An apostle from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was in Provo, Utah (my home town) earlier this week. Elder Richard G. Scott spoke at the Brigham Young University Education Week devotional. I went with a friend to hear him speak. I was uplifted and edified to hear his words. He spoke about learning and teaching. He said he was going to talk about how to “learn and teach effectively.” My friend and I smiled at each other when he said that was going to be his topic. We are both excited about learning and teaching.

Elder Scott said that the path to truth was spiritual guidance through the promptings of the Holy Ghost. He shared this principle:

Throughout the remainder of my life, I will seek to learn by what I hear, see and feel. I will write down the important things I learn and will do them.”

He talked about many other ways in which to be a learner and a teacher. I really love the field of instructional design and his words rang true to my heart. He promised that the Holy Ghost will provide “personalized instruction adapted to your individual needs.” That is also a task of an instructional designer and teacher! Of course, most professors in academia don’t pursue the “spiritual” side of teaching and learning in their classes. The closest I’ve come to teaching that caters to the spiritual side of the individual is through the work of Parker Palmer.

One of the main topics that hit my heart was that Elder Scott said that we will never be prompted to do something we cannot do. He also said that we can make many choices, but we cannot choose our final destination. Our actions do that. I really felt such a change of heart with these words. I know that my actions need to reflect what I know and feel. And I must share these feelings with my children and help them experience these same feelings so they can fulfill their purposes during this earthly experience.

Elder Scott admonished the audience to encourage interaction with those we teach—to promote participation. He said as teachers we should seek to help others follow the principle he outlined above and to help them qualify to be led by the Spirit.

So…I will test his words. Throughout the remainder of my life, I will seek to learn by what I hear, see and feel. I will write down the important things I learn and will do them.