The primary worker and work

Contents

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Laborers Together with God 5

I. New Teacher's First Sunday 9

Chapter I New Teacher's First Sunday

In the Primary Department there was a class without a teacher. A young senior had volunteered to take it, and the children who were to be her pupils were awaiting her arrival on the first morning of what she afterward referred to as her great adventure. They called her "New Teacher/'

The class was somewhat unusual and had earned the reputation of being "difficult." There were both boys and girls in the class, and they were about eight years old. The boys disapproved of the presence of girls and sometimes refused to sit next to them. The girls resented the boys' disapproval and treatment and were ready at all times to criticize their boyish manners, to ridicule them when they failed to make a perfect recitation, and to report their misconduct. Where there should have been cooperation and interest there were usually disorder and inattention — conditions which, if they prevail, make teaching impossible. But of these conditions New Teacher knew nothing.

When she took the chair reserved for her at the head of the table she found herself looking into eyes of brown, blue, and gray — eight pairs of them.

"The eyes of a child are keen, Keen as the lances of light,"

and New Teacher felt that the children looking so intently and questioningly at her were appraising her, estimating her strength and her weaknesses — and they were. She became fearful and doubtful — doubtful of the adequacy of her preparation for teaching, of her ability to teach, and of the wisdom of her decision.

Swiftly New Teacher recalled her reasons for accepting the position — her unrest at being in a class where she was taught, her longing to discover her own powers and to test her own strength, her desire for service and to be about her Father's business, her love for little children, and, finally, the appeal that had been made for a teacher for a class badly in need of one. She wondered if all these reasons taken together were sufficiently strong to warrant her being in the position in which she found herself. She could not decide.

These thoughts were undercurrents. She hoped that not, a ripple of them showed upon the surface, in her face or in her eyes. Even while she was thinking them and struggling to overcome her nervousness and timidity she was making the acquaintance of the children, telling her name and asking for theirs.

The girls were shy. They gave their names so softly that it was with difficulty that they could be heard. The boys volunteered not only their names but the names of previous teachers and a short history of the class. It became evident that to "know something" and to be interesting while causing others to know are prerequisites for a teacher of eight-year-old children. The boys were continuing to tell what they liked to do and which Bible stories they liked best to hear when quiet music was heard, and it became evident that the session of the department was about to begin.

1. The teacher's attitude and manner. New Teacher had a reverent spirit, and quickly she laid aside her pencil and the little notebook in which she had been recording the names of her pupils and became attentive. Watching her, the children followed her example. She did not realize it, but this act on the part of the boys indicated that they had discovered in her an element of strength. It had

NEW TEACHER'S FIRST SUNDAY 11

not been their custom to come to order quite so quickly, but there was something about New Teacher which made them feel that it was not prudent to play or to "show off" or to defy her on so short an acquaintance. It is not probable that they thought about what they were doing or why they were doing it. They acted on impulse, but that impulse had for its excitant an attitude, a manner, a forcefulness of character on the part of the teacher which made itself felt.

2. The importance of preparation for teaching. Later the children tested her. It was during the lesson period. She had prepared her lesson the best she knew how. She had given much time and thought to it, but she had had no training for teaching. The textbook, given her by the superintendent, was not the first of the course or even the first of the year. It gave few suggestions for the preparation of a lesson. She had not known what to do with it. Consequently, her preparation was of her own originating.

She thought back into her own childhood to recall how she was taught, but she could remember neither lessons nor methods. Hers was a memory for incidents, experiences, and pictures. She saw over again the pictures that hung on the Sunday-school walls; she remembered certain blackboard illustrations. She recalled her fear of certain big boys who tried to trip her up as she passed down the room to her class, and certain big girls who teased her and made believe try on her gloves and take her muff. She realized that there was no help in reveries like these and prepared to teach her lesson in the way she had been taught in the class she had left.

