5. It is the great anchor of faith.
Under question two, I group:
II. Why Should I Pray?
1. Because I am commanded of the Lord to pray.
2. Because through prayer I keep in tune with the Spirit of the
Lord.
3. Because it is through prayer that I acknowledge the goodness of
God.
4. Because through prayer I petition for needed blessings.
5. Because through prayer I establish and preserve an attitude of
humility.
Under question three:
III. How Should I Pray?
1. Simply.
2. Sincerely.
3. In spirit.
4. After the pattern of His prayer.
5. In secret as well as in public.
Under question four:
IV. When Should I Pray?
1. Regularly.
2. Morning and evening.
3. To meet special needs.
4. My attitude should always be one of prayerfulness.
This matter of organization may be diagrammatically illustrated as
follows:
_Random Thoughts_ _Organized Thoughts_
The hymn
The song ______________
| |
What is the use | FOCUS | I. What is Prayer?
of prayer? | or |
| AIM | II. Why should I pray?
Are prayers answered? | |
| To establish | III. How Should I Pray?
How often should | prayer as a |
I pray? | life habit. | IV. When Should I Pray?
|______________|
What are the
characteristics of
a good prayer, etc.?
In short, organizing involves the search for thought and the bringing of
order out of chaos. Having selected the aim, the main headings, and the
sub-headings, we now face _step four_--the enriching of these
sub-headings in illustration, incident, etc., so that we may link up
these thoughts with the experience of our pupils. We may think of so
much stimulating material that during the ordinary class hour we can
cover well only one of these questions. Our purpose and the needs of the
class must determine the extent of our detail. The actual material that
could be used to enrich this lesson on prayer will be given in the
chapter on illustration.
_Step five_ involves the problem of application, or "carry-over into
life"--a subject to which another chapter will be devoted. Of course, we
ought to say here, in passing, that application is not something added
to or "tacked on" a lesson. It may be emphasized at the close of a
lesson, but in reality it pervades and is inherent in the whole lesson.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XV
1. What is meant by calling teaching a composite process?
2. Point out the essential advantages in outlining lessons.
3. Show how outlining is not in conflict with inspiration.
4. Name the essential steps in lesson organization.
5. Choose a subject from one of the manuals now in use in one of our
organizations and build up a typical lesson.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter XIV.
CHAPTER XVI
ILLUSTRATING AND SUPPLEMENTING A LESSON
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XVI
The force of illustrations.--Three kinds of illustration material:
1. maps; 2. pictures; 3. incidents.--The force of maps and map
drawing.--The appeal of good pictures.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Illustrative material for a lesson on prayer.
Having discussed the organization of a lesson together with the
formulation of the aim, let us now turn to the problem of illustrating
and supplementing a lesson. In organizing a subject for teaching we
drive the nails of major thoughts--through illustration we clinch those
nails so that they will be less likely to pull out of the memory.
The three chief classes of illustrative and supplementary material are:
Maps, pictures, incidents--actual, imaginary.
It is clear that in the lesson outlined on prayer, in chapter fourteen,
we should have little occasion for the use of a map. We can, however, in
connection with that lesson, point out the force of pictures and
incidents.
Maps naturally are of greatest service in lessons with historical and
geographical background. The journeyings of Israel mean so much more to
us when we can follow them from place to place on a good map. So the
Book of Mormon account clears up if we are similarly guided. Had we
authentic maps of the lands named in the Book of Mormon, how much
clearer and more interesting the history would become! We would know the
exact spot on our present-day maps where Lehi and his family landed
from their heaven-directed barges; we would know where to find the land
Bountiful; where may now be found the ancient site of the City of
Zarahemla; where flows the River Sidon; what country is indicated by the
"land northward"; the journeys of the Nephites as they were being
driven; what states saw there continued struggles against their
inveterate enemies, the Lamanites, and how they reached their final
battle-ground near the Hill Cumorah. To visit with Jesus in Palestine
adds a charm to the New Testament that is really hard to evaluate, and
surely the travels of our own pioneers call for the aid of a good map.
Thoroughly to appreciate all that they did requires that we travel over
the wonderful trail they followed--that being impossible, the next
nearest approach is to see actually drawn out the magnitude of their
achievement. The appeal to the eye couples so forcefully with the appeal
to the ear that no classroom ought to be without its maps. Perhaps it is
not beyond possibilities to conceive that at a not distant date we shall
have made available films for class use to intensify the great lessons
we draw from history.
