[Teachldsseminary] CHAT/HELP - Where did I go wrong?

[kathryn Skaggs]

Dana,

Not being in your classroom of course it is hard to know exactly how  
things truly went.  But nothing is ever a "dud"... only a learning  
opportunity for us as teachers to challenge us to sharpen our  
skills.  Teaching takes everything we have and I think that is why we  
love it!  Remember that teaching is an art... a skill, therefore it  
has to be developed.  So, we cannot expect to go in our classrooms  
the first time with any new skill and expect perfection or even  
success the first time.  If our CES training is teaching us that  
there is a certain way of teaching that is the most effective way to  
accomplish our role, then we should realize that we will probably  
need to practice the skill in order to develop it fully.  I would  
encourage you to read as much as you can in order to develop these  
skills of helping your students to understand how to identify a  
principle by making sure they know what a principle is.  Then you can  
help them to write their own principles, after they identify them in  
the scriptures in their own words using the IF I_______  
Then______statements.

Once they are able to do this, THEN you can start to have them LOOK  
for SPECIFIC things in specific verses or blocks of scriptures.  They  
need to know what they should be LOOKING for.  They must have  
direction!  Once they have IDENTIFIED the OBJECT of the SEARCH then  
you can ASK them WHAT DO YOU THINK?  IF you MISS any of these steps  
you will probably not make it to the end.... which is where you need  
to finish... and that is at the APPLICATION.  After they think...  
they are ready to APPLY to their own lives and you can now bring it  
home by asking questions that are more personal and open ended  
whereby the spirit can bring revelation with application that is  
specific to each person in the class.  It is important as teachers  
that we do  not tell our students HOW to APPLY and allow the spirit  
to do this for each of them individually.  We should decide on the  
principle to teach and how to teach it, but it is the spirit who  
reveals the application to each student through personal  
application.  Then whenever appropriate if we can encourage our  
students to share this will strengthen their experience even more.

We just cannot give up after even ten tries!  I try to work on  
different parts of the teaching pattern.... somedays I work on how to  
ASK effective SEARCH questions.... other days I focus on my ANALYZE  
questions..... another day I practice with trying to remember to  
always use certain KEY words when asking my questions such as... What  
do you THINK is happening.... instead of just saying, What is  
happening - this one word sends the signal that there is no WRONG  
answer.  You would be amazed at the difference in participation with  
just that one change in phrasing.  On certain days I work on making  
sure when I ask my students to LOOK in a specific verse, I make sure  
that what I ask them to LOOK for is phrased in such a way that as  
they are reading the verse, the words they are reading in the verse  
will lead them right to the answer they are LOOKING for!  This way  
they will have success.  So  it definitely takes a conscious effort  
to work on our teaching skills daily.

I am sorry this is so long, but I don't want you to be discouraged at  
all.  Just keep up the great work because one day all of the sudden  
you WILL see the results of your diligence.  It will be so rewarding  
when you see that this stuff really works and it is a blast to see  
these students feel so successful with this teaching method.  Good  
Luck to you.  I would love to hear from you down the road.
Love,
Kathryn