Communication

Right now I am the Gospel Doctrine teacher in my ward. I taught last semester from the Old Testaments and am now in the New Testament for this semester. So far it's been a great experience. I've learned a lot about effective teaching and The Spirit. Of course there are times when I feel completely inadequate, but I think that every teacher does at some point. This week in Leadership class we learned about the individual "Lego pieces" that make a leader. The one leadership skill that particularly stood out to me was communication. As a teacher I have to be able to communicate the doctrines and principles effectively so that the class members understand me. It's not always easy to do. I've learned that in order to communicate clearly as I teach I first need to know the material. This means that I have to study and plan during the week. Also, I literally need to project my voice so that everyone can actually hear me since our Sunday school is a lot bigger than regular classes. Thirdly, I don't have to use fancy language, but simple understandable words. It helps to give examples and analogies. I am definitely not perfect at communicating effectively, but it's a skill that I practice each lesson.