Talks
Quotes
Teach your students to love the message, not the messenger.
You are not teaching lessons, you are teaching people. Let the spirit guide.
It is not what your student does during class, but what they do during the week that measures your effectiveness as a teacher. – Shannon Williams
I don’t care how much you know until I know you care.
They may forget what you said – but they will never forget how you made them feel – Carl W. Buehner
People remember:
10 percent of what they READ
20 percent of what they HEAR
30 percent of what they SEE
50 percent of what they SEE and HEAR
70 percent of what they SAY and WRITE
90 percent of what they DO.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. – Benjamin Franklin
Can you, as a teacher say, “Come follow me?”
Perhaps the perfect pattern is to teach what is found in the scriptures and then to put a seal of living reality upon it by telling a similar thing that has happened in our dispensation and to our people and most ideally – to us as individuals. Bruce R. McConkie
Effective ways to make lessons interesting:
1. “Over the bridge” – Be on the same side as your students. At the beginning of class join in their conversation, meet them where they’re at. They need to identify with you first.
2. Start the lesson by saying, “I brought something to show you” – get them to forget outside worries and concentrate on your lesson. It could be an object, story, newspaper article, video clip, slides, person, demo, picture, poem, music, etc. Illustrate every story.
3. Involvement – small groups, open discussion, true and false sheets, write answers.
Call class members in advance “When I ask this question have a response please.”
4. Application – What does all of this have to do with me now? Your purpose is to change lives.
Teach with the spirit (read additional ensign articles and scriptures so that you have a full bucket to draw from. Spirit can bring it all to your remembrance.)
Teaching the Concepts
1. Teach from the lesson manual Mosiah 18:18-20. We only have four hours a month for Sunday School – need to teach what’s prepared. It’s inspired.
2. Teach from the scriptures (manual based on scriptures)
3. Testify in lessons throughout your message
4. Teach a few fundamental things – can’t cover every single thing. Prayerfully select a theme.
You can’t light a fire in another’s soul without having a fire burning within your own.
FOCUS – You could give them too much information. Stay with one central point.
KISMET – Keep it simple, Make Em Think”
You know you’re LDS if 1) You go to RS and teacher apologizes for not having a centerpiece 2) You go to Elders quorum and the teacher apologizes for not having a lesson
The immediate source of most student problems is a lack of interest in the lesson. It is particularly hard to hold the attention of young people when lessons are constructed around concepts that will help them in their later lives. Remember, their later lives are determined by what they do now.
My job is to speak
Yours is to listen
If you get done before I do
Please raise your hand.
It is infinitely more important to teach one concept, one idea, and effect one change than to teach one thousand lessons and leave everyone the same way you found them.
At the end of every class put up a sign that says “Therefore…what?” Have definite weekly assignments. Each individual decides for himself what specific change he will make in his life because of the new information he has. What did the Holy Ghost prompt you to do during the lesson?
Best way to teach is to make an outline and then FILL YOUR BUCKET (with knowledge and ideas). Have a primary outline and then a few alternate ideas on the side – the spirit will guide you through it. D&C 100:5 “Speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts.” That is how you will meet the needs of your class – He knows their prayers and their needs.
Dallin H. Oaks – Excellent speakers are those who expand our understanding, change the direction of our lives, make us look at things differently, change our vision.
As a teacher, you can give your opinion, but you must stand in the opinion corner to do so. Differentiate it from doctrine.
You cannot give away something you haven’t got anymore than you can come back from somewhere you haven’t been.
LIVE AS YOU TEACH – We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. It is more than lip service. It is obedience and conformity and personal righteousness. We teach what we are. Our conduct may determine whether those we teach accept or reject your words. You can grow towards perfection. While you won’t be perfect in everything, you can make an effort to be more perfect in the concepts you teach. – Bruce R. McConkie
BE HUMBLE IN YOUR CALLING
You also know the potential worth of those who sit in your class. You know they are Gods in embryo. They are among the choicest of our Heavenly father’s children. They have been kept in the spirit world to come forth in the last days to organize the kingdom of God upon the earth. To teach these choice spirits is your high privilege. To be humble before God is to recognize your dependence on him, to seek him diligently, to acknowledge his hand in all things, and to ask him to direct your efforts. Teaching – No Greater Call
TEACH ONLY THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
The gospel of Jesus Christ was lost to the world for nearly 2000 years because men taught their own private interpretations of the truth, without power and authority from God. You are not to add into your work your own particular philosophy, no matter what it’s source is or how pleasing or rational it seems to you. Teaching, No greater Call
PURE LOVE OF CHRIST
We should love every person we teach whether or not she merits or reciprocates our love and without a thought of reward either here or in heaven. The person who is most difficult to love often needs love the most.
