Teaching No Greater Call Part B: Lesson 32 & 35

32: Creating lessons from conference talks and other resources & 35: Church resources for teaching the gospel

This was my last Sunday teaching the teaching no greater call Sunday school class!  I will be teaching old testament gospel doctrine starting in January, for which I am nervous and excited to gain a stronger testimony of the old testament.

I was lucky enough to be able to teach on the Sunday before Christmas, so I was able to incorporate a Christmas theme into our lesson this week.  Because the lessons this week were about creating lessons with church resources, I chose a talk from the 2013 Christmas Devotional by Russell M. Nelson (Jesus Christ - Our Prince of Peace) and showed how I could incorporate and use those teaching techniques from the lesson on a church resource.  This lesson I felt could have used more class participation - maybe my questions that I brainstormed were not very discussion oriented.  I still thought the lesson went well, I just usually get a lot more comments than I did during this lesson. HERE and HERE are the links to these lessons on lds.org.

Intro:

• I  brought in a tub of Vaseline and talked about how my husband and I use this on our dry hands in the winter as a soothing balm.  Introduced the message of the lesson today of Christ as our soothing balm of Gilead.  
• Why is the gospel message sometimes referred to as the “Good news of the gospel”?
• When we wish others “peace on earth, goodwill to men” this Christmas seasons, what are we referring to? What do we define as peace?  Be thinking the rest of this lesson “How has the Savior granted you peace in your life?”

Creating Lessons from Talks and Other Resources 

• Read your resource. Mention Lesson 35 Church Resources for Teaching the gospel
• Decide what should happen in the lives of those you teach as a result of the lesson.
• Today, I want my class to understand and gain a stronger testimony on how the Savior can bring them and their families peace this Christmas season, despite the trials and challenges of life.  Learning objective.
• Decide on the main principle or principles you will teach, along with any supporting ideas.
• Finding peace through Christmas, & giving our hearts to the Savior.  Becoming purified through the atonement.  
• Consider how you want to teach the main ideas and the supporting ideas you have selected.
• I mentioned the last couple lessons we have had.  I then mentioned the ways that I decided to teach this lesson: quotes, discussion questions, personal stories, additional church resources, object lesson, visual aids, chalkboard for list and emphasis.

Jesus Christ - Our Prince of Peace

• When we study Jesus' responsibilities that he had when he came to earth, how can that bring us peace?
• Peace by teaching our children how to turn to the Savior.  
• How can we find peace in our families by teaching our Children about the Savior?
• Peace during war - I shared some personal stories.
• Peace in times of Illness - mental, physical, emotional.  I shared some personal stories.
• Peace in times of sorrow - I shared some personal stories.
• Peace in times of mourning - Has anyone experience the peace the Savior can bring in times of mourning?
• Peace to all who seek him
• How has the Savior granted you peace in your life?

Teaching No Greater Call Part B: Lesson 30 & 31

30: Taking time to prepare & 31: Preparing Lessons

What a great lesson this turned out to be - solely due to the wonderful spirit I felt during the class and the insightful comments by class members.  I am all about preparation, to a fault almost, so I really enjoyed the topic of this lesson.  I am only teaching the TNGC class one more time (next Sunday) and then I will be switching to teaching the gospel doctrine class on the old testament.  I am certain that the skills I have learned and taught from the TNGC class with help me become a better gospel teacher.  The links the lessons on lds.org are HERE and HERE.

Intro:

• Show video of the 10 virgins - Matthew 25:1-14
• Hold discussion about video and ask representation questions
• Quote #1 by Spencer W Kimball - how does this relate to lesson preparation?
• How can we prepare?  How can we be like the 5 that brought extra oil? What can we do?
• Read manual - Taking Time for Personal Prep

Taking Time to Prepare

• Beginning Lesson Prep Early
• Luke 10:38-42 - Why was Martha chastised?  Why did the Lord not say “Mary get up and help Martha?” 
• In his counsel, “but one thing is needful,” could the Lord have been referring to one thing lacking in Martha’s preparation? Probably. (source)
• What does this teach us about what we/Martha should be doing?
• Quote #2 from manual
•  Finding Joy in Preparation
• How can we find joy in preparing lessons?  How can we overcome the stress of one more thing we have to do in our lives?
• Quote #3 - L. Tom Perry quote 
• This quote actually led us into a discussion that I had not planned for the entire rest of the lesson.  We talked about how fear is the opposite of faith and that when we have faith, we don't need to be afraid.  I asked "How can we have faith instead of fear?" and asked class members to share experiences where they were strengthen by their faith and not afraid. 

