Decide "How" to Teach


	*Decide How to Teach*

After deciding what to teach, you should decide how to teach. This means selecting activities that help students focus attention on the scriptures (readiness), that help students understand the scriptures (participation), and that help students apply the principles, doctrines, and events (application) you have listed on your lesson outline.

"Students cannot effectively apply scriptures they do not understand, and having students who merely understand the scriptures is not our goal. The purpose of the scriptures is to help us live better, so the wise teacher uses both approaches. Once a teacher learns how to teach for both understanding and application, he can move through the scriptures with his students and teach them effectively. As a general rule understanding must precede application. There may be exceptions to this rule, but most of the time students need to understand what they have read before they can effectively apply it" (Growing Edge, Vol. 15, No. 5, Jan/Feb. 1983).

Plan Activities That Help Students Understand

Helping students understand the scriptures is like entering information in a computer. If there is no input or understanding, there is no output or application. Students cannot apply information they do not understand. Students understand when they become aware of or familiar with the principles, doctrines, and events in the scriptures. This awareness happens when students read scripture passages, see visuals (objects, pictures and videos) about what they are reading, and mark significant information in the verses.
Students also understand when they learn the meaning of difficult words and phrases. Scripture passages will have little meaning for students if they do not understand the words that describe the principles, doctrines, and events they are studying. Part of deciding how to teach is planning activities like those listed below. They help students understand the scripture passages.

Defining - students learn the meaning of difficult words.
Reading - students read scripture passages.
Visual - students compare visuals to scripture passages
Marking - students highlight and write notes in the scriptures

Plan Activities That Help Students Process

After information is entered into a computer, it can then be processed. This means the information can be expanded, rearranged, organized, analyzed, or classified. After students understand the principles, doctrines, and events in the scriptures, they can process what they know by writing about it, thinking about it, or discussing it.
Plan activities like those listed below. These activities can help students process their understanding of principles, doctrines, and events.

Sharing - students express thoughts and feelings to the class.
Cooperating - students express ideas in pairs or groups.
Writing - students write their thoughts and feelings
Reviewing - students evaluate how well they understand

Plan Activities That Help Students Apply

   Events and doctrines need to be understood and processed. Principles, which are the lessons learned from events and doctrines, should be understood, processed, and applied. Application is the desired outcome of our teaching. It happens when students accept in their hearts and minds what is taught and then act and live according to those principles.
   There may be times during understanding or processing activities when students begin to apply principles without any prompting from the teacher. "When the students begin to understand a passage, they will often see the application themselves. That is one of the inherent powers of the Spirit and the scriptures; the teacher does not have to preach on every point of every lesson to be learned" (Growing Edge, Vol. 15, No. 5, Jan. 1983).
   There will be other times when student application will not happen so naturally. Always be prepared to show students how to personalize or obey principles of the gospel in their lives. These activities include questions, illustrations, role plays, stories, personal examples, and discussions.
   Students not only need to know in their mind how to obey principles, they need to feel in their heart a desire to use them . Feeling activities can touch students' hearts and motivate them to obey a principle in their lives. These activities include pondering, praying, listening to special music, singing hymns, watching videos with music, sharing experiences, and bearing testimonies. Teachers can also challenge or invite students to obey a principle in their lives.

Personalizing - students discuss how to apply principles.
Feeling - students feel a desire to obey principles.

If students begin to make applications during understanding and processing activities, let it happen. Otherwise, assist them with "personalizing" and "feeling" activities. Remember that application cannot be forced. We cannot demand that students feel strongly about gospel principles, but we should provide opportunities for them to personalize the principles and feel the Spirit bear testimony of their importance.

Encourage Readiness, Participation and Application

   How do you make readiness, participation, and application part of your lesson? One way you can plan for and encourage student participation is to state the activities from the perspective of what the students will do.
   Teachers who state the activities from the students' perspective find that the students are more involved during the lesson. The focus shifts from the the teacher to the students. The teacher facilitates and the students participate. The difference between focusing on the learner and focusing on teaching or on the teacher is illustrated by the difference in a teacher who says. "What will I do in class today?" and one who says, "What will my students do in class today?"
   Variety is one of the best ways to encourage student readiness and participation. Student boredom often occurs when students are not participating in the learning process or when learning activities are done the same way most of the time. Changing teaching approaches and methods can help stimulate student readiness and maintain learner participation throughout the lesson.
   One way you can add variety is to write the type of activity in the "how" column of the lesson outline. After you complete your lesson outline, review the types of activities you have listed. If there are too many sharing activities for example, you could change one to a cooperating activity and another to a writing activity.
   You can also select a variety of activities within a general type of activity. For example, if you have three or four sharing activities, make sure that they are not the same.
   One of the best ways to encourage student application is to plan activities that clearly help students understand the passages. Understanding not only precedes application, it also promotes application. Use the following guidelines to plan activities that will help students understand, process, and apply.

Guidelines

(A) Plan activities that help students understand the principles, doctrines, and events.
1. Defining Activities 2. Reading Activities 3. Visual Activities
4. Marking Activities

(B) Plan activities that help students processunderstanding of the principles, doctrines, and events.
1. Sharing Activities 2. Cooperating Activities 3. Writing Activities
4. Reviewing Activities.

(C) Plan activities that help students apply principles to their lives.
1. Personalizing Activities 2. Feeling Activities

(D) Write the type of activity and what students will do during the activity.

Decide How

Unit 3

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