New Youth Curriculum online

So. In reading through it, it seems to me that there are not going to be any hard manuals made available. Many of the lessons have videos that go along with them.

It is my hope that three things happen: Our entire building becomes wi-fi accessible, and not just pockets. Two, a laptop or two becomes part of the library like TV's are. And three that some easy to follow instructions are made available on how to download the videos to flash drives and DVD's so that they can be used by teachers that bring in their laptops but don't have wi-fi access or that teachers that don't have laptops can show the videos on regular TV's in the library.

Well having downloaded the PDF of the "Teaching the Gospel in the Savior’s Way" guide - it seems fairly obvious that it will be printed - just in terms of the way it's been designed.

All looks pretty exciting - although it does spawn many questions too. I imagine that we'll receive training in the next couple of months, either as localised meetings - or a general WWLT type affair, involving Bishoprics, Sunday School, and Youth Leaders only.

I think that any general training will involve as much of the ward council as possible, Richard G. Hinckley told high priests in his probably only Conference talk that they should help young men, other things in other places have stated about the same thing.

TinMan wrote:So. In reading through it, it seems to me that there are not going to be any hard manuals made available. Many of the lessons have videos that go along with them.

It is my hope that three things happen: Our entire building becomes wi-fi accessible, and not just pockets. Two, a laptop or two becomes part of the library like TV's are. And three that some easy to follow instructions are made available on how to download the videos to flash drives and DVD's so that they can be used by teachers that bring in their laptops but don't have wi-fi access or that teachers that don't have laptops can show the videos on regular TV's in the library.

One of the reasons I have been pushing so hard on my FMG - this has been in the planning phases for some time and was obvious to anyone who took some time to think about it. It is why I was hoping this year (based on budget requests from last year) to have my meetinghouses upgraded to the current standard equipment, and better internet speeds for members. The online tools assume that Internet Speed is reasonable for what is expected of SS and YM/YW leaders to teach from this curriculum, yes, there is a standard sentence that makes an accommodation for areas without Internet, but the assumption from the Central Office is that the LARGE MAJORITY of meetinghouses will be equipped to handle it and that exceptions are minimal.

What I really like is the ability for, and requirement of, teachers and leaders to REALLY know their youth and are able to shape lessons that are relevant in their lives. It forces teachers and leaders to actually prepare lessons rather than show up on Sunday Morning and start underlining the manual during Sacrament Meeting. I am excited for my 4 girls, the oldest just turned 12 this year.

My biggest worry in all of this will be making sure we have teachers who are capable, dedicated and reliable enough to teach at this kind of level. This is certainly another case of "raising the bar" for youth teachers.

dannykos wrote:My biggest worry in all of this will be making sure we have teachers who are capable, dedicated and reliable enough to teach at this kind of level. This is certainly another case of "raising the bar" for youth teachers.

We are the church that pulled handcarts across the plains... sometimes I wonder if many of us would endure that trial anymore. However, I am a big believer that people rise to the level of expectation placed on them?

JohnShaw wrote:We are the church that pulled handcarts across the plains... sometimes I wonder if many of us would endure that trial anymore. However, I am a big believer that people rise to the level of expectation placed on them?

Look at how preach my gospel has changed missionary work. No longer memorization, it's learn and understand the doctrine before you teach.

jtsummie wrote:Look at how preach my gospel has changed missionary work. No longer memorization, it's learn and understand the doctrine before you teach.

To be fair - as someone who served a mission using the missionary guide, and 6 discussion booklets - I think the more significant change is in the quality of missionary, not the quality of the material. The emphasis on teaching by the spirit was always there, but not enough missionaries were truly able to be trusted to go where the spirit took them.

Hence my previous comment about the quality of teachers called to serve, the Lord must feel like they're ready.

My question is if they knew this was coming why did the Church just suggest and I followed through with ordering a bunch of new curriculum material that won't be used now before Sept. 30?

spieren wrote:My question is if they knew this was coming why did the Church just suggest and I followed through with ordering a bunch of new curriculum material that won't be used now before Sept. 30?

The timing was certainly tight, but the new curriculum was announced in a September 12 letter, which was before the September 30 ordering deadline.

It's a hassle, but you can always return any unneeded materials to Distribution Services for full credit.

There were probably some correlation approvals that didn't get complete in time to get anything out before the annual curriculum ordering instructions were sent out. In fact, if you go to the page and select some of the units of the new curriculum that will be used later in the year, it will just say 'Coming Soon' on the unit's page where you would see content for the first few months of the year.

aebrown wrote:The timing was certainly tight, but the new curriculum was announced in a September 12 letter, which was before the September 30 ordering deadline.

It's a hassle, but you can always return any unneeded materials to Distribution Services for full credit.

You can call the global service center and have them update your order to not ship the youth curriculum materials with your annual curriculum order.

The new 2013 Youth Curriculum will replace the Young Women, Aaronic Priesthood and the youth Sunday School manuals. If your unit has already placed your annual curriculum order, you can contact Customer Support (GSC) at help@store.lds.org to receive a credit for these manuals. Please include your unit number and annual curriculum order number to receive proper credit back to your units’ account. Please do not return the manuals back to the Distribution Center.

If you have additional questions about the new Youth Curriculum, please visit https://www.lds.org/youth/learn/train/faq?lang=eng.