Perfecting the Saints — One Lesson at a Time
Here is a way to think about teaching the scriptures more powerfully. Do you teach the scriptures “inside out” or “outside in”? Inside and outside both refer to the scriptures and reference where you start and where you spend more time. I will explain …
I sat in a class the other day and the teacher posed a question which invited not only responses but perhaps a personal story to illustrate the response. It was a good question and a response came quickly, coupled with a personal story to strengthen it…
Karl G. Maeser, a leading 19th century educator, once said, “A great question is often worth ten answers.” Think about that for a minute. We generally think of getting answers as the goal of asking questions. The teacher asks, the students answer, and …
I did the last time I taught seminary years ago. Had the same experience, so he and I made a deal. He would continue in my class and I wouldn’t use him as an example any more. We didn’t have any problems after that.6I have three of my own children in class and I try really hard to only use them if I’ve asked them ahead of time in my lessons. I also make a point of at home letting them know that I appeciate little things they do in class. It is difficult to be mom and teacher/ stay strong.4I have my daughter. I don’t mean to treat her different. the trick for us is that she is the one that knows answers and happily answers questions. The rest of the class are silent. I, at first, asked her not to share so much so that others might take the opportunity. No one else spoke up, so now she answers when she wants. I try NOT to use her as an example though.1Have my daughter and we have an agreement. She doesn’t answer everything without giving others a chance and I only tell funny stories about her mom.3Get a blessing this will help you to see your path with your son. My son is my only student. I seek blessing to keep know the direction to follow to teach him the way the spirit will touch him, and use him in the time the Lord has need of him. I have seen a great change when I fasted and pray to know what is needed of me to teach my son. He has Autism and the Lord has trust you teach your child for a reason seek it out your son will welcome you to teach him again. Have your son pray for you also this loving bond will be made. Praying for you Tiffany Reid Fairchild The Lord has chosen you because he trusts you to teach the future missionaries and warriors of light. They need these lesson to help them through trials that this world has not seen yet.I have my son in my class – his first year in seminary – and last year I had my daughter in her 4th year – when I was called, my bishop and stake president advised me to treat her as if she was someone elses child so as not to put her into a difficult position or draw any undue/extra attention to her – they also advised that I not use experiences involving her in class and rather let HER use those personal experiences herself if she so chose to. The previous and previous teacher had a child in the class and constantly used that child as an example – the child felt put out and so did the rest of the class – it had a negative effect on them because it was done so often. I really took that counsel to heart and have never had a problem…if when I share experiences that involve my own child, I would rather say “I know of an experience that a mother once had with her child…” and tell the story. Strength to you and praying that you’ll find a solution that will benefit you both x x x x x1Yes I do. I met with my CES director before classes started and here is his advice and what I have done to handle it : he told me to try as hard as I can to treat him exactly the same. That has worked pretty well and I try not to use him as an example. I also got him a ride in a carpool so he shows up to seminary just like everyone else. I try not to call on him or put him on the spot more than anyone else. Another great piece of advice from my CES Director… Never ask them outside of class how they liked the lesson or ask their opinion about future lessons! It’s worked out well although sometimes I have to ‘talk’ to myself during a lesson to remember not to do these things I just listed! Hope things get better for you!!1Hi, first things first don’t stress. I have had many church callings in which I have taught my children, including this time I have two of my daughters in my class. My philosophy has always been treat them as a normal student, I do not expect anything from them, in fact I tend to sit back a little, I do sometimes pull them up on behaviour at home, or rather I let their dad deal with it. I have taught my children in primary, Sunday school and young women’s, I all of these roles if there has been times they have needed discipline I have always told my counsellor’s or my husband has dealt with it. It is wonderful for us as parents but actually a complete nightmare for our teenagers to have us in their learning, peer environment, some days are better than others, but remember to be sensitive to them, we can take this but they are trying to develop, build relationships and learn the gospel all under the watchful eyes of their parent not easy and to them not cool. Be brave love your child and at seminary just be his teacher xxxYes I do and I’ve tried really hard not to use him as an example or to embarrass him. He hates the spotlight, so that was just something I decided before I started teaching. That was really hard though because we just moved into this ward before school started, so I didn’t know any of the students well at all, so I just don’t really use any of the students as examples. I liked what Mandy McNicol Erasmus said because that is what the default was for me (letting each share their own experiences) and it has been really nice for our class.1I have 4 of my own! I just treat them like any other student…even though they call me mom :)1my triplets (all boys) are among my students but it hasn’t caused any issues. i do get more aggravated when i see one of my own falling asleep or whispering to his neighbor, but i never treat them any differently from the other students. seems to work out ok. we’re in our 3rd year.Lori Floyd Tomkinson! I didn’t know you were seminary teacher! I am too! This is my first year. We have 20 students. It’s challenging at times but I love it! It’s fun having Lauren in class and next fall I’ll have Dallen! (I haven’t experienced any problems having my child in class.)
