Teaching Problem Solution Finder

Divide students into pairs and have one student tell [or write] a story from memory in as much detail as possible, with the second student adding in as much missing detail as possible. Now, the entire class looks over the story in the scriptures and adds in any additional details. The teacher and students work together to answer any questions that comes up.

This activity could be done on a chalk board.

Adapted from Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher, Eaton and Beecher

Sometimes the way the Lord uses verbs, or action words, is very specific and powerful. Look for words that describe actions, what people are doing or to do, etc. Ponder why the Lord chose such language and not another similar but different word.

Look For: Look for the words that are action words--that describes what someone or something is doing, etc.

Example: John 14:15 "If you love me, keep the commandments. Why not honor, obey, etc? Why did the Lord use the word "keep"? The use of this word should make us reflect on how we view the commandments. Do we obey them or follow them because they are a duty or "have-to's" for us? Or do we feel personally about them, like they were a treasure that we want to guard or protect from being broken. In Portuguese, the verb for this verse is guardar, which means to guard or protect. Do I "keep" the commandments out of love and devotion to the Lord, or do I view the commandments as requirements and distant from my heart?

Sometimes I have my students underline action words that show a characteristic of a person in the scriptures. For example, when teaching Luke 19, I said, "Look at verses 3-6 and mark the words that show that Zacchaeus was very anxious to see the Lord."

You can use this technique with adjectives and adverbs, too. Look specifically for how the Lord describes something or someone.

Look For: Look for words that describe someone or something, or that indicate the extent to which action was taken.

Example: Adjectives--D&C 138:12-24 Mark all the words and phrases that describe the righteous spirits Jesus visited in the afterlife. Then do the same for the wicked, to whom he did not visit. Righteous = gathered, just, faithful in the testimony of Jesus, offered sacrifice, suffered tribulation, firm in the hope, filled with joy and gladness, rejoicing, assembled, etc Wicked = ungodly, unrepentant, had defiled themselves, rebellious, rejected the testimonies and warnings of the prophets, did not look upon Jesus' face, darkness reigned, etc. These descriptions help us realize what type of attitude and behavior we have to have to be wicked or righteous.

3 Nephi 17:5 When the Savior was about to leave the people, the people looked at him which encouraged Him to stay. Well, how did they look at Him that made Him want to stay. The verse says "steadfastly." Imagine in your mind what that means to steadfastly look at the Savior "as if they would ask him to tarry." Where were all their eyes focused on? What direction was each face? What was their body language communicating? Makes us wonder why the Savior isn't more often present in our meetings with people looking everywhere but the speaker, their minds elsewhere, their body language communicating boredom. How could we more steadfastly look at our Savior? D&C 88:67-68.

(Adapted from Panning for Gold: Various Methods to Understand and Apply the Scriptures to Ourselves by Eric Bacon, Northwest Area Seminaries)

Our SI rep has been teaching us that when you separate into groups you should assign every member of the group a role. This helps each student participate in the group learning process. No matter the size of your group, you should assign a role to each student. Assignments may be given by the teacher, by a group/zone leader, or randomly. Here are some roles you might use in your small groups:

• Leader - The leader is responsible for keeping the group on the assigned task at hand. S/he also makes sure that all members of the group have an opportunity to participate, learn and have the respect of their team members. The leader may also want to check to make sure that all of the group members have mastered the learning points of a group exercise.
• Recorder/scribe - The recorder or scribe keeps written records of all group activities and conclusions, including the material contributed by each group member. The recorder writes out the solutions to problems for the group to use as notes or to submit to the instructor. The recorder may also prepare presentation materials when the group makes oral presentations to the class. Depending on the activity, instructions might read: “Your role is to summarize the key points that your group is making, check that the whole group agrees with them, and then write them down. You may also be expected to explain your group’s findings to the rest of the class. There is much more to being a Scribe than just writing!”
• Reporter/Presenter - The reporter gives oral responses to the class about the group's activities or conclusions.
• Monitor - The monitor is responsible for making sure that the group's work area is left the way it was found and acts as a timekeeper for timed activities. Instructions might read: “The teacher will choose students at random from your group to report back on what your group has learned and decided. The teacher may ask questions of more than one student from your group. They may also set a quiz or test on the material. Your role is to check that all the students in your group understand your group’s findings, and can report it to the rest of the class clearly. Do this by preparing and asking questions of your group. You are allowed a full (five?) minutes to do this. If one of your group can’t answer the teacher’s questions - guess whose fault this will be!”
• Wildcard (in groups of five) - The wildcard acts as an assistant to the group leader and assumes the role of any member that may be missing.
• Questioner - Instructions for this role might read: “Your role is to ‘skim’ the resources and then decide on important questions that the resources should answer. For example, “Who believed Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision and why?” The aim is to focus the group’s attention on the key points. You then give your questions to the group for it (including you!) to answer. You can add to, or change your questions as you get more familiar with the materials. You may also ask supportive and clarifying questions to help the group complete its task(s)”.
• Correlation Committee/Vocabulary Chief - “There is some difficult vocabulary in this material. Your role is to research and explain the meaning of all the difficult terms. You could devise a ‘glossary’ for your group if you think this would help using the Bible Dictionary, Topical Guide, True to the Faith, etc. You will need to run a quiz with your group to check everyone can explain each technical term.”
• Artist - The artist could take the material presented and make a poster or slogan that summarizes the groups finding. The poster could be a drawing, a flow chart, a graph, or nicely illustrated text.

The roles in your small groups will vary according to the material you're studying. Generally, small groups are not larger than 5 students. Your class may consist of only one small group. If your class is small, consider inviting in a trusted adult or another classroom to hear your class presentation. This type of study may occur over multiple class periods so that students may have time to prepare and present material. (See http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/methods.html and the document 25 Ways for Teaching Without Talking at http://GeoffPetty.com/)

Great for: Eliciting thoughtful responses, Giving every person a turn, Helping shy students participate, Helping students find meaning in the scriptures, Teaching students to use study helps

When I am about to ask my students a difficult question, I say, "And here's the AP Seminary question..." They know this means that I am about to stretch them a little bit. I think the little verbal cue helps the students buckle down and recognize that a serious question is coming. They up their game and are prepared to respond to these more difficult questions.

EXAMPLE: While teaching the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11, I asked "Have you ever prayed for something that you didn't get?" They all admitted they had. "Now here's the AP seminary question: doesn't that contradict the JST footnote for Luke 11:5a? Why not?"

Asking difficult questions helps students learn that there are answers to many of life's difficult questions. Sometimes we have to think through them a little bit more or ask a friend for help, but it's okay to ask hard questions.

Pose a question, and then hand several students a piece of chalk with an invitation to write their answers up on the board. Other students can line up for a turn when they are ready to respond, or students may hand off the chalk to others in the class for responses. The best questions for this exercises are broad with short answers, like "What are some of the biggest myths about repentance?" With a this variety of statements, the teacher can choose a few to expand and emphasize. For example, if one student wrote "It's easy," the teacher would say "Tell me more about what you mean when you say that it's a myth that repentance is easy."

Adapted from Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher, Eaton and Beeche

Great for: Lesson opener, Encouraging student participation, Giving every person a turn, Eliciting thoughtful responses, Helping shy students participate

Class size: Any class size

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

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Student Age: Any age

Equipment needed: chalk and chalkboard

A literary foil is someone who highlights another character's trait, usually by contrast. The scriptures are full of these character foils. Examples include God/Christ v Satan, Cain v Abel, or Nephi and Sam v Laman and Lemuel. Often times a chapter or story will highlight events in two different people or groups of people. This is done on purpose and oftentimes there are direct differences that were meant to be discovered and noted by the reader to gain more meaning.

Look For: Look for two people or groups that seem opposites of each other. Then notice the specific differences and compare them to each other.

