Those Juniors, Part 41: Master Crooked Ears

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Story-telling is one of the best ways to impress a lesson or point on others. There are many wholesome, true stories out there for all ages. When telling a story, there are certain things you must do: know your story, see it, adapt it, tell it, live it, feel it, and have a climax.

In closing this series, I want to give an illustration of the way stories are found in life, and built into things that charm and stimulate to better living. One day I was visiting the little Sabbath school at the village of Tha Kwe Kla, about twelve miles north of our Karen mission station. The bamboo schoolhouse was crowded with jungle folk, for the boys and girls had brought their mothers and fathers, their aunties and uncles, their grandpas and grandmas, till there was hardly room for another one. While we were singing the second hymn, I saw Thara John move over on the floor a little and say to a man who was coming up the bamboo ladder, “Come on, Uncle Crooked Ears, sit here near me.”

Immediately I smelled a story.

Those Juniors, Part 40: Story-Telling Stratagem, #4

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Story-telling is one of the best ways to impress a lesson or point on others. There are many wholesome, true stories out there for all ages. When telling a story, there are certain things you must do: know your story, see it, adapt it, tell it, live it, feel it, and have a climax.

Now let us come back to the story of Jochebed and her baby boy, and let us demonstrate the color that can be added to the picture by probable conversation.

In a few short verses, Exodus 2:1–10, is given to us the outline of one of the greatest stories in the world. The facts, which we may not add to or take from, are: A baby boy was born to Amram and Jochebed.

He was hidden for three months.

Jochebed made an ark of bulrushes.

She placed him in it and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

Miriam was told to watch.

He was found by the princess.

Miriam called her mother for a nurse.

He was named Moses, and adopted by the princess.

Now let us mix our colors from life and its varied experiences, and see how we can make this outline pulsate with life.

Those Juniors, Part 39: Story-Telling Stratagem, #3

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Story-telling is one of the best ways to impress a lesson or point on others. There are many wholesome, true stories out there for all ages. When telling a story, there are certain things you must do: know your story, see it, adapt it, tell it, live it, feel it, and have a climax.

Live Your Story—You can only tell with the power of conviction those things you have experienced. As pity is hollow and shallow and unwanted, because it is formed of only empty words, and as sympathy comforts, cheers, and encourages, because it is spoken by one who understands from experience, so the teller of stories must live life. He must know children; he must know mothers and fathers and people. He must know how they live, how they talk, how they love, how they hope, how they pray. He must drink the cup of sorrow and must understand loneliness, as well as the thrill of joy. He must know what it means to ascend to the mountaintop and to descend into the valley. If he would tell of the love of God he must know the love of God. If he would tell of the saving power of Christ he must know the saving power of Christ.

On a certain occasion a number of people were enjoying a social evening in the parlor of a beautiful home. Among the guests were a very talented actor and a venerable old clergyman. As guest after guest added to the entertainment of the evening, someone turned to the actor and said, “Won’t you please recite something for us?”

Those Juniors, Part 38: Story-Telling Stratagem, #2

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Story-telling is one of the best ways to impress a lesson or point on others. There are many wholesome, true stories out there for all ages. When telling a story, there are certain things you must do: know your story, see it, adapt it, tell it, live it, feel it, and have a climax.

After you know your story, you must see it. Good storytellers do not memorize their stories. They build a picture of the story as they read it, and then simply tell what they see. This enables them to retell stories other people wrote in the first person—for of course it wouldn't do to recite a story written in the first person unless you were the actual writer!

Those Juniors, Part 37: Story-Telling Stratagem #1

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: The use of illustrations that appeal to hand, eye, and ear are effective tools for a teacher, and will implant in the students minds not only the application, but also the lesson itself, causing them to remember it, at times, for their entire lives.

