Principles of TeachingBennion, Adam S. (Adam Samuel)
Religion
Principles of Teaching
Bennion, Adam S. (Adam Samuel)
Religious education
A little girl when questioned why she liked her Sunday School teacher
said, "Oh, she always smiles at me and says, hello." There is contagion
in the cheeriness of a smile that cannot be resisted. Children live so
naturally in an atmosphere of happiness and fun that teachers of
religious instruction may well guard against making their work too
formally sober. Frequently teachers feel the seriousness of their
undertaking so keenly that they worry or discipline themselves into a
state of pedagogical unnaturalness. There is very great force behind the
comment of the student who appreciated the teacher who could be human.
The experience is told of a teacher who continued to have difficulty
with one of her pupils. He so persisted in violating regulations that he
was kept in after school regularly, and yet after school hours he was
one of the most helpful lads in the school; in fact, he and the teacher
seemed almost chummy. Struck by the difference in his attitude, the
teacher remarked to him one afternoon, as he went about cleaning the
blackboard, "Jimmie, I have just been wondering about you. You're one of
my best workers after school--I can't understand how you can be so
different during school hours and after."
"Gee, that's funny," put in Jimmie, "I was just thinking the same thing
about you."
To be cheerful without being easy is a real art. Liberty is so often
converted into license, and a spirit of fun so easily transformed into
mischief and disorder. And yet cheerfulness is the great key to the
human heart.
An attitude of looking for the good in pupils will lead to a response of
friendliness on their part which is the basis of all teaching.
4. SCHOLARLY ATTITUDE
If a teacher would cultivate an appetite for learning among his pupils
he must himself hunger for knowledge. Most young people will "take
intellectually if sufficiently exposed." A scholarly attitude implies
first of all a growing mastery of subject matter. To quote an eminent
writer on religious education, "A common bane of Sunday school teaching
has been the haziness of the teacher's own ideas concerning the truths
of religion."
Fancy the hostess who would invite her guests to a dinner, and upon
their arrival indicate to them that she had made only vague plans to
receive them. No special place for their wraps, no entertainment for
their amusement, and then fancy her asking them to sit down to a
warmed-up conglomeration of left-overs.
Of course, it is only in fancy that we can imagine such a service. Yet
reports frequently indicate that there are class recitations,
intellectual banquets, for which the preparation has been about as
meagre as that indicated. Surely he who would feast others upon His word
should prepare unceasingly. Let us keep in mind the comment--"We like
the fellow who tells us something new."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account