Teaching Problem Solution Finder

Do your best to stay aware of the things your students are doing as service projects or at school. Find out about the things they are doing right, and ask them to share their experiences during class. Be specific with your instructions, and be prepared to ask the students questions to help them with their presentation.

EXAMPLE: When teaching Lamentations, I invited a student who writes poetry to bring in one of her poems. I told her that we would be studying how poetry can be used to express strong emotions and is a release in times of trial. She brought in two fantastic poems.

"Perhaps the only thing better than getting teachers to testify is getting students to testify." (Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher, Eaton and Beecher, p 22)

I use this technique when teaching a topic significant to missionary teaching, like the plan of salvation or baptism. AFTER some instruction on a scripture passage or gospel principle, students are assigned into groups of three. Students read the same passage of scripture together as if this was a real missionary lesson. One person is the "nonmember," and the other two are the missionaries. Missionaries make an effort to teach the principles found in the passage to the nonmember. The nonmember asks questions to help missionaries teach ideas that were unclear. You may need to instruct nonmembers that they are playing a sincere seeker of truth, not a hater.

Don't use this on particularly challenging or difficult passages, but use it to teach simple gospel truths, such as one that a missionary might encounter. It's great for passages on the Atonement or baptism.

Sometimes I tell my students that this is a practice for their chance to teach the Ultimate Investigator: me. After the lessons are done, I ask "nonmembers" who had an exceptional set of "missionaries". Then I have those exceptional missionaries come up to the front and demonstrate their skills to the entire class, with me playing the role of nonmember. I have found that advising students they may be called up front to teach me prevents most shenanigans.

Invite all students to read a passage silently. Have a couple of students come to the front of the class. Tell them they will be acting out the events in the story, but with a twist -- they are mimes, and must act out silently.

OPTIONAL: Ask other students in the class to follow along with the action in the text. If the mimes forget something, they should call out "freeze" and let the mimes know what was skipped. Mimes will then go back and add in the missed scene. This helps keep everyone engaged and provides additional review of the material.

This is best for short stories with plenty of action.

Great for: Lesson opener, Reviewing a scripture story, Getting the attention of uninterested students

Class size: Any class size

Helps Students: SEARCH the scriptures or text, SHARE feelings, thoughts, or personal experiences, SEE a gospel principle in action

Prep Time: No advance preparation necessary

Student Age: Any age

Equipment needed:

If a student uses the phrase: "the scriptures say" or "the prophets say', consider if you can take the opportunity to teach students the importance of being able to find and read a scripture during a discussion. It's best to have scriptures memorized, but if not, teach students how to find scriptures quickly in a pinch. This skill is an absolute MUST for future missionaries.

Ask the student if they can show the class where the prophet or scripture is that says that thing. Then help them find it, or gently correct their mistake.

Be very careful using this method with adults. I would never use it with adults if the verse or statement is being misquoted, because the correction could seem very aggressive. Unless I were absolutely certain that the scripture being quoted was correct and we could find it relatively easily, I would not use this method with adults.

Before class, invite a student to prepare a short talk or devotional about a topic or scripture passage. You should give the student clear instructions about what you're looking for in the talk.

For example, don't just assign a student to read Moses 7:18 and give a talk on it. Explain to the student that you are teaching a lesson on unity. Moses 7:18 talks about unity and gives some characteristics of Zion, which was a "unified" city. Ask the student to explain the things s/he learned about unity from the passage in the talk. Explain that s/he is welcome to share personal experiences or find a relevant story or additional scriptures to share.

Write the main topic of a scripture passage or quote on a piece of paper. Cut each letter out. Let students look at the scripture passage or quote while they race to unscramble the word. This can be done for each individual in the classroom, or it can be done in groups, or even on the chalkboard.

