How to Teach Religion

How to Teach Religion

The Project Gutenberg eBook, How to Teach Religion, by George Herbert Betts
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Title: How to Teach Religion Principles and Methods
Author: George Herbert Betts
Release Date: May 8, 2005 [eBook #15800]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The Abingdon Religious Education Texts David B. Downey, General Editor Community Training School Series Norman E. Richardson, Editor

HOW TO TEACH RELIGION
Principles and Methods
by
GEORGE HERBERT BETTS
THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK CINCINNATI
1926

DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO HAVE IN THEIR KEEPING THE RELIGIOUS DESTINY OF AMERICA--THE TWO MILLION TEACHERS IN OUR CHURCH SCHOOLS.

CONTENTS


CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE TEACHER HIMSELF 13
Importance of the teacher--Three types of teachers--The personal factor in teaching religion--Developing the power of personality--The cultivatable factors in personality--A scale for determining personality--The teacher's mastery of subject-matter--Methods of growth--Fields of mastery demanded--Service and rewards--Problems and questions.
II. THE GREAT OBJECTIVE 30
Two great objectives in teaching--Making sure of the greater objective--Teaching children versus teaching subject-matter--Subject-matter as a means instead of an end--Success in instruction to be measured in terms of modified life, not of material covered--The goal of a constantly developing Christian character and experience--Problems for discussion.
III. THE FOURFOLD FOUNDATION 42
What the fourfold foundation consists of: (1) right aims, (2) right materials to reach these aims, (3) right organization of this material for instruction, (4) right presentation in instruction--The aim of teaching religion is (1) fruitful knowledge, (2) right religious attitudes and growing consciousness of God, (3) power and will to live righteously--Selecting subject-matter to meet these ends--Principles of organization of material--The problem of effective presentation--Questions for discussion.
IV. RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF MOST WORTH 58
Not all religious knowledge of equal value--What determines value of knowledge--Kind of knowledge needed by child--Developing the child's idea of God--Harm from wrong concepts of God--Giving the child the right concept of religion--The qualities by which religion should be defined to the child--The child's knowledge of the Bible; of the church; of religious forms of expression--Problems and questions.
V. RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES TO BE CULTIVATED 76
The meaning of religious attitudes--These attitudes lie at the basis of both motives and character--Importance of the pupil's attitudes toward the church school and class--Enjoyment of the lesson hour and the growth of loyalty--The sense of mastery necessary to mental and spiritual growth--The grounding of a continuous interest in the Bible and religion--Growth in spiritual warmth and responsiveness--The cultivation of ideals--The training of fine appreciations--Worthy loyalties and devotions--Clearness of God-consciousness--Questions and problems.
VI. CONNECTING RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION WITH LIFE AND CONDUCT 91
Religious instruction must carry across to life and conduct--Hence necessity of finding practical outlet in expression for feelings, ideals, emotions and attitudes resulting from instruction--The setting up of certain religious habits--Expression in connection with the life of the church--Expression in the home life--Expression in the community and public school life--Expression in worship and the devotional life--Problems for discussion.
VII. THE SUBJECT MATTER OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 109
The Bible the great source-book of religious material--Yet much material other than biblical required--Principles for the selection of material from the Bible--Biblical material for early childhood; for later childhood; for adolescence--Story material and its sources--Materials from nature--Materials from history and biography--Picture material for religious teaching--Religious music for children--Questions and problems.
VIII. THE ORGANIZATION OF MATERIAL 129
Four different types of organization--Organization applied (1) to the curriculum as a whole, (2) to individual lessons--Haphazard organization--Logical organization--Chronological organization--Psychological organization--Three types of curriculum organization: (1) Uniform lessons, (2) Graded lessons, (3) text books of religion--Organizing daily lesson material--Typical lesson plans--Problems for discussion.
IX. THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 148
Teaching that sticks--Attention the key--Types of appeal to attention--The control of interest--Interest and action--Variety and change as related to interest--Social contagion of interest--The prevention of distractions--The control of conduct--Danger points in instruction--Establishing and maintaining standards--Questions and problems.
X. MAKING TRUTH VIVID 165
Vividness of impression necessary to lasting value--The whole mind involved in religion--Learning to think in religion--Protecting children against intellectual difficulties--The appeal of religion to the imagination--Guiding principles for the religious imagination--The use of the memory in religion--Laws of memory--How to memorize--Problems for discussion.
XI. TYPES OF TEACHING 183
The several types of lessons for religious instruction--The informational lesson--The use of the inductive lesson--The deductive lesson in religion--The application of drill to religious teaching--The lesson in appreciation--Conducting the review lesson--How to make the lesson assignment--Questions and problems.
XII. METHODS USED IN THE RECITATION 201
Methods of procedure for the lesson hour--The use of the topical method--Place and dangers of the lecture method--Securing participation from the class--The question method--Principles of good questioning--The treatment of answers--The story method--Guiding principles in story teaching--The teaching method of Jesus--Jesus the embodiment of all scientific pedagogy--Questions and problems.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
The