There’s a new Bloggernacle blog out that I wanted to highlight today. “It’s Time for Sharing” is a new blog for Primary teachers and leaders. As time goes on, they hope to cover all the Nursery, Sunbeam, CTR, and Valient lessons along with sharing time and singing time ideas. The goals of It’s Time for Sharing are to
- Keep Christ as the focus of our lessons
- Invite and incorporate the Spirit
- Be scripture-based
- Teach solid principles without relying on ‘cute’ or ‘fluff’
- Promote active rather than passive learning
- Adapt lessons according to the children we teach
- Reflect the varied personal experiences of children around the world
Jeans, of Beginnings New fame, shares a little about the origins of this new blog,
“It’s Time for Sharing” got a start when Karen Spencer and I gave some of the go-getters a little encouragement, as they commented on my other blog (Beginnings New) – the original post & their comments is here.
Jessica asked a simple question: hey, is there something like this for Primary? The Primary manuals are also, in some places, outdated or not applicable to a more ethnically diverse Primary, and how are sensitive and progressive Primary leaders and teachers making appropriate adaptations and updates? I wasn’t aware of anything out there – the “lesson helps” niche is stuffed with fluff, which I guess has a market but doesn’t really spiritually nourish either the teacher or the learners, no matter how old they are.
As a counselor in a Primary presidency, I feel like part of my calling is to minister to the spiritual needs of ALL the people in Primary. As I often say, “we’re all children… just different ages.” Sometimes Primary can be an isolating calling, and having a community of folks to talk things over with on a deeper level than “what clip art should I use” can help in that effort. Teaching plain doctrine elegantly and creatively to young people is tremendously satisfying and it emulates what the Savior did on many occasions. Primary is about helping people be stronger disciples of Christ, no matter how old they are, and I think there’s definitely room for us & the conversations we will generate out there in the Bloggernacle. Those are some of my hopes for the Primary “sister site” to Beginnings New at its launch. It has been a lot of fun being part of the behind-the-scenes excitement pulling it together VERY fast over the last 2 weeks!
Jenni B. states,
My experience as a mother, school teacher, childbirth educator, and graduate student of psychology have taught me that people of all ages–even tiny babies–know and understand far more than we give them credit for. I refuse to dumb-down lessons just because my students are young. They are honest enough to ask questions if they don’t understand. They are hungry for truth, and I am trying to offer as much sustenance as I can.A few months ago I had the idea for a blog like this–and was delighted to find others with similar ideas with whom I could join forces–so that teachers who have greater experience or time could share our lesson ideas with those who may not have so much.
If you are in Primary and want some more ideas on how to approach lessons, check them out! And if you are full of great ideas, they’re looking for more bloggers and guest posts.
6 Responses
I went and checked out the site! I am in Primary now (hopefully forever. I LOVE Primary!) It is going to be a great resource for me. Frankly, I am sick of the fluff, and “made up” doctrine we use to teach kids. My daughters in young women still get that occasionally (my 12 year old came home with a doozy from last sunday!) I love when the lessons are factually and scripturally based! Great job!!
Dude, you can’t say there was doozy last Sunday, then not share it. 😉 Ok, maybe I’m just a glutton for good stories. I’m glad you like the site. I enjoy writing for it.
okay….it was probably only a doozy to me, because of my situation. I am a single mother (widow), which I am sure colors my perception of well….pretty much everything! 😉
My daughter was visiting a friend’s ward, and the adviser said a couple of things my daughter did not agree with, but the worst was when the adviser shared a story of how her friend chose to marry a non-active, non-return missionary husband against the advice of her close girlfriends (adviser was amongst those group of friends). In that situation, the husband was abusive and not a good man. The adviser ended her story with this gem: ” I just wish she had married a return missionary, so she could be happy like us (the advice-giving friends).
My wise daughter came home and said, “Mom, it doesn’t really always work like that does it? Look at our family. Sometimes stuff just happens even when you make the right choice, huh? Her friend could have married a return missionary, and he STILL could have turned out to be abusive, huh?”
In retrospect, maybe I should thank the adviser since she was the catalyst for my daughter and I to have a great discussion. 🙂
There’s the story! Probably not as juicy as you were expecting, huh?
That was pretty bad. Would have ticked me off in a major way too! I’ve known too many RMs who are complete jerks, who are abusive, who cheat, etc. And I’ve seen women hurt because they trusted a guy just because he was a return missionary, and let him do things they were not comfortable with because of his spiritual RM status. And I know many good men who did not serve missions. It sets girls up for failure if they assume that any RM is worth their time and any guy who did not serve a mission is not. So I share your irritation. 🙂 Awesome for your daughter for seeing through that!
While I appreciate the underlying principle the adviser was trying to teach (good decision-making), I think an opportunity may have been missed for further discussion on what to do even when our good decisions go awry–it happens more than we all wish it would, so I think it would be wise to prep our youth with good coping mechanisms for those scenarios too. In the adviser’s case, the marry a RM framework worked successfully for her, but is, of course not always a guarantee.
I checked it out. Terrific!
Thanks for the heads up!