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It’s approaching a year since I accepted the assignment to facilitate the teacher’s council in our Ward. We’ve had some really good sessions, and I saw some changes in the Ward’s level of teaching. There was a spurt of improvement at first. Some people engaged with it, and some didn’t. In the beginning we had about 8 people who attended, and then that fell to about 3 or 4 regulars. Ward leaders attended at first and were positive about the experience, but then stopped attending after they experienced what it is…. I am not sure why some of the regular teachers dropped out. There were a couple Sundays when no one showed at all for at least one of the sessions.
The ones who continued attending said that they wonder why more people don’t come.
So, I’m seeing roughly the same people over and over again, and we’ve dealt with most of what I have to share with them. There is only so much I can teach them from my pool of knowledge.
The Ward council seems to have lost interest in the council as the SS Presidency never talks to me about (they never did), and the Ward leaders don’t seem to have it on their radar anymore either.
Any ideas about how to keep this going? I’m out of ideas about what to address in the council or how to make it thrive. I’ve addressed all the suggestions from Ward council, and all the items suggested by attendees. This month I just cancelled it due to partly forgetting about it until the night before (spike in work), and also lack of knowing what to do at it.
We did have a meeting to discuss a plan for improving the Sunday experience last month. This included teaching quality but also more than that (to take the focus off the teachers). They were generally positive about the idea. But our Bishop has announced he’s leaving so I don’t feel excited about proposing it, only to see Leadership Musical Chairs stop the music on this one.
Suggestions on how to keep this going? I would rather not quit the role as it’s perfect for me right now.
It’s summer. Go low key. In place of regular meeting have a light snack and chat event. Then take time off till Fall. In the meantime be cheerful, enjoy the break and say nothing. When September rolls around see what happens. New teachers, etc.
Place holding is perfect.
I must have missed a memo because I know that the class is going on, but I’m not real clear on who attends. I went only once because I was assigned to it. I have a calling in the young men program and they were focusing on how to teach the youth that one Sunday. I’m assuming the whole class runs by assignment to attendees. Is that not the case in your ward? K-Dizzle wrote:
I must have missed a memo because I know that the class is going on, but I’m not real clear on who attends. I went only once because I was assigned to it. I have a calling in the young men program and they were focusing on how to teach the youth that one Sunday. I’m assuming the whole class runs by assignment to attendees. Is that not the case in your ward?
What you are describing is the way the Teaching The Gospel Course used to work — it was a formal course by assignment. This is a standing Council for teachers in the Ward. Your Aux or Quorum leader should be sending you there.
mom3 wrote:
It’s summer. Go low key. In place of regular meeting have a light snack and chat event. Then take time off till Fall. In the meantime be cheerful, enjoy the break and say nothing.When September rolls around see what happens. New teachers, etc.
Place holding is perfect.
I totally agree with Mom. Take the summer off for the given reason that there are lots of people traveling over summer and attendance is inconsistent.
Then in the fall you can reevaluate. Possible hold a specialized series of classes that K-Dizzle was talking about. Some for reaching the youth. Some for reaching children. etc. You could coordinate with the bishop and the various presidencies about inviting teachers from the various auxiliaries. It might get some fresh blood in your class and give you enough material to get through an additional year.
I haven’t been on the site for a long time, so I may be missing some context here. But what about the manual for the class? I’ve been using it in my ward, and have found that there is plenty to say every Sunday. I’m not sure how effective it is—I don’t have any training or special insight, myself—but treating it as a council where everyone can share their ideas, with the questions from the manual as discussion prompts, seems to be working pretty well. Daeruin wrote:
I haven’t been on the site for a long time, so I may be missing some context here. But what about the manual for the class? I’ve been using it in my ward, and have found that there is plenty to say every Sunday. I’m not sure how effective it is—I don’t have any training or special insight, myself—but treating it as a council where everyone can share their ideas, with the questions from the manual as discussion prompts, seems to be working pretty well.
That was my thought exactly. The stuff in the manual is pretty open ended, and I don’t see any of those discussions that fit into just one – or even two or three – session(s). Your point about the council is also valid. I have attended a few of these in different wards in our stake (our SP asks us to attend if we’re visiting a ward that’s having one). The most effective ones I see are the ones that are truly councils. The least effective one I attended was more of a presentation by the leader with limited council.
Also to K-Dizzle’s point, yes, someone (maybe not you) has missed the memo. Every teacher of any class and every priesthood and auxiliary leader should be attending every month. I recognize Primary presents a challenge and I don’t think the folks in the glass tower really considered how challenging it is for Primary, especially large Primaries. In one of the wards I attended the Elders Quorum covered all Primary classes to allow the teachers to go (their class time was during quorum time in that ward). I’m not sure that idea would be approved in all wards, and this particular ward has a smaller Primary so there were still elders in the quorum meeting. I also gathered that it was not always the same elders who did the covering. That is one idea that worked for them.
In our ward, the High Priests cover in Primary each month so the teachers can attend the Teaxher Council Meeting. Old Timer wrote:
In our ward, the High Priests cover in Primary each month so the teachers can attend the Teacher Council Meeting.
If I had my way, a separate council would be held for primary. Their issues are different and I am NOT a primary teacher.
I like the idea of making the next one a snack and hob nob kind of event.
I did schedule a meeting with the SS President for this coming Sunday during Sunday School. His counselor will attend if I can reach him. I hope to get them to:
a) assemble a list of everyone who is currently a teacher or in a presidency.
b) create an email list.
c) Go to Ward council (since they don’t attend) e and ask for support in getting their teachers there.
d) Work with the library to make sure that the HDMI cables are permanently attached to the TV carts. They keep disappearing.
e) Discuss the idea of a plan to improve the Sunday experience in the Ward.
This month’ll be low key, although one person was excited about my plan to discuss alternate ways of delivering lesson material beyond the lecture and discussion we use. There are other methods.
The other thing I’m struggling with is the council idea. They have good experiences to share, and occasionally experiences that are challenges, but that part of the meeting is usually pretty short. We did have a good discussion about improving the Sunday experience, and they were receptive. It took the whole time to discuss it. But there is only so much of that to go around. Comments on that?
I find the manual is rather lame, frankly. There isn’t a lot of practical stuff in there that rings my bell. The best stuff is hard core practical, in my view…
Quote:SD wrote –
I find the manual is rather lame, frankly
In my opinion most church manuals are lame. Yet we set so much store by them. Giving guidelines like “only use the manual”. Great news is, no one is checking up on you. Borrow from the manual but don’t make it your anchor.
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