Example: Numbers 14 Caleb vs. Children of Israel. Compare how Caleb acted to how the Children of Israel acted when they were first going to enter the promise land. For example, the children of Israel murmur, but Caleb has another spirit--which means he had a different spirit than the rest of the children of Israel (v. 24). The children of Israel want another captain (v. 4), but Caleb remains the Lord's servant (v. 24). In the end, Caleb gets to go to the promised land while the children of Israel will suffer and die in the wilderness. Finding these comparisons can help us see what the end result of each direction is and determine what types of lives we wish to live.

Example: Isaiah 14:12-23 The Foil is in the comparison between what Lucifer wants (v. 13-14) and what he will receive (vv. 12, 15-23). Notice how perfectly correlated they are with each other. For example, Satan wants to "ascend into heaven" (v.13) but he will "fall from Heaven." Satan wants to "sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north" but he will "be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit" etc. What this shows is that if we don't put God first in our lives and trust in anything but Him, no matter what we desire, it will turn to the opposite.

(Adapted from Panning for Gold: Various Methods to Understand and Apply the Scriptures to Ourselves by Eric Bacon, Northwest Area Seminaries)

Oftentimes the Lord makes a list of attributes or qualities that are worth noting and titling in our margins. Have students "mark a list' of items in their scriptures. Look for items set off by commas, or lists of things to get a certain result. The items may be contained in more than one verse.

EXAMPLE: While teaching Amos 4, I asked students to mark in their scriptures the ways that the Lord tried to call the people to repent found in Amos 4:6-11.

D&C 76 gives the list of characteristics and rewards of those who go to each of the three degrees of glory.

2 Nephi 32 has a very simple list of how to get back to our Heavenly Home.

Eaton and Beecher sometimes give students five minutes to prepare a 60-second talk on a verse from the day's reading. Students then present their talks. If student become long-winded, offer a prize for the student who comes the closest to 60-seconds without going over. Nothing helps students lean a principle so well as having to explain it on their feet.

Adapted from Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher, Eaton and Beecher

Great for: Lesson preparation, Encouraging student participation, Giving every person a turn, Eliciting thoughtful responses, Helping shy students participate

Class size: Any class size

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

Prep Time: 10+ minutes

Student Age: Any age

Equipment needed:

Sometimes we get into the habit of saying that this particular chapter has nothing to do with us and there is no way to apply it to us or find something meaningful to our situations. But sometimes we must take a step back and look at the overview and then compare similarities to our lives.

Look For: Try to state the overall essence of what you read in the simplest form. Look for general patterns that are similar to your situation.

Example: Jeremiah preaches to his people in Jerusalem who are going to be destroyed and put into captivity for their wickedness. But they don't believe him because everything seems fine. There seems no immediate danger and no one is getting any consequences. When Pashur, the chief governor in the temple, puts Jeremiah in the stocks, Jeremiah gives Pashur a new name. Well, how could this relate to us? Can it teach us something? Are there ever times we or those around us put the prophet in the spiritual "stocks"? The reason Pashur put Jeremiah in the stocks was because he didn't like what the prophet said so he decided to not listen to him. Pashur in Hebrew means "free" and many of us think that we are "free" to choose what ever we want without consequences. But Jeremiah changes his name to Magor-missabib which means "terror all around." I'm sure Pashur protested and said, "No, I'm not surrounded by terror!. I'm Pashur--I'm free! You're the one in the stocks with all of your confining rules and standards!" But this prophet wisely points out that when we don't listen to the prophet it is like putting him in stocks to our hearts and though we may think we are free, actually when we are in a state of sin and rebellion, there is terror all around us even if we can't see it right away.

(Adapted from Panning for Gold: Various Methods to Understand and Apply the Scriptures to Ourselves by Eric Bacon, Northwest Area Seminaries)

Ask students to find a scripture reference that answers a certain question.

EXAMPLE: During a discussion on the word of wisdom in Daniel 1, I asked students to find a scripture reference to prove THAT God gives blessings to the obedient or WHY He does so, or HOW he blesses the obedient. They all found such great scripture references for this. I was shocked. Only a few came up with D&C 89:18-21, which was the one I used.