Air hugs to you and your beautiful family! 😉My son and I made an agreement – I will treat him just like any other student as long as he agrees to treat me like any other teacher. I have had to have words with him a few times about inappropriate behaviour (taking advantage of his Mum being teacher and meeting in our home), but otherwise it has gone really well. I was VERY worried about about teaching my own son when I was called, but it’s actually been a blessing
Have you read the Gospel Teaching and Learning handbook? Read Section 4. You should never feel guilty about not covering something. Shake it off, girl.It’s unfortunate that this whole testing thing is giving teachers the idea they *have to* cover certain stuff so kids can pass the test. That’s not the intent of Seminary.
4See also this article: www.jennysmith.net/blog/increasing-student-participation3It’s important to keep in mind that years from now (and it may only be 1 year from now), your students will only remember 4 things from their year with you: How they felt about you as their teacher, how the perceived you felt about them, Scripture mastery (if you did it) and a couple (yes just a couple) of stand out lessons that impacted them. Remember that what we as teachers are trying to do is create good habits (read every day), have them feel and recognize the spirit and strengthen testimony. Covering all the principles falls way down on the list. Think back to your own youth and how much of it do you remember and what had the greatest impact.11Yes, yes, yes! This is my second year teaching and I still struggle with “holding fast” to the lessons in the manual!!2Continue to pray for your students; learn to love them. They will remember that more than any lesson you teach. Having said that, however, i pray for guidance for what my students need with each lesson. Sometimes we only cover one topic; sometimes more; sometimes not the one i started out with either! :) Let the Spirit guide you and “let go” of the guilt . . . I used to be just like that! Best wishes!3When I read the scripture block first, especially two or three times, prayerfully looking for the principles my students need to learn; I have found that I am guided to those principles. Then, when I look at the teacher’s manual, I am more confident about the things I want to cover and what I can let go.6Not at all :). I am not good at walking through a lesson manual and remembering everything if says I should teach. Even when I use notes, it rarely works well. I read the scriptures, pray for guidance, take a gander at the manual, and if it helps, I use it, if not, move on. I want my kids to feel that seminary is a place they want to be, where they feel love, the Spirit, and my testimony. If that happens, they will return time and again to the Gospel and scriptures through a lifetime of study and church lessons. The kids are going to retain a fraction of what we teach in these critical years – I concentrate on making sure they know the human stories of church history and the answers those amazing people found through the revelations they received, now in the D&C. That usually involves a variety of teaching methods so they never get bored. I look for ideas all over the place – a good teacher is a good (idea) thief.4I do! In fact, for today’s lesson, I felt that I needed to cover most of what was in the manual, so I prepared it that way, only leaving out a few details. But then actually teaching it, my whole lesson plan was abandoned. We got into a really good discussion and I could see my students really engaging, so in the end we only covered about a third of the material – didn’t even use the handouts I’d prepared. But at the end of the day I feel that my students got what they needed this morning 😄4Jenny Smith your “between the prayers” and other information on your web site is brilliant. Where have you been all my life? :-)1Gina Gardner Brown, I can totally relate to every word and worry you have. I am in my second year of teaching and the best thing that I can tell you is: Keep trying, it truly does get easier with each passing week. This calling can be so overwhelming. Just pray and then do your best.3I make sure I’m prepared to teach all the lesson, but some of the best lessons I’ve taught have been when I followed the line of questions that the students had. I teach an inner city branch seminary and the kids sometimes need more of the basic gospel principles taught to them. My first year I kept bringing the discussion back to the lesson, but this year I have followed the spirit more and have taught the students more. Since I can feel the spirit as we get off the lesson plan, I no longer worry about teaching everything in the lesson.3Gina Gardner Brown I would like to share something with you. This is my second year in teaching Early Morning Seminary. My first year was my learning curve and I will say it was a bit of torture for me. :) LOL I was just like you. I went to the training meetings and I got so confused sometimes. I REALLY wanted to do this calling right! I enjoyed the year but it was extremely difficult at times. I have 9 students and they are such a joy to teach. I truly felt the weight of my calling more so than any calling I’ve ever had!! So I felt even more pressure to help my students learn what the Lord wanted them to know. I really like our Seminary training. One thing that stood out to me in one training was how important it is to teach by the Spirit. That is something that I pray for at least 3 times a day. I know when the Spirit is not in class the students feel and and I feel it. I try very hard to create a class setting where the Spirit can be there and teach the youth in my class! For the most part I feel that my prayers are being answered. A few weeks ago I got sick and I asked a member of our ward to substitute for me for 3 days so I could try and get well. On Monday the kids said how fun they had