Story Sources.—The great books of God—the Bible and nature—form a vast, unlimited field where stories can be found on every hand. Life itself, with the hundreds of interesting experiences with people and children, is another boundless source of story material. When you see the results of obedience, of forgiveness, of faithfulness, jot them down, put down the names and the place, and file them away. When you can say, “One day when I was visiting Myat Po, the head teacher of our Karen school, I saw his little boy Solomon, who was only three years old, try to get his father a drink of water from a waterpot that was too high for him to reach,” it carries much more power and weight than if you have to say, “I was reading one time of a little three-year-old boy somewhere who tried to get his father a drink of water,” etc. Cultivate eyes to see and ears to hear the beautiful stories and illustrations that are being lived about you every day.

Those Juniors, Part 36: Windows

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Without the correct steps, a teacher may miss a vital opportunity of applying the lesson to his students, and thus not fulfill the extent of the good he may do for the children in his care. God wants us to be “better men (and women).”

Of Jesus’ teaching we read, “Without a parable spake He not unto them,”1 and the reason is very evident. In His congregations were those who had eyes but did not see; and who had ears but did not hear. The ears of some were stopped with ignorance; the ears of others were stopped with bigotry. Jesus said, “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.”2

The inference is clear, whether their ears were closed from ignorance or by bigotry. The story was the most likely form of discourse to bring enlightenment to their hearts.

Illustrations are like windows in a house. They are not the house, but they let in the light so that we can see the beauty of the house. Illustrations are like the scaffolding used to build a cathedral. The scaffolding is not the cathedral, but by it the workmen are enabled to lift stone upon stone, block upon block, till at last you can take the scaffolding away, and the cathedral stands forever grand and glorious.

In the same way illustrations help to build truth that shall stand forever.

Those Juniors, Part 35: A Better Man

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: While teaching the lesson is important, more so is actually applying the lesson to your class. There are five steps to arriving at successful application.

To illustrate these five steps, let us take the lesson which is entitled “Abraham’s Visitors.” We have already decided to take “God’s great mercy” as the theme. Now let us see how this theme can be developed and applied.

Those Juniors, Part 34: The Art of Application

by Eric B. Hare

Last segment: Patterns of how to reach the juniors and keep their interest and get them excited about Sabbath school.

We have seen that the superiority of inductive teaching over deductive lies in the stimulation it gives to “thinking.” We have also noticed that the natural thinking process is an addition of percepts to make concepts, a comparison of concepts to form judgments, a weighing of judgments (which is reasoning) in order to form new judgments and conclusions.

Moreover we are instructed:

“Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator,—individuality, power to think and to do. The men in whom this power is developed are the men who bear responsibilities, who are leaders in enterprise, and who influence character. It is the work of true education to develop this power; to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men’s thought.”1

It will be the study of this chapter, therefore, to consider and illustrate a lesson outline which will be in harmony with these principles.

Those Juniors, Part 33: Powerful Patterns, #2

by Eric B. Hare

Last segment: Patterns of how to reach the juniors and keep their interest and get them excited about Sabbath school.

“Are You Telling Me?” Game 
Following the pattern of the very familiar “Are you telling me?” games, we write the questions for the lesson on cards or pieces of paper about 3 by 4 inches. The cards are turned face down in the center of the group on a table or a stool. The first boy draws a card. If he can answer it correctly, he keeps it. If not, he passes it to the next boy, who keeps it if he can answer it, or passes it on. If no one can answer it, the teacher answers it and places it at the bottom of the center pile so that the students have another chance at it.

This plan requires a great deal of preparation, but, used occasionally, it never fails to produce interest. Here is a sample of some questions on the lesson “Our Eden Home.”

Those Juniors, Part 32: Powerful Patterns, #1

 

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Streamlined questions will provoke more class discussion and interaction. Choose to ask questions that will stimulate your class to think. This week shows lots of really great examples!

Multiple Answers

Choose the best answer:

Jonathan loved David because—

a.                   David could play the harp so well.

b.                  David had killed Goliath and delivered Israel.

c.                   He knew David had been anointed to be the next king.

Only one answer may be correct; or all answers may be correct. The stimulation comes in the discussion.

Clues

Put your hand up when you recognize this person:

1.                  I am thinking of a little boy whose name means “beloved.”

2.                  He lived in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah.

Those Juniors, Part 31: Ask Questions!

