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Love those you teach
Seek to know them - understand their circumstances, needs and strengths
Illustrate
The focus of your teaching should be the needs of the people you are teaching and the gospel principles that will meet those needs.
Look for ways to understand the backgrounds, interests, talents, and needs of the people you teach. Ask questions, listen carefully, and observe what your students say and do in different situations. As you pay careful attention to their spoken and unspoken messages, you will come to better understand their needs, their concerns, and their desires.
As you ponder the needs of those you teach, the Spirit will help you identify which principles, stories, or scriptures will be especially meaningful to them. The Spirit will help you know how to teach them, what follow-up questions to ask, and how to help meet their needs.
Your students have different learning styles and learning needs. Some are visual learners, while others learn by verbally participating. Some comprehend best by listening, while others prefer reading. Seek to understand the learning needs of the individuals in your class so that you can provide learning experiences that meet their needs and allow individuals to learn in a variety of ways.
Some of you will have students in their classes who, to some degree, have limited abilities or physical or mental disabilities. You need to be sensitive to all students and consider their individual needs and abilities as you prepare and present your lessons.
By observing and listening carefully to your students, you can discern their needs and guide the learning experience under the direction of the Holy Ghost. As you seek inspiration about your class members’ individual needs, remember those who are struggling or who do not attend regularly.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the quorum of the twelve apostles explained:
“A gospel teacher, like the Master we serve, will concentrate entirely on those being taught. His or her total concentration will be on the needs of the sheep—the good of the students. A gospel teacher does not focus on himself or herself. One who understands that principle will not look upon his or her calling as ‘giving or presenting a lesson,’ because that definition views teaching from the standpoint of the teacher, not the student. Focusing on the needs of the students, a gospel teacher will never obscure their view of the Master by standing in the way or by shadowing the lesson with self-promotion or self-interest.”
(Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Gospel Teaching,” Ensign, Nov. 1999)
Invitation to act
Meditate on these questions:
Who of the people I am teaching do I need to understand better?
What can I do to understand them better?
How will I adapt my lesson to the needs of my students?
To practice your skills on this subject, you can do the following exercises:
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