April Apprentice Class

April Theme:
Seeking your own personal mission. 

April Memorization: 

Vanguard Mission Statement:

“We will engage in a respectful and inspiring peer environment that will not only help us grow in faith, but will help us feel free to develop our unique strengths.  We will gain a passion for learning that will allow us to better ourselves, our families, our communities and ultimately the world.”

Vanguard Scripture in D&C 88:78-80

78 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

79 Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you.

Apprentice Studies: 

Think about before you study:

Do you think Jesus and great leaders are the only ones sent to earth with special missions to perform?  How about you? What do you think your personal mission in life might be?  Do you think it will be one, a few, or many missions?  What did God send you to earth to do? 

Read: 

• The How book, chapter 27.
• Just Like Jesus, chapter: Being Led by an Unseen Hand 
• Gladys Aylward, the Little Woman, chapters 1-4.

Watch: 

• Randal Wright’s talk: "You Have a Mission to Perform on Earth."  Take notes on your favorite quotes and main ideas. 
• "Big Secret" 

Write:

During this month you will be working on writing your own personal mission statement. A personal mission statement is your statement to yourself and the world about the purpose of your life. Write thoughtful responses to each of the following questions:

• If you had a full week to spend on whatever you want, how would you spend your time? What would you do?
• What is your favorite kind of work? Physical, academic, spiritual, emotional? Why?
• When is a time you were deeply inspired by another person? What did the person do that inspired you? Why is that person so inspiring to you? 
• Have you ever been deeply inspired when you were alone? What were you doing?
• Are there any principles or causes for which you’d be willing to die? What are they?
• Are there any people for whom you’d be willing to die? Who are they?
• List 3 of your favorite quotes (they can be short or long).

Create – Choose ONE of the following: 

• Create a mind map of words that are important to you that have to do with your personal mission. 
• Set 3-5 goals that you want to accomplish this year. Set 3-5 goals that you want to do in the next 3-5 years.   Set 3-5 goals that you want to accomplish in the next 10 years.   Set 3-5 goals that you want to accomplish in the next 25 years.
• Use this Franklin Covey link to help you get started on creating your own personal mission statement. 
• Create some other way of presenting your personal goals or ideas about your personal mission – a poem, poster, song, etc. 

Project:   

Your project for April will be your Vanguard oral presentation.  These presentations are meant to be a final reflection on all of the things you have accomplished this year, how you have grown and improved, how you have served others, how you have been influenced by  and have been able to influence others, what you have learned this year at Vanguard.   

This year we will be doing it a little different.  The theme for April is Personal Mission.   Your project should be a presentation on how you have found, worked on, sought for, been inspired by, or shared , your personal mission at Vanguard.  

This is meant to be a fun, creative project that involves the group.  You will be giving your presentation to the whole group.  You will be assigned a day to present your presentation to the group.  You will have 10 minutes. Please try to use 10 minutes…not much shorter and not much longer.   Make this project something that is YOU.  Something that shares with us not only all of the things you have loved this year, but also a part of you that we may remember. The following youth will present their presentations this week:   Megan Johnson and Christian Mapes.

April Journeyman Class

Think about while you read:

What do you think God has sent you to earth to accomplish?  As you study this week, think about the personal missions of the people you read about or read from. 

Read:

• "You Were Born to Lead, You Were Born for Glory" by Sheri Dew. I prefer you print the talk so you can highlight your favorite parts. Even if you read this talk before (I assigned it in Sept. 2012) read it again for new layers of meaning. You're welcome to watch it while you take notes or highlight it, but don't just watch or listen. 
• "Personal Ministry: Sacred and Precious" by Bonnie Parkin. You're welcome to watch it while you take notes or highlight it, but don't just watch or listen.
• Promises of Constitution, pages 288-314. Write a summary at the end of each mini section. 
• Hero study. Study a hero (ideally from the time period of 1500 to 1850). Hand in your hero notes to Sister Edwards or Sister Cloward. Be sure to include the qualities you most admire about your hero, and your plan to become more of those qualities. Also watch for principles or life lessons you learned as you studied this hero.  
• If you'd like to study a modern hero who is living an inspiring personal mission, here is an article about the only Mormon in Mali. Here is a video and here is another article about him. Here is his website.