playing the games that this sister prepared for them. I kind of felt bad because we don’t do a lot of games and things like that. In one of our trainings I watched a video that they showed where they asked seminary students what do they think of when they think of scripture mastery and about 85-90% of them said “games”. Then one of the General Authorities said that if that is what our youth think of when we mention the words scripture mastery then we are failing our youth. Then we were told that seminary is not a place for entertaining the youth. It is a place for them to be taught by the Spirit and to learn and to grow. So I don’t do many games. Any way after I got back from being sick and the youth told me that they had so much fun playing the games, I thought maybe I should prepare more games. I pondered and pondered about this for at least a couple of days and I was impressed that my youth needed to be ‘entertained’ by the Spirit not any games. It is that kind of teaching that is going to protect them and prepare them for the day ahead of them after they leave our class and prepare them for the eternities. So the reason I am telling you this is don’t sweat being perfect at everything and teaching every doctrine there is in the lesson. Just plan your lesson and then when you present it, let the Spirit guide you in what you need to teach and your youth will be getting just what they need. Yesterday one of my youth said that she looks forward to coming to seminary everyday and that she enjoys it so much because she feels so much better when she comes to seminary. That helped me to know that I made the right decision! I now just prepare and then just listen and He takes over and it is wonderful for both the youth and myself! Sorry this was so long!! Good luck. It will get better I promise! :)2Thank you! I also struggle with feeling I am not “fun.” I wholeheartedly believe that I am not there to be an entertainer, but I do want things to be interesting. In trying to presentthe right material, and not spend too much time planning, I do not take much time to look for other enrichment activities. I am a great copycat, but feel like. Have no original thoughts on my own that come flowing. I just discovered this group and I bepiece having this as a resource will help a lot. thanks for your wisdom.1Keep in mind- we rotate through the entire work every four years in Seminary and Sunday School. What we miss this year they will revisit in another class. I’m a life long member and I still learn new things in my classes. We cannot get it all in in a seminary lesson. It’s ok. He has a plan for that. Don’t worry.Activities with a learning purpose are not entertainment. Don’t be afraid to use them.The key is to determine WHAT to teach first and then find HOW to teach it second. Teachers only get into trouble when they start with a great activity (the HOW) and try to work it in.
1And if you think your lessons are boring, your students are probably dying. It pains me to hear how many teachers think it is perfectly okay — or even preferred — to present the joyful, saving, essential doctrines of the gospel as if they were ordinary or dull. It makes me wonder if the teachers themselves consider the material boring and are reflecting that attitude on their students.Do the material and its source justice. Learn to plan WHAT to teach first, then worry about the HOW (it comes pretty naturally when the WHAT is right), and things will go better. Find the doctrine you are most enthusiastic about and share that enthusiasm. Please don’t teach your students that the gospel is dull or boring or nonessential — something we just have to endure. Help them find the awesome for themselves.
^^ This is key. Shake off the idea that it’s your lesson presentation that will change lives and hearts. Only *their* discoveries will. All of your lesson planning should be focused on how to help these kids make the kinds of life-changing attitude-altering discoveries you have and that the authors if the scriptures did. There’s simply nothing better than discovering the truths of the gospel with these young uns. Nothing.
2Thank you, thank you Jenny Smith for your words of wisdom and insight!!I find that too! Sometimes I over prepare only to find out that it wasn’t needed- teach what the spirit wants them to learn- what they can apply in their lives. Such a hard calling but one of the best I’ve ever had! This is my 6th year- granted the first 5 were many years ago. I also think it’s important how you make them feel- they won’t remember much of the lessons but they’ll remember your love and concern! That’s what some of my former students have said- so just love them! The Church is true!1Jenny Smith I don’t feel our lessons are boring at all because I’m not doing a lot of games nor do I feel that the youth are dying of boredom. :) I really enjoy going to my Seminary trainings and I’ve never gotten any trainings over games or “activities”. It’s all been about teaching by the Spirit because like you said that is the way “they” discover treasures of the gospel through the Spirit. When the youth end class with a prayer and they thank Heavenly Father for feeling the Spirit or it’s obvious the have been touched by the Spirit then I feel we have met the objectives. :)I have always found that if I am excited about we’re doing in Seminary, my kids are excited too! Being excited about the gospel is what has brought millions of people to the gospel, so share the love you have and they will feel it too!1I totally agree! When the Spirit is present everyone is excited about the gospel!! :)1
Have you read the Gospel Teaching and Learning handbook? Read Section 4. You should never feel guilty about not covering something. Shake it off, girl.It’s unfortunate that this whole testing thing is giving teachers the idea they *have to* cover certain stuff so kids can pass the test. That’s not the intent of Seminary.