3. A first experience in teaching. When the lesson period arrived New Teacher opened the Bible that had been provided for her use and read the lesson passage. The children listened and seemed interested. Then she began to read each verse and to talk about it. Almost instantly she had occasion to wonder if she were teaching in the right way; for the girls began to talk to each other, and the boys slyly to kick and punch one another. When she asked for their attention, they looked curiously at her, as if she might be, after all, of the same pattern as several former teachers. At length she abandoned her plans, opened her textbook, and read the story given there. She had not supposed that a story was a lesson. She was surprised to see the children settle down to listen and at the effect that the story had upon them. Before she had finished it, the classes were called together for the closing service of worship, and she promised to read the rest of it next Sunday. She wondered why the story had been a success and her lesson a failure. She realized that she did not know how to teach children, and that she must learn how if she was to be the teacher of these children or of any.

She felt instinctively that to excuse herself or to apologize for her poor lesson would be out of order, yet she wanted to justify herself in the eyes of the children — if this could be done. As she was bidding them good-by she said: "It will take a few weeks to become acquainted with each other, but I hope that we may be friends, and that you will be my helpers. You will help me, will you not?" As she put her question she looked into the eyes of the boy who had been the most trying. He had been restless, inattentive, and mischievous, but he squared his shoulders and answered, "Sure I will," and assumed a protective attitude. His look and manner said, "Oh, you're nothing but a girl after all and you don't know how to teach, but I'll take care of you." He turned the other boys right about face and said to them: "Stop your talking and be quiet. Teacher is saying good-by"; and he left the class quietly, and the other boys did the same. The little girls smiled, and one of them said: "I hope you'll be here next week. Our other teacher did not come very often. Some Sundays we had no teacher at all."

Just at that moment the superintendent of the Primary

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Department approached and asked, "How did you get along, and how do you like being a teacher ?"

"I did not get along at all," answered New Teacher, looking over her shoulder to make sure that the children were gone and could not hear her. "I made a miserable failure of my lesson, for I did not know how to teach it. If I am to be a teacher — and I think that I want to be — you must help me."

"I will," said the superintendent, "and this is what I will do. I will teach the class next week while you observe and listen, and afterward we will talk together about what I did and why I did it, the best methods of teaching young children, and how to prepare a lesson."

And with this promise to give her courage New Teacher went home.

1. What do you consider is the purpose of the Sunday school? Answer this question fully and make a record of it in your notebook, that later you may, if you need to do so, revise or extend it.

2. Because of this purpose what are the motives that should govern the decision to become a teacher?

3. What, besides a high motive, is necessary to successful teaching?

4. What, do you think, does "knowing how" include? Answer this question as fully as you can from your present knowledge and experience in teaching and make a record of your answer in your notebook, that you may have it for comparison and study as you progress in the course.

5. Why was it, do you think, that New Teacher's lesson was a failure?

6. If we must use different methods in teaching children of different ages, what particular study should a teacher-training course include? What are your reasons for specializing in primary work?

7. What bearing or relation has the teacher's personality, manner, and habits to the imitative impulse natural to children?

8. In becoming a teacher in the Primary Department where there are certain rules and regulations for the children to observe, what command should the teacher lay upon herself, and why?

9. Formulate a rule or command for yourself with regard to attendance, to the observance of all signals, to supplies for your class. The last should have two points to it.

CHAPTEtt II AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER

The second Sunday New Teacher was in her place early, At first it was a question who was the more shy and constrained, New Teacher or her pupils, but she tried to greet all with the same cordiality. Of the boy who looked as if he might answer if spoken to directly she asked questions about his school and school work. 1 She was a good listener, and because the children saw that she really was interested in their school life and play they began to talk freely. Girls and boys claimed her attention at the same time. She was beginning to feel somewhat helpless and as if she needed to know how to preserve order as well as how to teach when she remembered her promise to complete the story begun the first Sunday. She had just finished it when the signal was given for teacher and pupils to become attentive to the opening service of worship. 2

1. Necessity of first -winning the child's interest. The worship was followed by the period of instruction. As the superintendent came down the room toward the class, New Teacher saw that she held in her hand an oblong wicker basket. It was about 12 inches long, 9 inches wide, and 3 inches high, and had no cover. It was, in fact, a correspondence basket, like those to be found on office desks in which , secretaries place their employers' mail. New Teacher looked about and saw that each teacher in the room had a similar basket. She wondered what was in the superintendent's, but discovered that she, like the children, must await developments; for a piece of brown felt the

1 The true purpose and value of such questions become apparent in Chapters V and VI.

2 The signal was quiet music.

size of the basket lay on top and concealed the contents. This piqued her curiosity and led her to perceive that elements of mystery and surprise introduced into a teaching situation have their values. She did not think in these terms, but noticed that the children required no bidding to attend. They gathered about the table and suggested by their attitude that something quite worth while, from a child's point of view, might be forthcoming, and that they were ready for it.

