A Lengthy Post, Part 2

So here's what the students came up with when I said I was frustrated and feeling we aren't doing enough to push ourselves in Seminary.

Some said they think they're doing good to be out of bed and at Seminary in the first place. One student commented on the extraneous chatter, saying that it is distracting when the teacher has to stop and wait for the extraneous chatter to die down. One student said that he feels like he has a mountain of things weighing upon him, and Seminary is the thing at the very top that's going to make the whole pile collapse. Someone else said that they feel like they're in a history class.

One student said we need "donut day." When I probed further, I determined that this is their version of a fun Scripture Mastery day, involving games and donuts. They said they would be willing to take turns bringing donuts. They are used to doing Scripture Mastery every Friday. I have been trying to do it once a week, but I often get behind and don't always do much with it.

Here's what I came up with:

• I don't think I'm ready to call a class presidency or start giving exams, and I'm going to stop worrying about it.
• I need to be better about choosing, ahead of time, specific lessons for the week and then telling the students what they will be. Perhaps that way some students will read specific assignments even if they are not generally up-to-date with their reading. Now, I usually target a group of chapters for the week, but decide on a nightly basis what I'll do next, and the students don't know much more than in which book we are working.
  
• I need to continue to find ways to do less talking and get the students to talk more (about applicable matters).
  
• If I'm sticking to a more specific schedule, then we should be able to plan on doing Scripture Mastery once a week. I proposed having two different people in charge each week. They would decide what activities we do and what scriptures to focus on. Some students said they aren't good at thinking of ideas or remembering responsibilities, so we agreed that we would have to choose partners carefully. The students seemed willing to try this after the first of the year.
• I said that I would like everyone to come up with one or two specific goals related to seminary, something they will work on for the next year. It can be different for each person, but I want it to be specific, something that will stretch them a bit but is achievable. They said they were willing to do this.

Beyond that, I think all I can do for now is do what I can to prepare and teach with the Spirit, to continue to encourage the students to participate, and then let them make their own decisions.

What do you think about the goals? Should I have each student share with the class or with me what their goal is, or should I just let them write private goals and say I will keep them but not read or share them? I think they need help remembering and being accountable; I'm just not sure the best way to accomplish that.

Thanks for listening!