A Threefold Process. 197 PART I. CHAPTER 4. mind of the teacher to the mind of the scholarhave now been treated separately in their examination and enforcement, it is to be understood that they are not separate and distinct processes, but are interworking phases of the one threefold process. A teacher is not to see to it, that at one time his scholar gives him his attention, that at another time he makes clear the truth he would teach to that scholar, and that at yet another time he and the scholar co-work to a common end. On the contrary, the teacher is to see to it that, at all times while he is teaching: he has his scholar's attention, he is making clear what he would teach, and he and his scholar are co-working in the teaching-process. The co-working is, in fact, to go on from the beginning of the lesson exercise; the scholar meanwhile giving his attention, and the teacher making clear that which he would Going on teach. And so the teaching-process-which is the learning-process-must go on, if it goes on at all. together. Up to this point, only the essential elements of the teaching-process have been considered; only those things without which the teaching-process cannot be The next step. complete. It is now time, however, to speak of reviewing as an element of successful teaching; and although it must be conceded that teaching is possi PART I. Teacher's CHAPTER 4. also threefold. ble without reviewing, it can fairly be claimed that there is no certainty of the completion of the teachingprocess without a measure of reviewing, and that the highest attainment of the teaching-process is impossible except in conjunction with wise reviewing. Hence, the methods of reviewing cannot fairly be omitted from the methods of the teaching-process. "Reviewing" is a term much misunderstood. It is often looked upon as synonymous with "reiteration," or as "repetition," or as "recapitulation," or as "revision;" yet, in fact, it means a great deal more than any one of these terms, or, perhaps, than them all. Reviewing, like any other phase of the teaching-process, has its threefold aspects, including one aspect for the scholar, one aspect for the teacher, and one aspect for teacher and scholar conjointly. Reviewing is Reviewing includes the testing of the scholar's knowledge, the fastening more firmly the truth taught by the teacher, and the new-viewing, by teacher and scholar, of the lesson, or lessons, as a whole. Reviewing goes to show what the scholar has learned, to fix what the teacher has taught, and to bring before teacher and scholar all that which has been taught or learned, into new light and into new relations. On the success of reviewing, therefore, hinges the measure of success of the entire teachingprocess. The Need of Review-Tests. 199 METHODS: IN REVIEW. I. TESTING THE SCHOLAR'S KNOWLEDGE. Examinations Needful in all Schools; A New Application of PART I. The Teacher's Teaching CHAPTER 4. EXAMINATIONS are counted essential in all schools but the Sunday-school. It is universally understood that a scholar can, in one way and another, pass the ordinary class recitations fairly well, without being a master of the lessons gone over; and the examinations at the close of a week, or a month, or a year, are relied on for the testing of the real attainment made by the scholars in any branch of study-except Bible study. But Bible knowledge is to be secured through the same mental processes as any other knowledge, and the testing of the knowledge gained by a scholar in the study of the Bible must be by the same method as his testing in any other department Testing is of knowledge. Hence the examination of a scholar by some method of reviewing is essential to the test PART I. CHAPTER 4. Pharaoh's dream. A Sundayschool famine. ing to the ascertaining-of that scholar's knowledge in the line of his Bible lessons thus far. Review-Sunday examinations are not always calculated to encourage a teacher concerning the progress of his scholars, or the success of his work; but they are none the less important for all that. Pharaoh's dream, which Joseph interpreted, seems to have had something of the nature of a reviewexamination, as that testing-time shows itself in many a Sunday-school. The "seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favored," which came up out of the river, may pass for so many well-selected Bible lessons. The "meadow" in which those kine were feeding answers to the Sunday-school. "The seven other kine," that were "poor and very ill-favored and leanfleshed," represent a too common style of scholars in our Sunday-school. Those ate up the first kine, without being the fuller for it. These devour the lessons which are found in the Sunday-school meadow; but they give very little evidence of their good feeding. "The lean and the ill-favored kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning." A great many scholars have nothing to show for their seven weeks, or their seven months, of abundant feeding in the Sunday-school meadow. Joseph told Pharaoh that this state of things in his day indicated a danger of famine, in the meadows What Have the Scholars Gained? of Egypt. It is fair to take a similar view of the danger at the present time, in the application of this dream to our Sunday-school meadow. 201 PART I. The Teacher's Teaching Work. CHAPTER 4. Methods of the Teaching Process. When review-Sunday brings the testing-time which this dream would seem to illustrate, every teacher ought to face the question: What have your scholars gained from the study of the past quarter's lessons? You have taught your scholars twelve lessons: have your scholars anything to show for them? Can your scholars recall the main facts of those lessons? Can they re-state the spiritual teachings or the practical applications of those lessons? If indeed the examination shows that, so far as assimilated Bible nourishment is concerned, your scholars are as poor and as lean-fleshed and as ill-favored as at the beginning, so that it cannot be known through the testing-pro- The real test cess that they have had anything to eat since they came up into the Sunday-school meadow, you have good reason to be disturbed, and to set yourself at work vigorously to guard your scholars against the famine which imperils them. Whether it be disheartening or cheering to you, a review-examination of your scholars is essential to your understanding of their success and your success, in your and their common work; for not what the scholars have studied, but what they have to show for their studying, is the real measure of progress in your class; as it is in every other teacher's class. Nor is it only by a periodical and formal, far less of progress, |