ideas, but of his attitude toward them. You must bring up such as have life in them and worth in his eyes. By tactful remark or pointed question you will show him their incompleteness. You will awaken within him a sense of need. You will make him conscious of a gap in his knowledge, and get him to feel that it is worth filling up.

This is what Du Bois has so finely called "finding the point of contact." The preparation must succeed in bringing together the pupil's interests on the one hand and the point of the lesson on the other. It fails if it deals with either alone. There are introductions which work up logically enough to the truth of the lesson, but do not direct toward it the pupil's active interest; just as there are others which awaken interest, but in something else than the lesson point. If the pupils are interested enough in what they have been learning and the lessons have historical or logical continuity, the ideal preparation may be a brief review. But more often you must set out from some concrete experience. And there are times, be it admitted, when all rules fail; and you will be driven to use anything to get the attention of the class.

(3) You must set a definite subject for the lesson. This is the conclusion of the preparation and the transition to presentation. It gives form to the pupil's sense of need, and direction to his interest. It centers attention upon the thing to be learned.

The subject of the lesson is not the same as the aim. "When we face the child who has wandered from the point, it seems easier to ask, 'What are we talking about?' than to ask, 'What is the aim of our talk?'" Moreover, the aim that we have formulated for ourselves may not appeal to the pupil immediately or at all. The subject must be stated from his standpoint, not from ours. It should be brief and attractive. It should be worth remembering, and serve as a clue for the subsequent recall of the lesson. It should, therefore, whenever possible, contain both a proper name and the lesson event or a characterization. “Abraham willing to offer Isaac,” “Joseph's kindness to his brothers," "Joshua's battle against five kings,” “Jeremiah, the man who suffered to save his city”. '—are examples taken at random from the International Graded Lessons. Such titles set up an association between the lesson story and the name, so that each is bound to bring up the other.

The method of the preparation, with reference to its first two aims, should be that of questions and answers. It must enlist the pupil's

* Du Bois: "The Point of Contact in Teaching." The phrase "point of contact" was used by Herbart himself.

† Brown: "How to Plan a Lesson," p. 27.

activity, bring out his ideas and arouse his interest. Sometimes a good story may come in well; but it should not be used alone or with mere comment by the teacher. The subject should be stated, however, by the teacher-for the obvious reason that the pupil cannot be expected to formulate a subject for lesson material that he has not yet gotten.

The whole part should be brief and to the point. Many teachers take entirely too long. They dull the edge of the pupil's interest before they reach the presentation. It is always easy to wander from the point when questions are asked; and especially easy when the pupils do not know what the questions are leading up to, as is the case here.

If your method of conducting the class involves the giving of assignments, the greater part of the preparation must come on the Sunday preceding the discussion of the lesson. It may include, too, a brief blocking out of the course that the presentation will take, that each pupil may understand just what he is to do, and the relation of his assignment to the whole.

6. Presentation. The presentation of new material is the body of the lesson. In general, it should occupy at least two-thirds of the time. We need not discuss it here in detail. The preceding chapter and the three succeeding deal directly with methods of presentation.

(1) The presentation varies, of course, with the general methods of conducting the class discussed in the last chapter. In case of any method involving home study by the pupils, a part of the presentation comes from the text-book and from their use of the Bible. Each pupil may nave his share, then, in the class presentation.

(2) Present the essential facts first. Go over the whole lesson quickly, touching on the big things. Get the facts clearly and in perspective.

(3) You are then ready for the discussion-working over the facts, inquiring into their relations and implications, clearing up obscure points, hearing reports from pupils, organizing their results, and all the time working steadily toward a fuller comprehension of the main point.

(4) You will use whatever illustrative material you need to hold the pupil's interest and to help him understand-object-teaching, manual work, correlation with previous lessons or with the work of the public schools, stories, pictures, blackboard, stereoscope, and the like. We shall discuss these in succeeding chapters. Just one caution here. Remember the carpenter's rule reported by Dr. W. M.

Taylor: "We must never construct ornament, but only ornament construction.” *

7. Conclusion. Intellectually, the conclusion is the final step in the organization of the lesson material; practically, it brings home an obligation.

(1) The discussion should end with a definite summing up of results. The pupil should be led to look back over the lesson and to formulate its essential point in a compact statement. It should be an answer to the question with which you began your own study: "Just what did the writer himself mean to say?" If you have taught as you should,

the pupil's conclusion will be his statement, in his own way, of the same thought that you chose as the aim of the lesson.

