Comments on: Raising the Bar for Primary Teachers

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:34:26 +0000

But, the situation in this OP sounds like a very special gift. Not to knock it. Just to add a little validity to JES’s POV.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:33:43 +0000

Okay, I admit I had the same thought as JES. I guess that’s what happens when your mom and grandma are packrats. For years, each time I received something of theirs from them, I thought it was a special gift I needed to treasure. After a while, I figured out that they just didn’t want to throw away their junk, so they gave it to me to “keep” for them. (me, who hates junk and throws everything away)

By: JES

JES — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:46:27 +0000

For teaching I actually like the way the new outline divides things. They suggest that you “identify the doctrine”, “encourage the children to understand it”, and “help them apply it”. Seems like a nice way to look at each lesson as you prepare it so you don’t necessarily get stuck using exactly what the manual has. If the material in a specific lesson is useful, then use it, but if you have your own story or example or object lesson or game or whatever, then go for it.
Also, if you have any special needs kids, please ask the parents for permission to get in contact with their teacher at school so that you can try to use similar expectation/reward systems at church. It’s a good bit of work, but immensely helpful.

By: anon

anon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:43:30 +0000

Alex…the best advice is just love your students. Don’t worry too much about the “teaching” part. Prepare your talks early, use lots of hands on, visual aids, and be enthusiastic. But if you truly care about them personally, then everything else will fall into place.

By: alextvalencic

alextvalencic — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:43:36 +0000

I admit that I was kind of hoping for something slightly more useful to my wife and I, as we prepare for a new Primary class in January. (It is hard enough on us that we are going to miss the last two weeks of Primary with our class this year, as we will be visiting family and friends in Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado.)

Anyway, I think this was sweet. I still talk with my Primary and Sunday School teachers from when I was young. I am actually facebook friends with my Sunbeam teacher now. Crazy!

When my wife and I taught in the nursery, we drew some pictures with a couple of the kids and later put them on the fridge. A year later, the pictures are still there. Not sure how long they’ll stay, but we’re good friends with the parents of these kids, so they’ll probably stay until we need new space on the fridge door.

By: Steve Evans

Steve Evans — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:50:08 +0000

You’re a Karma chameleon.

By: Jessie T.

Jessie T. — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:40:04 +0000

Is anyone going to make a “what comes around, goes around” Karma joke here?

Ok, I will. Consider it made.

By: MMW

MMW — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:44:08 +0000

I hope cool things like that show up when I’m in my 70s.

By: kew

kew — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:32:35 +0000

I kinda saw it the way JES did. I’m sure that Karma was a better primary teacher than I will ever be, though.

By: JES

JES — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:15:29 +0000

Sorry I missed the irony intended in the title. I’m notoriously bad at interpreting (and being interpreted) tone in emails. CWC, like I said, I’m really not a horrible person trying to rain on parades, it was just the connotation of the title along with the post. It would be really cool to receive such an unexpected reminder of the past.