New third-hour curriculum: Your experience?

[Scott Lloyd]

So presumably everyone throughout the Church had the first experience yesterday with the new third-hour curriculum in Relief Society or Melchizedek priesthood classes. For this first Sunday in the month, it was to be a council meeting involving everyone in the Relief Soicety or priesthood quorum/group.

What was your experience like?

Edited January 8, 2018 by Scott Lloyd

[stemelbow]

I showed up but there were no seats available and no room to add any so I missed it.  I guess I'll wait until next time.

But my wife was extremely disappointed in her RS meeting.  I won't say much more than that.  

 

[RevTestament]

Our HP group talked about what made TM a good Church Pres. I offered that I remember him from the time I joined the Church some 40 years ago. I always looked forward to his talks, because it seems he always had a good story. I noted that our Heavenly Father, and our Savior both use stories to teach, and that I believe this practice made TM particularly effective, as he basically took a cue from God. I thought the lesson was effective. It was nice for a change, and I don't recall anyone going to sleep - also for a change. The lesson felt almost like not a lesson - much more personal. We sat in a circle instead of the usual rows. It was a good start.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

So presumably everyone throughout the Church had the first experience yesterday with the new third-hour curriculum in Relief Society or Melchizedek priesthood classes. For this first Sunday in the month, it was to be a council meeting involving everyone in the Relief Soicety or priesthood quorum/group.

What was your experience like?

I was home sick, and my wife had to work for a couple of hours. I forgot to ask my daughter last night at Sunday supper. I have to teach next Sunday. When I went to LDS.ORG, I was confused as to what the lesson is supposed to be. Does anyone know here what the lessons are supposed to be? 

ETA: I am speaking of Preisthood. 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Bill "Papa" Lee

[The Nehor]

I was stuck in the clerk’s Office writing checks and trying to locate some people the High Priest Group brought to my attention. It was very edifying.  

[Scott Lloyd]

12 minutes ago, Bill "Papa" Lee said:

I was home sick, and my wife had to work for a couple of hours. I forgot to ask my daughter last night at Sunday supper. I have to teach next Sunday. When I went to LDS.ORG, I was confused as to what the lesson is supposed to be. Does anyone know here what the lessons are supposed to be? 

ETA: I am speaking of Preisthood. 

It's supposed to be based on a general conference talk, but your quorum or group leader is supposed to tell you which one. If he hasn't done that yet, I suggest you contact him right away to get that direction.

 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

10 minutes ago, RevTestament said:

Our HP group talked about what made TM a good Church Pres. I offered that I remember him from the time I joined the Church some 40 years ago. I always looked forward to his talks, because it seems he always had a good story. I noted that our Heavenly Father, and our Savior both use stories to teach, and that I believe this practice made TM particularly effective, as he basically took a cue from God. I thought the lesson was effective. It was nice for a change, and I don't recall anyone going to sleep - also for a change. The lesson felt almost like not a lesson - much more personal. We sat in a circle instead of the usual rows. It was a good start.

It's not supposed to be a lesson. It's supposed to be a council meeting to discuss local needs. Hence, the arrangement of the seats in a circle (which was probably half of one).

 

[Scott Lloyd]

21 minutes ago, stemelbow said:

I showed up but there were no seats available and no room to add any so I missed it.  I guess I'll wait until next time.

But my wife was extremely disappointed in her RS meeting.  I won't say much more than that.  

 

Is she opposed to council meetings in principle, or was it just executed poorly?

[The Nehor]

I am looking forward to the new format. I like the idea but some people are going to hate it and there are going to be teething issues.

[Duncan]

We talked about how a new Prophet is chosen, new apostle.We talked about different times in Church history like Alvin R. Dyer, multiple councillors  in the 1st Presidency and how we came to this point, generally speaking. More importantly, it didn't feel much different than having a teacher, it was like what we've always done so in practical terms i'm not sure what was different than before

[stemelbow]

17 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Is she opposed to council meetings in principle, or was it just executed poorly?

The latter it seems.  She was looking forward to what the change would bring going in, but left disappointed indicating to me that it seemed there was no change at all. 

Edited January 8, 2018 by stemelbow

[pogi]

I am in young men's, so no change for me.   I am interested to hear your experiences though. 

