Many of you know that I am currently serving as a Gospel Doctrine Instructor in my Ward. A great job, if you can get it. Before that I was teaching teenagers in Sunday School. I couldn’t count the number of lessons I’ve prepared thus far in my church service. I’m sure there are many of you who teach Seminary who have prepared literally thousands – and I tip my hat to you.
Occasionally, a reader will ask me if I would make it a practice to post my Sunday School lessons in advance because they teach too, and would like to see some other ideas. Flattering, yes – but I’ll pass. Every now and again I will post an idea or story I used in a lesson, but you won’t see one of my lesson plans laid out in full. Here is a highly scientific formula to explain why:
My Class ≠ Your Class
Corollaries to this equation are as follows:
My Quorum ≠ Your Quorum
My YW Class ≠ Your YW Class
My Primary Class ≠ Your Primary Class
My Ward ≠ Your Ward
etc.
• My Gospel Doctrine class is different than anyone else’s. Why? Because the class members are different than any other class. Same with each youth group, or Relief Society, Elder’s Quorum, etc.
• The class I teach is also my stewardship. I was called by God, through local authorities, who placed their hands on my head and set me apart in that calling by the authority of the Priesthood. It is my responsibility, and I take it quite seriously.
• Part of that stewardship is to study, prepare, and learn through the Spirit what the Lord wants for those I have been called to instruct. The Spirit can guide me regarding what I shouldn’t teach, what I should teach, and how to teach it.
Because of those three things, my lesson today should be unlike any other lesson being taught anywhere else in the world – even if we are using the exact same manual as a starting point. It should be unique.
Can you imagine me waiting until the last minute and pulling up a lesson written by someone else, and then using their ideas to fulfill my stewardship?
MMM humble confession: I can imagine it quite readily- because… I have done it. (Oh, the shame!) Whether the cause was forgetfulness, laziness, or lack of dedication, I have turned to other people’s preparation on websites to throw together a last minute lesson. There are some really good websites out there that provide great material, ripe for the taking. Read a lesson here, another here, print a few quotes out of the online manual, and…viola! Instant lesson! There are also some lessons you can find online that are so dry, and painfully boring that they could be immediately recorded and broadcast on BYU-TV.
And it isn’t just lessons. There are websites and Pinterest pages galore that can give us thousands of ideas for Sunday School, Young Womens, Scouts, Relief Society, Young Men, Primary, etc. Some of the ideas are fabulous, some not so great. But they all have one thing in common: They weren’t created for the people that I have stewardship over. They were created for somebody else. So I had better not presume that an idea was right for my stewardship, just because it was for someone else’s.
The other thing I’ve noticed is that many of the lessons, or ideas for activities that you find (Especially on Pinterest) are what I call “Pooh Bear” activities. (Because they are stuffed with fluff.)
But why would I assume that these ideas are right for my calling just because someone else did? Am I so disengaged from the people that I serve that I think “one-size-fits-all? I might stumble across the most amazing, wonderful lesson or activity in the history of the LDS universe, but that doesn’t mean it is the right lesson or activity for me.
The process of preparing a lesson can be a wonderful, spiritual learning experience for the teacher. I don’t want to give that up and just grab someone else’s lesson. That learning is one of the best parts of being a teacher.
Now, there is a good use for all the pre-packaged lesson plans and activity ideas out there, if I use them judiciously. They can be hugely valuable if they are part of my preparation process. No, I am not contradicting myself.
When I prepare a lesson, I study like crazy, and amass waaaay too much stuff. I start with the manual and the scriptures, and then broaden my search to look for stories, object lessons, or other teaching methods to help make the message more understandable and interesting. No, I do not follow the manual word-for-word. I think that would be irresponsible. And painfully boring.