3See also this article: www.jennysmith.net/blog/increasing-student-participation3It’s important to keep in mind that years from now (and it may only be 1 year from now), your students will only remember 4 things from their year with you: How they felt about you as their teacher, how the perceived you felt about them, Scripture mastery (if you did it) and a couple (yes just a couple) of stand out lessons that impacted them. Remember that what we as teachers are trying to do is create good habits (read every day), have them feel and recognize the spirit and strengthen testimony. Covering all the principles falls way down on the list. Think back to your own youth and how much of it do you remember and what had the greatest impact.9Yes, yes, yes! This is my second year teaching and I still struggle with “holding fast” to the lessons in the manual!!2Continue to pray for your students; learn to love them. They will remember that more than any lesson you teach. Having said that, however, i pray for guidance for what my students need with each lesson. Sometimes we only cover one topic; sometimes more; sometimes not the one i started out with either! :) Let the Spirit guide you and “let go” of the guilt . . . I used to be just like that! Best wishes!3When I read the scripture block first, usually three times, prayerfully looking for the principles my students need to learn; I have found that I am guided to those principles. Then, when I look at the teacher’s manual, I am more confident about the things I want to cover and what I can let go.5Not at all :). I am not good at walking through a lesson manual and remembering everything if says I should teach. Even when I use notes, it rarely works well. I read the scriptures, pray for guidance, take a gander at the manual, and if it helps, I use it, if not, move on. I want my kids to feel that seminary is a place they want to be, where they feel love, the Spirit, and my testimony. If that happens, they will return time and again to the Gospel and scriptures through a lifetime of study and church lessons. The kids are going to retain a fraction of what we teach in these critical years – I concentrate on making sure they know the human stories of church history and the answers those amazing people found through the revelations they received, now in the D&C. That usually involves a variety of teaching methods so they never get bored. I look for ideas all over the place – a good teacher is a good (idea) thief.3I do! In fact, for today’s lesson, I felt that I needed to cover most of what was in the manual, so I prepared it that way, only leaving out a few details. But then actually teaching it, my whole lesson plan was abandoned. We got into a really good discussion and I could see my students really engaging, so in the end we only covered about a third of the material – didn’t even use the handouts I’d prepared. But at the end of the day I feel that my students got what they needed this morning 😄4Jenny Smith your “between the prayers” and other information on your web site is brilliant. Where have you been all my life? :-)1Gina Gardner Brown, I can totally relate to every word and worry you have. I am in my second year of teaching and the best thing that I can tell you is: Keep trying, it truly does get easier with each passing week. This calling can be so overwhelming. Just pray and then do your best.2I make sure I’m prepared to teach all the lesson, but some of the best lessons I’ve taught have been when I followed the line of questions that the students had. I teach an inner city branch seminary and the kids sometimes need more of the basic gospel principles taught to them. My first year I kept bringing the discussion back to the lesson, but this year I have followed the spirit more and have taught the students more. Since I can feel the spirit as we get off the lesson plan, I no longer worry about teaching everything in the lesson.1
Prep time shouldn’t exceed one hour – that’s the rule of thumb we go by. If you’re spending more than that, you may reconsider.Don’t try to cover every principle. Prayerfully select one or two, and focus on that. Allow your students to dig deeper into the material, rather than simply scratch the surface in a broad area.
7Yea, well. I have 11 students. They. Don’t. Talk. Ever. They don’t move when I put them in groups. They don’t respond to questions. They seem quite apathetic. Is this normal? And, does your Oreo time include reading the scrioture text and the lesson? I read both of those and then spend about an hour.1Most teachers in this area spend 2 hours/day. If I did it daily, I was at 1 – 1.5 hours. If I did the whole week’s lessons at once, it took 3-4.5 hours. It was easiest for me to do a week in one sitting because it takes me a few minutes to get “in the groove”. If I did it each day I’m repeating that gearing up time. If I did it all at once, it was faster.I just sent you a private message.Yes, that hour includes reading the text – three times – and the manual. We use the three-read technique when prepping lessons. First is a quick read to get context (sometimes I cheat and just read chapter/section headings). Second is to really get in there and dig. Third is to determine what it is you really want to teach. There are some cool activities on this in the training section of si.lds.org.I think we all struggle with ways to get the kids to come to life. Just keep plugging away. Don’t be afraid to ask the kids what they want you to do! Just keep plugging along. Keep assigning things. Try different scripture study skills – like illustrating the story or journaling – to get them involved. Have them share what their neighbor shared.
Just … Keep plugging!
3I should say, too, that the material for D&C is so short that sometimes it takes me far less time. In past years the scripture blocks have been much longer. My last two weeks’ lessons took about 20 minutes of actual prep time each. And it was D&C 76 :)But I completed the assignment I gave students, which took additional reading and study during the week — it just wasn’t actual “prep” time.
