Elder's Quorum Discussion

[Lost Boy]

Somehow I got called to be one of those guys that get to lead the Elder's Quorum discussion.  I have been doing this for 8+ months.  And it never seems to get easier.

I pray for inspiration, I listen to the talk.  I read the talk and repeat.  I formulate questions and what not, but I tend to come up with only about 10 minutes worth of material for about a 40 minute discussion.

So far I get up in front of everybody and present what I have prepared and people chime in and fill up the time.  But what happens when they don't?  That is like my biggest fear is not having enough material and ending like 20 minutes early. 

The brothers come up and thank me for a spiritual lesson, but sometimes I wonder if that is more of a nice way of saying "you're trying" or do they really enjoy the discussion?  Are they really getting something spiritual out of it?  I tend to think they get something spiritual out of it in spite of me.  And I guess that is fine.

Teaching was a lot easier with the old lesson manuals and teachings of the presidents of the church.  Now that it is General Conference talks, it has definitely become more challenging and discussion is much more important.

So I guess, what are your strategies for leading the discussion?  What seems to work for you?  I typically read or listen to it a bunch and write down questions and personal experiences and scriptures that come to mind.  And then I pray that everyone is inspired to open their mouths so I don't have to.

And how do you get more participation from the younger guys and not have it dominated by the old high priest group?

[JohnsonJones]

I haven't had to lead a discussion as such with the new Programs so I can't say I have any experience with the new format in doing so. 

Today I saw the first counselor of the Elder's quorum leading a discussion and he seemed to have researched a lot more beyond just reading the talk itself.  It seemed he had expanded on various things found within the talk and had these extra items available for when he needed them.

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

It sounds to me like you are doing a great job and you are being too hard on yourself.  The most important thing you can bring to class is the Spirit.   By prayerfully preparing the lesson, you are well on your way to doing that.  I think it was Elder Eyring who talked about learning from the Spirit through a child's Primary talk, so yes, much of what your audience gets out of the lesson is on them, did they come ready to hear the Spirit?  

Class discussion is important.  I admit, I didn't always understand this.  I thought a prepared lecture was better, but people learn better when they participate.  So by encouraging discussion, you are helping your students get more out of the lesson.  That is the most common teaching mistake (church-wise).  Some teachers ask questions that are too simple.  If you ask a question that would be easy for a Primary age child to answer, there will likely be a long pause as everyone waits for someone else to answer.  Second, some teachers ask a thoughtful question, but then don't allow enough time for the class to ponder and answer.  Finally, the biggest mistake (in my humble opinion) is those teachers who ask a question, and then don't really listen to the answer (because they are thinking about what they will say next...)   So when the person finishes their comment the teacher just moves on as if nothing were said.  That tends to kill a discussion pretty quickly.   

On the other hand, when a teacher asks a thoughtful question, and then engages with the people who respond and allows them to engage with one another, a truly elevating discussion can occur.  

Since I am a sister, I don't really have any advice on preventing the High Priests from dominating the lesson, LOL.   

[Fether]

5 hours ago, Lost Boy said:

Somehow I got called to be one of those guys that get to lead the Elder's Quorum discussion.  I have been doing this for 8+ months.  And it never seems to get easier.

I pray for inspiration, I listen to the talk.  I read the talk and repeat.  I formulate questions and what not, but I tend to come up with only about 10 minutes worth of material for about a 40 minute discussion.

So far I get up in front of everybody and present what I have prepared and people chime in and fill up the time.  But what happens when they don't?  That is like my biggest fear is not having enough material and ending like 20 minutes early. 

The brothers come up and thank me for a spiritual lesson, but sometimes I wonder if that is more of a nice way of saying "you're trying" or do they really enjoy the discussion?  Are they really getting something spiritual out of it?  I tend to think they get something spiritual out of it in spite of me.  And I guess that is fine.

Teaching was a lot easier with the old lesson manuals and teachings of the presidents of the church.  Now that it is General Conference talks, it has definitely become more challenging and discussion is much more important.

So I guess, what are your strategies for leading the discussion?  What seems to work for you?  I typically read or listen to it a bunch and write down questions and personal experiences and scriptures that come to mind.  And then I pray that everyone is inspired to open their mouths so I don't have to.

And how do you get more participation from the younger guys and not have it dominated by the old high priest group?

Leading discussions is my jam 😁. It came naturally so I don’t really know the specifics of why I am so comfortable doing it (perhaps my pride keeps me blind to how bad it really is) but I’ll give it a go.