Teaching No Greater Call Part B: Lesson 26 & 27

Choosing appropriate methods & Choosing effective methods

Today we held a combined lesson on appropriate and effective teaching methods  (links HERE and HERE).  We also reviewed last week's lesson on teaching with variety and referenced the list of ideas that lesson has to offer during our discussions about appropriate and effective lessons.  I printed that list and handed it out during the lesson.  I also printed out each question that the lesson asked and taped it to the board as we moved through the lesson.

The lesson actually went really well, even though at first I had thought it would be a hard(er) topic to discuss since it is so straight forward.  We had some great discussion thanks to great comments by class members and the spirit was present.

Intro

• I drew a picture of a cake on the board.  Tell cake story (p 222 of TNGC manual).  Ask 2 questions at the end of the story.  
• Pass out methods chart. Review and talk about teaching with variety.
• Read D&C 63:64 and manual intro paragraph.  
• What is the difference between "appropriate" and "effective" teaching methods?  Can you have one without the other?

Appropriate Methods

• Will this method invite the spirit? 
• Read D&C 42:14.  Look at your list - can you think of a time a teacher chose a method to teach a concept where you felt the spirit during the lesson? I talked about the hidden wedges talk that President Monson gave back in 2002.  
• Does the method match the sacredness of the principles I am teaching? 
• Will the method edify and strengthen those I teach? 
• What are some lesson topics that you teach your family for family night?  What are some effective ways that you have taught these concepts?  
• Is the material Church-approved? What happens if we don’t use material that is not church approved?
• Have I followed correct procedures in preparation to use the method?

Effective Methods

• Will the method help learners better understand the principles I am teaching? What are some effective methods from this list that you have used in your teaching?
• Will the method make wise use of time?
• Will the method meet the needs of those I teach? What are the “needs of those you teach” - what does that mean?  
• Do I use the same method too often? 

End

• Read Boyd K Packer quote from effective teaching lesson. 
• Methods are important, but not the focus.  They are tools to help those we teach focus on the saving doctrines of the gospel and apply them in our lives.

Teaching No Greater Call Part B: Lesson 23 & 24

Reverence and Helping Those Who Become Disruptive

We had a combined Teaching No Greater Call lesson today with lesson 23 and 24 - reverence and helping those who become disruptive.  The two topics go hand in hand.  We had a lot of great discussion and ideas today about how to help our children and class members feel more reverent in attitude and behavior.  HERE and HERE are the links to the lessons on lds.org.

Intro - (have prelude music playing)

• What is reverence? Read quotes #1-4 and write main ideas on board.  
• Listen to Reverence is Love and talk about it. What does that mean "reverence is love"?
• What's the difference between reverent behavior and a reverent attitude? (“Serve God Acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear” L. Tom Perry)

Teaching Reverent Conduct

• What are some ways that we can teach/encourage others to be reverent? What are some things we can do as teachers and parents? (write on board) For kids? For adults? 
• What has helped you as a family or as a teacher teach your children about reverence?
• How can we instill a sense of reverence in our classes?

Disruption

• Read story in the manual - what are some ways that we can help those become disruptive in our lessons?
• Read quote from Pres Hinckley (manual) - the discipline of love
• Read D&C 121:41-44 - reproving with sharpness, then show increased love. Manual has definitions of “betimes” and “sharpness”

Teaching No Greater Call Part B: Lesson 19

Helping Others Live What They Learn

I am filled with a love towards my class.  They enlighten me and teach me and add so much each Sunday to the lessons.  I hope that I can do everything in my power as a teacher to make all class members feel comfortable and invited and help the spirit to inspire those that are present.

The lesson this week was so uplifting - helping others (and ourselves) live what they learn.  We had some amazing discussion about the process of this.  The lesson link to this lesson on lds.org is HERE. I thought this lesson could not have gone better thanks to the spirit that was present and class member participation.