I must be very slow with lesson prep. On occasion I can get a lesson prepared in 1 – 1.5 hours but most often it takes me closer to 3 hours. I too feel like Gina Gardner Brown about the principles covered in the manual for each lesson – they are so well developed with teaching the background to the section and then the principles I really struggle to “pare back”. Tips on how to “pare back” and develop a lesson based on one or two principles would be appreciated. Maybe I just don’t feel confident/skilled enough to do that. I tried today to not “hold tight” to the manual. For section 83 I chose the principle “where much is given much is expected” (vs 3) and had the kids create a list of blessings they have received from being members of the Church and share them. Then we read vs. 14 and I asked them what they can do to help Zion increase in beauty and strengthen our stake. Then for section 84 I reference the Proclamation on the Family with this section, read vs 2, 4 and 6 and asked how the Lord felt about the widow, children and the poor. I thought the lesson was okay, but that it also lacked something. Maybe I also felt that way because a couple of my kids were playing tic-tac-toe and a couple of others kept chatting with each other.
Jenny Smith I love your suggestion to prepare all the lessons in one sitting, maybe when I figure out my grove it would be doable!1@ Violet Dawn Berg your kids sound disrespectful. My experience is that you can either carry a big stick or offer a carrot. I choose the carrot & a little stick. My kids earn ‘breakfast points’ for certain behaviors & occassionally I’ll just reward someone with ‘TWO POINTS!’ They have to earn 700 pts. to be served breakfast during which they watch a standard’s night video by a cool EFY presenter. This has proven to motivate my 23 kids from Freshmen to Seniors to participate. If there is inordinate talking the ‘loose 2 points’ after a warning & cell phone use deducts 10 pts. Passing off scripture mastery in front of the class earns 10 pts. I have kids having passed off 20 scriptures so far. Anyway, the point being, don’t tolerate disrespect or distraction. Even if you can tolerate it, you’re doing a disservice to the kids’ future teachers if you train your students to act poorly in class. They should come, be respectful & engage. Good luck!1My wife and I team-teach and we talk about this all the time. I can prepare a lesson in about an hour. I do feel some urgency to cover all of the principles, because they are all so good. But, I also find that if I try to cram all of them in with the time I have, I push past good conversations just to get them in. My feelings on this have shifted to a preference to do (for example) 2 principles well than 5 poorly. So, I do miss things at times, but feel good the spirit of the lesson for what I did get to. If that makes sense…3In paring down the lesson, I find it always helps to remind myself of a couple things. 1) Their little minds can only absorb so much material in one sitting, no matter how well I prepare or present it. So there’s really no point in preparing more than 1-2 topics, as they won’t retain it anyway. 2) We’re setting them up for a lifetime of doctrinal learning, during which they’ll have all of these principles taught and repeated over and over and over. It’s not my job to cover every jot and tittle of the Gospel in the year I have them.3I’ve also found it crucial to link every principle back to some problem in their life. Something that’s relevant to an issue they’re facing right now. If I can’t figure out how to apply some principle to their lives, I generally deprioritize it as, again, it’s less likely to be something they’d retain anyway. This is also the single best way, I’ve found, to address the apathy problem. They’re simply not at a stage, developmentally, where the Gospel is going to be interesting to them on an intellectual level. So I start every lesson prep time with the question, “What’s the challenge or conflict in my kids’ lives that *this* Gospel principle can help address *right now*.” And I teach the lesson from that perspective. It’s exactly analogous to setting up the conflict at the beginning of a movie to grab the viewers’ attention. If you get their attention by talking about some problem or challenge or conflict in their lives, then teach the principle as a means to resolve that conflict, you’re more likely to retain their interest and attention.3Mine varies vastly. Some days I read all the material and a good idea just pops into my head and in no time I have a really good lesson plan. Other days I will slave over the books for 2 hours and still not really know what I’m doing!4I agree Michael! Sometimes, for example, I read a ‘case study’ in the manual and I instantly know that it will have no impact on my students at all because it’s just not something they are dealing with in their lives right now, so using it would be pointless.1OH My Goodness….there is no way I have been able to do this in 1.5 hours or sometimes even 3. Maybe I just lack confidence in presenting and scriptures knowledge…I appreciate all your suggestions as I feel overwhelmed most of the time-I so want them to love the scriptures but sometimes they just seem to zone out…which I always feel is a reflection on my teaching.2Kathleen, I think teenagers “zoning out” is probably a universal issue. I chat to missionaries in our ward – good faithful young men who serve and love the Lord. Almost everyone says the same thing – they wish they’d paid more attention in seminary class instead of drifting off or goofing off. But they all remember how their teacher made them feel. Your students will feel the love you have for them and that is what they will carry with them. (At least that is what I tell myself when my class zone out)2I am right there with you on the “at least 3 hour” prep time. I have tried doing it in less time and feel like my lesson doesn’t go as well. I am not as well prepared and it shows in my confidence. I have decided I am just one of those people that takes that much time to prepare. Maybe that will change in time as I continue to gain better teaching skills.2I wish I could prep in an hour. This is my first year and depending on the lesson it takes me a lot longer than that. I feel like With all the repeat topics and lessons based on 6 verses it takes a lot of creativity to make it meaningful. I hope it will continue to get easier and faster as time goes by.3I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule on how much time you spend. I spend about 1 + hours a day but that doesn’t include the review I do before bed and the 10-15 min prep time to get out the door.2Here’s how I plan for a week in one setting:First, pray.
