Getting Attention
I was once sergeant of a college military company that was being
trained by an officer of the regular army from the nearest barracks.
In one evolution it was made my duty to march at the head of a long
column, shouting at the top of my voice: "Hep--hep--hep--hep!" This
was to give the time; we had no drum. I conscientiously obeyed orders
and strutted off, shouting the required "Hep--hep--hep--hep!" But
alas! at a critical turn, thinking more of my glory than of my duty, I
marched to the right, while the column, more heedful, turned off to
the left. So there I was, a long, lank figure, strutting off by myself
over the field, shouting "Hep--hep--hep!" How many times since, when
standing before inattentive classes, have I repeated that mortifying
performance, less obviously, but none the less really!
How often teachers are bent on planning what they are to say and how
they are to say it, but omit to consider how they may induce people to
attend to it; just as if (to change the figure) a locomotive engineer
should polish and oil his engine and turn on full steam, but forget
the little coupling-pin that hitches the engine to the train! It is a
very little thing, this coupling-pin of attention, and often the
teacher goes puffing a long way before he perceives that it is left
out; and it is a great humiliation, as well as a great loss of time
and steam, to go back and hitch on.
The first thing to be considered, if we would win attention, is the
room. Poor janitors spoil more Sunday-schools than poor teachers. You
remember how the Peterkins tried to take their drive, shaking the
reins, clucking at the stationary horse, whipping and coaxing him by
turns, and all in vain until the lady from Philadelphia _unhitched_
the obstinate beast. We make Peterkins of ourselves every time we try
to take an intellectual journey with our pupils when they are tied
down by hot air, poor ventilation, uncomfortable seats, and
surrounding noise and bustle. All our pedagogical ingenuity will fight
in vain against the fiendish ingenuity of a bad janitor.
Having made it possible for the children to pay any attention at all,
the next thing is to get it. Attention has something to do with tension.
Now it takes two to stretch a cord, and there are two parties to every
act of attention. How about the second party in this case--the children?
Imprimis, when you appear before the children, leap at once into your
theme. Older folks rather like to doze along through the preliminaries
of a speech, economically saving their enthusiasm for the end, if not
for next time; but the attention of children is lost or won for good
by the opening sentences. Our sharp boys and girls discover very
quickly whether a veteran or a raw recruit is calling "Attention!"
There are some beginnings which are sure to offend them. There is the
bagpipe beginning--the long, droning prelude, which advertises a
teacher set out on a mud-turtle to catch these lively colts. There is
the jack-in-the-box prelude: "Eh! Now, children! What's lesson 'bout?
Quick!" There is the crape-dirge beginning, which solemnly hopes the
children have studied their lesson and will recite better than they
did last Sunday. There is the plead-guilty beginning: "You'll have to
teach me to-day, children. I've been unable to look at the lesson."
But it is by no means easy to give affirmative rules. The best of
beginnings, if stereotyped, becomes inefficient. No general can plan a
campaign in advance. And yet a general must understand the art of war,
and a teacher must study his tactics.
In the first place, attention is won partly by position and attitude.
Happy the teacher whose class is a semicircle, himself at the center!
And luckless the teacher whose class, fixed on straight, fastened
pews, sees past him the distracting background of a crowded, bustling
school! He struggles against strong odds.
But whatever may be the position of the class, any one can see that
his own attitude shall command attention. Let him be straight, alert,
confident, quiet--not flabby, nervous, and diffident. Let his face
and voice and bearing expect attention, and he will get it.
The opening sentences must be businesslike. There must be no
indecision, no "puttering." The teacher must leap at once to that
hand-to-hand combat with the theme which tells his scholars that
there's purpose in it. The opening sentences may sometimes best catch
the class by directly addressing one person in it, the most restless,
indifferent one, and nailing _him_.
A paradox is good to begin with, some statement of the lesson theme so
startling as to spur to discussion, possibly to opposition. Then the
next Sunday, perhaps a quiet picture of the historical setting of the
story, or a description of the landscape surrounding the event, or a
compact review of the last lesson. Then the next day you might begin
with a bit of personal experience bearing on the matter in hand.
Nothing wins attention better than the first person singular. Or your
introduction might be a whiff of fun, for which the youngsters are so
eager that the most witless piece of jollity, if it spring from a
merry heart, is certain to reach theirs.
You are sure of their attention if you can get them to do something
for you--open their Bibles, repeat something in concert, find a verse,
or look at something. For this purpose maps, diagrams, pictures, all
material objects connected with the lesson, are invaluable. Scholars
yield their wills to yours through their hands or their eyes more
readily than through their ears.
And none of this must be done with manifest purpose. Surely in vain is
the net spread in the sight of any bird. Woe to the teacher who shouts
the word "Attention!" He will get nothing but the echo of the word
from stony cliffs of indifference.
And finally, woe to the teacher who relies at bottom on any skill of
his own to draw young hearts to his teaching; whose main dependence is
anything but the attention-winning power of that incarnate Sympathy
and Love who promised to draw all men--and children--to himself.