=The test of teaching.=--Not alone did the former teacher use the time
of her pupils for her own ends, but, even more, she dulled their
interest, and the damage thus inflicted cannot be estimated. Many a
child has deserted the school because the teacher made school life
disagreeable. She was the wet blanket upon his enthusiasm and chilled
him to the marrow when he failed to go forward upon her traditional
track. The teacher who can generate in the minds of her pupils a
spiritual ignition by her every movement and word will not be humiliated
by desertions. Indeed, the test of the teacher is the mental attitude of
her pupils. The child who drags and drawls through the lesson convicts
the teacher of a want of expertness. On the other hand, when the pupils
are all wide-awake, alert, animated, eager to respond, and dynamic, we
know that the teacher has brought this condition to pass and that she is
a ten-minute teacher.
=Meaningless formalities.=--One of the influences that tends to deaden
the interest of children is the ponderous formality that sometimes
obtains. The teacher solemnly calls the roll, although she can see at a
glance that there are no absentees. This is exceedingly irksome to
wide-awake boys and girls who are avid for variety. The same monotonous
calling of the roll day after day with no semblance of variation induces
in them a sort of mental dyspepsia for which they seek an antidote in
what the teacher denominates disorder.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124