Next I write down the lesson for each day at the top of a blank sheet of notebook paper. It’ll say D&C 77:1-19 or whatever. Each scripture block gets one page.
Now I’m ready to read the scripture block through once. I find it best to read the scripture block for the entire week through all in one sitting so I know what’s coming. I do write notes for each lesson in case what to teach comes to me during this first time through. Ideas often come but usually I only get lesson objectives or ideas, not full blown lessons.
Then I chill for 20-30 minutes. Watch TV, eat, whatever.
Now I go back and skim the scripture block for a single day’s lesson. I write 2-3 lesson objectives based on the reading “Students will learn….” Then I look in the manual to see what there meets my objectives. I use the questions mostly occasionally an activity. I like to mix it up and keep students more actively involved than the manual does though, so I often use their questions and quotes, but I use a different teaching technique or activity. I write stuff I need easel, paper, handout, Nerf guns, whatever, at the top of the page so I remember to get them the next day. I write a conclusion at the end. It usually starts with “Today we learned …” and is a restatement of my lesson objectives (assuming we actually get them).
Repeat the above for each day’s lesson. If a lesson is taking a long time or not coming together, I skip it and come back. If I still can’t get it, I will give up and teach a section or two straight from the manual, but this is very rare for me.
I make any handouts or visual aids, and then I’m done for the week.
The night before class, I’ll reread the assigned scripture block so that it’s fresh for the next day.
I like a lot — A LOT — of class participation, and since class participation is my main goal, I don’t write every word I’ll say. My lesson planning is more about “How will I get them to say something great?”
3Also, the D&C is *short*. Very short. If a lesson runs short, it is perfectly okay to fill in with a meaningful SM game or other activity. I am not a fan of movies myself, though I do love clips. If you can see from your planning that a lesson is going short, have your game ready to go.2Another thing that will change your life as a teacher is writing a short outline on the board. I don’t know why it works, but it does. Outlines will make your lesson go more smoothly and keeps students on track. This is an example of what I wrote for one class:Welcome
D&C 4 repeat
Song/prayer
D&C 24-29: What did you like?
“Elect Lady” – D&C 29:7 – What admonishments given to Emma can we apply in our lives?
Armor of God – D&C 27:15 – *WHOLE* armor
A view of the future – D&C 29:14-21
Closing prayer3Thank you Jenny..you sound amazing…I get stuck on coming up with the activities or the way to get them involved. Love the manual, and of course the doctrines/principles we need to teach, but HOW to teach it to keep them attentive is where I am struggling. So…long story short…how do you come up with your activities, etc.?I made this database, because I’m kind of a loser:Also, the best thing I ever did was read Teach Like a Champion. It’s a book written for Teach for America, but it has changed the way I approach teaching.I’m not awesome, but I’m like Kate Shaffer said on another post: I’m a very good idea thief :D
1HEADING TO THIS RIGHT NOW…I love it.1You can laugh at my poem, Kathleen Hemphill. It’s a Jenny Smith original :)2That is an awesome database – thank you Jenny Smith!! Always looking for new ideas?3Always.1I TOTALLY laughed, however, I’m sure that is exactly how my students feel sometime…this is one type of THIEVERY that is legal!.. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!2Alright … this is a good discussion we have going on here!I suggest many of you ask your stake coordinators to have your S&I rep make this a topic for an upcoming inservice….
When we call teachers in our stake, one of the biggest concerns is the time. We have a former bishop teaching now, and the wife of a current bishop and the wife of our stake president (and our stake executive secretary’s wife). Each of them will tell you seminary CAN be more time consuming than that of a calling as bishop/executive secretary/whatever.
The concern is, then, that TOO much time is spent on lesson prep, and other things get tossed by the wayside (you know, like being an adequate employee, parent, spouse, member of society in general…). The key to the calling is finding a balance.
This is a prime topic of training each summer, led by our S&I reps – you know, the paid full-time guys who teach institute and show up at your inservice meetings….
Anyway, the rule of thumb of one-hour prep times has a reason: if you combine that prep time with the time you spend doing admin stuff and the time you spend going to and from class and the time you spend IN class and the time you spend setting up your classroom each day … well, wow. You’re spending a LOT of time out of your day, and your life gets out of balance.
You get burned out.
One-hour prep time ensures you’re only spending about 3 hours per day on your calling (not counting all the time through the day you’re spending your idle thoughts on your class, your lessons, your parents or on this Facebook page…). That leaves you with a solid 8 hours of sleep time, three hours of eating time through the day and … yep, about 10 hours of the day to do everything else (work, whatever).