So, if I look to those pre-packaged lessons and activities as another source of ideas in our preparation, then I can let the Spirit guide me in picking and choosing those things that are suited for my specific stewardship. Because my class is not your class, and I guarantee that the saints in a new branch in Nigeria do not need to hear the exact same Sunday School lesson that my ward members need to hear. Letting the Spirit help me pick and choose implies that He is involved in my preparation – that I am praying, pondering, and teaching the Lord’s way.
If I find a good activity, story or object lesson by searching online, I had better make sure I don’t just accept it. I still need to go through the process of studying it out in my mind, then asking the Lord if it be right (D&C 9:8).
Because, after all, it really is the Lord’s class, and I’m merely the permanent substitute teacher.
A few years back, Elder Dallin Oaks gave a great talk entitled “Teaching and Learning by the Spirit.” Read it!
Discover more from Thus We See...
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Aw man! I thought this post would be a guess-what-you-will-get-typing-inspiration-into-Google post!
It’s much more helpful to learn tools for preparing lessons and following the Holy Ghost than to just get someone else’s well-prepared lesson.
On that topic I really enjoyed elder Richardson’s talk from Oct 2011 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/teaching-after-the-manner-of-the-spirit?lang=eng
For my lessons in YW I will use handouts (not the frilly, cutesie, punny ones that come with a chocolate) that complement the month’s theme. Something with scripture references or quotes that will further boost the message.
I’m loving the new youth curriculum. The stories in the old manuals were completely alien to any cultures outside of the US. I love how we can seek guidance for what our particular group of YW need to hear.
Yes, and yes. I’m amazed at how often we Pinterest or Sugardoodle before we even think to pray….
merely the substitute teacher. Yep.
If I stumble upon something inspirational and goes with my current lesson topic, I might make a note of it if I feel strongly about it but other than that, I don’t do much googling for lessons. With the new curriculum, there are so many links within the units that there is MORE than enough material.
Can I be snarky about cutsie handout’s though? (blech)
No? Okay, never mind.
Great post
Amen, best post I’ve read so far.
Here, here!! I agree! Even our children are not ‘one-size-fits-all’. I am so glad the Lord recognizes us as individuals and teaches us that way. Now if we can just apply that knowledge and level of commitment to our own teaching, then we will be doing it the Lord’s way. Thanks MMM. Glad to have you back….for how long? Or are you good to go?
Thanks Carin. I am good to go, and back and hungry for more.
Whoot!!!
Amen to all of it. If we teach with the spirit we teach people, not lessons. As the scripture states ” if ye receive not the spirit ye shall not teach” D&C 42:14 . I am so grateful to have learned that concept. I spent a lot of years trying to “fluff” up my lessons to impress the listeners. I now know, like you said, that prayerful preparation, along with following the church approved material, can bring that spirit to both the teacher and the class. Besides, it is so much simpler to do it the right way.
The first year I taught seminary I saved all of my lesson plans, thinking that would save me some time if I was still teaching four years later. Well, I was (but after a break), yet when I pulled out the notes there were no good for me, precisely because of the reasons you stated – my class that year was not the same as the previous one. It’s still valuable to keep quotes and stories and techniques filed away, but each lesson and class is unique. That’s a wonderful thing!
Loved this. When I was teaching Young Women, I used a lot of other website for object lesson or activity ideas, but I can’t imagine using an entire lesson from someone else. I’ve taught YW, Gospel Doctrine, youth Sunday School and Relief Society, and I tend to plan my lessons out to a “t”, but I’ve found when I’m best prepared is when the lesson tends to go most off plan–not off topic, mind you, just off plan. Because when I’ve got the Spirit there, there are often questions raised in the class that I didn’t necessarily think of during my preparation, but I can usually guide the discussion the right way because I know the material well and have that help and inspiration. I guess I mention that because a pet peeve of mind is teachers who justify their lack of preparation by saying its better that way because then the lesson is guided by the Spirit, not their plan. Hogwash. If you’ve got a good, prepared class, those lessons can still go well, but not because of anything you’ve done (or failed to do).