p. 23 | Five Formal Steps in Teaching by Effa G. Gilbert

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Oct 4, 1906

Five Formal Steps in Teaching

By Effa G. Gilbert

THE church-school teacher to-day is having a part in the greatest work that was ever done. All will agree that the great aim of these teachers is to so teach that that which was lost, the image of God, may be restored in the soul.

Church-school teaching is a sacred work, and as we reach out into it, we sense the fact that this great reality, this high ideal, will be reached by the Spirit of God working mightily through the human instrument, the teacher.

Let all our work for the Lord be done orderly, in the simplest, clearest way. Just as the olive-trees emptied the oil into the golden bowl of the candlestick, and the oil was thus carried with equity and order through the pipes on its mission, so the Lord imparts his grace where regular channels open.

The first step in teaching, which we call the PREPARATION, must be a strong and solid one. It is the step which connects the experience or knowledge of the children with the new truth to be taught. It never includes new matter, but is the breaking up of the soil of the mind and the making ready for the good seed. If this step is clear cut, it will hold the attention of the entire class. Whole lessons are sometimes given up to just the work of preparation, especially when it involves description, or in text-book work it opens up the next day's lesson.

The AIM in teaching a lesson, although of first importance to the teacher, comes in well as a second step, when stated

clearly to the pupils after the preparation. The best work is always done when the aim is most definite. Sometimes it may be well to state the aim before the preparation. Care should always be taken that the aim may be stated with good judgment and connected with some spiritual lesson, or it will fall short of its purpose.

The PRESENTATION, or third step, is closely related to the step of preparation. There must be a constant recurring to the experience of the child, and every advanced thought built upon it, as the teacher takes the pupil where he is, and leads him to make the unknown his own.

Thus building, the constant watchword with the consecrated teacher will be, “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power,” that no human mold may be given. Then instead of the foundation of “wood, hay, stubble,” we may look for a glorious structure of character, built on the Rock, Christ Jesus.

For strength there must be clearness, simplicity, with a rounding out and pouring in upon the aim until the lesson structure is cemented. In all this, the questions need careful thought in order to produce thought, and then the two remaining steps will come in as naturally as they did in the lives of those whom Jesus taught. They applied silently and individually the lessons learned.

The fourth step, the SUMMARY, should occur all the way through the lesson, and should be made a habit, the habit of forming summaries. At the close a general summary should follow, and by strong questions cause the pupil to readily make a review of all the lesson.

The APPLICATION constitutes the fifth step. This also comes in as well at different points in the lesson, then clinched at the close, bringing out spiritual lessons that will not be forgotten. Its influence will last.

EFFA G. GILBERT.