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I posted a thread awhile ago where I asked what everyone thought about a concerted effort to measure and improve the Sunday experience in my Ward. Responses were largely negative from people who envisioned themselves in callings where they serve out of a sense of duty, with a few people excited about getting as much feedback as possible. Just about everyone was thrilled with the idea from the perspective of a participant in a class, but not a teacher. And then I proposed a few ways of doing it, and it morphed into a survey about the Sunday experience, not just about the classroom experience.
I dedicated a whole teachers council to this with about 3 people participating — all traditional believers.
First, I was surprised they all thought it was a great idea. They even started brainstorming questions and brainstorming implementation. They liked the idea of a ward-wide survey where youth and adults get a different survey, with only aggregate responses created — no feedback about specific classes.
I had one part where a couple of them were fixated on the idea of having people answer questions about the extent to which they, as class participants, prepare themselves for spiritual experiences and go out of their way to enrich the church experience even if they aren’t teachers. Personally, I’ve had enough of “blaming the members” but we talked about it at length for inclusion reasons; I didn’t want to shut out any one’s ideas.
I have a half-baked survey now they helped me create — it needs wordsmithing but seems to hit on a lot of things I am interested in improving in our church experience.
The thoughts you guys all shared with me previously were important in my frame-up to explain what some people thought of it, and how I wanted to be sensitive to a variety of perspectives.
Wanted to say thanks, and wondered if you would like to share items that could be placed in a survey meant to get feedback from the Ward membership about their sunday church experience.The goal of the survey is to a) help people come to Christ b) increase people’s engagement with the Sunday church experience. That’s code for improving the quality of teaching as well, recognizing that what happens in Sacrament meeting and between classes is also part of the Sunday Experience and could be included. Make it about the sunday church experience also takes the heat off the teachers… Thoughts welcome — here are a few so far on a LIkert type scale.
About your Sunday church experience in general:
1. I have at least one good friend at church (strongly agree…..all the way down to strongly disagree).
2. I feel like I’m a valued part of our ward.
About your experience in adult class
1. I find the lessons make me think and help me come closer to Christ.
2. There seems to be a spiritual atmosphere in the class
3. My teacher seems to know me and care about me.
4. My classes have a clear flow and focus toward an objective that helps me draw closer to Christ.
5. I come away from my classes feeling uplifted
6. I feel like I get to know other people in the class
7. I look forward to going to my class(es)
8. I find there is a lot of variety in the way the classes are delivered
9. I feel comfortable participating in my classes
10. There are a lot of interesting questions to answer in my class.
11. I learn something new and important in just about every single class.
Initial impression: Whoa, me likey! SilentDawning wrote:
The goal of the survey is to a) help people come to Christ b) increase people’s engagement with the Sunday church experience. That’s code for improving the quality of teaching as well, recognizing that what happens in Sacrament meeting and between classes is also part of the Sunday Experience and could be included. Make it about the sunday church experience also takes the heat off the teachers…
It also puts some heat on the bishopric and ward council. They had better be involved, then, and the sooner the better.
Reuben wrote:
Initial impression: Whoa, me likey!SilentDawning wrote:
The goal of the survey is to a) help people come to Christ b) increase people’s engagement with the Sunday church experience. That’s code for improving the quality of teaching as well, recognizing that what happens in Sacrament meeting and between classes is also part of the Sunday Experience and could be included. Make it about the sunday church experience also takes the heat off the teachers…
It also puts some heat on the bishopric and ward council. They had better be involved, then, and the sooner the better.
My plan is to get broad based support from the teachers. Then talk to the Bishop. there is a do nothing Sunday School Presidency who I’m afraid would block it if I try to work through them. Or they would pay lip service and do nothing. Or I would go to them first. I hear they don’t even attend Ward council, so you can view them as a liability or an opportunity. The teacher council thought the Bishop would be supportive. I think that is a good way to go next and see what he says — this goes beyond Sunday School so there is some justification for what I want to do without involving the Sunday School as an intermediary.
I really like the survey and hope that it gets support. Just feeling listened to is HUGE.
My only concern is if someone decided that this was an SD project and (even worse) if they decided that it was personally motivated by a desire to highlight church failings. (I know I am a Debbie Downer. That is how I protect myself in church settings)
Roy wrote:
I really like the survey and hope that it gets support.Just feeling listened to is HUGE.
My only concern is if someone decided that this was an SD project and (even worse) if they decided that it was personally motivated by a desire to highlight church failings. (I know I am a Debbie Downer. That is how I protect myself in church settings)
That is a real possibility. That’s why I want to show up in the Bishop’s office showing the idea went through a few filters before getting there, and that is has support from some of the most reliable teachers in the Ward. I am still working up the enthusiasm to suggest it. One thing I like about my new freedom is that I don’t feel the church has much claim on me anymore. Start going in there with ideas that need approval and things change a bit in that department.
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: I sincerely hope you get solid support for this.
Old Timer wrote:
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: I sincerely hope you get solid support for this.
I am ambivalent about doing the project, so that mitigates the angst I would feel if the idea was shot down. If they don’t go for it, then I just go back to not having to work so hard
😆 😆 I think these look like great questions. Regarding questions 5, 7, and 9 specifically, though, the answers to these questions may have more to do with the students in the class than the teacher. I’m trying to look at this as how I would answer the survey. My answers to those questions would lean more to the negative side, regardless of who the teacher was, simply because of where I am currently at with my attitude towards SS & EQ. The teacher could be fantastic, but I would still dread going to class, simply because of the lesson material. So, my answers to those questions would be unfair to the teacher. I don’t know how you can capture that sort of thing in a survey… So, my answer probably isn’t helpful, but just a thought I had. Holy Cow wrote:
I think these look like great questions. Regarding questions 5, 7, and 9 specifically, though, the answers to these questions may have more to do with the students in the class than the teacher. I’m trying to look at this as how I would answer the survey. My answers to those questions would lean more to the negative side, regardless of who the teacher was, simply because of where I am currently at with my attitude towards SS & EQ. The teacher could be fantastic, but I would still dread going to class, simply because of the lesson material. So, my answers to those questions would be unfair to the teacher. I don’t know how you can capture that sort of thing in a survey… So, my answer probably isn’t helpful, but just a thought I had.
I suspect there will always be people who are in this category, and it would be good to see them represented in the survey.
They also wanted two more items
1. I come spiritually prepared for my lessons.
2. I come to church planning to make a contribution to the positive experience of others.
I see why they did it, but it seems more like blaming the victim and typical of the tendency to force the quality of the experience on the attitude of the members, rather than changing the way we do things….what are your thoughts on the two questions above?
I’d like answers to something like question 1 only to test the hypothesis that coming prepared correlates with other good outcomes. As it’s worded, though, it’s too vague to serve that purpose. I can’t imagine a variant of question 2 that would give me useful data.
The extra questions read like passive-aggressive reminders to prepare and contribute. There are better ways to do this. I suspect that the person who suggested them isn’t clear on the purpose of the survey, or wants to use it to push an agenda.
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