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propose one without revealing, by the tone and inflexion of the voice, the kind of answer you expect. For example: "Is it right to honor our parents?" "Did Abraham show much faith when he offered up his son ?" "Do you think the author of the Psalms was a good man?" "Were the Pharisees really lovers of truth?" Questions like these elicit no thought whatever; there are but two possible answers to each of them, and of these I am sure to show, by my manner of putting the question, which one I expect. Such questions, should, therefore, as a general rule, be avoided, as they seldom serve any useful purpose, either in teaching or examining. For every question, it must be remembered, ought to require an effort to answer it; it may be an effort of memory, or an effort of imagination, or an effort of judgment, or an effort of perception; it may be a considerable effort or it may be a slight one, but it must be an effort; and a question which challenges no mental exertion whatever, and does not make the learner think, is worth nothing. Hence, however such simple affirmative and negative replies may look like work, they may coexist with utter stagnation of mind on the part of the scholars, and with complete ignorance of what we are attempting to teach.

7. Make questions that are clear, and without doubt as to meaning. Do not have those that are capable of two or more answers, as "Who was an Apostle of Jesus?"

8. Make questions as short as possible. One question seen recently had thirty-four words in it. Lawyers' "hypothetical questions" may be interesting to us, but not to children. You need not state numerous facts, as preliminary to your interrogation point.

9. Place your questions in definite, progressive, plannedout order. You want order in recitation.

10. Ask questions of a composite enough character that your answers require thought.

11. Questions should be animated and lively, not dull and dead. Live issues should be selected, and the manner bright.

12. Wrong answers should NOT be repeated, since this only assists in making the wrong impression stronger.

13. Throw out questions for research and personal individual investigation perhaps even from other than usual lesson sources. Let pupils question each other, thus provoking the

spirit of inquiry. The gist and basis of all fruitful recitation work in class will be the cultivation of "The Inquiring Spirit" so that pupils constantly ask "Who?" "What?" "How?" "When?" etc.

14. Propound the question first and call the name of the student who is to answer afterwards. This will insure the attention of all because of the uncertainty as to the person who is to answer. No intimation should be given to the student who is expected to reply even by looking at him while the question is being framed.

15. Questions should not be asked of members of the class in regular rotation, either in alphabetical order or in the order of their seating. In order to insure an opportunity for all to recite, the names of members of the class might be written on slips, shuffled together and then drawn out at random.

16. Address questions to the inattentive, but do not repeat the question if in their inattention they have not heard it. Questions should be put with promptness and animation. Alert questions will stimulate prompt replies. While questions should follow one another without delay, reasonable time should be given for an intelligent reply.

17. In his PRIMER Professor Adams points out that: "It is a mistake to ask questions which involve long answers, particularly in the case of the younger pupils. It is one thing to know; it is another to express. A child may know not only the story implied in a parable, but also the underlying meaning, and yet be unable to 'Give an account of the parable. At the early stages all questions should be direct; i.e., they should be real questions demanding definite answers.'

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18. Again according to Professor Adams: "To be simple a question need not be easy. 'Who is the author of the book of Hebrews?' is a simple but very difficult question. What is specially meant by simplicity in questions is what may be called their singleness, i. e., only one thing should be asked at a time. Teachers who do not prepare their work not infrequently stumble into questions which involve several independent answers; and still more frequently they change the form of the question two or three times before they finally leave it for the pupil. This careless 'thinking aloud,' this making up of questions that ought

to have been carefully prepared beforehand, is disconcerting to the pupils, who frequently answer some of the rejected forms of the question instead of the final form."

Adolescence and Adult Classes.

Professor Irving Wood of Smith College has written a book on ADULT BIBLE CLASSES which with Professor See's Book, THE TEACHING OF BIBLE CLASSES are the only two handbooks for these ages, both of which should be carefully studied.

Professor Wood says: "The adult Bible class teacher must never forget that he is not doing elementary teaching. His object is not to see that his class knows certain facts, and to drill it until it does. He may be obliged continually to teach facts. So is the university teacher, however advanced his pupils may be in the subject. They should be taught, however, by relation to other facts, not by the dead lift of memory and repetition. Speaking broadly, the adult class has no place for the repetition-purpose of questioning.