Pictures make a wonderful appeal, particularly so to children. It is
impossible to measure the inspirational appeal that a single masterpiece
exerts on a class of boys and girls. A theological class in one of the
Sunday Schools of Salt Lake County was once blessed with a most magnetic
and powerful teacher. Upon his death, the class had his picture framed
and hung on the front wall of the room in which he had taught. From that
day to this the silent inspiration of that picture has stimulated scores
of young men and women to the high ideals for which he stood.
More generally applicable and more easily available, of course, is the
_Incident_. The ability to tell a story is one of the finest attainments
of the teacher--particularly if he will take the pains to find
vigorously wholesome and appropriate ones. May we repeat the warning
that stories ought not to be told merely to fill out the hour, nor to
tickle the ears of the class, but to intensify and heighten the truths
contained in our lessons.
Included under the heading _Incident_ may be listed short poems and all
kinds of literary bits that fit in appropriately as spice to a lesson.
On the subject Prayer, the following are some possibilities:
Under question I, "What is prayer?" the hymn, "Prayer Is the Soul's
Sincere Desire."
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high.
Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air;
His watchword at the gates of death;
He enters heav'n with prayer.
Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice,
And cry, "Behold, he prays!"
The Saints in prayer appear as one
In word and deed and mind,
While with the Father and the Son
Their fellowship they find.
Nor prayer is made on earth alone,--
The Holy Spirit pleads,
And Jesus, on the Father's throne,
For sinners intercedes.
O thou by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way!
The path of prayer Thyself has trod;
Lord, teach us how to pray!
The two songs: "Sweet Hour of Prayer," "Did You Think to Pray?"
"For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart, yea, the song of
the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a
blessing upon their heads." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 25:12.)
The following selection:
"Prayer--sweet breath from out a joyous heart wafting gratitude to
Heaven.
"Prayer--a sacred confidence between a fearful soul and God.
"Prayer--a holy balm which soothes and heals the scars in a wounded
breast.
"Prayer--an angel's kiss on the longing lips of loneliness.
"Prayer--a rod that bars the way between the human soul and sin.
"Prayer--a choking sob of anguish from pain-drawn lips in plea for
help."
Under question II. "Why should I pray?"
"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the
world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy
sacraments upon my holy day." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 59:9.)
"Pray always that you enter not into temptation, that you may abide
the day of his coming, whether in life or in death. Even so. Amen."
(Doc. & Cov., Sec. 61:39.)
"Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be
spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit, and in this there
is no condemnation, and ye receive the Spirit through prayer;
wherefore, without this there remaineth condemnation." (Doc. & Cov.,
Sec. 63:64.)
"The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth,
and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the
earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands
shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth;
"Yea, a voice crying--Prepare ye the way of the Lord, prepare ye the
supper of the Lamb, make ready for the Bridegroom;
"Pray unto the Lord, call upon his holy name, make known his
wonderful works among the people;
"Call upon the Lord, that his kingdom may go forth upon the earth,
that the inhabitants thereof may receive it, and be prepared for the
days to come, in the which the Son of man shall come down in heaven,
clothed in the brightness of his glory, to meet the kingdom of God
which is set up on the earth;
"Wherefore may the kingdom of God go forth, that the kingdom of
heaven may come, that thou, O God, mayest be glorified in heaven so
on earth, that thy enemies may be subdued; for thine is the honor,
power and glory, for ever and ever. Amen." (Doc. & Cov., Sec.
65:2-6.)
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the Spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matt. 26:42.)
The following incidents were related by a member of the B.Y.U. Course
and are typical of scores of others available for this lesson:
_Brother Hunter's Account of the Manifestation of the Successor to
the Prophet Joseph_
"There was a great deal of discussion among the brethren and sisters
as to who should lead the Church; some thought it should be the
Prophet's son; some, one of his counselors, and some the President of
the Quorum of the Twelve. I was at a loss to come to any conclusion.
It worried me considerably and I prayed earnestly that God would make
known to me who it should be, but without avail.
"I went to the meeting that had been called and listened thoughtfully
to what was said and done. The longer I listened the more mystified I
became. I bowed my head in my hands and prayed for God to give me
understanding. While I was in this attitude, Brother Brigham arose to
speak, I suppose. I heard a voice--the Prophet's voice as natural and
true as I ever heard it. I raised up quickly, fully expecting to see
the Prophet, and I did. There he stood and there he spoke. I listened
breathlessly. The form of the Prophet gradually changed to that of
Brother Brigham, but the voice was not Brother Brigham's. It was
still the Prophet's. Then beside Brother Brigham I saw the Prophet,
who turned toward the speaker and smiled. My heart beat rapidly with
joy and I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Brother Brigham was
called of God to lead the Church."
