{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17307/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17307","id":"gutenberg_17307","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17307","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Religious education"],"text":"Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson, Amy Cunningham and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPrinciples of\nTeaching\n\nBY ADAM S. BENNION\n_Superintendent of Church Schools_\n\n\nDesigned for Quorum Instructors and Auxiliary Class\nTeachers of the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints.\n\nPublished by\nTHE GENERAL BOARDS OF THE AUXILIARY ORGANIZATIONS\nOF THE CHURCH\n\n1921\n\n\n\n1952\n\nReprint of the original\n\nFUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS IN TEACHING RELIGION\n\nCopyright, 1921\n\nBy Adam S. Bennion\n\nFor the General Boards of the\nAuxiliary Organizations\nof the Church\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\nto the 1952 Edition\n\n\nTwo texts have been written for the teacher training program of the\nChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since Dr. Adam S. Bennion's\nBook _Principles of Teaching_ was published, yet in spite of the fact\nthat this book has been out of print several years so many requests for\nit have poured in that the General Superintendency has decided to\nsatisfy the demand with this new edition.\n\nThis book with its classic qualities in many ways fits Shakespeare's\ndescription of a beautiful woman when he said, \"Age cannot wither her\nnor custom dim her infinite variety.\" Anyone who knows Dr. Bennion or\nhas read his writings knows that neither custom nor age has dimmed his\ninfinite variety. Furthermore, a glance at the table of contents of this\nbook will reveal the fact that the problems and principles treated\nherein are just as real today as they were when the text was written.\n\nThis little volume is republished in the hope that it again will become\none of the basic texts in the teacher training program and fulfill its\nmission as an instrument in the hands of sincere people who have the\ndevout wish of learning how to teach the principles of the gospel by the\npower of the Holy Spirit.\n\n                              H.A. Dixon, Chairman\n                              Teacher Training Committee\n\n\n\n\n_Contents_\n\n\nChapter                                          Page\n\n       Preface                                    vii\n    I  Purposes Behind Teaching                     1\n   II  What Is Teaching?                            7\n  III  The Joys of Teaching                        14\n   IV  Personality                                 20\n    V  Personality                                 26\n   VI  Attainment                                  33\n  VII  Native Tendencies                           40\n VIII  What to Do With Native Tendencies           46\n   IX  Individual Differences                      53\n    X  Individual Differences and Teaching         61\n   XI  Attention                                   68\n  XII  What Makes for Interest                     74\n XIII  A Laboratory Lesson in Interest             80\n  XIV  The More Immediate Problems in Teaching     88\n   XV  Organizing the Lesson                       96\n  XVI  Illustrating and Supplementing a Lesson    103\n XVII  The Aim                                    111\nXVIII  Application                                116\n  XIX  Methods of the Recitation                  126\n   XX  Review and Preview                         134\n  XXI  The Question as a Factor in Education      142\n XXII  The Problem of Discipline                  149\nXXIII  Creating Class Spirit                      157\n XXIV  Conversion--The Real Test of Teaching      164\n       Bibliography                               171\n\n\n\n\n_Preface_\n\n\nThat ever-old question, \"How to Teach,\" becomes ever new when made to\nread, \"How to Teach Better.\" This volume aims to raise those problems\nwhich every teacher sooner or later faces, and it attempts to suggest an\napproach by way of solution which will insure at least some degree of\ngrowth towards efficiency. These chapters originally were prepared for\nthe course offered to teacher-trainers in the Summer School of the\nBrigham Young University, in 1920. The teachers in that course were an\ninspiration to the author and are responsible for many of the thoughts\nexpressed in the pages of this book.\n\nThe successful teacher ever views his calling as an opportunity--not as\nan obligation. To associate with young people is a rare privilege; to\nteach them is an inspiration; to lead them into the glorious truths of\nthe Gospel of Jesus Christ is heavenly joy itself. This little volume\nhopes to push open the door of opportunity a little wider, that more of\nthat joy may be realized.\n\n    \"Perchance, in heaven, one day to me\n      Some blessed Saint will come and say,\n    'All hail, beloved; but for thee\n      My soul to death had fallen a prey';\n    And oh! what rapture in the thought,\n      One soul to glory to have brought.\"\n\n                              ADAM S. BENNION.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nPURPOSES BEHIND TEACHING\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER I\n\n     The worth of souls.--The Father's joy in the soul that is\n     saved.--The teacher's responsibility.--Teaching, a sacred\n     calling.--Our Church a teaching Church.\n\n     Our three-fold purpose in Teaching:\n       a--To guarantee salvation of the individual members of the\n       Church.\n\n       b--To pass on the wonderful heritage handed down by our pioneer\n       forefathers.\n\n       c--To make more easily possible the conversion of the world.\n\n\n   \"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;\n\n   \"For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh;\n   wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent\n   and come unto him.\n\n   \"And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men\n   unto him, on conditions of repentance;\n\n   \"And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth.\n\n   \"Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people;\n\n   \"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying\n   repentance unto his people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me,\n   how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father?\n\n   \"And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have\n   brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your\n   joy if you should bring many souls unto me?\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec.\n   18:10-16.)\n\n   \"For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the\n   immortality and eternal life of man.\" (Moses 1:39.)\n\nIf this is the work and glory of the Lord, how great must be the\nresponsibility of the teachers of Zion, His copartners in the business\nof saving humankind! Next to parenthood, teaching involves us in the\nmost sacred relationship known to man. The teacher akin to the parent is\nthe steward of human souls--his purpose to bless and to elevate.\n\nThe first great question that should concern the Latter-day Saint\nteacher is, \"Why do I teach?\" To appreciate fully the real purposes\nbehind teaching is the first great guarantee of success. For teaching is\n\"no mere job\"--it is a sacred calling--a trust of the Lord Himself under\nthe divine injunction, \"Feed my sheep\" (John 21:15). For the teacher who\nhas caught a glimpse of his real responsibility there is no\nindifference, no eleventh-hour preparation, no feeling of unconcern\nabout the welfare of his pupils between lessons--for him there is\nconstant inspiration in the thought, \"To me is given the privilege of\nbeing the cupbearer between the Master and His children who would drink\nat His fountain of truth.\"\n\nThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been variously\ndesignated by those not of us: \"The Great Industrial Church,\" \"The\nChurch of Pioneers,\" \"The Church of Wonderful Organization.\" It might\nwell be called \"The Teaching Church.\" There is scarcely a man or woman\nin it that has not at some time been asked to respond to the call of\nteacher. Our people have been a remarkable people because they have been\nremarkably taught--taught of the Lord and His prophets. Our future can\nbe secure only as it is guaranteed this same good teaching. Every\nteacher must come to realize that \"Mormonism\" is at stake when he\nteaches. \"Why do I teach?\" goes to the very heart of teaching.\n\nThe answer to this question is to be found, in part at least, in the\nthree-fold objectives of our Church. First, the salvation and exaltation\nof the individual soul. As already pointed out, this is the very \"work\nand glory\" of the Father. Man is born into the world a child of\ndivinity--born for the purpose of development and perfection. Life is\nthe great laboratory in which he works out his experiment of eternity.\nIn potentiality, a God--in actuality, a creature of heredity,\nenvironment, and teaching. \"Why do I teach?\" To help someone else\nrealize his divinity--to assist him to become all that he might\nbecome--to make of him what he might not be but for my teaching.\n\nSomeone has jocularly said: \"The child is born into the world half\nangel, half imp. The imp develops naturally, the angel has to be\ncultivated.\" The teacher is the great cultivator of souls. Whether we\nsay the child is half angel and half imp, we know that he is capable of\ndoing both good and evil and that he develops character as he practices\nvirtue and avoids vice. We know, too, that he mentally develops. Born\nwith the capacity to do, he behaves to his own blessing or condemnation.\nThere is no such thing as static life. To the teacher is given the\nprivilege of pointing to the higher life. He is the gardener in the\ngarden of life. His task is to plant and to cultivate the flowers of\nnoble thoughts and deeds rather than to let the human soul grow up to\nweeds. This purpose becomes all the more significant when we realize\nthat the effects of our teaching are not only to modify a life here of\nthree-score and ten--they are impressions attendant throughout eternity.\nAs the poet Goethe has said, \"Life is the childhood of our immortality,\"\nand the teachings of childhood are what determine the character of\nmaturity. The thought is given additional emphasis in the beautiful\nlittle poem, \"Planting,\" by W. Lomax Childress:\n\n    Who plants a tree may live\n      To see its leaves unfold,\n    The greenness of its summer garb,\n      Its autumn tinge of gold.\n\n    Who plants a flower may live\n      To see its beauty grow,\n    The lily whiten on its stalk,\n      The rambler rose to blow.\n\n    Who sows the seed may find\n      The field of harvest fair,\n    The song of reapers ringing clear,\n      When all the sheaves are there.\n\n    But time will fell the tree,\n      The rose will fade and die,\n    The harvest time will pass away,\n      As does the song and sigh.\n\n    But whoso plants in love,\n      The word of hope and trust,\n    Shall find it still alive with God--\n      It is not made of dust.\n\n    It cannot fade nor change,\n      Though worlds may scattered be,\n    For love alone has high repose\n      In immortality.\n\nIf the teacher, as he stands before his class, could project his vision\ninto the future--could see his pupils developed into manhood and\nwomanhood, and could see all that he might do or fail to do, he would\nread a meaning well-nigh beyond comprehension into the question, \"Why do\nI teach?\"\n\nA second answer to this query lies in our obligation to pass on the\nwonderful heritage which we here received from our pioneer forefathers.\nThe story of their sacrifice, devotion, and achievement is unique in the\nhistory of the world. Only recently a pioneer of 1852 thrilled a\nparents' class in one of our wards with the simple narrative of his\nearly experiences. His account of Indian raids, of the experience with\nJohnston's army, of privations and suffering, of social pastimes--all of\nthese things rang with a spirit of romance. None of his auditors will\never forget the story of his aunt who gave up her seat in her wagon to a\nsick friend for whom no provision had been made, and trudged across the\nplains afoot that one more soul might rejoice in Zion. Every pioneer can\ntell this sort of thrilling story. Could our young people enjoy the\ncompanionship of these pioneers there would be little need of alarm\nconcerning their faith. Unfortunately, each year sees fewer of these\npioneers left to tell their story. It is to the teacher, both of the\nfireside and the classroom, that we must look for the perpetuation of\nthe spirit of '47. The ideals and achievements of the pioneers are such\nan inspiration, such a challenge to the youth of the Church today--that\nteachers ought to glory in the opportunity to keep alive the memories of\nthe past. Our pioneer heritage ought never to be forfeited to\nindifference. It is a heritage that could come only out of pioneer life.\nSuch courage to face sacrifice, such devotion to God, such loyalty to\ngovernment, such consecration to the task of conquering an unpromising\nand forbidding desert, such determination to secure the advantages of\neducation, such unselfish devotion to the welfare of their\nfellows--where could we turn for such inspiration to one who would\nteach?\n\nNor is it enough that we strive to perfect the individual membership of\nthe Church and preserve the social heritage out of the past--we assume\nto become the teachers of the world. It is our blessing to belong to a\nChurch built upon revelation--a Church established and taught of the\nLord. But with that blessing comes the injunction to carry this gospel\nof the kingdom to every nation and clime. \"Mormonism\" was not revealed\nfor a few Saints alone who were to establish Zion--it was to be\nproclaimed to all the world. Every Latter-day Saint is enjoined to teach\nthe truth. Whether called as a missionary, or pursuing his regular\ncalling at home, his privilege and his obligation is to cry repentance\nand preach the plan of salvation. The better we teach, the sooner we\nshall make possible the realization of God's purposes in the world. The\ntwo thousand young men and women who go out each year to represent us\nin the ministry should go out well trained, not only that they may\nrepresent our Church as an institution which believes that \"the glory of\nGod is intelligence,\" but also that they may win intelligent men and\nwomen to the truth. Only he who is well taught may become a good\nteacher--hence the need of intelligent, devoted service. \"Why do I\nteach?\" far from being an idle question, goes to the very heart of the\nfuture of the Church.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER I\n\n1. How many of the members of your ward are actively engaged in other\nthan parental teaching?\n\n2. What significance is attached to calling our Church a teaching\nChurch?\n\n3. Discuss the significance of Jesus' being a teacher.\n\n4. Compare the responsibility of teaching with that of parenthood.\n\n5. Enumerate the chief purposes behind teaching.\n\n6. In your opinion, which is the greatest purpose? Why?\n\n7. To what extent does the following statement apply to the welfare of\nour Church:\n\n   \"That nation that does not revere its past, plays little part in the\n   present, and soon finds that it has no future.\"\n\n8. Discuss our obligation under the injunction to teach the gospel to\nthe world.\n\n9. Discuss the need here at home of better teaching.\n\n10. In what sense are we trustees of the heritage left by the pioneers?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nDoctrine & Covenants: James, _Talks on Psychology and Life's Ideals_;\nBrumbaugh, _The Making of a Teacher_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School\nTeachers_; Strayer, _A Brief Course in the Teaching Process_; Betts,\n_How to Teach Religion_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_; Sharp,\n_Education for Character_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nWHAT IS TEACHING?\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER II\n\n     Teaching a complex art.--What teaching is not.--What teaching\n     is.--What it involves.--Presentation of facts.--Organization and\n     evaluation of knowledge.--Interpretation and elaboration of\n     truth.--Inspiration to high ideals.--Encouragement and direction\n     given to expression.--Discovery of pupils' better\n     selves.--Inspiration of example as well as precept.--Application of\n     truths taught in lives of pupils.\n\n\nThe query, \"What constitutes teaching?\" cannot be answered off-hand. It\nis so complex an art, so fine an art, as Professor Driggs points out,\nthat it has to be pondered to be understood and appreciated. It is often\nconsidered to be mere lesson-hearing and lesson-giving. The difference\nbetween mere instructions and teaching is as great as the distinction\nbetween eating and digestion.\n\nThe following definition of _teaching_, contributed by a former state\nsuperintendent of schools, is rich in suggestion:\n\n   \"Teaching is the process of training an individual through the\n   formation of habits, the acquisition of knowledge, the inculcation of\n   ideals, and the fixing of permanent interests so that he shall become\n   a clean, intelligent, self-supporting member of society, who has the\n   power to govern himself, can participate in noble enjoyments, and has\n   the desire and the courage to revere God and serve his fellows.\"\n\nTeaching does not merely consist of an inquisition of questions with\nappropriate answers thrown in; it surely is not mere reading; nor can it\nbe mistaken for preaching or lecturing. These are all means that may be\nemployed in the process of teaching. And they are important, too. We\nhave been cautioned much, of late years, not to lose ourselves in the\nprocess of doling out facts--but that rather we should occupy ourselves\nteaching boys and girls. That all sounds well--the writer of these\nlessons has himself proclaimed this doctrine--but we have discovered\nthat you cannot teach boys and girls _nothing_. They no more can be\nhappy _listening_ to _nothing_ than they can be content _doing nothing_.\n\nAnd so we now urge the significance of having a rich supply of subject\nmatter--a substantial content of lesson material. But the doctrine holds\nthat the teacher ought not to lose himself in mere facts--they are\nmerely the medium through which he arrives at, and drives home the\ntruth.\n\n   \"It is the teacher's task to make changes for the better in the\n   abilities, habits and attitudes of boys and girls. Her efficiency can\n   be evaluated fairly only in terms of her success at this task. In\n   other words, if a teacher is rated at all, she should be rated not\n   only by the clothes she wears, or the method she chooses, but by the\n   results she secures.\"--_Journal of Educational Research_, May, 1920.\n\nWe have said that teaching is a complex art. It consists of at least\nthese eight fundamentals, each one of which, or any combination of\nwhich, may be featured in any one particular lesson:\n\n  1. Presentation of facts.\n  2. Organization and evaluation of knowledge.\n  3. Interpretation and elaboration of truth.\n  4. Inspiration to high ideals.\n  5. Encouragement and direction given to expression.\n  6. Discovery of pupils' better selves.\n  7. Inspiration of example as well as precept.\n  8. Application of truths taught in lives of the pupils.\n\n\nI. PRESENTATION OF FACTS\n\nFacts constitute the background upon which the mind operates. There may\nbe many or few--they may be presented in a lecture of thirty minutes, in\nthe reading of a dozen pages, or they may be called forth out of the\nmind by a single stimulating question. But we ought not to confuse the\nissue. If we are to discuss any matter in the hope of reaching a\nconclusion in truth, we must have material upon which the mind can build\nthat conclusion. We are not concerned in this chapter with method of\nprocedure in getting the facts before a class--the important thought\nhere is that the facts in rich abundance should be supplied. A certain\nyoung lady protested recently against going to Sunday School. Her\nexplanation of her attitude is best expressed in her own words: \"I get\nsick and tired of going to a class where I never hear anything new or\nworth while.\" Exaggerated, of course, but students are crying for bread,\nand ought not to be turned away with a stone.\n\n\nII. ORGANIZATION AND EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE\n\nWe have hinted that a lesson may not have facts enough to justify the\ntime it takes--there is, on the other hand, danger that the whole time\nof the class may be consumed in a mere rehearsal of facts as facts. Only\nrecently a significant complaint was voiced by a young man who has gone\nthrough training in practically all of our organizations. \"I don't seem\nto know anything at all,\" he said, \"about the history of Israel, as a\nwhole. I can recall certain isolated facts about particular persons or\nplaces, but I can't give any intelligent answer at all to such questions\nas these:\n\n\"Who were the Israelites? What were their big movements relative to the\nPromised Land? What is the history of Israel up to the time of the\nSavior? What is their history subsequently? Are we of Israel and how?\"\n\nThe young man was not complaining--he merely regretted his ignorance on\npoints of vital interest. He was in need of further organization of the\nknowledge he had. He had not been given the big central ideas about\nwhich to build the minor ones. Relative importance had not been taught\nhim through that organized review that is so valuable in review. The\nteacher ought to come back time and again to pause on the big\nessentials--the peaks of gospel teaching.\n\n\nIII. INTERPRETATION AND ELABORATION OF TRUTH\n\nIt is really surprising how many various notions of an idea will be\ncarried away by the members of a class from a single declaration on the\npart of a teacher. A phase of a subject may be presented which links up\nwith a particular experience of one of the pupils. To him there is only\none interpretation. To another pupil the phase of the subject presented\nmight make no appeal at all, or linked up with a different experience\nmight lead to an entirely different conclusion. Truths need to be\nelaborated and interpreted from all possible angles--all possible phases\nshould be developed. An interesting discussion recently took place with\na young man who had \"gone off\" on a pet doctrinal theory. His whole\nconception built itself up about a single passage of scripture.\nSatisfied with a single notion, he had shut his eyes to all else and\n\"knew that he was right.\" Properly to be taught, he needed to be trained\nto suspend his judgment until _all the evidence_ was in.\n\n\nIV. INSPIRATION TO HIGH IDEALS\n\nMen and women like to be carried to the heights. They like to be lifted\nout of their lower selves into what they may become. It is the teacher's\ndelight to let his class stand tip-toe on the facts of subject matter to\npeep into the glories of the gospel plan of life and salvation. In 1903\nSanford Bell, of the University of Colorado, reported the results of a\nsurvey conducted with 543 men and 488 women to ascertain whether they\nliked male or female teachers better and just what it was that made them\nlike those teachers who had meant most in their lives. The survey showed\nthat the following influences stood out in the order named:\n\n  Moral uplift.\n  Inspiration.\n  Stimulus to intellectual awakening.\n  Spur to scholarship.\n  Help in getting a firm grip on the vital issues of life.\n  Personal kindness.\n  Encouragement in crises.\n\nWhat a testimonial to the force of inspiration to higher ideals!\n\n\nV. ENCOURAGEMENT AND DIRECTION GIVEN TO PUPILS' EXPRESSION\n\nMost pupils in class are ordinarily inclined to sit silently by and let\nsomeone else do the talking. And yet, everyone enjoys participating in a\nlesson when once \"the ice is broken.\" It is the teacher's task first of\nall to create an atmosphere of easy expression and then later to help\nmake that expression adequate and effective. The bishop of one of our\nwards in southern Utah declared, not long ago, that he traced the\nbeginning of his testimony back to a Primary lesson in which a skillful\nteacher led him to commit himself very enthusiastically to the notion\nthat the Lord does answer prayers. He said he defended the proposition\nso vigorously that he set about to make sure from experience that he was\nright. The details of securing this expression will be more fully worked\nout in the chapter on Methods of the Recitation.\n\n\nVI. DISCOVERY OF PUPILS' BETTER SELVES\n\nOne of the most fascinating problems in teaching is to come to know the\nreal nature of our pupils--to get below surface appearances to the very\nboy himself. Most of the work of solving this problem necessarily must\nbe done out of class. Such intimate knowledge is the result of personal\ncontact when no barriers of class recitation interfere. It involves time\nand effort, of course, but it is really the key to genuine teaching. It\nmakes possible what we have named as factor number eight, which may be\ndisposed of here for present purposes. We read of bygone days largely\nbecause in them we hope to find a solution to the problems of Jimmie\nLivingston today. How can we effect the solution if all that we know of\nJimmie is that he is one of our fifteen scouts? We must see him in\naction, must associate with him as he encounters his problems, if we\nwould help him solve them. Our discovery of our pupils' better selves,\nand intelligent application, go together hand in hand.\n\n\nVII. INSPIRATION OF EXAMPLE AS WELL AS PRECEPT\n\nWhen Emerson declared, \"What you are thunders so loudly in my ears that\nI can't hear what you say,\" he sounded a mighty note to teachers.\nHundreds of boys and girls have been stimulated to better lives by the\ndesire \"to be like teacher.\" \"Come, follow me,\" is the great password to\nthe calling of teacher. The teacher conducts a class on Sunday\nmorning--he really teaches all during the week. When Elbert Hubbard\nadded his new commandment, \"Remember the week-days, to keep them holy,\"\nhe must have had teachers in mind. A student in one of our Church\nschools was once heard to say, \"My teacher teaches me more religion by\nthe way he plays basketball than by the way he teaches theology.\" It\nwas what Jesus did that made him Savior of the world. He was the\ngreatest _teacher_ because he was the greatest man.\n\nSurely teaching is a complex art!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER II\n\n1. What is teaching?\n\n2. Why is it essential that we get a clear conception of just what\nteaching is?\n\n3. Discuss the importance of building the recitation upon a good\nfoundation of facts.\n\n4. Why are facts alone not a guarantee of a successful recitation?\n\n5. What is the teacher's obligation in the matter of organizing\nknowledge?\n\n6. Discuss the significance of teaching as an interpretation of truth.\n\n7. Discuss the teacher's obligation to discover pupils' better selves.\n\n8. What is the relative importance of expression and impression in\nteaching?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nBetts, _How to Teach Religion_; Gregory, _The Seven Laws of Teaching_;\nThorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a\nTeacher_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE JOYS OF TEACHING\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER III\n\n     The Joys that attend Teaching: Enrichment of the spirit.--Guarantee\n     of the teacher's own growth and development.--Restraining and\n     uplifting influence on the moral character of the\n     teacher.--Satisfaction that attends seeing pupils\n     develop.--Inspirational companionship.--Contentment that attaches\n     to duty done.--Outpouring of the blessings of the Lord.\n\n\nChapters one and two emphasized the thought that the purposes behind\nteaching impose a sacred obligation on the part of those who aspire to\nteach. But lest the obligation appear burdensome, let us remind\nourselves that compensation is one of the great laws of life. \"To him\nwho gives shall be given\" applies to teaching as to few other things.\nVerily he who loses his life finds it. The devotion of the real teacher,\nthough it involves labor, anxiety and sacrifice, is repaid ten-fold.\nOnly he who has fully given himself in service to others can appreciate\nthe joy that attends teaching--particularly that teaching enjoined upon\nus by the Master and which is its own recompense.\n\nIt is difficult to enumerate all of the blessings that attend the\nservice of the teacher, but let us consider a few that stand out\npre-eminently.\n\nIf there were none other than this first one it would justify all that\nis done in the name of teaching; namely, \"the enrichment of spirit.\"\n\"There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth\nthem understanding.\" To feel the thrill of that inspiration is a\ncompensation beyond price. The Lord, having commanded us to teach (see\nSec. 88:77-81, Doc. & Cov.), has followed the command with the promise\nof a blessing, one of the richest in all scripture.\n\n   \"For thus saith the Lord, I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto\n   those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in\n   righteousness and in truth unto the end;\n\n   \"Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory;\n\n   \"And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden\n   mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come will I\n   make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all\n   things pertaining to my kingdom;\n\n   \"Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to\n   come will I show them, even the things of many generations;\n\n   \"And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to\n   heaven: and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the\n   understanding of the prudent shall come to naught;\n\n   \"For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make\n   known unto them the secrets of my will; yea, even those things which\n   eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of\n   man.\" (Doc. & Cov. 76:5-10.)\n\nThis constitutes a promissory note signed by our heavenly Father\nHimself. A blessing beyond compare--a dividend unfailing--and our only\ninvestment--devoted service! Companionship with the Spirit of the Lord!\nThat is what it means, if we serve Him in faith and humility.\n\n   \"Be thou humble, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand,\n   and give thee answer to thy prayers.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 112:10.)\n\nLike all other gifts and attainments, the Spirit of the Lord has to be\ncultivated. Teaching insures a cultivation as few other things in life\ncan. An enriched spirit, then, is the first great reward of the teacher.\n\nA second satisfaction is the guarantee of one's own growth and\ndevelopment. Teachers invariably declare that they have learned more,\nespecially in the first year of teaching, than in any year at college. A\nconsciousness of the fact that it is hard to teach that which is not\nwell known incites that type of study which makes for growth. A good\nclass is a great \"pace-setter.\" Intellectually it has the pull of\nachievement. The real teacher always is the greatest student in the\nclass. The \"drive\" of having a regular task to perform, especially when\nthat task is checked up as it is by students, leads many a person to a\ndevelopment unknown to him who is free to slide. \"Blessed is he who has\nto do things.\" Responsibility is the great force that builds character.\nCompare the relative development of the person who spends Tuesday\nevening at home with the evening paper, or at some other pastime, and of\nthe person who, having accepted fully the call to teach, leads a class\nof truth-seekers through an hour's discussion of some vital subject.\nFollow the development through the Tuesday evenings of a lifetime.\n\nHow easy to understand that there are varying degrees of glory\nhereafter.\n\nA third value of teaching lies in the fact that the position of teacher\nexercises a restraining influence for good on the moral life of the\nteacher. He is sustained by a consciousness that his conduct is his only\nevidence to his pupils that his practice is consistent with his theory.\nHis class follows him in emulation or in criticism in all that he does.\n\"Come, follow me,\" lifts the real teacher over the pitfalls of\ntemptation. He cannot do forbidden work on the Sabbath, he cannot\nindulge in the use of tobacco, he cannot stoop to folly--his class\nstands between him and all these things. A teacher recently gave\nexpression to the value of this restraining force when she said, \"I urge\nmy girls so vigorously not to go to the movies on Sunday that I find my\nconscience in rebellion if anyone asks me to go.\"\n\nMany a man in attempting to convert another to the righteousness of a\nparticular issue has found himself to be his own best convert. He comes\nto appreciate the fact that the trail he establishes is the path\nfollowed by those whom he influences. He hears the voice of the child as\nrecorded in the little poem:\n\n    I STEPPED IN YOUR STEPS ALL THE WAY\n\n    \"A father and his tiny son\n      Crossed a rough street one stormy day,\n    'See papa!' cried the little one,\n      'I stepped in your steps all the way!'\n\n    \"Ah, random, childish hands, that deal\n      Quick thrusts no coat of proof could stay!\n    It touched him with the touch of steel--\n      'I stepped in your steps all the way!'\n\n    \"If this man shirks his manhood's due\n      And heeds what lying voices say,\n    It is not one who falls, but two,\n      'I stepped in your steps all the way!'\n\n    \"But they who thrust off greed and fear,\n      Who love and watch, who toil and pray,\n    How their hearts carol when they say,\n      'I stepped in your steps all the way!'\"\n\nStill another joy that attends teaching is the satisfaction of seeing\npupils develop. The sculptor finds real happiness in watching his clay\ntake on the form and expression of his model; the artist glories as his\ncolors grow into life; the parent finds supreme joy in seeing himself\n\"re-grow\" in his child; so the teacher delights to see his pupils build\ntheir lives on the truths he has taught. The joy is doubly sweet if it\nis heightened by an expression of appreciation on the part of the\npupils. Few experiences can bring the thrill of real happiness that\ncomes to the teacher when a former student, once perhaps a little\ninclined to mischief or carelessness, takes him by the hand with a \"God\nbless you for helping me find my better self.\"\n\nAn officer of the British army, in recounting those experiences which\nhad come to him in the recent world war, and which he said he never\ncould forget, referred to one which more than compensated him for all\nthe effort he had ever put into his preparation for teaching. Because of\nhis position in the army it became his duty to discipline a group of\nboys for what in the army is a serious offense. In that group was a boy\nwho had formerly been a pupil under the officer in one of our ward\norganizations. Chagrin was stamped on the face of the boy as he came\nforward for reprimand. Regret and remorse were in the heart of the\nofficer. They soon gave way to pride, however, as the boy assured him\nthat worse than any punishment was the humiliation of being brought\nbefore his own teacher, and he further assured him that never again\nwould he do a thing that would mar the sacred relations of pupil and\nteacher.\n\nA further compensation attached to teaching is that of inspirational\ncompanionship. It is a blessed privilege to enjoy the sunshine of youth.\nEvery pupil contributes an association with one of God's choice spirits.\nTo live and work with children and adolescents is one of the finest of\nsafeguards against old age. The teacher not only partakes of the joy of\nhis group--they constitute him a link between his generation and theirs.\nTheir newness of life, their optimism, their spontaneity, their joy,\nthey gladly pass on to their teacher.\n\nMoreover, the teacher enjoys the uplifting associations of his fellow\nteachers. Among those consecrated to a noble service, there is a spirit\nunknown to him who has not enjoyed such communion. Whether he is\nconscious of it or not, the teacher responds to the pull of such a\ngroup. Scores of teachers have testified that the associations they have\nenjoyed as members of a local board, stake board, or general board, are\namong the happiest of their lives.\n\nAnd finally there is the contentment of mind that comes as a result of a\nduty well done. The human soul is so constituted that any task well\nperformed brings a feeling of satisfaction, and this is doubly\nheightened when the duty performed is of the nature of a free will\noffering. Still more so when it is shared in by others to their\nblessing. Just as we hope for an eventual crowning under the blessing,\n\"Well done, thou good and faithful servant,\" so we treasure those\nbenedictions along the way that attend the discharge of a sacred\nobligation.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER III\n\n1. Quote some of the promises of the Lord to those who do His will.\n\n2. How is teaching one of the surest guarantees of the blessings of\neternal life?\n\n3. What are the immediate joys attached to teaching?\n\n4. Discuss the application to teaching of the truth--\"He who loses his\nlife shall find it.\"\n\n5. What types of companionship are assured him who teaches?\n\n6. As you now recall them, what distinct pleasures stand out in your\nteaching experience?\n\n7. Discuss Section 76 of the Doctrine & Covenants as one of the most\nvaluable promissory notes ever given to mankind.\n\n8. Discuss the force of a duty done as a guarantee of joy.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nDoctrine and Covenants: Slattery, _Living Teachers_; Sharp, _Education\nfor Character_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_; Betts, _How\nto Teach Religion_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nPERSONALITY\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER IV\n\n     The worth of a great teacher.--Good teachers not necessarily\n     born.--Some boys' observations on teachers.--A high school\n     survey.--Clapp's _Essential Characteristics_.--Betts' _Three\n     Classes of Teachers_.--His list of qualities.\n\n\n   \"A great teacher is worth more to a state, though he teach by the\n   roadside, than a faculty of mediocrities housed in Gothic\n   piles.\"--_Chicago Tribune_, September, 1919.\n\nWe may stress the sacred obligation of the teacher; we may discuss in\ndetail mechanical processes involved in lesson preparation; we may\nanalyze child nature in all of its complexity; but after all we come\nback to the _Personality of the Teacher_ as the great outstanding factor\nin pedagogical success. _That something in the man_ that grips people!