1. I never stick with the talk. I read the talk and pull out the two main over arching topics (typically it is a problem and a solution). Yesterday when I taught, we read the first 5ish paragraphs and talked about the theme.

2. I only ask questions and demand responses. Once I waited a good 30 seconds (felt like longer) for a response. I may have just gotten lucky with the quorums, but every time I lead it goes like this:

me: 5-10 second question

quorum member: 1-5 quorums members give 1-3 minute answers

me: validate each response and ask follow up questions to get to the heart of the matter. Then repeat.

3. No expectations. If I fail it is because there is some weakness that I either didn’t know about or didn’t prepare for and allows me to learn and grow. If I succeed, then great.

[Grunt]

I do exactly what Fether does.  

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

I taught the lesson yesterday and the discussion lead us to two other talks as well. I read the talk, mark some key points and then let the Spirit guide my thoughts based on the discussion. We almost ended 15 min early and someone made a comment that reminded me of another talk my wife and I were discussing on Friday and the Soirit said Go, so we went to it. Open you heart and mind to the Lord before you begin and follow His lead.

[CV75]

6 hours ago, Lost Boy said:

Somehow I got called to be one of those guys that get to lead the Elder's Quorum discussion.  I have been doing this for 8+ months.  And it never seems to get easier.

I pray for inspiration, I listen to the talk.  I read the talk and repeat.  I formulate questions and what not, but I tend to come up with only about 10 minutes worth of material for about a 40 minute discussion.

So far I get up in front of everybody and present what I have prepared and people chime in and fill up the time.  But what happens when they don't?  That is like my biggest fear is not having enough material and ending like 20 minutes early. 

The brothers come up and thank me for a spiritual lesson, but sometimes I wonder if that is more of a nice way of saying "you're trying" or do they really enjoy the discussion?  Are they really getting something spiritual out of it?  I tend to think they get something spiritual out of it in spite of me.  And I guess that is fine.

Teaching was a lot easier with the old lesson manuals and teachings of the presidents of the church.  Now that it is General Conference talks, it has definitely become more challenging and discussion is much more important.

So I guess, what are your strategies for leading the discussion?  What seems to work for you?  I typically read or listen to it a bunch and write down questions and personal experiences and scriptures that come to mind.  And then I pray that everyone is inspired to open their mouths so I don't have to.

And how do you get more participation from the younger guys and not have it dominated by the old high priest group?

Ask everyone to keep their remarks to 2-3 minutes (or whatever) and don't be shy in reminding them when someone else has their hand up. You can always get back to them and assure them of that. Just one tool in the box, certainly not the only solution.

[anatess2]

1 hour ago, CV75 said:

Ask everyone to keep their remarks to 2-3 minutes (or whatever) and don't be shy in reminding them when someone else has their hand up. You can always get back to them and assure them of that. Just one tool in the box, certainly not the only solution.

To improve on this, my suggestion would be instead of stating a time-limit, just remind the class to keep their comments relevant to the topic.  It doesn't matter if it's 1 minute long if it's not relevant, it's still not a good use of time.  And it doesn't matter if it's 5 minutes if it's relevant, it's a good use of time.  But that's just my opinion.

[Grunt]

6 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

To improve on this, my suggestion would be instead of stating a time-limit, just remind the class to keep their comments relevant to the topic.  It doesn't matter if it's 1 minute long if it's not relevant, it's still not a good use of time.  And it doesn't matter if it's 5 minutes if it's relevant, it's a good use of time.  But that's just my opinion.

Interesting.  Personally, I never put limits on my discussions.  If it goes off track, as facilitator I guide it back.  I've learned a lot from side tracks.  

[anatess2]

1 minute ago, Grunt said:

Interesting.  Personally, I never put limits on my discussions.  If it goes off track, as facilitator I guide it back.  I've learned a lot from side tracks.  

I do the same.  I used to teach the RS Teaching For Our Times right after I got baptized, which was a lesson once a month that is about some General Conference talk.  I always started with the overarching topic of the talk and let it go wherever it goes from there.  That's why it took me the entire month - studying and reading every day - to prepare for a 40-minute lesson.  I didn't wanna impair the discussion because I didn't know what they were talking about.  When the discussion goes to things I am not sure about, I guide it back to familiar ground because I didn't want to say something that I learned from Catholicism that is not true in LDS.  That calling was the most learning I've done in a short period of time in my entire life.

[Just_A_Guy]

I teach EQ one Sunday a month, and I see myself rather as a surfer trying to navigate through and around waves of discussion—it’s less about controlling the waves, and more about finding a path through the waves that keeps everyone engaged; then sensing when the wave has run out, paddling back out into the deep and trying to find and jump up on the next good wave.  