A picture was the first thing produced. The superintendent held it in such a way that to see it the pupils would have to face toward her. The boys leaned forward from their side of the table to look, and the girls from their side. She explained: "This picture tells a story. Instead of telling this story to you I want you to tell it to me. Each of you, in turn, may take the picture in your own hands and look at it for a second or two and then pass it on to your next neighbor. Do not tell what you see in the picture until I am ready for you to tell me. Keep your discoveries to yourself in just the same way that you would if you were playing a game in which you did not want the other players to know what you were thinking or going to do. Which side is ready for the picture? I will pass it first to the girls."

2. Arousing the child's self-activity. The passing of the picture was done quickly; for the superintendent knew that if individual children kept it for too long a time, the others would lose interest. She knew too that some require a longer time than others in which to recognize details and their relation to each other. Hence, she did not lay the picture aside when it was returned to her, but held it before the children while she asked, "What story do you see in the picture?" 3 One child saw only the people in the foreground. Another was attracted by the unfamiliar houses and street scene. Another child said, "Many people

3 "In the Streets of Capernaum." For this picture see Primary Picture Set No. 3.

AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER 17

are coming to Jesus." This answer showed an attempt to relate details, but was not entirely satisfactory. As attention to details was necessary to a proper interpretation of the picture, the teacher began to ask questions: "What time of day do you think it is in the picture? Why do you think it is evening? Where are the people? What do you think is their purpose in coming to Jesus? Are all the people of the same age? Do they look as if they needed to be helped in the same way? Who will take the picture, point to some one who needs help, and tell what it is probable he wanted Jesus to do for him? What did other people want Jesus to do for them? Tell the story of what Jesus did that evening at Capernaum." The superintendent pointed to the lame, the blind, and the sick; while the children told her that Jesus made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the sick well. "He healed many that were sick."

3. Interest centers in the story. Next the superintendent asked: "What part of the day is the evening?" and suggested, "Let me tell you what Jesus did earlier in the day." She laid the picture back in the basket under the felt covering and began: "Capernaum was a city beside Lake Galilee. In this city there was a church called a synagogue. It was the gift of a wealthy soldier to the Jews." She told the story "A Busy Day at Capernaum." After telling the story she inquired, "What different ways have we of showing love to Jesus?" After the children had answered this question, she asked, "What will you try to do?" Because some children seemed thoughtful and hesitating, she added, "Think it over during the week, and next Sunday we will talk together about what you would like to do." Then she asked: "What shall we say to God?" and brought the lesson to a close with a prayer suggested by the children.

The superintendent sat quietly a moment, then drew out the basket from under her chair, where she had placed it before beginning the story, and set it before her upon the table. She took from it the folders of Story 17, Year 3, but before distributing them inquired, "What do you think would be a good title for the story that I have told you?" Several titles were suggested; but as the one she desired was not given, she said: "Think what Jesus did. What did he do early in the day? What did he do while in church? Where did he go when he left church and what did he do? What happened in the evening as the sun was setting? What kind of a day do you think it was for Jesus when he did so many things?" Quickly someone answered, "A busy day." "That is the title of the story," said the superintendent, " 'A Busy Day at Capernaum/ " Then she passed the folders to the boy who sat next to her at the right with the request to take a folder and pass on the rest to his right-hand neighbor.

After directing attention to the "Something-to-Do" page she said to the children: "Explain to your teacher what you do with your folders and handwork pages, and show how quickly and skillfully you can fasten them in place. And one thing more: be sure to learn the Memory Verse and to recite it to your teacher next Sunday." In a few moments the superintendent called all the classes to attention and led in the closing service of worship.

4. Considering a lesson in relation to results accomplished. A little later the children and the other teachers were gone. New Teacher and the superintendent sat for the second time at the class table. The primary teacher's textbook and pictures and a pupil's folder were spread out before them.

