Principles of Teaching | Page 8

effort he had ever put into his preparation for teaching. Because of his position in the army it became his duty to discipline a group of boys for what in the army is a serious offense. In that group was a boy who had formerly been a pupil under the officer in one of our ward organizations. Chagrin was stamped on the face of the boy as he came forward for reprimand. Regret and remorse were in the heart of the officer. They soon gave way to pride, however, as the boy assured him that worse than any punishment was the humiliation of being brought before his own teacher, and he further assured him that never again would he do a thing that would mar the sacred relations of pupil and teacher.
A further compensation attached to teaching is that of inspirational companionship. It is a blessed privilege to enjoy the sunshine of youth. Every pupil contributes an association with one of God's choice spirits. To live and work with children and adolescents is one of the finest of safeguards against old age. The teacher not only partakes of the joy of his group--they constitute him a link between his generation and theirs. Their newness of life, their optimism, their spontaneity, their joy, they gladly pass on to their teacher.
Moreover, the teacher enjoys the uplifting associations of his fellow teachers. Among those consecrated to a noble service, there is a spirit unknown to him who has not enjoyed such communion. Whether he is conscious of it or not, the teacher responds to the pull of such a group. Scores of teachers have testified that the associations they have enjoyed as members of a local board, stake board, or general board, are among the happiest of their lives.
And finally there is the contentment of mind that comes as a result of a duty well done. The human soul is so constituted that any task well performed brings a feeling of satisfaction, and this is doubly heightened when the duty performed is of the nature of a free will offering. Still more so when it is shared in by others to their blessing. Just as we hope for an eventual crowning under the blessing, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," so we treasure those benedictions along the way that attend the discharge of a sacred obligation.
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QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER III
1. Quote some of the promises of the Lord to those who do His will.
2. How is teaching one of the surest guarantees of the blessings of eternal life?
3. What are the immediate joys attached to teaching?
4. Discuss the application to teaching of the truth--"He who loses his life shall find it."
5. What types of companionship are assured him who teaches?
6. As you now recall them, what distinct pleasures stand out in your teaching experience?
7. Discuss Section 76 of the Doctrine & Covenants as one of the most valuable promissory notes ever given to mankind.
8. Discuss the force of a duty done as a guarantee of joy.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Doctrine and Covenants: Slattery, _Living Teachers_; Sharp, _Education for Character_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_; Betts, How to Teach Religion.
CHAPTER IV
PERSONALITY
OUTLINE--CHAPTER IV
The worth of a great teacher.--Good teachers not necessarily born.--Some boys' observations on teachers.--A high school survey.--Clapp's Essential Characteristics.--Betts' Three Classes of Teachers.--His list of qualities.
"A great teacher is worth more to a state, though he teach by the roadside, than a faculty of mediocrities housed in Gothic piles."--Chicago Tribune, September, 1919.
We may stress the sacred obligation of the teacher; we may discuss in detail mechanical processes involved in lesson preparation; we may analyze child nature in all of its complexity; but after all we come back to the Personality of the Teacher as the great outstanding factor in pedagogical success. That something in the man that grips people!
Very generally this Personal Equation has been looked upon as a certain indefinable possession enjoyed by the favored few. In a certain sense this is true. Personality is largely inherent in the individual and therefore differs as fully as do individuals. But of recent years educators have carried on extensive investigations in this field of personality and have succeeded in reducing to comprehensible terms those qualities which seem to be most responsible for achievements of successful teachers. Observation leads us all to similar deductions and constitutes one of the most interesting experiments open to those concerned with the teaching process.
Why, with the same amount of preparation, does one teacher succeed with a class over which another has no control at all?
Why is it that one class is crowded each week, while another adjourns for lack of membership?
The writer a short time ago, after addressing the members of a ward M.I.A., asked a group of scouts to remain after the meeting, to whom he