So I have been asked to teach a church teacher improvement course over the next six weeks at church. Since I was surprised to not find one laid out online at Feast Upon the Word or T&S, I thought I would post my lessons plans here and invite your input and help over the next 6 weeks. Think of every question as an invitation to discuss.<\/p>\n
I start simply, with the following statement I nabbed from greatschools.com<\/p>\n
\u201cStudy after study shows the single most important factor determining the quality of the education a child receives is the quality of his teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll begin by saying that sometimes at church we seem to make the statement that if the student isn\u2019t getting anything out of the lesson, it is the students fault. Why is this a problematic statement?<\/p>\n
Setting that aside, now that we can focus on teacher quality, what makes a great teacher.<\/p>\n
Again, hundreds at greatschools.com have provided us 3 key (yet simple) elements:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ergo, my objects today are:<\/p>\n
(This follows along, more or less, with the first few lessons in the back of \u201cTeaching, no greater calling\u201d, but it had 12 lessons, and I am limited to 6, so I am squishing a few together)<\/p>\n
increase our desire to be the best teacher we can be<\/b><\/p>\n
Elder Holland once said:<\/p>\n
\u201cTo teach effectively and to feel you are succeeding is demanding work indeed. But it is worth it. We can receive \u2018no greater call.\u2019 . . . \u201cFor each of us to \u2018come unto Christ\u2019 [D&C 20:59], to keep His commandments and follow His example back to the Father is surely the highest and holiest purpose of human existence. To help others do that as well\u2014to teach, persuade, and prayerfully lead them to walk that path of redemption also\u2014surely that must be the second most significant task in our lives. Perhaps that is why President David O. McKay once said, \u2018No greater responsibility can rest upon any man [or woman], than to be a teacher of God\u2019s children\u2019 [in Conference Report, Oct. 1916, 57]\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s do a little self-assessment:<\/p>\n
Do you treat your calling as a teacher as your greatest responsibility? Do you feel like you are an effective teacher? Why or Why not? How would you do that\/feel that?<\/p>\n
My answer is no, I could be more effective, and as to why not: No desire, not fully converted, don\u2019t know how, not enough time, no spiritual connection, the students don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
But these boil down I think to issues with me, except for the last one, and both ends of this ultimately have to do with desire. The students desire to learn and my desire to teach.<\/p>\n
This brings us to the great dilemma. You can\u2019t teach desire. I can neither teach you to have greater desire to teach well nor can I teach your students to have greater desire to learn. So if you can\u2019t teach desire, what are we to do?<\/p>\n
President Hinckley said. \u201cW<\/span>e should be concerned with the spiritual dimension of our people and the enlargement of this dimension.<\/i>\u00a0There is a tendency in all of us to ask for better statistical performance. There is a tendency to\u00a0<\/span>impose<\/i>\u00a0quotas behind which usually lies\u00a0<\/span>imposition of pressure<\/i>\u00a0to achieve improved statistics.\u00a0<\/span>In the work of the Lord there is a more appropriate motivation than pressure. There is the motivation that comes of true conversion.<\/i>\u00a0When there throbs in the heart of an individual Latter-day Saint a great and vital testimony of the truth of this work, they will be found doing their duty in the Church. \u2026They will have within them a great desire to share the Gospel with others. They will be found strengthening and lifting their brethren and sisters. [In other words, they will be committed.]\u00a0<\/span>It is conversion that makes the difference<\/i>\u201d (Regional Representatives\u2019 seminar, 6 Apr. 1984; emphasis added).<\/span><\/p>\n So your desire is at least linkable to your own personal conversion. (insert debate here)<\/p>\n How do we strengthen our own personal conversion?<\/p>\n One scripture I really like on this is Hel. 15:7-8, maybe because I am a list maker and this scripture is one of those nice and clean \u201clist scriptures\u201d. You know, do this this and this, get this this and this\u2026 That sort of thing. Anyway, the context on this is what Samuel the Lamanite said while he was up on that wall getting arrows shot at him. As an example of conversion, he notes the conversion of his own people as a positive example. He lists the following as the pattern of conversion:<\/p>\n In modern Mormon parlance, the to do list could be:<\/p>\n So we are pretty comfortable with 1 and 3. As teachers and students of Sunday school what false traditions do we have that are holding us back?<\/p>\n Question: Have you ever had a teacher who was passionate about being a great teacher? Have you ever had a teacher who was just mailing it in? What was the difference?<\/p>\n Be passionate about what we are teaching<\/b><\/p>\n For at least the last 10 years, this has been my go to quote when it comes to teaching the Gospel, whether as a missionary, or a Sunday school teacher or in any other capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must strengthen ourselves and our people to get our teachers to speak out of their hearts rather than out of their books<\/span>, to communicate their love for the Lord and this precious work, and somehow it will catch fire in the hearts of those they teach<\/span>\u201d (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley<\/i>[1997], 619\u201320).<\/p>\n What does it mean to speak from our hearts, not our books? What level of effort does that imply?<\/p>\n To me it implies a high level of effort in preparation and also in \u201clikening the scriptures\u201d to myself. We will spend time in later lessons talking about practical tools for this.<\/p>\n Love those you teach<\/b><\/p>\n D&C 12:8 says:<\/p>\n No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love.<\/p>\n When we talk about loving those we teach what do we mean?<\/p>\n C.S. Lewis has four concepts of love:<\/p>\n Obviously, we probably don\u2019t want romance in our class rooms in the teacher\/student relationship (ew!), but are any of the other 3 not necessary?<\/p>\n If there are three functions of a teacher, preparation, teaching, and behavior outside the classroom setting, how do we apply these three loves to our students.<\/p>\n (My emphasis here is going to be on accepting all comers and focused on making sure our lessons to do not make people feel unloved or left out due to personal situation ie- teaching a lesson on marriage and family to single or childless people calls for sensitivity, etc.)<\/p>\n I will end the class by asking the students what they are interesting in focusing on over the following weeks with the following tentative outline.<\/p>\n So what do you think? What does the lesson lack? What does the lesson plan lack?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n
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