The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-06-26


dislike for the business, nor is it so often the
, poor pay of the teacher that causes him to aban
don mis- work. It is because he is not under
stood, and so has no sympathy with his pupils
nor from his pupils, so that his work IS cold anC
mechanical and uninspiring-thuS he is literally
frozen out" II must not be supposed for q
moment, says one, that every person who car
pass the strictest examination is fit to manage
I school.
ITTAKES A PECULIAR MAN
10 be Just the night sort Of a teacher. As to his
intellectual qualifications. his mind should be a
/ fountain and not Il reservoir, SO that his knoWl
! edge and illustrations VIII gJSh up themselves
and not have to be drawn up as by u windlaSS
He should be man of ingenuity and tact, of va
/ rious resources and eXpedientS, and not help
! less creature OF custom, ploddlng on DAY aItei
day in the same beaten path, like horse in a
bark mill. He should be fresh II his feelings
and sympathies and not a statue or a petrlied
post; his heart should be young in all its pulsa-
tons, though his head be as bald as that OF the
prophet Elisha. His mental stOrehouse should
be filled with the fruits Of various and extensive
reading so that he needs not be compelled to
/ draw his Illustrations for the recitation room
| from the tales of his grandfather, nor from the
old text books he studied years before, nor alone
| from the methods and examples of his own for
mer teacher, nor from the treasures Of last
years almanac.
! individuality or rather the ability to manifest
ii on all occasions is prominent feature in the
character of one who knows how to suit himself
to others, ana 10 Lle circumstances I0tlL sur
round him. In its expression, one always feels
at home hence, he has an air of cOmpoSure in
his manners and speech that makes others
also feel at home in his presence.
NO TWO PERSONS ARE PRECISELY ALIKE
in their views and actions There may be many
points of resemblance but there will be shades
of difference more or less striking. While the
teacher would ever be watchful to learn from
Others he should never seek to attain results in
precisely the same way that he has seen them
secured by others a disposition TO initiate III
this way, leads him into the habit of acting
without thinking, which grayitates at last into
a way of teaching that is fixed and mechanical
a way that TO all intentS and purposes is worse
than useless, for ii not only fails to reach the
purpose of all teaching, but is monotonous,
wearisome, and discouraging to teacher and
pupil.
springs of adaptation. They will enable him TO
reach, with effect, his purpose, and TO interest,
instruct and inspire every grade Of the pupils
from the \ b C tyro to the student ready for his
diploma.
we hear great deal about aptness to teach,
or aptitude in teaching, which is nothing more
nor less than this power in the teacher to adapt
himself to the capacity, the advantages or dis
advantages, and the general attitude of the
pupil.
Some would believe such aptness to he an en-
dowment and not dependent on the eXertiOn, the
selfdevi5ed ingenuity, or the acquisitions OF the
teacher. There may be tendency that orlgl-
mates as an endowment, but the habit of com
forting himself in the most effective and agree
able manner to his immediate situation, must
be the result of application. study ana training.
INSTINCT Is NOT ENOUGH
to lead US TO observe forcibly the peculiarities,
the agreement and disagreement of things, and
to form prompt and pertinent conclusions from
the premises.
We lind instinct in the new born child, not
reason. The power of reason is of slow growth
andthe result Of persistent attention and eXer-
else.
IT seems to me that of all qualifications that
go to make up the successful teacher, this abtl-
ity to adapt himself to his environment stands
first. ANY one quality of the teacher could be
better spared than this Though one cannot
teach what he does not know, yet less learning
with this quality viii meet with better success
in teaching than will 4 greater stock OF lnowl-
cage and more profound learning without 1t
win you never learn your letters, Patrick!
said. in an impatient tone, lady teacher who
had become discouraged N her EFFORTS to teach
little irish BOY his letters. PHASE ma am,
spake them little asier. and I'll try was the
boys reply. Here IS
THE SECRET OF TEACHING
to know how to ''spake asier'' when necessary.
The teacher must keep constantly in mind
that he has to deal with growing humanity,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn
i'll the ear, and that IN Il 1--we school, with pro
gressive teacher there is not always SameneSS
where there is identity, and so his methods
must be constantly changing to suit the varying
conditions.
Some teachers can never imprOvise; they
seem to have no ingenuity whatever, either in
tellectual or mechanical. II things aTe not
made ready FOR them. they can do nothing. The
textbook must Go the whole work OF planning
the recitation for them, and the trustees must
furnish every tr.tliHg piece of apparatus lmpor
tant for illustration, or nothing Is done. knew
a teacher in this city several years ago who was
so bound TO the old forms she had learned for
giving instruction. that she could not vary from
them il 4 single word without confusion and
failure.
In her object lessons she must have the very
same material she had seen used for the pur
pose il the east, or she could give no lesson. In
asking the trustees TO provide herewith material
for such lessons, 1 remember, she suggested TO
them that il would be necessary to send to New
York for them, where she had probably used
them before or seen them used. and one of these
articles l call 10 mind, was box OF sand
IT Is HARDLY POSSIBLE
TO believe that professional teacher could be
50 artificially dependent and thOughtlcss, and
such slave to form and 50 barren of any sem
blence OF ingenuity. He Is a poor teacher who
cannot make most of the apparatus he needs
and supply himself with most Of the means vi
illustration required in district school. The
best schools l nave visited are those in which
the teacher mad imprOvised most of the appa
ratuS he used.
Extensive apparatus, which is sometimes
costly cannot always be provided in our district
schools at least * L. not, but very good SubSti
tutes can easily and chedDly be imprOviSed by
the ingenious teacher who knows now to adapt
himself to the condition.
would say in conclusion, Consistency" alias
adaptation, thou art jewel
Miss Bessie Dean sang 1.-THE Roll Call
by Pensuti, accompanied by Evan Stephens
on the organ, and the programme for the
morning came to close.