"The second purpose of questioning, to help the students to think for themselves, is never out of place. The wise teacher begins its use very early. What is the principle of the Kindergarten, and most of the newer methods of education, but this? It marks the difference between Eastern and Western education. The Chinese student commits to memory his classics. The Western student is trained to independent thought and criticism. That means a very vast difference in the ideals of civilization. It is the difference between the methods by which Socrates and Confucius taught. Socrates asked questions 'to bring thought to birth,' Confucius made a collection of older literature to be learned and repeated.

"I cannot help feeling, however, that where a teacher and a class are in perfect rapport, questioning will lose its predominance in adult teaching. At best questioning is a drawing out process. The best adult class does not need to be drawn out. It comes out of itself when the opportunity is given. Will your class rise to a suggestion, thrown out like a bait? If so, why use the bare, cold question? I do not hesitate to say that the adult class teacher will do well to minimize the question as much as possible. Let him plan his work on the lines of suggestion,

rather than of question, and aim to use the question only when the more delicate and less obtrusive means fail. If this can be done there will be less exhibition of the machinery of teaching and more ease and smoothness in the flow of the class work.

"Many things may be done best by indirection. This is one of them. A teacher cannot make a class talk by command; and if he could, the talk would not be worth much. To make them talk by entreaty is not much less absurd. In social life people get so by long practice that they can 'make conversation,' which is a very fair imitation of the genuine article, but a class never acquires that skill. It must be genuine or be nothing."

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION.

[SUGGESTED BY PROF. MANNY.]

1. "Study carefully the method of Questioning used by Socrates. Is this method applicable to work with children ?"

2. "Notice the Questions put by teachers and superintendent in Sunday School. Classify them, and compare them with Questions of general use in Day Schools, by Children playing in their games, by a lawyer examining a witness."

3. "What part of the Questions used in your class do you ask? What proportion is asked by your scholars? Which kind is the more efficient? Why?"

4. "What uses do you make of the 'left-over' Questions?"

5. "Do you address Questions first to the individual and then to the class, or vice versa? Which plan do you find the better?" 6. How should adolescent and adult classes be handled?

CHAPTER XVIII.

HOW TO USE STORIES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

SUGGESTED READINGS.

*TEACHER TRAINING. Roads. pp. 72-74.

SUNDAY SCHOOL SCIENCE. Holmes. pp. 48-50; 62-63.

PICTURES AND PICTURE WORK. Hervey.

TEACHER TRAINING. Roads. p. 84.

Lee. pp. 13-15.

p. 47.

CONTENT OF CHILDREN'S MINDS. Hall. pp. 55-56.
*NEWER METHODS FOR THE JUNIOR CLASS.
*HOW TO PLAN THE LESSON. Brown.
THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY. Gordy.

THE SEVEN LAWS OF TEACHING. Gregory. pp. 19, 57, 74.
PEDAGOGICAL BIBLE SCHOOL. Haslett. pp. 248-251, 262.

Illustrations and How to Use Them-Stories and Parables.

We have already taken notice of the strong part which Imagination plays in the child-life. Imagination develops shortly after Perception, and requires wise training just as it does. We recognize that a child exaggerates and seemingly lies, because it does not perceive properly; and we accordingly educate the perceptions to truer discernment, through more careful observation. The Imagination is of value because through Stories and Illustrations we reach the child's mind and the child's interests in a concrete form. This is the avenue of approach, the point of contact, by which Bible truth may be imparted, without dullness. Stanley Hall once said that of all things which a teacher should know how to do, the most important, without any exception, is to be able to tell a story. It is almost the main part of teaching. The child's thirst for stories is marvellous.

The Canon of Worcester says: "In the education of the young, and of the less reflective of our people, it would seem to be quite impossible-at any rate, no attempt has been successful -to teach abstract truth, or morality, except through parables, stories and metaphors, so that it may be the more easily apprehended, and the mere imagery laid aside when the mind ripens."

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