\n\nVery generally this _Personal Equation_ has been looked upon as a\ncertain indefinable possession enjoyed by the favored few. In a certain\nsense this is true. Personality is largely inherent in the individual\nand therefore differs as fully as do individuals. But of recent years\neducators have carried on extensive investigations in this field of\npersonality and have succeeded in reducing to comprehensible terms those\nqualities which seem to be most responsible for achievements of\nsuccessful teachers. Observation leads us all to similar deductions and\nconstitutes one of the most interesting experiments open to those\nconcerned with the teaching process.\n\nWhy, with the same amount of preparation, does one teacher succeed with\na class over which another has no control at all?\n\nWhy is it that one class is crowded each week, while another adjourns\nfor lack of membership?\n\nThe writer a short time ago, after addressing the members of a ward\nM.I.A., asked a group of scouts to remain after the meeting, to whom he\nput the question, \"What is it that you like or dislike in teachers?\" The\ngroup was a thoroughly typical group--real boys, full of life and\nequally full of frankness. They contributed the following replies:\n\n  1. We like a fellow that's full of pep.\n  2. We like a fellow that doesn't preach all the time.\n  3. We like a fellow that makes us be good.\n  4. We like a fellow that tells us new things.\n\nBoylike, they were \"strong\" for pep--a little word with a big\nsignificance. Vigor, enthusiasm, sense of humor, attack,\nforcefulness--all of these qualities are summed up in these three\nletters.\n\nAnd the interesting thing is that while the boys liked to be told new\nthings, they didn't want to be preached at. They evidently had the boy's\nidea of preaching who characterized it as, \"talking a lot when you\nhaven't anything to say.\"\n\nStill more interesting is the fact that boys like to be made to be good.\nIn spite of their fun and their seeming indifference they really are\nserious in a desire to subscribe to the laws of order that make progress\npossible.\n\nA principal of the Granite High School carried on an investigation\nthrough a period of four years to ascertain just what it is that\nstudents like in teachers. During those years students set down various\nattributes and qualities, which are summarized below just as they were\ngiven:\n\n  _Desirable Characteristics_\n\n  Congeniality.\n  Broadmindedness.\n  Wide knowledge.\n  Personality that makes discipline easy.\n  Willingness to entertain questions.\n  Realization that students need help.\n  Sense of humor--ability to take a joke.\n  Optimism--cheerfulness.\n  Sympathy.\n  Originality.\n  Progressiveness.\n  Effective expression.\n  Pleasing appearance--\"good looking.\"\n  Tact.\n  Patience.\n  Sincerity.\n\nAmong the characteristics which they did not like in teachers they named\nthe following:\n\n  _Undesirable Characteristics_\n\n  Grouchiness.\n  Wandering in method.\n  Indifference to need for help.\n  Too close holding to the text.\n  Distant attitude--aloofness.\n  Partiality.\n  Excitability.\n  Irritability.\n  Pessimism--\"in the dumps.\"\n  Indifferent assignments.\n  Hazy explanations.\n  Failure to cover assignments.\n  Distracting facial expressions.\n  Attitude of \"lording it over.\"\n  Sarcasm.\n  Poor taste in dress.\n  Bluffing--\"the tables turned.\"\n  Discipline for discipline's sake.\n  \"Holier than thouness.\"\n\n_Desirable Capabilities_\n\nThey also reduced to rather memorable phrases a half dozen desirable\ncapabilities:\n\n  1. The ability to make students work and want to work.\n  2. The ability to make definite assignments.\n  3. The ability to make clear explanations.\n  4. The ability to be pleasant without being easy.\n  5. The ability to emphasize essentials.\n  6. The ability to capitalize on new ideas.\n  7. The ability to be human.\n\nA number of years ago Clapp conducted a similar survey among one hundred\nleading school men of America, asking them to list the ten most\nessential characteristics of a good teacher. From the lists sent in\nClapp compiled the ten qualities in the order named most frequently by\nthe one hundred men:\n\n  1. Sympathy.\n  2. Address.\n  3. Enthusiasm.\n  4. Sincerity.\n  5. Personal Appearance.\n  6. Optimism.\n  7. Scholarship.\n  8. Vitality.\n  9. Fairness.\n  10. Reserve or dignity.\n\nGeorge Herbert Betts, in his stimulating book, _How to Teach Religion_,\nsays there are three classes of teachers:\n\n   \"Two types of teachers are remembered: One to be forgiven after years\n   have softened the antagonisms and resentments; the other to be\n   thought of with honor and gratitude as long as memory lasts. Between\n   these two is a third and a larger group: those who are forgotten,\n   because they failed to stamp a lasting impression on their pupils.\n   This group represents the mediocrity of the profession, not bad\n   enough to be actively forgiven, not good enough to claim a place in\n   gratitude and remembrance.\"\n\nMr. Betts then goes on with a very exhaustive list of positive and\nnegative qualities in teachers--a list so valuable that we set it down\nhere for reference.\n\n   _Positive Qualities_               _Negative Qualities_\n\n1. Open-minded, inquiring, broad.     Narrow, dogmatic, not hungry for\n                                        truth.\n\n2. Accurate, thorough, discerning.    Indefinite, superficial, lazy.\n\n3. Judicious, balanced, fair.         Prejudiced, led by likes and\n                                        dislikes.\n\n4. Original, independent,             Dependent, imitative, subservient.\n   resourceful.\n\n5. Decisive, possessing convictions.  Uncertain, wavering, undecided.\n\n6. Cheerful, joyous, optimistic.      Gloomy, morose, pessimistic, bitter.\n\n7. Amiable, friendly, agreeable.      Repellent, unsociable, disagreeable.\n\n8. Democratic, broadly sympathetic.   Snobbish, self-centered, exclusive.\n\n9. Tolerant, sense of humor,          Opinionated, dogmatic, intolerant.\n   generous.\n\n10. Kind, courteous, tactful.         Cruel, rude, untactful.\n\n11. Tractable, co-operative,          Stubborn, not able to work with\n    teachable.                          others.\n\n12. Loyal, honorable, dependable.     Disloyal, uncertain dependability.\n\n13. Executive, forceful, vigorous.    Uncertain, weak, not capable.\n\n14. High ideals, worthy, exalted.     Low standards, base, contemptible.\n\n15. Modest, self-effacing.            Egotistical, vain, autocratic.\n\n16. Courageous, daring, firm.         Overcautious, weak, vacillating.\n\n17. Honest, truthful, frank,          Low standards of honor and truth.\n    sincere.\n\n18. Patient, calm, equable.           Irritable, excitable, moody.\n\n19. Generous, open-hearted,           Stingy, selfish, resentful.\n    forgiving.\n\n20. Responsive, congenial.            Cold, repulsive, uninviting.\n\n21. Punctual, on schedule, capable.   Tardy, usually behindhand,\n                                        incapable.\n\n22. Methodical, consistent, logical.  Haphazard, desultory, inconsistent.\n\n23. Altruistic, given to service.     Indifferent, not socially minded.\n\n24. Refined, alive to beauty,         Coarse, lacking aesthetic quality.\n    artistic.\n\n25. Self-controlled, decision,        Suggestible, easily led, uncertain.\n    purpose.\n\n26. Good physical carriage, dignity.  Lack of poise, ill posture, no\n                                        grace.\n\n27. Taste in attire, cleanliness,     Careless in dress, frumpy, no pride.\n    pride.\n\n28. Face smiling, voice pleasant.     Somber expression, voice unpleasant.\n\n29. Physical endurance, vigor,        Quickly tired, weak, sluggish.\n    strength.\n\n30. Spiritual responsiveness,         Spiritually weak, inconstant,\n    strong.                             uncertain.\n\n31. Prayer life warm, satisfying.     Prayer cold, formal, little comfort.\n\n32. Religious certainty, peace,       Conflict, strain, uncertainty.\n    quiet.\n\n33. Religious experience expanding.   Spiritual life static or losing\n                                        force.\n\n34. God a near, inspiring reality.    God distant, unreal, hard of\n                                        approach.\n\n35. Power to win others to religion.  Influence little or negative.\n\n36. Interest in Bible and religion.   Little concern for religion and\n                                        Bible.\n\n37. Religion makes life fuller and    Religion felt as a limitation.\n    richer.\n\n38. Deeply believe great              Lacking in foundations for faith.\n    fundamentals.\n\n39. Increasing triumph over sin.      Too frequent falling before\n                                        temptation.\n\n40. Religious future hopeful.         Religious growth uncertain.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER IV\n\n1. Think of the teachers who stand out most clearly in your memory. Why\ndo they so stand out?\n\n2. Name the qualities that made the Savior the _Great Teacher_.\n\n3. If you had to choose between a fairly capable but humble teacher, and\na very capable but conceited one, which one would be your choice? Why?\n\n4. What is your argument against the idea, \"Teachers are born, not\nmade\"?\n\n5. Discuss the relative significance of the qualities quoted from Betts.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nO'Shea, _Every-day Problems in Teaching_; Betts, _How to Teach\nReligion_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a Teacher_; Palmer, _The Ideal\nTeacher_; Slattery, _Living Teachers_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School\nTeachers_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nPERSONALITY\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER V\n\n     The six major qualities:--a. Sympathy.--b. Sincerity.--c.\n     Optimism.--d. Scholarly attitude.--e. Vitality.--f. Spirituality.\n\n\nTo set about to cultivate separate qualities would be rather a\ndiscouraging undertaking. As a matter of fact, many of the\ncharacteristics named really overlap, while others are secondary in\nimportance. For practical purposes let us enlarge upon five or six\nqualities which everyone will agree are fundamental to teaching success.\n\nThe class in Teacher Training, at the Brigham Young University, in the\nsummer of 1920, named these six as the most fundamental:\n\n  1. Sympathy.\n  2. Sincerity.\n  3. Optimism.\n  4. Scholarly attitude.\n  5. Vitality.\n  6. Spirituality.\n\nNo attempt was made to set them down in the order of relative\nimportance.\n\n\n1. SYMPATHY\n\nThis is a very broad and far-reaching term. It rests upon experience and\nimagination and involves the ability to live, at least temporarily,\nsomeone else's life. Sympathy is fundamentally vicarious. Properly to\nsympathize with children a man must re-live in memory his own childhood\nor he must have the power of imagination to see things through their\neyes. Many a teacher has condemned pupils for doing what to them was\nperfectly normal. We too frequently persist in viewing a situation from\nour own point of view rather than in going around to the other side to\nlook at it as our pupils see it. It is no easy matter thus \"to get out\nof ourselves\" and become a boy or girl again, but it is worth the\neffort.\n\nAlong with this ability at vicarious living, sympathy involves an\ninterest in others. Sympathy is a matter of concern in the affairs of\nothers. The rush and stir of modern life fairly seem to force us to\nfocus our attention upon self, but if we would succeed as teachers, we\nmust make ourselves enter into the lives of our pupils out of an\ninterest to see how they conduct their lives, and the reasons for such\nconduct.\n\nCoupled with this interest in others and the imagination to see through\ntheir eyes, sympathy involves a desire to help them. A man may have an\ninterest in people born out of mere curiosity or for selfish purposes,\nbut if he has sympathy for them, he must be moved with a desire to help\nand to bless them.\n\nAnd, finally, sympathy involves the actual doing of something by way of\nservice. President Grant liked to refer to a situation wherein a\nparticular person was in distress. Friends of all sorts came along\nexpressing regret and professing sympathy. Finally a fellow stepped\nforward and said, \"I feel to sympathize with this person to the extent\nof fifty dollars.\" \"That man,\" said President Grant, \"has sympathy in\nhis heart as well as in his purse.\"\n\n\n2. SINCERITY\n\nSurely this is a foundation principle in teaching:\n\n    \"Thou must to thyself be true,\n      If thou the truth would teach;\n    Thy soul must overflow,\n      If thou another soul would reach.\"\n\nA teacher must really be converted to what he teaches or there is a\nhollowness to all that he utters. \"Children and dogs,\" it is said, are\nthe great judges of sincerity--they instinctively know a friend. No\nteacher can continue to stand on false ground before his pupils. The\nsuperintendent of one of our Sunday Schools, having selected one of the\nmost talented persons in his ward to teach a Second Intermediate Class\nwas astonished some months later to receive a request from the class for\na change of teachers. The class could assign no specific reasons for\ntheir objections, except that they didn't get anything out of the class.\nA year later the superintendent learned that the teacher was living in\nviolation of the regulations of the Church, on a particular principle,\nand it was perfectly clear why his message didn't ring home.\n\nThe sincere teacher not only believes what he teaches--he consecrates\nhis best efforts to the task in hand. He urges no excuse for absence or\nlack of preparation--\"he is there.\" He lets his class feel that for the\ntime being it is his greatest concern. He meets with boys and girls\nbecause he loves to and reaches out to them with an enthusiasm that\ncannot be questioned.\n\n\n3. OPTIMISM\n\nis the sunshine of the classroom. It is as natural to expect a plant to\ndevelop when covered with a blanket as it is to expect a class to be\nfull of activity and responsiveness under an influence of unnatural\nsolemnity. Lincoln is quoted as having declared, \"You can catch more\nflies with a drop of honey than with a gallon of vinegar\"--a homely\nexpression, but full of suggestion. A grouch is no magnet.\n\nA little girl when questioned why she liked her Sunday School teacher\nsaid, \"Oh, she always smiles at me and says, hello.\" There is contagion\nin the cheeriness of a smile that cannot be resisted. Children live so\nnaturally in an atmosphere of happiness and fun that teachers of\nreligious instruction may well guard against making their work too\nformally sober. Frequently teachers feel the seriousness of their\nundertaking so keenly that they worry or discipline themselves into a\nstate of pedagogical unnaturalness. There is very great force behind the\ncomment of the student who appreciated the teacher who could be human.\nThe experience is told of a teacher who continued to have difficulty\nwith one of her pupils. He so persisted in violating regulations that he\nwas kept in after school regularly, and yet after school hours he was\none of the most helpful lads in the school; in fact, he and the teacher\nseemed almost chummy. Struck by the difference in his attitude, the\nteacher remarked to him one afternoon, as he went about cleaning the\nblackboard, \"Jimmie, I have just been wondering about you. You're one of\nmy best workers after school--I can't understand how you can be so\ndifferent during school hours and after.\"\n\n\"Gee, that's funny,\" put in Jimmie, \"I was just thinking the same thing\nabout you.\"\n\nTo be cheerful without being easy is a real art. Liberty is so often\nconverted into license, and a spirit of fun so easily transformed into\nmischief and disorder. And yet cheerfulness is the great key to the\nhuman heart.\n\nAn attitude of looking for the good in pupils will lead to a response of\nfriendliness on their part which is the basis of all teaching.\n\n\n4. SCHOLARLY ATTITUDE\n\nIf a teacher would cultivate an appetite for learning among his pupils\nhe must himself hunger for knowledge. Most young people will \"take\nintellectually if sufficiently exposed.\" A scholarly attitude implies\nfirst of all a growing mastery of subject matter. To quote an eminent\nwriter on religious education, \"A common bane of Sunday school teaching\nhas been the haziness of the teacher's own ideas concerning the truths\nof religion.\"\n\nFancy the hostess who would invite her guests to a dinner, and upon\ntheir arrival indicate to them that she had made only vague plans to\nreceive them. No special place for their wraps, no entertainment for\ntheir amusement, and then fancy her asking them to sit down to a\nwarmed-up conglomeration of left-overs.\n\nOf course, it is only in fancy that we can imagine such a service. Yet\nreports frequently indicate that there are class recitations,\nintellectual banquets, for which the preparation has been about as\nmeagre as that indicated. Surely he who would feast others upon His word\nshould prepare unceasingly. Let us keep in mind the comment--\"We like\nthe fellow who tells us something new.\"\n\nAlong with this mastery of subject matter, a scholarly attitude implies\nboth broadmindedness and openmindedness. Seekers after truth should\nwelcome it from all available sources, and ought not to be handicapped\nby bias or prejudice. Tolerance and a willingness to entertain\nquestions--a constant effort to view a subject from every possible\nangle--a poise that attends self-control even under stress of\nannoyance--these things are all involved in a truly scholarly attack\nupon any given problem.\n\n\n5. VITALITY\n\nOne of the qualities most favorably and frequently commented on by\nstudents is what they call \"pep.\" A certain vigor of attack that seems\nto go directly to the point at stake, putting at rest all other\nbusiness and making discipline unnecessary, is what twentieth century\nyoung people seem to like. The element of hero worship prompts them to\ndemand that the leader shall \"do things.\" They like the \"push\" that\ntakes a man over the top, the drive that wins a ball game, the energy\nthat stamps the business man with success. Vitality is an inherent\nfactor in leadership.\n\n\n6. SPIRITUALITY\n\nThe crowning glory of the successful religious teacher is that spiritual\nglow which links up heaven and earth.\n\n   \"And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the power of faith, and if\n   ye receive not the Spirit, ye shall not teach.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec.\n   42:14.)\n\nThis divine injunction is given us because we have undertaken to teach\nHis Gospel. We would lead others to Him. And this is possible only as we\nlead by the light of His Holy Spirit. Above our knowledge of facts and\nour understanding of child nature must be placed our communion with that\nSpirit which touches the hearts of men.\n\nIf a teacher would prepare a young man for a place in a modern business\nhouse he must teach him the ways of business,--buying, selling,\ncollecting, managing, etc.,--matters of fact, governed by the laws of\nbarter and trade. If that same teacher would teach the same young man\nthe way of eternal life, he must substitute for the laws of man the word\nof the Lord, and for the spirit of exchange, the Spirit of Heaven. A\npupil can be prepared for the kingdom of God only as he is led to\nrespond to and appreciate His Spirit, and to do His will. While it is\ntrue that the best way to prepare for heaven is to live the best\npossible life here on earth, yet we need the Spirit of the Lord to\ninterpret what constitutes that best possible life.\n\nThere is power in the intellect of man; there is glory in that power\nwhen it is heightened by the Spirit of the Almighty.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER V\n\n1. What is sympathy?\n\n2. Why is it so essential in teaching?\n\n3. Why is sincerity a foundation principle in all teaching?\n\n4. Discuss the obligation on the part of the teacher to leave his\ntroubles outside the classroom.\n\n5. Discuss the statement--\"Cheerfulness is spiritual sunshine.\"\n\n6. Illustrate the value of cheerfulness.\n\n7. What is the significance of the term, scholarly attitude?\n\n8. Just what constitutes vitality?\n\n9. Show how it is essential to teaching.\n\n10. Why name spirituality as the crowning characteristic of the good\nteacher?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter IV.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nATTAINMENT\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER VI\n\n     The possibility of growth in teaching.--How to develop\n     spirituality: a. By cultivating the spirit of prayer; b. By leading\n     a clean life; c. By obeying the principles of the Gospel; d. By\n     performing one's duty in the Church; e. By reading and pondering\n     the word of the Lord.--How to develop other qualities: a. By taking\n     a personal inventory; b. By coming in contact with the best in life\n     through reading and companionship; c. By forming the habit of\n     systematic study; d. By assuming responsibility.\n\n\nWhile we may agree as to what constitutes the desirable characteristics\nin teachers it is far easier to name them than to attain them. We have\nalready pointed out that teaching is a complex art proficiency in which\nis the result of a long, painstaking process. But success in teaching as\nin all other pursuits is possible of achievement. We have heard so\nfrequently that teachers must be born, not made, that many prospective\nteachers, feeling that they have been denied this pedagogical\nbirthright, give up in despair. Of course, it is naturally easy for some\nindividuals to teach--they do seem born possessed of a teaching\npersonality, but they are not given a monopoly on the profession.\n\nThe Lord has too many children to be taught to leave their instruction\nto a few favored ones. The qualities listed in chapter five may be\ndeveloped, in varying degrees, of course, by any normal person anxious\nto serve his fellows. The \"will to do\" is the great key to success.\n\nTo him who would develop spiritually, these five suggestions may be\nhelpful:\n\nFirst, cultivate the spirit of prayer. The president of one of our\nstakes made the remark once that he believed only a few of the men and\nwomen of his stake really pray. \"They go through the form, all right,\"\nhe said; \"they repeat the words--but they do not enter into the spirit\nof the prayer. If the Lord doesn't draw nearer to them than they do to\nHim I doubt that their prayers are really of very great force.\"\n\nThe ability to pray is the great test of a spiritual life. \"The faith to\npray\" is a gift to be cultivated through devoted practice. The teacher\nwho would have his pupils draw nearer to him must himself draw near to\nthe Lord. The promise, \"Ask, and ye shall receive, seek, and ye shall\nfind,\" was given only to those who ask in faith. This constant prayer of\nfaith, then is the first great guarantee of the Spirit.\n\nThe second is a clean life. Just as it is impossible for water to make\nits way through a dirty, clogged pipe, so it is for the Spirit to flow\nthrough a channel of unrighteous desires. A visitor was interested a\nshort time ago in Canada in attempting to get a drink out of a pipe that\nhad been installed to carry water from a spring in the side of a\nmountain to a pool at the side of the road. Due to neglect, moss and\nfilth had been allowed to collect about the bottom of the pipe, until it\nwas nearly choked up. Getting a drink was out of the question. And yet\nthere was plenty of water in the spring above--just as fine water as had\never flowed from that source. It was simply denied passage down to those\nwho would drink. And so with the Spirit. The Lord is still able to\nbless--all too frequently, we so live that \"the passage is clogged.\" The\nWord of Wisdom is not only a guarantee of health--it is the key to\ncommunication with the Spirit. And what is true of the body applies with\neven greater force to cleanliness of mind. The teacher might well adopt\nthis prayer:\n\n   \"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within\n   me.\"\n\nThe third great guarantee of the Spirit is an unswerving obedience to\nall principles of the Gospel. To teach belief a man must believe. Firmly\ngrounded in all the cardinal principles the teacher may well inspire a\nspirit of the Gospel, but not otherwise. Doubt and uncertainty will keep\nthe teacher from the position of counsel and leadership.\n\nThe fourth assurance in the matter of developing spirituality is the\nconsistent performance of one's religious obligations. The complaint is\noften made that teachers in a particular organization will meet their\nclasses regularly, but that done they seem to consider their religious\nduties discharged. Teaching does not excuse a person from attending the\nother services required of Latter-day Saints. He is asked to attend\nSacrament meetings, Priesthood meetings, Union meetings, special\npreparation meetings--they are all essential to the full development of\nthe Spirit of the Gospel, which is the spirit of teaching. The teacher\nmay rightly expect to be sustained only as he sustains those who preside\nover him.\n\n   \"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what\n   measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.\" (Matt. 7:2.)\n\nAnd finally, if we would enjoy the spirit of our work we must\nfamiliarize ourselves with the Word of the Lord. To read it is to\nassociate in thought with Him. His Spirit pervades all that He has said,\nwhether in ancient or modern times. One of our apostles frequently\nremarked that if he would feel fully in touch with the spirit of his\ncalling he must read regularly from the Doctrine & Covenants. \"That book\nkeeps me attuned as no other book can.\" It is not given to us to\nassociate here with the Master, but through His recorded words we can\nlive over all that He once lived. Thereby we not only come really to\nknow what He would have us do, we partake of a spirit that surpasses\nunderstanding.\n\n   \"Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life.\"\n\nAs for attainment in other matters involved in the teaching process, the\nteachers who attended the course at the Brigham Young University were\nagreed that regular practice in the following processes will insure\nmarked growth and development:\n\n1. The taking of a personal inventory at regular intervals. \"Am I the\nkind of teacher I should like to go to?\" starts an investigation full of\nsuggestiveness. The qualities listed in chapter four constitute a\nreference chart for analysis. A teacher can become his own best critic\nif he sets up the proper ideals by way of a standard. A teacher in one\nof our Church schools in Idaho carried out an interesting investigation\nduring the year 1919-1920. Anxious that he should not monopolize the\ntime in his recitations, he asked one of his students to tabulate the\ntime of the class period as follows:\n\n  Number of questions asked by teacher.\n  Number of questions asked by pupils.\n  Amount of time consumed by teacher.\n  Amount of time consumed by pupils.\n\nHe was astonished to discover that of the forty-five minutes given to\nrecitation he was regularly using an average of thirty-two minutes.\nSimilar investigations can be carried on by any interested teacher.\n\n2. Contact with the best in life. It is a fundamental law in life that\nlife is an adaptation to environment. The writer has been interested in\nobserving the force of this law as it affects animal life. Lizards in\nEmery county are slate-gray in color that they may be less conspicuous\non a background of clay and gray sandstone; the same animals in St.\nGeorge take on a reddish color--an adaptation to their environment of\nred sandstone.\n\nNor is the operation of this law merely a physical process. On a trip\ninto Canada recently the writer traveled some distance with a group of\nbankers in attendance at a convention at Great Falls. On his way home he\ntook a train on which there was a troupe of vaudeville players. The\ncontrast was too marked to escape notice. One group had responded to an\nenvironment of sober business negotiations--the other to the gayety of\nthe footlights. And so the teacher who would grow must put himself into\nan environment that makes the kind of growth he desires\nnatural--inevitable. Through good books he can associate with the choice\nspirits of all ages. No one denies his acquaintanceship. Great men have\ngiven their best thoughts to many of the problems that confront us. We\ncan capitalize on their wisdom by reading their books. We re-enforce\nourselves with their strength.\n\nMagazines, too, are full of stimulation. They constitute a kind of\nintellectual clearing house for the best thought of the world today.\nBusiness houses value them so highly in promoting the advancement of\ntheir employees that they subscribe regularly. One manager remarked: \"No\none factor makes for greater growth among my men than reading the\nachievements of others--leaders in their lines--through the magazines.\"\nThere is scarcely a phase of life which is not being fully written about\nin the current issues of the leading magazines.\n\nThen, too, contact with men and women of achievement is a remarkable\nstimulus to growth.\n\nThere are leaders in every community--men and women rich in\nexperience--who will gladly discuss the vital issues of life with those\nwho approach them. There still remain, too, pioneers with their\nwonderful stories of sacrifice and devotion. To the teacher who will\ntake the pains there is an untold wealth of material in the lives of the\nmen and women about him.\n\n3. Regular habits of systematic study. Thorough intensive effort finds\nits best reward in the intellectual growth that it insures. In these\ndays of the hurry of business and the whirl of commercialized amusements\nthere is little time left for study except for him who makes himself\nsubscribe to a system of work. Thirty minutes of concentrated effort a\nday works wonders in the matter of growth. President Grant was a\nsplendid evidence of the force of persistent effort in his writing, his\nbusiness success, and his rise to the leadership of half a million\nLatter-day Saints.\n\n4. Assuming the obligations of responsibility. In every organization\nthere are constant calls upon teachers to perform laborious tasks. It is\nso natural to seek to avoid them--so easy to leave them for somebody\nelse--that we have to cultivate vigorously a habit of accepting the\nobligations that present themselves. The difficulties of responsibility\nare often burdensome, but they are an essential guarantee of\nachievement. \"Welcome the task that makes you go beyond your ordinary\nself, if you would grow!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VI\n\n1. Discuss our obligation to grow.\n\n2. Point out the difference between praying and merely saying prayers.\n\n3. Discuss the various means which guarantee spiritual growth.\n\n4. Comment on the thought that a personal inventory is as essential to\nteaching as it is to financial success.\n\n5. What is your daily scheme for systematic study?\n\n6. What plan do you follow in an attempt to know the scriptures?\n\n7. Why is it so important that we assume the responsibilities placed\nupon us?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter IV.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nNATIVE TENDENCIES\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER VII\n\n     Importance of Child Study to teachers.--Teaching both a social and\n     an individual process.--A Child's characteristics--his\n     birthright.--What the nervous system is.--Types of original\n     responses.--The significance of instinctive action.--Colvin's list\n     of native tendencies.--Sisson's list.--A knowledge of native\n     tendencies essential to proper control of human behavior.\n\n\nWe have now discussed the significance and meaning of teaching, together\nwith the consideration of the characteristics that constitute the\npersonal equation of the teacher. It is now pertinent that we give some\nattention to the nature of the child to be taught, that we may the more\nintelligently discuss methods of teaching, or how teacher and pupil get\ntogether in an exchange of knowledge.\n\nTeaching is a unique process. It is both social and individual. The\nteacher meets a class--a collection of pupils in a social unit. In one\nway he is concerned with them generally--he directs group action. But in\naddition to this social aspect, the problem involves his giving\nattention to each individual in the group. He may put a general\nquestion, but he gets an individual reply. In short, he must be aware of\nthe fact that his pupils, for purposes of recitation, are all alike; and\nat the same time he must appreciate the fact that they are peculiarly\ndifferent. In a later chapter we shall consider these differences; let\nus here consider the points of similarity.\n\nThe fact that a boy is a boy makes him heir to all of the\ncharacteristics that man has developed. These characteristics are his\nbirthright. He responds in a particular way to stimuli because the race\nbefore him has so responded. There is no need here of entering into a\ndiscussion as to how great a controlling factor heredity may be in a\nman's life, or how potent environment may be in modifying that life--we\nare concerned rather with the result--that man is as he is. It is\nessential that we know his characteristics, particularly as they\nmanifest themselves in youth, so that we may know what to expect in his\nconduct and so that we may proceed to modify and control that conduct.\nJust as the first task of the physician is to diagnose his case--to get\nat the cause of the difficulty before he proceeds to suggest a\nremedy--so the first consideration of the teacher is a query, \"Whom do I\nteach?\"\n\nMan may normally be expected to respond in a particular way to a\nparticular stimulus because men throughout the history of the race have\nso responded. Certain connections have been established in his nervous\nsystem and he acts accordingly--he does what he does because he is\n_man_. We cannot here go into a detailed discussion of the physiological\nprocesses involved in thinking and other forms of behavior, but perhaps\nwe may well set down a statement or two relative to man's tendencies to\nact, and their explanations:\n\n   \"The nervous system is composed of neurones of three types: Those\n   that receive, the afferent; those that effect action, the efferent;\n   and those that connect, the associative. The meeting places of these\n   neurones are the synapses. All neurones have the three\n   characteristics of sensitivity, conductivity, and modifiability. In\n   order for conduct or feeling or intellect to be present, at least two\n   neurones must be active, and in all but a few of the human activities\n   many more are involved. The possibility of conduct or intelligence\n   depends upon the connections at the synapses,--upon the possibility\n   of the current affecting neurones in a certain definite way. The\n   possession of an 'original nature,' then, means the possession, as a\n   matter of inheritance, of certain connections between neurones, the\n   possession of certain synapses which are in functional contact and\n   across which a current may pass merely as a matter of structure. Just\n   why certain synapses should be thus connected is the whole question\n   of heredity. Two factors seem to affect the functional contact of a\n   synapses,--first, proximity of the neurone ends, and second, some\n   sort of permeability which makes a current travel on one rather than\n   another of two neurones equally near together in space. This\n   proximity and permeability are both provided for by the structure and\n   constitution of the nervous system. It should be noted that the\n   connection of neurones is not a one-to-one affair, but the\n   multiplicity of fibrils provided by original nature makes it possible\n   for one afferent to discharge into many neurones, and for one\n   efferent neurone to receive the current from many neurones. Thus the\n   individual when born is equipped with potentialities of character,\n   intellect and conduct, because of the pre-formed connections or\n   tendencies to connections present in his nervous system.\n\n   \"_Types of Original Responses._--These unlearned tendencies which\n   make up the original nature of the human race are usually classified\n   into automatic or physiological actions, reflexes, instincts, and\n   capacities. Automatic actions are such as those controlling the\n   heart-beats, digestive and intestinal movements; the contraction of\n   the pupil of the eye from light, sneezing, swallowing, etc., are\n   reflexes; imitation, fighting, and fear, are instincts, which\n   capacities refer to those more subtle traits by means of which an\n   individual becomes a good linguist, or is tactful, or gains skill in\n   handling tools. However, there is no sharp line of division between\n   these various unlearned tendencies; what one psychologist calls a\n   reflex or a series of reflexes, another will call an instinct. It\n   seems better to consider them as of the same general character but\n   differing from each other in simplicity, definiteness, uniformity of\n   response, variableness among individuals, and modifiability. They\n   range from movements such as the action of the blood vessels to those\n   concerned in hunting and collecting; from the simple, definite,\n   uniform knee-jerk, which is very similar in all people and open to\n   very little modification, to the capacity for scholarship, which is\n   extremely complex, vague as to definition, variable both as to\n   manifestation in one individual and amounts amongst people in\n   general, and is open to almost endless modification. This fund of\n   unlearned tendencies is the capital with which each child starts, the\n   capital which makes education and progress possible, as well as the\n   capital which limits the extent to which progress and development in\n   any line may proceed.\" _The Psychology of Childhood_, pp. 21, 22, 23.\n\nWeigle, in his _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_, begins his second\nchapter in a rather unique and helpful manner relative to this same\nquestion:\n\n   \"The little human animal, like every other, is born going. He is\n   already wound up. His lungs expand and contract; his heart is pumping\n   away; his stomach is ready to handle food. These organic, vital\n   activities he does not initiate. They begin themselves. The organism\n   possesses them by nature. They are the very conditions of life.\n\n   \"There are many other activities, not so obviously vital as these,\n   for which nature winds him up quite as thoroughly--yes, and sets him\n   to go off at the proper time for each. He will suck when brought to\n   the breast as unfailingly as his lungs will begin to work upon\n   contact with the air. He will cry from hunger or discomfort, clasp\n   anything that touches his fingers or toes, carry to his mouth\n   whatever he can grasp, in time smile when smiled at, later grow\n   afraid when left alone or in the dark, manifest anger and affection,\n   walk, run, play, question, imitate, collect things, pull things\n   apart, put them together again, take pleasure in being with friends,\n   act shy before strangers, find a chum, belong to a 'gang' or 'bunch,'\n   quarrel, fight, become reconciled, and some day fall in love with one\n   of the opposite sex. These, and many more, are just his natural human\n   ways. He does not of purpose initiate them any more than he initiates\n   breathing or heart-beat. He does these things because he is so born\n   and built. They are his instincts.