Bro. Devin G. Durrant (Apr. 18): "Teaching in the Home-- a Joyful and Sacred Responsibility"

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The Activity:
  1. Give each class member an index card
  2. Explain that during the course of the lesson on gospel teaching in the home that you will be talking about teaching in Family Home Evening, family scripture study, family prayer, opportune moments, and by example.  Mention that it can be tricky to do all of these things well but that it is also embarrassing to ask questions at times because we might feel like we should already know the answer.  That is what the cards are for.
  3. Ask the class members to write down a question or questions that they have about this topic in general or any part of it specifically.  You might ask them to do this right at the beginning or you might ask them to write down their questions as you talk about it during the lesson.
  4. At some point, collect the cards and put them into a container of some kind.
  5. At the chosen moment, draw a card out and read the question aloud as a means of sparking a discussion.
  6. You may want to write some questions yourself as seed questions that you can draw out as well, if there are a lack of questions.  You might consider questions such as these:
    1. How do you make FHE fun while still having a spiritually important lesson?
    2. How do you teach during family prayer?
    3. How can you teach your kids in the moment, if you aren't very knowledgeable with the scriptures?
    4. How do I make family scripture time a joy and not drudgery?  I want my kids to love the scriptures.
    5. How do I teach by example, if my example isn't so good?
Using the Activity:

This is another activity that makes room for some voices that might not normally get heard during our lessons.  Also, this lesson is good because it allows the class members to consider questions they are really dealing with at this moment, which we as teachers don't always do a good job of creating.  In these ways this activity crafts an experience which will hopefully be personally meaningful and powerful to our class members.

I pray that this activity helps you as you go forth to teach.  Please let me know how I am doing or what I can do that would be more helpful.  Thank you.

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