| Especially for Youth (EFY) is a Brigham Young University Continuing Education program for youths (ages 14--18) that upholds the values and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). During the week-long EFY program, or session, youths received classroom instruction with religious emphasis from EFY faculty. A subgroup of the EFY faculty include session directors, invited by EFY staff to supervise an EFY session. Recognized by the EFY program as high-quality teachers, session directors help reach the program's objectives by teaching youths and supporting EFY faculty and other staff. The purpose of this study was to investigate the teaching strategies and practices employed by the session directors, as well as to examine challenges faced, measures of success, and the overall recommendations made for the implementation of exemplary teaching practices in the EFY program.;This qualitative research study employed a phenomenological methodological approach to examine the current teaching strategies and practices of EFY session directors. Fifteen semi-structured interviews with the session directors were conducted, both face-to-face and via video conference. Key findings of the study yielded 30 themes and 53 subthemes. |
