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The younger classes are not supposed to have a man alone as a teacher. Sisters can be alone as a teacher. LookingHard wrote:The younger classes are not supposed to have a man alone as a teacher. Sisters can be alone as a teacher.
Yeah, I think the intention of having co-teachers is not to let one teacher go off to PH/RS half the time but to always have both teachers present but taking turns teaching the lessons. It creates two deep leadership and there’s less of a need to find a substitute when one of the teachers can’t make it to church.
Even as a co-teacher I think the intention is for the primary teacher to be in their assigned primary class every Sunday.
LookingHard wrote:The younger classes are not supposed to have a man alone as a teacher. Sisters can be alone as a teacher.
Our ward routinely breaks this rule – there just aren’t enough people to go around.
what I find silly about this rule is that only one sister is required (not a huge deal), but a brother and a sister can’t be the 2 teachers (unless they are married or maybe already related). Seriously on the second item? What the heck are 2 folks going to do in front of the kids???? Really? I mean really???? This perpetuates that men are on a hair trigger from tearing off some sister’s clothes. I have the same issue with the advice (I heard it used to be in the handbook) that sisters and brethren should not travel together to church meetings (maybe it was more leadership meetings). Now advising not to do so “quite frequently” has some merit, but to say that someone can’t be trusted even for one trip flies in the face of the bishop meeting behind a closed and sound-dampened door/office. Once again REALLY? Amen, LH. A-freaking-men. Old-Timer wrote:Amen, LH. A-freaking-men.
Watch your language or the site moderator might get on your case!
Roadrunner wrote:From my experience the hardest part of Primary callings isn’t the doctrines – after all most doctrines have to be simplified for children – but the most difficult thing is that adults don’t interact with other adults as much. In other words they would rather be in Relief Society or Priesthood.
However, for some adults that’s the very reason they love Primary – no adults and no troublesome doctrine. I know I loved my calling as primary pianist and I was in the nursery for 3 years. Just teach the children to love fishes and love their bodies and have fun and eat snacks.
This is basically my experience. I like the kids (and I feel that they like and accept me) much more than the adults in our ward.
DW and I team teach the 4 year olds. I make slight modifications to the lessons (like changing “choose the right” to “make good choices” and making an explicit point that God loves even those that make bad choices). The kids love to talk (often about things not at all related to the lesson). I always bring a game but we do not always have time.
I have said repeatedly to the PP and others that my only goal is to give the kids a positive church experience.
We have one little boy that has some significant behavioral and developmental disabilities. I have become like his best friend and his face lights up when he sees me. We have arranged for a small table to be placed in the primary sharing time room for this little boy to sit under if he so desires (He sometimes likes to stretch out and sometimes needs the added security of the confined space). We also bring tactile toys to keep his fingers busy when needed. I worry that as he moves up he will have hardline teachers that expect him to sit still and be quiet.
This arrangement has worked well for me because there is an expectation in the church to have callings. I work Sunday mornings and as the ward schedule rotates to mornings I will not be able to continue. It became important for me to contribute in some way to demonstrate that I am willing to put in work when I can (rather than just being seen as a lazy shirker). I do not attend SM and come directly from work to primary. Between work and primary, I don’t have much interaction with adults in the ward and that suits me just fine.
DS will be 8 next year and I hope that my efforts will help in the effort to baptize him (something that is important to me.)
LookingHard wrote:The younger classes are not supposed to have a man alone as a teacher. Sisters can be alone as a teacher.
I wrote about this policy here:
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5118&hilit=+door If my wife leaves the room for any reason the door is left open (despite the window in the door).
What I find most ironic is that I wait with the kids until the parents or an older sibling comes to pick them up. I am the
onlyteacher in my ward that does so. Every other class is released to find their own way to their parents. I believe that I am responsible for the welfare of these children until relieved by a responsible party (not just until the bell rings). To highlight this issue – there were two occasions in the past year where a primary child went missing. One where the child was actively hiding and the other where the child walked home by themselves. I was still in my classroom waiting with the stragglers of my 4 yr old primary class to be picked up when people began frantically looking.
TataniaAvalon wrote:…Now I am worried about the time commitment…
One other option that I didn’t see mentioned elsewhere. If you are a coteacher and if the sharing time portion of your primary class is the last or first hour of the block, you may be able to hand off the class to your co-teacher with little guilt. Primary Teachers during sharing and singing time often are more for crown control than active teaching.
After much pondering and praying I’ve decided to not accept the calling. I just can’t commit to the time requirement and I don’t want to leave my Co teacher hanging. I will tell them that I’d be willing to accept a calling with less, of a commitment. I’m glad you’ve found an answer that works for you. Telling them you are willing to do something else is not a total rejection and leaves the door open. That is a great way to handle it IMO. If you do have some desire to serve in the church I hope there might be some inspiration for something that will work for you. I think that is great you found the right decision for you and that you are standing up for yourself. It is pretty stressful on the leaders to not have teachers there each week, so you’re at least being upfront about that. A lot of people accept the calling and then don’t show up. In my ward they enforce the two leader rule for women too. Last week I had to leave the door open since I was alone which made teaching around that distraction very difficult. I’m glad they decided to be equal to both sexes, but I think they got it backwards!
I too am glad that you came to an answer that is best for you. We are great for a sounding board of different perspectives but in the final analysis – the person best equiped to decide is you. :angel: journeygirl wrote:In my ward they enforce the two leader rule for women too. Last week I had to leave the door open since I was alone which made teaching around that distraction very difficult. I’m glad they decided to be equal to both sexes, but I think they got it backwards!
I taught Pioneer Club at the First Christian Church last year. They also have a two leader rule regardless of the gender. I was assigned to team teach the Pioneer Club class with a married woman (not my wife). Some other churches where we participate do not seem to have any such rules. Unfortunately, I understand the LDS church being more concerned about litigation. I work in casinos and individual casinos are sued 2 to 6 times as much as other businesses. I believe that the impression of deep pockets is a foctor here and many percieve the LDS church to have deep pockets.
Quote:what I find silly about this rule is that only one sister is required (not a huge deal), but a brother and a sister can’t be the 2 teachers (unless they are married or maybe already related). Seriously on the second item? What the heck are 2 folks going to do in front of the kids????
OTOH, the rule about not team teaching or riding in cars with members of the opposite gender does not seem to do with litigation at all. I speculate that somewhere in history there are examples of men and women working together in callings and becomeing too close and this eventually led to the rule. I agree that the 99% have to live with this because of the weekness of the other 1% (percentages fabricated by me
:shifty: ).:clap: Not the choice in and of itself, but the fact that you made the choice you needed to make and didn’t close the door to other callings.
TataniaAvalon wrote:After much pondering and praying I’ve decided to not accept the calling. I just can’t commit to the time requirement and I don’t want to leave my Co teacher hanging. I will tell them that I’d be willing to accept a calling with less, of a commitment.
That’s how it works.
Am very happy u counted the cost before accepting the calling. U probably saved the primary president a lot of frustration. And it is good for your integrity to only agree to what you intend to follow through upon. Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
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