[clarkgoble]

Due to some unusual events I wasn't in Primary. Our EQ picked what talks to teach from. Then we went through a list of people in the ward who needed extra service for things like snow removal. We also went through the extra duties we had this year as the final ward (we're now at 1 PM) in terms of snow, chairs, and cleaning. Finally they did a practical given out new HT assignments and ensuring everyone contacted their familes. (About ⅓ of the ward and probably ⅔ of the EQ are from apartments that are rather transitory so rejuggling HT assignments actually is a bigger deal than in most wards)

I thought it was fine, although EQ to me has always been the best meeting since it's always so pragmatic in lessons. I didn't ask my wife how RS went since that can be more hit or miss. But next week I'm back to primary only teaching CTR-6 rather than the 11 year olds.

[Scott Lloyd]

19 minutes ago, Duncan said:

We talked about how a new Prophet is chosen, new apostle.We talked about different times in Church history like Alvin R. Dyer, multiple councillors  in the 1st Presidency and how we came to this point, generally speaking. More importantly, it didn't feel much different than having a teacher, it was like what we've always done so in practical terms i'm not sure what was different than before

Again, it sounds like more of a lesson than a council meeting.

I think people are having trouble catching the vision.

 

[pogi]

3 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Again, it sounds like more of a lesson than a council meeting.

I think people are having trouble catching the vision.

I imagine it will take some time and more training...like most changes.  That is to be expected, I guess.  

[Waylon]

52 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

So presumably everyone throughout the Church had the first experience yesterday with the new third-hour curriculum in Relief Society or Melchizedek priesthood classes. For this first Sunday in the month, it was to be a council meeting involving everyone in the Relief Soicety or priesthood quorum/group.

What was your experience like?

Being a bit of a rebel, I decided early on after being called as an Elders' Quorum instructor months ago that I wasn't going to use the manual to teach.  I felt the manual lessons were too canned, and I remember so many lessons I have had to sit through where the teacher just read from the manual or passed the manual around and had us read.  Not to mention, the lessons are the same stuff we have heard over and over . . . I remember in one EQ I had been in, the teacher was so habitually boring that everyone would sit in EQ and play games on their phones, almost like some kind of LAN party.

So, I decided to make my EQ like a support group rather than a classroom.  Every Sunday, I have everyone sit in a circle, and I pass out breakfast.  I usually skim the manual to see the basic subject we are supposed to talk about for the day, and we play a game where we go around and tell stories about the subject, and whoever has the funniest story wins a special treat I bring with me (usually a fancy cupcake).  We then just kind of talk and converse.  It is relaxed, it is fun, everyone brings their common sense and sense of humor, and it works a lot better than lecturing.  (And yes, my bishop knows what I have been doing and approves).

So, to the extent that the "new way" is similar to my way of teaching, I would say I have been doing the "new way" for at least a year!

[RevTestament]

20 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

It's not supposed to be a lesson. It's supposed to be a council meeting to discuss local needs. Hence, the arrangement of the seats in a circle (which was probably half of one).

We started that way, but after everyone said who was sick, or moving, etc it moved into a semi-formal lesson format. This was obviously planned as our group leader had a video of TM planned. It will be interesting to see how things progress. Anyway, I felt we got off to a good start. If the Church can really move away from the "spoon-feeding" method of teaching, I think it will be a good thing in the long run, but I do expect some "growing pains." I think we will all have to pray for the guidance of the Spirit, and be very conscientious of His promptings as was Pres Monson. 

We had a large enough group that it was a full circle. I like that because you don't feel you have those people hiding in the back of the room. There is not a feeling of separateness but inclusiveness. It is much better for group discussion.

[Duncan]

13 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Again, it sounds like more of a lesson than a council meeting.

I think people are having trouble catching the vision.

 

we chose a topic but some people know more than others and had more to say than others but it was more like a conversation but again how in practical term is it different than lessons ? we talked about some members needs(without naming names) so maybe that?

[ksfisher]

34 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Again, it sounds like more of a lesson than a council meeting.

I think people are having trouble catching the vision.

 

I wonder if for some church members, especially those who are younger or who have not been members for very long, a change in the church presidency is a bigger deal than for those of us who have been through it a number of times.  Maybe it is something worth counseling about.

[Garden Girl]

My meeting... Lincoln City, OR... turned out much better than I expected.  I've always enjoyed our RS meetings, and we have had wonderful teachers/lessons.  So when I heard about the new format, particularly arranging the chairs in a circle, I was skeptical and balked at the idea.  So when I walked into the RS room yesterday and they were putting the chairs in a circle I thought, Oh No, not this!  My RS Pres (a good friend) gave me the Evil Eye as I quietly murmured... We had a fairly large circle around the room... in the summer when our numbers increase dramatically we may have to move to the cultural hall, in which case the circle could become too big and lose the intended "feeling."  

