One of the most difficult things for a Come Follow Me teacher is to help class members focus on the topic of study as a group. Each member of your class is coming to class with different reasons and different feelings. Teachers can use lesson openers like displaying a picture, writing a scrambled word on the board, playing music, or writing a thoughtful question on the board to help students quickly recognize the subject being presented. When students know what they're going to study, they can ask better questions and make better comments.
Lesson Openers establish a sense of purpose. Teachers should help students understand that they are attending class to come to know Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and progress toward eternal life through a study of His gospel as found in the scriptures and the words of the prophets.
Lesson Openers help you show you will present interesting, relevant, and edifying lessons. When teachers prepare and present edifying lessons on a consistent basis, students develop an expectation that they will learn something of value each time they attend class. Elder Boyd K. Packer taught:
“If you are teaching a class … , [students] will not return with any enthusiasm unless they are being taught something. They must learn something to want to return. They will come willingly, even eagerly, to a class … in which they are fed”
(Boyd K Packer, Teach Ye Diligently, 182).
Lesson Openers capture and maintain the students’ interest. Teachers can help focus the students’ minds on the learning experience by beginning each lesson in a way that captures the students’ attention and leads them to search the scriptures with greater purpose.
