Pray for them by name.

Skill

Pray and ask how you can help your students and follow the promptings from the Holy Ghost.

Define

Praying for your students regularly can help you feel more of God’s love for them and increase your desire to provide a safe, inviting place where they can learn. It can also allow Heavenly Father to help you better understand their circumstances and needs. Although we cannot force spiritual matters or answers to prayers, praying for our students invites the direction of the Holy Ghost and can increase our capacity to help them. Acting upon the inspiration you receive can help you improve each student’s learning experience. One way teachers can seek to increase love for their students is by considering what they already know about a student and then prayerfully pondering and asking how they might show more love toward that student. As they pray with these thoughts in mind, teachers should then seek to identify and act on the promptings of the Spirit.

Model

The following are a few examples of how you might pray and ask how to help an individual student and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost:

You have noticed that John has been reluctant to engage in class recently. You ask Heavenly Father how you could best help him. You feel that you should talk to him as he comes into class. You sense that you should ask him more about his current interests rather than just asking him about why he hasn’t been participating as much recently. You plan to talk to him before class tomorrow.
Maria has been regularly sharing her insights and testimony the last few weeks. Prior to the next class, you ask Heavenly Father how you might help her continue to progress. You have the thought to pair her up with a few of her classmates who don’t share as often or who struggle to openly share how they are feeling. In your lesson planning for tomorrow, you add a classmate sharing opportunity.

Click here to see a video of this model.

1:40

Practice

Use one or more of the following practices to improve your ability to pray for students and act upon the resulting promptings:

Select a student who you feel does not have many close friendships in class. Pray about how to best help him or her. Make a plan to act upon the impressions you receive.
Select a student who shares a lot in class. Pray for him or her and about how to continue improving that student’s learning experience. Act upon the impressions you receive.
Select a student you have not seen in class recently. Pray for him or her, and ask the Lord how to best reach out and help the student feel loved and needed. Come up with a plan based on the impressions you receive, decide when you could act upon that plan, and follow through.

Discuss or Ponder

Ponder what you have learned from this experience. Perhaps you could record some of these thoughts in a study journal. Consider the following questions:

What efforts have I made previously to pray for my students?
What have I learned in this process that could improve my ability to pray for my students and help them improve their learning experience?
What will I do to continue to improve?

Incorporate

Make an action plan to pray and ask how you can help your students and follow promptings from the Holy Ghost. You could consider the following suggested steps as you make an action plan:

Choose and focus on one of the practices above.
Determine how you will incorporate it.
Schedule time to incorporate it.
Ask Heavenly Father to help you.

Want More?

Neil L. Andersen, “A Classroom of Faith, Hope, and Charity” (evening with a General Authority, Feb. 28, 2014), broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org
Chad H Webb, “Above All Things” (Seminaries and Institutes of Religion annual training broadcast, June 12, 2019), broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org
“Love Those You Teach,” Teaching in the Savior’s Way (2016), 6

Skill

Invite students to pray for other students.

Define

Opportunities to pray to Heavenly Father in behalf of other people is an act of faith that calls upon the powers of heaven, builds stronger friendships, and strengthens the bond of love among students and teachers. A teacher can invite students to remember fellow classmates in their personal prayers and the opening or closing prayer of class. In some cases, the invitation will be to include specifics about the individual in the prayer. In other cases, simply stating their name in the prayer will be enough. Invitations can be given as reminders before class begins, reinforced at appropriate times throughout the lesson, and prior to the closing prayer.

(Note: Depending on the student or the confidential nature of a situation, it may be important to ask permission to pray for specific students by name.)

Model

Before the closing prayer, Sister Gordon reminds students to pray for their classmates that are taking college entrance exams by saying, “With many of our classmates taking college entrance exams this week, it would be a great blessing to them to remember them in your prayers.”
David sent a message to Brother Sanchez that he is not attending class this week because of the death of a loved one. With David’s permission Brother Sanchez begins class by saying, “This past week David’s Grandmother passed away. Would you remember David and his family in your prayers during this difficult time?”

Click here to see a video of this model.

0:44

Practice

Use one or more of the following practices to improve your ability to invite students to pray for their fellow classmates:

Several students are concerned about an upcoming event. Write an invitation you can give to encourage students to pray for those concerned about this event.
Think of a student you know who is in need of extra help from the Lord. Write down how you might invite students to pray in behalf of that student.

Discuss or Ponder

As you practiced, what other things came to your mind that can help you extend these invitations?
When has someone you know been blessed because of a prayer offered by another person?

Incorporate

Throughout the next couple of weeks, find opportunities to extend invitations for students to pray for their fellow classmates. Then extend the invitation.

Want More?

“The Savior Prayed for Those He Taught,” in “Love Those You Teach,” Teaching in the Savior’s Way (2022), Gospel Library
David A. Bednar, “Principle #3,” in “Pray Always,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2008, 43–44