| Show DR LECTURE my brethren and sisters sister ka aa last evening so BO tonight to night I 1 trust I 1 shall have the assistance of your faith and prayers to guide me in my remarks first grading As already stated in a previous lecture there are three or more as the circumstances of school may require departments in the su sunday school fr ar kimary an intermediate and a theological these departments consist of pupils arranged in the main according to some standard of classification the process of finding out the proper place for each pupil and kir arranging ranging the whole work of the sun lay school in such a way as to enable the pupils to progress by a logi logical ciLl succession of studies studied to become familiar with the plan ilan of salvation is called grading ma this part of the work corresponds with the ded design n of the architect the principles of of a lawgiver the plans of a statesman and constitutes the masterpiece of teaching the way the grading is done shows either a master hand or a bungling man mad it calls orth the exercise of wisdom discernment and experience on the part of the superintendent and his bis assistants and should be undertaken only with the consultation of the respective teachers for no one has a monopoly of truth and every superintendent as well as principal of any school or any wise ruler should always endeavor to avail himself of the beit be jt counsel and advice obtainable from fram every scourge aco there is still another motive or reason why the superintendent should consult with his associates ie no superintendent in is immortal he is not placed there forever and his bis aim should be to train crain his associates to conduct and qualify them for the same work which he be is now called upon perform give them a chance to express their views interchange ideas so that at any time he should be called to another vocation or d be temporarily absent there will be found those in the school prepared to go right on in the same line understanding and intelligently second tb this is means also establishes a confidence and love in the superintendent by his bis workers coworkers co for his wis bogn sad and good judgment in ing their services anything faivor fl avor ed ad with arbitrary or despotic rule always counteracts the best beat efforts made though such disposition of authority may mean well if once started right one half of the success of the work is secured but it serious mistakes are made in starting the wh whole Is work may be spoiled third some superintendents have attempted to grade exclusively according to age some disregarding all conditions of age considered only mental attainments and others again left it to the choice of the pupils these modes of procedure having proved unsatisfactory however in many some superintendents have given up bothering them themselves selvas any longer on this point and let things shape themselves as beat they could this last named course has led in many oases cases to a very deplorable state of confusion insufficiency and threatens the decay of the whole school the greatest care and good u judgment dament should be used in gradin gand a love for learning instead of a distaste should be cultivated the geographical social cial intellectual moral aal spiritual conditions of our communities are subject to such varieties as make it impossible to formulate a universal standard of grading applicable to all schools that bhatia Is impossible you cannot make a shoe to fit all feet bu but 1 a few suggestions may not come amiss in order to guide our co cj laborers in this all import amport ant part of their work it is suggested td therefore that every now new pupil on entering should bo referred to the head teacher of the department to which his bis aze aee would naturally assign him to the primary about to the age of 10 to the intermediate to the age of 16 about and older ones to the theo I 1 cical but this may be subject to a great many modifications modification ft especially between the ages of 10 1012 12 and 14 years previous preparation may have advanced them to enter a higher department part purt ment than their age would matui naturally bugge suggest or on the other hand their want of any kind of previous training may necessitate their being assigned to a lower grade the head teacher of the respective departments should find out of the new comers if they are capable lof of entering into one of the existing classes in his department it is the head teachers of the respective departments not the superintendents business to find iut ut the capabilities of the gnaw new comers whether they are able to enter this department or go to some other one two or three leading questions will suffice to form an idea of the ability of such pupil this is left to the good judgment of the head teacher the student should then be registered accordingly v here another important matter presents itself to my mind there should always be a teacher at the door to wel welcome comeK the students on sunday budday morning to give them a kindly welcome a good morning sy a how are you and the folks etc so all who enter eater feel welcome and at home not ws an is often the case with strangers entering sunday school left to themselves entirely not recognized at all there are two kinds of children we have to deal with in sunday school i a one kind that grows up in an atmosphere mo sphere of love tenderness where kind words gentle and tender care and loving hands are always seen and heard beard their nature shows it by their sweet smile and ways it is natural for such to captivate Is the teacher ingratiate te themselves into the good wishes and graces of all but there is another class of children and in their behalf I 1 plead before you teachers and superintendents I 1 have seen them by the hundreds this class are starving for love for a kind word a loving ex pres the atmosphere in which they have grown up is cold chilly m ny iny times unpleasant there to is no one at home who gives them a kind word these are like the flowers that grow up in the cellar where the rays of sunlight never smile on them no wonder they lack the sweet smile gentle ways and bright countenances and heads beads of those who grow up under that paternal love of gods sunlight these starving children are the ones that need our carvour care our lve ive our devotion but too often it is the case we heap the love upon those who are 91 running over with it toe the moment we take charge of a class we are as messengers from our heavenly father as his representatives and we have the mission of an angel to perform if we see persons starving for food we give them food ig if they are destitute we give them C clothing why not give that food of love and clothing of gentleness to those who need it it is our mission tt it if ie the children that need our kind attention even more than the subject in case of the necessity of a transfer to a higher or lower department the pupils should be referred to co the superintendent in la with the necessary recommendation men dation in one case of pupils of more advanced 41 V ll 11 aced age but not prepared to enter a high department special classes with work suitable to their comprehension should be organized whatever changes between pupils of classes in our department may be deemed a I 1 disable by the head teacher should be made by him directly but transfers from one department into another should not be made except upon the authority of the superintendent the head teachers and superintendents should meet a few moments before school convenes to perform any work make necessary assignments 0 i any work that will help improve the school and a ivance alvance the pupils this should be our aim and study this is necessitated because the mist material erial we have to deal with is like a living humanity aud and intelligence constantly changing wha nging like the clouds of heaven we look upon them now and in five minutes they put on