IN N considering a teacher's qualifications, the power of exciting an interest in the recitations of his school may not be overlooked. No man can be successful for any length of time without this. This comprises what is usually implied by APTNESS TO TEACH. All men have not this faculty by nature in an equal degree. Some may talk for an hour upon an interesting topic in the presence of children without commanding their attention; while there are others who can take even a commonplace subject and secure for any length of time an all-absorbing interest in This difference is seen in every every word. grade of public speakers and in all descriptions of writers; but perhaps more strikingly than anywhere else, it is observable among teachers. Enter one school, and you may notice that the scholars are dull and listless; indifference sits undisturbed upon their brows; or perhaps they are driven by the activity of their own natures to some expedient to interest themselves, while the teacher is, with very commendable spirit, laboriously—perhaps learnedly-explaining some principle or fact designed for their edification. A contrast.-Not always a natural gift. The secret is, he has not yet learned to awaken their attention; he fails to excite their interest. Pass to another school. A breathless silence pervades the room; the countenances of the children, upturned toward the teacher, beam with delight. As he kindles into earnestness and eloquence, they kindle into responsive enthusiasm. Whenever his eye meets theirs, he sees-he feels the glow radiated by the fire he is lighting in their souls, and his own gathers new warmth and enthusiasm in return. Such a man is apt to teach; and you could scarcely break the spell by which he holds his class, "though you should give them for playthings, shining fragments broken from off the sun". He who possesses this gift naturally, has very great advantage as a teacher to begin with. The ability to tell well what he knows, is of more consequence to the teacher, than the greatest attainments without the power to communicate them. Combine high attainments with the ability to tell, and you have the accomplished teacher. But this power to communicate is not necessarily a natural gift; it comes not always by intuition. It can be acquired. It is founded in philosophy; and he who can understand any thing of the workings of his own mind, who can revert to the mental processes he went through in order to comprehend a principle, who can go back to that state of mind he was in before he comprehended it, and then, by one step more, can How acquired.-Natural order. put himself in the place of the child he is teaching, realizing exactly his perplexities and feeling his precise wants, can become the apt teacher. Those who fail in this are usually those who have forgotten the steps they took to acquire their own knowledge, or perhaps who never noticed what steps they did take. To acquire this rare qualification should be the constant study of the teacher. To this end he should recall, as far as possible, the operations of his own mind in childhood. By studying his own mind, he learns, often most effectually, what he needs to know of others. Whenever he is preparing to teach any principle or fact to others, let him ask himself questions like the following:What was the dark point in this, when I studied it? Where did my mind labor most? What point did my teacher fail to explain? Such questions will frequently suggest the very difficulty which perplexes every mind in the same process. Again, the following inquiries may be very useful :—In studying this, what was the first point which appeared clear to me? After this, what was the second step, and how did that follow the first? The next in order? And the next? Was this the natural order? If not, what is the natural order? The right answers to these questions will suggest the course to be pursued in the instruction of a class. The teacher can scarcely ask a more important question than this:- What is the natural Science of teaching.-Thorough knowledge. order of presenting a given subject? The ability to determine this, is what constitutes in a great degree the science of teaching. This inquiry should occupy much thought, because a mistake here is disastrous, and ever will be as long as divine wisdom is superior to human. He who can ascertain the order of nature, will be most sure of exciting an interest in the subject he is endeavoring to teach. Some further suggestions as to conducting school recitations are contained in the following paragraphs. 1. The teacher should thoroughly understand what he attempts to teach. It is destructive of all life in the exercise, if the teacher is constantly chained down to the text-book. I have no objection, indeed, that he should take his text-book with him to the class, and that he should occasionally refer to it to refresh his own memory or to settle a doubt. But who does not know that a teacher who is perfectly familiar with what is to be taught, has ten times the vivacity of one who is obliged to follow the very letter of the book? His own enthusiasm glows in his countenance, sparkles in his eye, and leaps from his tongue. He watches the halting of the pupil, perceives his difficulty, devises his expedient for illustrating the dark point in some new way, and, at the proper moment, renders just the amount of assistance which the pupil needs. Not confined to the text, he has the use of his eyes; and Printed questions.-Special preparation. when he speaks or explains, he can accompany his remark with a quickening look of intelligence. In this way his class is enlivened. They respect him for his ready attainment, and they are fired with a desire to be his equal. How different is it with a teacher who knows nothing of the subject but what is contained in the text before him, and who knows that only as he reads it during the intervals occasioned by the hesitations of the class. Every question he proposes is printed at the bottom of the page; and as soon as he reads the question, without a glance at the pupil, his eye sets out on a chase after the answer in the text. If the scholar has not already been stupefied by such teaching, and happens to give an intelligent answer, yet not in the precise language of the book, he is set right by the teacher's reading the very words,-just so much detached from the sentence, as he fancies was intended to answer that one question! In this way he discourages thought in his pupils, and sets a bounty on mechanical study. In this way, too, he congeals whatever of interest they bring with them to the recitation, and they sink into indifference,—or, following the instincts of their nature, they seek occupation in play or mischief, even under the sound of his voice! 2. The teacher should specially prepare himself for each lesson he assigns. This is naturally suggested by what has just been said. The teacher's memory needs to be refreshed. We all |