\"\n\nAs Norsworthy and Whitley point out, we are not especially concerned\nwith the boundary lines between automatic actions, reflexes, and\ninstincts--we are rather concerned with the fact that human beings\npossess native tendencies to act in particular ways. Some psychologists\nstress them as instincts; others as capacities, but they have all pretty\ngenerally agreed that under certain stimuli there are natural tendencies\nto react.\n\nThese tendencies begin to manifest themselves at birth--they are all\npotentialities with the birth of the child--and continue to develop in\nturn, certain ones being more pronounced in the various stages of the\nchild's life. Colvin in his _The Learning Process_, runs through the\ncomplete list of possibilities. According to him man, in a lifetime, is\ncharacterized by the following tendencies: Fear, anger, sympathy,\naffection, play, imitation, curiosity, acquisitiveness,\nconstructiveness, self-assertion (leadership), self-abasement, rivalry,\nenvy, jealousy, pugnacity, clannishness, the hunting and predatory\ninstincts, the migratory instinct, love of adventure and the unknown,\nsuperstition, the sex instincts, which express themselves in sex-love,\nvanity, coquetry, modesty; and, closely allied with these, the love of\nnature and of solitude, and the aesthetic, the religious, and the moral\nemotions.\n\nSisson, in a little book that every teacher ought to know, _The\nEssentials of Character_, emphasizes the importance for teaching of ten\ntendencies: bodily activity, sense-hunger and curiosity, suggestibility,\ntastes and aesthetic appreciation, self-assertion, love, joy, fear, the\ngrowing-up impulse, the love of approbation.\n\nAs already indicated, the teacher should give attention to these\ntendencies that he may the better know how to proceed. If he knows that\nthe one great outstanding impulse of a boy of seven is to do something,\nhe perhaps will be less likely to plan an hour's recitation on the\ntheory that for that hour the boy is to do nothing. If he knows that one\nof the greatest tendencies of boys from ten to fourteen is to organize\n\"gangs\" for social and \"political\" purposes, he will very likely\ncapitalize on this idea in building up a good strong class spirit.\n\nKnowing that children naturally respond to certain stimuli in very\ndefinite ways, the teacher can better set about to furnish the right\nstimuli--he can be in a better position to _direct and control\nbehavior_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VII\n\n1. What significance attaches to the statement, \"Children are born\n'going'\"?\n\n2. Why is it of vital importance that teachers give attention to the\nnative tendencies in children?\n\n3. What constitutes instinctive action? Illustrate.\n\n4. Name the instincts that are essentially individualistic. Those that\nare essentially social.\n\n5. What native tendencies are of most concern to teachers?\n\n6. Discuss the relative significance of heredity, environment, and\ntraining in the development of children.\n\n7. To what extent is a child limited in its development by its nervous\nsystem?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nNorsworthy and Whitley, _The Psychology of Childhood_; Weigle, _Talks to\nSunday School Teachers_; Colvin, _The Learning Process_; Sisson, _The\nEssentials of Character_; Stiles, _The Nervous System and its\nConservation_; Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Harrison, _A Study\nof Child Nature_; Kirkpatrick, _Fundamentals of Child Study_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n\"WHAT TO DO WITH NATIVE TENDENCIES\"\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER VIII\n\n     Characteristic tendencies of the various stages of child life.--The\n     teacher's attitude toward them.--Follow the grain.\n\n     Four methods of procedure: 1. The method of disuse; 2. The method\n     of rewards and punishment; 3. The method of substitution; 4. The\n     method of stimulation and sublimation.\n\n\nHaving listed the native tendencies generally, we might well now\nconsider them as they manifest themselves at the various stages of an\nindividual's development. As already indicated, they constitute his\nbirthright as a human being, though most of them are present in the\nearly years of his life only in potentiality. Psychologists of recent\nyears have made extensive observations as to what instincts are most\nprominent at given periods. Teachers are referred particularly to the\nvolumes of Kirkpatrick, Harrison, and Norsworthy and Whitley. In this\nlatter book, pages 286, 287, and 298-302, will be found an interesting\ntabulation of characteristics at the age of five and at eleven. For the\nyears of adolescence Professor Beeley, in his course at the Brigham\nYoung Summer School, in the Psychology of Adolescence, worked out very\nfully the characteristics unique in this period, though many of them, of\ncourse, are present at other stages:\n\n\nCHARACTERISTICS UNIQUE IN THE ADOLESCENT PERIOD\n\n  1. Maturing of the sex instincts.\n  2. Rapid limb growth.\n  3. Over-awkwardness.\n  4. Visceral organs develop rapidly (heart, liver, lungs, genital\n     organs.)\n  5. Change in physical proportions; features take on definite\n     characteristics.\n  6. Brain structure has matured.\n  7. Self-awareness.\n  8. Personal pride and desire for social approval.\n  9. Egotism.\n  10. Unstable, \"hair-trigger,\" conflicting emotions.\n  11. Altruism, sincere interest in the well-being of others.\n  12. Religious and moral awakening.\n  13. New attitude.\n  14. Aesthetic awakening.\n  15. Puzzle to everybody.\n  16. Desire to abandon conventionalities, struggle for self-assertion.\n  17. Career motive.\n  18. Period of \"palling\" and mating; clique and \"gang\" spirit.\n  19. Positiveness,--affirmation, denial.\n  20. Inordinate desire for excessive amusement.\n  21. Evidence of hereditary influences.\n  22. \"Hero worship,\" castle building.\n  23. \"Wanderlust.\"\n  24. Hyper-suggestibility.\n  25. Ideals; ambitions.\n  27. Yearning for adult responsibility.\n\nHaving listed these tendencies we still face the question, \"What shall\nwe do with them? What is their significance in teaching?\"\n\nIt is perfectly clear, in the first place, that we ought not to ignore\nthem. None of them is wholly useless, and few of them can safely be\ndeveloped just as they first manifest themselves. They call for training\nand direction.\n\n   \"Some instincts are to be cherished almost as they are; some rooted\n   out by withholding stimuli, or by making their exercise result in\n   pain or discomfort, or by substituting desirable habits in their\n   place; most of the instincts should be modified and\n   redirected.\"--(_Thorndike._)\n\nOur concern as teachers ought to be that in our work with boys and\ngirls, men and women, we are aware of these natural tendencies that we\nmay work with them rather than contrary to them--that we may \"follow the\ngrain\" of human nature.\n\nSince these tendencies are the result of responses to stimuli they may\nbe modified by attention either to the stimuli or to the reaction that\nattends the stimulation. Four methods call for our consideration:\n\n  1. The method of disuse.\n  2. The method of rewards and punishments.\n  3. The method of substitution.\n  4. The method of stimulation and sublimation.\n\nNo one of these methods can be said always to be best. The nature of the\nperson in question, his previous experience and training, together with\nthe circumstances attending a given situation, all are factors which\ndetermine how we should proceed. The vital point is, that both as\nparents and teachers we should guard against falling into the rut of\napplying the same treatment to all cases regardless of their nature.\n\n\n1. THE METHOD OF DISUSE\n\nThis method is largely negative. It aims to safeguard an individual\nagainst ills by withholding stimuli. The mother aims to keep scissors\nout of reach and sight of the baby that it may not be lured into danger.\nSome parents, upon discerning that the pugnacious instinct is\nmanifesting itself vigorously in their boy, isolate him from other\nboys--keep him by himself through a period of a year or more that the\ntendency may not be accentuated. Other parents, observing their\ndaughter's inclination to be frivolous, or seeing the instinct of sex\nbegin to manifest itself in her interest in young men, send her away to\na girl's school--a sort of intellectual nunnery.\n\nFrequently teachers follow this method in the conduct of their classes.\nThe tendency to self-assertion and verbal combat, natural to youth, is\nsmothered by an unwillingness on the part of the teacher to indulge\nquestions and debate or by a marked inclination to do all the talking.\n\nIt is clear that this method of disuse has its place in the training of\nchildren, though grave dangers attend its too frequent indulgence.\nChildren and others of immature judgment need the protection of\nwithheld stimuli. But clearly this is not a method to be recommended for\ngeneral application. The boy who is never allowed to quarrel or fight\nmay very possibly grow up to be a man afraid to meet the battles of\nlife; the girl, if her natural emotions are checked, may lose those very\nqualities that make for the highest type of womanhood and motherhood.\nFortunately, in these days, it is pretty nearly impossible to bring boys\nand girls up in \"glass houses.\" Doubly fortunate, for they are made\nhappy in their bringing up and are fitted for a world not particularly\ndevoted to the fondling of humankind.\n\n\n2. THE METHOD OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS\n\nThis method is clearly illustrated in the training of \"trick\" animals.\nThese creatures through innumerable repetitions are made to do\nphenomenal \"stunts.\" In the training for every successful \"try\" they are\nrewarded with a cube of sugar, a piece of candy, or some other\npleasure-producing article; for every miss they are punished--made to\nsuffer pain or discomfort. This same sort of procedure carries over into\nhuman affairs. Witness the hickory stick and the ruler, or count the\nnickels and caresses. Ridicule before the class, and praise for\ncommendable behavior or performance, are typical of this same method. If\nit is followed, and it clearly has a place in the training of children,\ncare should be exercised to see that in the child's mind in any case\nthere is clear connection between what he has done and the treatment\nthat he receives. With some parents it fairly seems as if their one\nremedy for all offenses is a tingling in the epidermis--it is equally\nclear that with some teachers their one weapon is sarcasm. All too\nfrequently these measures grow out of unsettled nerves or stirred up\npassions, on the part of the parent or teacher, and have really but\nlittle connection--remote at best--with the offense in question. There\nmay be an abuse in the matter of rewards, too, of course, but as a rule\nfew classes suffer from too much appreciation. The real art of\ndiscipline lies in making the reward or the punishment naturally grow\nout of the conduct indulged in.\n\n\n3. THE METHOD OF SUBSTITUTION\n\nBecause of the fact that some stimuli inevitably lead to discomfort and\ndisaster--that some conduct is bad--there is need of a method of\nsubstitution. The child's mind needs to be led from the contemplation of\nan undesirable course of action to something quite different. Frequently\na child cannot be satisfied with a mere denial, and circumstances may\nnot be favorable to punishment--yet the correction must be made.\nSubstitution is the avenue of escape. A striking illustration in point\noccurred recently in a cafe in Montana. A trio of foreigners, father,\nmother, and two-year-old son, came in and sat down at one of the tables.\nSoon after the parents began to eat, the child caught sight of a little\nsilver pitcher for which he began to beg. Whining and crying, mixed in\nwith the begging, created a good bit of disturbance. The only attempted\nsolution on the part of the parents was a series of: \"Don't do that!\"\n\"No! no!\" \"Keep quiet, Marti!\" a continued focusing of the child's\nattention on what he ought not to do, and an added note to the\ndisturbance. Then an American across the aisle having surveyed the\nsituation took out of his pocket a folder full of brightly colored\nviews. The charm worked beautifully--the meal went on free from\ndisturbance--and the child was happy.\n\nThis method involves a good bit of resourcefulness, calling at times\nfor what seems an impossible amount of ingenuity. As someone has said,\n\"It is beating the other fellow to it.\" It merits the consideration of\nthose who have to handle boys and girls who are regularly up to\n\"stunts.\"\n\n\n4. THE METHOD OF STIMULATION AND SUBLIMATION\n\nThis method is rather closely akin to that of substitution, with the\nexception that it capitalizes on tendencies already in operation and\nraises them to a higher level. Stimulation, of course, merely means the\nbringing of children into contact with desirable stimuli on every\npossible occasion; in fact, it involves the making of favorable\noccasions.\n\nSublimation involves building upon native tendencies to an elevated\nrealization. Educationally this method is most full of promise. It is\nseen in kindergarten methods when a child is led from mere meaningless\nplaying with toys to constructive manipulation of blocks, tools, etc. It\nis seen admirably in football where the pugnacious tendency of boys is\ncapitalized on to build manliness in struggle and to develop a spirit of\nfair play. It is seen in the fostering of a girl's fondness for dolls,\nso that it may crystallize into the devotion of motherhood. It is seen\nwhen a boys' man leads a \"gang\" of boys into an association for social\nbetterment. It is seen when a teacher works upon the instinct to collect\nand hoard, elevating it into a desire for the acquisition of knowledge\nand the finer things of life.\n\nWhatever our method, let us give due consideration to the natural\ninclinations and aptitudes of boys and girls--let us help them to\nachieve fully their own potentialities.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VIII\n\n1. Point out the essential differences between boys and girls at the age\nof six and seven and those of sixteen and seventeen.\n\n2. Discuss the significance of the following phrase: \"The grain in human\nnature.\"\n\n3. How can the hunting instinct be appealed to in religious stimulation?\n\n4. Of what significance is the \"gang spirit\" to teachers of adolescents?\n\n5. How can rivalry be made an asset in teaching?\n\n6. How can the fighting instinct in children best be directed?\n\n7. Why is biography so valuable in material for teaching?\n\n8. Why is it so essential that we put responsibility upon boys and\ngirls? How should this fact affect teaching?\n\n9. What are the dangers that attend an attempt to keep children quiet\nfor any length of time?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter VII.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER IX\n\n     Fundamental significance of individual differences.--Typical\n     illustration.--The truth illustrated physically; in range of voice,\n     in speed, in mental capabilities.--The same truth applied\n     spiritually.--Some cases in point.\n\n\nEverybody is like everybody else in this--that everybody is different\nfrom everybody else. Having discussed how all men enjoy a common\nheritage by way of native endowments, let us now turn to a consideration\nof how men differ.\n\nTwo of the terms most frequently met in recent educational publications\nare statistical methods and individual differences. There is nothing\nparticularly new in this latter term--it merely represents a new\nemphasis being given to the old idea that no two of us are alike. Every\nparent is aware of the very marked differences in his children. Even\ntwins differ in disposition and mental capabilities. In fact, one of the\ndifficulties that attaches to parenthood is just this problem of making\nprovision in one household for such various personalities.\n\nA member of the stake presidency in one of the stakes in southern Utah,\nin discussing this matter a short time ago, remarked that in his family\nof four boys one very definitely had decided to become a farmer and was\nalready busy at getting acquainted with the details of the work; a\nsecond boy was devoted to music and voiced a very vigorous protest\nagainst farming; the third son was so bashful and reticent that he\nhadn't given expression to any notion of preference; the fourth, a\nhappy-go-lucky sort of chap, free and noisy in his cutting up about the\nplace, wasn't worrying about what he was to do in life--he just didn't\nwant anything to do with strenuous effort.\n\n\"How can I drive a four-horse team such as that?\" was the interesting\nquery of this father.\n\nPractically every family presents this variety of attitude and\npractically every parent is trying to work out a solution to the\nproblem, so there is nothing startling about the term individual\ndifferences. Educators have just given the matter more careful and\nscholarly attention of recent years.\n\nIf the matter of differences in children constitutes a problem of\nconcern in a family of from two to ten children, how much greater must\nthat problem be in a class from thirty to fifty with approximately as\nmany families represented. The problem has led to some very interesting\ninvestigations--investigations so simple that they can be carried on by\nanyone interested. For instance, if we could line up all the men in Salt\nLake City according to size we should find at one end of the line a few\nexceptionally tall men, likely from six feet to six feet six inches in\nheight. At the other end of the line would be a few exceptionally small\nmen--undersized men from three feet eight or ten inches to four feet six\ninches. In between these two types would come in graduated order all\nsorts of men with a decidedly large number standing about five feet six\nor eight inches. This latter height we call the average.\n\nPractically we see the significance of these differences. No\nmanufacturer thinks of making one size of overall in the hope that it\nwill fit each of these men. He adapts his garment to their size, and he\nknows approximately how many of each size will be called for in the\ncourse of ordinary business.\n\nIf these same men could be taken one by one into a music studio and have\ntheir voices tested for range, the same interesting variations would be\nfound. There would be a few very high tenors, a few exceptionally low\nbassos, and a crowd with medium range with fillers-in all along the\nline.\n\nIf we were interested in carrying the experiment still further we might\napply the speed test. In a 100-yard dash a few men would be found to be\nparticularly fast, a few others would trail away behind at a snail's\npace, while the big crowd of men would make the distance in \"average\ntime.\"\n\nOf course, it would be foolish to attempt to make tenors of all these\nmen--equally foolish to try to make speeders of them all. In these\npractical matters we appreciate the wisdom of letting each man fit into\nthat niche for which he is qualified.\n\nNor are these differences confined to the field of physical\ncharacteristics and achievements. Tests by the hundred have demonstrated\nbeyond all question that they hold equally well of mental capabilities.\nIn the past children have gone to school at the age of six. They have\nremained there because they were six. At seven they were in grade two,\nand so on up through the grades of our public schools. Tests and\nmeasurements now, however, are showing that such a procedure works both\na hardship and an injustice on the pupils. Some boys at six are found as\ncapable of doing work in grade two as other boys at eight. Some boys and\ngirls at six are found wholly incapable of doing what is required in\ngrade one. One of the most promising prospects ahead educationally is\nthat we shall be able to find out just the capacity of a child\nregardless of his age, and fit him into what he can do well, making\nprovisions for his passing on as he shows capability for higher work.\nNot only has this matter of individual differences been found to apply\ngenerally in the various grades of our schools--it has been found to\nhave significant bearing upon achievements in particular subjects. For\nall too long a time we have held a boy in grade four until he mastered\nwhat we have called his grade four arithmetic, spelling, geography,\ngrammar, history, etc. As a matter of fact, many a boy who is a\nfourth-grader in grammar may be only a second-grader in arithmetic--a\ngirl, for whom fourth grade arithmetic is an impossibility, because of\nher special liking for reading, may be seventh grade in her capacity in\nthat subject. In the specific subjects, individual differences have been\nfound to be most marked. Surely it is unfair to ask a boy \"born short\"\nin history to keep up to the pace of a comrade \"born long\" in that\nsubject; so, too, it is unfair to ask a girl \"born long\" in geography to\nhold back to the pace of one \"born short\" in that subject. The results\nof these observations are leading to developments that are full of\npromise for the educational interests of the future.\n\nIn order that we may more fully appreciate the reality of these\nobservations let us set down the concrete results of a few experiments.\n\nThe first three tests are quoted from Thorndike:\n\nIn a test in addition, all pupils being allowed the same time,\n\n   1 pupil  did  3 examples correctly\n   2 pupils did  4 examples correctly\n   1 pupil  did  5 examples correctly\n   5 pupils did  6 examples correctly\n   2 pupils did  7 examples correctly\n   4 pupils did  8 examples correctly\n   6 pupils did  9 examples correctly\n  14 pupils did 10 examples correctly\n   8 pupils did 11 examples correctly\n   7 pupils did 12 examples correctly\n   8 pupils did 13 examples correctly\n   5 pupils did 14 examples correctly\n   5 pupils did 15 examples correctly\n   6 pupils did 16 examples correctly\n   1 pupil  did 17 examples correctly\n   5 pupils did 18 examples correctly\n   1 pupil  did 19 examples correctly\n   2 pupils did 20 examples correctly\n\nThe rapidity of movement of ten-year-old girls, as measured by the\nnumber of crosses made in a fixed time:\n\n   6 or  7  by       1 girl\n   8 or  9  by       0 girl\n  10 or 11  by       4 girls\n  12 or 13  by       3 girls\n  14 or 15  by      21 girls\n  16 or 17  by      29 girls\n  18 or 19  by      33 girls\n  20 or 21  by      13 girls\n  22 or 23  by      15 girls\n  24 or 25  by      11 girls\n  26 or 27  by       5 girls\n  28 or 29  by       2 girls\n  30 or 31  by       5 girls\n  32 or 33  by       3 girls\n  34 or 35  by       5 girls\n  36 or 37  by       0 girl\n  38 or 49  by       4 girls\n  40 or 41  by       1 girl\n\nTwo papers, A and B, written by members of the same grade and class in a\ntest in spelling:\n\n     A.            B.\n  greatful      gratful\n  elegant       eleagent\n  present       present\n  patience      paisionce\n  succeed       suckseed\n  severe        survere\n  accident      axadent\n  sometimes     sometimes\n  sensible      sensible\n  business      biusness\n  answer        anser\n  sweeping      sweping\n  properly      prooling\n  improvement   improvment\n  fatiguing     fegting\n  anxious       anxchus\n  appreciate    apresheating\n  assure        ashure\n  imagine       amagen\n  praise        prasy\n\nIn a test in spelling wherein fifty common words were dictated to a\nclass of twenty-eight pupils, the following results were obtained:\n\n   2 spelled correctly all 50\n   3 spelled correctly between 45 and 48\n   5 spelled correctly between 40 and 45\n  11 spelled correctly between 30 and 40\n   6 spelled correctly between 20 and 30\n   1 spelled correctly between 15 and 20\n\nAnd now the question--what has all this to do with the teaching of\nreligion? Just this: the differences among men as found in fields\nalready referred to, are found also in matters of religion. For one man\nit is easy to believe in visions and all other heavenly manifestations;\nfor another it is next to impossible. To one man the resurrection is the\none great reality; to another it is merely a matter of conjecture. One\nman feels certain that his prayers are heard and answered; another feels\nequally certain that they cannot be. One man is emotionally spiritual;\nanother is coldly hard-headed and matter-of-fact. The point is not a\nquestion which man is right--it is rather that we ought not to attempt\nto reach each man in exactly the same way, nor should we expect each one\nto measure up to the standards of the others.\n\nAn interesting illustration of this difference in religious attitude was\nshown recently in connection with the funeral of a promising young man\nwho had been taken in death just as he had fairly launched upon his\nlife's work. In a discussion that followed the service, one good brother\nfound consolation in the thought that the Lord needed just such a young\nman to help carry on a more important work among the spirits already\ncalled home. His companion in the discussion found an explanation to his\nsatisfaction in the thought that it was providential that the young man\ncould be taken when he was, that he thereby might be spared the probable\ncatastrophies that might have visited him had he lived. Each man found\ncomplete solace in his own philosophy, though neither could accept the\nreasoning of the other.\n\nAn interesting case of difference of view came to the attention of the\nteacher-training class at Provo when someone asked how the lesson on\nJonah could be presented so that it would appeal to adolescent boys and\ngirls. The query was joined in by several others for whom Jonah had been\na stumbling block, when Brother Sainsbury, of Vernal, startled the class\nby saying Jonah was his favorite story. \"I would rather teach that story\nthan any other one in the Bible,\" he declared, and illustrated his\nmethod so clearly that the account of Jonah took on an entirely new\naspect.\n\nMany men and women in the world are shocked at the thought that God is a\npersonality. To them the idea that God is simply a \"man made perfect,\" a\nbeing similar to us, but exalted to deity, is akin to blasphemy. And\nthen to add the idea of a heavenly mother is beyond comprehension. To\nLatter-day Saints, on the other hand, these thoughts are the very glory\nof God. To them a man made perfect is the noblest conception possible.\nIt makes of Him a reality. And the thought of Mother--Heaven without a\nMother would be like home without one.\n\nAnd so with all the principles and conceptions of religion, men's\nreactions to them are as varied as they are to all the other facts of\nlife. Everywhere the opinions, the capacities, the attainments of men\nvary. The law of individual differences is one of the most universal in\nour experience.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER IX\n\n1. Just what is the meaning of the term Individual Differences?\n\n2. Illustrate such differences in families with which you are familiar.\n\n3. Apply the test to your ward choir.\n\n4. Name and characterize twenty men whom you know. How do they differ?\n\n5. Have a report brought in from your public school on the results of\ngiven tests in arithmetic, spelling, etc.\n\n6. Have the members of your class write their opinions relative to some\npoint of doctrine concerning which there may be some uncertainty.\n\n7. Observe the attitude and response of each of the members of a typical\nSunday School, Kindergarten, of an advanced M.I.A. class.\n\n8. Illustrate individual differences as expressed in the religious\nattitudes of men you know.\n\n9. To what extent are boys different from girls in mental capability and\nattitude?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter VII.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND TEACHING\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER X\n\n     The causes of individual differences.--Norsworthy and Whitley on\n     the significance of parentage.--The teacher's obligation to know\n     parents.--The influence of sex.--Environment as a\n     factor.--Thorndike quoted.--B.H. Jacobsen on individual\n     differences.\n\n\nSo far we simply have made the point that individuals differ. We are\nconcerned in this chapter in knowing how these differences affect the\nteaching process. Fully to appreciate their significance we must know\nnot only that they exist, and the degree of their variation, but also\nthe forces that produce them. On the side of heredity, race, family, and\nsex, are the great modifying factors. Practically, of course, we are\nconcerned very little as Church teachers with problems of race. We are\nall so nearly one in that regard that a discussion of racial differences\nwould contribute but little to the solution of our teaching problem.\n\nThe matter of family heritage is a problem of very much more immediate\nconcern. Someone has happily said: \"Really to know a boy one must know\nfully his father and his mother.\" \"Yes,\" says a commentator, \"and he\nought to know a deal about the grandfather and grandmother.\" The\nsignificance of parentage is made to stand out with clearness in the\nfollowing paragraph from Norsworthy and Whitley, _The Psychology of\nChildhood_:\n\n   \"Just as good eyesight and longevity are family characteristics, so\n   also color blindness, left-handedness, some slight peculiarity of\n   structure such as an extra finger or toe, or the Hapsburg lip, sense\n   defects such as deafness or blindness, tendencies to certain\n   diseases, especially those of the nervous system,--all these run in\n   families. Certain mental traits likewise are obviously handed down\n   from parents to child, such as strong will, memory for faces, musical\n   imagination, abilities in mathematics or the languages, artistic\n   talent. In these ways and many others children resemble their\n   parents. The same general law holds of likes and dislikes, of\n   temperamental qualities such as quick temper, vivacity, lovableness,\n   moodiness. In all traits, characteristics, features, powers both\n   physical and mental and to some extent moral also, children's\n   original nature, their stock in trade, is determined by their\n   immediate ancestry. 'We inherit our parents' tempers, our parents'\n   conscientiousness, shyness and ability, as we inherit their stature,\n   forearm and span,' says Pearson.\"\n\nThe teacher who would really appreciate the feelings and responses of a\nboy in his class must be aware, therefore, that the boy is not merely\none of a dozen type individuals--he is a product of a particular\nparentage, acting as he does largely because \"he was born that way.\"\n\nWe shall point out in connection with environmental influences the\nimportance of a teacher's knowing the home condition of his pupils; but\nit is important here, in passing, to emphasize the point that even\nthough a child were never to live with its parents it could be\nunderstood by the teacher acquainted with the peculiar traits of those\nparents. \"Born with a bent\" is a proverb of such force that it cannot be\nignored. To know the parental heritage of a boy is to anticipate his\nreaction to stimuli--is to know what approach to make to win him.\n\nBecause of the fact that in many of our organizations we are concerned\nwith the problem of teaching boys and girls together, the question of\nthe influence of sex is one which we must face. There are those who hold\nthat boys and girls are so fundamentally different by nature that they\nought not to be taught coeducationally. Others maintain that they are\nessentially alike in feeling and intellectuality, and that because of\nthe fact that eventually they are to be mated in the great partnership\nof life they should be held together as much as possible during the\nyounger years of their lives. Most authorities are agreed that boys and\ngirls differ not so much because they are possessed of different native\ntendencies, but because they live differently--they follow different\nlines of activity, and therefore develop different interests. To quote\nagain from Norsworthy and Whitley:\n\n   \"That men and women are different, that their natures are not the\n   same, has long been an accepted fact. Out of this fact of difference\n   have grown many hot discussions as to the superiority of one or the\n   other nature as a whole. The present point of view of scientists\n   seems well expressed by Ellis when he says, 'We may regard all such\n   discussions as absolutely futile and foolish. If it is a question of\n   determining the existence and significance of some particular\n   physical sexual difference, a conclusion may not be impossible. To\n   make any broad statement of the phenomena is to recognize that no\n   general conclusion is possible. Now and again we come across facts\n   which group themselves with a certain uniformity, but as we continue,\n   we find other equally important facts which group themselves with\n   equal uniformity in another sense. The result produces compensation.'\n   The question of interest then is, what in nature is peculiar to the\n   male sex and what to the female? What traits will be true of a boy,\n   merely because he is a boy, and vice versa? This has been an\n   extremely difficult question to answer, because of the difficulty\n   encountered in trying to eliminate the influence of environment and\n   training. Boys are what they are because of their original nature\n   plus their surroundings. Some would claim that if we could give boys\n   and girls the same surroundings, the same social requirements, the\n   same treatment from babyhood, there would be no difference in the\n   resulting natures. Training undoubtedly accentuates inborn sex\n   differences, and it is true that a reversal of training does lessen\n   this difference; however, the weight of opinion at present is that\n   differences in intellect and character do exist because of\n   differences of sex, but that these have been unduly magnified. H.B.\n   Thompson, in her investigation entitled _The Mental Traits of Sex_,\n   finds that 'Motor ability in most of its forms is better developed in\n   men than in women. In strength, rapidity of movement, and rate of\n   fatigue, they have a very decided advantage, and in precision of\n   movement a slight advantage.... The thresholds are on the whole lower\n   in women, discriminative sensibility is on the whole better in\n   men.... All these differences, however, are slight. As for the\n   intellectual faculties, women are decidedly superior to men in\n   memory, and possibly more rapid in associative thinking. Men are\n   probably superior in ingenuity.... The data on the life of feeling\n   indicate that there is little, if any, sexual difference in the\n   degree of domination by emotion, and that social consciousness is\n   more prominent in men, and religious consciousness in women.'\n\n   \"Pearson, in his measurement of traits, not by objective tests but by\n   opinions of people who know the individual, finds that boys are more\n   athletic, noisy, self-assertive, self-conscious; less popular, duller\n   in conscience, quicker-tempered, less sullen, a little duller\n   intellectually and less efficient in penmanship. Heymans and Wiersma,\n   following the same general method as Pearson, state as their general\n   conclusions that the female is more active, more emotional, and more\n   unselfish than the male. 'They consider women to be more impulsive,\n   less efficient intellectually, and more fickle than men as a result\n   of the first two differences mentioned above; to be gifted in music,\n   acting, conversation and the invention of stories, as a result in\n   part of the second difference; and to think well of people and to be\n   easily reconciled to them as a result of the third.' Thorndike finds\n   the chief differences to be that the female varies less from the\n   average standard, is more observant of small visual details, less\n   often color-blind, less interested in things and their mechanisms,\n   more interested in people and their feelings, less given to pursuing,\n   capturing and maltreating living things, and more given to nursing,\n   comforting and relieving them than is the male. H. Ellis considers\n   the chief differences to be the less tendency to variability, the\n   greater affectability, and the greater primitiveness of the female\n   mind, and the less ability shown by women in dealing with the more\n   remote and abstract interests in life. All the authors emphasize the\n   smallness of the differences; and after all the striking thing is not\n   the differences between the sexes, but the great difference within\n   the same sex in respect to every mental trait tested. The difference\n   of man from man, and woman from woman, in any trait is almost as\n   great as the differences between the sexes in that trait. Sex can be\n   the cause, then, of only a fraction of the difference between the\n   original nature of individuals.\"\n\nIt is reasonably certain, then, that a teacher may safely appeal to both\nboys and girls on the ground of the fundamental instincts, feeling\nconfident that common stimuli will produce largely the same results.\n\nImportant as it is that we know what our pupils are from their\nparentage, it is even more important in the matter of religious\ninstruction that we shall appreciate the force of the varieties of\nenvironment that have been operative. Though boys and girls may be\nessentially alike at the outset of their lives they may be thrown into\nsuch associations as to make their ideals and conduct entirely\ndifferent. Fancy the contrast between the case of a girl brought up for\nfifteen years in a household of refinement and in a companionship of\ngentility, and the case of a boy who during the same years has been the\npal of bullies on street corners. Surely stimuli that are to promote\nproper reaction in these two cases will have to be suited to the person\nin question.\n\nThen, too, the teacher must realize that one child may come from a home\nof faith, confidence, and contentment; whereas, another may come from a\nhome of agitation, doubt, and suspicion. One may have been taught to\npray--another may have been led to disbelieve. One may have been\nstimulated to read over sacred books--another may have been left to\nperuse cheap, sensational detective stories. To succeed in reaching the\nhearts of a group of such boys and girls, a teacher surely ought to be\naware of individual differences and ought to be fortified with a wealth\nof material so that the appeal may be as varied as possible. To quote\nfrom Thorndike's _Principles of Education_:\n\n   \"A teacher has to choose what is for the greatest good of the\n   greatest number. He cannot expect to drive forty children abreast\n   along the highroad of education.\" \"Yet the differences in children\n   should not blind us to their likenesses.\" \"We need general principles\n   and their sagacious application to individual problems.