"Tell me," said the superintendent, "what was the first thing I did in teaching the lesson?" 4 What happened as soon as I presented the picture? What led the children to do this? Was the kind of seeing which proceeds from curiosity the kind of seeing with which I was content? That they might see not only with their eyes but also with their

4 It is advisable for the reader to answer each question as it occurs before reading on.

AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER 19

understanding, what did I do? I gave them something to look for in the picture, — its story or meaning. I might have told them what the picture meant, but that would have been to do their thinking for them, to have told them what they were perfectly capable of discovering for themselves. As it was, the children became interested and self-active with regard to the picture. They gave purposeful attention and thought to it. Speaking more technically, one would say that the children became dynamic in regard to the picture and the lesson. As a result of individual attention and thought each child discovered for himself details and teaching facts which are of value to him in learning to know Jesus.

"The pictured story was, however, only a part of the lesson, a part of what I knew and desired the children to know. What next did I do in order to teach the lesson? Did the children listen to the story? Did their thoughtfulness and their quiet, reverent tones in prayer have any meaning for you? To me they meant that the lesson had made an impression, had aroused feelings of wonder at the power of Jesus and of gratitude and love.

"These are among the feelings that give rise to impulses, and to which appeal may be made for right conduct. But in some children the feelings aroused by a lesson are weak. Other children do not know what to do to express themselves; hence it is desirable with most lessons to secure a response or prepare the way for it. This explains why I asked such questions as 'What may we do?' and 'What will you do to show love to Jesus?' and suggested prayer. Not all lessons need to end with prayer, and it is only occasionally that a lesson is begun as I began it to-day — that is, with the presentation of a picture. The way in which the lesson is begun and ended depends on the lesson and the method by which it is taught.

"From what you have heard and seen to-day what, do you think, is an approved method of teaching Bible lessons to young children?

"Judging from the lesson that I taught to-day, what three parts do you consider a lesson may have when taught by the story method?

"What is the purpose of the story preparation? What should be the purpose of that which is done by or with the children after the story?

"These are questions for you to think about and to answer in connection with the preparation of your next lesson/' concluded the superintendent. "And whenever you are ready to prepare next Sunday's lesson, let me know, and we will prepare it together."

Thus, it was with much thinking to do and an immediate task as well as the larger one of fitting herself for teaching that New Teacher again went home.

1. What, do you think, was the superintendent's motive in passing the lesson picture first to the girls?

2. What relation have acts of courtesy to the making habitual of such feelings as are enjoined in Eph. 4. 32?

3. What sense, strong in the boy's nature, did the superintendent regard when she passed the folder first to the boys after having passed the picture first to the girls?

4. How do such acts affect a child's attitude toward his teacher, the teacher's requirements, assignments of tasks, and discipline?

5. There are several values in having the children handle a picture. Some of these will be discovered in a later lesson. Give one based on individual differences in the ability to see.

6. From what you have read in this chapter concerning the method of teaching the lesson "A Busy Day in Capernaum" what do you consider is one purpose of the lesson teaching in the Primary Department? Keep your answer for future reference.

7. New Teacher's first attempt at teaching was largely a failure. This failure was not due to a lack of knowledge

AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER 21

or mastery of her subject-matter. She had studied the lesson material in the Bible and in commentaries. It might have been said, and said truly, that she knew her subject-matter. What was it that she did not know?

8. By following directions it is probable that New Teacher would have taught much more effectively the second Sunday than she did the first. Was there any similarity in method between showing the picture to the primary children and having the young teacher observe the teaching of a lesson? What were the results in each case?

9. What does an experience give or become? Find your illustration or argument in this lesson.

Chapter III Margaret And Norma, Stanley, Leonardo, And Victor

They were pupils in the same class — Margaret and Norma, Stanley, Leonardo, and Victor.

