Teaching Problem Solution Finder

This technique is found in the Come Follow Me manual. It's difficult to have several people teaching a class, and it's also not beneficial for other students to watch just one student teach. Here's how I would do it:

Help each student prepare a brief lesson on a gospel principle, while working in pairs. The lesson will probably include thoughtful questions, scripture references or quotes from the prophets, personal experiences or ways to apply the passage, and opportunity for each of the student teachers to explain the things they know are true about the topic (bear testimony). This could be done at mutual or during a Seminary lesson.

Working with another teacher, have your pairs of students teach small groups of students in another class. This will give all students equal opportunity to both prepare and teach the lesson.

This technique does not make a lot of sense in the adult classroom, unless you're teaching mission prep or gospel principles.

This technique is great for scriptures that have multiple great phrases of advice or wisdom, but that don't require a whole lot of discussion to understand.

Either have students go in order through a passage, or write scripture references on the board and use Hey There Delilah or Cold-calling to have random students read verses. When called on, each student should state the "one-liner," or the words or phrases that are the most significant in the verse.

I am using this in Luke chapter 6:28-49 tomorrow in class.

You may want to have students write their one-liners on the board, too.

You think I'm kidding, but rearranging the seating has a HUGE effect on classroom management in my experience.

Changing up the classroom causes the students to try to figure out what is going on, and they get excited about the lesson. If you normally use tables in Seminary, set up without them. If you normally don't use tables -- set up one Sunday with them and do a drawing or note taking exercise. The break from routine really helps students get excited about lessons.

I gave a detailed lecture on this topic during the Teaching Saints Virtual Summit over at Leading Saints. The summit was free when it first broadcast, but it is well worth your money to pay for and watch the entire summit. I didn't/don't get paid for promoting Leading Saints and did the podcast for free. Running a podcast is expensive, and Kurt is doing amazing work over there. Check it out!

This is the easiest way to engage kids in scripture reading in my opinion. You'll need something soft like a beanbag or small stuffed animal. A wadded up piece of paper could even be used in a pinch. You may need to lay out some ground rules like :
- do not aim above the shoulders
- no overhand tosses
- no repeats

After you make your reading assignment and everyone has found it, simply toss the critter to the first person. After reading his or her verse, the student tosses the toy to the person of their choosing. That person reads, tosses, and the game continues until the passage is finished. I write the verse numbers or passages on the board so that we avoid that "Which verse did she say? What do I read?" delay. You'll find that many students will turn to the next passage in anticipation of the reading. You may even require everyone to find the passage before making the next toss, but that will take up time.

This simple method really makes reading a lengthy passage much more exciting for the students. Everyone is engaged, they don't know who will be picked next to read, they laugh when someone drops the critter or plucks it out of the air, no one tunes out when their part is done because they want to see what happens when Delilah goes flying again, and everyone gets a turn. You're still covering the same material, but you've made it engaging and fun for the students.

EXAMPLE: In our class, the students voted on names for our silicone caterpillar, Delilah. She promptly fell apart, and so our second caterpillar was named Samson. My Seminary students love, love, love this game and often ask for Samson when we read. This is one of our class's favorite activities. I use it every few days; it never seems to get old. I have even used it with laid back groups of adults. It's always fun.

You can do this as a group activity or as an individual activity. I generally do it as a group activity.

Assign students a passage to read. Have students imagine they are newspaper reporters who are going to write a headline for this passage. What will they write? What headline will tell your readers the most important information in the fewest words? Give students a few seconds (I usually do 60-90 seconds on the timer) to write a headline. Share the headlines.

You could also give students a set of several passages. They should come up with "titles" for different set of verses, or they might summarizing what lesson is taught by specific verses. Have them write these "titles" in their scriptures.

If you're going to have all students share their headlines aloud, this works best in classrooms of about 12-15 students. My class of 16 is borderline too large for each person to share a headline. In large groups, you may ask for volunteers or cold-call class members to share their headlines. Don't be afraid to read over people's shoulders and ask some of the really great ones to share.

Invite students share why or how they chose particular words, phrases, or things to emphasize in their headline.

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.