Training the Teacher Part 31

(2) _Fixedness of habit._ Life's att.i.tude is settled in thought, feeling, and will, and a change is possible only through the Spirit who can make all things new.

(3) _The sin of idolatry._ Every life that has not put G.o.d first now worships at the shrine of a self-elevated idol, the tangible expression of its ideal. To dethrone it from love and subst.i.tute Jesus Christ shakes to the foundations.

(4) _Weakness of spiritual aspirations._ It is a law of the feelings that repression instead of expression weakens a feeling and tends to its destruction. If the life has refused to act upon its impulses toward G.o.d through the years, the task of making the feeling strong enough to lead into action now is one beyond the power of the teacher.

It must be done by G.o.d, who "is able to raise up even from the dead."

#40. Results to be Expected.#--As life nears its meridian and the west grows clearer, it ought to be with unveiled face and character changing into His likeness in beauty, love, and self-surrendered service.

Test Questions

1. What is the keyword of maturity?

2. Name four characteristics.

3. For what has the soul special capacity at this time?

4. What special opportunities are presented by maturity?

5. What are three needs of maturity?

6. What must definitely mark the teaching?

7. What three difficulties appear?

8. What results are to be expected?

Test Questions for Review

Lessons 6 to 10

1. What essentials of the Christian life may a Junior readily have?

2. How may we stimulate a Junior's efforts in right-doing?

3. What results may we look for in this age?

4. Explain the period of adolescence.

5. What are the signs of personal consciousness at this time?

6. What affects the adolescent's relation to G.o.d?

7. What important opportunities has the Intermediate age?

8. What must be guarded against in urging decision at this time?

9. What years are included in the Senior age?

10. Why are doubts to be expected in this age?

11. What results should be aimed at with Seniors?

12. What is meant by "maturity"?

13. What is the goal for this age?

NOTE.--A helpful treatment of the whole subject of child nature is found in Mrs. Lamoreaux's book "The Unfolding Life."

THE TEACHER

MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, Ph.D., LL.D.

LESSON PAGE 1. What the Teacher Should Be 181 2. What the Teacher Should Know 184 3. What the Teacher Should Do 187 4. What the Pupil Should Do 190 5. What Teaching Is 193 6. What an Educational Principle Is 198 7. What an Educational Method Is 201 8. What the Concrete Means in Teaching 205 9. What Instruction, Drill, and Examination Can Do 209 10. What Will-Training Leads To 212

Teaching Hints

Leaders of cla.s.ses, and individuals pursuing these studies apart from cla.s.ses, are urged to read the chapter ent.i.tled "Teaching Hints," on page 259, before beginning this section

Lesson 1

What the Teacher Should Be

#1. The Value of Character.#--We teach more by what we are than by what we know. Emerson once said, "What you are thunders so loud I cannot hear what you say." Everywhere the character of the teacher is counted a vital part of his equipment. Even in secular schools the teacher is required to possess a good moral character. How much more should we demand high moral and spiritual standards of the teacher in the Sunday-school! But mere goodness is not enough. We must demand, in addition to personal worth, certain other salient qualities in the person who stands before childhood as a teacher of G.o.d's truth.

#2. Training Always Needed.#--There is a common notion that teachers like poets are born, not made. This is fallacious for two reasons: (a) we do not know till we try whether or not we can teach; (b) we do know now that the greater number of teachers are made by training and not by inherited qualities. Then, too, we are told that born teachers need no training, that they can teach without preparation. This notion is false, because the best native power may be made better by proper training. We call a doctor who has had no training in medicine a "quack," and it is not too much to say the same of untrained teachers.

Hence all of us will be the better fitted for our work in the Sunday-school if we have in addition to our native powers such added power as prayer and training a.s.suredly give.

#3. A Living Example.#--The teacher should be not only a professing Christian, but a living example of the kind of life we want every child to live. It is unfortunate to place the destiny of a human soul in the care and under the directing thought of a teacher who neither believes nor lives a consistent Christian life. The teacher should be _kindly considerate_ of his pupils[.] No amount of fine teaching power can compensate for the lack of such kindly concern for the welfare of his pupils as will best lead them to crave in their own lives the same courteous and considerate qualities. He should also be perfectly _sincere_ and _frank_. There can be no such thing as "playing a part"

in the presence of children. They discern with an intuition that is as certain as logic the sincerity or insincerity of the teacher. It is a mistake to flatter, to scold, to threaten or to cajole pupils. These are the marks of poor teaching. A perfectly frank teacher will never cheapen his sacred opportunity by any trick or device that has the ring of insincerity.

#4. Enthusiasm.#--The teacher should be an _enthusiast_. I had the good fortune to hear Bishop Phillips Brooks speak to a great body of men in Boston. There was in his whole manner such sincerity and enthusiasm as to carry conviction to each one in his audience. He had a good thing. He believed in it with his whole heart. He was enthusiastic in its praise. He had tested it and found it good. He wanted others to share the same splendid good. His address left an impression that years cannot dim. His enthusiasm made him a great teacher. This does not mean that one should speak in a loud tone, in high-pitched voice, with vehement manner and gesture. These are marks of weakness, not of strength. But it does mean that one should be confident of the worth of his message and anxious to impress its worth upon others. Enthusiasm is born of sincere conviction in the correctness of the thing one aims to teach.

#5. Directness.#--Much of all that is best in teaching is the result of a mastery of the theme in such way as to make all the statements and questions of the teacher _clear and direct_. One must consider his language carefully. To the child in the cla.s.s words may mean quite a different thing from what they mean to the teacher. One must have the pupils' point of view, and then make all his teaching so pointed, so specific, that the meaning must be clear.

#6. Alert Insight.#--The teacher must be _alert_ and _aggressive_, discerning the favorable moment to say great truths; with his thoughts more upon his pupils than upon his text. Otherwise his power to govern is weakened and the interest of his pupils is lessened if not wholly lost. To accomplish the best things one must know in advance the scope and purpose of the lesson, and watch for the moment when, with interest at its height, he will best succeed in reaching the deepest fountains of purpose in the soul of the pupil. This quality of insight in the teacher's equipment will put the cla.s.s upon a basis of work. The pupils will quickly realize that the teacher is imbued with a purpose; that he proceeds in a business-like way to accomplish a result which is seen to be of value. The very directness of the teacher is an a.s.set of great significance. This always appeals to young persons. They like a lesson that is full of snap and action.