Use this tool to solve common problems you'll find in your gospel classroom. Select from the options below to find teaching techniques that will help you solve some of the most common problems in LDS gospel classrooms:
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.
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 more as I find them.
Please share your ideas, too, in the comments section. We're all learning together and can benefit from others' tips.
Seriously. The Bible Dictionary is awesome. I use it over and over during class -- at least once per week, and lately, during the History books of the Old Testament, I'm using it almost daily. Here are some examples of when you can use it:
- A student asks a question about giants or unicorns. (See BD, giants or BD, unicorn)
- A student mentions how the names in the Old Testament fits with their world history courses. (See BD, chronology)
- You're reading 2 Samuel 22:27 and come upon a weird word. (BD, Froward)
- You are introducing a new prophet or book in the Bible. (see the Bible dictionary entry for that prophet or book, Judges and Chronicles are especially helpful)
- Students are getting confused about the timing of Bible events (BD, chronology)
- You're curious about what the Temple of Solomon was like (BD, Temple of Solomon)
- You're reading the Psalms, and a student asks what the word "selah" means (BD, Selah)
- What exactly is Frankincense, anyway? (BD, Frankincense)
- A student asks a question asking for more data during class that you can't answer.
I really can't emphasize it enough: familiarize yourself with the contents of the Bible dictionary so that you can know when to call on it on the fly during class. The Bible dictionary has saved my bacon from being burnt on a difficult question on more than one occasion! It's awesome!
I used the maps when describing the Exodus, but since my scriptures have the old maps..... uh.... yeah it's pretty bad. Any ideas you have would be helpful! Please post them below!
The Index and the Topical Guide are slightly different. While the Topical Guide has information on general topics and covers all 4 standard works, the Index covers only the material in the Triple. The Index also includes a great index of references to the names of individuals found in the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants. You might ask your students questions and have them find the answers to questions like the following:
- You are trying to find a scripture you heard that contains the word "dance". You know it's in the Old Testament but can't remember exactly where. (Topical guide)
- What would you use to find out more information about a person mentioned in the D&C? (Index)
- Where can you look to find out that scripture about the Waters of Mormon? (Index)
- You are giving a talk on obedience. Where might you start? (Topical Guide)
- Where can you look to determine how many Nephis there are in the Book of Mormon? (Index)
If they're getting really good at these, you might ask them some more advanced questions that include the Bible Dictionary:
- You're wondering about the Passover. (BD, Passover / BD, Feasts)
- You know that the parables are recorded in several places in the Bible. How can you find them quickly (BD, Gospels, Harmony of)
- You want to know where Lazarus was raised from the dead (BD, Gospels, Harmony of)
- You're wondering where the Bible came from (BD, Bible; BD, Bible, English; BD, canon)
- You're friend mentioned the Lord's Prayer. What is that, and where can you find it? (BD, Lord's Prayer -- why? because the words "Lord's Prayer" don't appear in the text, it's not going to be found in the Topical Guide)
You have decided to supplement your study of the D&C with the Church History Institute manual to improve your understanding of how events unfolded in the D&C. You notice the revelations are not in chronological order. How can you study the D&C in time/chronological order? (See Chronological Order of Contents in the D&C. It's just after the testimony of the Twelve Witnesses)
Your little sister is bored in church. All you have is your scriptures to entertain her (Show her the Maps, illustrations in the Pearl of Great Price, Maps at the end of the D&C, charts in the Bible Dictionary, get her to read all the verses about unicorns in the scriptures)
You can't remember where Hosea is ... (Title Page, Bible)
Is Titus in the Old or New Testament? (Title Page, Bible)
Is there a map that shows Bethel? (Gazeteer)
You're teaching Sunday School about Abraham and Mount Moriah. Your students like visual aids. Where can you look? (Gazeteer)
This is an activity I use when I see that section from the reading has lots of great things to underline. Write the verse numbers you'd like the students to read on the board. Use something soft, like a beanbag or silicone toy (we call ours Samson), to toss between students.
After introducing your material, explain that you are about to play a game called "What did you underline?". Each student will read a scripture passage aloud and then tell the class what he or she would underline. (You may also ask them to share why they chose that particular section.) After the class discusses the verse, the teacher will call out the next verse, and the student tosses the beanbag to another classmate, who then reads the next verse. You may want to establish a few rules, like no overhand tosses, no aiming above the neck, or everyone gets a turn.
This is a fun activity, that most students really enjoy.
When planning a lesson I estimate about 3 minutes per passage for reading, discussing, and tossing.
Many teachers use a Scripture Journal to help students retain information they are being taught or to help themselves with personal study. Here are some ideas for using a scripture journal that will give you lots of ideas.
My friend DeAnn purchase a composition notebook for each student for use as a scripture journal. Into this book they paste quotes and are assigned to write FITs (Feelings, Impressions, & Thoughts) based on the quote. Sometimes she might ask them to write about a particular passage, especially a scripture mastery. They might write how they can apply that scripture in their lives or describe a time when a passage helped them. This book is private, and the information is rarely, if ever, shared with the class.
Tell the students to open their scriptures to the passages you will be covering during today's lesson (it might corresponds with last night's reading). Explain their writing prompt (they might summarize the material, describe the feelings of a person in the verse, make a list about something in the passage, liken the scripture to their past, present, or future lives, or something else, write how they will teach this topic to their children, prepare a 2 minute talk based on the passage, etc.). Set a timer to a few minutes minutes (5-7) for them to write.
While the timer is going walk around the class and look at the work students are doing. Offer words of encouragement. Remind them when they have 60 seconds left.
After time is up, invite a few students to share what they wrote to the class. This can serve as a devotional or attention-getter. It's also a useful tool to prepare students for material that will come up during the lesson.
You could also use the timer approach at the end of class to keep a lesson from going over.
Here's what the Seminary manual says:
Some people keep a journal in which they write the main idea of what they read, how they feel about what they read, or how they think what they read applies to their life. If you are using this manual for home-study seminary, you are required to keep a notebook to receive credit. This notebook will be like a scripture journal.
It is also good to talk with others about what you read. Writing down some notes so that you remember what you want to talk about and discussing what you learned will help you understand and remember more of what you read.
The Redheaded Hostess has scripture journaling down to a fine art. She suggests that instead of writing in your scripture journal by passage you write in your journal by TOPIC. Using her method, you might record impressions, but the emphasis will be on writing doctrine you learn from the scriptures.
You can choose several topics you'd like to study and then study those one at a time, or you could start reading a book of scripture and add topics to your journal as you come across them. Here's where RHH describes her journal set up.
You could apply this method of journaling to a multi-year seminary program very easily using a 3-ring binder. Students can add pages and quotes into their journals as they are taught, alphabetically by topic. At the end of Seminary, students would have a fantastic resource chock-full of information for preparing lessons, talks, and for enhancing their own study later. RHH is using hers as heirloom gifts for her children. Beautiful idea.
Here are some more links to her great information
http://www.theredheadedhostess.com/category/scripture-study-2/scripture-... - Quotes from her journals
http://www.theredheadedhostess.com/category/scripture-study-2/scripture-... - Journal tips
