IP&T 301: Observational Learning Report

For the observational learning report, I observed a young man in my ward while he was teaching Sunday school. I was very impressed by his teaching skills, and I feel like he was definitely an effective teacher. There were many strategies that I noticed him using which helped him to get his messages across to the class more successfully. One thing he did was write important information and lists on the board. I think that this helped to reinforce the things that he was saying, and it enabled the people in the class to stay with him in the discussion. Also, the teacher included the members of the class in a lot of discussion. When he called on each person, he would call them by name (and ask for their names if he did not already know them), which I believe helped the class to feel more valued and involved. By calling people by name, this teacher was able to help the members of the class feel more comfortable, and I think that people were more encouraged to share their thoughts as a result. After most of the comments from members of the class, the teacher would reinforce what was just said and expand on it if he had any further thoughts on the subject. I think that this helped people to feel like their comments had value and could contribute to the overall lesson. In addition to this, this teacher relied a lot on the scriptures to back up the statements he made. He had people read specific scriptures to point out things, and would then make connections with the things that were read and discussed. By including so much that came straight from the scriptures, this gave more validity to the things that he was teaching. One of the best things about the way this teacher taught was his great use of humor. He was able to really keep the class involved and interested through making us laugh, but he was also able to keep discussions serious when it would not have been appropriate to use humor.
As a learner, I felt very comfortable in his classroom. I really enjoyed his lesson, and I feel like I was able to get a good, uplifting message from it. I think that this teacher did an excellent job with his lesson because he was able to keep the attention of the class and convey his intended message.
If I were to teach this lesson myself, I would not change too many things about the way it was presented. Probably the only thing I would change would be to focus more on the students’ everyday lives and how their experiences can be related to the topic of the class. By doing this, the students would be able to make more connections to the lesson and be able to apply it better in their lives.