 

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: There are three kinds of questions that can be asked—some are more beneficial than others when it comes to teaching. Ask your students questions that will make them think.

 

Streamlining the Socratic Method

Away back in 469 BC was born the famous Greek philosopher Socrates, and while Ezra and Nehemiah were busy rebuilding Jerusalem and its walls, this old gentleman walked the streets of Athens with a new idea. He did not claim to be teaching; he was professing ignorance. He accosted people in the market or in the street and asked them questions. He built his theory on the wide-spread belief of the reincarnation of the soul and believed that he was only drawing out knowledge stored away in some previous existence. He developed a technique of questioning which first showed up the ignorance of the pupil, then led him on to certainty in his conclusions. His method showed to the world the stimulating force there could be toward real thinking in “questions.”

We have already seen the superior strength there is in questions introduced by interrogative adverbs and pronouns. Let us go a step further and notice what a tremendous force there is in a “streamlined” question and how much more thinking it stimulates.

Those Juniors, Part 30: Six Honest Serving Men

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: A teacher’s voice should be cultured and clear. Voice culture should be taught to students, as well. You can put color and feeling into Bible verses, or anything else, by using expression in your tone of voice. It can be beneficial to omit pieces of a passage that will cause distraction in class.

We have already studied the deductive and inductive principles in teaching, and have noticed how the question method stimulates the thinking and discovery of inductive teaching. In this chapter we want to study the art of asking questions, for we recognize that some questions are weak stimulators and others are strong. In order to keep the principles of deduction and induction in mind, we will teach the first section on questions by the deductive method and the second section by the inductive.

Three Kinds of Questions (Example of Deduction)
There are three kinds of questions:

1. Rhetorical
2. Elliptical
3. Clear, direct, simple

Those Juniors, Part 29: The Echoes of Teaching

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: There is a great amount of difference between connotation and denotation. If these two concepts are clearly understood, the teacher will be able to help their students understand things better.

When Paul exhorted Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine,”1 I am inclined to think he included among other things, his words, his voice, and his manner of speaking, for Paul was very particular about being understood when he spoke. Writing to the Corinthians, he said, “I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”2

You will agree that an unknown tongue need not be a foreign language. If the one who prays buries his face in his hands, if the secretary mumbles and mutters so that we cannot understand a single thought, that is without doubt an unknown tongue.

Memory Text for December 14–20

Key Thought for Lesson 12, "The Vine"
Just as the branch could not survive without the vine, we have no righteousness apart from Jesus.

Memory Text:
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Project: Memory
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

Those Juniors, Part 28: The Wreckage of Distorted Ideas

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: It is very easy to be misunderstood by our young people. These misunderstandings can be eliminated, however, by clear enunciation and accompanying gestures—things that will familiarize the child with what he is hearing. The teacher must be fit mentally, physically, and spiritually to accomplish his task.

Connotation is simply the meaning of a word in describing its qualities, while denotation tells the kind and gives it a name. It sounds simple enough, but there are two connotations, the universal and the particular, and that is where our difficulty comes in. The universal meaning of a word gives the qualities that are common to all of its kind; the particular connotation gives the qualities of the local species, the thing the child is acquainted with. And because the child’s world is small and limited, the teacher often fails to put the idea across.

Let us take, for example, the word “priest.”

Those Juniors, Part 25: Molding or Crushing?

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Everyone has innate instincts. These instincts cannot be allowed to run wild, nor can they be repressed without ill consequences. Instead, one must learn how to control them, using the three judges. The Savior Himself will aid us in this. 

The Developing and the Molding of the Will
It is clear now that the developing of the will lies in the development of the voice of reason, the building up of noble heart ideals and the training of the heart and mind to know the will of God, as well as the practice of self-control. By consistent and persistent habits of correction we can lay the foundation for reason. Very small children are able to link cause and effect together. This prepares the way for the exercise of choice. Wise parents can guide their children into the experience of choosing the right things, the right shoes, the right clothes, and every act of choosing wisely develops the will power.

