Just wanted to say that I teach the best group of freshmen in the whole wide world. For any who may not know I teach an early morning Seminary class. This is a bible study class and there are 25 freshmen in my class this year. These kids are AWESOME!
The first 'incident' of the year I call: "A Seminary Teacher's Nightmare AKA We're In Good Hands"! Back at the end of September I awoke to my husband's alarm at 7:00 a.m. In my foggy brain I was thinking, is today Saturday?... Until a few seconds later the adrenaline jolt told me that NO it wasn't Saturday and it was indeed a school day which meant I was LATE for Seminary (which starts at 6:25 a.m.)!!! I jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom, threw on my clothes & hot footed it down to the church, all the while worrying how in the world they would split my class of 25 up between the other big classes in our building?! The irony of this is that before the school year started we met as Seminary teachers and discussed backup plans in case one of the teachers didn't make it some morning, I assured the other teachers that it would never be a problem for them to have to cover my class because I live very close to the church, so even in inclement weather I'd be able to get to the church AND in the 3 1/2 years that I've taught early morning Seminary I had never overslept so they didn't need to worry about that either!!! Well...as I told my class that morning, I guess the lesson is, never say never!!
Anyway...when I arrived at the church building my first inclination was to wander around the building to see where my class ended up, but I heard sound from OUR classroom. So I rushed down there and SURE ENOUGH, there was the whole class listening respectfully/intently as some of the students were reenacting one of the scripture stories we'd been studying! Once that was over, the kids gave me the 'low down' on what they'd done. When I wasn't there as they arrived (I'm usually the first one in the building) they let one of the other teachers know. When I didn't show up after it was time to start they chose an opening hymn, sang it, had the prayer & devotional, practiced the scripture mastery, had 10 minutes of personal scripture study and then decided to split up into 4 groups and have the role play/reenactments. WOW!!!!! Have I mentioned before that these are the most AWESOME youth EVER!!!! My husband and I had previously discussed the fact that we see future Relief Society Presidents, Bishops, Stake Presidents and all manner of leaders in these youth. This experience just testified to me that it's true! They are AMAZING, and I am truly grateful and humbled to be able to serve as their Seminary teacher. We are truly in good hands in the church with this next generation!
I never knew for sure what happened with my alarm. When I got home and checked it, it was still set at 5:10 AM and was in the 'on' position. So I made the obvious choice and purchased a new alarm clock!
We just held our first scripture chase of the year today. We start with a breakfast and thanks to lots of generous parents this one was great as usual. Then we have the scripture chase. Each year the youth are asked to memorize 25 scriptures from the current book of scriptures they're studying (this year it's Old Testament), we also discuss personal and missionary applications for the scriptures. For the scripture chase we focused on the first 12 scriptures with clues from the personal and missionary applications, key words and first words. We also had a 'second chance' opportunity for each round where the kids could win points by finding and throwing an item chosen at random (like a black sock, set of keys, etc) into a square taped off on the floor, it made the scripture chase lots of fun!
Earlier in the year we studied the 10 Commandments, one of which is of course, to honor your parents. I told the kids that they would honor me as their teacher at this scripture chase by being good sports and doing their best. They did GREAT! They didn't win, but as one of the students pointed out, they didn't do bad at all as they only lost by 5 points. They made this teacher proud! GOOD JOB freshmen!!
Can't wait to have a Christmas party with these great kids over the Christmas break!
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