I was going over some drafts in my website. I found this truly great piece that I had written almost 5 years ago. For some reason, I never published it. I had just started teaching high school seminary again and I was overwhelmed. Here’s a screenshot of the original draft –

So, I’m back teaching high school. And in some ways it’s the same, but the differences make me feel so vulnerable. I’ve been teaching at the college level for over 15 years now. Many of these kids were in diapers when I left teaching high school. And I – 15 years ago – I was in my prime! I was full of energy and spunk. I had all the joy of the start of adulthood. I was fresh out of college.

I went to their games. I knew their music, movies, and language. I had left their ranks a few years earlier. I was the “cool older sister.” I had enough wisdom and experience to give them pointers on the wide world just ahead of them.

And now, the decades span between us. I have wisdom and experience and years beyond years in the trenches of trial, hardship, and failure. Years of marriage and motherhood. Years of unmet expectations – a world away from their lives.

Do I have enough to feed them? Can I help them unlock their starved souls? They have been malnourished for years in a wasteland of depressing music, sexual images, violent games, and social media drivel. To us, youth held a little gossip and some drama. To them, it’s a 24/7 non-stop barrage on their self-worth. They endlessly scroll, covet, and mistreat themselves and others. Can I teach them to nourish their souls and minds? Can I inspire them to love the vegetables and healthy food of the mind & heart? Can I help them avoid the diet of spiritual Twinkies and filthy rotting mind garbage?

They’re filled with anxiety, anger, and depression. They experience soul-sucking loneliness as they sit on their phones. Potential friends surround them. Friends that could be theirs if they would just look around.

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That was all I wrote. I finished 3 years – 1 at the high school seminary and 2 at the junior high seminary. Then I was re-hired at BYU-I. It was a blessing to teach those sweet kids and I learned some great teaching lessons. I’ll put a few here and hope to elaborate on them soon.

• Cell phones connect them to people far away (or in other parts of the school 🤪). Unfortunately, they don’t seem to connect to the people around them. So, in my seminary classes, it was NEVER a waste to spend some “getting to know you” time each day. (Much more on that another time).
• It was advantageous to do much shorter lessons chunks. So, short blocks of different ideas and activities.
  • For example, start of class things should take 15 minutes. Activities include a devotional or a getting to know you activity. Then, plan for 2-3 lesson segments, each lasting 15-20 minutes. I usually had 2 or so extra lesson segments or ideas in case of anything. Some times that was as simple as what is a “take home message” that you learned today? I would have them either:
    • write it in their journals,
    • discuss with the kids around them, or
    • have 2 or 3 kids share with the whole class.
• Speaking of, every student had a journal/notebook. The journal helped them engage with the lessons. In the junior high, if they finished filling in the whole journal, I would give them a full -size candy bar (or similar treat.) Bribery, yes, but quite effective 😁.
• It was better to have activities that engaged the students. If I could engage the bulk of the students, it was easier to see where the problems were. When prepping, my favorite things to ask myself was, “how will they have a revelatory experience today?”
  • If I were teaching a non-religious lesson, it would be “how will I have them discover the lesson ideas today”?
• Hands on activities are not a bad way to connect ideas, allow for creativity, and help the students bond.
• Having “no cell phone policies” were not bad.
• Having cell phone specific activities was good.

It’s a start. As I said, I hope to elaborate on these and add more specific details soon. I would LOVE to hear some ideas from you. What do you do to engage students (or your children, etc.)?