I encourage discussion in my classroom, and there are times when everybody is talking at once. Instead of scolding kids, focus in on one comment, and in a louder than usual voice say, "Hey! That was awesome! Did everybody hear that?" When I do this, I'm generally leaning toward the student to hear what they […]

Students are invited to write a quiz. It can be in the style of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Jeopardy, or even just plain old question and answer style. Students will stand in front of the class and be the game show host. Sometimes my students write questions to ask the teacher, or other […]

When I present a lesson, I try to direct my lessons so that ANTICIPATED student questions drive the discussion. When I'm reading my lesson text or scripture block, I ask myself some of the following things: - Does this passage have any unusual words or difficult phrasing? - Do I understand the background of this […]

I use the phrase "Today We Learned..." to help establish direction in my lessons. First, I determine a lesson objective. Most of my lesson objectives start with the phrase "Students will ..." Here are some lesson objectives I've used this week during our study of Luke: Students will understand that friends and relatives of Jesus […]

Since this is my first year teaching Seminary, I'm still learning and looking for ideas on how to teach students to use the Gospel Study Aids like the Bible dictionary, index, gazeteer, maps, footnotes, and other supplements during their scripture study. Here are a few of the things I've used with success, and I'll add […]

Items Needed: A feather, a large rock Lesson Idea: Place the feather on a table and ask someone to come and blow the feather off the table.  Place the rock on the table and have another person come and try to blow it off the table.  You may want to have several people together try […]

Items Needed: A raw egg, food coloring, hypodermic needle (see your local pharmacy), a clear bowl. Previous Preparation: Color the inside of the egg by injecting it with the needle full of food coloring. Lesson Idea: Show the egg.  Put it into the clear bowl.  Ask your family to tell you everything they know about […]

Items Needed: A fly swatter Lesson Idea: Show the fly swatter and ask your family what it is.  What is it for? (Killing flies.)  What other insects can we swat?  Why do we use fly swatters?  (To keep our homes cleaner and to be free from annoying insects.)  What are things in our spiritual lies […]

Items Needed: One small sewing needle or pin. Lesson Idea: Hold the pin up in the air and tell the participants that you are going to conduct an experiment. You are going to drop the pin on the desk and would like everyone to be quiet so they can all hear it. Drop the pin […]

Items Needed: A bowl of ice cream Delicious topping for the ice cream Ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise Lesson Idea: Begin by showing your participants a bowl of ice cream. Ask what kinds of topping they like on their ice cream. (Chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, etc.) Now place the delicious topping on the ice cream and […]