Every job has tools. Tools will bring assistance to the task. I wouldn’t recommend digging a hole with your hands. It can be done. How long would anyone want to continue at that job with out a tool? A shovel would bring a lot of benefit. I personally wouldn’t get too excited about a shovel. A huge back hoe is thing that can dig a big hole, which would be a cool tool. The job of teaching has tools as well. The more tools you have the better you can do a job, and the less effort it takes to do the job.
Auto repair centers have books that tell the standard time to do each repair. If the mechanic has specialized tools he can reduce the time to do the job. The customer still pays for the allotted time of labor the book allows. The reason why is, the mechanic has to pay for the tools and repair broken tools. There are draw backs to tools. The plus side is the mechanic can get more jobs completed and make more money. Mechanics that don’t keep their tool inventory up to date usually don’t do a big business.
We have the biggest business there is, teaching the Word of God to His children. Teachers need tools. The more tools they have the more Word can be put into our children and the more children they can reach. Plus, teachers will stay with the job longer and be eager about it.
Below is a partial list of some general tool categories that teachers can use and developed their skill in.
Story telling, games, object lessons, preaching, moving with the Holy Ghost, dramas, character skits, puppets, media, worship, asking questions, motivation, memorization, playing with toys, hand work, crafts, art, prayer, class participation, guests, reading, quizzes/test, coaching.
Each one of these general categories has specific tools that a teacher can developed and become proficient with. Take an inventory of your tools. Do you have any? What tools do you want to add to your inventory? What tools do you wish you had? Which tools have you over used? Are you working with a shovel and you need a back hoe?
You can take things you like to do outside of class and make them tools in your class. A personal example is: we do prescribe burns of about 300 acres on the ranch, if you like excitement and hard work; they are a lot of fun. I also like to take pictures. So I brought some of the fire tools and pictures of the fires in to class as we are studying on “spreading the fire of revival”. If I had a friend that was a firefighter, I would use him as a tool. You have tools that you never thought about using to teach in your class.
Our church has tools for teaching as well. These resources can be obtained by making to proper request. If you don’t know how to make a request, just talk with your captain about how to do so.