You cannot lift another soul until you yourself are standing on higher ground than he is. You must be sure, if you would rescue the man that you yourself are setting the example of what you would have him be. You cannot light a fire in another soul unless it is burning in your own soul. Teaching- No Greater Call
USE HUMOR
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven………A time to weep and a time to laugh. “A classroom should not be a stiff solemn place, rather it should reflect the sunshine of laughter – it should be a cheerful place. Appropriate humor in moderation does not destroy the spirit in a class, but may greatly enhance it. We all learn more readily in a pleasant atmosphere. Teaching – No Greater Call
TEACH WITH THE SPIRIT
If ye receive not the spirit, ye shall not teach. Things of the spirit must be taught by the spirit. Two people can give the same lesson, use the same materials and the lessons of one will leap like a flame from heart to heart, while the other will fall on deaf ears. The spirit of the Lord is repelled by contentions. If we are rebellious or proud, the spirit does not come. We need to be submissive, meek, humble, patient and full of love. Teaching – No Greater Call
Youth are hungry – give it to them straight, undiluted. Don’t beat around the bush.
Anyone can present subject matter – but to be a teacher you must know the student as well as the matter.
It is essential that those you teach be fed, that they be taught something. Each time they come, there should be at least one thought, one idea, one inspiration that is theirs for having been there.
Bruce R. McConkie
Teach gospel of Jesus Christ and no other
Use standard works and living prophets
Use the Holy Spirit
Apply the lesson to the student’s life
Seal with your testimony
If you prepare your lesson Sunday morning you deserve everything you get. Your students don’t, but you do.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5. “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power.” ( TG Teaching with the spirit.) “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Best compliment after a talk is not “Wow, he’s such an elegant speaker” but “I felt the spirit and have a desire to change my life.” Your goal is to preach truth so that the spirit can teach individuals what they need to know.
When teaching, ask appropriate questions. A boy at a street fair in Idaho Falls watched an animal exhibit. The instructor asked, “Do you kids have any questions?” The boy said, “Why is that a snake?” There wasn’t an answer because it was a bad question. The same is true when we’re teaching.
Richard G. Scott – I won’t teach you what I know – I’ll teach you how I learned what I know.
Prepare the messenger, not the message.
Ensign July 2017 “A Teacher Who Helps Save Souls” by Brian Hansbrow
“I admit that when I think about teaching in the Savior’s way, I tend to focus on how He taught. What did He do? How did He interact with people? After all, He was the master teacher! But if we want to teach like Him, it’s essential to understand why He taught. Ultimately, that “why” will make all the difference for us and for those we teach.
When the Savior taught, His purpose wasn’t to fill time or to entertain or to unload a bunch of information. Everything He does—including teaching—is meant to lead others to His Father. The Savior’s whole desire and mission is to save Heavenly Father’s children (see 2 Nephi 26:24). In our quest to teach as He did, we can learn to be motivated by the same purpose that motivated Him. In other words, to teach in the Savior’s way is to be a teacher whose purpose is to help save souls.
As we consistently apply the following ideas, as well as others found in Teaching in the Savior’s Way, we can not only teach more like Him but also be more like Him. We begin preparing early and we seek revelation often.
Love may be the most powerful way a teacher can help save souls. It may be as simple as knowing each class member’s name, asking them about their week, telling them what a good talk they gave, or congratulating them on a milestone or achievement. Showing interest and love opens hearts and helps those we teach be receptive to the Holy Ghost.
A teacher who helps save souls focuses on the learners. As we review the lesson material, we focus on what will best meet their needs, not ours. We forget about filling time and focus on filling hearts and minds. We think about not just what we will say and do but that learners will say and do.
It’s common for teachers to evaluate their effectiveness by how much participation they elicit, but that is just one element of the experience. If our class has a lot of sharing but very little doctrine, we have provided what Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called a “theological Twinkie.” We have provided something that tastes good, but we have failed to nourish our class members with the sustaining power of doctrine.
A teacher who helps save souls understands that what we say and do as teachers is intended to invite the influence of the Holy Ghost into the lives of others. The Holy Ghost is the teacher.
Our goal as teachers isn’t just to have a great experience in class or to fill the time or to give a good lesson. The real goal is to walk with others on their journey back to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Our goal is to become teachers who help save souls.
Talk Teach Inspire 