Margaret was fair and dainty. She wore her dresses of spotless white and of delicate pink and blue with grace. She stepped lightly and handled things gently. Even her thoughts were light and airy. She rarely touched realities even in her thinking. She was imaginative to an excessive degree. When she was younger it had been necessary to verify her statements, for they were apt to be colored by her fancies. Now that she was older, there were times when she seemed to speak from far away and to be living in a dream world of her own. Labor was irksome to her. She guessed the answer to a question rather than thought it out, and preferred watching the other children at their tasks to accomplishing her own. Yet she possessed elements of strength. She defended the rights of others speedily and effectually and would permit no one to impose upon her. She was admired and obeyed by all the children. The boys in particular sought her approval and were quick to do her bidding. She was the arbiter in times of controversy and set childish standards of right conduct.

1. Individual differences in children. Norma was vigorous. When the door opened to admit her, one was reminded of March winds, whirling papers, and a fire in the next block; for always there was stir and movement, mischief and excitement, in her vicinity. Her clothes and hair were usually somewhat rumpled and suggested a conflict with the elements or a race to get to Sunday school

MARGARET, NORMA, AND OTHERS 23

on time or to outdo some boy whose speed she had challenged. She differed from the boys at all times, dictated to them, quarreled with them, and derided their failures. She would glance over a boy's handwork page, discover an error, and taunt him with it to his exasperation and discomfiture: "You don't know how to spell! You are only in Three B. I'm in Three A, the rapid class."

She was as quick to hear and to think as she was to see. It troubled her when the children did not sing in time or in tune. "That was sung too fast or too slow," she would urge; or, "The children are not singing that right. They go down when they should go up." She held everyone, even her teachers, to a strict accountability regarding the right or, the wrong use of words. She inquired about their meaning and was anxious to be correct in her pronunciation. She wanted to know the reason why for everything.

Norma grasped one idea and was ready for the next before Margaret and some of the other children had begun to think. She was ready with the answer to a question before the other members of the class understood the question itself. She found it tiresome waiting for the others to do their thinking. It was a temptation to her to give an answer before the teacher desired it. Often it slipped out; or if it did not, Norma was apt to lose interest and to perpetrate a bit of mischief. There were reasons why she was in the rapid class in the public school.

Stanley was somewhat smaller than other boys of his own age, but he was vivid. His eyes were bright and shining. Good health showed in the color of his lips and skin and under his finger nails. His bobbing head was like a glint of sunshine difficult to catch and hold. He was rarely still unless listening to a story. Then he would sit with his left foot over his right knee, his hands clasped around his left knee, and with his head held high. If the story made a special demand on the thought powers of a child, he was eager and attentive. If it ended with a question, he knew the answer. If the story appealed to the emotions or sentiments, strong feeling — sympathy or joy, awe or reverence, love or gratitude — showed in his face. He was familiar with many Bible stories and had great love for the heavenly Father and tenderest feeling for the Saviour. He referred more often to Jesus as the Baby born on Christmas day than to Jesus as a man but was deeply interested in stories of Christ's ministry upon earth. Stanley stood out from among the other children, for he seemed to radiate joy and happiness and good will to others.

Leonardo was dark, like other children of his race, but slight. It seemed sometimes as if he scarcely opened the door but slipped into the room like a shadow., To watch him during the service of worship one would think that he was dull and unresponsive. He sat low in his chair with eyes partly closed. But by watching him one could discover that his eyelids did not droop, as if they were heavy with sleep. They were drawn down, as if he were taking refuge behind them and watching you and everything that you did. They opened widely only when there was something to be done in connection with the lesson for the day. He delighted in a beautiful picture and found infinite satisfaction in doing handwork. He did it well, as he discovered when he compared his work with that done by other boys in the class. That which they were able to do became a sort of standard by which he measured himself and found that he was not lacking. During the lesson period he showed energy, initiative, ability, and intelligence.

Victor was the boy who caused the heartaches and led more than one teacher to urge the finding of some other teacher who could control and help him. He was older than the other children in the class and appeared much taller. His face was long, and this long look was accentuated by his mouth, which was open the greater part of the time, letting his chin drop. He was nearly always smiling,

MARGARET, NORMA, AND OTHERS 25

not in appreciation of the happenings and sayings that the other children found amusing, but at what he himself was doing. His arms and hands and fingers were so long that with the least movement, and one which would not be observed, he was able to pinch the boy who sat next to him. Victor wore heavy shoes and he trod upon the feet of the other children. He paid slight attention to his lessons and rarely knew the memory verses.