10. Teacher Share Nicole Aaron: Changing the Class Culture when no one will talk

Watch on youtube: https://youtu.be/TnGP65saojE

Strategies discussed:

Compliments and High Fives.

Adopting unusual strategies

Kindness Videos

Speed Dating Ideas

Pass the paper ideas.

Study Pages.

Using Different Translations

Transcript

0:00

Welcome everybody, seminary teachers. We love you. You're exciting, you're awesome, you're amazing. Nicole Aaron, a teacher from Northern California, the Bay Area, joined me for a quick conversation about some of the strategies she's found helpful in her class. I thought it would be wonderful for you to hear this, so I hit record and she share some thoughts. Now, if you wanna join me, I would love for you to reach out to me and tell me, "Hey, I got some stories to share of how these strategies have helped me." Now, I'm not telling you how to teach, I just wanna share ideas. And as you share it with different teachers and hear different teachers' ideas, you can see how they've helped them in their class. And hopefully it inspires you to, uh, adopt some of stre- some of these strategies, give them a shot, and have your own experiences. Thank you so much. Remember, you're awesome. Let's jump in with Nicole. Tell, tell me how you use the compliment stuff, the compliment page stuff I've, or th- Yeah interview. So, I mean, I use slides every day just to sort of direct my teaching. Exactly. And I always like to just add in a couple of the compliment pages, because we're always doing partner work or group work. And so I add them whenever we're kind of, like, finished up. And, um, the first couple times I made the boys... I have, like, one- I have two girls, but um, I really have a lot of boys, like 10 boys. So, um, the first couple times I made them compliment each other and give a high five, it was very awkward. They were like, "This is so cringe. Are we really gonna high five each other?" Like, "Nobody does that." And I'm like, "Guess what, we're doing it." And so we did it the first few times, and it was, like, kinda weird. And then as we just kept doing it the whole year, it became sort of their favorite part of- Yes the day. And I would have them, like, at the end of class, like, high-fiving each other, giving each other compliments just on their own because it was fun and part of what they were used to. That's great. And I loved it. It changed the culture. Okay. Now, explain to somebody what you mean by compliment page, 'cause somebody might not understand that. Okay. So, um, I, up on my slides, I would just have a list of compliments that you could give someone. So it might be like, "You have main character energy," or, um, I don't... I'm trying to think of some of the ones. W- I tried to come up with w- I took a lot of the ones that you, um, you gave, but then I would just put into ChatGPT, you know, "What are some cringe compliments for high school seniors?" And, um, so then it would just, e- each time I used it, I'd have a different list. And like, I tried to find like, the silliest, the better. But like, you know, they would tell each other, "You're the number one yapper," or, you know. Like, they, and they would just, like, get so excited to share these compliments with each other. Ah. Um, the other day one of the ones everybody really liked was, "You look like a c- a person that is, um," what's the word, "responsible enough to take care of plants." And so they were all telling each other that. Like, they're like, "I do have plants. I can do it." You know? But it- You look like the type of person that's responsible for the plants. You know, otherwise they'd die without you. Yes. So, but they loved it, and it made it so kids that didn't normally engage with each other had something that they could just grab from the board and then engage with that. That's awesome. And then, you know, further conversations were easier after that. Exactly. That's so amazing. Now, you gotta admit, some of my ideas are a little crazy, a little bit out there, and a little bit different. Um, was there ever a time where you weren't quite sure to embrace an idea or not? And, and- There were several times keep in mind, I am not, I'm not telling people you gotta do these strategies. I'm sharing strategies. You can do whatever you want. That's your class. But, uh, yeah, a- any experiences with that or, or no? Yeah, there were definitely a few times where I would watch the video and go, "Okay, I'm not the hype man that you are. I'm not, like sure, I can bring that kind of enthusiasm and like make that happen without coming off really cringe to the kids." And I didn't want, you know, it to come off badly and them just shaking their heads like, "Oh, this is sad." But I would talk it over with my husband and be like, "What do you think? Can I do this? Can I actually pull this off? Can I, can I say it this way?" And he'd go, "Yeah, just go for it." And I would literally come away every time going, "It totally worked. Like, that idea was not cringe. It- the kids loved it." Yeah. Any, any come into your mind off the top of your head? Maybe the high five in the beginning? Um, there was one where we, like we had to like stand in a circle or something around kids and say. And I was like, "I c- I don't think I can do that. I don't think I can." Inside, inside outside circle? Yes. Yeah. I'm like, "I can't do it." But yeah, it, it works. So, um, I admit, trust in the process and it's okay. Ah, I wanna stand up and do the happy dance. Yeah. That's funny. So let me ask you, you had mentioned to me earlier that kindness videos changed the culture of your s- or your class. Can you tell me about that? Yeah. Um, well, I... So I have a few kids that are maybe, like, um, I don't know, they're not, they don't always go to church, but they come to seminary. Cool. And, um, sometimes some of them will, you know, it's easy to zone out, but it is one thing, like anytime I put in one of those, like, especially I feel like a lot of the n- the kindness clips, there's a lot of sports involved. There were. And, um, that really worked with my class, the certain set