Great For: Determining Student Level of Understanding

These teaching techniques will help you determine the level to which students understand the topic you are teaching.

December 31, 2012
New to You

Give students a few minutes to review a passage that is fairly familiar to them. Have them write down something that was "new" at this reading. They may have remembered a detail they forgot or noticed something new. They may have a new understanding of what certain words or phrases mean. The verses may have […]

Read More
December 31, 2012
Make a Quiz

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 […]

Read More
December 31, 2012
Everybody Writes

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 […]

Read More
December 31, 2012
Styrofoam Slate

Each student has a Styrofoam plate, a wet wipe, and a regular water cleanup (not permanent) marker. Ask students questions that can be answered in a few short phrases. They write their answers and flip over their plates. After a few moments, ask everybody to display their plates. I have used this as a lesson […]

Read More
December 31, 2012
Group Drawing

My students love group drawing. It's good for covering material that is easy to imagine visually. I have also used it to cover distressing topics -- like the events preceding the second coming -- because these events seem less frightening when sketched for some reason. I have done group drawing a couple of ways. One […]

Read More
December 31, 2012
Ask a Friend

The purpose of this activity is to help students learn that they have the skills and tools to answer other's questions. They also learn they can turn their friends for help with gospel questions. After giving students something to read together, ask every one to write down a question about the passage. Instruct students that […]

Read More
December 31, 2012
Find the One-Liner

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. […]

Read More
January 20, 2011
Jesus is the Son of God (Making a Puzzle)

Items needed: a picture cut into 20 pieces to create a puzzle. (The picture can be any picture of Christ, but a picture of his birth would work great.) Lesson: Cut a picture into 20 pieces to create a puzzle. (The picture can be any picture of Christ, but a picture of his birth would […]

Read More
chevron-downenvelopemenu-circlecross-circle linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram