10.  Indicate some of the best methods of filing.

HELPFUL REFERENCES

Betts, How to Teach Religion; Weigle, Talks to Sunday School Teachers; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach; Earhart, Types of Teaching; Betts, Classroom Method in Management; Bagley, Classroom Management.

CHAPTER XV

ORGANIZING A LESSON

     OUTLINE—­CHAPTER XV

A review of the steps in lesson preparation.—­The values of outlining.—­Objections answered.—­Outlining a means, not an end.—­The essentials in outlining.—­An illustrative outline on prayer.

Preparing a lesson is no easy matter, particularly for those teachers who are new to the calling.  There are those, of course, for whom reading an assigned chapter through constitutes a preparation, but to the successful teacher this preliminary reading is only the initial step in the process.  Adequate preparation involves the following questions: 

What aim shall I select out of the material available as the focus for my day’s work?

How shall I build about that aim a body of facts that will establish it as a fundamental truth in life?

How shall I illustrate the truths presented so that they will strike home in the experiences of my boys and girls?

How shall I make sure that members of the class will go out from the recitation to put into practice the teachings of the day?

What questions ought I to ask to emphasize the outstanding points of my lesson?

What method of presentation can I most safely follow to make my lesson effective?

How may I discipline my class so that no disturbances will interfere with our discussions?

Reduced to simple terms, the matter of preparation together with presentation, involves the problems of

  Organization
  Aim
  Illustration
  Application
  Methods of presentation
  Questioning

It is difficult to single out any one factor and treat it as if it were independent of the others—­teaching is a complex art with all of these factors inseparably contributing to the results desired—­but, for purposes of clearness, may we not proceed to give attention to each in its turn that in the end the teaching process may the more definitely stand out in all its aspects?

For convenience, then, let us in this chapter consider the problem of organization.  How to outline a lesson is one of the most fundamental considerations involved in the teaching process.  In fact, it is doubtful whether there is any one more helpful attainment than the ability clearly to outline subject matter.  It not only enables the teacher to proceed systematically, thereby insuring clearness and adequate treatment of a lesson, but it makes it so easy and profitable for a class to follow the discussion.  Outlining to teaching is what organization is to business.  Just as the aim points out the goal we seek, so the outline indicates the route we shall follow to attain the goal.  Outlining is simply surveying the road before the concrete is laid.