[Teachldsseminary] tardies

[Daryl Gibson]

I finally conquered the tardiness problem this year (knock on 
wood).  I bought a roll of tickets at Office Depot (the kind you 
might use for a raffle or a carnival, very cheap).  Everyone who is 
in the classroom by the start time -- not a minute later -- gets two 
tickets.  They put their names on them and put them in a jar all 
during the week. On Friday, any student with 10 tickets gets a treat 
(cinnamon rolls, donuts, candy bars, cookies etc.)  I also give 
tickets during the week for other things -- giving a devotional, 
playing the piano, helping me set up or take down chairs, best 
presentation in a class activity, memorizing a scripture mastery 
verse, finishing an at-home reading assignment, etc.  We start the 
new issue of tickets on Friday for the following week. That way I can 
count tickets on Thursday night and know who is eligible for treats 
on Friday.  So the kids who fall behind don't get discouraged, I 
bring an extra treat every Friday and we draw one ticket out of the 
jar. Everyone has a chance to win this one.
I find my students running to get in the door on time; the first 
place they look is at the wall clock. They compete to see whose turn 
it is to play the piano or put away the hymn books.  I also rarely 
have a problem getting students to volunteer to give a devotional on 
the spur of the moment when the assigned person is not there.  The 
added benefit for me is that every day there are enough students in 
their seats to start on time.  The stragglers know we honor the start 
time and wait for no one.
   I know there are those who object to the notion of using food as a 
reward, and, of course, our spiritual feasting should always 
overshadow any of the "bells and whistles" that we use in seminary, 
but if they aren't in their seats, they can't be taught by the 
spirit.  And it never ceases to amaze me what a teenager will do for 
a simple reward -- even something they could go out and buy for 
themselves.  Recently the teacher of my fitness class at the gym had 
a six-week program in which we tracked our progress in exercise, 
nutrition, weight loss etc. The reward was a small gift card -- 
something I could easily have afforded myself.  Yet I found myself 
doing everything I could to add points to my score, even as I knew 
others around me were doing better.  It became a challenge for me to 
reach the goal the teacher had set. So we aren't so much different 
from teens after all!

Another suggestion for devotionals:  After October conference I buy 
each of my students a November Ensign. We use them for lots of things 
in class -- reading excerpts from talks that relate to the lesson, 
underlining, marking the margins with notes about the content.   But 
I also spend a few minutes having the students look at the story 
index in the issue. Each of them earmarks one story that they could 
use for a devotional. So no one is ever unprepared.

Finally.... I agree that we should not "reboot" the lesson for 
everyone who comes in late, but occasionally I have found it useful 
to pause and ask a student to summarize where we are for the 
latecomers. If there is a logical break in the lesson or if we're in 
the middle of an activity it helps everyone (including me!) to get 
their bearings.

Daryl Gibson
Austin TX