_Brother Huntsman's Baby Healed_
"A fine, plump baby girl had come to the Huntsman home. As weeks and
months passed and the child failed to use its lower limbs, a doctor
was called and pronounced the trouble infantile paralysis. He said
that it would never walk, for experience had showed that whenever
this affliction affected the lower part of the body the medical
profession could not cure it.
"The Huntsman people were faithful Latter-day Saints and did not give
up hope, but called in the Elders. After a time conference was held
at Shelley and Elder David O. McKay and one other of the general
Church authorities were in attendance--I don't remember who. After
the afternoon session the child was administered to. While sealing
the anointing, Brother McKay promised the child the use of its limbs
and every organ of the body.
"That night it began to move them, and the next morning stood alone
by the aid of chairs. In a few days it walked, although being fairly
fleshy. Soon after I moved away from Shelley, but a year or so
afterwards I had occasion to go to Idaho Falls and there I met
Brother and Sister Huntsman. The child was with them and ran and
played as other children."
_A Psychology Student Receives Aid_
"A friend of mine who was a student in an eastern university told the
following incident of how the Lord came to his aid.
"The psychology class while studying the relationship of the brain to
life and intelligence entered into a discussion as to the nature of
intelligence, and in some way the teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith were brought into the discussion and jeered at, by all members
except my friend, who was a "Mormon." His defense brought forth
ridicule and intensified the discussion.
"As the class period had expired without completing the argument, a
week from that day was the time set to complete it. Of course, my
friend felt that he should do all possible to defend the attitude of
the Church, so he studied, fasted and prayed, to secure the aid of
inspiration, for he well knew that nothing but scientific proof would
be accepted.
"The day came and he realized that he was illy prepared, but still
hoped for divine assistance. During the giving of evidence to dispose
of the existence of intelligence separate from the workings of the
brain, and ridiculing the existence of a spirit, he prayed silently
and earnestly.
"His turn came and he arose to speak. After the opening sentences he
glanced down on the paper for his evidence and found a strange
handwriting there. He says a peculiar power took possession of him.
He spoke rapidly and fluently, he declared, without comprehending or
at least remembering what he said. As he finished, his own writing
was on the paper and he knew not what had been spoken, but there was
no evidence offered to offset it.
"The professor asked him to give the names of the books from which he
obtained his points, and on being told that God gave them to him, he
replied, 'It's strange, but I can't believe such nonsense.'"
Under question III. "How should I pray?"
The Lord's Prayer as a pattern.
The prayer in Gethsemane.
The Bee-Keeper's prayer--1920, June number of _Young Woman's Journal_.
"And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well as in
thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as
well as in private." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 19:28.)
"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark
11:24.)
"At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say unto you, that I will
pray the Father for you." (John 16:26.)
Under question IV. "When should I pray?"
"He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he
shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his
righteousness." (Job 33:26.)
"And now concerning the residue, let them journey and declare the
world among the congregations of the wicked, inasmuch as it is
given." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 61:33.)
"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you: seek me diligently
and ye shall find me; ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be
opened unto you;
"Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you,
that is expedient for you." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88:63-64.)
"Pray always that you enter not into temptation, that you may abide
the day of his coming, whether in life or in death." (Doc. & Cov.,
Sec. 61:39.)
"Therefore let the Church take heed and pray always, lest they fall
into temptation." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 20:33.)
"Behold, I manifest unto you, Joseph Knight, by these words, that you
must take up your cross, in the which you must pray vocally before
the world as well as in secret, and in your family, and among your
friends, and in all places." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 23:6.)
"Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save.
"Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him;
"Cry unto him when ye are in your fields; yea, over all your flocks;
"Cry unto him in your houses; yea, over all your household, both
morning, mid-day and evening;
"Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies;
"Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all
righteousness.
"Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in
them:
"Cry over the flocks in your fields, that they may increase.
"But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets,
and your secret places, and in your wilderness;
"Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full,
drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also
for the welfare of those who are around you.
"And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose
that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn
away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted,
and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need;
I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer
is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do
deny the faith;
"Therefore, if ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross,
which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth), and is
trodden underfoot of men." (Alma 34:18-29.)
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XVI
1. Why need we illustrate general truths?
2. Discuss the value of having pupils draw up their own maps.
3. Give out of your own experience illustrations of the force of
pictures.
4. Point out the value in teaching of appealing to more than one of the
senses.
