Connecting the Dots (Part 1 of 3)

Introduction

This period of my life has begun at an alarming pace. One moment I'm teaching a less-active member of the church how to overcome a doubt and the next I'm teaching a college student the names of the different muscles on a human cadaver with my own hands! Making the connection between mission life and "real" life has made all the difference in the transition process.

I was interviewed the other day by a friend for The Daily Universe, the BYU newspaper. The trend article will focus on several situations of Returned Missionaries assimilating back into "normal" life. I say "normal" that way because I don't believe there to be a normal case of assimilation. I by no means consider myself the average either, yet I was chosen for this interview to represent a portion of the Returned Missionary population assimilating back into society. This gave me another chance to consider a few of the many lessons or principles which I learned while on my mission. Some of these principles include learning by teaching, the Spirit of the Lord and of Elijah, and the beauty of developing relationships. In the following three posts I will show how I have been able to connect the dots between mission life and the life in which I now find myself.

Part 1: Learning by Teaching

Our purpose as missionaries was never just to teach the doctrine, but this was a very critical part of our success as we worked toward another end, namely "to invite [all] others to come unto Christ." We came to this end as we helped them "to receive the restored Gospel." As missionaries we memorized and internalized our purpose. Everything we did had to go through a sort of "purpose filter". If what we were doing, thinking, or talking about didn't line up with our purpose, we were taught to not do, think, or talk about that. When teaching, this purpose came into play in every way. If what we were teaching did not line up with our purpose we were to stop and listen for the promptings of the spirit. We learned to rely on the spirit to know just what that individual needed to be able to receive the restored Gospel. In the end, though, it was always the investigator or member's choice to receive or not receive what we were offering.

Learning and Teaching on the Mission

In my mission we were given hours upon hours of training in many areas of missionary service. As we practiced often the teaching skills we were taught, I began to notice a pattern of learning and teaching. Our mission president and other mission leaders would lead in the training of teaching skills. They would 1. Teach the doctrine and invite the spirit 2. Teach the skill related to the doctrine 3. Give an example of teaching using the skill 4. Evaluate the teaching 5. Give us the opportunity to teach each other using the skill 6. Have us evaluate our teaching and 7. Have us re-teach.

1. Teach the Doctrine and Invite the Spirit

In our training, we found it important to be rooted in the Doctrine of Christ. A missionary who is rooted firmly in the Doctrine of Christ can teach with conviction as he is confident in his testimony of that which he teaches. He is not swayed by the harsh, billowing winds of the teachings of men. By opening the scriptures and teaching the fundamental Doctrine of the skill to be practiced, our leaders opened up our minds and hearts to revelation through the Spirit. The role of the Holy Ghost in the conversion process was always reiterated as He is the one who will ultimately do the teaching. The fundamental doctrine discussed laid a foundation for the skill or skills to be focused on.

2. Teach the Skill

Skills taught varied from How to begin Teaching to Working with Members. Whatever the skill was, it was always tied back into how it related to our purpose as missionaries (to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel...) as well as the doctrine discussed. We normally would go much further in depth than we would ever go in teaching to doctrine to investigators. This helped us in deepening our own roots in this doctrine.

3. Give an Example

To demonstrate one way of teaching this doctrine, our leaders would practice on each other pretending that the other person is an actual investigator they are currently teaching. This way the person in the place of the investigator has an opportunity to listen to the Spirit and gain access to the feelings of that individual. The other person would act as the missionary and would practice applying the skill or doctrine to that person's specific needs.

4. Evaluate the Teaching

After the example is given, the conversation was opened up to the group of missionaries. We were invited to give suggestions, comments, questions anything to help evaluate that teaching situation as no one is perfect, even the leaders.

5. Open Practice

We were then split off into groups of three, usually. One person acted as a real investigator, another would be the missionary and the other would listen in and give good feedback during the next step. The observer would look for how the skill was applied specifically to that person's needs and how the teaching could possibly be improved.

Something beautiful happened, but it did take a few tries of practicing. We eventually became used to the idea and were more receptive to the spirit. It was no longer a role playing game; we were spiritually creating a lesson. We witnessed many miracles as the Spirit was poured out upon us and we were instructed of the Spirit in the manner in which we were to teach. Many missionaries were able to find in that moment the actual need of the investigators for whom they were practicing. As we saw the miracles, our faith was built.

6. Evaluate

After the short 5-10 minute practice of the teaching of a single point or doctrine, the observing missionary was given 2 minutes to evaluate the teaching and a conversation was had on how the teaching could have been improved and what was learned from the teaching.

7. Re-teach

We were then given a little time to re-teach the point which usually went much better.

After practicing so many times we could easily feel discouraged as we may find ourselves saying lame, dumb, or even untrue things, but as we practiced the teaching beforehand we were able to get all the dumb stuff out of us before the actual lesson. Thus, in the lesson itself, we would be led by the Spirit in what we say.

Learning and Teaching in Anatomy

This example from my mission taught me how learning and teaching are interrelated. As we teach, we learn; as we learn, we have a greater desire to teach. I found the same to be true of my study habits as a college student at BYU. In my Human Anatomy Lab we are given almost a hundred new terms and concepts to learn and memorize every week in only an hour and a half long lab session. I found this task rather daunting even when we were given the opportunity to go to an "open-lab" session where we could view and handle specimens and cadavers as we study. I found myself sitting alone staring at a group of muscles wondering how I could ever memorize so many seemingly random terms.

I was interrupted in my thoughts as a classmate seated next to me asked me if I knew what a structure she was having trouble on was called. I knew exactly what it was and told her. I then asked her if she had any clue what muscle group I was looking at. She gave me the answer and we came to several conclusions and came up with several more questions. I found that as we worked together in teaching each other we were more effective in studying and as a result we performed better on the tests and quizzes.

Connecting the Dots

It wasn't till later when discussing with a friend the new teaching curriculum for K-12 school systems that I began to connect the dots. She informed me that schools are now getting away from the "traditional" teaching style and moving to a new style in which the children are given a fundamental objective for the day's learning tasks, taught the subject matter, and then given the opportunity to teach the topic to a classmate or group of classmates.

This process allows the children to all progress together rather than causing a division in the class of those who succeed and those who fall behind. As those who succeed quickly teach what they have learned, they make more connections in their brain and retain that knowledge even more efficiently and the children who learn at a slower pace are given an opportunity to learn the topic from another point of view allowing for further learning.

There is wisdom in learning by teaching; wisdom which can be applied to everything from elementary education and college study groups to missionary work and church service.