Great For: Improving Talks or Devotionals

These teaching techniques will help students present better talks and devotionals.

February 18, 2013
Five Step Mini-Lesson

Vanessa S. shared this on the Come Follow Me Facebook Group, and I asked her permission to share it here.  She said: "[A]fter some initially rather disastrous experiments having my girls teach, I eventually came around to this handout, which the girls told me has been very helpful. It outlines the steps for preparing a […]

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January 29, 2013
Handout Holder

I am teaching the 14-18 yr old youth in Sunday School.  One idea I have used seems to be working: I bought a composition notebook and pen for all the kids.  Every handout (I try to have one every week) is given to them with a piece of sticky Velcro.  They put one piece on […]

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December 31, 2012
Explaining Exemplars

In Explaining Exemplars, you take a good example of something, like a general conference talk, and examine it to find why it was effective. Give pairs or small groups of students examples of good practice, and perhaps some examples of bad practice or examples containing a few common errors. They may have the same, or […]

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December 31, 2012
60-second Talks

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 […]

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December 31, 2012
60-Second Explorers

Tell students you will give them sixty seconds to find out everything they can about a certain passage. If this is the first time your students have done an activity like this, you may want to give them a chance to tell you some techniques they might want to use: reading the chapter header, checking […]

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December 31, 2012
Student presents

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 […]

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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 […]

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