If you’re spending three hours or more on prep time alone, you’re spending as much time on your calling as a full-time employee spends working. Think about that! That’s three hours, plus an hour of class time, plus a half hour of classroom prep, plus classroom clean-up, plus travel, plus admin stuff … you’re easily spending 6-8 hours per DAY on your calling.
So that’s why I’m advising you to keep your lesson prep down to about an hour a day.
If you’re doing all your prep on one day of the week and spending 15-20 minutes each day to “polish”, awesome! Keep it up! But if you’re like me and you do daily prep … that rule of one hour should be pretty set.
2^^ this.1I second your comments Josh Donat! I’ve taught since the pioneers came across the plains, or at least it feels that way! Summer prep is KEY for me and since I began that, I usually put in about 1-1.5 hours a day. Most of that is making sure the technology I want to use is ready to go, searching for videos, etc. I think I spend more time being the admin of this group than I do on lesson prep.2I appreciate the suggestion to prep for the whole week in one day. This week I taught section 88 and prepped for the week on Sunday. I found that I was able to make each lesson flow from one to the next, or focus on one topic (light) for the whole week. I found that looking at the week as a whole, rather than five separate parts, allowed for more fluidity and flexibility. It also found that I was more open to the guidance of the Spirit without the restrictions of five separate prep times. A little miracle, or tender mercy…After deciding on Sunday to focus on “light”…my husband turned on our DVR of conference so we could watch the next talk in our playlist for FHE. I was overcome with humble gratitude as Elder Uchdorf spoke on light and truth! By prepping on Sunday, I was able to be open to truth revealed to me during the week. As I attended the temple this week, my understanding of the power of “light” deepened. I am so grateful for my seminary calling. It blesses my life in ways that I cannot express.2Sharon Prescott Haynie, what do you do for summer prep? Do you have a checklist of things that you try to get done that you could share?
A couple ideas: Did the youth in your class know the father? Perhaps they could write experiences they had with him and how he had made a difference in their lives. It would be a comfort for his family. You could put together a freezer meal or two to deliver to the family. At times of grieving, it can be a comfort to just pull something easy from the freezer that you pop in the oven or slow cooker. And know that it was made with love by someone who cares.4Oh wow, I couldn’t imagine. Everyone get ready to hug the student when he/she comes back to seminary. Kendra, had some great suggestions up above. If you need more time, spend each day the rest of the week doing something each day.1I would go with some ideas but let the kids take the lead on this one. I suspect that they will have really good insight as to how to best help.5My father died of cancer when my brothers were all young. Two were on missions and one of them was still in high school and it was the love and support of his friends that ultimately kept him from exploding with anger at the unfairness of the situation. They kept him close enough that although he started making poor choices, he never lost his connection to the church. He needs to have friends that he can express himself to without being judged and he needs love… lots of unconditional love. Especially after the funeral when things calm down. That is when he will need the most support. Cards and notes express love in a way that he can read them in private and break down if he needs to without feeling ashamed for crying in front of others. .. just my two cents based on personal experience!6i think this talk really covered it well
www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/because-i-live-ye-shall-live-also?lang=engi know that you wonder why the world is still turning. it seems impossible that life is still going on when such a tragedy has happened.
one of the important things for the other kids to know is that nothing you say will make it ok. is is never going to be ok. don’t try to make it ok. you do learn to live differently. you adjust to them not being physically there. that is ok.2D&C 42:45-46
“Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die…And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them”My cousin died this last year and these scriptures brought me such comfort. My class had a really good discussion about the sorrow and the beauty of death and the joy of the gospel. It’s okay to be sorrowful, in fact we should be at times. I think kids need to know that just as much as they need to know that we move forward by letting go of our sorrow and focusing on the light of the resurrection
1How about having the class look for scriptures of comfort regarding loss and trial and write testimonies or their thoughts with the scripture. They could then be put together in a book for the student.1How about Elder Uchtdorf.
“In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.”
www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances?lang=eng
Is it possible to cover them all or even necessary to get through them all.
Would be great to hear peoples thoughts on this.
I try to cover most of them. I discovered post-it-notes are a great way to have the kids add the principles in to their scriptures.Best advice I ever got as a teacher: Remember this won’t be the only time the kids read the (insert book of scripture here). I would recommend you NOT try to cover all 5-6 principles, or you’ll end up teaching lessons each day rather than teaching your students.We are to teach students, not lessons.
Prayerfully select 2-3 (max) of those principles to discuss and go about your lesson prep accordingly. Remember who you’re teaching and what the individual needs of your students are. If you’re in touch with your parents (and you had better be!!!) you’ll hopefully have some insights from them about topics from the home you can help reinforce, assisting in your selection process.
