Gracelink kindergarten 2015

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College Writing 1

Dr. Ivan Davis

November 1, 2015

PMC Kindergarten Sabbath School Activity Analysis

Introduction

For fifty-six years, Pioneer Memorial Church (also known as PMC) has made it a part of their

mission to help nurture the children of the community and assist their families in creating a solid

foundation of faith through their Children’s Sabbath School programs. Until this very day, PMC’s

Sabbath School community continues to keep this mission close to their hearts and continuously works

hard to execute it. Undoubtedly, it plays an extremely significant role in not only equipping families in

guiding their children to grow as disciples of Christ, but also in the child’s life in accepting Christ as

their Savior and Friend.

With this information, I grew an interest in PMC’s Children’s Sabbath School, particularly their

Kindergarten class, which consists of five-year olds. The reason behind my decision of choosing this

particular class is my personal perspective of five-year old children. They are typically at that state of

childhood where they are developing more independence and curiosity. They are able to carry on

conversations and their vocabulary is growing, as well as their thought processes. Scientifically

speaking, the age five is an extremely critical period of learning. This interest eventually resulted in my

participation as one of the volunteers.

As one of the new additions, I wanted to possess a deeper understanding of the class—what it

wanted to accomplish, its purpose and its goals. Kain and Wardle introduces a scheme which aids in

providing a more in-depth understanding of a particular group: the activity theory. Activity theory is

used “to understand the relationships among people participating in activities, the tools people use to

accomplish their activities, and the goals people have for the activity” (279). This way, social roles and

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progress become clearer as individuals gain a true understanding of the class as a whole—its goals,

mission, and the people working behind the scenes to create a well-oiled and effective system.

In this paper, I will look at the master genre used within the Kindergarten Sabbath School Class:

Gracelink and its series. Gracelink is a website regulated by the General Conference of the Seventh-

Day Adventist Church, under its Sabbath School and Personal Ministries. The Seventh- Day Adventist

Church Children’s Ministry describes it as “a biblically based 12 year curriculum comprising of 624

lessons…that are story based, some on scriptural references that teach a specific doctrine. Each story

has been selected to develop one of the four dynamics of the Gracelink series: grace, worship,

community, and service.” As the class openly pursues to nurture the spiritual growth of the children,

their use (and misuse) of Gracelink appears to promote child-sensitive teaching strategies and

encourage growth. Through activity theory analysis, I will take a deeper look at this particular genre

and how it consists of more genres within itself. In doing so, resulting in acquiring a deeper

understanding of “not only what its particular tools look like, but why they look that way, what they are

being used to accomplish, who uses them, how they have changed over time, and how they might

continue to change in the future” (281).

Methods

First, I assessed the master genre used in the latter part of the class, Gracelink, and the Seventh

Day Adventist Church Children’s Ministry website. I wanted to understand the master genre’s

connection to the Seventh Day Adventist Ministry, and its role in helping the Kindergarten class

operate. I then conducted interviews with the members of the Kindergarten class, Julie Furst and

Jaunna Murrillo, along with the Sabbath School Children’s Director, Claudia Davisson.

Julie Furst, Kindergarten Sabbath School Division Director, was asked about the influence of

Gracelink in and the format of the class. Jaunna Murrillo, a student volunteer from Andrews University,

was asked about her involvement with the story-telling aspect of the class— her personally developed

methods, preparations, and use of Gracelink in teaching the class. Davisson was interviewed regarding

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the mission and goals of the Children’s Sabbath School as a whole.