The reward.—­One deep and abiding satisfaction may come to the teacher who feels the burden of reaching the standards set forth in this lesson. It is all worth while.  Some make the mistake of charging against their task all the time, effort and devotion that go into preparing themselves as teachers of religion.  But this is a false philosophy.  For a great work greatly performed leaves the stamp of its greatness on the worker.  All that we do toward making out of ourselves better teachers of childhood adds to our own spiritual equipment.  All the study, prayer, and consecration we give to our work for the children returns a hundredfold to us in a richer experience and a larger capacity for service.

1.  Recall several teachers whom you remember best from your own pupil days, and see whether you can estimate the qualities in their character or teaching which are responsible for the lasting impression.

     2.  Are you able to determine from the character chart which are
     your strongest qualities?  Which are your weakest qualities?  Just
     what methods are you planning to use to improve your personality?

3.  In thinking of your class, are you able to judge in connection with different ones on what qualities of character they most need help?  Are you definitely seeking to help on these points in your teaching?

4.  Do you think that church-school teachers could pass as good an examination on what they undertake to teach as day-school teachers?  Are the standards too high for day-school teachers?  Are they high enough for church-school teachers?

5.  Have you seen Sunday-school teachers at work who evidently did not know their Bibles?  Have you seen others who seemed to know their Bibles but who were ignorant of childhood?  Have you seen others whose technique of teaching might have been improved by a little careful study and preparation?  Are you willing to apply these three tests to yourself?

FOR FURTHER READING

Palmer, The Ideal Teacher.

Hyde, The Teacher’s Philosophy.

Slattery, Living Teachers.

Horne, The Teacher as Artist.

CHAPTER II

THE GREAT OBJECTIVE

All teaching has two objectives—­the subject taught and the person taught.  When we teach John grammar (or the Bible) we teach grammar (or the Bible), of course; but we also teach John.  And the greater of these two objectives is John.  It is easy enough to attain the lesser of the objectives.  Anyone of fair intelligence can master a given amount of subject matter and present it to a class; but it is a far more difficult thing to understand the child—­to master the inner secrets of the mind, the heart, and the springs of action of the learner.