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Teaching Others

If nothing else, this aspect of Venturing presents one of the best arguments for priests quorums to take advantage of the Venturing program. (I note in relation to this, that the Boy Scouting program is also leaning towards this somewhat as well-see, for example, many of the recent merit badge changes that include teaching others.) Effective communication, and experience in teaching and measuring degrees of understanding, are critical skills for the youth to develop. I realize that I've already discussed this when I discussed the methods of Venturing, but I want to expand in how I see this method providing appropriate experiences for priests.

First of all, let me indicate that I think that the teaching opportunities should provide experience in both gospel-related teaching, as well as the more traditional Venturing teaching opportunities. I think this because the Crew is an extension of the Priests quorum, which has a fundamental duty to fulfill the purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood. I recognize that this may just be my personal preference, but I think that it would be particularly useful to practice standard teaching experiences, and then discussing how these might relate to teaching in gospel situations. In this way, the more interesting (to a priest) experiences can be related to the perceived "boring" aspects of the gospel.

For example, Venturers pursuing the Ranger award gain knowledge and experience in a variety of outdoor activities. In order to complete the requirements, they need to teach the concepts or prepare presentations. It seems only natural that part of the Venturing Crew meetings could be aimed at helping teach effective presentation and teaching skills, with an emphasis on preparing for these types of training opportunities. At the same time, these same skills could be emphasized as part of the communication skills necessary for effective gospel teaching. (In fact, the Teaching the Gospel manual may have a variety of teaching techniques that could be directly implemented in Venturing teaching opportunities.)


next up previous contents
Next: Ethical Controversies Up: Benefits of Venturing Previous: Benefits of Venturing   Contents
David Brian Walton 2002-02-18
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