New Website Helps Improve Teaching and Learning

Contributed By Heather Whittle Wrigley, Church News and Events

  • 29 July 2011
 

President Russell T. Osguthorpe explains one of many ways the new Teaching the Gospel website can help improve gospel teaching.

Article Highlights

  • The Teaching the Gospel section of ChurchofJesusChrist.org is designed to help both teachers and students of the gospel.
  • Teaching, No Greater Call supplies the foundation for the Teaching the Gospel section of ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
  • The website is currently available in English, with plans to expand it into other languages.

“Every parent, every Sunday School teacher, every youth teacher, every teacher in Primary, and the youth themselves are teachers.” —Russell T. Osguthorpe, Sunday School general president

Teaching the gospel is an essential function of the Church, and the new Teaching the Gospel section of ChurchofJesusChrist.org is designed to help members become effective gospel teachers and learners at home and in Church callings.

“Every parent, every Sunday School teacher, every youth teacher, every teacher in Primary, and the youth themselves are teachers,” said Brother Russell T. Osguthorpe, Sunday School general president. “This website says, ‘We can give you some help, we can give you some ideas, we can help you understand what it means to teach well.’”

Teaching the Gospel Website

The Teaching the Gospel section of ChurchofJesusChrist.org is designed to help both teachers and students of the gospel.

The “Teaching the Gospel” sidebar on the left side of the landing page lists simple topics such as “Prepare a Lesson” and “Principles and Methods of Teaching the Gospel” and provides tips specific to teaching children, youth, and adults as well as for teaching at home.

Clicking on most of these topics brings readers to simple explanations, which give suggestions for activities, list related scriptures, and have short instructional videos.

Teaching, No Greater Call, a manual that Brother Osguthorpe has said “is to gospel teaching what Preach My Gospel is to missionary work” (“Teaching Helps Save Lives,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2009, 15), provides the foundation for information on the Teaching the Gospel section of ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

The “Prepare a Lesson” section has links to current curriculum manuals, while the video gallery contains excerpts from talks given by members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles regarding teaching and learning.

“Find something that you want to do better that you know will help your teaching improve, then learn what you need to do,” Brother Osguthorpe said. “Then set a goal, get a plan, and try it out in class. See how it works.”

Every Member a Teacher

The Lord, the Master Teacher, commanded, “You shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom” (D&C 88:77).

“Gospel learning changes lives,” Brother Osguthorpe said. “It helps people be better. It helps people try new things sometimes that they didn’t think they could do.”

Members of the Church teach classes in church, serve as home teachers and visiting teachers, teach friends and neighbors about the gospel, and teach their families.

“Inspired instruction in the home and in the Church helps provide this crucial element of nourishing by the good word of God,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in his talk, “Teaching and Learning in the Church.” “And the opportunity to magnify that call exists everywhere. … In this church, it is virtually impossible to find anyone who is not a teacher” ([worldwide leadership training meeting, Feb. 10, 2007], Liahona, June 2007, 56; Ensign, June 2007, 89).

We must learn to be better teachers and students, Brother Osguthorpe said during October 2009 general conference

“Learning and teaching are not optional activities in the kingdom of God,” he testified. “They are the very means by which the gospel has been restored to the earth and by which we will gain eternal life” (“Teaching Helps Save Lives,” 17).

The website is currently available in English, and there are plans to expand it into other languages. But that doesn’t mean members who don’t speak English don’t have access to teaching helps, Brother Osguthorpe said. The manual, Teaching, No Greater Call, is available to all Church members.

“When someone goes to this manual and to the scriptures prayerfully and with real desire to improve, the Lord will help them improve their teaching,” he said. “The most important thing in the end … is drawing upon the powers of the Spirit to help you know what you should do for those you’ve been called to serve.”

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