Problems in Teaching_; Brumbaugh, _The Making of a Teacher_; Dewey,
_Interest and Effort in Education_.

CHAPTER XXIII

CREATING CLASS SPIRIT

OUTLINE--CHAPTER XXIII

The "pull" of a good class.--The appeal of an attractive
classroom.--Making it "our room."--The teacher and class
spirit.--Capitalizing on the leadership of the class.--Stimulating
free participation.--Out of class activities.--Some possibilities.

There is a "pull" to certain classes--a pull that has all the force of a
magnet. Pupils not only go to such a class willingly, but anticipate
with pleasure the approach of the recitation hour. When duty is coupled
with pleasure, there is a force for righteousness that is beyond
measure. Of the various factors that contribute to the creation of a
class spirit, the following are offered as being among the most helpful.

1. _An Attractive Classroom._ While it is true that most of the
organizations in the Church do not have surplus funds for beautifying
their buildings, and while it is equally true that many a good lesson
has been conducted on the dirt floors of long cabins, it is equally true
that rooms can be beautified, and that pleasant surroundings can be made
a potent force in holding to our organizations the men and women and
boys and girls of the Church. Of course, elaborate, expensive
decorations ought to be discouraged. Simplicity always is more
consistent with the spirit of worship than is extravagance. But contrast
the difference in effect on children of a bare, untidy, makeshift room
as against a cozy room decorated with a few beautiful pictures or
draperies and made homelike with comfortable seats and tidy arrangement.

Nor is any great expense involved. The writer recalls visiting a
kindergarten class in one of the schools in Salt Lake County. The ward
authorities had not been asked for a dollar to fit up the room, and yet
it had one of the "homiest" atmospheres imaginable. The teacher of the
class, in addition to having an interest in the class, had an artistic
temperament. She had collected through a number of years the most
beautiful pictures that had appeared in the magazines. These in their
home-made frames transformed the walls of her room into a veritable art
gallery--wherever the eye of the visitor rested, it was greeted by a
picture that, through its beauty, drove home an appreciation of the
finer things of life. The children, too, had been stimulated