The stones worked well and Goliath was successfully buried. So, we had a ceremony. We read 1 Sam. 17: 48-51 where David slays Goliath with his stone, then goes over to him and with Goliath's own sword cuts off his head. I looked up slowly and said, "So" and paused, "We need to get that head off!" The boys were more than happy to oblige.
Then we made stickers to show their contribution. I hope that this next project will be just as successful!!
In other news, we've finished Genesis and are on to Exodus. They'll be a lot of misconceptions I'm sure with the popularity of Prince of Egypt (not complaining, it's a good movie, just not 100% scripturally sound), but I'm hoping that that familiarity will get them EXCITED to learn and discover principles for them. We just barely got started with the first chapter of Exodus and looked at how the children of Israel became slaves at the rise of a new king who "knew not Joseph." He feared that they were becoming too mighty and numerous and devised a plan for them to become slaves and "made their lives bitter with hard bondage" and "made [them] to serve with rigour." We did an activity with this idea and then I asked them to jump into verse 12 and try to find a principle. It reads: "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they [the Egyptians] were grieved because of the children of Israel." I asked how many had found one, and about 10 hands went up. I then said, "Ok, if you weren't able to find one, raise your hand. The ones who did find one go help those who haven't yet." I ran to help a young woman on the front row. We read the verse and I prompted her saying, "So, the harder they had to work made them ____" Her eyes lit up! She almost shouted, "STRONGER!" I said, "Yeah" and gave her a high five. She was excited. Then I invited the class to write their principle on the board. She looked up at me and so innocently asked, "What was it again?" I helped her remember and she quickly bounded to the board and wrote her principle up and was even more excited when I asked them to put their name by their principle.
7 comments:
I want to be in Brother Carter's class. FUN and future, eternal skills and knowledge!! Does it get any better than that? I submit it does not!
That is so amazing that the last student was able to recognize that priciple from that one verse. That is probably a verse that gets looked over so often, and yet look at those 2 great principles! My principle that I found is, if you are living as a child of God, no unhallowed hand can stop your progress!
Love it! Thanks for sharing these insights and experiences, Eric! What a great blog!
Wes and I have been reading through your posts and we love it! Keep up the good work!
Those seminary kids are lucky to have you as a teacher - and we're lucky to have you as a friend!
I would love to be in your seminary class, too!
And what great insights by your students, especially the one that understood that hardships are not excuses for bad behavior. I would add that harships are not an excuse for mediocre effort on our part, meaning that we don't just have to not sin, we have to keep doing our very best no matter how hard it gets.
I want my kids to be in your seminary class. I hope a CES position opens up in Southern Oregon. My first couple of years in seminary I was so bad at reading. Nice work getting them pumped up to read the scriptures.
Thanks for the comments guys! Vicky what a wonderful insight! Doing our best not just avoiding sin. That's so great. Once my Mission President talked about a super terrible day he had, and he just kept adding after every awful event, "But I didn't swear." No excuse to sin, and maybe those are the times when we need to step it up most!
Your students sound like they're learning a lot! And it sounds like so much fun, I wish I could come be in your class too...All I can say to their principles is AMEN!
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