Teacher Development Skills
Seek to know them—understand their circumstances, needs, and strengths.

“Seek to know them—understand their circumstances, needs, and strengths,” Teacher Development Skills: Love Those You Teach (2023)

“Seek to know them—understand their circumstances, needs, and strengths,” Teacher Development Skills: Love Those You Teach

Seek to know them—understand their circumstances, needs, and strengths.

Skill

Observe and ask about students’ interests.

Define

Teachers can learn about their students’ circumstances and identify some of their learning needs through observing and asking about their interests. It is often easiest to have these conversations before and after class, but they can also take place during class. There are a variety of ways teachers can do this. A teacher may notice a book, a project, a sticker, a piece of sporting equipment, or something else that a student brings to class. Or a teacher might remember an event the students were participating in and ask them about it. The questions we ask will help us come to know the students and their interests and include phrases like:

  • “Tell me more about …”

  • “What do you like about …”

  • “I am curious to know …”

When teachers are sincere and genuine in their questions, they can learn more about their students’ circumstances and learning needs, and the students will feel that their teacher really cares. When students feel their teacher genuinely cares about them, they are more likely to come to class ready to learn and share their insights and experiences with their teacher and others in class.

Model

  1. Hermana Muñoz remembers that Rosa had a big soccer game that Rosa was nervous about. When she sees Rosa, Hermana Muñoz stops and asks her how she felt the game went.

  2. Auro has his keys on the table. As you walk past, you notice a flag from a different country on his key chain. You’re curious and say, “Auro, tell me about the flag you have on your key chain.” Auro shares that his sister went to Brazil on her mission, and he went with his family to pick her up at the end of her mission. You continue the conversation, asking, “What did you like about going to see your sister on her mission?

Click here to see a video of this model.

Practice

Practice #1: In each of the following pictures, what do you see that can help you learn about the circumstances or learning needs of these students?

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young women playing basketball
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young women playing ukelele
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youth sitting in a semicircle

Practice #2: What questions can you ask to learn more about your students’ interests?

Discuss or Ponder

  • What have you learned as you have practiced observing and asking about students’ interests?

  • How can observing and asking about students’ interests show that you love your students?

Incorporate

  • In class this week, look for opportunities to ask students about their interests, events, or circumstances. Genuinely show you care about what you learn from them. Look for how it impacts that student’s learning experience as a result. Take five minutes after class to write down what you learned about your students and how that can help you create learning experiences that lead to conversion, relevance, and belonging.

Want more?

Skill

Pause, reflect, and answer questions we ask ourselves that invite a Christlike spirit of discernment, love, and empathy in our interactions.

This training presents the first of three interconnected skills that will help us understand that students may see eternal truths from a different premise than we do. As we better understand our students, we will be more capable of responding to them with love and empathy as we help them build faith in Jesus Christ.

These trainings will include:

  1. Identifying a student’s premise by pausing, reflecting, and answering questions we ask ourselves both during lesson preparation and as we focus on students’ comments or questions in class;

  2. Seeking to clarify and understand the real intent of a student’s questions, feelings, and beliefs; and

  3. Helping students examine or reframe their premise with an eternal perspective.

The second and third trainings will be provided subsequently.

This training will focus on the following skill:

  • Identifying a student’s premise by pausing, reflecting, and answering questions that we ask ourselves both during lesson preparation and as we focus on students’ comments or questions in class.

Define

Every student comes to class with different life experiences and relationships that shape the way they think and feel about gospel truths. These views create a starting point, often called a premise, for an individual’s thinking. Identifying an individual’s premise can help us teach truth with empathy and love, as Jesus Christ does. Different premises do not change the doctrine; rather, they allow us to see another person’s perspective in a way that helps increase our understanding of each learner’s needs to, in turn, increase faith in Jesus Christ.

During lesson preparation, teachers can consider eternal truths as they pause, reflect, and answer the following questions:

  • How might the experiences and relationships of my students shape the way they think about, feel about, and live these truths?

  • As we study this truth, could any of my students feel excluded, troubled, or hurt because of their circumstances?

While focusing on a student’s comment or question during class or in a conversation, teachers can ask themselves:

  • “What experiences and relationships might this student have that would cause him or her to think differently than I do?”

  • “What else do I need to know to fully understand where he or she is coming from?”

These questions can invite the Holy Ghost and invite a Christlike spirit of discernment, love, and empathy in our interactions. They can also help us avoid reacting to students in a dismissive, judgmental, or defensive way. They can help us teach truth in a way that can bless the class and help others build faith in Jesus Christ.

Model (during lesson preparation)

While preparing a lesson on following the promptings of the Holy Ghost, I reflect on the following questions: “How might the experiences and relationships of my students shape the way they think, feel, and live these truths?” and “As we study this truth, could any of my students struggle or feel excluded, troubled, or hurt because their circumstances are not ideal in relation to this doctrine?”

Then I answer: “I may have students that feel they have never received a prompting before, or they don’t feel that the Holy Ghost speaks to them. I may have some students who feel they are not worthy. There may be times when my students are not sure if the prompting came from the Holy Ghost. There may be students who are tired of hearing stories from others about following the Spirit because they always seem too miraculous and those things never happen to them.”

Practice (during lesson preparation)

While preparing a lesson on 1 Nephi 3:7, “I will do and go the things which the Lord hath commanded”:

  • Reflect and answer: “How might the experiences and relationships of my students shape the way they think, feel, and live these truths?” and “As we study this truth, could any of my students struggle or feel excluded, troubled, or hurt because their circumstances are not ideal in relation to this doctrine?”

