It's the Principle of the Thing

Elder Richard G. Scott spoke the following profound words in General Conference thirteen years ago:

"As you seek spiritual knowledge, search for principles. Carefully separate them from the detail used to explain them" (Ensign, Nov. 1993, 86).

Search for Principles.
How essential principle-finding is, not just for ourselves but for our young people today. The world shouts beligerantly in their ears all kinds of stuff (of which I won't waste time here elaborating). The important question is how will the youth of today sort through the gunk, to find that which is true?

True principles are timeless. They apply in all scenarios, all countries, for all people. They clarify truth and they clarify righteous choices. They are truth. The most profound place to locate the Lord's principles? In the scriptures.

How essential we give our young men and women ample time in the scriptures while we are with them, so that they can testify they've heard the Lord's voice and can apply His teachings clearly and confidently in their lives.

Elder Boyd K. Packer testified of the urgency and "why" of principles and doctrine. He said:

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.

"The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior" (Ensign, Nov. 1986, 17).

So the question is, how clearly are we teaching our youth to find these true doctrines? We will not always be present in their lives (even if we are their parents).

The fastest and most effective way to give our youth this skill is to get them into the scriptures themselves. We want to help these kids learn to deduce, on their own, true principles from their scriptural pages. As Elder Scott and Elder Packer so succinctly taught, our students need these principles to guide them every day.

Principles are perfectly-portable-packages-of-truth and they will serve as endless generators of hope and spiritual guidance IF our youth can find them, understand them, and apply them. Principles will help our young men and women ascertain God's safer paths given them in today's world and courageously stick to those paths.

Learning to do this, though, takes time AND it takes practice. We, as these kids' parents, teachers, and youth leaders need to provide that time and practice.

One of the seminary students in my class today provided a perfect example of this to the rest of the class--without even my involvement! During the devotional she gave, she shared having found a guiding principle in her scripture study last night.

During the devotional, she told of feeling overburdened currently in her life and struggling with forgiving others. Then she shared how she'd read last night in D&C 64 and read vs. 9 of that chapter. She said she read it twice because it struck her so powerfully about forgiving. Then as she moved through the chapter, she encountered vs. 33:

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

She shared during her devotional that from these words uplifted her and strengthened her to continue in the good deeds she was doing in her life right now. I watched in amazement. This verse and its attending truth had powerfully struck her last night and had become a guiding principle for her in her life.

I found this so exciting. She'd discovered this for herself last night! And what's even larger, she felt able to explain, share, and testify of the experience with us today.

This, my friends, is the whole point, isn't it? The Spirit brought her to it, not me or any other person in her life. She had placed herself in the right place and time (studying her scriptures) and as a result, she was given/shown by the Spirit a principle she could use as a guiding factor in her life.

I had nothing to do with this at all--she experienced this and as a result, was the recipient of a great moment of truth. What a thing to celebrate.

The reality of all this is quite apparent: while we can bring our youth to the fountains of truth, only they can discover for themselves how powerful truth really is and how simple it is to gain and apply it. When these moments come, they easily form a generator of energy and hope then to carry these young women and men through the challenging times facing them.

Thus, during the precious moments we have with our youth, let's make sure to allow plenty of time where they can learn how to find these potent principles. The impact will be eternal.

We lead our youth to do this by:

1. Spending time together AND privately in scripture study. How else will the Spirit have a platform or foundation upon which to testify if our kids are not in the scriptures themselves, no matter the class or the event?
2. Spending time afterwards sharing, explaining, and testifying to new insights they've just discovered through the scriptures.
3. Spending time journaling of the experience, so that they can have it recorded for future moments of need, whether for their own need or that of their posterity.

Oh, our potency as the parents, teachers, and leaders of these mighty youth. They've had so much placed on their shoulders. Surely we will give them that which will edify them most...the skill to find these perfectly-portable-packages-of-truth known as "principles", left for us by the Lord amongst the pages of our scriptures!

Happy teaching!

Warmly,

C.S. Bezas

Talking, Talking, Talking, Talking, Talking,....

What do you do with a class of students so thrilled to see each other that they spend nearly the entire class time talking, talking, talking, talking...(you get the idea) while the teacher is trying to teach?

Well, I've noticed something quite interesting on the days where this happens to me versus the days when it doesn't.

It's a bit similar to being starving. The hungrier we are, the harder it is to concentrate. I rather think our youth are like this.

