Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-01-09
[
Some Conditions in the Relation of Teacher
to Pupils that are Necessary to
Good Teaching.
Rare Thoughts for those Interested in
Educational Work-Points on Read
ing-The Eye in Teaching.
Condition of Good Teaching.

OOnOltlOn OF GOOD
The teacher needs good health. Her
work is seldom light, and any proper
performance of her duties will ordinar-
lily require abundant strength and DOW
ers of endurance. But besides this
general consideration which renders
constant good health so valuable in n
employment, the relation of the teacher
to the pupil absolutely requires vigor
of body and buoyancy of spirits. More
serious than the physical limitations
imposed by imperfect health, are the
depression of feeling and the peculiar
bias of thought which usually accom-
pany the bodily weakness.
The mental state of the teacher forms
an atmosphere in which the pupils live.
1t is as important that this p~ervasive
but unconscious influence of the teacher
should be wholesome and invigoratino
as that the material atmosphere which
they breathe should be pure and brac-
ing. The feelings of the teacher are
contagious. If she is bright and buoy
ant, the pupils will catch the same
spirit; if she is gloomy and depressed.
they will be fretful and irritable.
We sometimes see teachers work on
bravely, beautifully, when heavily
weighted by i'll health. Every n
would be glad to extend to them SYM
pathy and a helping hand. But in
some cases the odds are too great, and
the welfare of the children cannot be
disregarded. Not infrequently the
teacher struggles against conditions
which are unnatural and unnecessary.
Every teacher owes it to herself and to
her pupils to secure those conditions of
physical comfort which will contribute
to mental and bodily vigor, whether
they relate to the temperature and VEN
tilation of her schoolroom, the arrange
ments of her home or boarding-place.
or to those more difficult problems of
duty and affection which disturb her
peace of mind.
The teacher needs to be in sympathy
with children. No spirit of fidelity, no
painstaking devotion. a make up for
the lack of this quality. A subtle mag
netism enables the teacher who is in
hearty sympathy with her pupils, not
only to draw them to herself in loyaI
affection, but also to attract them to
those things in which she is interested.
They delight tt render a service to
such a teacher, and find it easy to do
the work which she prescribes. melted
by this motive, they make progress and
improvement which would be impos-
sible to them without it. Moreover,
the teacher is herself stimulated and
encouraged. Work cannot long re-
main distasteful when one is heartily
in sympathy with its object. Duties
otherwise heavy become light.
There is no cure, no preventive of
worn and irritated nerves like a spirit
in ready sympathy with childhood.
Such a teacher sees something besides
the humdrum and monotonous in her
work. Her voice, her language, her
wit, are to her pupils like the play of
fountains in a sultry day. She knows
how to give them a laugh when they
need it; how to make the atmosphere
harmonic with their youthful spirits.
Without loss of womanly dignity and
s~elf-cOntrol, she should be a perpetual
ource of cheerfulness to her pupils.
A vigorous personality is absolutely
indispensable to the teacher. If there
is a place anywhere for the mere copy
list, it is not in the schoolroom. The
idea once prevailed that any one who
could read and write and cipher, and
who possessed sufficient physical
strength to govern" could teach
school; more recently the impression
has gained favor that any n who had
taken a course in methods was qualified
to teach, 1t is difficult to tell which of
these absurdities is worst. %Independ-
ence, originality, mental grasp, come to
most people only after long and thor
ough training.
1t would often be convenient and
gratifying if persons who have received
but a slender education could find re-
m%unerative employment in the work
of teaching. But their inability quick
ly becomes apparent. A thin veneer
ing of normal training with nc thor
ough preparation to receive it, isgener-
ally distrusted. The lack of intellectu-
al discipline, true refinement, or pro-
fessional training should be a bar to
appointment as teacher. The teachers
ability to awaken thought power in the
young, and to wisely mold the charac-
ter, must be judged, among other
things, by her ability to think with
vigor, depth, and breadth, and by her
familiarity with the best pedagogic
principles which the wisdom and eX-
p%erience of the ablest thinkers have
evolved. She must be a student before
she. can be a teacher.
Another condition of success in
teaching is self-control. Deficiency in
self-command will speedily unsettle the
very foundations of school discipline.
A single lapse in temper will often so
weaken a teachers self-respect as to
! make a quiet self-assertion impossible
for a long time thereafter; will so for
felt the confidence of pupils as to ex-
clude obedience from any higher mo-
tive than fear. No one can safely as
sumo the Office of teacher who is not so
fortified in ~self-control as to be able TO
meet sudden and repeated annoyances
with c~lear-headed composure. Too
many children are abused and mis-
! governed at home; the hours of school
should be filled with happy occupation.
The teacher should remember that
that school is best governed which is
governed least; that childish outbreaks
and %irritability should be forestalled
and prevented by constant interest in
legitimate employment; that kindness
and cheerfulness are as essential to the
child as sunshine is to the flower; and
that only so far as she becomes herself
the embodiment of goodwill and self
control, can she hope to develop these
important virtues in her pupils.-J0hn
r.. Bradley.
Rare Thoughts.
The following excerpts are culled