\"\n\n   \"The worst error of teachers with respect to individual differences\n   is to neglect them, to form one set of fixed habits for dealing with\n   all children, to teach 'the child instead of countless different\n   living individuals.' To realize the varieties of human nature, the\n   nature and amount of mental differences, is to be protected against\n   many fallacies of teaching.\"\n\nOur treatment of individual differences was well summed up in the\nfollowing paper by B.H. Jacobsen, a member of the B.Y.U.\nTeacher-Training class:\n\n   _The Significance of Individual Differences in Teaching_\n\n   \"Individual instruction in our religious organizations as in the\n   public schools is under present condition impracticable. We are\n   compelled to teach in groups or classes of somewhat varying size.\n   Consequently, it is of prime importance for the teacher, in trying to\n   apply that fundamental principle of pedagogy--an understanding of the\n   being to be taught--to know first what characteristics and\n   tendencies, whether native or acquired, are known to a large majority\n   of the children in the class. Leaving out of consideration the\n   possible presence of subnormal children, the language used must be\n   clear and simple enough to be comprehended by all; the great majority\n   of the questions must be intended for all to find answers to; the\n   stories, illustrations, incidents, pictures, and various devices\n   employed must be reasonably within the range of experience and\n   comprehension of all members.\n\n   \"At the same time, it is important to recognize the fact that, after\n   all, the class as a whole does not in any very fundamental,\n   pedagogical sense constitute the objective unit of instruction.\n   Though it seems natural for most teachers to look upon the class as a\n   more or less uniform mass, and the exigencies of the situation make\n   this to some extent unavoidable, still the individual child remains\n   always the real unit, and furthermore the units are all different--in\n   appearance, training and temperament.\n\n   \"In general the methods and material will be uniform for all, but\n   there will still be abundant opportunity for exercising little\n   individual touches and tricks in relation to individual pupils,\n   especially those who vary somewhat widely from the average. Even such\n   a superficial matter as size, especially superior size, might\n   profitably receive a little special consideration by the teacher and\n   thus at times save some pupil a little physical embarrassment. The\n   boy unusually active might be given some physical task to perform,\n   even if it has to be provided for the occasion, though it must not be\n   too artificially created, as this is sure of detection.\n\n   \"Questions requiring more than ordinary mental ability to answer may\n   be directed to those of superior alertness and intelligence, who may\n   also be given more difficult subjects to look up for presentation to\n   the class. Special interests in animals, flowers, books, aeroplanes,\n   industries, vocations, should be discovered and utilized by the\n   watchful teacher. Even though the connection may be a little remote,\n   any contribution of real interest and value is legitimate in order to\n   relieve the monotony of a dull class.\n\n   \"Pupils differ very widely in temperament and disposition as well as\n   in capacity. The timid boy or girl should be given special\n   encouragement and commendation, while the over-bold will take no\n   injury from a mild \"squelch\" occasionally. The child of gloomy\n   disposition should if anything have more smiles and sunny words sent\n   his way than the cheerful one, who is in no danger of losing his\n   share. The talkative child will need cautioning and careful\n   directing, while the one who seldom speaks needs the frequent\n   stimulus of a kind and encouraging look or word. The child who is\n   naturally docile and obedient will develop smoothly and without great\n   need of special attention and direction, while the stubborn, the\n   rebellious, the untractable child, the cause of continual worry and\n   solicitude, is the one on whom special thought must be bestowed; for\n   his soul is no less precious in the sight of God, and the wise\n   teacher may be the means of making him a useful citizen, as well as\n   directing him in the way of working out his eternal salvation.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER X\n\n1. Discuss the relative significance of race, sex, family, and\nenvironment as factors producing individual differences.\n\n2. Why is it essential that teachers know the parents of pupils?\n\n3. What are the advantages of having boys and girls together in class?\nWhat are the arguments for separating them?\n\n4. How can a teacher be governed by the force of individual differences\nwhen he has to teach a group of forty pupils?\n\n5. Discuss the statement that teaching is both a social and an\nindividual process.\n\n6. Choose a subject of general interest and illustrate how it might be\npresented to satisfy different types of pupils.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter VII.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nATTENTION\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XI\n\n     Attention the mother of learning.--Gregory quoted.--The fact of\n     attention in the Army.--What attention\n     is.--Illustrations.--Attention and interest.--The three types of\n     attention: Involuntary, nonvoluntary, voluntary.--How to secure\n     attention.--Interest the great key to attention.\n\n\nIn that stimulating little book, _The Seven Laws of Teaching_, by\nGregory, _et al_, the second law is stated in these words:\n\n   \"A _learner_ is one who _attends_ with interest to the lesson.\"\n\nExpressed as a rule of teaching, the law is made to read:\n\n   \"Gain and keep the attention and interest of the pupils upon the\n   lesson. Do not try to teach without attention.\"\n\nAs a matter of fact, it is impossible to teach without attention. A\nperson may hold class--go through the formality of a class exercise--but\nhe can _really teach_ only him who _attends_. The first big, outstanding\nthought with reference to attention is that we should secure it, not so\nmuch in the interest of order, important as it is in that connection,\nbut because it is the _sine qua non_ of _learning_.\n\nA boy may sit in a class in algebra for weeks, with his mind far afield\non some pet scheme, or building palatial edifices in the air, but not\nuntil he _attends_ does he begin to grasp the problems presented. It is\nliterally as well as scripturally possible \"to have ears and hear not.\"\n_Attention_ is the mother of learning.\n\nThink of the force of that word _attention_ in the American Army. It is\na delight to see the ranks straighten to that command--would that our\nmessages of truth could challenge the same response from that vast army\nof seekers after truth--the boys and girls of the Church. The soldier at\nattention not only stands erect, nor does he merely keep silence--he is\neagerly receptive--anxious to receive a message which he is to translate\ninto action. His attitude, perhaps, is our best answer to the question,\n\"What is attention?\" Betts says, \"The concentration of the mind's energy\non one object of thought is attention.\"\n\nAs Magnusson expresses it, \"Attention is the centering of consciousness\non a portion of its contents.\" And Angell adds, \"Attention is simply a\nname for the central and most active portion of the field of\nconsciousness.\"\n\nThe mind, of course, during waking hours, is never merely passive. With\nits flood of ideas it is always recalling, observing, comparing,\nanalyzing, building toward conclusions. These processes go on\ninevitably--go on with little concern about attention. But when we\nnarrow the field--when we bring our mental energy to a focus on\nsomething specific and particular we then _attend_.\n\nBetts, in his _The Mind and Its Education_, very happily illustrates the\nmeaning of attention:\n\n   \"_Attention Measures Mental Efficiency._--In a state of attention the\n   mind may be likened to the rays of the sun which have been passed\n   through a burning glass. You may let all the rays which can pass\n   through your window pane fall hour after hour upon the paper lying on\n   your desk, and no marked effects follow. But let the same amount of\n   sunlight be passed through a lens and converged to a point the size\n   of your pencil, and the paper will at once burst into flame.\"\n\nTo follow another analogy, attention is to the energies of the mind what\nthe pipe line leading into the power plant is to the water in the canyon\nabove. It directs and concentrates for the generation of power. Just as\nthe water might run on and on to little or no purpose, so the energies\nof a boy or girl may be permitted to drift aimlessly toward no\nconviction unless the teacher wins him to an attention that rivets truth\nto his life.\n\nIn a discussion of attention the question of the relation of interest to\nattention is bound to arise. Do we attend to things because they are\ninteresting? Or are we interested in things because we give them our\nattention? The two terms are so interwoven in meaning that they are\nfrequently treated under one chapter heading. Our purpose here is not to\nattempt to divorce them, but rather to give them emphasis because of\ntheir significance in the teaching process.\n\nAttention denotes a focusing of mental energy on a particular idea or\nobject; interest, subjectively considered, is an attitude of mind.\nPerhaps we can get a clearer idea of the two terms if we consider the\nvarious types of attention. First of all there is what is called\n_Involuntary_ attention. This is the type over which the mind has little\nor no control. A person sits reading--his attention fixed on the page in\nfront of him--when suddenly a rock crashes through the window\nimmediately behind him. He jumps to see what is wrong. His attention to\nhis book is shifted to the window, not because he wills it so, but\nbecause of the suddenness and force of the stimulus. The excitation of\nthe auditory nerve centers compels attention. The attendant feeling may\nbe one of pleasure or of pain--there may be an interest developed or\nthere may not. Involuntary attention clearly does not rest upon\ninterest.\n\nThen there is what is called _Nonvoluntary_ attention. I go to a theatre\nand some particular musical number is featured. It grips my interest and\nI follow it with rapt attention, wholly without conscious effort. Unlike\nthe case of a sudden noise, in this experience my attention is not\nphysiologically automatic--I could control it if I chose--but I choose\nnow to give it. Interest clearly is the motor power behind such\nattention. Then, finally, there is _Voluntary_ attention. I sit at a\ntable working out a problem in arithmetic. Outside there is being played\na most exciting ball game. My interests are almost wholly centered in\nthe outcome of the game, but duty bids me work out my problem. I make\nmyself attend to it in spite of the pull of my natural interests.\n\nAnd so attention is seen to be purely the result of physiological\nstimulus; it is seen to accompany--fairly to be born out of\nit--interest. It is seen to be the result of an operation of the will\nagainst the natural force of interest. This three-fold classification is\nof particular significance to the teacher. He may be sure that if he\nresorts to the use of unusual stimuli he can arrest attention, though by\nso doing he has no guarantee of holding it; he may feel certain of\nattention if he can bring before pupils objects and ideas which to them\nare interesting; he may so win them to the purposes of his recitation\nthat they will give attention even though they are not interested in\nwhat may be going on for the time being. It is evident, however, that\nresorting to violent stimuli is dangerous, that forced attention is\nultimately disagreeable and certainly not a modern commonplace in\nexperience, that attention which attends genuine interest is the\nattention most generally to be sought.\n\nOne question still remains: \"How shall we proceed to secure and to hold\nattention?\"\n\nIn the first place we should remind ourselves that it is a difficult\nmatter to give sustained attention to a single object or idea, unless\nthe object or idea changes. The difficulty is greater with children than\nwith adults. In the second place we should be mindful that it is poor\npolicy either to demand attention or to beg for it.\n\nWhere attention has to be secured out of disorder we are justified in\nmaking use of stimuli that shock pupils into attention. One of the best\nillustrations of this sort of procedure was the method used in the David\nBelasco theatre in New York to get audiences quiet for the opening of\nthe performances. Mr. Belasco was convinced that the orchestra had\nbecome a mere accompaniment to the clatter and noise of the audience and\nso he did not trust to that means to secure order. In fact, he discarded\nthe orchestra idea. At the appointed hour for the curtain to rise, his\ntheatre became suddenly dark. So dark that the blackness was startling.\nImmediately upon the silence that attended the shock the soft chiming of\nbells became audible which led the audience to strain in an attempt to\ncatch fully the effect of the chime. At that point the curtains were\ndrawn and the first lines of the play fell upon the ears of a perfectly\nquiet audience.\n\nIt is safer and better, of course, to anticipate disorder by getting the\nlesson under way in an interesting manner. These artificial devices are\nserviceable as emergency measures as well as helpful as restful\nvariations in a class hour. Change in posture, group exercises, periods\nof relaxation, all help to make attention the more easily possible.\n\nThe key to sustained attention, when all is said and done, is interest.\nThere is no substitute for the fascination of interest. As Magnusson\nsays: \"Monotony is the great enemy of attention. Interest is the\nattention-compelling element of instincts and desires.\" The teacher can\nfeel assured of success only when he is so fully prepared that his\nmaterial wins attention because of its richness and appropriateness.\nSpecial thought should be given in the preparation of a lesson to the\nattack to be made during the first two minutes of a recitation. A\npointed, vital question, a challenging statement, a striking incident, a\nfascinating, appropriate story, a significant quotation--these are a few\nof the legitimate challenges to attention.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XI\n\n1. Discuss the statement: \"There is no such thing as inattention; when\npupils appear inattentive, they are singly attentive to something more\ninteresting than the lesson.\"\n\n2. Explain the force of attention in the learning process.\n\n3. What is attention?\n\n4. Discuss and illustrate the different types of attention.\n\n5. Give some practical suggestions on the securing of attention.\n\n6. Point out the distinction between attention and interest.\n\n7. Discuss the effect of monotony on attention.\n\n8. How do children and adults differ in their powers of attention?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nPillsburg, _Attention_; Norsworthy and Whitley, _Psychology of\nChildhood_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_; Betts, _How to Teach\nReligion_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_; Fitch, _The Art of\nSecuring Attention_; Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Dewey,\n_Interest and Effort in Education_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a\nTeacher_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nWHAT MAKES FOR INTEREST\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XII\n\n     Individual differences and interest.--What makes for\n     interest.--Interest begets interest.--Preparation is a great\n     guarantee.--Knowledge of the lives of boys and girls a great\n     help.--The factors of interestingness: The Vital, The Unusual, The\n     Uncertain, The Concrete, The Similar, The Antagonistic, The\n     Animate.\n\n\nAfter discussing the relation of interest to attention we still face the\nquestion: What is it that makes an interesting object, or an idea\ninteresting? Why do we find some things naturally interesting while\nothers are dull and commonplace? Of course, everything is not equally\ninteresting to all people. Individual differences make clear the fact\nthat a certain stimulus will call for a response in one particular\nperson, quite unlike the response manifested in a person of different\ntemperament and training. But psychologists are agreed that in spite of\nthese differences there are certain elements of interests that are\ngenerally and fundamentally appealing to human nature. To know what it\nis that makes for interest is one of the prerequisites of good teaching.\n\nBut before naming these \"factors of interestingness,\" may we not also\nname and discuss briefly some other essentials in the matter of creating\nand maintaining interest?\n\nIn the first place it is good to remember that a teacher who would have\nhis pupils interested must himself be interested. If he would see their\nfaces light up with the glow of enthusiasm, he must be the charged\nbattery to generate the current. Interest begets interest. It is as\ncontagious as whooping cough--if a class is exposed it is sure to catch\nit. The teacher who constantly complains of a dull class, very likely\nis simply facing a reaction to his own dullness or disagreeableness.\n\"Blue Monday\" isn't properly so named merely because of the drowsy\npupil. The teacher inevitably sets the pace and determines the tone of\nhis class. Many a teacher when tired, or out of patience, has concluded\na recitation feeling that his pupils were about the most stupid group he\nhas ever faced; the same teacher keyed up to enthusiasm has felt at the\nclose of another recitation that these same pupils could not be\nsurpassed. A student with whom the writer talked a short time ago\nremarked that she could always tell whether the day's class was going to\nbe interesting under a particular teacher as soon as she caught the mood\nin which she entered the classroom. Half-heartedness, indifference, and\nunpleasantness are all negative--they neither attract nor stimulate.\nInterest and enthusiasm are the sunshine of the classroom--they are to\nthe human soul what the sun's rays are to the plant.\n\nThe second great guarantee of interest is preparation. The teacher needs\nto have his subject matter so thoroughly in mind that, free from\ntextbook and notes, he can reach out to a real contact with his boys and\ngirls. If his eyes are glued to his book, he cannot hope to arouse keen\ninterest. The eye is a great force in gripping the attention of a class\nor audience. They want nothing to stand between them and the speaker.\nNot long ago one of the most forceful and eloquent public speakers in\nUtah failed miserably, in addressing a thoroughly fine audience, because\nhe was lost in the machinery of his notes. His material was\nexcellent--his power as an orator unquestioned--yet he was bound down by\na lack of preparation that cost him the mastery of his audience.\n\nNot only does adequate preparation enable a teacher to reach out and\ntake hold of his pupils; it makes it possible for him to capitalize on\nthe situations that are bound to arise in class discussion. A concrete\nillustration to clear up a troublesome question, an appropriate incident\nto hit off some general truth, a happy phrase to crystallize a\nthought--all these things are born only of adequate preparation.\n\nNot long ago a candidate for the presidency of the United States\ndelighted an audience of ten thousand or more in the Salt Lake\nTabernacle by his remarkable handling of questions and comments thrown\nat him from that vast audience. There was no hesitancy or uncertainty.\nHe spoke \"as one who knew.\" He was prepared. He had so lived with the\nquestions of the day that they fairly seemed to be part of him. The\ninteresting teacher never teaches all he knows. His reserve material\ninspires both interest and confidence. A class begins to lose interest\nin a teacher the moment they suspect that his stock in trade is running\nlow. The mystery, \"how one small head could carry all he knew,\" is still\nfascinating. Thorough preparation, moreover, minimizes the likelihood of\nroutine, the monotony of which is always deadening. A class likes a\nteacher--is interested in him--when it can't anticipate just what he is\ngoing to do next and how he is going to do it.\n\nA further aid in holding interest is to know intimately the life of the\nboys and girls taught. To appreciate fully their attitude--to know what\nsort of things in life generally appeal to them--is a very great asset\nto any teacher. If a teacher knows that a boy's reaction to the story of\nthe Israelites' crossing the Red Sea is that that story is \"some bunk,\"\nhe is fortified in knowing how to present other subjects which are\nsimilar tests to a boy's faith and understanding. To know pupils'\nattitudes and mode of life is to know what sort of illustrations to use,\nwhat emphasis to put upon emotional material, what stress to lay on\npractical application. In short, it is to know just how to \"connect up.\"\nIt stimulates to a testing of values so that a teacher selects and\nadapts his material to the needs of the boys and girls whom he teaches.\n\nAnd, finally, as a key to interest, a teacher needs to know what the\n\"factors of interestingness\" are. According to the findings of the\nPublic Speaking Department of the University of Chicago, they are summed\nup in these seven terms:\n\n  The Vital\n  The Unusual\n  The Uncertain\n  The Concrete\n  The Similar\n  The Antagonistic\n  The Animate\n\nThis list becomes more and more helpful as it is pondered. It is\nsurprising to find how experience can be explained on the score of\ninterest by reference to these terms. Those things are vital which\npertain to life--which affect existence. Dangers are always interesting.\nCatastrophies are fascinating. Just today all America is scanning the\nnewspapers throughout the country to find an explanation of the Wall\nStreet explosion. We shall not soon forget the feverish interest that\ngripped the people of the world during our recent world wars.\n\nWhen life is at stake, interest runs high. So it does when property,\nliberty, and other sacred rights, so vital to life, are affected.\nAnything vital enough to justify the publication of an \"extra\" may be\ndepended upon to grip the interest of men and women.\n\nIt is equally clear that a fascination attaches to things that are\nunusual. New styles attract because of this fact. Let a man oddly\ndressed walk along a thoroughfare--the passersby are interested\nimmediately. A \"loud\" hat or necktie, or other item of apparel, attracts\nattention because it is out of the ordinary. Much of the interest and\ndelight in traveling lies in this element of the new and unusual which\nthe traveler encounters. The experiences of childhood which stand out\nmost prominently are usually those which at the time riveted themselves\nto the mind through the interest of their extraordinariness.\n\nEvery reader knows the fascination of uncertainty. \"How will the book\nturn out?\" prompts many a person to turn through hundreds of pages of a\nnovel. An accident is interesting not only because of its vital\nsignificance, but because there is always a question as to how seriously\nthose involved may be hurt. One of the clearest illustrations of the\nforce of the uncertain is found attending baseball games. Let the score\nstand at 10 to 2 in the eighth inning and the grandstands and bleachers\nbegin to empty. Few spectators care to remain. The game is too clearly\nsettled. As the boys say, it is \"sewed up\" and there is nothing\nuncertain to grip interest. But let the score stand 3 to 2 or 2 to 2 in\nthe eighth and even the man scheduled home for dinner stays to the end.\nHe wants to know how the game is \"coming out.\"\n\nIt is easier also to be interested in concrete than in abstract things.\nGeneral truths are not gripping--concrete illustrations of those truths\nare. If I declare that it is important to have faith, I create but\nlittle interest in an audience. But if I tell that same audience how\nsome individual has been miraculously healed through faith, I have their\ninterest completely. Concrete illustrations fit into and link up with\nour own experiences so easily and forcefully that they are particularly\ninteresting.\n\nSo, too, with things that are similar. The mind naturally links like\nwith like. We are fond of making comparisons. The interest in the\nsimilar is due to that fundamental law of learning that we proceed from\nwhat is known to that which is unknown and we proceed along points of\nsimilarity.\n\nAnd how natural it seems to be interested in things antagonistic! Our\nlove of contests of all sorts is evidence of the fact. Who can resist\nthe interest that attaches to a quarrel--a fight--a clash of any kind.\nThe best of classes will leave the best of teachers, mentally at least,\nto witness a dog fight. Our champion prize fighters make fortunes out of\nman's interest in the antagonistic.\n\nAnd then, finally, we are interested in the animate. We like action.\nThings in motion have a peculiar fascination. Who does not watch with\ninterest a moving locomotive? Advertising experts appreciate the appeal\nof the animate, as is evidenced by the great variety of moving objects\nthat challenge our interest as we pass up and down the streets of a city\nand we respond to the challenge. In fact, it is natural to respond to\nthe appeal of all of these seven terms--hence their significance in\nteaching.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XII\n\n1. Discuss the force of individual differences in choosing material that\nwill be interesting.\n\n2. Why is it so essential that the teacher be interested in what he\nhopes to interest his pupils in?\n\n3. Show how preparation makes for interest.\n\n4. Why is an intimate acquaintance with the lives of pupils so essential\na factor with the interesting teacher?\n\n5. Illustrate concretely the force of each of the factors of\ninterestingness.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter XI.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nA LABORATORY LESSON IN INTEREST\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XIII\n\n     Interest should be inherent in the lesson taught.--An illustration\n     of \"dragged in\" interest.--Interest and the \"easy\" idea.--A proper\n     interpretation of interest.--How to make the subject of _Fasting_\n     interesting.--The various possibilities.--How to secure interest in\n     the Atonement.--How to secure interest in the Resurrection.--How to\n     secure interest in the story of Jonah.\n\n\n\"Oh, that's all right,\" says one. \"It is easy enough to talk about\ninterest, and it's easy to be interesting if you can choose anything you\nlike to amuse a class. But if you have to teach them theology, and\nespecially some of the dry lessons that are outlined for us, I don't see\nhow we can be expected to make our work interesting.\"\n\nOf course, there is some point to such an objection. Having been asked\nto teach the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we cannot defend the\npractice of bringing in all kinds of material just because it is funny.\nAnd, of course, it is true, too, that some lesson outlines upon first\nthought do appear rather forbidding. But it is equally true that there\nis a path of interest through the most unpromising material, though that\npath does not always run alongside the teacher's highroad of ease and\nunconcern. A false notion of interest is that it denotes mere\namusement--that it is something aside from serious and sober thought.\n\nThe writer recalls visiting a class taught by a person holding such a\nnotion. Having given his lesson but little thought he apologized for its\nlack of interest by saying, \"Now, boys and girls, if you will just be\nquiet while we go over the lesson, even though it isn't very\ninteresting, I'll read you our next chapter of _Huckleberry Finn_.\" And\nyet the lesson, hurried over, with a little intensive study could have\nbeen made as fascinating as the reading of _Huckleberry Finn_ and\nnotably more profitable.\n\nAnother misconception relative to interest is the idea that to make a\nsubject interesting you must so popularize it that you cheapen it. This\nidea is typified in the \"snap\" courses in school--courses made\ninteresting at the expense of painstaking application. As a matter of\nfact, to cheapen a thing is ultimately to kill interest in it. Genuine\ninterest of real worth is born of effort and devotion to a worthy\nobjective. Far from dissipating the mind's energies, it heightens and\nconcentrates them to the mastery of the bigger and finer things of life.\n\nA subject to be made interesting must present some element of newness,\nyet must be so linked up with the experience of the learner as to be\nmade comprehensible. It must, moreover, be made to appeal as essential\nand helpful in the life of the learner. The two outstanding queries of\nthe uninterested pupil are:\n\n  What is it all about?\n  What's the use?\n\nLet us, then, turn to two or three subjects which at first thought may\nappear more or less dull to see whether there is an approach to them\nthat can be made interesting.\n\nMembers of the teacher-training class at Provo were asked to name four\nor five subjects which they regarded hard to stimulate interest in. They\nnamed the following:\n\n  Fasting.\n  The Fall.\n  The Atonement.\n  The Resurrection.\n  The Story of Jonah.\n\nLet us suppose that I have met my Second Intermediate class of eighteen\nboys and girls to discuss the subject of fasting. I might begin by\nrelating an actual experience in which through fasting and prayer on the\npart of the members of a particular family a little boy has just been\nmost miraculously restored to health, after an operation for\nappendicitis. It was an infection case, and three doctors agreed there\nwas no possible chance of recovery. A fourth doctor held out the\npossibility of one chance in a hundred. And yet a two days' fast,\ncoupled with a faith I have seldom seen equalled, has been rewarded by\nthe complete recovery of the boy, who is now thoroughly well and strong.\n\nSuch a concrete illustration is one possibility for arousing interest.\n\nOr, I might proceed with a few definite, pointed questions:\n\n\"How many of you eighteen boys and girls fasted this month?\"\n\nThe answers show that seven have fasted; eleven have not.\n\nI proceed then to inquire why the eleven have failed to fast. Various\nexplanations are offered:\n\n\"Oh, I forgot.\"\n\n\"We don't fast in our home.\"\n\n\"Father has to work all day Sunday; and so, because mother has to get\nbreakfast for him, we all eat.\"\n\n\"I have a headache if I fast, so I think it is better not to.\"\n\n\"I don't see any use in fasting. Going around with a long, hungry face\ncan't help anyone.\"\n\n\"It's easy to fast when they won't give you anything to eat.\"\n\n\"I like to fast just to show myself that I don't live to be eating all\nthe time.\"\n\n\"I believe it's a good thing to give the body a little rest once in a\nwhile.\"\n\n\"I feel different when I fast--more spiritual or something.\"\n\n\"It must be right to fast. The Church wouldn't ask us to if it wasn't a\ngood thing.\"\n\nThe definiteness of these replies, coupled with the suspense of\nwondering what the next answer will be, keeps up a lively interest.\n\nA third possibility would be to call for the experiences of the pupils,\nor experiences which have occurred in their families, or concerning\nwhich they have read. A very rich compilation of interesting material\ncan be collected under such a scheme.\n\nOr, finally, I may choose to proceed immediately with a vigorous\nanalysis and discussion of the whole problem. I arouse interest by\nquoting a friend who has put the query to me, \"What is the use of\nfasting?\" and then enlist the cooperation of the class in formulating a\nreply. Together we work out the possible justification of fasting.\n\nThe following outline may represent the line of our thought:\n\n1. Jesus taught us to fast.\n  a. His forty days in the wilderness.\n  b. His injunction to his apostles.\n\n2. Our leaders have instituted fasting in these latter days.\n\n3. By fasting we develop a mastery over our appetites. The body is made\nto serve the will.\n\n4. Physiologically, it is a good thing to fast. Many scientists are now\nrecommending regular rests for the digestive organs.\n\n5. Fasting makes possible an elevation of spirit.\n\n6. Our system of fasting makes it possible to see that no one in the\nChurch wants for food.\n\n7. Fasting enables us to appreciate the feelings of those who are less\nfortunate in the world than we are, who are denied the blessings we\nenjoy.\n\nOf course, each idea needs to be introduced and developed in a concrete,\nvigorous manner. So treated, fasting can be made a very fascinating\nsubject.\n\nThe following suggestions on introducing the lesson on the Resurrection\nto little children have been drawn up by one of the most successful\nkindergarten teachers in the Church:\n\n\"There are several things to be considered before presenting the lesson\non the Resurrection to little children.\n\n\"First, the teacher must feel that she _can_ present it. In other words,\nshe must love the story and feel the importance of it. She must also be\nable to see the beautiful side and remember that she is teaching, 'There\nis no death; but life eternal.'\n\n\"The next question to consider is: How are we going to present it? We\nmust lead the child from the known to the unknown, through the child's\nown experience. Therefore we go to nature, because all nature appeals to\nthe child. But in order to create the right atmosphere, the teacher in\nselecting the subject must feel that what he has selected is the very\nthing he wants in order to explain to the child, 'There is no death.'\n\n\"There are several ways in which the subject may be approached through\nnature. We may take the Autumn and let the children tell what happens to\nthe trees, flowers, and different plants. Lead them to see the condition\nafter the leaves are off. Then what will happen next Spring. Or we may\ntake one specific tree or brush and talk of the twig where the leaves\nwere in the summer, but have now fallen to the ground. The twig looks\ndead. But on opening the bud and removing the brown covering we find the\ntiny leaf inside waiting and preparing to come forth in the Spring.\n\n\"The bulb may be used in a similar way, leading the child to see the\nbulb as it is before planting, then to see what happens when we plant\nit.\n\n\"The caterpillar may also be used. Here we have the live worm getting\nready to go into his cocoon and is absent for some time; then he\nreturns, only in another form. A higher stage.\n\n\"Lead the child to see that every thing in nature has a period of\nchanging, of apparently going away for a short time, but is not dead--it\nreturns to life.\n\n\"Be sure to have the objects you are talking about before the class,\nwhile you are discussing the subject. If not obtainable, use a picture,\nor draw them.\"\n\nThe problem of the story of Jonah is usually submitted with a twinkle in\nthe eye of him who raises the question. The world has so generally\nrelegated it to the heap of the impossible that even some of our own\npeople look rather amazed when a champion for Jonah steps forward. And\nyet this story properly approached is one of the teacher's greatest\nopportunities. If it is to be presented to small children it can be told\nvery beautifully, either as a lesson on disobedience or, from the point\nof view of the people of Nineveh, as a lesson on fasting and prayer.\nLittle children will not be troubled with doubt and disbelief unless the\nteacher fosters such attitudes.\n\nTo older minds, of course, the story already is a good bit of a\nstumbling block, and therefore needs to be given thoughtful preparation.\n\nAt the outset, with older students, we ought to lead them into the\nbeauties of the story--beauties which all too frequently are wholly\nunknown to the ordinary boy or girl. Read the story:\n\n  The call that comes to Jonah.\n  His hesitancy.\n  His dodging of duty.\n  His selfish judgments.\n  His punishment.\n  His attitude toward the people of Nineveh.\n  The lesson taught.\n\n\"Yes,\" says the young skeptic, \"but how about the whale idea? Do you\nexpect us to believe that stuff? It's contrary to all natural law.\"\n\nLet's meet the issue squarely. The Bible says that Jonah was swallowed\nby a big fish. Science is agreed that that part of the account is easily\npossible--nothing contrary to natural law so far.\n\n\"But what about the three days? That surely is.\"\n\nHere is a challenge. Is it possible that life can be suspended, \"and\nrestored\"? Let the scriptures testify. It was so in the case of the\ndaughter of Jairus. (Mark 5:22-43.)\n\nSo was it in the case of Lazarus. (John 11:23-44.)\n\nConsider the case of the Son of God Himself! Buried in the tomb,\nJesus rose the third day. If you can believe in the resurrection, you\ncan believe in the restoration of Jonah. It is interesting to note that\nJesus Himself accepted the story of Jonah. See Matthew 12:40:\n\n   \"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly;\n   so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart\n   of the earth.\"\n\nTo doubt Jonah is to question the Master. Not only so, but if a person\nthrows out the story of Jonah, he faces a chain of miraculous events\nfrom one end of the Bible to the other from which he will have\ndifficulty to escape. You ask me to explain Jonah, I shall reply by\nasking you to explain:\n\n  The creation of man.\n  The flood.\n  The confusion of Babel.\n  The parting of the Red Sea.\n  The three Hebrews and the furnace.\n  Elisha and the ax.\n  The birth of the Savior.\n  His resurrection.\n  One-third of the account given by Matthew.\n  Your own birth.\n\nMay one not accept with confidence the word of God as contained in the\nDoctrine & Covenants, Sec. 35:8?\n\n\"For I am God, and mine arm is not shortened; and I will show miracles,\nsigns and wonders unto all those who _believe on my name_.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XIII\n\n1. Discuss the proper use of stories in securing and maintaining\ninterest.\n\n2. Point out the danger of bringing in foreign \"funny\" material.\n\n3. Show how difficult subjects may be made of even greater interest than\neasy ones.\n\n4. Use the greater part of this class hour for illustrating how to\ncreate interest in subjects ordinarily found hard to teach.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter XI.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nTHE MORE IMMEDIATE PROBLEMS IN TEACHING\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XIV\n\n     The steps involved in the preparation of a lesson: The aim;\n     organization; illustration; application; questions.--Problems\n     involved in the presentation of a lesson: The point of contact;\n     illustration; the lesson statement.--Various possibilities.--The\n     review: questioning; application.--The matter summarized.