EFY 2008 IU-Bloomington

I did EFY again this year, this time as a speaker (teacher). It was a great experience and we hope to get this opportunity again some time. This is what a teacher does...

Monday: fly in (I didn't have to since I went to the Bloomington session, but the 3 other teachers did), meet other teachers and session director, check into hotel (again, I didn't have to do this). EFY orientation (optional for teachers)... for orientation I had Natalie and the kids come meet me on campus and we all went together. It's mostly just yelling/cheering while participants learn rules and expecations. Eli thought it was pretty cool. We then met Brother Carver (the session director) and went to the cafeteria and ate with the kids. They were tired so we went home from there instead of sticking around for FHE.

Tuesday: attend session director message and then set up your class. Mine was in the business building across campus so Brother Tanuvasa and I left early to get there with plenty of time. Brother T. is an institute teacher in southern California and I had a great time peppering him with questions about his job and involvement with CES. I taught "Becoming a Life-Long Gospel Scholar" in the morning. You teach the same class twice so different participants can come the second time. This 1st class was pretty rough for me. It was attended by 14-15 year olds and it wasn't incredibly entertaining. While the 2nd class did go a little better I'm not sure I will be teaching this topic ever again. After class we walked back to the dorms (right next to my office here on campus) and ate at the cafeteria. Then we walked back to the business building where I taught "Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude" to the 16-18 year-olds. This class went much better, maybe I'll get rehired after all. After the two classes I went to "work-work" (research in the education building) for an hour or so and then took the bus home. In the evening we came back (with the family) for the dance. They spent a lot of time going over etiquette and dance instruction so by time the dance actually started the kids were tired and we didn't last long. Eli was swarmed with admirers and was quite the celebrity throughout. He did best when giving high-fives and waving to his "friends."

Wednesday: The morning and into the afternoon was like Tuesday only Natalie came to see one of my classes. I taught "Keeping Life's demands in balance" in the morning to the 16-18 year-olds and in the afternoon taught "How Tall is Your Tower? Using battle strategies from the Book of Mormon in setting personal standards." The morning class started shaky but the 2nd one went really well. The opposite occurred in the afternoon. It's crazy how having different audiences will make such a difference in the class. Each class I had varied from around 40-50 to 100-125. After the afternoon classes I went back to "work" and then home and my part in EFY is over for this year.

So being a teacher is very different from being a counselor or BC. You don't feel like a superstar like the counselors do, but it is really neat having so many youth at the same time and being able to feel the spirit with them as well as feeling Heavenly Father's love for them. I got to know several counselors and participants and learned a ton from the other teachers and session director. It was also really neat having the family here, a luxury most teachers don't have. If I'm rehired next year I'll likely have to fly out somewhere by myself. Well, this post is long enough... if you want to know more give me a call, and if you'd like my lesson outlines I can email them out to you.