Meridian Magazine : : Print

Getting Your Students to Participate
By C.S. Bezas

Challenged by getting your students to pay attention in class? Nothing can be harder to deal with than students who sleep, throw spit-wads, or just generally make life difficult while you teach. It is important to keep the learning atmosphere upbeat, but how difficult it is if the kids around you appear to care very little about your efforts. It can be even more challenging to have the Spirit of the Lord present in these kinds of circumstances.

Why not turn things around? Here are a few suggestions to help you get your students to participate and perhaps experience the joy of learning, all at the same time!

Prior to Class:

1. Strategy. Begin your strategy lesson preparation with sincere prayer, petitioning the Lord for inspiration on how to get your students involved. Analyze your lesson material for the next week for portions that your students themselves can teach.

2. Organization. Determine if having the students teach portions would be helpful. If so, decide how many "teaching groups" you want to divide your class into. Make sure that you have the groups evenly balanced between those who lead out and those who don't. Or perhaps you'd rather put all the typical "leaders" into one group and have the other groups be full of those who are normally quiet. This might give the quieter kids a nudge. In other words, this might give the more reticent kids a greater opportunity to experience leading out when their own group presents their portion of the lesson.

3. Purpose. Define for yourself the overarching purpose for your students as they present. Is it to feel the Spirit more deeply? Is it to learn how to prepare a lesson? Is it to bring a particular scripture block to life? Is it to seek the Lord more deeply, in an effort to be inspired? Pray about what the Lord wants your students to learn (and not just what you'd like to get back at them for — if they’ve been particularly difficult leading up to this moment).

During Class:

1. Share. Prepare information to give to each group at the beginning of class. Within that information, you will list the group members’ names, the scripture block they are responsible to present to the class, and the overall purpose you've designated in step #3. Make sure you list within their assigned information the importance of prayer, of reading the scripture block for themselves, and ensuring that all class members participate while they are presenting.

2. Prepare. Allow time during class for the students to research their scripture block and to read any additional handouts you might have prepared for them from the lesson manuals. Let the students have the time they need to feel ready to present their efforts (these kinds of activities should never be assigned as homework for outside of class). Encourage the groups to seek ways to include all class members during their presentation. Finally, remind them of the importance of explaining, sharing, and testifying as they teach and that they can only do so if they’ve read and researched the material themselves. And remember, by their efforts to prepare their portion, they actually may dig deeper into the lesson material than perhaps they’ve ever done before — thus yielding amazing learning moments!

3. Present. When the students are ready to give their presentations (whether the same day or the next class time), remind the students to give respect to all student presenters. Define for them what “respect” means when it comes to class time. Encourage the students to seek the spirit, both as they take their turn teaching their classmates and when they are one of the classmates listening to another group. Then stand back and allow the student groups to share, explain, and testify without interruption.

Follow-Up with Class:

1. Discussion. As a class, once all the groups have finished presenting, discuss what it is like to be a teacher. What are a teacher's concerns? What helps a teacher most while preparing? What helps a teacher while presenting? What kinds of things bring the spirit and help the process? How is being a teacher like what Christ did for us? How important is it to teach with love? How important is it for the “hearer” to pay attention, so that they truly benefit? Make sure to write down their responses, as this will validate their thoughts. Perhaps you can find a way to display their replies for future projects.

2. Testimony. Finish by sharing your own personal testimony as to the gospel and the need for the Savior in all we do, in addition to seeking to be like Him. Share your appreciation for the class and your love for them. Let them know of your faith in them and their ability to grow tall and strong before the Lord. Finish by sharing a scripture you feel is pertinent to the moment (always remembering that the scriptures are one of the most potent and loving teaching tools the Lord has given us).

Summary:

These are just a few suggestions of how you can work with a group of students who may not yet grasp why they are sitting in seminary each day. We as teachers want to get them involved in thinking about the gospel in a deeper manner than perhaps they already do. Indeed, sometimes it can open up a new world of understanding when we, as teachers, let the students "share, explain, and testify" to the class as a whole. If you've used this technique before, let us know. If you have other ideas, please share!

The Lord has promised great blessings to those who serve His children. May you be greatly blessed as you diligently love and serve these youth. Isn’t it amazing — just when we think certain youth are incapable of spiritual depth, they go and surprise us with amazing insights and abilities. May you experience this, this week, with your wonderful class full of amazing seminary young men and women!

Look for C.S. Bezas’ new book, Powerful Tips for Powerful Teachers: Helping Youth Find Their Spiritual Wings, in LDS bookstores October 2006.