I started by writing on board 3 columns “understand, testimony, & go and do” and title “Live what you learn.”

Intro

• Bring a mirror and read James 1:22-25.  Talk about mirror.  What does it mean to be a doer/hearer of the word? 
• What does “law of liberty” mean? two contradictory terms—“law” and “liberty” - Display pictures of Christ.
• As a teacher, what are some ways we can help our students become doers and not hearers only?

The rest of the lesson was divided into 3 separate parts. During each discussion, I wrote the ideas from each discussion under each column on the board.

Ensure that learners understand the principles you teach

• What are some ways that we can help learners better understand gospel principles?

Help others learn by the spirit

• When students gain a testimony of principles taught in a lesson, they are more willing to live these principles.  Has this ever happened to you?
• What are some ways that we can invite the spirit to be present in our lesson as we teach?

Encourage learners to “go and do...likewise”

• Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Open up and read Luke 10:25-29. You can watch the bible videos clip, read the verses or have someone summarize. Then read 10:37.
•  Luke 10:37 says “Go, and do thou likewise.”  How can we encourage our students to take what they learn and “go and do thou likewise?” What does that look like?
• What are some examples of invitations we can ask of our learners?  
• How can extending invitations to students to apply the principles they learn in their own life be the most successful? (follow up on invitations, plan invitations ahead of time, giving ideas for application of principle in own life, be specific in invitation)

Teaching No Greater Call Part B: Lesson 17

Helping Learners Be Attentive

I was super nervous to teach this lesson.  Who knows why?  The spirit helped me as I taught and really inspired the class members and we had a wonderful discussion on how to help our learners stay more attentive.  I encouraged the class to give themselves a grade in their head a few times throughout the lesson on how engaged and attentive they were as I tried to model some of the ideas from the lesson.  Lesson link on lds.org HERE.

Since conference is coming up next week, we spent the first 10-15 minutes of the lesson discussing the following questions:

• Why is it sometimes hard to pay attention in conference?
• How have you been able to help your children be more attentive during conference?
• What are some ways that you can help yourself be more attentive at conference?
• The summary of the discussions was really motivation for our kids as well as motivation for us and planning ahead = success.

I then told a personal story, similar to the one in the manual about how the teacher lost certain students along the way but related it to something that had happened to me a few weeks ago.  I thought this would help engage the class (it did) and I encouraged the class to score themselves in their head on their level of attentiveness.  I also brought a prop from this to give them something to look at.  

I then asked the class the question from the manual "How can teachers help learners to remain attentive?" and then as the class answered I wrote the answers on the board and talked about the ones that the manual featured.  I tried to model the ones that I could. Here are some follow up questions you can ask with each of these answers:

• Relevancy - What are some ways that you could help your students see how the lesson material applies to them in their lives?
• Vary your voice - How can you use your voice to influence the attention of those that you teach?
• Eye Contact - Why would making eye contact with your students help them become more attentive? 
• Movement - how can movement help learners become more attentive? 
• Pace of the Lesson - Does anyone have an example of where the pace of the lesson influenced the people they were teaching - for the better or maybe not so good?
• Variety of Teaching Methods - many ways to serve potatoes. What are some teaching methods that you remember from a particular lesson? Why was it effective for you?

To wrap up the discussion I asked these questions:

•  How did Jesus help his learners to remain attentive?
• Anything else? How can you help make the lesson principles memorable, so that students retain the information after the class in their day to day lives? For me, sometimes it’s less about what they teach and more about the fact that I know the teacher loves me, cares about me and has a testimony.  That’s what I remember years later.  

Individual’s Responsibility to Participate

• In the end, we can't always get everyone to engage or participate.  What does this scripture teach us about how to help those that choose sometimes not to participate? D&C 121:41

Teaching No Greater Call Videos

As I was working on preparing my lesson for this upcoming Sunday, I stumbled upon the Mormon Channel on youtube with a playlist of a series of videos put together by Brother Osguthorpe and Elder Bednar of the first presidency.  The videos are a series of discussion questions from the Teaching No Greater Call manual and I think they would be great to include in future lessons!  Topics include: inviting learners to act, honoring people's agency, motivating learners, helping learners understand, inviting diligent learning, the holy ghost is the true teacher and more!  Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD13183059E0F4E80