I teach a class called "seminary" for my Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's a scripture class for high school aged students and it's held, in our area, 4 days a week (though normally 5 days, but our schools start late on Wednesday, and I guess it's the best solution they could come up with). The thing about the class is, and of course there are a lot of things, but I'll talk about them after this one thing which is pretty life-altering: it starts at 6:00. In the morning.
Now, I'm a morning person. At least I always have been. I'm getting older now (don't be impolite, just believe me) and I would like to sleep a bit more than I used to. But not on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays or Fridays. At least not much. Or, rather, not more than I want to do a good job as a seminary teacher.
It's a scary job, and as I said before, there are a lot of "things" about it. For one "thing," you're teaching scriptures, and that requires a lot of reading, research and pondering. It's intimidating in some ways, but they give us great teacher's manuals, so there's really no excuse. Plus, it's fascinating work, and you learn so much. We're "supposed" to do regular scripture study anyway, but I am never so studious as when I am preparing for a class. Teaching is the great magnifier. You learn it, you type it up into a lesson outline and then you teach it and hear students comment on it. That will hammer it in like nothing else. Each year of four, we teach one of our "Standard Works" and the schedule cycles around again. It's Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and then Doctrine and Covenants. So if you can hang in there for 4 years, you've covered the standard works. If, however, you can hang in there LONGER than 4 years, you've got tons of great material already prepared (as long as you keep good files and don't change computers too often which I've noticed is a major hassle). I'm on year 6, and enjoying the fact that I do keep good files. We're teaching the Doctrine and Covenants this year, along with Church History. It's a good year, and they all are. I teach the freshman class, which brings me to another "thing."
We're talking about teaching teenagers here. That's a challenge. They are nice kids; they are. But they are teenagers and let me say, that is a challenge. It is the nature of the beast that teenagers have to be "cool" - to look like they aren't overly enthusiastic about anything (even if you HAVE put hours and hours into an activity or game) and they can unexpectedly sour on an activity or learning tool that has been fun for them previously. I could say a lot more here, but it makes me sound unappreciative of them and unaware of the stress they can be feeling during this time in their lives. Suffice to say that there are challenges, and you don't get a lot of warm fuzzies from the students. I've quite a flair for the understatement...
Occasionally I'm asked to substitute teach in the women's class at Church (Relief Society) or in Gospel Doctrine class (the regular Sunday School), or some other area, and the first thing that hits me is how willing everyone is to participate. Yay! Answers! And examples! And stories! Teenagers don't want to volunteer much information about themselves naturally, it takes a lot of facilitation to get them to talking. But not so in Primary! Or in Sunday School, for that matter. Every other class in the Church is the same, starting at Nursery all the way up, short attention spans, need a change-up of learning activities about every 5-10 minutes, and some kind of handout or treat is always much appreciated. But not in seminary! I've seen an entire classroom of seminary students refuse to eat even one homemade chocolate chip cookie, and I make a truly wonderful chocolate chip cookie. Of course I've also seen them make pigs of themselves over the same kind of cookies on other occasions, you just don't know what to expect. And that is their genius!
The more I teach, the more I appreciate how things are for them in this twilight time between childhood dependence and autonomous adulthood. It actually isn't easy. I remember people saying that to me when I was a teenager, that they knew being a teenager was difficult, and I remember wondering what the heck they meant. I really did. But now I see it. I thought I was right about everything back then, see, and now I'm pretty conflicted about just about every choice I make. But as a teenager, I felt invincible and always right. It's a pretty scary place to be if you think about it.
Another "thing" about teaching seminary is the teachers. It can be a little tricksy. I don't always play well with others. Some seminary teachers scare me. They seem to be denizens of WE DO WHAT'S RIGHT and that is something I can never be. I do try to always follow my conscience, but there are too many chinks in my armor for me to have a very good record. Anyway, I'm about to say something that's going to make me sound mean or small-spirited and I don't mean that at all. Just that I don't always mesh into the group, especially the women. I try, but there's something in me that makes it hard for me to feel at peace. I guess I can't really describe it much better than that.
Anyway, all in all, I do have a major passion for teaching seminary. I love making handouts (especially glue-ins and bookmarks!) for the kids so they'll have a way to remember the lessons later when they're in institute class or on a mission. I like the games and the activities and anything we can do to help them connect the principles we are teaching to experiences and feelings so they can call upon them from their memories when they need them. I like feeling purposeful and being responsible for that part of the education of these young people. That's a pretty big deal, if you think about it. I see them more than any other Church leader, including their Youth Leaders or the Bishop. I try to help them feel the spirit before they go to school each day and remind them of what it is to uphold their standards. I usually give them their first in-depth look at the scriptures, especially in the freshman class, though some of them have been studying at home with their families and have been attending Sunday School classes all their lives. I help prepare them to be college students, to be adults, to be missionaries; to be husbands or wives. It's a good thing to be able to do.
It takes a toll though. I get up at 4:30, for example. I live like a zombie most of the time, and lack energy or enthusiasm for most other activities. I can barely stand to be awake past 9:30. And it's past that hour now. And my family takes a hit too, because of lesson preparation, purchases I make for the classroom and time it takes away from my other roles so that I can be a seminary teacher.
Still, it's a really good thing to be. I appreciate so much the opportunity to teach seminary. What a thing! In many ways, it defines who I am as a person.
Like I said, it's getting late now and I'd better get to bed. Sometimes seminary really takes a great deal of discipline. Not always my best thing, but worth working on. If you ask me...
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