et the new by the old,
to translate all abstract truth into terms of conduct and into terms
of real concrete experience. If then the pupil's personal experience
is meager, how very difficult it is to teach him, and how very
important it is that we should be wise enough to supply the concrete
data necessary to make meaningful our teaching.

#68. Tools for the Teacher.#--The agencies at the teacher's disposal
are objects, pictures, drawing, and stories. These demand extended
study. Do you have a collection of objects and of pictures for
teaching purposes? These are your tools. Be sure you carry a goodly
store of them. Select them with care and use them with caution. If you
cannot draw beautiful pictures, do not worry. But be sure you can,
with a few strokes of the crayon, make concrete the thought you wish
to emphasize. This power is of immeasurable value and the training of
every teacher should include lessons in simple graphic illustration.

#69. Stories.#--But above all else, as equipment to teach, can you
tell a story? The story is an abstract truth dressed in concrete
garments. When Jesus was asked to define the word _neighbor_ he might
have answered in some such definition as may be found in any
dictionary. He was too wise a teacher to do that. He immediately
translated the meaning of neighbor into the concrete story of the
good Samaritan and gave us an example of the loftiest teaching power
the world has ever known. Every parable is an example of great skill
in teaching the abstract by means of the concrete. Go over the series
and note in how many ways the Kingdom of heaven is concreted into
terms of the common experience of the people Jesus taught.

#70.# A good story, well told, at once attracts marked attention. The
pupil unconsciously turns to a concrete incident and from that obtains
the richest nutrition for his spirit. But the story must be well told.
It must contain abundant elements of specific detail and must be
packed with incidents that thrill with action. The old Mother Goose
rhymes are excellent examples of stories full of action, and, as a
result, of interest. The child personifies all things, that he may
find in them the elements of life, of action, of things in the process
of doing. If you will spend an hour with a boy who is riding a stick
that is to him a horse, or a girl who is playing with a rag-doll, you
will learn the method and value of action in the concrete materials of
instruction.