Teaching Program Will Offer Help to Stakes, Wards

Stake and ward leaders will receive valuable help and encouragement in improving the quality of gospel teaching through a special videotaped program scheduled for use this fall.

The program, “Teaching—A Renewed Dedication,” will be broadcast via satellite September 8 for stakes with satellite receiving units to record. The videotape will be available by mail for stakes without satellite receiving equipment. It is suggested that the videotape be used within two to three weeks after it is received as the basis of a training session for stake and ward leaders. Within two to three weeks following the training session for stake and ward leaders, another training session should be held in each ward in the stake for teachers and members.

The ward-level meetings will be for all parents and prospective parents and for anyone who is serving or might serve in a teaching assignment in the Church or home, such as home teachers and visiting teachers.

The program is one response to President Spencer W. Kimball’s requests for greater emphasis on teaching in the Church, said Elder Carlos E. Asay of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy and Executive Director of the Curriculum Department.

In October of 1980 and again in April of 1981, President Kimball called on stake, ward, and branch leaders to “take a particular interest in strengthening and improving the quality of teaching in the Church. The Savior has told us to feed his sheep (see John 21:15–17). … We all need to be touched and nurtured by the Spirit, and effective teaching is one of the most important ways this can happen.” (Ensign, Nov. 1980, p. 46.)

The videotape, narrated by Elder Hugh W. Pinnock of the First Quorum of the Seventy and General President of the Sunday School, includes three vignettes on teaching. After each of the vignettes is shown, the videotape will be stopped and those viewing it will respond to discussion questions relating to the situation depicted.

“There are three key principles taught in the videotape,” said Elder Asay: (1) seek the Spirit; (2) love your students; and (3) prepare properly.

“The tape itself, we hope, will be stored in the meetinghouse library and receive continued use.”

The stake and ward showings of “Teaching—A Renewed Dedication” will be a prelude to ward and branch open houses to be held in January 1986 to familiarize members with the 1986 Church curriculum materials. One of the major purposes of the open houses will be to encourage and help improve the teaching of the gospel in the home. Open houses will help parents become more aware of what teachers are doing to assist them and what materials are available for purchase or on loan from the library.