User talk:Seminarymom
In teaching seminary, I have found there are four excellent ways to balance your efforts and bring the spirit to benefit your students. These ways are:
1. Sincere Prayer. Sincere prayer before lesson prep AND just before the students arrive is essential. Most teachers will tell you that lesson prep without prayer brings a different result than lessons which were constructed WITH the tool of prayer. Avail yourself of this sincere tool and watch the difference, both in the spirit and in the lives of your students during the lesson.
2. Sincere Scripture Study. There is a difference between glossing through the scriptures and actually seeking the voice of the Lord in them. Make sure that as you sit down each time to prepare a lesson that you seek the Lord through His words on the page. The ensuing result may surprise you in how different the experience (and the eventual lesson) is, compared to if you'd simply read the scriptures as if they were a text book.
3. Sincere Activities. Wouldn't you agree...isn't it difficult to sit through a lesson with a teacher who talks the entire time, without involving the students? Students need to be involved in hands-on activities. Additionally, it is essential that the scriptures are used/read during class to familiarize the students with them. There are so many different ways to do this! Regardless of the approach, it is essential you get your students into the block of scripture for the day, rather than you just "telling the scripture story." The students will be engaged and far more likely to discover the scriptures as a "delicious" experience...leading to them wanting to repeat that exposure on their own time.
4. Sincere Principles. Finding the principles behind the scriptures is what makes the scriptures live-able and pertinent to our lives today. Can your students do this? This is, in many ways, the purpose of having our students come to seminary each day. A great question to ask yourself during the class is: "What will my students take with them that will shape their choices in righteous ways TODAY?" Then during class, lead your students to find for themselves those guiding principles. Help them come to that discovery, don't just tell them what it is. That's too easy and doesn't build anyone. :0)
In my mind, the whole reason we teach seminary is to guide our students towards powerful moments, where 1) they realize the gospel works, 2) that Jesus Christ was who He said He was - the Son of God - and 3) that living the gospel brings joy (as opposed to pain and sorrow). This knowledge, when balanced with appropriate expectations and teaching prep, can help renew a teacher when that teacher might be approaching a time of fatigue or otherwise discouragement.
Warmly,
C.S. Bezas http://powerfultipsforpowerfulteachers.blogspot.com
