Training the Teacher.
by A. F. Schauffler and Antoinette Abernethy Lamoreaux and Martin G. Brumbaugh and Marion Lawrance.
Organizing and Conducting the Teacher-training Cla.s.s
CHARLES A. OLIVER
Teacher-Training Superintendent Pennsylvania State Sabbath School a.s.sociation.
#Teacher-training Needed.#--No more serious problem faces the Sunday-school to-day than the question of securing more teachers and better teaching. We owe it to those who are called to teach the Word to see that means of thorough preparation be brought within their reach. The best teachers will welcome a better training for Christ"s service and many good people who have not found their place in the work of the church will gladly engage in Sunday-school teaching after they have been specially instructed in the Bible and in the principles of teaching.
This book provides the essential elements for the teacher-training course in four sections: (1) The Bible material which is the basis for all Sunday-school instruction, under the t.i.tle of "The Book," by Dr.
Schauffler. (2) A study of the working of the mind at various ages and under differing conditions (a brief study of psychology), under the t.i.tle of "The Pupil," by Mrs. Lamoreaux. (3) A study of teaching principles and the application of these principles (a brief study of pedagogy), under the t.i.tle of "The Teacher," by Dr. Brumbaugh. (4) A study of the place in which this instruction should be given, that is, "The School," by Mr. Lawrance. Additional material for instruction will be found in the chapter "How the Bible came to Us" by Professor Ira Maurice Price, and "The Gist of the Books."
#Starting a Cla.s.s.#--(1) No better beginning can be made than a prayerful conference between the pastor and the Sunday-school superintendent to determine the need and possibilities of teacher-training within the local school. (2) The nearest representative of organized Sunday-school work in your county or State will gladly furnish you with printed matter pointing out the teacher-training plans in successful use in your denomination.
(3) Select your text-book and familiarize yourself with it. (4) Call the teachers and officers together. Have a half-hour social feature, to be followed with an earnest address on the need and the plan of teacher-training. Teach a sample lesson from the text-book. Endeavor in that meeting to secure at least a few persons who will agree to enter a cla.s.s and will promise to do personal work to secure other members. But do not make the mistake of requiring a large cla.s.s before beginning. A leader and two or more students will const.i.tute a cla.s.s.
#Who Should Enter the Cla.s.s?#--Two general plans are now in operation.
One provides for a training cla.s.s for _present teachers_. This cla.s.s should meet at a convenient time during the week to follow the course in a teacher-training text-book. A whole evening could profitably be given to cla.s.s work. If this is not feasible the cla.s.s may meet for study at the time of the weekly teachers"-meeting or before or after the mid-week prayer service.
A second plan provides for the training of _prospective teachers_, and this may be done in a cla.s.s meeting at the time of the regular school session. These should be found in the senior and adult departments of the school and should be sixteen years of age or older. The most promising young people in the school should be sought for membership in this cla.s.s. If possible, a separate room should be provided so that the time of the closing exercises of the school could be added to the lesson period of the cla.s.s. This will enable the cla.s.s to devote ten minutes to a brief study of the spiritual teachings of the general Bible lesson for the day and yet leave a half-hour or more for the training lesson.
It should not be overlooked that if a cla.s.s for present teachers is established, the officers of the school will find the course invaluable and parents will secure very helpful instruction in the care and nurture of young children.
#Making the Cla.s.s a Success.#--It is possible for one student to follow a teacher-training course alone, but it is very desirable for two or more to join and take the course in cla.s.s. Several persons meeting for conference will bring better results than the same persons studying individually. The cla.s.s should have a leader who is a sympathetic, patient, tactful Christian man or woman, who will inspire the members to continue in their work, and who will see that every session of the cla.s.s is a conference and not a lecture.
Indifferent work should be discouraged. The members of the cla.s.s are more likely to continue to the end of the course if they have the consciousness of mastering the work. The question and answer method should be emphasized, and the entire period of the cla.s.s should be given at frequent intervals to reviews. Illuminating essays and talks may be brought into the cla.s.s, but these should be brief, and should deal in a simple way with side-lights on the lesson a.s.signed for that period.
It is very desirable that the cla.s.s should be enrolled with the denominational teacher-training department and with the State Sunday School a.s.sociation. This enrolment will furnish the officers of these organizations with information which will enable them to keep in touch with the cla.s.s and to send from time to time helpful and inspirational suggestions. The enrolment of the cla.s.s will also cause the members to feel the importance of the course and will strengthen the sense of obligation to do thorough work.
The official examinations are of the greatest importance, and should be taken by every member of the cla.s.s. These examination tests intensify interest, and help to hold the cla.s.s together until the end of the course.
Great encouragement will be given to the members of the cla.s.s if public recognition is made of their work from time to time. Brief words spoken in public commending the work which is being done will often tide some faltering member over the crisis of hesitation.
The denominational Sunday-school leaders and officers of organized Sunday-school work frequently may be called upon to lend encouragement by their helpful presence at some public function of the cla.s.s.
The diploma issued by the denominations or by the International Sunday School a.s.sociation is a fitting recognition of work done, and gives the student a place in the enlarging fellowship of trained teachers.
Alumni a.s.sociations are being formed in the States with annual reunions. Graduating exercises should be provided, and these should be impressive and dignified services that will show to the church and community the emphasis the Sunday-school is placing on high grade work.