The RS pres acted as leader in the discussion on "What we could do to make the Ward better/closer."  One sister suggested breaking the "gossip" tendency... I said to her, We have a gossip problem??  Yes! she answered and I saw several nods... which surprised me because we are a warm, welcoming ward, more so than most from what our visitors say... what then ensued was a very good discussion with wide participation... sisters sharing examples/experiences and suggestions.  And the positive examples that we can emphasize/continue to maintain the "family" feeling of our ward.  At the end of the meeting I said that it had gone better than I expected and how I'd enjoyed the format... to the general agreement of the sisters.  So I think we'll be just fine...

GG

[Scott Lloyd]

23 minutes ago, Garden Girl said:

My meeting... Lincoln City, OR... turned out much better than I expected.  I've always enjoyed our RS meetings, and we have had wonderful teachers/lessons.  So when I heard about the new format, particularly arranging the chairs in a circle, I was skeptical and balked at the idea.  So when I walked into the RS room yesterday and they were putting the chairs in a circle I thought, Oh No, not this!  My RS Pres (a good friend) gave me the Evil Eye as I quietly murmured... We had a fairly large circle around the room... in the summer when our numbers increase dramatically we may have to move to the cultural hall, in which case the circle could become too big and lose the intended "feeling."  

The RS pres acted as leader in the discussion on "What we could do to make the Ward better/closer."  One sister suggested breaking the "gossip" tendency... I said to her, We have a gossip problem??  Yes! she answered and I saw several nods... which surprised me because we are a warm, welcoming ward, more so than most from what our visitors say... what then ensued was a very good discussion with wide participation... sisters sharing examples/experiences and suggestions.  And the positive examples that we can emphasize/continue to maintain the "family" feeling of our ward.  At the end of the meeting I said that it had gone better than I expected and how I'd enjoyed the format... to the general agreement of the sisters.  So I think we'll be just fine...

GG

So far, this sounds like the experience most consistent with what was contemplated for these first-Sunday-of-the-month meetings.

[Scott Lloyd]

1 hour ago, RevTestament said:

We started that way, but after everyone said who was sick, or moving, etc it moved into a semi-formal lesson format. This was obviously planned as our group leader had a video of TM planned. It will be interesting to see how things progress. Anyway, I felt we got off to a good start. If the Church can really move away from the "spoon-feeding" method of teaching, I think it will be a good thing in the long run, but I do expect some "growing pains." I think we will all have to pray for the guidance of the Spirit, and be very conscientious of His promptings as was Pres Monson. 

We had a large enough group that it was a full circle. I like that because you don't feel you have those people hiding in the back of the room. There is not a feeling of separateness but inclusiveness. It is much better for group discussion.

This sounds pretty good.

But my understanding is that the discussion of local needs is to be general and not involve specific discussion of individuals in the ward, that that sort of thing is to remain the province of the ward council.

[Scott Lloyd]

My understanding is that the meeting is to end with an action plan -- something specific to be accomplished either by the group collectively or by individuals. And there are to be followup reports in subsequent weeks.

Did anyone here experience anything of that nature?

 

[Robert F. Smith]

We have had several HP group leadership/facilitator meetings leading up to this, and I was a bit uncertain about the new format.  However, we had another early morning HP leadership/facilitator mtg yesterday morning, then a training council session led by the Sunday School Pres in the 2nd hour, and then the actual chairs-in-a-circle HP group mtg in the 3rd hour.  Despite my uncertainties, it went very well, everyone was comfortable, and we got a lot of participation -- including one very pious and usually quiet brother who rightly took everyone to task for not volunteering to clean up the ward when necessary.  He was particularly concerned with the little tykes who put their mouths on the backs of pews, and the need to clean everything they touch each week so as to prevent the spread of disease germs there and in the restrooms.  We also concerned ourselves with the problems of various ward members -- almost like a ward council mtg.

The curriculum is being emailed a week in advance to each member of the group (except one 95-year-old member who has no computer, who gets a hard copy:  He is in better health than most of the rest of us "youngsters").  It appears to being going well perhaps because our leadership is so proactive.

[Duncan]

48 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

My understanding is that the meeting is to end with an action plan -- something specific to be accomplished either by the group collectively or by individuals. And there are to be followup reports in subsequent weeks.

Did anyone here experience anything of that nature?

 

we did, one was to read Pres. Nelson's past talks, articles and to pray about him being a Prophet