IP&T 301: Observational Learning Report

"Brother R."

As I walked into Sunday School, the first thing that caught my attention was “Brother R.” scrawled on the chalkboard in big, bold letters. As the teaching assistant started class, she introduced “Brother R.” as the substitute for the day, expressing her gratitude at his willingness to teach the lesson.

“Brother R.,” better known to the class as Cory Renshaw, immediately gained my trust as a learner by standing up in front of the class, pausing, and giving the class a genuine grin. Cory began his lesson by first establishing a good learning environment—his personality was displayed in the “Brother R.” on the chalkboard and his warm smile communicated to students the understanding that his class was going to be a safe place where contributions were encouraged. To get the class thinking, Cory asked for all students to look up and share scriptures on apostasy. Student response was rather slow, so Cory used a piece of candy as a reward to encourage participation. As a teacher, Cory was very respectful to his students. When students responded to questions he asked, Cory looked the student in the eye, listened intently and always responded positively to student answers saying, “exactly” or “thank you.” Cory never put a student down for an answer that wasn’t quite was he was looking for. In addition, Cory referred to students by name, conveying the fact that he cared about each individual student and what he or she had to say was important.

As a teacher, Cory was prepared. Before his lesson, Cory had asked two students to share the scriptures describing the first vision in their mission languages. As a student, this fascinated me, piqued my interest, and really made me think about Cory’s request to “imagine that you are hearing this for the first time.” Throughout his lesson, Cory encouraged student participation. He would ask very thought-provoking questions, pause to allow students to think about their answers, and then call upon volunteers. To foster more class participation at certain times, Cory used challenges. When he asked a question about the doctrinal points found in the first vision and students took a long time to answer, not really getting the answers he was looking for, he encouraged them by saying, “C’mon guys. I know you know this one! If it helps, I was able to come up with a list of A to G, all by myself! That means you guys should at least get A to L because you are all a lot smarter than me!” Comments such as these brought out Cory’s personality and added an element of light-heartedness to the classroom. To round out his lesson, Cory had a video clip which he introduced by saying, “Well, in true substitute fashion, we’re going to watch a video!”

To end his incredible lesson, Cory bore his testimony on the topics he covered. He then thanked everyone again for their comments and participation and just like that, Sunday School was over! I walked away with a lot to think about and ponder regarding certain connections Cory pointed out to me about personal prayer. Cory was an effective teacher. Despite Cory’s lesson being on a topic that most church members are very familiar with, he was able to keep his lesson pace steady and he taught me new and interesting facts that I have never heard before. I believe this is one of Cory’s greatest accomplishments with the lesson he taught—he was able to take a topic that everyone knew and still teach something new and different in a way that was fun and yet still reverent. Cory’s lesson was infused with true church doctrine in the form of prophetic quotes and scriptures. He started his lesson by creating an inviting and encouraging classroom environment. Throughout his lesson, he was respectful to his students, used tactics to prompt participation, came to class prepared and his enthusiasm was apparent. Cory was able to pace the lesson so that it never dragged on and he used a variety of teaching methods, including the movie clip. As a learner, I appreciated Cory’s his efforts and the material, in the way he presented it. I feel that Cory did a fantastic job and I wouldn’t have done anything different to teach the topic.