of boys that I had, and I put those up and, you know, with that good example. Um, there was one that we did a couple weeks ago where, um, it was like a lunchtime crew. Yes. Like, um, getting people- No- to like have someone to sit with at lunch. No one eats alone. That's what it's- Yeah. No one eats alone and in the school, uh- You can go find that in the kindness videos, No One Eats Alone, and it is fantastic. I play it every semester, sometimes twice a semester because I s- and I say, "This is what I hope our class becomes, and let's go g- go out and do this at the school." So keep going. Yeah. It w- uh, that one was really meaningful and, um, I... Like, then we talked about it after. You know, "What could this look like for you? What steps could you do today to do something similar to this? Like, how could you make sure that people-" Yeah are feeling this kind of welcoming from you?" Um, but we, we did the different kindness clips throughout the year, and they were always well-received. Everybody's eyes were glued, and they were ver- It was easy to have conversation about it afterwards, and then also to, like, bridge that towards, like, "How can I be a better representative of Jesus Christ by doing some of these things?" You know? Yes. Yeah. And here's a little thing. I believe they teach us something about Jesus because if you, if you... You've hear- You'll hear people explain that, like, the prophets in the scriptures are all types of Christ, right? Moses was a type of Christ. Um, David's a type of Christ. You know, uh, Noah or Jonah, uh, all are types of Christ, right? And you can, you can find people who've gone through each of the prophets and found how they're a type of Christ. Well, basically what you're saying is anybody who does good becomes a type of Christ. And I like to ask them, "What do, what does this teach about the Savior? You know, what do we learn from this person who's a type of Christ?" Mm-hmm. And you start to say, "Oh yeah, Jesus loves everybody." Mm-hmm. But in these people's lives, you see hundreds of different ways that people can show up with love and kindness and compassion. Mm-hmm. And it just helps us get a clearer picture of who Jesus is, because Jesus is in the background inspiring all these people's ideas. In other words, if Jesus were here, he would be the kid at lunch who's going around making sure everybody's got a friend. Yep. If Jesus were here, he would be that little kid, like that little kid who's four years old going and feeding the homeless. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's what Jesus inspires, and in a sense we're learning about Christ, and that's why they feel so good. The kids feel it- Mm-hmm right here. And what we're really feeling is the Spirit, and I think it's Jesus saying- That's me, and that's what I want you to do. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And it's, and it's done in a way, like I feel like sometimes it's hard for them to, like how do I relate to this person in the scriptures from forever ago? But I can see this story of a real person today doing this thing and go, "Oh, that's like just, you know, just the same way they're doing this today, it was being done in times of old," right? Like- Exactly I can make this modern and go out and do those things in a different way today. How did it impact your class culture? 'Cause at the beginning of this conversation before we aired, you said your class... Tell us, tell us what you, people told you- Yeah about your class. So I was warned, like, "This is the nicest group of boys you'll ever have. They're all good kids, but they are quiet. No one is going to talk. You're, you're basically gonna be up there giving a presentation. And they're so good. They'll listen and they'll pay attention, but they're not gonna talk." And, um, using these strategies like the, you know, um, the pair- the pair and share, and the, um, the where we would sit across from each other and rotate, um- Speed dating style lessons yeah, all of those things. Like, even the like, you know, you pass the paper. They lo- all of those ways I was able to engage all of those kids and get them to talk. Um, it, it, it made it so I feel like, 'cause we have some kids in my class who had different learning disabilities. Um, we have, you know, kids of all ranges of things, but it made it so no one felt nervous about sharing. No one felt like they couldn't raise their hand. Um, it, it ended up by the end of the year, I was like, I- I just wanted to cry. I'm so like blessed to be teaching these kids. And like, I would walk away with just like, "This was the greatest lesson," like all the time just walking out, and that's- that's really awesome. And that's why I do this. I genuinely want everybody to know that. Mm-hmm. Is because I used to be in the same boat. These c- these kids won't talk. They won't say a thing. And what do I do? Well, that's just what it is. You might as well- Yeah accept it. And then as I started getting these strategies and started putting them into place and started implementing some things and really changing the culture of the class- It, it just was miraculous. And I, I c- I get 95 to 100% of the kids actively doing what we're doing every- Yeah class. Um, and it's transformational. But we just need ideas. Yeah. You need ideas. You need strategies. And- It was, um, I... Even just, like, having them with the printout of, like the printout page, "These are the scriptures we're using today," and then, um, like they would highlight, you know, highlight the positives here or highlight the negatives here, or highlight the fa- your favorite quotes from this set of scriptures. Then it gave them something so that they were confident to raise their hand because they didn't have to just come up with something on the spot. They could say, "I liked this part here that I highlighted," or, "I like what I wrote about this." We, um... I have to show you this. We- This is, I had my son in my class so we kept, uh, we kept binders of all of our, so like- Study pages of all the study pages that they, I mean, it's like crazy. All the