Course Corrections: It's Not Too Late to Make a Difference

We are now a few months into the school year, and I suspect many of us have had moments when we have looked at our classes and thought, "I wish I had done that differently from the beginning."

Maybe we wish we had established better classroom routines, helped students develop stronger study habits, encouraged more participation, or approached a particular challenge differently.

Sometimes we can even convince ourselves that because we didn't get something right at the beginning of the year, we are simply going to have to live with it for the rest of the year.

I hope we won't believe that.

I really do believe that these feelings are just a normal part of teaching. A larger concerned would be if we never recognized things we could do differently. Recognizing opportunities to improve is often evidence that we are paying attention, learning, and becoming better teachers.

One of the beautiful things about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it is a gospel of change.

Course corrections are not just something we occasionally need in our teaching. They are central to our progress as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Think about these four gospel principles that might help us approach the remainder of the school year with greater hope and confidence.

1. Recognizing a weakness can be the beginning of something better.

In Ether 12:27, the Lord teaches:

"If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness."

Notice that recognizing weakness is part of the Lord's plan for helping us grow. He doesn't show us our weaknesses simply to discourage us. He invites us to come unto Him so that, through His grace, weak things can become strong.

When we recognize that something in our teaching isn't working as well as we hoped, perhaps we can see that realization as an opportunity rather than a failure.

Instead of asking, "Why didn't I do this better?" we might ask, "What is the Lord helping me see, and what can I do with that understanding?"

2. We don't have to remain where we started.

The Apostle Paul taught:

"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark." (Philippians 3:13–14, KJV)

We can, and should, learn from the past, but I think its a waste of time to keep wishing we could go back and change it.

We can't go back to the first day of seminary and do things differently. But we can do things differently tomorrow.

Maybe tomorrow is the day we begin helping students take greater responsibility for their learning. Maybe it is the day we establish a new routine, invite more meaningful participation, or spend a little more time listening to our students.

The fact that we didn't begin something in August doesn't mean we can't begin it in November.

3. The Savior gives us power to change.

The Lord's promise in Ether 12:27 is more than we will recognize our weakness, but that through humility and faith in Him, He will help make weak things strong.

Elder Kevin S. Hamilton taught in his April 2022 general conference address, Then Will I Make Weak Things Become Strong, that the Savior's grace provides the power we need to change and become better.

I love that principle as it applies to teaching.

We are not expected to figure everything out on our own. We can pray about our classes, seek inspiration concerning individual students, and ask the Lord to help us recognize what matters most.

Sometimes--probably most--the course correction we need may be something small. But with the Lord's help, small changes can become meaningful blessings in the lives of our students.

4. Progress comes as we act in faith.

Ether 12:6 reminds us that we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith.

There have been times in my teacher career where I developed got teaching paralysis because I was not sure the cahnge I wanted to make would work. I worried that students won't respond, that it will feel awkward, or that I had already established patterns that will be difficult to change.

But faith invites us to move forward, even when we cannot see the outcome.

We don't need to change everything at once. We can identify one thing, prayerfully make an adjustment, and give it time.

Perhaps the first attempt won't work perfectly. That's okay. We can learn, adjust, and try again.

That is how growth happens.

An Invitation for This Week

For you kind few who take the time to read this each week, will you spend a few minutes prayerfully considering these questions:

• What is one thing in my teaching that I wish were going differently?

• What have I learned over the past few months that might help me approach it differently?

• What is one small course correction I could begin making this week?

Then, make the change. Don't wait until next semester or next school year.

And remember, we don't have to do this alone. We have the Lord, we have one another, and we have opportunities to learn from the experiences of other teachers.

I hope we will give ourselves permission to be growing teachers. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to discover things we wish we had done differently. And we are going to continue learning.

The Lord is not finished helping us become better teachers, and He is certainly not finished working in the lives of our students.

There is so much good that is happening, and there is so much good still ahead that can happen this school year.

Let's look forward with faith and make the most of the opportunities still ahead of us.