Those Juniors, Part 24: Arbiter of Destiny

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: There is a difference between the will power, the won’t power, and the want power. Self-control is absolutely necessary, and is accomplished in a great part by the three judges. 

Let us look at the accompanying diagram and trace the three possible paths that desire can branch into:1

1. Desire may follow the pathway of self-expression, where driven by impulse and unhampered by reason, ideals, or conscience, it ministers to the animal passions of selfishness.
2. Desire may be repressed, unrecognized, buried in the subconscious mind, where it festers and produces overt actions, strong urges, and moral disintegration.
3. Desire may be ushered into the council chamber of the mind, where it listens to the advice of reason, the heart’s ideal, and conscience. As they decide, it becomes the will of the individual, and following the controlled, sublimated pathway, results in ennobling the life. It is, of course, quite possible that the voice of the heart’s ideal may be so wicked that it will overpower the voice of reason and conscience, in which case the will turns downward, into the path of willful sin and ministers to the selfish and the animal within us even more so than impulsive sin. From observation, however, I believe that by far the majority of the wickedness and sin we see in juniors is not deliberate, willful sin, but is the thoughtless, impulsive type. Most frequently when they take time to think through, reason and conscience influence the will to follow the controlled sublimated pathway.

Those Juniors, Part 23: Three Judges

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: To have the desired effect on a misbehaving child is not hard. You must work by strategy; build them up, identify with them, and gently correct them. Once this is done, they will be compelled by their own desire to be good.

Some time ago I heard a mother say to her small son, “It’s time for you to run off to bed now, dear.” But the little dear shook his head, pouted his lips, and whined, “No.”

Mother continued, “Now, be a good boy and run off to bed.”

And the little boy said, “No! No!” and stamped his foot.

The mother answered, “You are going to bed, my little son. Now run along.”

But her little son lay down on the floor, kicked his legs, and yelled, “No! No! I don’t want to.”

Blushing with embarrassment, the poor mother apologized, “My little boy has such a strong will power.”

No, he didn’t have a strong will power. That little boy had a very stubborn “won’t power.” They are very, very different. Many people are confused in their understanding of the will power. Some even confuse it with “want” power. But “want” power is not will power.

Those Juniors, Part 22: Winding Them Up Right

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: There are steps to dealing with classroom difficulties. These steps are clearly demonstrated in Christ’s dealings with the seven churches in Revelation. No one is all bad.

We Interview Johnny
“Oh, good morning, Mrs. Parent. I’ve just called to have a little chat with Johnny.”

“Certainly, won’t you come in? I’ll go and call him.”

“And we can talk alone in the living room?”

“Of course, I understand. I’m so glad you called.”

“Well, Johnny, and how are you this fine day?”

“Oh, all right.”

“I suppose you have a little idea of what I've come to talk about, eh, Johnny?”

Johnny grins a sick, shy grin.

Those Juniors, Part 21: Steps to Success

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: A big part of being a teacher or a parent is discipline. Children need consistent, persistent discipline; not unfair, not given in anger; but discipline that will actually punish and make an impression on them.

Classroom Disturbances
Johnny came to Sabbath school all out of sorts and with a pocketful of chocolates. He passed them around, and while Bill was standing up, he pulled Bill’s chair away, with riotous results. I am the teacher. What shall I do?

“What shall I do? What shall I do?” echo thousands of voices of thousands of teachers confronted with thousands of problems. Well, let us do something and see how it works. First, let us bawl him out right then and there. “John, enough of this now. I won’t put up with another thing. Give me those chocolates. Fancy a boy twelve years old having no more sense than to bring chocolates to Sabbath school. Now put Bill’s chair back and sit up there. One more disturbance from you and out you go. I won’t have a good-for-nothing, disrespectful, chocolate-eating little baby boy in my class.”

It hasn’t taken much thought to let loose this mouthful of impulsive irritation. The words came out easily enough, but they have not done any good. John has lost face with his buddies. I haven’t drawn him any nearer to me; nor have I gone up any in his estimation. He might do it again just to dare me. He might go out, and he might not come back again. Well then, what should I do?