\n\n\nSo many textbooks have been written about teaching--so many points of\nview have been advanced--such a variety of terminology has been\nemployed, even in the expression of a single educational notion--that\nbeginning teachers are frequently at a loss to know just how to set\nabout the task of teaching. Leaving for further consideration the more\npurely theoretical aspects of our problem, let us face the questions of\nmost immediate concern:\n\n  HOW TO PREPARE A LESSON.\n  HOW TO PRESENT A LESSON.\n\nIs there not a common-sense procedure which we can agree to as promising\nbest results in these two fundamental steps? At the outset let us agree\nthat preparation and presentation are inseparable aspects of but one\nprocess. Preparation consists of the work done _behind the\nscenes_--presentation involves the _getting over_ of the results of that\nwork to the _audience_--the class. Frequently teachers are confused\nbecause they mistake directions governing _preparation_ as applying to\n_presentation_. For instance, one teacher proceeded to drill a class of\nsmall children on the memorizing of the aim--an abstract general\ntruth--unmindful of the fact that the _aim_ was set down for the\nteacher's guidance--a focus for his preparation done behind the scenes.\n\nThough in the _preparation_ of a lesson we keep the aim clearly in\nmind, and though, when we stand before our class, we let it function in\nthe background of our consciousness as an objective in our procedure, we\nought not to hurl it at our class. As a generalized truth it can make\nbut little appeal to young minds, and it ought to be self-evident, at\nthe end of a successful recitation, to mature minds.\n\nAnd so with the matter of organization. We skeletonize our thoughts\nbehind the scenes, but the skeleton is rather an unsightly specimen to\nexhibit before a class. The outline should be inherent in the lesson as\npresented, but it ought not to protrude so that the means will be\nmistaken for an end. Subsequent chapters will illustrate both the\nselection of an aim and its elaboration through suitable organization.\n\nThe successful preparation of a lesson involves at least five major\nsteps. They are named here that the problem of preparation may be\ngrasped as a whole. Later chapters will develop at length each step in\nits turn.\n\n1. _The Aim._ A generalized statement, a kernel of truth about which all\nof the facts of the lesson are made to center. A lesson may be built up\non a passage of scripture, on the experience of a person or a people, or\non a vital question, etc. But in any case, though we are interested in\nthe facts involved, we are interested not in the facts as an end in\nthemselves, but rather because of the truth involved in the facts. In\nother words, we seek to sift out of the material offered in a lesson an\nessential truth which helps us in a solution of the problems of life.\nAttention to the aim is a guarantee against mere running over of matter\nof fact.\n\n2. _Organization._ A teacher should outline his lesson so that pupils\nmay easily follow him through the subject matter presented to the\nultimate truth that lies beyond.\n\n3. _Illustration._ Illustrations are what make truth vivid. Successful\nteachers owe much of their success to their ability through story or\nincident to drive home to the experience of pupils those fundamental\ntruths which in their general terms make but little appeal. One of the\nmost helpful practices for teachers who would become effective is the\nhabit of clipping and filing available illustrative material. There is a\nwealth of rich, concrete matter appearing regularly in our magazines and\nother publications. What is good today likely will be equally good a\nyear or two years hence when we shall face the problem of teaching again\ntoday's lesson. An alphabetic letter file may be had for a few cents in\nwhich can be filed away all sorts of helpful material. It pays to\ncollect and save!\n\n4. _Application._ Having selected his aim, the teacher knows the result\nhe should like to have follow his lesson, in the lives of his pupils. He\nknows, too, their tendencies and their needs. In giving attention to\napplication he is merely making a survey of the possible channel into\nwhich he can direct his pupils' activities. In considering application\nhe asks, \"Of what use will this material be in the experience of my\npupils?\" The test-application is the real test--both of the subject\nmatter presented and of the effectiveness of the presentation.\n\n5. _Questions._ Finally, lesson preparation is not complete unless the\nteacher has formulated a few thought-provoking questions which go to the\nvery heart of the lesson. The question is the great challenge to the\nseeker after truth. It is easy to ask questions, but to propound queries\nthat stir pupils to an intellectual awakening is a real art. Surely no\npreparation can be fully complete unless it involves:\n\n  The selection of an aim.\n  The orderly organization of material.\n  The collecting of rich illustrations.\n  The pondering of facts to their application.\n  The formulating of at least a few thoroughly stimulating questions.\n\nCan we not agree to these steps as fundamental in the proper preparation\nof our lessons in all of our Church organizations?\n\nWith the subject matter well in mind--the work behind the scenes\ncompleted, the teacher is then prepared for the problem of\npresentation--is ready to appear on the stage of class activity. The\nfirst outstanding problem in lesson presentation is that of the _Point\nof Contact_. This is a phrase variously interpreted and often\nmisunderstood. Perhaps it is not the happiest expression we could wish,\nbut it is so generally used and is so significant when understood that\nwe ought to standardize it and interpret it as it affects our Church\nwork.\n\nWhen a class assembles for recitation purposes its members present\nthemselves with all kinds of mental attitudes and mind content. The\nvarious groups of a Mutual class may have been engaged in all sorts of\nactivities just before entering their classroom. One group may have been\ndiscussing politics; another may have been engaged in a game of ball; a\nthird may have been practicing as a quartette; and still a fourth may\nhave been busy at office work. Facing such a collection of groups stands\na teacher who for an hour or more has dismissed all temporal matters,\nand has been pondering the spiritual significance of prayer. Evidently\nthere is a great mental chasm between them. Their coming together and\nthinking on common ground involves the _Point of Contact_. There must\nbe contact if an influence for good is to be exerted. Either the teacher\nmust succeed in bringing the boys to where he is \"in thought,\" or he\nmust go to \"where they are.\"\n\nTeachers in Bible lessons all too frequently hurry off into the Holy\nLand, going back some two thousand years, and leaving their pupils in\nUtah and in the here and the present. No wonder that pupils say of such\na teacher, \"We don't 'get' him.\" To proceed without preparing the minds\nof pupils for the message and discussion of the lesson is like planting\nseed without having first plowed and prepared the ground.\n\nIn the Bible lesson, it would be easy to bridge over from the interests\nof today to those of Bible days. Suppose our lesson is on Joseph who was\nsold into Egypt. Instead of proceeding at once with a statement as to\nthe parentage of Joseph, etc., we might well center the interests of\nthese various-minded boys on a current observation of today--a\nwonderfully fine harvest field of grain. They have all seen that. Make a\nstriking observation relative to the grain, or put a question that will\nlead them to do that for you. Having raised an issue, you continue by\ninquiring whether or not the same conditions have prevailed elsewhere\nand at other times. Did they prevail in the days of Israel? The step\nthen to the story of Joseph's dream, etc., is an easy one.\n\nThis illustration, though simple and more or less crude, indicates that\nto establish a point of contact, we must reach out to where the pupil\nnow is, and lead easily and naturally to where you would have him go.\nSurely we cannot presume that he has already traveled the same\nintellectual road that we have gone over.\n\nSuppose we face a group of adolescent boys to teach them a lesson on the\nimportance of their attending church. If we proceed with a preachment\non their duties and obligations, we are quite certain to lose their\ninterest. Boys do not like to be preached at.\n\nWe know, however, that they are interested in automobiles. By starting\nout with some vital observation or question out of the automobile world,\nwe may count on their attention. Following the discussion thus raised,\nwe might then inquire the purpose of the garages that we find along all\npublic highways. We could dwell upon the significance of repairs in\nmaintaining the efficiency of cars. Now we are prepared for the query,\nIs it not essential that we have spiritual garages for the souls of men,\ngarages where supplies and repairs may be had?\n\n  The \"gas\" of faith.\n  The \"oil\" of consolation.\n  The \"adjustment\" of repentance.\n  The \"charging\" of our spiritual batteries, etc.\n\nOnce led into the subject, boys can be made to see that spiritual\nproblems are even more vital than material ones.\n\nThe point of contact established, we next face the matter of _Lesson\nStatement_. The subject matter must either be in mind already because of\nhome preparation, or the teacher must supply it. In the smaller classes\nthe teacher generally will have to tell in good part what he wishes to\nconvey; in the larger classes, there are the possibilities of home\npreparation, topical reports, the lecture, and the socialized recitation\nbuilt up by questions and discussions. It is not intended here to\ndiscuss the various methods of lesson presentation--the thought being\nsimply that in some way the lesson statement must be presented.\n\nThen there is the problem of connecting up the present lesson with those\nthat have already been presented. The review is a vital factor in\nfixing in the mind the relative value of material covered.\n\nThen, too, there is the matter of questioning to test knowledge and\nstimulate discussion, together with the weaving in of illustrative\nmaterial that has already been thought out or which may suggest itself\nas the lesson progresses. If, as all this material has been presented,\nthe application has been made sufficiently clear to the pupils, the\npresentation is complete; otherwise avenues of action should be pointed\nout, care being taken to stimulate rather than to moralize.\n\nIn conclusion, then, we have the matter of preparation as follows:\n\n  PREPARATION\n\n  _As it involves subject matter_:      _As it involves presentation_:\n\n  1. The Aim                            Point of Contact\n  2. Organization                       Lesson Statement\n  3. Illustration                       Review\n  4. Application                        Illustration\n  5. Questions                          Application\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XIV\n\n1. Discuss the helpfulness of having a definite procedure in the matter\nof lesson preparation.\n\n2. Point out the differences between lesson preparation and lesson\npresentation.\n\n3. Name and discuss the essential steps in preparing a lesson.\n\n4. To what extent would you favor adopting these steps as the\nfundamental processes?\n\n5. Discuss the meaning and significance of \"The Point of Contact.\"\n\n6. Why is some kind of lesson statement a prerequisite to a good\nrecitation?\n\n7. Show how this statement may be made.\n\n8. What do you consider your most valuable device in the preparation of\na lesson?\n\n9. Discuss the importance of filing away the material looked up in the\npreparation of the regular work of teaching.\n\n10. Indicate some of the best methods of filing.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nBetts, _How to Teach Religion_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School\nTeachers_; Thorndike, _Principles of Teaching_; Strayer and Norsworthy,\n_How to Teach_; Earhart, _Types of Teaching_; Betts, _Classroom Method\nin Management_; Bagley, _Classroom Management_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nORGANIZING A LESSON\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XV\n\n     A review of the steps in lesson preparation.--The values of\n     outlining.--Objections answered.--Outlining a means, not an\n     end.--The essentials in outlining.--An illustrative outline on\n     prayer.\n\n\nPreparing a lesson is no easy matter, particularly for those teachers\nwho are new to the calling. There are those, of course, for whom reading\nan assigned chapter through constitutes a preparation, but to the\nsuccessful teacher this preliminary reading is only the initial step in\nthe process. Adequate preparation involves the following questions:\n\nWhat aim shall I select out of the material available as the focus for\nmy day's work?\n\nHow shall I build about that aim a body of facts that will establish it\nas a fundamental truth in life?\n\nHow shall I illustrate the truths presented so that they will strike\nhome in the experiences of my boys and girls?\n\nHow shall I make sure that members of the class will go out from the\nrecitation to put into practice the teachings of the day?\n\nWhat questions ought I to ask to emphasize the outstanding points of my\nlesson?\n\nWhat method of presentation can I most safely follow to make my lesson\neffective?\n\nHow may I discipline my class so that no disturbances will interfere\nwith our discussions?\n\nReduced to simple terms, the matter of preparation together with\npresentation, involves the problems of\n\n  Organization\n  Aim\n  Illustration\n  Application\n  Methods of presentation\n  Questioning\n\nIt is difficult to single out any one factor and treat it as if it were\nindependent of the others--teaching is a complex art with all of these\nfactors inseparably contributing to the results desired--but, for\npurposes of clearness, may we not proceed to give attention to each in\nits turn that in the end the teaching process may the more definitely\nstand out in all its aspects?\n\nFor convenience, then, let us in this chapter consider the problem of\norganization. How to outline a lesson is one of the most fundamental\nconsiderations involved in the teaching process. In fact, it is doubtful\nwhether there is any one more helpful attainment than the ability\nclearly to outline subject matter. It not only enables the teacher to\nproceed systematically, thereby insuring clearness and adequate\ntreatment of a lesson, but it makes it so easy and profitable for a\nclass to follow the discussion. Outlining to teaching is what\norganization is to business. Just as the aim points out the goal we\nseek, so the outline indicates the route we shall follow to attain the\ngoal. Outlining is simply surveying the road before the concrete is\nlaid.\n\nOccasionally a teacher objects to outlining on the ground that it is too\nmechanical--that it destroys spontaneity and the flow of the Spirit of\nthe Lord. It has always seemed to the writer that the Spirit of the Lord\nis quite as pleased to follow a straight path as it is to follow a\ncrooked one. Outlining is not in any sense a substitute for\ninspiration--it is merely a guarantee, by way of preparation, that the\nteacher has done his part and can in good conscience ask for that\nspiritual aid and guidance which he then is entitled to. The fact that\norder is a law of heaven rather indicates that there is no divine\ninjunction against outlining.\n\nOf course, outlining is not an end in itself--it is a means merely to\nmore systematic procedure. Two difficulties frequently attach to\noutlining: one is that the outline is made so complex that it hinders\nrather than helps in the matter of clearness; the other is that a\nteacher may become \"outline bound,\" in which case his teaching becomes\nmechanical and labored. Such a teacher illustrates clearly the force of\nthe passage, \"The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.\"\n\nBut if the outline is made simple--if it is considered as merely a\nskeleton upon which is to be built the lesson--it is one of the greatest\nassets a teacher can have. Perhaps we can make the matter clearest by\ngoing through the process of outlining a lesson, indicating the\nessential steps involved.\n\nSuppose we are asked to prepare a lesson on prayer. Keep in mind that in\nsuch a preparation we face the problems listed at the beginning of this\nchapter: the aim, the illustration, the application, etc., and keep in\nmind also that each of these subjects will be taken up in its turn and\nthat for the present we are concerned primarily with the query, \"How can\nI organize a lesson on prayer?\" Let us assume, too, that we are\npreparing this lesson for young men and women about twenty years of age.\n\nFirst of all, I must decide why I am to teach the subject of prayer. In\nview of the fact that the matter of the aim is to be considered fully in\nthe succeeding chapter, suppose we agree that our purpose in this lesson\nshall be to establish prayer as a habit of life.\n\n_Step number one_, then, is the selection of an aim--a focus for the\nthought of the lesson.\n\n_Step number two_ is the collection of random thoughts. As I begin to\nponder the subject of prayer and its influence on life, all sorts of\nideas crowd into my mind. Perhaps I read some one's discussion of\nprayer--perhaps I talk to a friend relative to it--perhaps I just ran\nthe subject over in my mind. The thoughts that come to me may be vague\nand wholly disconnected. My immediate concern is content--order will\ncome later. And so I jot down, either in my mind or on paper, such ideas\nas these:\n\n  \"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire.\"\n  The Song \"Sweet hour of prayer.\"\n  What is the use of prayer?\n  Are prayers answered?\n  How often should I pray?\n  Does the Lord hear and answer our prayers, or do we answer them\n    ourselves?\n  What kinds of prayers are there?\n  How may I know how to pray?\n  Should prayers always be answered affirmatively?\n  What are the characteristics of a good prayer?\n  What prayers have impressed me most?\n\nAnd so I go on. My task in step two is to scout about intellectually in\nsearch of available, suitable material. Many of my jottings may\nduplicate others already set down; others may not be appropriate for my\nneed; still others may be wholly irrelevant. But I am seeking a wealth\nof material that I may make my recitation as rich as possible.\n\nNow, _step three_ becomes a process of correlation and elimination--a\nprocess of hitting upon my main headings--setting up the milestones to\nmark my course of development. And I so sift the material in my mind and\nsort it out under appropriate captions. After a good bit of intellectual\nrummaging about, I find that my random thoughts on prayer fall rather\nnaturally into four main divisions, each capable of expression in a\nquestion:\n\n    I. What is prayer?\n   II. Why should I pray?\n  III. How should I pray?\n   IV. When should I pray?\n\nBut now that I have these major headings, I still face the problems of\nenriching them and elaborating them so that they will have body enough\nto stand. In other words, I build up my sub-headings. Under the first\nquestion, for instance, I group these thoughts:\n\n  I. What Is Prayer?\n    1. It is communion with God.\n    2. It is the key to God's storehouse.\n    3. It is the key to God's heart.\n    4. It is \"The soul's sincere desire.\"\n    5. It is the great anchor of faith.\n\nUnder question two, I group:\n\n  II. Why Should I Pray?\n    1. Because I am commanded of the Lord to pray.\n    2. Because through prayer I keep in tune with the Spirit of the\n       Lord.\n    3. Because it is through prayer that I acknowledge the goodness of\n       God.\n    4. Because through prayer I petition for needed blessings.\n    5. Because through prayer I establish and preserve an attitude of\n       humility.\n\nUnder question three:\n\n  III. How Should I Pray?\n    1. Simply.\n    2. Sincerely.\n    3. In spirit.\n    4. After the pattern of His prayer.\n    5. In secret as well as in public.\n\nUnder question four:\n\n  IV. When Should I Pray?\n    1. Regularly.\n    2. Morning and evening.\n    3. To meet special needs.\n    4. My attitude should always be one of prayerfulness.\n\nThis matter of organization may be diagrammatically illustrated as\nfollows:\n\n  _Random Thoughts_                            _Organized Thoughts_\n\n  The hymn\n\n  The song                 ______________\n                          |              |\n  What is the use         |    FOCUS     |     I. What is Prayer?\n  of prayer?              |      or      |\n                          |     AIM      |     II. Why should I pray?\n  Are prayers answered?   |              |\n                          | To establish |     III. How Should I Pray?\n  How often should        |  prayer as a |\n  I pray?                 |  life habit. |     IV. When Should I Pray?\n                          |______________|\n  What are the\n  characteristics of\n  a good prayer, etc.?\n\nIn short, organizing involves the search for thought and the bringing of\norder out of chaos. Having selected the aim, the main headings, and the\nsub-headings, we now face _step four_--the enriching of these\nsub-headings in illustration, incident, etc., so that we may link up\nthese thoughts with the experience of our pupils. We may think of so\nmuch stimulating material that during the ordinary class hour we can\ncover well only one of these questions. Our purpose and the needs of the\nclass must determine the extent of our detail. The actual material that\ncould be used to enrich this lesson on prayer will be given in the\nchapter on illustration.\n\n_Step five_ involves the problem of application, or \"carry-over into\nlife\"--a subject to which another chapter will be devoted. Of course, we\nought to say here, in passing, that application is not something added\nto or \"tacked on\" a lesson. It may be emphasized at the close of a\nlesson, but in reality it pervades and is inherent in the whole lesson.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XV\n\n1. What is meant by calling teaching a composite process?\n\n2. Point out the essential advantages in outlining lessons.\n\n3. Show how outlining is not in conflict with inspiration.\n\n4. Name the essential steps in lesson organization.\n\n5. Choose a subject from one of the manuals now in use in one of our\norganizations and build up a typical lesson.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter XIV.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nILLUSTRATING AND SUPPLEMENTING A LESSON\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XVI\n\n     The force of illustrations.--Three kinds of illustration material:\n     1. maps; 2. pictures; 3. incidents.--The force of maps and map\n     drawing.--The appeal of good pictures.\n\n     ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n     Illustrative material for a lesson on prayer.\n\n\nHaving discussed the organization of a lesson together with the\nformulation of the aim, let us now turn to the problem of illustrating\nand supplementing a lesson. In organizing a subject for teaching we\ndrive the nails of major thoughts--through illustration we clinch those\nnails so that they will be less likely to pull out of the memory.\n\nThe three chief classes of illustrative and supplementary material are:\n\nMaps, pictures, incidents--actual, imaginary.\n\nIt is clear that in the lesson outlined on prayer, in chapter fourteen,\nwe should have little occasion for the use of a map. We can, however, in\nconnection with that lesson, point out the force of pictures and\nincidents.\n\nMaps naturally are of greatest service in lessons with historical and\ngeographical background. The journeyings of Israel mean so much more to\nus when we can follow them from place to place on a good map. So the\nBook of Mormon account clears up if we are similarly guided. Had we\nauthentic maps of the lands named in the Book of Mormon, how much\nclearer and more interesting the history would become! We would know the\nexact spot on our present-day maps where Lehi and his family landed\nfrom their heaven-directed barges; we would know where to find the land\nBountiful; where may now be found the ancient site of the City of\nZarahemla; where flows the River Sidon; what country is indicated by the\n\"land northward\"; the journeys of the Nephites as they were being\ndriven; what states saw there continued struggles against their\ninveterate enemies, the Lamanites, and how they reached their final\nbattle-ground near the Hill Cumorah. To visit with Jesus in Palestine\nadds a charm to the New Testament that is really hard to evaluate, and\nsurely the travels of our own pioneers call for the aid of a good map.\nThoroughly to appreciate all that they did requires that we travel over\nthe wonderful trail they followed--that being impossible, the next\nnearest approach is to see actually drawn out the magnitude of their\nachievement. The appeal to the eye couples so forcefully with the appeal\nto the ear that no classroom ought to be without its maps. Perhaps it is\nnot beyond possibilities to conceive that at a not distant date we shall\nhave made available films for class use to intensify the great lessons\nwe draw from history.\n\nPictures make a wonderful appeal, particularly so to children. It is\nimpossible to measure the inspirational appeal that a single masterpiece\nexerts on a class of boys and girls. A theological class in one of the\nSunday Schools of Salt Lake County was once blessed with a most magnetic\nand powerful teacher. Upon his death, the class had his picture framed\nand hung on the front wall of the room in which he had taught. From that\nday to this the silent inspiration of that picture has stimulated scores\nof young men and women to the high ideals for which he stood.\n\nMore generally applicable and more easily available, of course, is the\n_Incident_. The ability to tell a story is one of the finest attainments\nof the teacher--particularly if he will take the pains to find\nvigorously wholesome and appropriate ones. May we repeat the warning\nthat stories ought not to be told merely to fill out the hour, nor to\ntickle the ears of the class, but to intensify and heighten the truths\ncontained in our lessons.\n\nIncluded under the heading _Incident_ may be listed short poems and all\nkinds of literary bits that fit in appropriately as spice to a lesson.\nOn the subject Prayer, the following are some possibilities:\n\nUnder question I, \"What is prayer?\" the hymn, \"Prayer Is the Soul's\nSincere Desire.\"\n\n    Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,\n      Uttered or unexpressed;\n    The motion of a hidden fire\n      That trembles in the breast.\n\n    Prayer is the burden of a sigh,\n      The falling of a tear,\n    The upward glancing of an eye,\n      When none but God is near.\n\n    Prayer is the simplest form of speech\n      That infant lips can try;\n    Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach\n      The Majesty on high.\n\n    Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,\n      The Christian's native air;\n    His watchword at the gates of death;\n      He enters heav'n with prayer.\n\n    Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice\n      Returning from his ways,\n    While angels in their songs rejoice,\n      And cry, \"Behold, he prays!\"\n\n    The Saints in prayer appear as one\n      In word and deed and mind,\n    While with the Father and the Son\n      Their fellowship they find.\n\n    Nor prayer is made on earth alone,--\n      The Holy Spirit pleads,\n    And Jesus, on the Father's throne,\n      For sinners intercedes.\n\n    O thou by whom we come to God,\n      The Life, the Truth, the Way!\n    The path of prayer Thyself has trod;\n      Lord, teach us how to pray!\n\nThe two songs: \"Sweet Hour of Prayer,\" \"Did You Think to Pray?\"\n\n   \"For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart, yea, the song of\n   the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a\n   blessing upon their heads.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 25:12.)\n\nThe following selection:\n\n   \"Prayer--sweet breath from out a joyous heart wafting gratitude to\n   Heaven.\n\n   \"Prayer--a sacred confidence between a fearful soul and God.\n\n   \"Prayer--a holy balm which soothes and heals the scars in a wounded\n   breast.\n\n   \"Prayer--an angel's kiss on the longing lips of loneliness.\n\n   \"Prayer--a rod that bars the way between the human soul and sin.\n\n   \"Prayer--a choking sob of anguish from pain-drawn lips in plea for\n   help.\"\n\nUnder question II. \"Why should I pray?\"\n\n   \"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the\n   world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy\n   sacraments upon my holy day.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 59:9.)\n\n   \"Pray always that you enter not into temptation, that you may abide\n   the day of his coming, whether in life or in death. Even so. Amen.\"\n   (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 61:39.)\n\n   \"Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be\n   spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit, and in this there\n   is no condemnation, and ye receive the Spirit through prayer;\n   wherefore, without this there remaineth condemnation.\" (Doc. & Cov.,\n   Sec. 63:64.)\n\n   \"The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth,\n   and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the\n   earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands\n   shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth;\n\n   \"Yea, a voice crying--Prepare ye the way of the Lord, prepare ye the\n   supper of the Lamb, make ready for the Bridegroom;\n\n   \"Pray unto the Lord, call upon his holy name, make known his\n   wonderful works among the people;\n\n   \"Call upon the Lord, that his kingdom may go forth upon the earth,\n   that the inhabitants thereof may receive it, and be prepared for the\n   days to come, in the which the Son of man shall come down in heaven,\n   clothed in the brightness of his glory, to meet the kingdom of God\n   which is set up on the earth;\n\n   \"Wherefore may the kingdom of God go forth, that the kingdom of\n   heaven may come, that thou, O God, mayest be glorified in heaven so\n   on earth, that thy enemies may be subdued; for thine is the honor,\n   power and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec.\n   65:2-6.)\n\n   \"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the Spirit indeed\n   is willing, but the flesh is weak.\" (Matt. 26:42.)\n\nThe following incidents were related by a member of the B.Y.U. Course\nand are typical of scores of others available for this lesson:\n\n   _Brother Hunter's Account of the Manifestation of the Successor to\n   the Prophet Joseph_\n\n   \"There was a great deal of discussion among the brethren and sisters\n   as to who should lead the Church; some thought it should be the\n   Prophet's son; some, one of his counselors, and some the President of\n   the Quorum of the Twelve. I was at a loss to come to any conclusion.\n   It worried me considerably and I prayed earnestly that God would make\n   known to me who it should be, but without avail.\n\n   \"I went to the meeting that had been called and listened thoughtfully\n   to what was said and done. The longer I listened the more mystified I\n   became. I bowed my head in my hands and prayed for God to give me\n   understanding. While I was in this attitude, Brother Brigham arose to\n   speak, I suppose. I heard a voice--the Prophet's voice as natural and\n   true as I ever heard it. I raised up quickly, fully expecting to see\n   the Prophet, and I did. There he stood and there he spoke. I listened\n   breathlessly. The form of the Prophet gradually changed to that of\n   Brother Brigham, but the voice was not Brother Brigham's. It was\n   still the Prophet's. Then beside Brother Brigham I saw the Prophet,\n   who turned toward the speaker and smiled. My heart beat rapidly with\n   joy and I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Brother Brigham was\n   called of God to lead the Church.\"\n\n   _Brother Huntsman's Baby Healed_\n\n   \"A fine, plump baby girl had come to the Huntsman home. As weeks and\n   months passed and the child failed to use its lower limbs, a doctor\n   was called and pronounced the trouble infantile paralysis. He said\n   that it would never walk, for experience had showed that whenever\n   this affliction affected the lower part of the body the medical\n   profession could not cure it.\n\n   \"The Huntsman people were faithful Latter-day Saints and did not give\n   up hope, but called in the Elders. After a time conference was held\n   at Shelley and Elder David O. McKay and one other of the general\n   Church authorities were in attendance--I don't remember who. After\n   the afternoon session the child was administered to. While sealing\n   the anointing, Brother McKay promised the child the use of its limbs\n   and every organ of the body.\n\n   \"That night it began to move them, and the next morning stood alone\n   by the aid of chairs. In a few days it walked, although being fairly\n   fleshy. Soon after I moved away from Shelley, but a year or so\n   afterwards I had occasion to go to Idaho Falls and there I met\n   Brother and Sister Huntsman. The child was with them and ran and\n   played as other children.\"\n\n   _A Psychology Student Receives Aid_\n\n   \"A friend of mine who was a student in an eastern university told the\n   following incident of how the Lord came to his aid.\n\n   \"The psychology class while studying the relationship of the brain to\n   life and intelligence entered into a discussion as to the nature of\n   intelligence, and in some way the teachings of the Prophet Joseph\n   Smith were brought into the discussion and jeered at, by all members\n   except my friend, who was a \"Mormon.\" His defense brought forth\n   ridicule and intensified the discussion.\n\n   \"As the class period had expired without completing the argument, a\n   week from that day was the time set to complete it. Of course, my\n   friend felt that he should do all possible to defend the attitude of\n   the Church, so he studied, fasted and prayed, to secure the aid of\n   inspiration, for he well knew that nothing but scientific proof would\n   be accepted.\n\n   \"The day came and he realized that he was illy prepared, but still\n   hoped for divine assistance. During the giving of evidence to dispose\n   of the existence of intelligence separate from the workings of the\n   brain, and ridiculing the existence of a spirit, he prayed silently\n   and earnestly.\n\n   \"His turn came and he arose to speak. After the opening sentences he\n   glanced down on the paper for his evidence and found a strange\n   handwriting there. He says a peculiar power took possession of him.\n   He spoke rapidly and fluently, he declared, without comprehending or\n   at least remembering what he said. As he finished, his own writing\n   was on the paper and he knew not what had been spoken, but there was\n   no evidence offered to offset it.\n\n   \"The professor asked him to give the names of the books from which he\n   obtained his points, and on being told that God gave them to him, he\n   replied, 'It's strange, but I can't believe such nonsense.'\"\n\nUnder question III. \"How should I pray?\"\n\nThe Lord's Prayer as a pattern.\n\nThe prayer in Gethsemane.\n\nThe Bee-Keeper's prayer--1920, June number of _Young Woman's Journal_.\n\n   \"And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well as in\n   thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as\n   well as in private.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 19:28.)\n\n   \"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye\n   pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.\" (Mark\n   11:24.)\n\n   \"At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say unto you, that I will\n   pray the Father for you.\" (John 16:26.)\n\nUnder question IV. \"When should I pray?\"\n\n   \"He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he\n   shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his\n   righteousness.\" (Job 33:26.)\n\n   \"And now concerning the residue, let them journey and declare the\n   world among the congregations of the wicked, inasmuch as it is\n   given.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 61:33.)\n\n   \"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you: seek me diligently\n   and ye shall find me; ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be\n   opened unto you;\n\n   \"Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you,\n   that is expedient for you.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88:63-64.)\n\n   \"Pray always that you enter not into temptation, that you may abide\n   the day of his coming, whether in life or in death.\" (Doc. & Cov.,\n   Sec. 61:39.)\n\n   \"Therefore let the Church take heed and pray always, lest they fall\n   into temptation.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 20:33.)\n\n   \"Behold, I manifest unto you, Joseph Knight, by these words, that you\n   must take up your cross, in the which you must pray vocally before\n   the world as well as in secret, and in your family, and among your\n   friends, and in all places.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 23:6.)\n\n   \"Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save.\n\n   \"Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him;\n\n   \"Cry unto him when ye are in your fields; yea, over all your flocks;\n\n   \"Cry unto him in your houses; yea, over all your household, both\n   morning, mid-day and evening;\n\n   \"Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies;\n\n   \"Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all\n   righteousness.\n\n   \"Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in\n   them:\n\n   \"Cry over the flocks in your fields, that they may increase.\n\n   \"But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets,\n   and your secret places, and in your wilderness;\n\n   \"Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full,\n   drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also\n   for the welfare of those who are around you.\n\n   \"And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose\n   that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn\n   away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted,\n   and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need;\n   I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer\n   is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do\n   deny the faith;\n\n   \"Therefore, if ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross,\n   which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth), and is\n   trodden underfoot of men.\" (Alma 34:18-29.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XVI\n\n1. Why need we illustrate general truths?\n\n2. Discuss the value of having pupils draw up their own maps.\n\n3. Give out of your own experience illustrations of the force of\npictures.\n\n4. Point out the value in teaching of appealing to more than one of the\nsenses.\n\n5. Discuss the importance of good stories in teaching.\n\n6. What are the characteristics of a good illustrative story?\n\n7. Take an ordinarily commonplace subject and show how to illustrate it.