While preparing a lesson on gender as an essential characteristic of our eternal identity and purpose in the lesson titled “Gender and Eternal Identity”:

  • Reflect and answer: “How might the experiences and relationships of my students shape the way they think, feel, and live these truths?” and “As we study this truth, could any of my students struggle or feel excluded, troubled, or hurt because their circumstances are not ideal in relation to this doctrine?”

Model (during class)

  • When discussing the doctrine of the Sabbath day, a student comments, “My family enjoys watching sporting events on Sunday.” As you focus on your student’s comments, you think, “What experiences and relationships might this student have that would cause her to think differently than I do?” or “What else do I need to know to fully understand where she is coming from?”

Practice (during class)

While discussing missionary work, a student asks, “What is the big deal about every young man serving a mission?”

  • Silently think, “What experiences and relationships might this student have that would cause him to think differently than I do?” and “What else do I need to know to fully understand where he is coming from?”

In a discussion on prophets and revelation, a student asks, “When is the Church going to catch up to the rest of the world with their policies?”

  • Silently think, “What experiences and relationships might this student have that would cause her to think differently than I do?” and “What else do I need to know to fully understand where she is coming from?”

Click here to see a video of this model.

Discuss or Ponder

  • What are you learning about teaching the truth with empathy as you practice identifying students’ premises before and during class?

  • How can this practice help you teach more like Jesus Christ?

Incorporate

Choose one of the practices above to focus on for the next two weeks. Plan how you will continue to practice these skills. For example:

  • With each truth you prepare, you can choose to take five minutes to pause, reflect, and answer the questions that help you identify a student’s premise.

  • Before class, identify a student and think about a comment or question he or she may have with each truth. Then silently think, “What experiences and relationships might this student have that would cause him or her to think differently than I do?” and “What else do I need to know to fully understand where he or she is coming from?” This will prepare you to do this during class as you focus on the student’s comments and questions.

Want More?

  • Chad H Webb, “Empathy” (Seminaries and Institutes of Religion annual training broadcast, Jan. 26, 2021), broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org

  • Jean B. Bingham, “Teaching Truth in the Language of Love” (Seminaries and Institutes of Religion annual training broadcast, Jan. 19, 2021), broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org

Skill

Seek to clarify and understand the real intent of students’ questions, feelings, and beliefs.

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man teaching students

This training presents the second of three interconnected skills that will help us understand that students may see eternal truths from a different premise than we do. As we better understand our students, we will be more capable of responding to them with love and empathy as we help them build faith in Jesus Christ. These trainings can also help us improve in the first steps to responding to difficult questions students ask. These trainings will include:

  1. Identifying a student’s premise by pausing, reflecting, and answering questions we ask ourselves both during lesson preparation and as we focus on students’ comments or questions in class.

  2. Seeking to clarify and understand the real intent of a student’s questions, feelings, and beliefs.

  3. Helping students examine or reframe their premise with an eternal perspective.

Define

Seeking to clarify and understand the real intent of a student’s questions, feelings, and beliefs involves coming to know more about the experience, situation, or feeling that prompted the question. After a student has shared a question, feeling, or belief, you may thank him or her for what was shared and then ask if the student is open to answering follow-up questions. If the student says no, reassure him or her that that is OK, and address the original question or statement. If the student says yes, ask a follow-up question that invites the student to share more about what prompted the question or statement. Doing this can help you and others in your class better understand one another and respond with empathy and love.

Model

  1. Sister Garnier is teaching about the priesthood in the scriptures when one of her students asks, “Why weren’t Black men allowed to have the priesthood until 1978?”

    • Sister Garnier: Thank you for asking. This is a question many of us have thought about. May I ask you a couple of follow-up questions?

    • Student: Sure!

    • Sister Garnier: What brought about this question for you?

  2. Brother Monet is teaching about the priesthood in the scriptures when one of his students asks, “Why weren’t Black men allowed to have the priesthood until 1978?”

    • Brother Monet: Thank you for asking. This is a question many of us have thought about. May I ask you a couple of follow-up questions?

    • Student: No.

    • Brother Monet: No worries. I am glad you asked. Let’s talk about the question.

Other examples of a follow-up question you might ask:

  • I appreciate your willingness to share that with us. Is there an experience or situation that prompted that [question, thought, belief]?

  • Thank you for asking. Can you tell me more about where this question comes from?

  • Thank you for asking. Can you help me understand what led you to that question or made you want to know that?

Practice

Seek to understand and clarify what prompted the question, feeling, or belief in the following situations:

  1. During a lesson about marriage between a man and a woman being ordained of God, a student asks, “Why do we not like those who are part of the LGBTQ community? Why shouldn’t they be able to marry if they love each other?”

  2. During a discussion of missionary work, a student shares, “I thought that young men don’t have a choice whether they go on a mission but young women do.”

Discuss or Ponder

  • Why do you think we should take time to clearly understand what is being shared? How do you think our efforts to clearly understand a student’s real intent could affect a classroom experience? How will our understanding of a student’s real intent help us connect them to Christ?

Incorporate

  • In the classroom, listen closely to what is being shared and carefully consider where you would like more clarity. After thanking the student who asked the question, ask a follow-up question that will allow the student to clarify.

Want More?

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