The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1874-11-26
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT
EDITED BY Z. g. TABER.
The TEACHERS PREPARATION FOp
ORAL LESSONS.
National Teachor

| t>o'iohdl Ieachcr.
lie who intends to make teaching
profession, is mistaken if he thinks hi,
own study is completed when he hos
gained the information that is to be i'm.
parted to his pupils. 1t may be safely
said that as many of the failures made in
teaching are the result of not fully under
standing how to deal with the minds Of
children, as are due to a want of familiar
ity with the subjects to be taught
The greater the difference in mental
development, the less, as general rule,
is the sympathy between the teacher and
pupil. This is illustrated ty the fact
children learn most readily from children
"a fact that is admitted even by casual
observers, 1t also accounts, in part, for
the numerous cases in which teachers who
have taken up the study of new sub
ject, and kept sufficiently in advance of
their pupils to be familiar with the matter
they teach, have succeeded even when the
more learned have failed.
When person has 50 completely mas
tered subject as to be able to bring it to
mind at will, it is often the case that he
forgets those difficulties which hedged up
the way for time when the study was
comparatively new one, and he fails to
alapt his instruction to the young learn
er. But if the individual having the
greater mental development, can learn to
look at subject from the standpoint of
his pupils, he will then come into full
sympathy with them and meet their con-
dition and wants
To this end it is necessary that each
lesson to be given should receive due pre-
paration, that the ideas contained in it
may be successfully impaired to the pu-
pills. While there are but few who deny
that every teacher, at the commen 'ement
of his professional life, should prepare
each lesson to be given, there are many
who consider it unnecessary for the ex-
perienced teacher to give his lessons even
thought But the ambitious teacher
will certainly rest satisfied with his old
methods, if by little effort he can i'm
prove them; nor will he be content to re-
peat the same matter year after year
when new facts are being developed in ev-
cry subject
In preparing an oral lesson the teacher
should first consider the subject, and in
selecting it, he may take any one that
treats of useful or interesting infcrma-
ton, or that tends to the healthful devel-
opment of the mind 1t has been thought
the subjects which can be successfully pre-
sented to child are very limited in num-
Der; but the sources from which the child
obtains its little store of knowledge, even
before the school period arrives are nu-
merous, including nearly all the branches
Of natural science.
The teacher, in the second place, should
take great pains to adapt the matter of
the lesson to the capacity of the childs
mind Nearly every subject includes
facts and principles which children can
not understand, and much of their dislike
OF school is due to the attempt to memoir
ize what is not understood The child
must begin with primary facts, and in af-
ter years proceed to the more complex and
abstruse.
In the third place, the teacher should
see the point of the lesson, and this
should be clearly brought out. A lesson
that has no point is not likely to be re-
membered
In the fourth place, the teacher should
give careful attention to the method OF
teaching the lesson-the method most
likely to give the pupil clear conceptions.
Different methods will suggest themselves
to the mind of every live teacher; for the
more one studies to obtain successful and
pleasing methods, the more readily do
they come to mind, and the less likely is
one to fall into any set form. As a gen.
eral rule the greater the interest of the
teacher, the greater the interest of the pu-
pill; and if, at the outset of lesson, the
method be such as to arouse the atten-
ton of the class, so much the more is ad-
ded to the interest of the teacher When
the lessons of the day have thus been full
of interest, we hear the teacher say: Il
have enjoyed school to-day
The method of teaching the lesson in
cludes the art of questioning properly
an art which all teachers do not readily
acquire AS much depends upon the
manner of questioning pupils, as upon
any other feature of the lesson Long,
wordy questions should be avoided, not
only because they are not readily compre-
hended, but because they avert the atten-
tion and detract from the interest of the
class. Clear and concise questions will
often make class seem bright and intel
ligent, General questions may be used to
advantage to test the knowledge of the
scholars or by way of encouraging free
and easy conversation in class; but, if a
particular answer is required, such ques-
ton should not be used.
Pointed questions should be used to
bring out particular answers, that the
chain of thought be be not broken by an
answer out of place or that the minds of
the pupils may not be made to wander
when they shouli be hell to the point.
Direct questions are aptly put when the
admission or denial of statement is
wished upon which to base the next ques-
ton; but at other times they only tend to
encourage laziness, or c,.rl4ss habit of
thinking. Not only is it an easy matter
to answer eyes" or mo" but child soon
learns from the manner of his teacher
which is desired; and the lesson which
thus costs him but little effort. he CORES
pondingly appreciates and remembers
Suggestive questions should not as
general thing, be used There may be
cases, however, where the pupil is trying
hard to think what to answer, but has in
some way become puzzled, that the assist
ance of a suggestive question may be bet
ter than to let the pupil fail, if in SO do
ing it tends to discourage him.
Questions Of whatever kind should fol
low each other in such order that each
may open the way for the next.
Finally, the value of lesson largely
depends upon an orderly running up OF
the facts brought out. A complete sum-
mary with appropriate applications serves
to "clinch firmly the nail now driven.
THE ACE FOR GOING TO SCHOOL.