I start my class each day with 4 or 5 starter questions that review the material we learned the class before. My students come in and sit down and should quietly pull out their own piece of paper to answer the questions and see if they truly learned what they needed to in the last class. I give them about 10 minutes and then we go over the questions together. This gives me somewhat of an idea of how well they learned the material from the last class so I know how much to review before we move on.
Today my students were really struggling with the starter questions even though last class they seemed to be doing really well with the lesson. I was actually somewhat shocked After finding they didn't have any questions from the homework, I had to ask how they got the homework so well and not the starter questions which are the exact same concept. One class pointed out to me that the questions on the starter "looked different" than the ones on the homework so they didn't know what to do. Reality is that the starter questions were actually easier than the homework. So this got me thinking, how often do we get so hung up on processes and step by step directions that we don't even know what we are figuring out?
My students seem to be really good at plugging things into formulas. If I show them the exact steps they need to take to get the right answer, they memorize the steps. But when I ask them to analyze a problem that uses the exact same steps but looks different, they are completely lost. Do we do the same to the Lord? Do we get hung up on processes and steps and not truly pay attention to what we are working toward solving? Do we have our daily routine of rolling to the floor to pray, jumping in the shower, pulling out the scriptures while eating breakfast, and leaving for the day; yet never stop to realize what those steps are actually leading us to or solving for us? The steps, the process, the formula are all ways to get us the answer, but like my students I don't think we always realize the question? What is the problem that is sitting in front of us? What are the steps to get to the solution? Are we following the right steps? And most importantly, HOW do those steps get us to the solution? If we are just plugging in numbers day after day after day, we are not actually paying attention to what is being taught. No wonder we find ourselves constantly posed with the same problem/trial/struggle. We followed the steps to solve it but didn't even realize what we solved. We got the right answer, everything worked out, and we moved on. But when the problem is posed again in our life "in different words" we have no idea how to approach it.
We could save ourselves a lot of frustration and headache if we would just pay attention to the lesson being taught rather than memorizing steps and formulas. I know because I am REALLY good at memorizing formulas. But that means I am also really good at getting the same problem thrown at me over and over again.
Today my students were really struggling with the starter questions even though last class they seemed to be doing really well with the lesson. I was actually somewhat shocked After finding they didn't have any questions from the homework, I had to ask how they got the homework so well and not the starter questions which are the exact same concept. One class pointed out to me that the questions on the starter "looked different" than the ones on the homework so they didn't know what to do. Reality is that the starter questions were actually easier than the homework. So this got me thinking, how often do we get so hung up on processes and step by step directions that we don't even know what we are figuring out?
My students seem to be really good at plugging things into formulas. If I show them the exact steps they need to take to get the right answer, they memorize the steps. But when I ask them to analyze a problem that uses the exact same steps but looks different, they are completely lost. Do we do the same to the Lord? Do we get hung up on processes and steps and not truly pay attention to what we are working toward solving? Do we have our daily routine of rolling to the floor to pray, jumping in the shower, pulling out the scriptures while eating breakfast, and leaving for the day; yet never stop to realize what those steps are actually leading us to or solving for us? The steps, the process, the formula are all ways to get us the answer, but like my students I don't think we always realize the question? What is the problem that is sitting in front of us? What are the steps to get to the solution? Are we following the right steps? And most importantly, HOW do those steps get us to the solution? If we are just plugging in numbers day after day after day, we are not actually paying attention to what is being taught. No wonder we find ourselves constantly posed with the same problem/trial/struggle. We followed the steps to solve it but didn't even realize what we solved. We got the right answer, everything worked out, and we moved on. But when the problem is posed again in our life "in different words" we have no idea how to approach it.
We could save ourselves a lot of frustration and headache if we would just pay attention to the lesson being taught rather than memorizing steps and formulas. I know because I am REALLY good at memorizing formulas. But that means I am also really good at getting the same problem thrown at me over and over again.
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