As others have said, I find things go best when I am thoroughly familiar with the talk (including the footnotes and scripture references—President Nelson especially likes to tuck great nuggets in there), have developed 5-10 good questions to search as a launching point for discussion, have identified themes that are present in the talk and ammindful of a couple other useful sources dealing with those same themes, etc.  Two other thoughts that work for me and I’m not sure if they’ve come up here already or not:

—Listening and engaging with the comments, as mentioned, can be very effective.  Push back on the answers you get, don’t be afraid to get a little Socratic.  Use an answer to formulate a further discussion question.  (Gently!) point out apparent contradictions and ask people how they would harmonize them.  Role-play as an investigator and ask class members to explain to you a concept as though it were the first time you were hearing it.  If you have a couple of very talkative class members (and they’re OK with it) play them off against each other for a couple of minutes and then ask a less-talkative class member to respond to something the talkies brought up.  Also:  these are men you’re teaching, and they aren’t generally going to be comfortable talking about feelings.  I get good engagement when I ask questions about theory/theology, and questions about practice.  Asking people to share experiences—particularly meaningful ones—is more hit-or-miss.  That doesn’t mean I never ask them, but I always have a plan B question that addresses the same principle from a less personalized perspective. 

—Maybe you kids these days are so tech savvy that this doesn’t even need to be said, but I’ll say it:  use your media resources.  Bring in the TV and use the LDS media app to trim especially pertinent clips of the talk so that you have them ready to go at a moment’s notice without having to hunt through the whole talk.  

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Just_A_Guy

[Anddenex]

10 hours ago, Lost Boy said:

I tend to think they get something spiritual out of it in spite of me.  And I guess that is fine.

Teaching was a lot easier with the old lesson manuals and teachings of the presidents of the church.  Now that it is General Conference talks, it has definitely become more challenging and discussion is much more important.

So I guess, what are your strategies for leading the discussion?  What seems to work for you?  I typically read or listen to it a bunch and write down questions and personal experiences and scriptures that come to mind.  And then I pray that everyone is inspired to open their mouths so I don't have to.

And how do you get more participation from the younger guys and not have it dominated by the old high priest group?

I tend to think they get something spiritual out of it in spite of me.  And I guess that is fine.

This is totally fine, and it is actually what you want. Elder Bednar visited our stake region and provided instruction. One of the things my wife said he said stood out to me. He said, "Do not write down anything I say. Write down what the spirit instructs you to do or teaches you." As an instructor your responsibility is what you are already doing as specified here, "I pray for inspiration, I listen to the talk.  I read the talk and repeat.  I formulate questions and what not.." If a person doesn't gain something from your lesson, or feel the spirit (if you have done your part), then it speaks to them more than it does you.

Teaching was a lot easier with the old lesson manuals and teachings of the presidents of the church.  Now that it is General Conference talks, it has definitely become more challenging and discussion is much more important.

It was definitely easier but some teachers would instruct the whole lesson without discussion. Some teachers couldn't see that they were there to teach people not teach lessons. The new lessons allow for more discussions and are aimed at discussion. So not planning a full 40 minutes is perfect. Plan enough that discussion can happen, and allow the spirit then to direct you on the spot if you feel impressed to ask something outside of your prepared lesson.

Even if you have, let's say 20 minutes left, remember if you have done your part in planning the Spirit is able to direct your thoughts to other items to discuss. Or simply choose a new paragraph, and then ask more questions. Don't worry about extra time.

So I guess, what are your strategies for leading the discussion?  What seems to work for you?  I typically read or listen to it a bunch and write down questions and personal experiences and scriptures that come to mind.  And then I pray that everyone is inspired to open their mouths so I don't have to.

I follow the guidelines I learned going through seeking to become a seminary teacher. Allow the spirit to direct you to find principles and quotes that can create a discussion. Do not be afraid of silence. One thing I learned sometimes the silence is necessary for the spirit to work and then inspire someone to share their thoughts.

Ask a question, and then wait for an answer, or state the question differently.

I am also not one that is afraid to ask someone directly their thoughts. If it is silent for more than 30 seconds, then I will ask someone in the meeting their thoughts. I respect their answer no matter what it is. One brother would always remain quiet. So, I started asking him his thoughts when it was silent. He would often say, "I don't have anything to share." I would accept and move on. Other times he would share.

And how do you get more participation from the younger guys and not have it dominated by the old high priest group?

Directly ask the younger guys if older brothers are dominating the discussion.