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThose listed in Chapter XIV.\n\nAlso _Pictures in Religious Education_, by Frederica Beard.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nTHE AIM\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XVII\n\n     Two illustrations of the value of an aim.--Significance of the aim\n     in religious training.--Inadequacy of eleventh-hour\n     preparation.--The teacher's obligation to see through facts to\n     truths that lie beyond.\n\n     What an aim is.--Illustration.--How to determine the aim.--How to\n     express it.\n\n\nThe late Jacob Riis, noted author and lecturer, used to tell a very\ninspirational story on the force of having something to focus attention\nupon. According to his story, certain men who lived just outside of\nChicago, in its early history, had great difficulty walking to and from\nwork during stormy weather, because of the almost impassably muddy\nconditions of the sidewalks. After trudging through mud and slush for a\nlong time, they conceived the idea of laying a plank walk through the\nworst sections. And so they laid two six-inch planks side by side. The\nscheme helped wonderfully, except on short winter days when the men had\nto go to work in the darkness of early morning and return in the\ndarkness of evening. It often was so dark that they would step off the\nplanks, and once off they were about as muddy as if there had been no\nwalk at all. Finally someone suggested the idea that if a lantern were\nhung up at each end of the walk it would then be easy to fix the eye\nupon the lantern and keep on the walk. The suggestion was acted upon,\nand thereafter the light of the lantern did hold them to the plank.\nJacob Riis argued that the lantern of an ideal held aloft would\nsimilarly hold young men in life's path of righteousness.\n\nA similar story is told of a farmer who experienced great difficulty in\nkeeping a particular hen inside the run which he had built outside the\nhen house. He had put up a wire fence high enough, as he thought, to\nkeep in the most ambitious chicken. In fact, he argued that no hen could\nfly over it. One hen persisted in getting out regularly, though the\nfarmer could never discover how she did it. Finally he decided to lay\nfor her (she laid for him regularly). To his great surprise, he watched\nher walk around the run carefully surveying it as she proceeded. At\nlength she caught sight of a beam running along the top of the wire just\nabove the gate. With her eye fixed upon it she made one mighty effort\nand was over.\n\nThe moral of the two stories is self-evident. Both hens and men can \"go\nover\" if they have something to aim at. It is so in life generally, and\nwhat is true of life generally is particularly true in the matter of\nteaching. The aim is one of the most significant features in the\nteaching process.\n\nThe teacher who knows where he is going can always get followers.\n\nImportant as is the aim in all educational endeavor, it is doubly so in\nreligious training. We teach religiously not merely to build up facts or\nmake for mental power; we teach to mold character. We should see through\nfacts, therefore, to the fundamental truth lying behind and beyond them.\nSuch a truth constitutes an aim in religious instruction.\n\nOne of the most regrettable facts connected with some of our teaching is\nthat teachers leave the preparation of their lessons until the few\nminutes just preceding their recitation hour. They then hurry through a\nmass of facts, rush into class and mull over these dry husks, unable in\nthe rush even to see the kernel of truth lying within. Little wonder\npupils tire of such rations. It is the teacher's obligation to \"see\nthrough\" and discover the gems that really make lessons worth while.\n\nForty-five minutes once a week is so meagre an allotment of time for the\nteaching of the greatest principles of life! Surely every one of those\nminutes should be sacredly guarded for the consideration of vital\ntruths. The aim, coupled with careful organization, is one of the best\nsafeguards possible.\n\nThe aim is the great focus for a lesson's thought. It is the center\nabout which all else revolves. It specifies what shall be included and\nwhat excluded out of the great mass of available material. A single\nchapter of scripture may contain truths enough for a dozen lessons, only\none of which can be treated in any one recitation. The aim singles out\nwhat can be appropriately grouped under one unified discussion.\n\nIf we turn, for instance, to the ninth chapter of Matthew, we find at\nleast eight different major incidents, each one deserving a lesson in\nitself. There is the case of:\n\n  The palsy.\n  The charge of blasphemy.\n  The glorifying of God by the multitude.\n  The calling of Matthew.\n  The statement that only the sick need the physician.\n  The case of new cloth and the old garment.\n  The raising of the daughter of Jairus.\n  The healing of the two blind men.\n\nIt is perfectly clear that all of these incidents could not be\nadequately considered in any one lesson. Assuming that the teacher is\nfree to handle this ninth chapter as he pleases, we are forced to the\nconclusion that knowing his class, as he does, he must choose that\nincident or that combination of incidents which will mean most in the\nlives of his pupils. In other words, he centers his attention upon one\nmajor central truth--his aim. By so doing he guards against wandering\nand inadequacy of treatment and makes for the unified presentation of\none forceful thought.\n\nIt ought to be pointed out here that every teacher must be the judge as\nto what constitutes for him the best aim. It is quite clear that any one\nteacher could find in this ninth chapter of Matthew at least four or\nfive worthy aims. Three different teachers could possibly find as many\nmore, each equally worthy of development. All other things being equal,\nthat aim is best which most completely and forcefully covers the chapter\nor passage in question. To illustrate: Suppose we are asked to teach a\nlesson on the Prodigal Son. One aim that could be chosen clearly is that\nof _jealousy_ on the part of the prodigal's brother. A second one might\nbe repentance, as typified in the action of the prodigal. Still a third\nmight be the compassion and forgiveness of the father, as typical of\nthose same qualities in our heavenly Father. Which, to you, is the most\nforceful and significant? That one to you is _your_ best aim.\n\nThe wording of the aim is a matter that gives rise to a good bit of\ndisagreement. There are those who maintain that if the aim announces the\nsubject as a sort of heading that is sufficient. Others contend that the\naim should crystallize into axiomatic form the thought of the lesson. Of\ncourse, the real force of the aim lies in its serving as the focus of\nthought. The wording of it is of secondary importance. And yet it is\nvery excellent practice to reduce to formal statement the truth to be\npresented. It is helpful to adopt the ruling that the aim should express\nboth a cause and a result. Perhaps an illustration would indicate the\ndifference between the aim stated as a mere heading, and stated fully\nand formally. Take the case of the daughter of Jairus already referred\nto,\n\n  _Mere Headings_:\n      Daughter of Jairus restored, or\n      The power of faith.\n\n  _Formal Aim_:\n      Implicit faith in God wins His choicest blessings.\n\nSurely the latter is a more significant expression and offers better\ntraining to the teacher than the setting down of mere headings.\n\nThe ability thus to crystallize out of a great variety of facts a single\nfocusing statement, coupled with the ability then to build about that\nstatement a clearly organized amplification, is the sign of a real\nteacher. Instead of generalizing further, let us turn to the questions\non this lesson where some laboratory exercises are set down calling for\nactual practice in the selection and justification of a number of aims.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XVII\n\n1. What is an aim?\n\n2. Why is it particularly essential to good religious teaching?\n\n3. What are the objections to \"eleventh-hour\" preparation?\n\n4. To what extent is a teacher handicapped in deciding upon an aim for\nanother teacher to follow?\n\n5. Turn to the following references and determine what possible aims\nmight be developed under each. Is any aim adequate for the whole\nreference? In each case which do you consider your best aim? Why? How\nmuch of the reference would you include in a single lesson?\n\nJohn, Chapter I; Isaiah, Chapter II; III Nephi, Chapter X; Doctrine &\nCovenants, Section 87.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nColgrove, _The Teacher and the School_; Betts, _How to Teach Religion_;\nDriggs, _The Art of Teaching_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nAPPLICATION\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XVIII\n\n     The question of application.--The matter a complex one.--Various\n     conceptions of the term as it affects the intellect, the emotions,\n     or the will.--Application may be immediate or delayed.--How to make\n     the application.--Illustrations.--Making the application and\n     moralizing.--Utah moral codes as objectives behind our teaching.\n\n\nApplication is one of the most important subjects in the whole range of\nreligious education. It is also one concerning which there are greater\nvarieties of opinions than concerning almost any other subject.\n\nWhat is application?\n\nHow is it made?\n\nIs it inherent in the lesson, or is it added as a sort of supplement to\nthe lesson?\n\nWhen is it best made?\n\nDoes it always involve action?\n\nThese questions are only typical of the uncertainty that exists relative\nto this term.\n\nApplication really goes to the very heart of all teaching. Colloquially\nexpressed, it raises the question in teaching, \"What's the use?\" Why\nshould certain subject matter be presented to a class? How are class\nmembers better for having considered particular facts? In short,\napplication involves the question, \"What is the _carry-over_ value of\nthe lesson?\"\n\nIt is impossible to dispose adequately of the matter of application in a\nsingle statement. It fairly epitomizes the whole process of teaching and\ntherefore is so comprehensive that it calls for analysis. The ultimate\npurpose behind teaching, of course, as behind all life, is salvation.\nBut salvation is not had in a day. It is not the result of a single act,\nnor does it grow out of particular thoughts and aspirations. Salvation\nis achieved as a sum total of all that we think, say, do, and _are_. Any\nlesson, therefore, that makes pupils better in thought, word, deed, or\nbeing, has had to that extent its application.\n\nApplication of a lesson involves, then, the making sure, on the part of\nthe teacher, that the truths taught carry over into the life of the\npupil and modify it for good. Someone has said that the application has\nbeen made when a pupil\n\n  \"Knows more,\n  Feels better,\n  Acts more nobly,\"\n\nas a result of the teaching done. There is a prevalent conception that\napplication has been made in a recitation only when pupils go out from a\nrecitation and translate the principle studied into immediate action.\nThere are lessons where such applications can be made and, of course,\nthey are to be commended. Particularly are they valuable in the case of\nyoung children. But surely there are other justifiable interpretations\nto the term application.\n\nWe need to remind ourselves that there are three distinct types of\nsubject matter that constitute the body of our teaching material. These\nare, first of all, those lessons which are almost wholly intellectual.\nDebates are conducted by the hundreds on subjects that lead not to\naction but to clearer judgment. Classes study subjects by the month for\nthe purpose of satisfying intellectual hunger. Such questions, for\ninstance, as \"Succession in the Presidency,\" or the \"Nature of the\nGodhead\"--questions gone into by thoroughly converted Latter-day\nSaints, not to bring themselves into the Church, nor to lead themselves\ninto any other kind of action except the satisfying of their own souls\nas to the truth. In other words, it appears clear that there may be\napplication on a purely intellectual level. Application upon application\nis made until a person builds up a structure of faith that stands upon\nthe rock in the face of all difficulties.\n\nA second type of lessons appeals to the emotions. They aim to make\npupils _feel_ better. They may or may not lead to immediate action.\nIdeally, of course, every worthy emotion aroused should find, if\npossible, suitable channels for expression. Pent up emotions may become\npositively harmful. The younger the pupils the more especially is this\ntrue. Practically every educator recognizes this fact and gives\nexpression to it in language similar to the following quotation from\nProfessor S.H. Clark:\n\n   \"Never awaken an emotion unless, at the same time, you strive to open\n   a channel through which the emotion may pass into the realm of\n   elevated action. If we are studying the ideals of literature,\n   religion, etc., with our class, we have failed in the highest duty of\n   teaching if we have not given them the ideal, if we have not given\n   them, by means of some suggestion, the opportunity for realizing the\n   ideal. If there is an emotion excited in our pupils through a talk on\n   ethics or sociology, it matters not, we fail in our duty, if we do\n   not take an occasion at once to guide that emotion so that it may\n   express itself in elevated action.\"\n\nAnd yet there is a question whether this insistence upon action may not\nbe exaggerated. Abraham Lincoln witnessed an auction sale of slaves in\nhis younger days. He did not go out immediately and issue an\nemancipation proclamation, and yet there are few who can doubt that that\nauction sale registered an application in an ideal that persisted in the\nmind of Lincoln through all those years preceding our great civil war.\n\nMany a man has been saved in the hour of temptation, in his later life,\nby the vividness of the recollection of sacred truths taught at his\nmother's knee. There may be just a little danger of cheapening the\nprocess of application if it is insisted that for every ideal impressed\nupon the minds of pupils there must be a corresponding immediate\nresponse in daily actions of the pupils taught. May not a wonderful\nimpression become the more wonderful as it is hallowed by the pondering\nof the mind through the maturing years of childhood and young manhood?\n\nFinally there is the lesson which, though it involves both the intellect\nand the emotions, appeals primarily to the will and calls for action.\nThere can be no question but that this is the type of lesson of greatest\nsignificance in religious education. We meet our pupils so infrequently,\nat best, that at most we can do but a fraction of what we should like to\ndo to modify their lives. Our concern is to change for the better their\nattitude and conduct, and therefore we must address ourselves to the\nproblems they face in the every-day life which they are to live between\nrecitations. As Betts in his _How to Teach Religion_ so well says:\n\n   \"In the last analysis the child does not come to us that he may learn\n   this or that set of facts, nor that he may develop such and such a\n   group of feelings, but that through these he may live better. The\n   final test of our teaching, therefore, is just like this: Because of\n   our instruction, does the child live differently here and now, as a\n   child, in all his multiform relations in the home, the school, the\n   church, the community, and in his own personal life? Are the lessons\n   we teach translated continuously into better conduct, finer acts, and\n   stronger character, as shown in the daily run of the learner's\n   experience?\n\n   \"It is true that the full fruits of our teaching and of the child's\n   learning must wait for time and experience to bring the individual to\n   fuller development. But it is also true that it is impossible for the\n   child to lay up a store of unused knowledge and have it remain\n   against a later time of need in a distant future. The only knowledge\n   that forms a vital part of our equipment is knowledge that is in\n   active service, guiding our thoughts and decisions from day to day.\n   Unused knowledge quickly vanishes away, leaving little more\n   permanent impression on the life than that left on the wave when we\n   plunge our hand into the water and take it out again. In similar way\n   the interests, ideals, and emotions which are aroused, without at the\n   same time affording a natural outlet for expression in deeds and\n   conduct, soon fade away without having fulfilled the purpose for\n   which they exist. The great thing in religious education is to find\n   immediate and natural outlet in expression, a way for the child to\n   use what he learns; to get the child to do those things pointed out\n   by the lessons we teach him.\"\n\nAs the teacher faces this \"carry-over\" problem he is impressed that he\nmust touch the lives of his pupils not only as individuals but as\nmembers of a social group. It becomes his obligation not only to direct\nthem in matters pertaining to their own welfare, physically,\nintellectually, and morally, but he has a responsibility in helping to\nestablish the standards of society to which individuals naturally\nsubscribe more or less unconsciously.\n\nThe strong teacher's influence can be made to affect the ideals of the\nathletic field, of the amusement hall, of the church, of the business\ncenter, and of the home. These agencies offer such a variety of\npossibilities that every lesson offers easily some avenue of\napplication. By way of illustration let us turn to a few subjects and\npoint out some possibilities in the matter of application. May it be\nsaid here, in passing, that the secret of making application lies in not\ngetting lost in the past so that we may walk along with our heads turned\nback over the shoulder of time pondering merely the things of the past.\nAll too often the teacher hurries over into the Holy Land of some four\nthousand years ago, leaving a class of twentieth century boys and girls\nhere at home to wonder what all that ancient material has to do with the\nproblems that confront them here and now. Not that we should ignore the\npast. Successful application lies in reaching back into the past for a\nsolution of today's difficulties. But the _solution_ is our great\nconcern. \"We look back that we may the better go forward.\"\n\nTo illustrate:\n\nA lesson on Cain and Abel may find its application in a solution of the\nproblems of the jealousy and selfishness that exist today. This story\nought not to be merely a recounting of murder. There is a little Cain--a\nlittle Abel--in all of us. Consider the case of the boy who smashed up\nhis brother's new sled as well as his own, because he couldn't keep up\nin coasting. The nature of the class will determine the particular\napplication. Or consider the story of Samson and Delilah: at first\nthought, a story with but little to contribute to a solution of today's\nproblems. Yet out of that story application can be made beautifully,\nthrough either of these two truths:\n\n   He who plays with sin will eventually be conquered by it; or,\n\n   Marrying outside one's church is attended by grave dangers.\n\nA lesson on helpfulness was once beautifully and rather dramatically\ngiven through the story of a rescue of a train. A lad was out at play on\na railroad track when he discovered that a recent storm had washed out\npart of the road bed. He remembered that the through passenger train was\ndue in a few minutes, and so rushed along the track and by frantically\nwaving his hat succeeded in stopping the train just in time to prevent a\nterrible catastrophe. A few well-directed questions called for the\npupils' own idea of application. They, too, would flag a train if such\nan occasion should arise. They could help people generally to guard\nagainst danger. They even carried the idea over into rendering any kind\nof service, about the home, at school, and elsewhere, as long as it was\nhelpful.\n\nAnd so illustrations could be multiplied. The important thing is that,\nhaving decided upon a central truth for a lesson, the teacher then\nconceives avenues whereby the truth may be carried over through action\ninto the lives of pupils. And, of course, he must see that they are\ndirected in setting about the action.\n\nThe question often arises, \"Isn't there danger of moralizing in making\nan application?\" or \"What is the difference between an application and\nmoralizing?\" Genuine and natural application ought to be inherent in the\nmaterial presented. A good story ought to drive home its message without\nfurther comment. Moralizing consists of \"tacking on\" some generalized\nexhortation relative to conduct. Moralizing is either an unnecessary and\nunwelcome injunction to be or to do good, or it is an apology for a\nlesson that in and of itself drives home no message. The school boy's\ndefinition of moralizing is helpful and suggestive:\n\n\"_Moralizing is rubbing goodness in unnecessarily._\"\n\nIn making application of truths presented, teachers naturally face the\nquestion as to what constitutes the fundamentals in character\ndevelopment that are to be achieved. As a sort of guide, the two Utah\ncodes of morals, one for children and one for youths, are rich in\nsuggestion, both for pupil and teacher. They are submitted herewith as\nhelpful in setting up the objectives toward which we are working:\n\n\n   CHILDREN'S CODE\n\n   I want to grow up to be wise and strong, happy and able to make\n   others happy, to love and to be loved, and to do my part in the\n   world's work.\n\n   During my infancy loving hands cared for me, gave me food, clothing\n   and shelter, and protected me from harm. I am grateful for this care,\n   and I want to be worthy of the love and confidence of my mother and\n   father and to do all I can to make them happy.\n\n   I will be obedient to my parents and teachers; they are wiser than I\n   and thoughtful of my welfare.\n\n   I have already learned that good health is necessary to strength and\n   happiness, and that in order to be well and to grow strong, I must\n   have good, wholesome food, ample exercise and sleep, and abundant\n   pure water and fresh air--nature's free gifts to all.\n\n   My whole body I will keep clean and each part of it as sound as good\n   care can make it.\n\n   I will have respect for all useful work, both mental and physical. I\n   must learn to be helpful that I may know the joy of service and the\n   dignity of work well done.\n\n   I will begin now to earn some of the things I use. I must learn how\n   to spend, and how to be generous.\n\n   Waste is the mother of want, and even though the want may not be\n   mine, if I am extravagant I am likely to bring suffering to others.\n   Waste of time is as wrong as waste of things; I will not be an idler.\n\n   I will not put unnecessary burdens upon my associates by untidy,\n   careless habits; orderly ways save my own time and things as well as\n   those of others.\n\n   I will take thought for the comfort and welfare of our animal friends\n   and will always avoid cruelty.\n\n   I will strive for courage to speak the truth and for strength to be\n   fair in all my work and play, to be true to my word and faithful to\n   my trust. I hate lying and cheating; they are signs of cowardice and\n   greed. I will not seek pleasure or profit at the cost of my\n   self-respect. I will be considerate of the rights and feeling of\n   others as I would have them respect mine.\n\n   I will try to control my temper and to be cheerful, kind, and\n   courteous in all my dealings.\n\n   I will strive to be pure in thought, speech and action.\n\n   My country has provided laws and civil officers to protect me,\n   schools for my instruction, and many other aids to a happy, useful\n   life. I am grateful for these benefits and will show my patriotism by\n   obeying the laws and defending my country against evils, both within\n   and without.\n\n   I will keep my eyes and ears open to enjoy the world about me, and my\n   mind alert to understand and appreciate the good things mankind has\n   provided for me--science and art, poetry and music, history and\n   story.\n\n   May God, the kind and loving Father, help me all my life to see the\n   right way and to follow it.\n\n\n   MORAL CODE FOR YOUTHS\n\n   I am happy to be a member of that great human society which has\n   accumulated all the treasures of civilization. I have benefited by\n   the united labors of all mankind; for this I owe a debt of gratitude\n   to humanity, a debt I can pay only by serving that humanity to the\n   fullest extent of my ability. Through small services freely given\n   toward the comfort and happiness of my associates, I may grow in\n   power of usefulness and in my turn contribute to the welfare of the\n   generations that are to come.\n\n   My body is the instrument of my mind and the foundation of my\n   character. Every organ must be conserved to perform its proper\n   function in the development and perfection of my life. I will,\n   therefore, eat only wholesome food, breathe pure air, take ample\n   exercise and sleep, and keep my body clean and sound. To this end, I\n   will refrain from the use of intoxicating drinks, narcotics and\n   stimulants; these lend only a seeming strength, but in reality they\n   undermine my powers of service and of lasting happiness. By\n   abstaining from these indulgences I can, moreover, help others to\n   abstain, and thereby increase their strength and happiness. By\n   temperate living and plenty of exercise in the open I can preserve my\n   health and the more easily refrain from evil thoughts and evil deeds.\n\n   I will not pollute my body or that of another by any form of\n   self-indulgence or perverse yielding to passion. Such indulgence is a\n   desecration of the fountains of life and an insult to the dignity of\n   manhood and womanhood.\n\n   Through the formation of sane, health-promoting habits I can avoid\n   having my usefulness diminished and my happiness impaired by the\n   consequences of my own folly.\n\n   I will be modest in dress and manner, that I may in no wise encourage\n   sensuality.\n\n   I will be thoughtful of the effects of my actions and so restrain\n   myself that no act of mine may mar the life or detract from the\n   happiness of my associates or of my successors.\n\n   I will deal honestly, fairly and kindly with my fellows--always\n   mindful that their lives and their happiness are as sacred to them as\n   mine are to me.\n\n   I will avoid impatience and ill temper and will endeavor to be\n   courteous always.\n\n   I will try to save individuals rather than to condemn them, even\n   though their evil deeds must be condemned and offenders punished.\n\n   I will have respect for the time of my fellows as I respect their\n   property.\n\n   I will not engage in games of chance, since I do not desire reward at\n   the expense of others.\n\n   In all my dealings I will strive for courage to speak the truth; I\n   despise cowardice and lying. I will do what I know to be right,\n   though others may ridicule or scorn me.\n\n   I will be personally responsible for all that I do, and, recognizing\n   my limited wisdom, I will ever seek Divine Guidance to lead me in the\n   right way.\n\n   I will strive for independence of judgment, but with due regard for\n   the superior wisdom of my elders. I must grant to my fellows the same\n   right of independent judgment that I claim for myself.\n\n   Whatever I undertake I will do with my might, and, win or lose,\n   accept the result with good cheer. I would rather be worthy of\n   success than to secure it unworthily.\n\n   I will be prompt and orderly in all my affairs, otherwise I become a\n   hindrance to social efficiency. I will avoid waste and extravagance\n   lest I bring needless privation and suffering to others as well as to\n   myself.\n\n   It is my privilege to have a part in the world's work--a part I must\n   choose and perform with all diligence. \"What can I do best that\n   society needs most?\" When I have answered this question I will pursue\n   my vocation intelligently and energetically; first, as a means of\n   service to my fellow-men; and second, as a means of self-support and\n   aid to those that may be dependent upon me.\n\n   May the love and appreciation I have for my country never be\n   dishonored by any act of lawlessness or want of loyalty, but may I\n   ever honor, uphold and obey the law and defend my country against\n   unrighteousness, injustice and violence. When it becomes my privilege\n   to vote I will use the right of suffrage as a patriotic means of\n   co-operating with my fellow citizens for the promotion of social\n   justice, peace and progress. Should I be called to public office, I\n   will strive for moral courage to exercise authority in accord with\n   justice and humanity; and, whether in or out of office, I will\n   respond freely to every opportunity for public service.\n\n   I am grateful for the beauties of nature and for the great works of\n   art, music, literature and science, it is my privilege to enjoy.\n   These I will seek to understand and appreciate, that I may cultivate\n   broader sympathies and fellowship with mankind, the world, and the\n   Creator of all.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XVIII\n\n1. How does application go to the very heart of teaching?\n\n2. Discuss the various conceptions of the term.\n\n3. Distinguish between immediate and delayed application.\n\n4. Discuss the possibility of intellectual application.\n\n5. How can applications best be made?\n\n6. When can applications best be made?\n\n7. Distinguish between making an application and moralizing.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nWeigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_; Betts, _How to Teach\nReligion_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a Teacher_; Betts, _The\nRecitation_; Strayer and Norsworthy, _How to Teach_; Thorndike,\n_Principles of Teaching_; Colgrove, _The Teacher and the School_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nMETHODS OF THE RECITATION\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XIX\n\n     The question of method raised.--Danger of an entire disregard of\n     method.--The case of the \"born\" teacher.--Sound pedagogy largely a\n     matter of common sense.--Danger of being committed to a single\n     method.--The five possible methods: The Story Method; Reading\n     'Round; The Special Topic; The Lecture; The Discussion.\n\n\nTwo of the most practical questions that a teacher ever has to solve\nare:\n\nHow shall I go about to prepare a lesson?\n\nHaving prepared a lesson, how shall I set about to teach it to my class?\n\nThe first of these questions has already been discussed in preceding\nchapters; the second now calls for our consideration.\n\nIs there a _one best method_? If so, what is it? What steps does it\ninvolve? Instead of answering these questions directly, perhaps it will\nbe better to point out the various methods of the recitation, set down\ntheir characteristics and relative values, and then formulate a\nconclusion.\n\nAt the outset it may be advisable to sound two notes of warning. One is\nagainst an entire disregard of methods. There are those persons who\nbelieve that teachers are born, not made, and that therefore a\ndiscussion of methods is useless. The born teacher, say these persons,\njust teaches naturally according to his own personality. To change his\nmethod would be to destroy his effectiveness. If he isn't a teacher then\nthe study of methods will not make him one. In either case work done on\nmethods is lost.\n\nOf course, experience refutes both contentions. It is admittedly true\nthat great teachers are born to their work--that some individuals just\nnaturally impress others and stimulate them to high ideals. And yet\nthere is no one so gifted that he cannot improve through a study of the\ngame he is to play. Most great athletes are by nature athletic. And yet\nevery one of them trains to perfect himself. The best athletes America\nsent to the Olympic games were wonderfully capable men, but they were\nwonderfully trained men, as well. They had studied the _methods_ of\ntheir particular sports. Great singers are born with great vocal\npotentialities, but the greatest singers become so as the result of\nthorough training. _Methods_ elevate them to fame. What is true of the\nother arts ought also to be true of teaching.\n\nAs to the class of teachers not born to the calling, it seems perfectly\nclear that here is the great opportunity for a study of the fundamentals\nunderlying good teaching. Sound pedagogy is just a matter of good,\ncommon sense. Any normal person by studying how to do anything ought in\nthe end to come to do that thing better than if he ignored it. I may not\nknow how to operate an automobile. But if I study how to operate one, if\nI observe those who do know how, and if I practice operating one--surely\nI shall come to be more efficient as a chauffeur.\n\nBut while many will admit that this law of development applies in the\nmechanical world, they hold that there is something mystic about\nteaching for which only a pedagogical birthright is a solution. The\nfallacy of such a contention seems too evident to call for argument. At\nleast the only sensibly hopeful view to take in such a Church as ours,\nin which so many members must perforce be called to be teachers, is that\npower in teaching can be developed as it can in any other field of\nendeavor.\n\nThe other bit of warning applies to the kind of teacher who is\nunalterably committed to a single method, not only as the best method,\nbut the only one worth following. Method depends so essentially on the\npersonality of the teacher, on the nature of the pupils taught, and on\nthe subject matter to be presented, that it is a very dangerous thing to\nsay that, in spite of circumstances, one method is invariably the best\nmethod.\n\nLet us, then, turn to the different methods and consider their relative\nvalues. Five possibilities immediately suggest themselves:\n\n  1. The story method.\n  2. The \"reading 'round\" method.\n  3. The special topic method.\n  4. The lecture method.\n  5. The discussion method, built up through questions and answers.\n\n1. _The Story Method._ The story is the method for childhood. \"All the\nworld loves a story.\" Children certainly are a part of that world. How\nthey thrill in response to the appeal of a good story. Their little\nsouls fairly seem to open to receive it. What an opportunity--what a\nsacred trust--is the teacher's as he undertakes to satisfy that soul\nhunger! The subject, the story, has been so fully gone into by Brother\nDriggs in his book, _The Art of Teaching_, that we need not attempt to\ndiscuss it fully here. Then, too, so many other excellent books have\nbeen written on the art of the story that the teacher need only be\nreferred to them. Suffice it here to make two observations in passing.\nThe best stories for purposes of religious instruction should possess\nfour essential characteristics:\n\nPoint--Brevity--Message--Adaptation to the experience of pupils.\n\nAnd, of course, this message should be a truth appropriate to the\noccasion--a message heightened by the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus\nChrist.\n\nThe second observation has to do with the telling of the story.\nNaturally it should be well told. But the story hour should not be one\nof mere telling. The child, in addition to listening to the story,\nshould be given opportunity to express its reaction to the story\ntold--should be directed in discovering the avenue through which it will\ncarry into action the emotion aroused by the story.\n\n2. _The \"Reading 'Round\" Method._ The old idea of a class coming\ntogether and sitting through a process of reading in turn from the one\nbook in the class as it was passed about is largely a thing of the past.\nLet us hope that the day when neither teacher nor pupil prepared his\nlesson is gone forever. Surely \"reading 'round\" is a poor substitute for\npreparation. And it clearly is a dull, routine method of procedure. But\nthere was one merit attached to it that is worthy our consideration. It\ndid bring the scriptures into the hands of our pupils. Whatever method\nwe may follow, this contact with the actual word of the Lord is a\nvaluable asset. We cannot advocate resorting to the old notion of\n\"reading 'round\" as an apology for a recitation, but we can well point\nout the merit of seeing to it that pupils see and read the scriptures.\nIf the lesson can be so conducted that reading is indulged in as a\nsupplementary laboratory exercise--a turning through of gems that entice\nthe reader to make further study of the book--then reading can be made a\nvery valuable factor in the teaching process. Then, too, it is\neducational just to have members of a class turn through the scriptures\nto know what they are--what books are involved and where they may be\nfound. Ignorance with respect to the scriptures is alarmingly prevalent.\nThe following report taken from the _New York Tribune_ relative to a\nsimple test in Bible literature, given by an Eastern university to 139\nstudents, is significant:\n\n\"Out of 139 only 12 reached 75%; 90 received less than 50%; 10 could not\nname a single book of the Old Testament. Some who did spelled them\nSalms, Joob, etc. Some named Paul, Babylonians, and Gentiles as Old\nTestament books.\"\n\nSurely much might be said in favor of the use of books in our classes.\n\n3. _The Special Topic Method._ Much can be said both for and against the\ntopic method. At least three objections to its use can be raised:\n\nA. It makes for piece-meal preparation. The lesson is partitioned off\ninto segments, one of which may be prepared by a particular pupil who\ndoes not concern himself at all with the rest of the lesson. This\nmethod, therefore, encourages fragmentary and incomplete preparation.\n\nB. It makes for a disconnected presentation which makes it quite\nimpossible for pupils to get a unified conception of the whole lesson.\nThis is doubly bad, because of the fact that frequently those who are\nassigned parts absent themselves from class.\n\nC. It often results in dull, commonplace recitations. All too\nfrequently, especially if topic assignments are the usual method of\nprocedure, those pupils given the various topics to work up content\nthemselves with very meagre preparation. They come to class, therefore,\nand merely run over so many facts wholly without inspiration and often\nby constant reference to notes or the text.\n\nOf course, these difficulties can be overcome largely by the judicious\nuse of the topic method. It ought not generally to be followed as the\nregular order of business, but rather as a supplementary means of\nenriching the lesson. It ought not to be used so as to excuse all class\nmembers from regular preparation of the lesson as a whole. If the\nteacher will assign the lesson proper to all of the class and then\nselect certain aspects--certain suggested problems--for more intensive\nresearch, the reports on special topics can be made to contribute\nwonderfully to the richness of the class hour. The topic method, then,\nis primarily a supplemental method, and if wisely used has these\nadvantages:\n\nA. It makes for an enriched lesson. It makes possible expert opinion,\nand the results of special, careful investigation which the class as a\nwhole would be unable to make.