This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the October 2011 Conference.
I really liked Elder Matthew O. Richardson's talk about teaching. As I read it I was thinking about how much my teaching methods and preparation has changed over the years. I think I have always fancied myself a pretty good teacher. I used to prepare such great (I thought) Young Women's lessons for my Laurel Class! And they participated so well and were so appreciative! It was a joy to teach them. But teaching my own children as they got older was…not at all the same. Ha! Some of them were NOT appreciative (quite the opposite) and did NOT participate. And lesson prep for Home Church had to be so different because it was every week, on top of whatever else was going on for church, so my mindset and processes had to change, and they have basically kept changing ever since! I have definitely struggled with this balance:
While we are all teachers, we must fully realize that it is the Holy Ghost who is the real teacher and witness of all truth. Those who do not fully understand this either try to take over for the Holy Ghost and do everything themselves, politely invite the Spirit to be with them but only in a supporting role, or believe they are turning all their teaching over to the Spirit when, in truth, they are actually just “winging it.”
And I've seen more and more how essential it is to remember this:
Those who teach after the manner of the Spirit understand they teach people, not lessons. As such, they overcome the urge to cover everything in a manual or teach all they have learned on the subject and focus instead on those things that their family or class members need to know and do. Parents, leaders, and teachers who mirror how the Spirit teaches learn quickly that real teaching involves much more than just talking and telling. As a result, they intentionally pause to listen, carefully observe, and then discern what to do next. When they do this, the Holy Ghost is in a position to teach both learners and teachers what they should do and say.
I rarely feel like I do this very well in the moment—I'm always realizing later that I should have said (or not said) something, and when I'm teaching my own children there are sometimes so many logistical and managerial problems (to say nicely what I mean, which is that the kids fight and distract each other)—that I can barely string two thoughts together, let alone "carefully observing and discerning" anything! But Elder Richardson has an encouraging analogy at the end of his talk about climbing a mountain with his daughter, and he says this:
I think back on my experience hiking with my children. We agreed that every time we stopped to catch our breath, rather than focusing exclusively on how much farther we needed to go, we would immediately turn around and look down the mountain. We would take in the scenery and say to each other, “Look how far we’ve come.” Then we would take a deep breath, quickly turn, face uphill, and start climbing again one step at a time. Brothers and sisters, you can parent, lead, and teach after the manner of the workings of the Spirit. I know you can do this. I testify you can do this, and lives will change.
I like that, and it seems like a good idea—to resolve to focus on how far you've come rather than how far you have to go. I definitely have a long way to go with teaching like the Savior did, but I am certainly getting a lot of practice, so I guess that's worth something!
Other posts in this series:
The Song They Could Not Sing—by Rozy
