Other things to know

Please know that you are not alone in your calling.  You have a team of people ready and willing to support you.  You can reach out to:

• Your S&I Coordinator and Administrative Assistant 

• Your Bishopric, Branch Presidency, and Ward Council

• Stake Supervisors

• Senior missionaries assigned to S&I

• Parents & caregivers

We're all here to help 👩🏽‍🦰🧑🏾‍👴🏼👩🏽

Topics you may want to discuss include student progress, attendance, transport issues, classroom materials, help to finish missed work from earlier years, or any other concerns/needs you have.

From the General Handbook: 

To protect teachers and students, two adults should be present in the building or home where a seminary class is being taught. An additional teacher may be called, or another responsible adult may be assigned to be present. The second adult could be the teacher’s spouse or the parent of a class member. He or she should be the same gender as the teacher, unless that person is an adult member of the teacher’s family. A teacher should never be alone in a classroom, building, or vehicle with a student unless the student is the teacher’s child.   

Additional Comments:

Please discuss this with your bishopric so you know who is your 2nd adult.  You are welcome to consult with your S&I Coordinator if you have questions.

If the 2nd adult scheduled to visit the class is unable to attend without any warning, do we need to cancel seminary for that day?  

No. However, this pattern should be avoided and rectified as soon as possible. It is vital that each unit prepare for this occurrence well in advance.  

It is preferred that students not wear pyjamas and sleepwear in class, nor bring ‘sleep’ related items such as pillows and blankets.  Students who do so often find it harder to engage in the class as they are more tempted to go back to sleep.  However, we also want to be welcoming to all Seminary students who come to class each day.  

Please don't turn away students who come in their pyjamas - we'd rather they felt welcomed and have the chance to feel the Spirit in class, than return home.

As the teacher, you are entitled and encouraged to set and enforce your own rules and expectations with relation to dress standards.  We recommend that you discuss these guidelines with your bishop or branch president so that you and he are unified in your expectations on this matter. 

There are 3 types of trainings you will be invited to take part in.

Area Group Training

This is done online or in-person twice a year: January/February and June/July.  The Coordinator runs this training for all of their area.

Stake or District Training

Your Stake Supervisor or Service Missionaries may run trainings for your Stake or District a few times throughout the year.

Individual Training

Micro-Training: These are small training modules that are released weekly by the Coordinator on our Facebook page.  Teachers do these at a time that suits them.  Note - these are currently on hold while we await a Coordinator to start.

Phone/Online Calls:  The Coordinator or Service Missionaries will call throughout the year to see how you are going, offer support, and help you set goals.

Students graduate Seminary if they:

• Have completed 4 years of courses as described above

• Receive an Ecclesiastical Endorsement from a bishopric member.  

An Ecclesiastical Endorsement is needed for a Year 4 Seminary student to graduate.  This endorsement verifies that a student is worthy and committed to living the standards of the gospel.

The bishop or one of his counsellors may complete these endorsements as part of regularly scheduled interviews.  These interviews should be conducted early enough to allow the students time to work with the bishop to resolve any issues.

To maintain confidentiality, information from bishops about an individual student's worthiness should be given only to stake presidents and not to S&I personnel.  If a bishop requests additional time beyond seminary graduation to resolve worthiness issues, the Seminary Diploma provided by S&I should be given to the bishop.  It could then be awarded by the bishop when appropriate.

Students start Seminary when they are in Year 10.  On WISE, students are identified as S1-S4. Thus, on WISE, student years should be:

Year 10 = S1

Year 11 = S2

Year 12 = S3

Year 13 = S4

We do not enrol Year 9s on WISE.

Note:  If a student transfers from overseas to New Zealand, we may need to reclassify their year group on WISE.  Please raise this with your Administrative Assistant as it can affect their graduation year.

All teachers who teach through Zoom need access to their Ward's Zoom account so that their lesson can be for 60 minutes (or 50 minutes for classes that have 5 lessons a week).

If you do not have access to such an account - please talk to a member of your bishopric and ask to use the Ward's Zoom account.

If you ward does not have one set up, please talk to your Stake Supervisor or a member of the Stake Presidency.  They will be able to help you have access to the Stake Zoom account.

We hope you get better soon.

If You Are Suddenly Unable To Hold a Class:

 First  Is there someone you can ask to take it for you?  It is a good idea to discuss this with a member of you bishopric ahead of time so that you know whom you could ask to relieve for you.

 Second  Sometimes it is necessary to cancel a class due to sudden events or illnesses.  If this happens, and you are not able to get a reliever, please cancel the class.  It is good to contact the students and parents to make sure everyone hears.

HOW TO MARK WISE IN THIS SITUATION

If you do have a class, WISE needs to either:

• Be marked as absent, or

• You can contact the Administrative Assistant to remove the day from WISE.  However, we can only remove a few days a year otherwise the time requirement will not be met and a student will be unable to graduate.

For Planned Absences:

 First  Is there someone you can ask to take it for you?  It is a good idea to discuss this with a member of you bishopric ahead of time so that you know whom you could ask to relieve for you.

 Second  If you are unable to find someone to relieve for you, your students will need to complete the lessons from the Student Manual.  This is available in the Gospel Library on the Church website.

HOW TO MARK WISE

Students can email you their answers to the lesson's questions (or write them down to hand to you).  Once you have replied, mark their Attendance as "Present".  At the end of the week, for those lessons you have not received, mark those days as "Absent".  If the students give them to you later on, change their attendance to "Madeup Absence" on WISE.  

Remember - WISE must not have unmarked attendance for more than 2 weeks ago.

Serving in Seminary Home Page 

Course Materials 

Teach 

Focus on Jesus Christ 

Love Those You Teach 

Teach by the Spirirt 

Teach the Doctrine 

Invite Diligent Learning 

Developing as an Online Teacher 

Guidelines for Successful Online Teaching 

The following are suggestions:

• Welcome students and visitors 

• Conduct the devotional 

• Assist the teacher as required 

• Lead by example in all aspects of participation in class 

• Contact students to remind them of assignments 

• Assist with recruitment and reactivation 

• Contact or visit absent students 

• Bear testimony 

• Help tidy up classroom after class 

The following are suggestions:

• Accept responsibilities for specific tasks e.g., devotionals 

• Assist class president in all responsibilities 

• Fulfil class president's role when class president is absent 

The following are suggestions:

• Keep accurate attendance records and inform class president of attendance and absences.  

• Send Birthday cards and Get-Well cards as appropriate 

• Assist class president in contacting students as required  

• Participate effectively in class; be a good example