\n\nB. It lends variety to class procedure and guarantees that the teacher\nwill not do all the talking.\n\nC. It fosters individual expression. It trains pupils to formulate an\nattack, to organize findings, and to stand and deliver a connected and\nwell thought out message.\n\nD. It promotes a habit of investigation--it leads pupils to work out for\nthemselves the problems of the Gospel which they encounter.\n\n4. _The Lecture Method._ The comment of a student of the Brigham Young\nUniversity on the lecture method was unique: \"The lecture method\nwouldn't be so bad if a teacher really lectured--he usually just talks.\nAnd talking a lot when you haven't much to say is pretty discouraging to\na class.\"\n\nAimless talking which indulges in the main in vague generalities can\nnever be justified. _Preaching_ presumes a pulpit and has little place\nin classwork. The teacher who persists in talking most of the time\novervalues his own thoughts and minimizes the ideas of others. Much\ntalking stifles initiative and independent thinking. Then, too, it gives\nno opportunity for developing pupils' power of self-expression and\nprovides no means for the teacher to check the reaction going on in the\npupils' minds--assuming that one goes on! It is astonishing what\nerroneous notions members of a class can get from merely hearing a\nlesson presented. Given a chance to express their conclusions, they will\nthemselves correct many of their false impressions.\n\nThere are occasions, however, when a lecture is extremely valuable.\nFrequently after several weeks of discussion a class is hungry to hear\n\"the truth about the matter.\" There is then afforded a splendid\nopportunity for the teacher to drive home a real message. Then, too,\nspecialists, because of their advanced study on a particular subject,\ncan often present in an hour the results of years of investigation.\n\nFurthermore, in a lecture, the teacher can make an emotional appeal\nwhich is practically out of the question in other methods. His\nenthusiasm and conviction can be made to \"carry\" his pupils to the\ncontemplation of new truths. Used with discretion, the _real lecture_ is\na valuable asset in teaching; indulged in regularly as _mere talking_ or\n_preaching_, the method ought certainly to be discouraged.\n\n5. _The Discussion Method._ This method, built upon questions and their\nanswers, is commendable for its democracy and because of the fact that\nit stimulates both thought and discussion on the part of most if not all\nof the pupils. Questions are so vital to good teaching that Chapter XXI\nwill be devoted to their consideration. Suffice it to say here that for\nall practical purposes it is the basis of the best teaching. Discussions\nmake it possible to reach pupils \"Where they are\"--make it possible for\neveryone to contribute of his experience to everyone else.\n\nThe one outstanding difficulty with the discussion method lies in the\nfact that it calls for such skilful direction. It so easily runs off on\ntangents that the teacher is kept on his mettle holding to the subject\nin hand.\n\nAfter all, each method has its advantages and its disadvantages. There\nare times when any one of them can be profitably used; it is clear that\nany one of them can be abused--can be made more or less monotonous.\nPerhaps we can wisely conclude that, \"_The best method is a variety of\nmethods._\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XIX\n\n1. Why is it essential that teachers study methods of the recitation?\n\n2. What method do you regularly follow? Why?\n\n3. To what extent is it that a born teacher teaches without method?\n\n4. What is pedagogy?\n\n5. Discuss the relative value of each of the five methods listed in this\nchapter.\n\n6. Discuss the statement, \"The best method is a variety of methods.\"\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nBetts, _How to Teach Religion_; Betts, _The Recitation_; Earhart, _Types\nof Teaching_; Bagley, _Classroom Management_; Strayer and Norsworthy,\n_How to Teach_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nREVIEW AND PREVIEW\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XX\n\n     The need of review in our Church teaching.--Review a real help to\n     learning in that it makes for: repetition, proper connection,\n     proper evaluation of truth.\n\n     An intelligent review is the result only of thorough preparation on\n     the part of the teacher.--Assignment and preparation.--Ability to\n     make assignments a test of good teaching.\n\n     Characteristics of a good assignment: It is definite.--It raises a\n     problem.--It connects with the experience of pupils.--It stimulates\n     to action.\n\n     General and specific assignments.--When to make assignments.\n\n\nEach organization within the Church follows regularly its own course of\nstudy. At the beginning of the year it sets out upon a prescribed\nsubject subdivided according to the number of meetings scheduled for the\nyear's work. As a result, no one lesson stands out independent of all\nothers, but rather fits in naturally in a sequence of chapters each of\nwhich develops some aspects of one big subject. Because of such a plan\nthe matters of review and preview take on vital significance. Each\nlesson should be made to link up naturally with what has already been\npresented and should point out by way of anticipation what is to follow.\nMany educators maintain that the ability to conduct a good review and to\nmake an effective assignment are two of the surest tests of a good\nteacher.\n\nThe problem of review is really one of the most fundamental processes in\neducation. It is the great key to learning. Anyone who has enjoyed the\nfun of teaching young children how to read has been impressed with the\nfact that the child has to be led to see and repeat the simplest words\nover and over again before they are really mastered. It is really\nastonishing how many times as simple a word as \"ran\" has to be repeated\nbefore the beginner in reading gets it fully into his consciousness.\nThis very difficulty of teaching mere words or letters has led to the\nabandonment of the old \"A-B-C\" drill as the first step in reading, and\nthe substitution for it of an indirect method wherein, through the laws\nof association, groups of words and sentences are mastered as the\nsymbols which express concrete and objectified ideas. But by way of\nexperiment, one of the most impressive experiences open to teachers is\nto take a child of four or five that has not been taught to read and\nattempt to drill into its consciousness a group of half a dozen words as\nsimple as these: cat, fan, hat, get, man, jam. To the teacher who has\nattempted such an experiment no argument is necessary to prove the\nsignificance of review and repetition.\n\nReview, then, first of all, is vitally essential because it makes\npossible impression through repetition which insures the fixing of\nideas. Literally, review means to view again. Psychologically it is to\nrepeat the processes of mind which were called into operation the first\ntime the stimulus in question started a mental reaction. The nervous\nsystem of man is so constituted that in the acquirement of knowledge,\neach time the nerve centers react to the same stimulus, the tendency so\nto react becomes stronger, under the mere presence of the stimulus,\nstarts up an automatic sort of reaction, and we say that the child knows\nthe meaning of the object constituting the stimulus.\n\nNot only is review thus essential in the beginning of the learning\nprocess with children, but it remains a vital factor as long as men and\nwomen undertake to learn. Review guarantees recall, and recall\nre-establishes \"nerve connections\" to the permanent fixing of\nimpressions. Very little of our knowledge remains ours to a purpose\nunless it is gone over and over until it is thoroughly established. A\ntruth that is taught in a Mutual lesson on a particular Tuesday night,\nbut which is never referred to again, and therefore never recalled, very\nlikely will soon be gone out of consciousness and usefulness. Those\ntruths and facts which are of greatest functioning value to us are those\nwhich we continue to run over in our minds and ponder. The reinforcement\nof review is what establishes our permanent working stock of truth.\n\nNot only is review valuable as a matter of recall, but it makes for an\nenrichment of mental content which is altogether desirable. The real art\nof review lies in calling up an old truth in a new setting. Upon second\nperusal it is seen in skilful review from a slightly different angle so\nthat each recall adds a reinforcement that makes for a clinching of\nthought which makes it permanent. It very often happens that the first\ntime an idea is called to our attention it means but little, because our\nmental reaction is limited in the particular field of the presentation;\nthe same idea in a new setting more in keeping with our experience may\ntake on an entirely different significance. That teaching is best,\ntherefore, which presents truth from the greatest number of angles\npossible, thereby guaranteeing the richest kind of associations in the\nminds of pupils.\n\nAnother value that attaches to the review lies in the fact that it makes\npossible proper connection between new material and old. It is axiomatic\nin teaching that pupils learn new truths and take on new experiences, in\nterms of the old. Teaching that unfolds--that develops new ideas that\nare built upon those already understood--is the kind of teaching\nattended by best results. In our organizations, meeting as we do only\nonce a week, we must appreciate the fact that in the intervening time,\nbetween meetings, hundreds of ideas have crowded into the mind and have\ndisplaced those that may have been there as a result of our teaching. By\ncalling to mind those ideas of a week ago, we not only reinforce them,\nbut we start a chain of thought to which it will be very much easier to\nadd the link of today's work than to proceed as if forging an entirely\nnew chain.\n\nNo farmer goes out and plants grain on the unplowed field. He plows and\nharrows that the soil may be prepared not only to receive the seed, but\nto make generation possible.\n\nA review simply turns over the stubble field of the preceding week's\nwork, making ready for the planting of new seeds that they may generate\nand develop.\n\nStill a further value in the matter of review lies in the fact that the\nreview makes more easily possible the proper evaluation of the facts\ntaught. In every lesson there are major facts and truths presented and\nalso those minor or subordinate ones that serve to amplify and\nillustrate. All too frequently a class becomes so involved in the minor\ndetails that it may fail to grasp fully the big, underlying truth. By\ncareful review, the teacher can make the essentials stand out in relief.\nThese are the things that need to be pondered. If they are properly\ngrasped, thanks to the laws of association, most of the minor facts will\nnaturally attach themselves, so that truths can be retained in all of\ntheir richness of detail.\n\nIt is surprising to find how frequently pupils who have spent a year on\nthe Book of Mormon have very little notion of the big, outstanding\nfeatures of the book. They apparently have run over each week's lesson\nas so many independent facts, never coming back to single out the\nessential things in that early American civilization. Surely no class\nought to complete the course without clearly comprehending such major\nitems as:\n\n  The contribution each of the three colonies made to Book of Mormon\n  civilization.\n\n  The general geographical location of each colony.\n\n  The outstanding characters in the book.\n\n  The coming forth of the book.\n\n  Why it is essential.\n\n  How our faith depends largely upon it.\n\n  The ministry of the Savior on this continent.\n\n  Gospel teachings of the Book of Mormon.\n\nWhat is true of the study of the Book of Mormon is equally true of all\nother subjects. It is so easy to get lost in a maze of facts, in a\ncourse in the principles of the Gospel, and yet if a teacher will hold\nto such basic considerations as the articles of faith, coming back to\nthem regularly and linking facts presented under the appropriate\narticle, it is equally easy to complete the course with a clearly\ndefined, skeletonized basis for all future study. Two conclusions seem\nobvious: as teachers we ought to conduct reviews regularly and\nfrequently; we ought to prepare for them as one of the most vital\nfactors in teaching.\n\nImportant as is the review, the preview or assignment is equally vital.\nTo quote from Colgrove's _The Teacher and the School_:\n\n   \"_Importance and Value of Good Lesson Assignment._ From the foregoing\n   consideration it is clear that no other part of the teacher's work\n   exceeds in value and importance the proper planning and assignment of\n   the daily lessons. It is supplying the class and the school with a\n   definite plan of work. It is preparing the mind of each individual\n   pupil for the reception of new truths and whetting his intellectual\n   appetite for a feast of good things. It inspires confidence by\n   pointing out to the pupil just how he can use his past lessons and\n   acquisitions to make new conquests. It prevents pupils from\n   misunderstanding the lesson or approaching it with indifference or\n   positive aversion. It enables the pupil to approach the new lesson in\n   a perceiving mood, and helps pupils to form the habit of being\n   successful in their work and of making a daily application of their\n   old knowledge. It prevents the teacher from degenerating into a mere\n   talker, and, where textbooks are used, should be the most vital part\n   of the recitation.\"\n\nThe assignment is the great guarantee of a good recitation. It sets up\nobjectives--it points the way--it starts the thought process that is to\nproduce a discussion worth while at the subsequent meeting of the class.\n\nMuch has been said recently against the practice on the part of the\nteacher of saying, \"Take chapter three for next time.\" There are\nsuperintendents of schools who refuse to keep such teachers in their\nservice. To make such an assignment, particularly in classes that meet\nonly once a week, and especially if the assignment is made, as is too\nusually the case, after the signal for class dismissal has been given,\nis to promise the pupils a week in advance that their next lesson will\nbe very much of a failure.\n\nA good assignment is characterized by several very definite features. In\nthe first place it is perfectly clear. Given at a time when pupils are\nfollowing it, it gives specific direction as to the work to be done\nahead in preparation. It indicates the direction of intellectual travel,\npoints out sources of material, and indicates what is to be looked for.\nReference or textbooks are so pointedly referred to that pupils not only\nremember their names, they want to turn to them to enjoy their\ncontributions.\n\nIn the second place, a good assignment raises a problem which is a\nchallenge to the mental powers of pupils. It should carry a force of\nanticipation that capitalizes on that great mover to action--curiosity.\nFor instance, if the lesson to be assigned is one on baptism, instead of\nsimply naming certain pages in a text to be read, the skilful teacher\nmay well challenge his class by bringing in a clipping from a periodical\nor from some other source attempting to prove that sprinkling is the\ncorrect method of baptism, or that baptism is not essential to a man's\nobtaining salvation? How can members of the class meet such an argument?\nOne of their first thoughts will likely be a query as to where available\nmaterial may be turned to. How easy, then, to give references, etc. Some\nsuch problem can be raised relative to every lesson taught, and it is a\nwonderful force as an intellectual appetizer. It should both prompt to\naction and point to the path to be followed.\n\nThe question is often raised as to whether the assignment should be\ngeneral or specific. Perhaps the best answer involves both kinds. There\nought ordinarily to be a general assignment that affects all of the\nmembers of a class. The class is made up of all the individuals in the\ngroup--its discussing ought therefore to be so made up. But in addition\nto this general assignment, specific topics given to particular members\nadd an enrichment to the recitation of very great value. The services of\nthe specialist are always of inestimable value. That class is best\nwherein each member in turn becomes a specialist in looking up and\nbringing in vital observations on life.\n\nAs to the best time for making assignments, it is rather hard to give a\nruling that best fits all cases. Preferably the assignment should grow\nout of the discussion of the lesson in hand, and therefore logically\ncomes at the end of the recitation rather than at the beginning. There\nare teachers, however, who, fearing interruption at the end of the hour,\nmap out their work so carefully that they can make the assignment at the\noutset, merely calling attention to it at the close of the hour. All\nother things being equal, if the teacher will make himself hold sacred\nthe time necessary at the end of the hour for this all important matter\nof assignment, it is likely that best results will follow having the\nassignment of the next lesson grow naturally out of the work of today.\nThe important thing, however, is that at some point in the recitation,\nthe teacher shall take plenty of time to make a carefully planned and\nchallenging announcement of the work ahead.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XX\n\n1. Why is it essential to good teaching that regular reviews be\nconducted?\n\n2. Why are reviews more necessary in our religious work than in regular\nschool work?\n\n3. What are the chief purposes of a review?\n\n4. By taking a current lesson of one of the auxiliary organizations,\nillustrate the work done in a good review.\n\n5. Why it is of vital importance that a teacher give special preparation\nto a review?\n\n6. Show how good class preparation is conditional upon the proper kind\nof assignment.\n\n7. What are the characteristics of a good assignment?\n\n8. What is the best time for making the assignment?\n\n9. Show how to make a good assignment of a current lesson from one of\nthe organizations.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nBetts, _The Recitation_; Betts, _How to Teach Religion_; Colvin, _The\nLearning Process_; Colgrove, _The Teacher and the School_; Strayer and\nNorsworthy, _How to Teach_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nTHE QUESTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XXI\n\n     Taking Stock.--Miss Stevens' study on questioning.--Miss Stevens\n     quoted.--Various types of questions: a. The review question; b. The\n     fact question; c. The leading question; d. The thought or\n     challenging question.--Some questions on questioning.\n\n\nHow many questions do you ask regularly during a recitation?\n\nWhat proportion of those questions are answered in full and complete\nstatements?\n\nHow many of the answers to your questions are a matter merely of memory?\nHow many reveal original, creative thinking?\n\nSuch questions as these not only impress us with the force of the\nquestion as a means of teaching, but they lead us to examine into our\nown method of asking them. The whole teaching process so easily and\nunconsciously develops into a matter of routine that it is good practice\noccasionally to take stock of ourselves. It is surprising to find how\nmany teachers develop a particular type of question which becomes their\nsole stock in trade.\n\nMiss Ronniett Stevens, in her thesis, _The Question as a Measure of\nEfficiency in Instruction_, has made one of the most enlightening\nstudies yet made on the matter of questioning. Her results are quoted by\nWeigle, in his _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_, in a passage of\ninterest, not only because of Miss Stevens' findings, but also because\nof Mr. Weigle's own conclusions:\n\n   \"One of the outstanding differences, in present practice, between the\n   public and the Sunday school, is that most public school teachers ask\n   too many questions and most Sunday school teachers do not ask\n   questions enough. For the first half of this statement there is\n   ample evidence in the careful study by Miss Ronniett Stevens on _The\n   Question as a Measure of Efficiency in Instruction_. Miss Stevens\n   secured complete stenographic reports of twenty high school lessons\n   in English, history, science, Latin, modern languages, and\n   mathematics; she observed one hundred more such lessons chosen at\n   random, with a view to counting and noting the number and nature of\n   the questions asked in each; and she followed each ten classes\n   through an entire day's work for the purpose of studying the\n   aggregate question-stimulus to which each was subjected in the course\n   of the day.\n\n   \"The results of her study are surprising. In only eight of the twenty\n   lessons completely reported the teacher asked less than ninety\n   questions in the period of forty-five minutes, the average being\n   sixty-eight. In each of the remaining twelve lessons more than ninety\n   questions were asked in the same period of time, the average being\n   128. A freshman class in high school, in a day's work of five periods\n   of forty minutes each, not counting gymnasium, was subjected to 516\n   questions and expected to return 516 answers, which is at the rate of\n   2:58 questions and 2:58 answers per minute. The lowest number of\n   questions recorded in a day's work for a class was 321, and the\n   average number 395.\n\n   \"Such rapid-fire questioning, Miss Stevens rightly holds, defeats its\n   own ends. It maintains a nervous tension in the classroom that must\n   in the long run be injurious. More than that, it is a symptom of the\n   fact that the real work of the hour is being done by the teacher, and\n   the pupil's share is reduced simply to brief, punctuation-like\n   answers to the teacher's questions. Such questions appeal to mere\n   memory or to superficial judgment rather than to real thought; they\n   cultivate in the pupil neither independent judgment nor the power of\n   expression; they ignore individual needs and discourage initiative;\n   they make out of the classroom a place to display knowledge, rather\n   than a laboratory in which to acquire it.\n\n   \"The second half of the proposition, that most Sunday school teachers\n   do not ask questions enough, has not been established by any such\n   investigation as that of Miss Stevens. A similar study, on the basis\n   of complete stenographic reports, of typical Sunday school lessons,\n   would be a most valuable addition to our resources in the field of\n   religious pedagogy. Till such a study is made, one must simply record\n   his conviction that Sunday school teachers, as a general rule, ask\n   too few, rather than too many questions. This conviction is based\n   upon general observation and upon the frequency of such remarks as,\n   'I just can't get my class to study,' 'There are only two or three\n   who ever answer my questions,' 'My pupils don't know anything about\n   the Bible,' 'As long as I do all the talking, things go all right,'\n   etc.\" Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_.\n\nThe whole matter of questioning can be made to stand out most clearly,\nperhaps, by listing the various types of question, the purposes which\neach type serves, and the characteristics of a good question.\n\nFirst of all there is the _Review question_. The great purpose of this\ntype of question is to systematize knowledge. Of course, it is valuable\nas an aid to recollection--it is a challenge to memory--but it is\nparticularly helpful in that it makes the big essential points in a\ncourse stand out in relief with minor points properly correlated and\nsubordinated. The review question is a guide to the pupil whereby he may\nsee the relative significance of the work he has covered. One of our\ngreat difficulties lies in the fact that our teaching is so largely\npiece-meal. Today's lesson is hurried through, isolated as it is from\nall that has gone before and all that may follow. The successful teacher\nthrough the review makes each lesson a link in the chain of thought that\nunderlies the whole development of the subject in hand.\n\nThe review question is essentially a carefully thought out, searching\ninquiry. It calls for a turning over, in the mind, of the material of\nthe whole course and therefore should allow ample time for pondering. If\nit does not stimulate a \"weighing process,\" it likely is merely a fact\nquestion--a test of memory. Of course, there is a place at times for\nthis hurried type of question, but it serves the purpose only of\n\"connecting up\" and should not be mistaken for the evaluating question\nof review.\n\nThe following questions on the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri are\nillustrative review questions:\n\n1. To what extent, if any, were the Latter-day Saints themselves\nresponsible for their expulsion from Missouri?\n\n2. To what extent were the persecutions of Missouri political?\nReligious?\n\n3. How do you account for the fact that the Lord's people have always\nbeen a chastened people?\n\n4. Show how the Missouri persecutions have been ultimately a blessing to\nthe Latter-day Saints.\n\nThe second type of question is the _fact_ question. It serves to check\nup on mental alertness and recall. It is often helpful in arresting\nattention and therefore has a certain disciplinary function. The\nteacher, of course, must make sure that his pupils are grasping the\nsubject-matter presented, and the fact question serves admirably as a\ntest of knowledge. It is usually a short question calling for a short\nanswer, and therefore may be used in a rapid-fire way that stimulates\nthought. It is this type of question that is hurled so frequently at\nclasses with the consequences pointed out in the quotation from Miss\nStevens.\n\nThe same author lists as objections to the continued use of these\nrapid-fire questions the following bad features. They result in:\n\n1. Nervous tension.\n\n2. The teacher's doing most of the work.\n\n3. Emphasis upon memory and superficial judgment.\n\n4. Little time for the art of expression.\n\n5. Little attention to the needs of particular individuals in a class.\n\n6. The class being made a place for displaying knowledge.\n\n7. Little self-reliant, independent thinking.\n\nAs illustrative of the fact question may we set down the following:\n\nWho was Joseph Smith?\n\nWhat was his father's name?\n\nWhat was his mother's name?\n\nWhere was he born?\n\nHow old was he when he received his first vision?\n\nWhen did he receive the plates?\n\nThe _challenging question_ and the _leading question_ are closely enough\nallied that we may well discuss them together. They are both intended to\nprovoke creative thinking. The leading question aims to capitalize on\nwhat is already in the pupil's mind in getting him to go one step\nfurther to a conclusion we already have in mind. Instead of telling a\nclass of young children that Joseph Smith prayed to the Lord for help in\nchoosing the church to which he might best belong, we might proceed by\nsaying that the Prophet had asked his father and mother--he had asked\nhis best friends--he had talked with all the ministers he could find--he\nhad read in all of the available books--now who can tell what else he\ncould do? The chief merit of the leading question lies in the fact that\nit paves the way for the answer. It is particularly helpful in\nencouraging young and backward pupils. But is easily subject to abuse.\nSo much so that its use is very largely restricted in law courts. It\nresults too frequently in the teacher's thinking for the pupil, and\ntherefore ought to be used with care.\n\nThe challenging question is the question that fosters originality of\nthought, independence of judgment. It simply raises a problem and leaves\npupils free to arrive at their own conclusions. It makes for an\nintelligent faith so much desired in a democratic Church such as ours.\nIt is the one question above all others that guarantees a vital class\ndistinction.\n\nOf course, there is a place for all four of these types of questions.\nAs was said relative to the methods of the recitation, the best method\nis a variety of methods. So with questions. It is perfectly clear,\nhowever, that for general purposes that question which prompts greatest\nreflection and independent thinking is the best one to indulge most\nfrequently. The following questions out of a lesson on Joseph Smith's\nFirst Vision are set down as typical of thought-provoking questions:\n\n1. In view of the fact that when men choose a man for president of a\nbank they look for a man of maturity and experience, how do you explain\nthat Joseph Smith, a mere boy, with little training or experience, was\nentrusted with the great responsibility of founding what we claim is the\ngreatest institution of these latter days?\n\n2. How can you convince the world that a just God would declare that\nnone of their churches is right?\n\n3. What vital truths are announced to the world through his first\nvision?\n\nLet us conclude this chapter with one more quotation from Miss Stevens.\nWhen asked to name the three outstanding characteristics of a good\nquestion, she set them down as follows:\n\n1. A good question should stimulate reflection.\n\n2. It should be adapted to the experience of the pupil.\n\n3. It should draw forth a well-rounded answer.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS ON QUESTIONING\n\nDo I call on my pupils to recite in a fixed order, according to alphabet\nor seating, so that they are warned not to attend till their turn comes?\n\nDo I name the pupil who is to answer before I put the question?\n\nDo I ask direct questions or alternative questions which can be\nanswered without knowledge or thought?\n\nDo I ask chiefly fact questions?\n\nDo I ask leading or suggestive questions?\n\nDo I repeat my questions? Attention.\n\nDo I answer my own questions?\n\nDo I ask confusing, changed questions?\n\nDo I ask foolish questions that no one can answer?\n\nDo my questions make pupils think?\n\nDo my questions follow up the answer and lead to new organization of\nknowledge?\n\nDo I repeat the pupil's answer?\n\nDo my questions reach all the members of the class?\n\nDo I make the recitation an inquisition, or do I pursue a slow pupil and\nlisten while pupils express themselves freely and naturally?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XXI\n\n1. Why is it essential that we prepare questions as we do other\nmaterial?\n\n2. What are the dangers that attend the asking of a great number of fact\nquestions?\n\n3. Discuss the relative value of the \"W's\"--what, who, when, where, and\nwhy.\n\n4. Discuss each of the questions on questioning in this chapter.\n\n5. Bring in three thought-provoking questions on one of the current\nlessons in the month's work of one of the auxiliary organizations.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nFitch, _The Art of Questioning_; Stevens, _The Question as a Measure of\nEfficiency in Instruction_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_;\nHorne, _Story Telling, Questioning, and Studying_; Brumbaugh, _The\nMaking of a Teacher_; Driggs, _The Art of Teaching_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nTHE PROBLEM OF DISCIPLINE\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XXII\n\n     A popular misconception of discipline.--Discipline inherent in\n     teaching.--Importance of discipline in our religious\n     teaching.--Changed attitude within the past three centuries toward\n     discipline.--What discipline is.\n\n     Methods of securing discipline: The method of rewards; The method\n     of \"pleasing the teacher\"; The method of punishment; The method of\n     social appeal; The method of interest.\n\n     The importance of a proper attitude on the part of one who\n     disciplines.--What constitutes such an attitude?\n\n\nBack in 1916 the writer of these chapters was invited to address a group\nof teachers on the subject of discipline. This particular lecture came\ntoward the end of a series of lectures given on the various pedagogical\ntruths underlying teaching. One particular teacher, who had listened to\nall of the lectures, expressed appreciation of the fact that discipline\nwas to be discussed--it apparently was his one concern, as indicated in\nhis remark:\n\n\"We have listened to some excellent theories in these lectures. But I\nhave to teach a class of real live boys and girls. How can I keep the\nlittle rascals quiet long enough to work the theories out?\"\n\nThe remark expresses admirably the attitude of very many teachers\nrelative to discipline. They regard teaching as one thing--discipline as\nquite another. With them discipline involves some sort of magic process\nor the application of some iron rule authority, which secures order that\nteaching may then be indulged in. As a matter of fact, discipline is\ninherent in good teaching. It is not a matter of correction so much as a\nmatter of prevention. The good disciplinarian anticipates\ndisorder--directs the energies of his pupils so that the disorder is\nmade impossible by attention to legitimate interests.\n\nDiscipline is one of the most pressing problems in the quorums and\norganizations of the Church today. On every hand the complaint is\nregistered that proper respect is not shown, either for those in\nimportant positions or for our places of worship.\n\nThe spirit that accompanies the political rally or basketball game, held\nin our amusement halls, too frequently is carried into our sacred\nmeetings. The spirit of unconcern is carried into our classrooms until\nall too often to call the condition one of disorder is a very inadequate\ndescription of the procedure.\n\nIt is interesting to note the changing attitude generally in the matter\nof discipline. The harshness of other days is largely replaced by a\nleniency that borders on \"easiness.\" Our whole attitude toward criminals\nhas been revolutionized, and our human impulses have carried over into\nthe realm of teaching, until now, at least in the opinion of very many\ncritics, we have drifted largely into \"soft pedagogy\"--a process of\ntrying to please regardless of the consequences.\n\nEarlier treatises on education devoted a good bit of space to the amount\nand kind of punishment that should be administered in a well-ordered\nschool. Punishment is decidedly out of taste these days. The biography\nof an old German master discloses the fact that during his teaching\ncareer he had administered 911,527 raps with his cane, 20,989 with a\nruler, 136,715 with his hand, and that he was responsible for 1,115,800\nslaps on the head. The same attitude is reflected in the fact that in\nEngland, as late as the year 1800, two hundred twenty-three offenses\nwere punishable by death. The offenses included shooting rabbits,\nstealing, defacing Westminster Bridge, etc. In our day we hesitate to\napply the extreme penalty even to the murderer.\n\nThe attitude toward the content of teaching has undergone a change quite\nin keeping with that attached to method. There was a time when\npedagogical philosophy rather hinted, \"It doesn't make any difference\nwhat you teach a boy, as long as he doesn't like it.\" The hint these\ndays might more nearly read: \"It doesn't make any difference how\nvaluable certain material is for a boy, don't attempt to teach it to him\nunless it fascinates him.\" Our effort to interest our pupils has\npractically resulted in taking the scriptures, particularly the Old\nTestament, out of our organizations. Of course, the doctrine of interest\nis a very vital one, but there are bounds beyond which we ought not to\npush it.\n\nIt is, therefore, perfectly obvious that there is urgent need of\ndiscipline. Any effort at social control demands it. The army succeeds\nas it does because of its discipline. Wherever a group of individuals\nundertake action in common, every member must be willing to sink\n_interests_ of _self_ in _welfare_ of _others_. As was pointed out in\nthe chapter on Individual Differences, a class is made up of all kinds\nof individuals. They vary in capacity, in ideals, in training, in\nattitude, in disposition, and in purpose. Manifestly group progress will\nbe made possible in any such case by a mutual willingness to\nco-operate--a willingness to attend a discussion even though not\nparticularly interested in it, but because it may be of concern to\nsomeone else whose interests I have undertaken to promote. My very\npresence in the class imposes such a responsibility upon me.\n\nIt is essential in a discussion of discipline that we agree as to just\nwhat discipline is. It is not _mere silence_. Silent \"quietness\" may be\nagreeable, but it certainly does not make for achievement. Such silence\nwould be of little worth if it could be achieved, and it cannot be\nachieved with twentieth century human beings. The question of the lad\nwho had been taken to task for his disturbance is always refreshing. The\nteacher, after a somewhat prolonged scolding, had concluded:\n\n\"Now, Tommie, do be quiet.\"\n\n\"What fur?\"\n\nThe English may not be the choicest, but the sense is wonderfully\nsignificant to the teacher who would really understand the problem of\ndiscipline.\n\nDiscipline is not repression. The _D_ of discipline and the _D_ of don't\nhave been confused all too often. Just as the too frequent use of the\nbrakes on an automobile ruins the lining, so the too frequent \"don't\" of\nrepression ruins the \"goodwill lining\" of the boy, and when that lining\nis gone the \"brake squeaks,\" and in emergencies doesn't hold at all.\n\nDiscipline rather consists in that direction of wholesome activity which\ncreates an atmosphere of intellectual endeavor in which every individual\nof a group can profitably follow his own interests while allowing every\nother individual to do the same thing free from interference. Discipline\nmakes it possible for all to do the thing to be done to advantage. It\nmay at times require silence, it may involve vigorous action--it always\npresumes intelligent direction that holds those concerned to the orderly\npursuit of an established goal.\n\nVarious means have been devised for the securing of discipline. The\n_doctrine of rewards_ has been and still is being followed extensively.\nTo give an individual something for being good has never appealed to\neducators as fundamentally sound. It puts a false evaluation upon\nvirtue. It may be that such a policy must be resorted to in emergencies,\nbut followed regularly it is likely to be attended with disastrous\nresults. The boy who has regularly to be bought into doing what he\nshould will likely raise his price until the method of rewards becomes\nruinous both to the father and the boy. To \"heroize\" a boy in class\nevery time he does a meritorious act will very likely spoil him.