\u201cGreat Lies We Live By.\u201d<\/a> If you have a bored student, it\u2019s likely just that you\u2019re not speaking to their style.\u00a0 Let me offer some suggestions on how to reach them.<\/p>\n\u201cWhat\u201d Students<\/h3>\n
You can identify the \u201cwhat\u201d students when they ask you to lay out everything in excruciating detail before they are willing to try it.\u00a0 If you have a bored \u201cwhat\u201d student, you aren\u2019t being clear enough or you aren\u2019t explaining thoroughly.\u00a0 These Seekers respond best to the time-honored techniques of schools and meetings; they want charts, handouts, and quizzes.\u00a0 I realize that it may seem counter-intuitive, but why not oblige?\u00a0 Draw a moon phase chart.\u00a0 Send them to books that you found particularly helpful in your own studies.\u00a0 Make lists.\u00a0 Draw a diagram of the altar layout.\u00a0 Make a pop quiz on the Sabbats.\u00a0 Above all, instruct your group to keep a Book of Shadows and get these ones to take notes while you babble.\u00a0 Try not to get frustrated by their questions or their hesitation; you will just create a block which will cause them to dig in their heels and learn nothing.\u00a0 Be patient!<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWhy\u201d Students<\/h3>\n
The students who are constantly asking \u201cwhy?\u201d are looking for personal relevance and meaning.\u00a0 If they are going to learn, they have to care about the subject matter.\u00a0 A little research goes a long way with this crowd; if you don\u2019t know why the Priestess traditionally holds the athame and the Priest the chalice in a Symbolic Great Rite, and that seems backwards, find out!\u00a0 Answer their questions as directly and as honestly as you can, and if the answer is \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d don\u2019t be afraid to say that!<\/p>\n
Because these Seekers like to do things first and then think them over afterwards, above all, the best thing you can do for them is to let them do it.\u00a0 Demonstrate something and then say, \u201cWho wants to try it?\u201d\u00a0 The \u201cwhy\u201d students will leap in with both feet.\u00a0 In the meantime, the \u201cwhat\u201d students will carefully observe and make notes.\u00a0 You get two for the price of one.\u00a0 If you break off into pairs, let the \u201cwhy\u201d student lead the \u201cwhat\u201d student and you\u2019ll have a happy class.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow\u201d Students<\/h3>\n
\u201cHow\u201d students want to know how things work.\u00a0 These folks are the most likely to be quietly and passively bored.\u00a0 They won\u2019t complain, but they often look lost, especially if you\u2019re a talker and explainer, like me.\u00a0 Break things down into their component elements and let these Seekers experiment.\u00a0 The \u201cwhat\u201d people want you to tell them exactly what to say and do in a ritual; the \u201cwhy\u201d people want to know why you do it that way; the \u201chow\u201d people respond better to an outline of a basic ritual structure, which they can then compose and invent within for themselves.\u00a0 Tell them to \u201ccast the circle\u201d and let them figure out how to best do that. \u00a0Instead of giving them a diagram of the altar layout, let them set it up; they\u2019ll never need to be shown twice (and it won\u2019t hurt you to explain the associations with the directions to the \u201cwhy\u201d students along the way.)\u00a0 Give them opportunities to experiment and put theories to the test.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWhat If\u201d Students<\/h3>\n
The \u201cwhat if\u201d students want to test and play with what they have learned to determine the limits of possibility.\u00a0 They can be identified by their \u201coutside the box\u201d questions.\u00a0 In any instructional setting they can be disruptive, but they\u2019re really not trying to be.\u00a0 You\u2019ll have to learn how to handle them sooner or later because Wicca attracts a lot of them.\u00a0 I think the key is to assertively set limits, but try not to be draconian.\u00a0 These ones will experiment with or without you, so getting them to try is never the problem; but they might completely derail a good discussion by quoting bad movies and TV shows if you allow it.\u00a0 Establish a specific time for socializing and for questions (say, after the ritual;) be firm about whatever limits are set \u201cyes, I\u2019m sure you can summon demons through Otherworld gates, but today we\u2019re talking to the Fey;\u201d and gently bring the discussion back on topic when it wanders.\u00a0 Give them room to play and experiment, and if you think they have a good point, why not test it yourself?<\/p>\n
There is one special challenge in dealing with \u201cwhat if\u201d Seekers.\u00a0 Sometimes they are disrespectful.\u00a0 When this occurs, it means one of two things; either they are testing the limits of your group\u2019s social structure and your leadership, or they are testing the limits of your knowledge and no longer believe you have anything to teach them.\u00a0\u00a0If it continues beyond one or two isolated incidents, you have now reached an impasse, and you are no longer of any use to them as a Guide.\u00a0 The time has come for them to leave the group.\u00a0 Break the news as gently as you can, and point them in a different direction; perhaps they would fit better with another teacher you know in the community, or perhaps they need to lead their own group and you can provide resources to assist in doing that.\u00a0 Knowing when you are not a good fit is often more valuable to their learning process than trying to force an untenable situation.<\/p>\n
Next in \u201cSeekers and Guides\u201d:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Covening for Beginners.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nSeekers and Guides<\/em>\u00a0is published on alternate Mondays. Follow it via\u00a0RSS<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0e-mail<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sable Aradia, Wiccan minister and teacher, explains how you can successfully reach any student of the Craft by addressing individual learning styles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1343,"featured_media":2052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[330,606,374],"tags":[430,25,26,458,369,375,185,104,175],"class_list":["post-2031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-pagan-community","category-seekers-and-guides","tag-learning-styles","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-students","tag-teaching","tag-training","tag-wicca","tag-witch","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\n
Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sable Aradia, Wiccan minister and teacher, explains how you can successfully reach any student of the Craft by addressing individual learning styles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sable Aradia, Wiccan minister and teacher, explains how you can successfully reach any student of the Craft by addressing individual learning styles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Agora\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-04T08:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-03T12:32:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/124\/2013\/03\/snwt1916e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sable Aradia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sable Aradia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/\",\"name\":\"Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-04T08:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-03T12:32:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/3fe882432cb6a380d58557a2b6fc0047\"},\"description\":\"Sable Aradia, Wiccan minister and teacher, explains how you can successfully reach any student of the Craft by addressing individual learning styles.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/\",\"name\":\"Agora\",\"description\":\"The Central Hub of the Patheos Pagan Portal\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/3fe882432cb6a380d58557a2b6fc0047\",\"name\":\"Sable Aradia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07a24e0ef4f43a7bcaf30c4e706b913b?s=96&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07a24e0ef4f43a7bcaf30c4e706b913b?s=96&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Sable Aradia\"},\"description\":\"Sable Aradia (Diane Morrison) has been a traditional witch most of her life, and she is also a licensed Wiccan minister and a Third Degree initiated Wiccan priestess in the Star Sapphire tradition. She is the author of \\\"The Witch's Eight Paths of Power\\\" (Red Wheel\/Weiser, 2014,) a contributor to two Pagan anthologies (Pagan Leadership Anthology, Immanion Press, 2015, and Pagan Consent Culture, Asphodel Press 2016) and a blogger at PaganSquare, the Patheos Pagan channel, and Gods & Radicals. To make ends meet she reads Tarot, teaches workshops, makes music, writes speculative fiction, maintains an Etsy shop and works part time at a bookstore. She lives in Vernon, BC, Canada with her two partners and her fur babies. For further information, please visit her website http:\/\/www.sablearadia.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.sablearadia.com\",\"brandygrenier\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/author\/sablearadia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student","description":"Sable Aradia, Wiccan minister and teacher, explains how you can successfully reach any student of the Craft by addressing individual learning styles.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student","og_description":"Sable Aradia, Wiccan minister and teacher, explains how you can successfully reach any student of the Craft by addressing individual learning styles.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/","og_site_name":"Agora","article_published_time":"2013-03-04T08:00:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-06-03T12:32:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"720","height":"480","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/124\/2013\/03\/snwt1916e.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sable Aradia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sable Aradia","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/","name":"Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-03-04T08:00:11+00:00","dateModified":"2013-06-03T12:32:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/3fe882432cb6a380d58557a2b6fc0047"},"description":"Sable Aradia, Wiccan minister and teacher, explains how you can successfully reach any student of the Craft by addressing individual learning styles.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/03\/seekers-and-guides-how-to-reach-any-student\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Seekers and Guides: How to Reach Any Student"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/","name":"Agora","description":"The Central Hub of the Patheos Pagan Portal","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/3fe882432cb6a380d58557a2b6fc0047","name":"Sable Aradia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07a24e0ef4f43a7bcaf30c4e706b913b?s=96&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07a24e0ef4f43a7bcaf30c4e706b913b?s=96&r=pg","caption":"Sable Aradia"},"description":"Sable Aradia (Diane Morrison) has been a traditional witch most of her life, and she is also a licensed Wiccan minister and a Third Degree initiated Wiccan priestess in the Star Sapphire tradition. She is the author of \"The Witch's Eight Paths of Power\" (Red Wheel\/Weiser, 2014,) a contributor to two Pagan anthologies (Pagan Leadership Anthology, Immanion Press, 2015, and Pagan Consent Culture, Asphodel Press 2016) and a blogger at PaganSquare, the Patheos Pagan channel, and Gods & Radicals. To make ends meet she reads Tarot, teaches workshops, makes music, writes speculative fiction, maintains an Etsy shop and works part time at a bookstore. She lives in Vernon, BC, Canada with her two partners and her fur babies. For further information, please visit her website http:\/\/www.sablearadia.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.sablearadia.com","brandygrenier"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/author\/sablearadia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Imparting](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_AitGIGPUGkQ\/TBQ9czNDfUI\/AAAAAAAAEbc\/vRfMTmSybHo\/s1600\/snwt1916e.jpg\")
If you teach, you\u2019ve seen it; the students who are doodling aimlessly on their worksheets, drooling on the table while they snore, or clowning disruptively and asking entirely off-topic questions.\u00a0 In short, they\u2019re bored.\u00a0 You wonder why they would come to your class if they don\u2019t really want to learn.\u00a0 But studying the Craft is by definition an activity you undertake in your spare time, and they actually showed up, so why aren\u2019t they paying attention?<\/p>\n