The Express.
London, England, 1847-08-21 00:00:00

THE HOME AND COLONIAL INFANT AND

JUVENILE SCHOOL

From a report by Mr. E. C. Tufnell, to the Com-
mittee of Council on Education we extract the following
interesting account of one mode by which instruction
given in that institution in the art of teaching :
An; important part of the instruction in the art of teach-
ing is given by what may be denominated lessons for criti-
cism. These consist of Insons.given to a class of children
assembled in a gallery by teachers in training, in presence
of the ether students. At the conclusion, the children being
dismissed, the sketch of the lesson previously prepared by
the teacher i read, and each student is required to give an
opinion on the merits or demerits of the sketch, as well as of
the lesson founded on it. The treatment of the subject
chosen, the language and meaner of the teacher, the charms-
ter of the questioas asked, the extent to which the minds of
the children have been brought into a state of activity, the
educational principles illustrated or violated, and when the
hems is from Scripture the moral deduced or the
NM
made, are all the subject of critical remarks. The lass&
Imam or one of his asnatants is always present on duos
sermons, and by his questions, remarks, and a general
innlining up, aids the students in forming a just estimate
et
die sketch, and of the lesson. But the best way to give
on idea of the manner in which these lessons are conducted,
nil the advantages to be derived from them, will be to
demerbe minutely one at which I was present. The subject
SWIM was the passage of the Israelites through the Red
Bea ,• and the application intended to be deduced vu the
goodness of God towards those who, like his chosen people,
obeyed him, and the severity of his judgments against those
who, as in the instance of the Egyptians, opposed his will.
The class consisted of 30 infanta, from about five to seven
years of age. The teacher, one of those in training, was
provided with a print, which represented the Israelites after
they had safely paned ever, and the Egyptians drowning In
the midst of the Red Sea. This print was made the ground-
work of the lesson, in the course of which the Leather
brought out, by questioning the children on the print, and
partly by telling them, where the incidents were not nem
emied, that the Israelites had been in Egypt many yam
wino they were ill-treated by Pharaoh ; that they cried
MI God, who ordered Pharaoh, by the mouth of his servant
Mein" to let them depart ; that Pharaoh was unwilling to
permit their departure, but at last consented, though, when
they were gone, he immediately repented and pursued them
to bring them back: that the Israelities, having been over-
taken near the Red Sea, were alarmed at the sight of the
pursuing Egyptians, upon which Moses prayed to God for
help. This gave the teacher an occasion incidentally to refer
to the duty of prayer in sfiliction. The waters of the see
having been divided by the power of God, the Israelites
passed safely through, but on Pharaoh attempting to follow,
the returning waves overwhelmed him and his army. By
pointing to the two parties represented in the print, and
dwelling on the condition and character of each, the conclu-
non was drawn, in the language of the text, Romans xi. 22,
that God will show hie goodness to all thatlove him, and his
severity to those who are wicked. The moat important part
is the subsequent criticism on the lesson, in which each of the
assembled teachers is expected to take a Part. One student de-
clared that the teacher ought to have dwelt at greater
length on the circumstances of the Israelites in Egypt. This
criticism was, however, overruled by the mister, who ob-
served that nothing should be more cautiously avoided
than rambling, desultory teaching that every lesson should
have a specific point, to which the questions of the teacher
should have reference, without deviating from it under ordi-
nary circumstances ; and es in the present case: the point
was to be found in the latter part of the subject, the teacher
was right in rapidly pawing over the introductory matter.
Several students affirmed that some of the questions were
leading and too easy ; the answer required being simply,
yes, or no, or suggested by the question itself. The muter
concurred in these objections, and observed that as the
object of giving instruction in the catechetical mode was to
keep the minds of the children active and at work, to ob-
serve facts, to investigate the subjects brought before them,
and to enable them to draw inferences, and prepare them for
receiving impressions, all questions which the children
could answer with little or no exercise of mind wasted the
time of the teacher and children. Some students thought
that the information directly given to the children might
have been drawn from them by more judicious ques-
tions. The master sustained this objection also,
and pointed out as a general rule the impropriety
of telling children what by a proper exercise of
their own faculties they might discover, dwelling upon
it as an important principle in teaching ; obsemng,
however, that is a Scripture lemon, telling or using the
ellipsis, which is considered nearly the same, was sometimes
to be preferred to direct questioning, aa it enabled the
children better to receive the incidents u a whole, and thus
assisted in producing an impression—the ultimate design of
such a lesson. Another student objected to a duration re-
lating to the sea, as it could only be answered by guessing,
and the master decided that it was a had question, there
being no data on which the minds of the children could be
exercised, and chance, not thought, determining the
answer. Another remarked that the teacher was wrong
to use the word " severity " in the application of the
lesson, without ascertaining that the children understood
the word. The touter admitted that if the children
did not understand the word the criticism was Jest, and
dwelt on the importance of not using words without 1111011T-
taining that they conveyed the desired idea to the children's
minds, observing that, as a general rata, children should
first have the idea itself given them, and be made sensible of
the want of the word before it was actually supplied. He
added, that if the teacher bad well worked out the incidents
of the narrative, the childrea would have had the idea of the
goodness and severity of God in this case thoroughly fixed
in their minds, and thus have been prepared to paw from
the perception of a truth presented in a picture or an inci-
dent, to the conception of the same truth expressed in a pre.
capt or general text of Scripture. The head waster, during
the progress of the criticism, repeatedly required the students
to be more specific in their objections ; for exam e, when a
student said some of the questions were too I ' , he re-
quired the questions themselves to be repeated, o rving,
that it was in this manner only that the criticisms mild
be made useful. In his general summing up, he remarked
that the print bad not been made sufficient use of ; that
the awful condition of the Egyptians and the deli-
verance of the Israelites u the result of their respective
disobedience and obedience to the commands of God
ought to have been more dwelt upon, the impres-
sion to be produced mainly depending on their
rightly understanding these facia ; that the teacher went too
rapidly over the subject, not giving the children sufficient
time to think of their answers, or to digest the information
imparted to them, thus violating the well-known educational
maxim, that a teacher in by
a lesson is not to be guided
by what she can give, but by what the children can receive.

That she also erred in allowing the children in their replies
to repeat puts of sentences instead of the whole, and conse-
quently they often failed to get the complete idea in their
minds, e farther observed, that the sketch was well
written, evincing thought and inpennity. the matter judi-
ciously selected for the clam of children before the teacher;
that the manner was good and impressive • that the children
were orderly, though not so much interested as they would
have been had some of the faults above described been
avoided.