Great For: Eliciting Thoughtful Responses

These teaching techniques will help you elicit thoughtful responses from your students.

December 31, 2012
Touched by the Spirit

At what point in the scripture block did the Spirit touch you and whisper to you that something you read was true? Maybe a particular part was something with which you have already had experience. Bear testimony of it during class, and invite students to do the same. Look For: Be aware of your feelings […]

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December 31, 2012
Different Lenses

Read the same block with different eyes looking for different things, as if you were wearing a new pair of glasses with different lenses. A parent, a bishop, a missionary, a teenager, someone tired and depressed, someone newly married, someone needing repentance, someone who doesn't get along with their parents, etc. For example, ask the […]

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December 31, 2012
Daydream

This exercise requires a good imagination. After reading the verses silently (perhaps a few times), invite your class to close their eyes and take a few minutes trying to visualize the scene depicted in the scriptures in your mind. Try to imagine every detail, see how people walked, talked, and acted. What is the scenery? […]

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December 31, 2012
Scripture Auction

Give students a sum of fake money. Students will use the fake money to "buy" a scripture. The teacher auctions off different significant verses in a block of scriptures that students can search for principles and applications. You might even attach different candy to different verses -- the "better" the verse (or, the more things […]

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December 31, 2012
One Word

Have students come up with a single word that best describes a verse(s) or principle/doctrine. (Adapted from Panning for Gold: Various Methods to Understand and Apply the Scriptures to Ourselves by Eric Bacon, Northwest Area Seminaries)  

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December 31, 2012
Scripture Tweet

Assign students a passage or set of several verses to read. Have students imagine they are the prophet who would like to tweet the main idea of this passage or set of verses to his followers. What might he write? What will tell followers the most important information in fewer than 140 characters? After a […]

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December 31, 2012
Scripture Menu

Have students read a set of scriptures or passage. Pick an Appetizer - verse(s) that tantalize your own spiritual taste buds Beverage - cross-reference that helps wash down the Main Dish Main Dish - verse(s) that give an overall understanding of the entire block or main principle Dessert - short phrase that is spiritual topping […]

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December 31, 2012
Jigsaw

Jigsaw was first developed in the early 1970s by Elliot Aronson and his students at the University of Texas and the University of California. To teach using the Jigsaw method, “divide a topic up into, say, four sub-topics. For example childhood diseases could be divided into mumps, measles, whooping cough and German measles. Alternatively students […]

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December 31, 2012
Improving Small Group Learning with Roles

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, […]

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December 31, 2012
Mark a list

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. […]

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