Watch:

This video. It's about a woman who was living a personal mission of sharing the gospel through her blog and sharing free copies of the Book of Mormon. Then a tragic accident happened. See if her personal mission stopped, or what happened from the tragedy. 


Research:
Spend 30 minutes or more researching something from today’s studies that you want to learn more in depth. It can be from any level – apprentice, journeyman, or master. Record what you learned and why it’s meaningful to you. 


Email:  
Class preparation sheet by Tuesday at noon to Sister Edwards and Sister Cloward.
(Estimated time: 10 minutes)

Create:

• Write a hero report. Hand in your report to Sister Edwards or Sister Cloward.  It won't be graded; we just want to read it. If you'd like to become a better writer, you can write at the top "feedback please." Be sure to include the qualities you most admire about your hero, and your plan to become more of those qualities. Also look for principles or life lessons you learned as you studied this hero.  
• Write an essay about something you learned this week. Hand it in to Sister Edwards or Sister Cloward. 
• Choose a second inspirement from the apprentice class choices. 
• Give us a three minute speech on the main points you learned from either Sheri Dew's or Bonnie Parkin's talk.  Be sure to include an invitation to act. 
• Find a way to teach what you learned from the Promises of the Constitution book. Since this is our last time reading it, you could choose to teach us from this week's readings, or from anything else you liked in the book. 
• Find a way to teach the class what you did your 30 minutes of research about (see teaching ideas). 

April Master Class

Think about while you study: 

• Animal Farm is an allegory, or symbolic story about the Russian revolution of 1917. How does having a basic understanding of this history make reading the book mean more? (Don't worry, you're soon about to gain a basic understanding...)
• Even if you didn't know what happened in the Russian revolution, what principles of good and bad government can you find?  How would you like to be one of the working animals in this story?  Which character(s) do you think are most like you? Which do you like the most? The least? 

Watch these videos:
To help you understand the story and symbolism of the book better, I recommend you watch them before you read, but it’s up to you when to watch them. 

EITHER THESE: Series of ten “60-Second Recap” videos about Animal Farm. Scroll down on the right side. (Videos 11 and 12 are only outtakes so you can skip those).

OR THESE: Summary (3 min) and Characters (2 min) and Summary of Russian Revolution (9 min) 

Read: Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

Here is a free e-book version. 

Write 

• Write a list of the characters and who they represent.
• Write about the importance of remembering. Read Helaman 5:1-14. What happened when the animals forgot about their original laws? 
• Write what options you think the working animals had. What do you think you would have done if you were one of the hard working animals and society turned that way? What does this book make you appreciate about living in America? 
• Hand in your paper to Sister Edwards or Sister Cloward. Write your name on it. It can be hand written, typed and printed, or emailed. We just want to see what you're thinking. 

Create -- Choose ONE of the following: 

• Create a way to teach the class the parallels between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution of 1917. You could write a paper, create a poster, a multimedia presentation, a poem, song, etc. Feel free to do more research for a better understanding. 
• Another topic you could write a paper or find a creative way to teach is to compare and contrast America's Constitutional government with the Communistic government they had at Animal Farm and in Russia. 
• Write a list of all the principles of good and bad government you can find in this book. Shoot for at least a dozen. Feel free to use Ezra Taft Benson's Proper Role of Government to help you compare good and bad principles of government. '
• After reading the book, write a manual on "How to Control the Masses."  
• Write your answers to several of the questions on this list. Come prepared to share with the class. 
• Create your own inspirement to help you internalize what you learned from the book.  

Only if you want to (optional): Watch the animated movie.