The Sunday School Times Company does not offer any certificates or diplomas, nor does it conduct any teacher-training cla.s.ses. All this is carried on by the denominations, or through the agency of the State Sunday School a.s.sociations.
The Bible
#1. Methods of Bible Study.#--Microscopic study of the Bible is the study of smaller portions, such as single verses, or parts of chapters. Many sermons adopt this method. It is good for many purposes. But it fails to give the larger views of Bible history that the teacher needs for effective work. The telescopic method takes in large sections of the Word, and considers them in their relation to the whole of revelation. This is the method that will be adopted in these studies.
#2. To a.s.sist in the study# of a general survey of Bible history, we give as a memory outline above a chart of the centuries between Adam and Christ. We use in this the chronology in our Bibles, not because it is correct, but because scholars have not yet agreed on a better, especially for the ages before Abraham.
All the names are well-known but that of Jared, and his is put in merely to mark the close of the first half-millennium. Memorize these names so that you can reproduce the chart without looking at the book.
This exercise of memory will enable you to locate the chief events of Bible history roughly in their appropriate chronological environment.
Are you reading about any event in the wanderings of Israel? Of course you are between the letters M. and S. Is it a story of Elijah that you are studying? Then the event must lie between the letters S. and Z. Or is it the biography of Nehemiah that forms your lesson? Then it must lie to the right of the letter Z.
#3. One peculiarity of the Bible narrative# is that at times it is quite diffuse, and covers much s.p.a.ce on the sacred page, while at other times it is most highly condensed. For example, the first twelve chapters of Genesis cover over 2000 years at the lowest computation.
All the rest of Genesis (thirty-eight chapters) covers the lives of four men, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The first chapter of Exodus covers centuries while all the rest of Exodus, all of Leviticus, all of Numbers and all of Deuteronomy cover only forty years. Surely there must be some good reason for this. Again, two chapters in Matthew and two in Luke cover thirty years of our Lord"s life, while all the rest of the four Gospels cover only three and a half years.
#4. Another peculiarity# of the Word is that the miraculous element is very unevenly distributed. At times miracles abound, and at other times they are but few in number. In the first eleven chapters of Genesis, covering more than 2000 years, there are few miracles, outside of those of the creation. But in the period after that, covered by the four great Patriarchs, we find more miracles than before.
During the Mosaic period, beginning with Exodus 2, we find that miracles begin to multiply as never before. For instance, G.o.d fed his people for forty years (except on the Sabbath) with manna. Again, in the times of Elijah and Elisha, the narrative amplifies, and the miracles multiply. And once more when we come to the Messianic period, as exemplified in the story of Christ, the narrative becomes fourfold, and the miracles multiply as never before. What is the reason for this amplification of narrative and simultaneous multiplication of the miraculous? It is because these periods were exceptionally significant. In them G.o.d was trying to teach men lessons of peculiar importance. So he led the writers to tell the story more in full, and he himself emphasized the teaching by his own Divine interposition.
#5. In the Patriarchal period# G.o.d was calling out him who was to be the founder of that people which was to preserve G.o.d"s law through the ages, and from whom at last was to come Jesus, the Redeemer of the world. This was a most important period, and one with which we might well become acquainted.
#6. In the Mosaic period# G.o.d was bringing out his people from bondage and was giving to them laws that were to shape their national life for all time. He was also giving to them a typology in high priest, tabernacle, and sacrifice that was to lead them in the way of truth until, in the fulness of the time, he was to come who was the fulfilment of both law and type, Jesus of Nazareth, the Lamb of G.o.d, and the Son of G.o.d.
#7. In the period of Elijah# and his great pupil, Elisha, G.o.d was making a great effort to call back to himself Israel, or the Northern Kingdom, which had been led into gross idolatry by Jeroboam, and later by Ahab.
#8. In the Messianic period# G.o.d was fulfilling all that he had promised from the beginning as to a Redeemer who was to come. He who had spoken to the fathers through the prophets, and the various types, was now to speak to men through the person of his Son. Good reason then why, at the four periods to which we have called attention, G.o.d should provide that the narrative should be more full than at other times, and that simultaneously there should be the marked intervention of the miraculous, to prove that G.o.d was truly speaking to men, and giving them divine directions as to how to act, and what to believe.
#9. It follows, then,# that there are four periods to which we should pay especial attention, as being of unusual importance, and these are the Patriarchal period, the Mosaic period, the period of Elijah and Elisha, and the period of the Messiah. If the student be well posted as to the occurrences during these periods, and their teaching, he will have at least a good working outline of the whole of the Bible history in its most important developments. To emphasize these periods we have added on the chart in the Memory Outline the dots that will be seen, multiplying them at each period somewhat in proportion to the multiplication of the miraculous element in the narrative.
Test Questions
What two ways are there of studying the Bible?
What advantage is there for our purposes in the second method?
Give the nine names that divide the Old Testament times into periods of five centuries each.
What chronological peculiarity do we find in the Bible narrative?
Give some examples of this. (Pick out other instances of this yourself.)
What peculiarity do we find in the distribution of the miracles?
Name the four periods in which the narrative amplifies and at the same time the miracles multiply.
Lesson 1
The Old Testament Division