History is a great web, and in the events she sees
the pattern that minds have worked. She is more concerned now with the
reactions of her pupils to this pattern than she is with mere names and
dates, for these reactions give her a clew to tendencies on the part of
her pupils that may lead to results of vast import.
=Poetry.=--In every poem she reads she finds an illustration of mental
and spiritual behavior, and she fain would find the key that will
discover the mental operations that conditioned the form of the poem.
She would hark back to the primal impulse of each bit of imagery, and
she analyzes and appraises each word and line with the zeal and skill of
a connoisseur. She would estimate justly and accurately the activities
that functioned in this sort of behavior. She seeks for the influences
of landscapes, of sky, of birds, of sunsets, of clouds,--in short, of
all nature, as well as of the manifestations of the human soul. Thus the
teacher gains access into the very heart of nature and life and can thus
cause the poem to become a living thing to her pupils. In all literature
she is ever seeking for the inciting causes; for only so can she prove
an inspiring guide and counselor in pointing to them the way toward
worthy achievements.
=Attitude of teacher.=--In conclusion, then, we may readily distinguish
the vitalized teacher from the traditional teacher by her attitude
toward the facts set down in the books.
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