a different form continually changing as they travel bo the young before us they constantly need now ideas ways ot of explanation and dif different ways of dealing with them be prepared tor lor very every emergency in taking up a book or reading we should read one line or to a stop one sentence which expresses an idea dover pass on until every point to is understood der stood then take up another sentence and aad explain everything and so oo on asking questions and drawing out tile the ideas from the minds of the pupils they hey will then understand as they read ad and will remember the I 1 ideas deas expressed in what they read the grading of the work itself throughout all the departments for wither either one term or for the whole school year should be sketched out by the superintendent and then discussed and adopted by the faculty of all the teaches before beginning of the work so that every teacher understands the work required of him film for at least the next three months every teacher should work to advance his department as these several operations are but the parts of the great whole THE intermediate department this department c institutes generally the he analu body of the school and is 18 composed of the greatest variety of pupils both in age as well as in capacity these children are in a transition period and at a time of their life when animal spirits are overflow ing without sufficient development of judgment to control them especially la Is this the case cage with the boys boy while the girls at this stage of development are generally quicker la in learning and causing I 1 inexperienced teachers to be come unjust by bestowing unjust praise on one side and blame on the other when they should consider that they have to deal in such instances with a more mere natural phenomenon the personal influence of the teacher substituting many other contrivances for the maintenance of discipline to 1 for these above stated more essential in this department than anywhere else in the sunday schools the Gui guide deJ has wisely recommended a division of this department into nog noe I 1 and 2 the first one of might be called with great propriety a preparatory department as it is designed to prepare for the work in no 2 there should be no break in the gradation of the work from the primary department ahls int one although a different set of teachers to is now in charge separate class work con statutes utes here the main feature of the gramme pro as we have to deal with rapid rapidly ly cevelo developing ping individualities that need our ever watchful guidance hence the organization of large classes must te be avoided now and about ten should he be the greatest number of pupils in one class clan in order to give the teacher a chance to bestow close attention to every individual student although as in the primary department part ment oral teaching should he the prominent feature there is to be introduced now occasionally the reading of passages paragraphs and verses whenever resorted to however care must be taken that no more than one sentence be read at a time every sentence expresses au idea which should be brought out by questions either from one of the pupils or from the teacher that the spirit of legitimate inquiry be cultivated there are two kinds of spirits causing to ask questions one is the spirit of inquiry seeking after truth illustrated by the peppie coming to the apostles and asking ye men and brethren what shall we do to be saved that spirit is the one to be encouraged and cultivated the rho other la is the spirit of inquisitive new I 1 shown by the pharisees Pharis ees asking christ if it was right to pay taxes to that spirit must be rebuked whenever it makes makee its appearance whenever incidents from sacred profane or natural history are introduced in sunday school it should always be for the purpose of illustrating some principle of divine truth the mere knowledge of events facts names or dates without some application is of no value whatever text books while it is not designed that the pupils pupil of the primary department should use any text books except the little picture charts as to the large charts in front of the whole class the pupils of the intermediate department no 1 or preparatory department can use the little works of the bible stories bok B ok of mormon stories faith promoting series and selections from the hatori cal parts of the nw new testament sunday school leaflets doctrine and covenants Cove nanta voice of warning and the story of the book of mormon to great advantage with the proviso that they are read here in the manner above alluded to and that only one ane subject at each recitation Is taken through reviewed repeated in the pupil Is own language and the moral illustrated by it thoroughly Im impressed presed upon the mind of the children partial use of the li rafleta in this depart ment illustrated intermediate department no 2 fine section of the intermediate grade should constitute the real intermediate department and comprise the finishing course in sunday school schol work for the children of school age it should therefore be the design of the superintendent in and of his bill associates to fur nish nih the pupils in this department the opportunity of obtaining not only a thorough theoretical knowledge of the history principles and ordinances of the gospel but also and that is the more important part a living and practical testimony of its ito truth prom from here the greater portion of thir the pupils enter into inta the practical duties of vicissitudes and responsibilities of life which in order to meet them require a substantial preparation the examination of pupils for their qualification to enter here should be as thorough as im practicable in order to rates raise gradually the standard of the whole department only well qualified teachers should be selected for the work to be performed here and the studies not only selected with great care but aho arranged and corresponding to the standard of the department children should be drilled in hunt ing chapters aud and verses in the bible book of mormon doctrine and covenants enacts and other church works by the teacher asking for instance the students to elul fin J the chapter of st mark where is it who has it the chapter of matthew where is it to be found who has it etc this will cultivate a habit of cluse close observation and ability in hunting passages and telling where they are to be found it would not be expedient inmost in most communities to lay out plans for the whole year in this department inasmuch as especially in sunday schools in the country many pupils are prevented from attending all the year round A course for one term should be made as complete therefore as Dos possible sible there should be a bible dais claw in this department for the purpose of training the pupils in finding passages and becoming acqua acquainted with the general genen outline or arrangement of the bible and of the book of mormon with some orr instruction on bible and book of mormon geography with references to maps here the speaker illustrated the way to conduct the several classes on leaflets treating the ordinances of the gospel and the orders of the P priesthood classes in the compendium and church works etc each recitation in each of these classes should close clopp with the bearing of testimony by one of the pupils the subject for next sundays recitation should always be given at the close and pupils be encouraged cou raged to prepare and avak as if questions on the riven given subjects promiscuous questioning is not sale to be encouraged the head teacher of this department had better have no DO class to leacu but keep going around among all the elmes classes of his department the temptation of falling failing into speculative thearle Is id already making its appearance more or lea among pupils and teachers in this department and must be guarded against with much |