5. Discuss the importance of good stories in teaching.
6. What are the characteristics of a good illustrative story?
7. Take an ordinarily commonplace subject and show how to illustrate it.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Those listed in Chapter XIV.
Also _Pictures in Religious Education_, by Frederica Beard.
CHAPTER XVII
THE AIM
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XVII
Two illustrations of the value of an aim.--Significance of the aim
in religious training.--Inadequacy of eleventh-hour
preparation.--The teacher's obligation to see through facts to
truths that lie beyond.
What an aim is.--Illustration.--How to determine the aim.--How to
express it.
The late Jacob Riis, noted author and lecturer, used to tell a very
inspirational story on the force of having something to focus attention
upon. According to his story, certain men who lived just outside of
Chicago, in its early history, had great difficulty walking to and from
work during stormy weather, because of the almost impassably muddy
conditions of the sidewalks. After trudging through mud and slush for a
long time, they conceived the idea of laying a plank walk through the
worst sections. And so they laid two six-inch planks side by side. The
scheme helped wonderfully, except on short winter days when the men had
to go to work in the darkness of early morning and return in the
darkness of evening. It often was so dark that they would step off the
planks, and once off they were about as muddy as if there had been no
walk at all. Finally someone suggested the idea that if a lantern were
hung up at each end of the walk it would then be easy to fix the eye
upon the lantern and keep on the walk. The suggestion was acted upon,
and thereafter the light of the lantern did hold them to the plank.
Jacob Riis argued that the lantern of an ideal held aloft would
similarly hold young men in life's path of righteousness.
A similar story is told of a farmer who experienced great difficulty in
keeping a particular hen inside the run which he had built outside the
hen house. He had put up a wire fence high enough, as he thought, to
keep in the most ambitious chicken. In fact, he argued that no hen could
fly over it. One hen persisted in getting out regularly, though the
farmer could never discover how she did it. Finally he decided to lay
for her (she laid for him regularly). To his great surprise, he watched
her walk around the run carefully surveying it as she proceeded. At
length she caught sight of a beam running along the top of the wire just
above the gate. With her eye fixed upon it she made one mighty effort
and was over.
The moral of the two stories is self-evident. Both hens and men can "go
over" if they have something to aim at. It is so in life generally, and
what is true of life generally is particularly true in the matter of
teaching. The aim is one of the most significant features in the
teaching process.
The teacher who knows where he is going can always get followers.
Important as is the aim in all educational endeavor, it is doubly so in
religious training. We teach religiously not merely to build up facts or
make for mental power; we teach to mold character. We should see through
facts, therefore, to the fundamental truth lying behind and beyond them.
Such a truth constitutes an aim in religious instruction.
One of the most regrettable facts connected with some of our teaching is
that teachers leave the preparation of their lessons until the few
minutes just preceding their recitation hour. They then hurry through a
mass of facts, rush into class and mull over these dry husks, unable in
the rush even to see the kernel of truth lying within. Little wonder
pupils tire of such rations. It is the teacher's obligation to "see
through" and discover the gems that really make lessons worth while.
Forty-five minutes once a week is so meagre an allotment of time for the
teaching of the greatest principles of life! Surely every one of those
minutes should be sacredly guarded for the consideration of vital
truths. The aim, coupled with careful organization, is one of the best
safeguards possible.
The aim is the great focus for a lesson's thought. It is the center
about which all else revolves. It specifies what shall be included and
what excluded out of the great mass of available material. A single
chapter of scripture may contain truths enough for a dozen lessons, only
one of which can be treated in any one recitation. The aim singles out
what can be appropriately grouped under one unified discussion.
If we turn, for instance, to the ninth chapter of Matthew, we find at
least eight different major incidents, each one deserving a lesson in
itself. There is the case of:
The palsy.
The charge of blasphemy.
The glorifying of God by the multitude.
The calling of Matthew.
The statement that only the sick need the physician.
The case of new cloth and the old garment.
The raising of the daughter of Jairus.
The healing of the two blind men.
It is perfectly clear that all of these incidents could not be
adequately considered in any one lesson. Assuming that the teacher is
free to handle this ninth chapter as he pleases, we are forced to the
conclusion that knowing his class, as he does, he must choose that
incident or that combination of incidents which will mean most in the
lives of his pupils. In other words, he centers his attention upon one
major central truth--his aim. By so doing he guards against wandering
and inadequacy of treatment and makes for the unified presentation of
one forceful thought.
It ought to be pointed out here that every teacher must be the judge as
to what constitutes for him the best aim. It is quite clear that any one
teacher could find in this ninth chapte
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