EXAMPLE: I recently used this technique in my seminary class to teach Luke 14. Before class I took four envelopes and some construction paper. I wrote a "clue" on the outside of each envelope and put the mixed up letters from a word or phrase in the respective envelope:

CLUE: Luke 14:1-6 (two words) SCRAMBLE: Sabbath Day
CLUE: Luke 14:7-14 (one word), SCRAMBLE: Humility
CLUE: Luke 14:15-24 (two words), SCRAMBLE: Great Supper
CLUE: Luke 14:25-35 (one word), SCRAMBLE: Discipleship

It only took each zone a few minutes to unscramble the words.

Ask the students in your class to imagine they have a pen with only enough ink to underline one word in a verse. What would it be? Why?

I wrote Mark 1:18 on the board: "And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him." I told the kids to imagine that their pens were running out of ink, and they only had ink enough to underline one word. Which would would they choose? I asked a couple of students which word they'd underline and why. What did these men leave behind? How can we be like these disciples and follow Christ?

Great for: Lesson opener

Class size: Any class size

Helps Students: SHARE feelings, thoughts, or personal experiences, SEARCH the scriptures or text

Prep Time: No advance preparation necessary

Student Age: Any age

Equipment needed:

I learned this extremely versatile teaching technique from Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov. Basically, you assign a writing prompt. Everyone writes the answer. Then, as many people as you choose are invited to share. Sometimes I have each person share their written response. Other times, when there's a big group, I assign a group or zone leader to read the responses of the people in a group and summarize them. You may even choose to keep responses secret in the interest of time or for other reasons.

If you will be having a group leader read answers or if you will have the class share their responses, explain that ahead of time so that students can adjust their writing appropriately.

You can use this technique to establish what students already know about a topic, so that you know where to begin a group discussion. Use it to help students find ways to apply a passage to their lives. It can help students share a growing testimony. Everyone who listens to the other responses will see how the gospel affects others.

This is a simple tip that will help you leverage media in the classroom and get better discussion.

Determine before class what the main discussion points are in the material you will cover. Instruct students before you watch or listen to your media which main points to watch for as the media plays.

You might say "wait for when Jesus jumps over the fence and think about what this tells us about his personality" or "watch Jesus's 'violent' behavior and be ready to talk about how important it is to keep the temple/ourselves clean" when showing the video of the cleansing of the temple:

"Wait for it" helps prepare students to participate in discussions and make relevant comments. It also helps movies or music used in class become learning opportunities instead of mere entertainment. I was trained at Seminary inservice to use this technique (or something similar) each time we watch a movie or listen to a song during class. It also helps when Reading a long passage of scripture or story.

For example, when I showed a film about the prodigal son this week in Seminary, I invited students to pay attention as they watched the movie to see which of the characters they considered to be most like themselves. This prepared the class for our discussion after the movie, which was intended to point out that at different times in our lives, we are all like each of the characters in the parable.

Another time I told students to watch for a 'd' word that might surprise them during our reading of the entry BD, Mark. The word was "deserted".

I used a unique set of questions to teach three parables: the parable of the of the ten virgins, the talents, and the sheep and goats. Before class I taped a set of three questions under each person's chair. Each set of questions included one question from each of the three parables and was unique. I made the unique sets so that as we answered each question I wouldn't get the same people commenting at the same time. Here's an example of the questions:

- What do you think kept the 10 foolish virgins from being ready when the bridegroom came?
- How can you be prepared like the 10 wise virgins?
- What do you think the oil in the lamps represents?
- Look at Matthew 25: 16,19-21. How can you be like the man with the 5 talents?
- Look at Matthew 25:25. Why does fear stop us from progressing?
- Look at Matthew 25:25. How can we conquer fear?
- Matthew 25:40 is a scripture mastery passage. Why do you think it was chosen?
- See Matthew 25:40. Who might be considered the "least of these" at your school? At church? How can you reach out to them?
- Read Matthew 25:41-46. Why do you think Jesus spoke so harshly of those who mistreat others?

This really helped start a great discussion that included most students because not every person had the same questions.