Reading for a Purpose
To the teacher books are companions. He should go to them in time of need. They will give assistance. For recreation they will afford rest, and for information they will prove a never-ending source. Every book the teacher reads, should be read for a purpose. It is a good plan to discuss a book read with a friend or one who has read it and is interested in the line of thought treated. Fiction usually portrays some strong character types, as well as weak character types; these make excellent themes for talks on moods and kindred issues. The wise teacher is always ready to cite some good character study or tell some interesting tale or anecdote bearing upon the subject being studied and taught. When interest lags on a dreary day, or when the entire school seems to have the “blues”—and every teacher knows that there are such times—he can save the situation and avoid embarrassment by narrating some interesting story. Fiction abounds in character portrayals, anecdotes and stories. These can be marked and indexed as to kind as explained above.
The question as to what kind of books a teacher should read may arise. There can be no harm in reading every type of book—books that bear upon every phase of life. However meager a teacher’s income may be or uncertain the place of his abode, he should have a library. The word library does not mean that he must have a hundred or more books. How many great men have had only a Bible, Pilgrim’s Progress, and perhaps a book or two of poems, and yet owned a library far more valuable than is often possessed by the indiscriminate booklover! A few books well read are better than many unread.
It may be well to add this precaution. There are scores of good books bearing upon method, pedagogy and various phases of the teacher’s work. Books written for the teacher are intended to inform, and not to give exact directions for every activity of the teacher. There can be no such book as the latter. It is true, every school bears the same aspects, and fundamental principles underlie the teaching process, but “cut and dried” rules and formulæ can work only for artificial ends. A good book seeks to suggest, and the wise teacher improves every suggestion.