Bringing the Teaching to a Focus.—In some cases the superintendent of the department which includes the age under discussion (as, for instance, The Beginners Department), whether a member of the class or not, may be invited to tell in from five to ten minutes how far he or she is able to meet the opportunities, supply the needs, overcome the difficulties, and realize the results so clearly stated by Mrs. Lamoreaux in the closing paragraphs of each chapter. This would give the whole lesson a local setting and application.
The Teacher
The remarks in the first paragraph of the section under The Pupil, just preceding, apply equally here. Outside help is desirable, but simplicity in treatment must be maintained. Profound knowledge of a subject does not insure ability to restate that knowledge in simple terms. Better not have the profound knowledge displayed if it is going to leave the students in confusion.
The principle of home-made illustrations referred to above applies equally well to the section on The Teacher.
It is safe to say that each adult student in the class will remember teachers who have excelled in the points enumerated by Dr. Brumbaugh. The student should be encouraged to take a statement like that found in paragraph 4, page [182], and say to himself: "Which of my teachers was notably enthusiastic? How did this enthusiasm impress me? How did it help him in teaching great truths?" These observations may frequently need to be made quietly to the student's self. But they will greatly help him to master the laws of teaching.
The School
Here is a section dealing with a concrete subject, and illustrations will be within the range of vision of every one who is associated with Sunday-school work. At the very outset there may be found those who will take exception to many of the suggestions made, because they are deemed to be impracticable in "our school." This attitude should be firmly but patiently overcome. If discussion proves that the thing suggested is undesirable, or that a better method may prevail, that is a point worth making. But the argument that a thing is desirable but "impossible" should have no footing in a teacher-training class. Let the motto be, "If it ought to be, it can be."
The teacher may be inclined to skip a paragraph like that on The Secretary. "Of what interest is that to me?" she may ask. The answer is simple: No one is equipped to be a teacher who doesn't know the school as a whole; and no one knows the school as a whole who doesn't know it in its several essential parts. Only when the teacher knows the secretary's duties, for instance, is that teacher prepared to see how careful he should be in meeting his obligations to the secretary in the line of the latter's official work. Each teacher should be encouraged to study executive problems, such as those relating to the superintendent and other officers, as if they were his own; and at least he should discover his part as a teacher in helping the executive officers to make the school a success.
In many localities sections of the class may visit other schools and report back to the class upon the features in which these schools excel. This offers a practical laboratory method for the concrete teaching of these lessons. Of course, such visits should be made with the knowledge and consent of the superintendent of the school visited; and at such times and in such manner that the work of the school will not be disturbed. Teachers of regular classes will greatly profit by an occasional trip to another school; it is time gained rather than lost.