LDS youth excited, 'anxiously engaged' in new church curriculum


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RIVERTON — Excited. Challenged. Accountable. Engaged.

These are words being used to describe the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nearly four months after the church’s new curriculum was put into practice.

In October 2012, the Church News announced that the new curriculum for young men and young women, titled Come, Follow Me: Learning Resources for Youth, “is designed to change the way teachers teach as well as the way students learn.”

“Excited” was also one of the words used to describe the leaders’ feelings about the new material, according to Jeff Valdez, who serves as the second counselor in the bishopric of the Copperview 4th Ward in Riverton.

Preparing to teach

“The thing most leaders are excited about is helping the youth be involved in the lesson and that they can all relate it to their daily lives, whatever principle they’re teaching,” says Valdez, who was in his ward’s Sunday School presidency when the new curriculum was announced and now works with the young men in his ward.

A screenshot of the new curriculum website, lds.org/youth/learn. The lessons are posted as an outline, with references and links to scripture, videos and recent teachings from Church leaders. They can be updated as new resources and teachings are made available.
A screenshot of the new curriculum website, lds.org/youth/learn. The lessons are posted as an outline, with references and links to scripture, videos and recent teachings from Church leaders. They can be updated as new resources and teachings are made available.

“There’s no more just standing and reading out of a manual. They are going to have the opportunity to study and involve all the youth into the conversation and help apply it into their lives.”

The curriculum, which is divided into monthly topics (such as the Godhead, the Atonement and becoming more Christlike) went into churchwide use the beginning of 2013. It encourages “teaching in the Savior’s way.” Instructors are given several outlines to choose from, and instead of including specific lesson plans that were rigid and the same for everyone in the church, teachers are encouraged to be flexible and respond to students’ needs and questions.

“Teachers are asked to emulate the Savior’s way of teaching — loving and knowing those He taught, preparing by fasting and prayer, using the scriptures, sharing real-life examples, asking questions, trusting those He taught, inviting people to act, and being an example,” according to a Mormon Newsroom story on the curriculum.

This is an aspect Valdez’s wife, Mindy, appreciates in her role as first counselor in the Stake Young Women’s presidency.

From Mormon Times:

“From our perspective it’s nice that it’s forcing these teachers to have to prepare,” she says. “They can’t sit in sacrament meeting and plan; they have to prepare their lesson ahead, and so there’s a lot more thought into it and more possibility that the Spirit will be there because they’re not scanning the manual and rushing through.”

Engaging the youth

The new curriculum doesn’t just put more responsibility on instructors and leaders ­— one of its main focuses is on engaging the youth.

“The new curriculum places a heavy emphasis on youth participation as students and as teachers,” according to Mormon Newsroom. “The youth are asked to come to class each Sunday prepared to learn, to study scriptures and other teachings on their own, and to share what the gospel means to them with peers and family.”

The Valdezes are seeing the effects of this not just in their church callings, but at home: Their two youngest children are currently in the church’s youth program and say they love the way their Sunday School and Young Women's classes are being taught.

“I’m way more into it this year,” says 17-year-old Lexi. “I take notes in class and everything. I’ve always wanted to, but I wouldn’t really know what to write or what I felt about it. Now, it helps me because of how the lessons are all set up. It’s easier to take notes that actually mean something.”

The Valdez family, from left to right: Daughter-in-law Kenna, son Justin, daughter Shakelle, daughter Lexi, daughter Courtney, Mindy, Jeff.
The Valdez family, from left to right: Daughter-in-law Kenna, son Justin, daughter Shakelle, daughter Lexi, daughter Courtney, Mindy, Jeff.

Her sister, 13-year-old Courtney, agrees. “I feel like we all participate more and we’re more involved.”

Both girls love that they’re asked to contribute to each lesson, not just sit and listen.

“There’s more discussion,” Courtney says. “We all talk during class, we all have to look up stuff and answer questions and do things for it.”

Mindy Valdez says this is a common theme she hears from the youth when she visits the various wards in her stake.

“They like that it’s more of a discussion rather than them being talked at, and actually they like the fact that they’re being challenged and given assignments and things to act on during the week that they have to report back on,” she says.

This is perhaps the aspect that is in greatest contrast to the old curriculum.

“Before, (the youth) were mostly bored. They’ve heard it all since primary, so if you could even get an answer out of them it was the same old standard answers: pray, have family home evening, read the scriptures,” Jeff Valdez says. “Now the teachers involve every single one of them and get their opinions on things. They’re paying attention and actually participating in class, they’re not falling asleep.”

One of the ways the leaders are catching the attention of the youth is by sharing their own stories rather than reading through dated material today’s youth may not be able to relate to.

“I just feel like it’s a lot more personal, for them and us,” Lexi says. “I feel like the leaders share more personal experiences, so it helps us more apply it to our lives.”

Multimedia is another tool used heavily in the curriculum, something that speaks to the youth in their language. The church provides music, pictures and video for nearly each lesson.


“This generation is that much more prepared. They’ve got a job to do, and if we can’t train them in a way that’s preparing them for that, we’re going to be lost and they’re going to pass us up — and they are passing us up.” -Mindy Valdez

“Once you see the videos, you feel more, and you feel like you learn more because it’s more in depth and shows stories from other people,” Courtney says.

A stronger generation

Mindy Valdez says she believes a change in the curriculum was long overdue and is necessary to reach these teenagers who “are coming here (to Earth) much stronger, more spiritual, because they have a bigger job to do.”

“These kids are so much smarter than I was at their age when I went to Sunday School,” she says. “This generation is that much more prepared. They’ve got a job to do, and if we can’t train them in a way that’s preparing them for that, we’re going to be lost and they’re going to pass us up — and they are passing us up.”

Courtney and Lexi say they and their classmates have already grown so much in the few months since the curriculum change, and their parents have also seen it in the youth as a whole.

“The youth realize, ‘We need to come prepared for what they challenged us with. They’re (the teachers are) not going to judge us, there are no wrong answers,’ ” Jeff Valdez says. “Now they’re finding out how to apply the principles in their daily lives. They’re more anxiously engaged.”

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