Church Training/Who reads the lds.org training articles

[bsjkki]

Why does it seem that there are so many excellent training materials in the church but most people never get "trained." I stalk lds.org and read a lot of the headline articles as they come out. I never realized that in the back of Teaching the Saviors Way is a new orientation outline for new teachers/leaders. I never knew each teacher should be given a copy of the booklet "Teaching the Saviors Way" when orientated as teachers. https://www.lds.org/church/news/sunday-school-general-presidency-asks-leaders-to-orient-new-teachers?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_WE_5-7-2017_dCN_fCNWS_xLIDyH-2_  This is an excellent article and great advice but who is actually going to ever read/hear about it.  I also read this article, https://www.lds.org/church/news/do-you-want-to-make-a-difference-let-youth-lead?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_TH_6-7-2017_dCN_fCNWS_xLIDyH_ . It makes excellent points about how to more effectively let the youth lead (and it applies to the young women just as much as the young men.) Where is this excellent article going to be taught to youth leaders? My daughters have served in many youth leadership roles and only one time did they have regular class presidency meetings. When these meetings happened weekly because of an adamant Bishop, I saw great growth in these youth leaders. I have been to many Stake training's and I often left feeling frustrated because instead of real training, it was like hearing Sacrament meeting talks and not instructions on how to do my calling better or how things are supposed to run. Many times, I never even had the opportunity to ask a question. One of my other favorite lds.org articles was this one. https://www.lds.org/church/news/teach-the-doctrine-discussion-is-a-means-not-an-end?lang=eng  

Edited July 9, 2017 by bsjkki

[Duncan]

If one isn't turned into Lds.org then they wouldn't know about these materials, you're right. I do the teacher's council here, I know don't be jealous, but we have a training meeting every month and we go over the new book, we've gotten some great discussions and it seems to be okay.

[bsjkki]

9 minutes ago, Duncan said:

If one isn't turned into Lds.org then they wouldn't know about these materials, you're right. I do the teacher's council here, I know don't be jealous, but we have a training meeting every month and we go over the new book, we've gotten some great discussions and it seems to be okay.

I think teacher councils are great when run right by a teacher who is an excellent example of teaching prowess (I am sure this describes you!) Having a Sunday School President who is also a good teacher became much more important with this new program. Since my spouse is an excellent teacher, ours are going well and some of these excellent articles are referenced. I've heard a few horror stories from friends who do not like attending teacher councils because they are not lively discussions but boring lessons. Sad.

[Rain]

For teaching I have found 3 major problems. 1. Lack of knowledge of the materials. 2. Lack of putting reading those materials as a priority. 3. Not believing in those materials. 

1. We can easily help with the knowledge. Post on facebook, bring it up in ward council, make a comment in class about how you were helped when using them. This is actually a pretty simple fix.

2. Sometimes people don't feel they have enough time or just plain don't have the desire to look at the lesson plans, let alone the training materials. I think if people read some of these materials their lessons could go much better.  It would be easier.  I'm really not sure how to convince people of that though.  

3. Sometimes a friend will post  and say they just got called to be a new teacher and would others to share tips. I share a few things learned and then nearly every single time I have people say something like,  "we are not there to entertain others.  You don't need to make things so elaborate. Just use the Spirit and you will be ok." They say this all not understanding that I have learned this directly from church materials. They say this, assuming the Spirit is not there if someone in the class laughs. Somehow we have to teach these people the Spirit actually can be there when the class is interesting because the teacher uses the techniques learned from church materials.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Rain

[bsjkki]

16 minutes ago, Rain said:

For teaching I have found 3 major problems. 1. Lack of knowledge of the materials. 2. Lack of putting reading those materials as a priority. 3. Not believing in those materials. 

1. We can easily help with the knowledge. Post on facebook, brig it up in ward council, make a comment in class about how you were helped when using them. This is actually a pretty simple fix.

2. Sometimes people don't feel they have enough time or just plain don't have the desire to look at the lesson plans, let alone the training materials. I think if people read some of these materials their lessons could go much better.  It would be easier.  I'm really not sure how to convince people of that though.  

3. Sometimes a friend will post  and say they just got called to be a new teacher and would others to share tips. I share a few things learned and then nearly every single time I have people say something like,  "we are not there to entertain others.  You don't need to make things so elaborate. Just use the Spirit and you will be ok." They say this all not understanding that I have learned this directly from church materials. They say this, assuming the Spirit is not there if someone in the class laughs. Somehow we have to teach these people the Spirit actually can be there when the class is interesting because the teacher uses the techniques learned from church materials.

It's hard for some to realize classes can be fun, educational, entertaining, testimony building and spirit filled...sometimes all of this can happen in a short 40 minutes too! 😉 I think President Urchtdorf and Holland can do it in a conference talk. (That takes skill!)

I have enjoyed learning from Teaching the Saviors Way...I've learned to talk less and listen more and it's been amazing what I have learned while I have taught.

[Hamba Tuhan]

I read the handbooks, read all the online training, and have repeatedly used the training on youth leading out. Our current bishop seems less committed to these principles, but when we've followed them in the past, everything has gone great. I'm of the strong opinion that the major brass serpent in modern Israel is the direction we have from living prophets. When we follow it, the Church simply works.

[Jane_Doe]

I read them- they are very useful.  Even as just a reminder if you've had proper teaching experience before.  

I'm also really grateful for the new Teaching Council meetings they have in place to help teaching improve... and as a side benefit help us all better appreciate these teaches as we scramble to fill empty chairs in Sharing Time!