For the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about gospel teaching, particularly in the context of class settings at church. I think our ward is in a good place when it comes to our teachers: we have called some excellent teachers over the past year or so, and most organizations are fully staffed and have good teachers in key positions.
It is with this backdrop that I am thinking about the move from emergencies (getting people called and committed to their teaching) to progress (helping good teachers learn from each other). I am especially interested in focusing on how we can teach the gospel more effectively by inviting the spirit to guide us as we prepare lessons and teach in our classes.
To this end, I have been looking over some of the church materials related to improving gospel teaching, including Teaching, No Greater Call and the Teaching Guidebook. Both are solid--if unexciting--resources that highlight the important principles of effective teaching. And from them I have found some valuable ideas for helping each of us become better as teachers.
In reading through these materials, I was taken to D&C section 88, a juggernaut of a section that covers a range of topics and provides us with several key teachings on the subject of teaching the gospel. I begin with verses 77 and 78: "teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom. Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God."
I'm interested here in the adverbs. (And, as long as we're on the topic, aren't adverbs great? It may be because I just read some Bill Bryson--the master of adverbs, but I'm feeling especially fond of adverbs these days.) The first that I notice is "diligently," which is how we ought to approach the calling to teach. We need to prepare diligently so that we can be ready to respond to the needs of our class members, often by ditching what we have prepared when acted on by the spirit to improvise.
The second--and, admittedly, tougher--adverb here is "perfectly," which, in this verse, describes how we are to be instructed. Kind of a tall order, if you ask me. Even on my best days as an educator, when things come together well and I'm firing on all cylinders, I don't think I'd describe my teaching as perfect. I'm always looking to do something better, to improve on that one rough part of the lesson.
But then I think about the footnote to Matthew 5:48, where the Greek origin for "perfect" is noted as meaning "complete, finished, fully developed." So, rather than viewing my teaching according to the standard of being flawless--which it will never be--I should think about completeness. If I have helped my students accomplish a meaningful objective, to understand and commit to live a gospel principle more fully, then I can view that teaching situation as being perfect in some sense.
Another meaningful passage from this section comes a few pages (seriously--this is a long section) later, starting in verse 118: "And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
Again, we see the adverb "diligently" used here to describe how we are to seek wisdom. But more than that is the source of the wisdom--"the best books." This is the sort of verse used by English majors at BYU to justify why we are reading literature instead of earning an MBA or going to law school, and we'd get kind of smug about how we were adhering to scripture in deconstructing Heart of Darkness or Faulkner's novels.
But, in the context of gospel teaching, the best sources we have to work with are clearly the scriptures. I am a strong believer that the best lessons draw heavily from the scriptures, that reading and analyzing even a few verses is among the most valuable things we can do in our teaching. In addition to focusing on the doctrine and inviting the spirit into the lesson (all admirable goals), this also models for class members the importance of reading, studying, and reflecting on scriptures. This is an especially important element of teaching children and youth.
One final thought in closing, by way of exploring this final point in more depth. Last Monday Evan had the assignment to do the Family Home Evening lesson, so he and I looked over the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and chose a topic for his lesson. He opted for the topic of family, so we went to 1 Nephi chapter 8, verses 8-12.
As we read through this passage, we discussed how Lehi's first impulse after tasting of the fruit was to share it with his family. Using this as a point of departure, we discussed the symbolism of the tree, which has both roots stretching down and branches extending out, like a family, and how the fruits of a happy family are joy and the love of God. In just a few minutes of reading and discussing, we were able to dig deeply into an important doctrine (eternal families) and explore how the Book of Mormon gives us insight into that doctrine. I then had the chance to bear testimony to my children of the importance of the sealing power that allows our family to continue through the eternities, and how knowing that gives me a greater perspective in dealing with the trials and sorrows of life.
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3 comments:
So that's what you were writing instead of paying attention in Sunday School!
ha. I think one of the ideas we undervalue from the school of the prophets is the idea of discovery in learning. I've been to way too many gospel doctrine lessons where the material being presented is the same presented the same way it was presented four years ago. The church must rely on its teachers to explore the material in such a way that they can plumb new depths with each reading.
In addition the greeting of each brother at the school, squaring the arm and receiving each other in fellowship is really indicative of the proper teaching process. We should strive as teachers in the kingdom to know our class such that together we can sound the scriptures to meet the needs of us all that we might all be edified together.
In essence this is what you described with your FHE. What's sad is that we instead satisfy ourselves with a simple exposition of the same lesson manual we have each four years, with the same examples, and the same questions read directly from the back. The lack of profundity not only represents a failure in building a Zion society but undermines our ability to use the scriptures to meet the needs of our daily experience.
Summer, I was totally paying attention.
Stew, great thoughts. I've always loved the salutation described in section 88 and the options for replying: repeat it all or say "amen." Would that all decisions in life were like that...
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