Part 12 (1/2)
Lackadaisical in manner and matter, his carelessness provokes equal carelessness in his scholars. Let him, on the other hand, appear to be eagerly on the scent of some truth, on the track of some fact, following the path of some event or demonstration, and his scholars will, in the main, be ”forth and right on” with him.
In the third place, many a lesson is side-tracked because the scholars are not on the side of the teacher. Of course, when the two parties are at cross-purposes, things run no more evenly than they would if the engineer of a train were out of touch with his crew. The teacher must get up an _esprit de corps_, a cla.s.s spirit, or his cla.s.s will be perpetually flying off from him on a tangent. His scholars must be interested in him, if they are to be interested with him. He must draw them to himself, or they will never pull together. Friends.h.i.+p in his crew must take the place of authority in the railroad crew; and the more friends.h.i.+p, the less side-tracking.
In the fourth place, there must be frankness of speech. A misplaced switch on a railway, if it provoked no further collision, would at least provoke a clash of words. There is no reason why, if a question is too far aside from the main purpose of the lesson, the teacher should not frankly say so. He may lay it away in his mind for later discussion; he may promise to talk it over after the session; but no fear of being thought incompetent, or unsympathetic, or arbitrary, should induce him to turn aside from his one purpose. The wise teacher will make many exceptions, of course, to every rule; but nevertheless, a rule of the wise teacher it must be, to say to every irrelevant question, kindly and tactfully, yet firmly, ”Get thee behind me.” For the half-hour is all too short. The impressions made are all too confused. The instruction given is all too fragmentary. However wise and earnest the individual moments may be, there is danger that the half-hour may pa.s.s into oblivion at once, unless these individual moments have been wise and earnest to some single, distinct end.
There is a place for switches in our Sunday-school lesson. The train must be made up. Side excursions must often be made. There are sundry connecting lines whose cars must be switched in. But in genuine Sunday-school railroading there must be no delay upon side-tracks. Let all teachers, as far as possible, run express.
Chapter XXVI
The Problem of the Visitor
The a.n.a.logy for the cla.s.s-building of some teachers is the arch. Every scholar is needed in his place, or the cla.s.s-work collapses; and of course there is no room for a visitor. The a.n.a.logy for the true cla.s.s is the electric circle. Join hands all around, and ever room and electricity for one more.
I do not mean to imply that the visitor is not a problem. He is an intrusion on your familiar little group. He is a foreign and constraining element. He is a problem, however, that you cannot get rid of, but must solve.
Utilize the visitor. Go to work in such way as to transform him into a scholar; or if circ.u.mstances forbid that, at any rate win from his visit fresh interest and inspiration for the cla.s.s. Every visitor is an angel of opportunity, entertained--how often!--unawares.
Let your reception of the visitor be to your cla.s.s an object-lesson in Christian courtesy. If he comes in alone, and awkwardly drops into a distant seat, do not wait for the busy superintendent to get around to him. If he is of fit age for your cla.s.s, drop everything,--the most valuable lesson you could be teaching is not so valuable as this practical example,--and go to the stranger. Introduce yourself cordially to him, and him to the rest of the cla.s.s, or, at any rate, to his neighbors.
Sometimes resign the pleasure of seeking the visitor yourself, and send some persuasive scholar, thus letting him have a taste of the joy of giving invitations. Possibly it will help him into the habit of giving invitations outside.
Get your scholars to hand the visitor a lesson leaf or a Bible. Show them that he is their visitor as well as yours. They will soon learn to be delightfully courteous. But an iceberg teacher makes an iceberg cla.s.s.
And now you are on trial before your cla.s.s. They will judge you by the interest or the apathy of the visitor. They are watching him, ready to be ashamed or proud of you.
Yet do not fear your visitor. He may come from a better school and a better teacher. He may be critical and sneering and skeptical.
Nevertheless, he is your opportunity. Rejoice in it.
If he is a better scholar than any in your cla.s.s, what a valuable and inspiring example he may be made to them! If a poorer scholar, what an opportunity to make your cla.s.s feel the joy and power of teaching some one!
If he is sneering and critical, the indignation of the cla.s.s will bind them more enthusiastically to you. If he is skeptical, what a chance for examining and strengthening foundations!
The visitor is a mine of new ideas and experiences. Old thoughts take on novel forms when fitted to him. His questions and answers exhibit needs in your own cla.s.s, un.o.bserved because unfamiliar. His ways and words freshen the stagnant cla.s.s atmosphere.
And so he is your chance to get out of ruts and into new ways and moods. Bless Providence for him, and question him vigorously, making use of him to the utmost.
Two cautions, however. Let your questioning be very clear. He is unused, remember, to your little mannerisms, and must not be confused by idiosyncrasies. And in your exultation over him do not neglect the others, nor seem to change your plans for the visitor, or to be striving to show off before him.
Final advantage of the visitor: Teach your scholars to ask him heartily to come again, not forgetting to do so cordially yourself. Committees on church extension, remember, are trained in the Sunday-school.
Thus you see that the value of the visitor does not depend upon the visitor so much as might be imagined. Yet just a word on how to visit well.
Go to give good. Take hearty interest in the lesson, and have some thought to add to the discussion. Better yet, have some earnest question to ask. And ask it. If you come from another school, consider yourself a Christian amba.s.sador bearing greetings of brotherly good will and common endeavor.
Go to get good. Be un.o.btrusive and teachable. And especially, show that you have received good. Express appreciation, after the lesson, to teacher and scholars. Then will you be blessed, and, changing the meaning of the word ”visitation,” these words from the Wisdom of Solomon may be applied to you: ”In the time of their visitation they shall s.h.i.+ne, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.”
Chapter XXVII