\nEncouragement, of course, is helpful, but it ought not to be\noverindulged. A stick of candy may induce a child to go to bed agreeably\neach night, but the candy may spoil other things than the bedspread.\nMoral fibre is built up by developing the habit of doing a thing because\nit is right--because it ought to be done. There are teachers and\npreachers who hold the interest of those taught by tickling their ears\nwith material, either funny or nonsensical. There is a question whether\nit is not a dangerous practice in an effort to win them to what should\nbe an attitude of religious devotion.\n\nThen there is the doctrine that children should be good to please their\nparents and teachers. This doctrine is akin to that of rewards. It sets\nup something of a false ideal, though of course it is a splendid thing\nto teach appreciation of those who help us. Much can be defended which\nseeks to inculcate in the minds of children reverence for their elders.\nThe chief difficulty lies in the fact that this doctrine may not\ncontinue to appeal as fundamentally sound.\n\nA third method for securing discipline is to compel it. This is to\nresort to the law of things. A certain amount of law should characterize\nboth the home and the classroom. Obedience and order are the first laws\nof heaven and are essential to good social environment. But the law\nshould be so administered that the obedience exacted rests upon an\nintelligent understanding of the purpose behind the law. Otherwise there\ncomes a time when mere authority fails to control. It is a good thing to\ntrain children to abide by regulations out of a sense of duty. If duty\nand love can be coupled, the combination makes for permanent\nlaw-abiding. Arbitrary authority and blind obedience have produced\nGermany. Strong leadership coupled with democratic co-operation and\nloyalty have produced America.\n\nStill another doctrine of discipline rests upon a social appeal. Members\nof a group agree that in the interest of everyone's welfare each\nindividual will subscribe to certain conditions regardless of their\napplication to him. This principle, fundamental in all democracies, can\nsafely be trusted to secure desired results in groups mature enough to\nassure sound judgment. The sense of justice in the human soul is a safe\nguarantee of both liberty and good order. Many of our classes no doubt\ncould be improved noticeably if we could enlist the co-operation of the\nmembers to the extent that they would assume to govern themselves.\n\nFinally there is the doctrine of interest as a means of maintaining\ndiscipline. This doctrine implies that a teacher should get his class so\ninterested in doing what he wants it to do that it hasn't any\ninclination to do what it ought not to do. This doctrine is not the\npernicious doctrine hinted at earlier in this chapter of cheapening\neverything into \"easiness.\" Genuine interest may lead not only to\neffort, but to sacrifice. The boy who plays football does not play\nbecause of the ease of the game--he is fascinated by his interest in the\nstruggle. Ample preparation and a complete understanding of pupils will\nmake possible an interest that disciplines without any evidence of\ndiscipline. Surely this is the modern doctrine of discipline, though\nwith it should be coupled that wholesome respect for authority that\nprompts citizens to abide by the law.\n\nNo discussion of discipline would be complete which did not mention at\nleast the significance of attitude on the part of one who disciplines.\nIn so many cases when a boy is corrected he complains of the teacher,\n\n\"Oh, well, he's got it in for me.\"\n\nIt is always interesting to know whether a parent or teacher disciplines\na child because the child needs it, or because the parent or teacher is\nunnerved and has to give expression to his feelings. The disciplinarian\nwho can correct, when correction is necessary, both in firmness yet in\nfairness, so that the person who is corrected is made to feel that the\ncorrection grows out of a desire to help rather than merely to\npunish--that disciplinarian will exert an influence for good that is\nhard to estimate. He is both a friend and a benefactor.\n\nLet us conclude this chapter with that wonderful passage from the\nDoctrine & Covenants which gives us the word of the Lord on this matter\nof controlling others:\n\n   \"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they\n   not chosen?\n\n   \"Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world,\n   and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one\n   lesson--\n\n   \"That the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the\n   powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled\n   nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.\n\n   \"That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we\n   undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain\n   ambitions, or to exercise control, or dominion, or compulsion, upon\n   the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness,\n   behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is\n   grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the Priesthood, or the\n   authority of that man.\n\n   \"Behold! ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against\n   the pricks; to persecute the Saints, and to fight against God.\n\n   \"We have learned, by sad experience, that it is the nature and\n   disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little\n   authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise\n   unrighteous dominion.\n\n   \"Hence many are called, but few are chosen.\n\n   \"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the\n   Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness, and\n   meekness, and by love unfeigned;\n\n   \"By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the\n   soul without hypocrisy, and without guile;\n\n   \"Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost,\n   and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom\n   thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;\n\n   \"That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of\n   death;\n\n   \"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the\n   household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly,\n   then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God, and the\n   doctrine of the Priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews\n   from heaven.\n\n   \"The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy sceptre an\n   unchanging sceptre of righteousness and truth, and thy dominion shall\n   be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall\n   flow unto thee forever and ever.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 121:34-46.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XXII\n\n1. What constitutes good discipline?\n\n2. What factors contribute to make discipline a real problem in our\nChurch?\n\n3. Discuss our attitude toward discipline today as compared with the\nattitude toward it a generation ago.\n\n4. Name the various methods of securing discipline.\n\n5. Discuss their relative values.\n\n6. Why is the teacher's attitude so important a factor in discipline?\n\n7. What qualities are involved in the proper attitude?\n\n8. Discuss preparation in its bearing upon discipline.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nDoctrine & Covenants; Bagley, _School Discipline_; O'Shea, _Everyday\nProblems in Teaching_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a Teacher_; Dewey,\n_Interest and Effort in Education_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nCREATING CLASS SPIRIT\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XXIII\n\n     The \"pull\" of a good class.--The appeal of an attractive\n     classroom.--Making it \"our room.\"--The teacher and class\n     spirit.--Capitalizing on the leadership of the class.--Stimulating\n     free participation.--Out of class activities.--Some possibilities.\n\n\nThere is a \"pull\" to certain classes--a pull that has all the force of a\nmagnet. Pupils not only go to such a class willingly, but anticipate\nwith pleasure the approach of the recitation hour. When duty is coupled\nwith pleasure, there is a force for righteousness that is beyond\nmeasure. Of the various factors that contribute to the creation of a\nclass spirit, the following are offered as being among the most helpful.\n\n1. _An Attractive Classroom._ While it is true that most of the\norganizations in the Church do not have surplus funds for beautifying\ntheir buildings, and while it is equally true that many a good lesson\nhas been conducted on the dirt floors of long cabins, it is equally true\nthat rooms can be beautified, and that pleasant surroundings can be made\na potent force in holding to our organizations the men and women and\nboys and girls of the Church. Of course, elaborate, expensive\ndecorations ought to be discouraged. Simplicity always is more\nconsistent with the spirit of worship than is extravagance. But contrast\nthe difference in effect on children of a bare, untidy, makeshift room\nas against a cozy room decorated with a few beautiful pictures or\ndraperies and made homelike with comfortable seats and tidy arrangement.\n\nNor is any great expense involved. The writer recalls visiting a\nkindergarten class in one of the schools in Salt Lake County. The ward\nauthorities had not been asked for a dollar to fit up the room, and yet\nit had one of the \"homiest\" atmospheres imaginable. The teacher of the\nclass, in addition to having an interest in the class, had an artistic\ntemperament. She had collected through a number of years the most\nbeautiful pictures that had appeared in the magazines. These in their\nhome-made frames transformed the walls of her room into a veritable art\ngallery--wherever the eye of the visitor rested, it was greeted by a\npicture that, through its beauty, drove home an appreciation of the\nfiner things of life. The children, too, had been stimulated to a pride\nin their room. They had brought in the available old rags from their\nhomes and, as the result of a Sunday School entertainment which they had\nput on with the co-operation of the other departments of the school,\nthey had had the rags woven into one of those cheerful, old-fashioned\nhome-made carpets. It was perfectly clear that the children took delight\nin going to this \"their room\" each Sunday morning. Their pride prompted\nthem to take care of what they regarded as their room, and made for a\nspirit of quiet and good order hard to surpass.\n\nDuring the course in teacher-training at Provo, last summer, one of the\nmembers of the class courteously took the pains to see that a bouquet of\nflowers adorned the teacher's desk each day that the class met. It is\nimpossible to estimate the effect of those flowers. Their beauty,\ncoupled with the thoughtfulness that brought them in, made for a\n\"fragrance of spirit\" that exerted a remarkable influence.\n\nOnce the idea becomes established, pupils will take delight in making\ntheir classroom a place in which they will love to meet.\n\n2. _The Teacher._ We have already discussed at length the personality of\nthe teacher and its force in teaching. We need only emphasize the fact\nhere that the magnetism of the teacher, either through what he is or\nwhat he gives, is the one great factor that makes for class spirit. The\nclass inevitably reflects the attitude of the man who directs it. He\nmust radiate enthusiasm before it can be caught by his pupils. His\ninspiration in making them feel that their class is \"the one class\" of\nan organization is only too gladly responded to by those whom he\nteaches. If he impresses the class with the fact that he joins with them\nbecause he loves so to do rather than because he has a duty to\nperform--if he makes suggestions in the interest of a better class--if\nhe starts out by doing something himself by way of a contribution to the\nclass and its spirit--he can be reasonably sure that his class will come\nmore than half-way to join in his plans.\n\nNot only his attitude is a vital factor--his preparation must be of the\nsame enthusiastic type. A pupil of a very successful teacher in Salt\nLake City recently made the remark, \"I wouldn't think of missing\nBrother ----'s class. He gives me food for a week.\" Pressed as to the\nexplanation of this enthusiasm, he added, \"Brother ---- is unique. He\nalways attacks a subject in such a new and thorough way. He goes below\nthe surface and really teaches us the Gospel.\" It is not strange, of\ncourse, that such advertising on the part of class members has built up\nan enrollment of some seventy-five pupils. Let us, then, remind\nourselves that boys like a teacher\n\n  \"Who has pep,\"\n  \"Who tells us something new,\"\n  \"Who doesn't preach at us.\"\n\n3. _Capitalizing on the Leadership of the Class._ Just as in every band\nof horses there is a leader, so there is in every group of boys and\ngirls. And as with the leaders, so with the followers. \"Get the\nleaders,\" says a veteran horseman, \"and you have all the rest.\" It is\nfrequently the case that a teacher does not know intimately all of his\npupils. Perhaps in many cases that teacher can know well a few of the\noutstanding leaders. He can well accompany them on hikes, can take them\nto a theatre, a ball game, or for a ride. If he wins them they become\nhis lieutenants--they make his class. A word from him and these \"under\nofficers\" lead the whole class to the desired reaction. \"Take your\nleading pupils into your confidence and they will establish you in the\nconfidence of all the rest.\" The experience is related of a teacher sent\ninto southern Utah to take charge of a class of boys who had \"dismissed\"\nthree teachers already, within the first half year of school. When the\nnewcomer arrived, the air was full of rumblings as to what was to become\nof number four. He was variously cautioned to make an early departure,\nto go into school \"armed\" to \"expect anything.\" But this particular\nteacher appreciated the fact that he was best armed when backed by the\nconfidence and good will of his class. It was an easy matter to have\npointed out for him \"the meanest boy of the lot.\" This boy he sought out\nand found playing a game of horseshoe. Invited to take a place in the\ngame, he entered the circle of the \"outlaws\" by winning decisively from\ntheir champion--\"the meanest boy.\" To this boy, the new teacher was a\n\"real fellow.\" Whatever he said, went! The word was circulated overnight\namong the boys of the town. The teacher already was master of the\nsituation. \"The meanest boy,\" instead of being the chief outlaw, now\ntook pride in being chief lieutenant. Winning the leader won the group,\nand teacher number four not only stayed the year out, but was petitioned\nto come back a second year. As a matter of fact, he says, he taught\nschool in that town for seven years.\n\n4. _Putting a Premium on Participation._ One of the most interesting\nclasses the writer has ever visited was a theological class in the\nGranite Stake. The teacher was committed to the policy of taking as\nlittle as possible of the class period himself, but he was also\ncommitted to the policy of getting his pupils to do the most possible.\nFor the particular day in question he had assigned a discussion of\nbaptism. One member of the class had been asked to discuss sprinkling as\nthe correct method, another had been assigned immersion. The two young\nmen brought in their findings as if they had been trained for a debate.\nWithin the forty minutes devoted to the recitation baptism had been gone\ninto as thoroughly as the writer has ever seen it gone into during the\ncourse of a single lesson, and the members of the class had been\ndelightfully entertained and enlightened. When the bell rang announcing\nthe close of the recitation, the class petitioned to have the discussion\ncontinued the following Sunday. It was perfectly clear how the teacher\nhad built up his enrollment.\n\nIt is fundamental in human nature to love social combat. The clash of\nmind versus mind makes a wonderful appeal. Witness a political\nconvention or an open forum debate! Let it be known that a vital subject\nis to be discussed by men who are really prepared and other men bestir\nthemselves to be in attendance. Surely no subjects are full of more\nvital significance than questions of life and life eternal. If a teacher\nwill take the pains to select attention-compelling headings and then\nstimulate representative members of his class really to work out\nsomething of a contribution, he need have no fear of the success of his\nclass. Such procedure not only guarantees a good class--it promotes\nfaith on the part of those participating as few other things can. Too\nfrequently we content ourselves with the routine of commonplace \"talk.\"\nThere is no enthusiasm in mere routine as there is none in listless\nlistening to generalities. Our effort should be to make our classes\nintellectual social centers with everybody participating.\n\n5. _Promoting Class Activities Out of Hours._ The Seventies who\nharvested the grain for the widow of one of their members did a splendid\nbit of service, not only for her but for their own quorum. A common\nobjective in service made for a common bond in fellowship.\n\nThe Primary class that was stimulated to take a basket of flowers to one\nof its sick members was helped not only in the making of someone happy,\nbut in building up a class spirit that guaranteed success.\n\nThere are so many possibilities open to the teacher who really cares.\nJust the other evening the teacher of a class of Bee Hive girls called\nthem together for a little social entertainment that they might talk\nover plans for the approaching season. What a capital attitude? Not to\nwait till the season opened, but to take the pains to look up the\navailable, prospective class members and make ready for an enthusiastic\ncampaign. Of course, such a teacher will succeed.\n\nClass socials of all sorts, baseball teams, authors' clubs, bits of ward\nservice, visits to institutions of interest--scores of worthy\nopportunities present themselves always to the teacher who is anxious to\nbuild up a genuine class spirit. And that spirit is the one great\nguarantee of real joy in teaching--it makes a class one which its\nmembers will always hold in memory.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XXIII\n\n1. Why is it essential that a teacher build up a class spirit?\n\n2. Give three practical suggestions on the subject of beautifying\nclassrooms.\n\n3. Discuss the importance of the attitude of a teacher in promoting\nclass spirit.\n\n4. Point out possible methods for enlisting the co-operation of class\nleaders.\n\n5. What do you consider your best method of stimulating members to\nparticipate in class discussions?\n\n6. What kind of class activities contribute most to the life of your\nclass?\n\n7. Discuss the advisability of promoting class athletic teams.\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nColgrove, _The Teacher and the School_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School\nTeachers_; Dewey, _Interest and Effort in Education_; O'Shea, _Everyday\nProblems in Teaching_; Norsworthy and Whitley, _Psychology of\nChildhood_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nCONVERSION--THE REAL TEST OF TEACHING\n\n     OUTLINE--CHAPTER XXIV\n\n     Character, a great power in conversion.--Our concern the converted\n     teacher and also the converted pupil.--The converted teacher\n     believes what he teaches.--The converted teacher practices what he\n     teaches.--The force of \"Come, follow me.\"--What makes for\n     conversion.--The teacher's obligation to kindle the spiritual\n     fire.--His obligation to feature testimony-bearing.--His obligation\n     to take his pupils where they will feel the spirit of testimony.\n\n\nA number of years ago a young graduate of one of our eastern\nuniversities was employed to teach science in a school in Japan. He was\nemployed with the understanding that though he was free to advance\nwhatever scientific theories he chose he should say nothing about his\nChristian religion. He accepted the conditions gladly, and during the\nfirst year of his service was careful not even to mention Christianity.\nHe not only taught his classes in science, but he joined with the boys\nin their athletics and in their social life generally. Being both an\nathlete and a leader, he was soon looked to as the life of the school.\nHis clean life was an inspiration. He inevitably set a Christian\nstandard. Before the end of the second year, though he had preached\nnever a word, forty young men made application for membership in his\nchurch. His life and ideals had converted them as no preaching could\nhave done.\n\nWhat was true in this case is inevitably true in the case of all real\nteachers. What a man is breathes a power of conversion that no force or\nargument can equal. Hence this concluding chapter--Conversion, the Real\nTest of Teaching.\n\nFirst of all, we are concerned with the conversion of the teacher;\nsecondly, with the conversion of the pupil. They are inseparably\ninterwoven. Only the converted teacher can make converts of his pupils.\nAnd surely there is very great need of this very thing--_the making of\nreal converts of our boys and girls_ that they may come fully to\nappreciate the significance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Upon them\nrests the carrying forward of that great work which only the\n_conversion_ of our pioneer forefathers could have achieved.\n\nIn the first place, the converted teacher _believes_ what he teaches.\nThere is no half-hearted attitude toward the subject in hand. To him it\nis both true and vital. He teaches with a positiveness and an assurance\nwhich grip pupils. What a difference between the speech in which a\nspeaker merely makes certain observations--sets forth certain specified\nfacts--and the speech in which those same facts are heightened by that\nglow of conviction which stamps them as indispensably essential to\nproper living. The prayer of a man who does not believe in prayer is an\nexample of the emptiness of unbelief. There is one minister in Chicago\nwho openly announces that God does not and can not answer the prayers of\nmankind. And yet he prays. And what mockery is his praying. Mere words.\nNo man is ever touched by such an empty form. Such prayers have none of\nthat _Heaven Force_ which establishes communion with the Lord. Surely\n\"They draw near me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.\"\n\nTo everyone comes the experience of listening to the heavy phrases of\nhim who would argue and harrangue his auditors into salvation. How his\nwords seem not only to close their minds, but to shut their hearts as\nwell. He fairly talks so loudly that they can't hear him. And then some\nhumble follower of Him who shunned the orator's eloquence moves to\ntears the same audience by his simple utterance of what he knows and\nfeels to be true. He adds the conviction of conversion to mere\n\"hard-headedness.\" When a man knows that which he teaches is true there\nis a spirit that gives power to what he says. \"The letter killeth, but\nthe spirit giveth life.\"\n\nThe experience of a Montana railroad executive gives force to this\nthought. He told one of our leaders how he had always been impressed\nwith the achievements of our Church. In fact, he became such an admirer\nof the wonderful organization of the \"Mormon\" Church that he decided to\nadopt the same kind of organization in his railroad. To quote: \"I\nthought if I could apply the same system up here that you have in the\n'Mormon' Church it would work just the same for me as it did for you. I\nhave copied its plan with the First Presidency, the Council of the\nTwelve, the Presiding Bishop, and all the other officers. I have tried\nit--but it wouldn't work for me.\" Only a Latter-day Saint can fully\nunderstand why.\n\nAnd so the teacher who would become a converter must feel the truth of\nwhat he teaches so that a spirit of conviction extends from him to his\nclass and so takes hold of the members that they, too, feel the truth of\nwhat he says. In short, the real teacher must have a testimony of the\ntruthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He must be caught up by that\nsame spirit that opened the heavens to the Prophet Joseph Smith--only\nthen can he really teach. The Lord has so revealed:\n\n   \"And they shall observe the covenants and church articles to do them,\n   and these shall be their teaching, as they shall be directed by the\n   Spirit;\n\n   \"And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith, and\n   if ye receive not the Spirit, ye shall not teach.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec.\n   42:13, 14.)\n\n   \"Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to\n   preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of Truth,\n   doth he preach it by the Spirit of Truth or some other way?\n\n   \"And if it be by some other way, it is not of God.\n\n   \"And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it\n   by the Spirit of Truth or some other way?\n\n   \"If it be some other way it be not of God:\n\n   \"Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know that he that\n   receiveth the word by the Spirit of Truth, receiveth it as it is\n   preached by the Spirit of Truth?\n\n   \"Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understandeth\n   one another, and both are edified and rejoice together;\n\n   \"And that which doth not edify is not of God and is darkness;\n\n   \"That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light and\n   continueth in God, receiveth more light, and that light groweth\n   brighter and brighter until the perfect day.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec.\n   50:17-24.)\n\nIn the second place, the teacher's belief must be translated into daily\nlife. \"Come, follow me,\" is the admonition that makes for conversion. A\nyoung man recently, in characterizing the biggest failure among teachers\nthat he had ever known, remarked, \"He simply couldn't teach us anything.\nHe started in by giving us a vigorous lecture against tobacco, but\nbefore a week had passed we all knew that he himself smoked. He might\njust as well have given up teaching right there. We couldn't see any\ntruth in him after that, for the 'smoke' of his own deception.\"\n\nOf course, he was not converted. A similar experience is related of the\nprincipal of a school who, with his faculty of teachers, made it a\nschool rule that there should be no playing of cards on the part of the\nstudents. The rule recorded, however, the principal proceeded to\nparticipate in downtown card parties until he established a reputation,\nin the language of the boys, as a \"card shark.\" Not only did that\nprincipal find it impossible thereafter to combat the evil of students\ncutting classes to play cards, he lost that confidence on the part of\nthe student body without which school discipline cannot be achieved.\nLack of conversion--such conversion as leads a man to practice what he\npreaches--cost him his position.\n\nTo the teacher who would develop the power of conversion, may we make\nreference by way of review to those suggestions in an earlier chapter\nthat make for spiritual growth:\n\n  1. Live a clean life.\n  2. Read the word of the Lord.\n  3. Do the duties assigned by those in authority.\n  4. Subscribe to all the principles of the Gospel.\n  5. Cultivate a real spirit of prayer.\n\nIf the teacher is really converted, of course the conversion of his\npupils follows very largely as a corollary. But by way of practical\nsuggestion, it may be helpful to list some things that may be done to\npromote a spirit of testimony on the part of the pupils. At the outset a\nteacher ought to appreciate just what a testimony is and how it varies\nwith the age and experience of children. It is clearly a mistake as a\ngeneral rule to expect young children to give expression to a testimony\nsuch as might be borne by an adult. True, some children enjoy at an\nearly age the spirit of testimony to such an extent that they do seem to\nknow that the Gospel is true. But it is wiser not to expect too much.\nThen, too, testimonies vary with individuals. Teachers ought to look out\nfor expressions which are characteristic of the pupil in question rather\nthan to expect all pupils to measure up to a set standard.\n\nWith a proper conception of a testimony, the teacher then owes certain\nrather definite obligations to his class.\n\nHe ought to feature testimony bearing rather than to apologize for it.\nIn the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ there can be no more\nsacred opportunity than that which allows pupils to open their hearts to\ntheir Creator.\n\nThen, too, the teacher owes it to his class to _kindle_ the spiritual\nfire which alone can make for testimony bearing. Brother Maeser had a\nvery effective way of illustrating the significance of this obligation.\nAs he expressed the thought, no one would feel that he had completed his\ntask of warming a house if he merely put into the grate the necessary\npaper, wood and coal. He might have all these, but until he struck the\nmatch which would kindle the fire, no warmth would be felt. And so,\nspiritually, the fire of a testimony-meeting needs to be kindled. All\ntoo often, a teacher opens the class hour with some such statement as\nthis, \"Now, boys and girls, today is Fast Day. I hope you won't let the\ntime go to waste.\" What inspiration in such an opening! That teacher has\nnot only not kindled the fire, he has brought in a lump or two of\ncoal--hard at that--with no kindling even as a promise of a fire. On the\nother hand, the successful teacher comes before his class with a vital\ntruth that thrills him and gives it a concrete expression which prompts\npupils to add similar experiences out of their own lives.\n\nThen, too, the teacher may well bring into his class by way of\ninspiration someone well established in the faith whose experiences are\nfull of the spirit of conversion. There are in every ward in the Church\nthose men and women who know of a surety that the gospel is true. Why\nnot bring them in occasionally to stimulate testimony bearing? Might it\nnot be well, also, to take the class as a class to our Fast Day\nSacrament service, there to let them enjoy the wonderful spirit of\ntestimony that is so characteristic of these meetings? There is a\nfeeling of conversion that attends these meetings that all boys and\ngirls must feel--must feel so keenly that they in turn will want to give\nexpression to their own convictions.\n\nAnd finally, as teachers, let us remind ourselves that in this matter of\npromoting the bearing of testimonies we should exercise a patience that\nis full of tolerance and forbearance. Some few individuals are\nconverted suddenly; others respond to the truth gradually; and there are\nthose who do well if they really respond to the feeling of conversion at\nthe end of a lifetime. As one of our leaders has so beautifully pointed\nout, the Master, Himself, did not convert the world in a day, nor a\nyear--He has not converted it in all these centuries. His plan seems to\nbe to teach the truth and wait patiently until the divinity in man\nasserts itself--until man walks by his own light into eternal truth.\nUnder the inspiration of such example may teachers well labor on in\nearnestness, happy in the thought that He will hasten in His own due\ntime what to them may seem a long, slow process.\n\n    \"Perchance, in heaven, one day to me\n      Some blessed Saint will come and say,\n    'All hail, beloved; but for thee\n      My soul to death had fallen a prey';\n    And oh! what rapture in the thought,\n      One soul to glory to have brought.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XXIV\n\n1. Why is conversion the real test of religious teaching?\n\n2. What are the outstanding characteristics of a person newly converted\nto the Church?\n\n3. Discuss the significance of each of the factors that make for\nconversion.\n\n4. Illustrate how to kindle the spiritual fire.\n\n5. State why or why not you favor making assignments for testimony day.\n\n6. What is a testimony?\n\n7. How may children best cultivate a testimony?\n\n8. What principle or practice means most to you by way of affirming your\nown testimony?\n\n\nHELPFUL REFERENCES\n\nThe Doctrine & Covenants, The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Voice of\nWarning, Rays of Living Light.\n\n\n\n\n_Bibliography_\n\n\n_The Art of Teaching_\n    Driggs                                Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake.\n\n_The Art of Questioning_\n    Fitch                                 A. Flanigan Co., Chicago.\n\n_Story Telling, Questioning and Studying_\n    Horne                                 MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_Principles of Psychology_\n    James                                 H. Holt & Co., New York.\n\n_Fundamentals of Child Study_\n    Kirkpatrick                           MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_A Study of Child Nature_\n    Harrison                              R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Chicago.\n\n_Psychology of Childhood_\n    Norsworthy and Whitley                MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_The Essentials of Character_\n    Sisson                                MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_Principles of Teaching_\n    Thorndike                             A.G. Seiler, New York.\n\n_Education for Character_\n    Sharp                                 Bobbs, Merrill Co., Indianapolis.\n\n_The Ideal Teacher_\n    G.H. Palmer                           Houghton-Mifflin Co., New York.\n\n_The Seven Laws of Teaching_\n    J.M. Gregory                          The Pilgrim Press, Chicago.\n\n_The Point of Contact in Teaching_\n    Dubois                                Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.\n\n_Interest and Effort in Education_\n    Dewey                                 Houghton-Mifflin Co., New York.\n\n_The Boy Problem_\n    Forbush                               The Pilgrim Press, Chicago.\n\n_Training the Boy_\n    McKeever                              MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_Types of Teaching_\n    Earhart                               Houghton-Mifflin Co., New York.\n\n_How to Teach Religion_\n    Betts                                 The Abingdon Press, New York.\n\n_Talks to Sunday School Teachers_\n    Weigle                                Doran Publishing Co., New York.\n\n_Everyday Problems in Teaching_\n    O'Shea                                Bobbs, Merrill Co., Indianapolis.\n\n_Talks to Teachers_\n    James                                 H. Holt & Co., New York.\n\n_How to Teach_\n    Strayer and Norsworthy                MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_The Making of a Teacher_\n    Brumbaugh                             Sunday School Times Co., Phila.\n\n_The Learning Process_\n    Colvin                                MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_The Teacher and the School_\n    Colgrove                              Chas. Scribner & Co., New York.\n\n_Pictures in Religious Education_\n    Beard                                 Geo. H. Doran Co., New York.\n\n_The Nervous System_\n    Stiles                                W.B. Saunders Co., Phila.\n\n_The Classroom Teacher_\n    Strayer and Englehardt                American Book Co., New York.\n\n_The Recitation_\n    Betts                                 Houghton-Mifflin Co., New York.\n\n_Attention_\n    Pillsbury                             MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n_Religious Education in the Family_\n    Cope                                  University of Chicago Press.\n\n_Classroom Method and Management_\n    Betts                                 Bobbs, Merrill Co., Indianapolis.\n\n_Classroom Management_\n    Bagley                                MacMillan Co., New York.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:\n\nObvious printing errors were repaired; these changes are listed below.\n\n\nChapter I     \"a Church built upon revelation\"\n              Corrected typo: \"builded\"\n\nChapter VI    \"using an average of thirty-two minutes\"\n              Corrected typo: \"mintues\"\n\n              \"their employees that they subscribe regularly\"\n              Corrected typo: \"reguarly\"\n\nChapter VII   \"A Child's characteristics--his\"\n              Corrected typo: \"charactertistics\"\n\n              \"These organic, vital activities\"\n              Corrected typo: \"acitivities\"\n\n              \"All nuerones have\"\n              \"nuerones must be active\"\n              Corrected typos: \"neurones\"\n\nChapter VIII  \"method of rewards and punishment;\"\n              Corrected typo: \"punishment:\"\n\n              \"will be found an interesting tabulation\"\n              Corrected typo: \"tabluation\"\n\n              \"few of them can safely be developed\"\n              Corrected typo: \"devoloped\"\n\nChapter IX    \"wasn't worrying about what he was\"\n              Corrected typo: \"worying\"\n\n              \"concerning which there may be some uncertainty.\"\n              Corrected typo: \"uncertainty?\"\n\nChapter X     \"group themselves with a certain uniformity\"\n              Corrected typo: \"cerain\"\n\n              \"indicate that there is little\"\n              Corrected typo: \"their is\"\n\n              \"sent his way than the cheerful one\"\n              Corrected typo: \"cheeful\"\n\nChapter XIII  \"Let the scriptures testify\"\n              Corrected typo: \"sciptures\"\n\n              \"Consider the case of the Son\"\n              Corrected typo: \"case of of the Son\"\n\nChapter XIV   \"is so significant when understood\"\n              Corrected typo: \"signficant\"\n\n              \"going back some two thousand years\"\n              Corrected typo: \"thouand\"\n\nChapter XVI   \"the silent inspiration of that picture\"\n              Corrected typo: \"pciture\"\n\nChapter XIX   \"the statement, \"The best method is a variety of methods.\"\"\n              Closing quote missing in original\n\nChapter XX    \"map out their work so carefully\"\n              Corrected typo: \"map our\"\n\nChapter XXI   \"a. The review question;\"\n              Corrected typo: \"question:\"\n\n              \"'As long as I do all the talking, things go all right,'\"\n              Closing single quote was double quote in original\n\n              \"when, where, and why.\"\n              Missing period in original\n\nChapter XXII  \"to go to bed agreeably\"\n              Corrected typo: \"agreebly\"\n\nChapter XXIII \"to participate in class discussions?\"\n              Corrected typo: \"discussions.\"\n\n\nIn addition, in Chapter XVI a full line was missing. The original reads:\n\n   \"And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well\n   as well as in private.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 19:28.)\n\nThe corrected text is:\n\n   \"And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well\n   as in thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public\n   as well as in private.\" (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 19:28.)","title":"Principles of Teaching","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":51150}