But, again, never more than 2-3 of those principles each day. 5-6 is WAY too cluttered a lesson – you really don’t have time to search, analyze and apply all 5 or 6 principles in a single class period.
10I try to cover them all, most of them link together, I always put them all up on the board. I’ve found that I stick to the manual, do what it says we have fun, and they seem to get it all. They all passed the assessment without any bother. Sometimes depending on the material if there seems to be a lot I put them in a list form or if only a few I put them up separately as we cover them x4Lucy-Jo Harris I don’t know how you find the time to teach all the principles especially as you are teaching everday!
Are you looking forward to friday!2I usually hit 2-3 principles. Many times just 1. I want to be able to say “Today we learned …” at the end of the lesson to reiterate the main few points we made. My goal is that no one leaves my class unable to state in a sentence or two what they learned in Seminary/Gospel Study.9That Jenny Smith is just what I have been feeling today as I studied 90-92.2I only cover a couple of them. At the end of class we always have “on the spot” and whoevers’ turn it is needs to summarize with principles learned that day.3I find that the manual makes too many points and has no conclusion, leaving students to wonder what they learned. I have to add in that clear structure as a teacher, selecting from a few points, which, BTW, is the instruction from the GTL:“In a normal scripture block there will almost always be more material than can be meaningfully discussed in a class period. Once teachers have studied the scriptures and the curriculum, they need to decide which doctrines and principles are the most important for their students to understand and apply.”
4I think the manual intentionally presents several points or principles for each block – it’s not done with the intent we touch on each of them, though, but to provide teachers a number of options from which to choose as they prepare lessons. I actually LOVE that the manual provides 5-6 principles in each lesson. It helps me really think about whether I’m getting everything I can out of my personal preparation so I can respond appropriately to questions in class.It also helps me articulate and focus on the one or two principles I might choose that day….
7And also “During lesson preparation, teachers should give sufficient time and effort in deciding both what to teach and how to teach. If what to teach gets almost all of the emphasis during lesson preparation, a teacher will not have sufficient time to consider how to help students participate in learning. Often this will result in lessons that are boring and too teacher-centered. When a teacher focuses too heavily on how to teach, lessons can become disjointed, lacking purpose and power.” from the GTL5The problem I am having is now the tests. What if the one thing I don’t get to in the lesson is one of the things chosen for the test?? I feel like I need to teach for the test now that we’ve had the first one and I feel like I didn’t emphasize enough of a few things from the test. I even remember those lessons thinking they were great, but then my kids didn’t get that one point needed for the test. :(2I wouldn’t worry about that, Pamela. I know across our stake, I’ve been interested to see that some classes miss a particular question heavily while other classes miss other questions. Each class managed to pass the test overall just fine.With the assessment, as I told parents/teachers/kids over the weekend at our stake YM/YW/Seminary event, it’s not a matter of passing or failing or teaching to the test – it’s an opportunity for the kids and parents to find out what gospel principles are being grasped well and what principles need more time at home.
Remember: you’re not responsible to teach the kids the gospel; that’s what their parents are for. You’re there as a resource and a support for the kids. Do we teach the gospel? ABSOLUTELY! Nothing BUT the gospel and it’s correct principles. But don’t teach to the test at all – just keep teaching the scriptures and the rest will come along just fine.
4Sometimes we are able to cover all of them, but not all the time. I have the students figure out the doctrine and principles within the verses. Today for example, we were able to cover around 3, which wasn’t all of them. But that’s okay.Have you looked through the second one yet?Many of the principles/doctrines are covered in multiple lessons. I try to make sure I cover the ones that may not be covered in other lessons, as well as the ones I fell are needed for the lesson that day. Eg: one that crops up quite often is along the lines of “The Lord speaks to us through … the Holy Ghost”1When I pray about the lesson, I always teach the principals that stand out to me. It’s always fun when one of the kids has a thought or in their prayer mentions the ones I have been praying about. I love teaching seminary.2This week, I recently started giving one of the verses (that has a principle or doctrine stated within the lesson) to a student for their devotional. So when it comes that time, I hand it over to them for that portion of the lesson.1Hahah Emma Pearson I’ve managed to get out of Friday we’re at a funeral out of town 😜 as for the principles I’ve found that there are never more than 5 and I dunno it just works xxxI do try to focus on the principles and often write an outline on the board using the principles. The best thing that has helped me, though, is to do what Judy Goodman wrote above – pray and teach the ones that stand out and to remember something my husband told me: They will be studying the D&C the rest of their lives, we don’t need to teach them everything.21 principle with a great, memorable discussion and food for thought is worth 5-6 covered principles that elicit no discussion and bore the kids to sleep or feel like you’ve rushed the spirit.
When I was a brand new, full time seminary teacher I went to a training meeting. I was eager for it. One of the men doing the training had set up, on the table in front of him, a stack of all of the resources available to us as teachers. There were res…
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