stuff, all the different things they did. And, um, I told them, like I gave them all their binders. Like, I mean, how cool is this that they've gone that much over these things? Praise be to Christ. But I, um, I gave them their binders the other day with all their stuff and I was like, "So in the near future, someone's gonna ask you to give a lesson or give a talk about, you know, this one scripture or this one t- thing. Guess where you get to turn to? You can go to this and like, oh, we already had a big lesson on this. I know exactly how to talk about this." So I hope that they'll look to them again. But it, it made for a really wonderful year. It was great. Oh. And here's the thing. Some people say, "Why are you doing these study pages? They'll be gone and they'll be lost forever." I, I don't have my seminary scriptures. Oh, yeah. Me neither. But if I can, if I can teach them to love the scriptures by experiencing it, and that's how you experience the power is by slowing down, writing deep- Yeah ponderous thoughts, Joseph Smith said something like that. Um, that's how we connect to the heavens and feel his power. How did your church class change? I mean, you said you, you're, you're sad to see them go and things like that, and you're grateful. Y- A- as, as time went on from this class that doesn't talk to- Yeah where, where, where are they at now? Well, just it... Well, for example, like Friday we had sort of little like a fun day because we only have a couple days left and, um, we kind of ended a little bit early and I'm like, "Okay. Said the prayer. Everybody can leave." And at the beginning of the, of the year, prayer was gone and room emptied, right? Um, Friday I had to like kick them out and say, "Okay, guys. You really need to go to school," because they're all just talking to each other and just having a good time and wanting to be there. Um, I, it... I d- I don't know. I, um, I have one student who has dyslexia, and she's super intelligent and... but she gets in her own head about, like, I... th- it takes me too long to think about this. Um, and, uh, she... We went to dinner last night with all of the seniors and were just asking them about their experiences with church and how did this go, and what did you like about church in general the last several years? And she was saying how she came in and she thought Old Testament's gonna be impossible because when I read that, I don't understand anything it says. But she was shocked how, like, easy it was to understand the stories and, like, just learn what they were saying to her and what they meant to her without just, like, let me just stare at the scriptures and try to figure that out on my own, but us taking time where we would take, you know, just a handful of scriptures and then really look at them. Like, what is this really telling us? Um, it w- it... The whole year was great. Great. But I, I mean, literally I borrowed so much of your content that it, it made a year that I was so worried about turn out to just this huge blessing. It's great. That makes me so happy. Did- Yeah what did... what was her thought, your thoughts about using different translations? Oh, we loved it. Everybody loved it. We loved the side by side. We, um, yeah, we used... And I, um, you know, started adding even different ones. Like, um, I don't, I don't... I can't think of them all, but I have one that's like an illustrated one that I would pull up for them that was, um... But yeah, it w- it was fun to s- to compare and to notice the different language used, and the kids really liked that. They thought that was really cool because sometimes you'd get- A little more meaning from one of them than the other. And just to kinda see that, like, there are others you can look at and that's, I- it was great. And, and that did help also for certain sections that I felt like were very language-heavy and going to probably be dif- difficult for a lot of the kids, I would maybe use the New International version, um, and print that out. And it just, it just made it easier. It was, it was good. That's fantastic. Um, if somebody's just getting started on school with some of these ideas, what, where would you, what would you recommend? Yes. And when I say school, I'm talking S-K-O-O-L, Seminary Teacher Helper. Oh. Oh, yeah. Um, honestly, I just, uh, I, I always start with the slides. Um, and then I, I, 'cause they go exactly through the lesson and, you know, as it is. But, um, I, I've always looked up whatever you have on YouTube. Okay, I'm gonna watch that too. Um, but all of the things where you can engage the kids, because when they teach each other it's so much more powerful than me teaching it to them. Um, every time I could, I could get them to go, "Okay, here's your principle that we're learning from this scripture. I need you to teach it to your neighbor, and then he's gonna teach you a different one." When I would walk around and hear the things that they were saying, I was like, "I, I couldn't have taught that better." And they're actually listening to each other, you know? So it... Just use those resources. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's gonna Transformational is what I'm hearing you say. Yeah. Yeah, it was great. Yeah. It's- And they're all gonna be on missions in the next year. Yeah. And all these skills that they've learned of, like, how to actually study the scriptures, and not just read it and close it and put it away, but actually look at a verse and go, "What does this mean, and what is this saying to me, and what should I do because of this?" That's gonna help them be successful missionaries. They- That's so true it's so cool. So true. So good. This was the first of teacher testimonials. I don't know what I'm gonna call these. Yeah. This was on the spot. I'm like, "I need to record this. This is great." And I'm gonna share this with the group, and, uh, maybe on the Seminary Teacher Helper podcast, just because that was beautiful. And thank you so much, Nicole, for joining us. Wow. Thanks. Seminary teachers, you are heroes. I love you. You're awesome. Have a great day, everybody.