They are amongst the Lord's brightest (we've been told). They have been prepared for these times which are upon us. They are quick of understanding. They are hungry for knowledge and truth. When I feed them spiritually with what they need, THEY ARE ATTENTIVE! When I don't, they aren't. Their bodies might physically be in attendance, but their minds sure are not. They're not being fed with information they can retain.

I've heard it best explained by author Teri James Bellis, who wrote When the Brain Can't Hear. She said oftentimes students need mental "shelves" upon which to rest new information. Those shelves essentially serve as "applicators of interest" (my words, not hers). So if there is no immediate application of knowledge, the information slips from the mind and has no value.

She gives the example of teaching about birds to younger kids and that for some kids, they need a real life example of personal experience to make sense of the new knowledge. For a kid like this, you would say, "Remember last year when we saw the geese flying up from the pond near here? Those are geese. And today we're going to talk about a specific kind of geese."

Voila! The child's mind is opened up and they now have a mental "shelf" to retain the new information.

In a broad sense, we are all like this. We are continually bombarded with information in today's world, more so than ever. Youth are no different. In fact, they're probably suffering with more information load than we are, given their homework load. To maintain sanity, there must needs be the ability to let non-essential information slip from our minds.

But we don't want this for them when it comes to spiritual information! So what is a teacher to do?

Easy. We notice when the talking problem is rising. It is a perfect clue that we've not first provided a mental "shelf" for the students, prior to giving new knowledge.

Translated, this simply means the student needs to be shown "what this means" to them.

Case in point. Yesterday my class had a severe talking problem. I tried everything I knew to "solve" the situation. Of course, my approach failed. I can't "solve" talking problems for my students. They control their mouths, they control their lives.

Today was completely different. Why? Because the Lord helped me create a far sturdier "shelf" in the students' minds, before talking about prophets (our seminary lesson was on D&C 23 & 24 today). Without going into too much detail (as I've been asked by CES not to give scripted lessons on a blog), I will say that everything in this lesson today I chose to place in a framework about "them"--the students--and what they face today.

I shared a few examples from my own life regarding choices I've made--and the blessings I've received--by hearkening to prophetic counsel. But the huge difference between yesterday's and today's results in class really came down to this: my students could easily apply what they were hearing into their lives today -- not just speaking symbolically, but TODAY, September 19, 2006. When they walked out the door of the classroom, they had tools from today's lesson to strengthen them for the next 24 hours. This got their attention.

And the result? They listened all through class.

Reading Newspapers in Class

What do you do if a student in class reads the sports section of the newspaper? (or passes notes, or talks in class, or picks their nose, or...well, you get the idea--all rude behaviors)

A teacher relayed this question to me and here are a few thoughts.

1. Perhaps the student has no comprehension of the impact.
(At times, especially when we are under pressure from life, we are less aware of our actions and their impact on others.)

2. Perhaps the student has a school assignment that he is prepping for.

3. Perhaps the student is making a point (which could be any number of things).

4. Perhaps the student is angry and wants to be rude.

5. Perhaps seminary (or mutual, etc.) is the only place the student feels free to decompress, due to the rigors of homework and outside expectations.

Regardless of the motivation behind why "the sports section" during class, it is something that needs to be avoided. The students all need to learn that there is a time and a place for any activity here on this earth (actually, some activities should never be given a time nor a place).

But how does one teach this understanding, and especially the respect that we would hope would attend it?

The answer always is found in a four letter word (of the best kind)...
L-O-V-E .

When faced with a situation like this, the newspaper really needs to be put away. Generally speaking, most students will comply when asked--if not the first time asked, usually at least by the third time. :0)

But even so, we as teachers are not finished. Remember the quote: "When they know what we know and feel what we feel, they will do what we do." In this instance, we have a perfect opportunity to show what we know and feel. And we can only do this (best way) in private with that student.

Speaking privately has a way of disarming a child. They are not having to worry about what their peers think and are more likely to respond openly (at least to some degree).

When and if you have a situation occur where you need to talk privately with a student about a specific situation, remember three things:

1. Their perspective.
2. Their perspective.
3. Their perspective.

All joking aside, until the student knows how much you care, they won't care how much you know. Nor will they give much heed to what you say. It's a funny thing about us mortals. It really does matter to us if the person standing before us, talking to us, cares about us.

So when you speak in private with any of your students, you will get better results if you first find out
a) how they're doing in school and in life,
b) how they're feeling about seminary (or young women's or sunday school, etc.), and THEN
c) what they're understanding was of when they "read the newspaper in class."

What you learn might surprise you.

And the benefit by first seeking to understand (rather than reprimand) can yield amazing fruits.

Happy teaching!

Warmly,

C.S. Bezas