(2) When the lesson is one of a series, the conclusion should formulate its bearing upon what went before and what is to come. The point of the lesson may be in itself comparatively unimportant, yet essential to the development of a greater truth. It may be that the only good of a certain lesson is to supply a link of historical connection; yet if it really succeeds in helping to make the history of the Hebrew people clear and coherent, its service is as real as that of one which deals directly with some great spiritual insight.

(3) These two elements of the conclusion are intellectual; they deal with the organization of ideas. But our aim is practical as well. God's truth touches the conscience. It brings us face to face with ideals.

Sometimes the practical conclusion should be definitely and explicitly stated; sometimes not. To know when is one of the teacher's most serious problems. There is need here of tact and good sense as well as of consecration. We shall take up this problem when we come to the chapter upon the spiritual goal of our work. Enough now to say that there are two reasons why a teacher may make a mistake who insists upon bringing home in so many words the practical bearing of each lesson: (a) because indirect suggestion is often more potent than direct suggestion; (b) because in the mind of the pupil such a statement of obligation may substitute our own authority for that of God's Word. We shall discuss these reasons later. The practical aim of our work dare never be forgotten; it is a question simply of method.

(4) The pupil should make the conclusion for himself. It should be his own. It so means more, both to you and to him, than if you present a conclusion for his acceptance. Of course, you will often have to correct a wrong impression and help to reconstruct a poor statement;

Hervey: "Picture-Work," p. 30.

but the right of summing up results belongs to the pupil. Indeed, he only can sum up the real results, for they are within him.

8. Finally, we must remember that no plan is sacred. Our plans must be adaptable. They must fit the material. You will not teach history in the same way as poetry or even as biography; neither will you present the soul-stirring sermons of the prophets as you would the worldly wisdom of a collection of proverbs. You cannot apply the same plan to letters such as those of Paul and to a dramatic dialogue like the book of Job. They must fit the pupil. What may be an excellent form for a junior lesson would fall flat with senior pupils. They must be fitted to the exigencies of the occasion. The discussion will take many an unexpected turn. Some of these will reveal real needs. No class can have life that is held too rigidly to a prearranged scheme.

QUESTIONS

1. What conditions must the teacher's study fulfill if he is to get the real meaning of the lesson? Give reasons for each of them.

2. Why should the teacher choose a single aim for each lesson? 3. "Not every lesson need aim directly at the formulation of some moral or spiritual truth." Why?

4. Why must the teacher lay out his lesson plan beforehand? Why is it not enough, without this, to study the lesson thoroughly?

5. Explain the steps of the Herbartian plan.

6. Why is the Herbartian plan not applicable to every Sunday school lesson?

7. Explain clearly what you understand by an inductive lesson. 8. What three parts must every lesson have?

9. What is the threefold aim of the part of preparation? Give a reason for each aim.

10. Discuss the method of the part of preparation, with respect to each of its three aims.

II. Why should the essential facts of the whole lesson be presented first, and the detailed discussion follow?

12. What should the conclusion accomplish, intellectually and practically? Why should the pupil draw the conclusion for himself?

LESSON XV

THE PUPIL at Work

The true class, we have seen, is cooperative. The teacher will not do all the work. He will enlist the activity of the pupil. In this lesson we shall think of the pupil's work. What can the teacher get his pupils to do?

1. Three principles underlie the work of the pupil :

(1) There is no learning without mental activity on the part of the pupil. This is the principle of self-activity, already familiar. You cannot think for your pupil. He must make his own ideas. The point we need here to emphasize is that learning requires mental activity. The pupil must think, not simply do. A class may be very active, yet learn little. They may answer every question-looking it up in their lesson leaves—and at the end know nothing. They may make beautiful maps and portfolios, even write out careful and correct answers in the blank spaces after the questions in their text-books; yet do it all so unthinkingly that they fail to lay hold of the truth. You must arouse the mind, not simply mouth and hands.

(2) To insure definite mental activity, the pupil must in some way express its results. This is one meaning of the oft-quoted pedagogical maxim, "No impression without expression." To make sure that the pupil gets the truth, you should have him express it. "We learn by doing.' We never really know a thing until we give it to someone else. You experience this every Sunday that you teach. After the class hour is over, you know the lesson as you never could know it before. The teaching has reacted upon yourself. Thoughts that before were vague have taken shape as you sought to express them; your mind has moved with sureness of purpose; your convictions are aglow. You feel that you would like to teach the lesson over again, and that you could now do it much better.

The pupil's expressior of what he has learned is thus much more than a mere test. It is not simply for sake of letting you know what he has gotten and what he has failed to get. The expression is itself a means of impression. It helps him to learn. It moves his mind to act. It gives him a motive to think It impels him to clear up his ideas and to make thoughts definite which might otherwise remain