Students pretend to be newscasters who tell a familiar gospel story. EXAMPLE: I told my students that we were going to pretend to be newscasters describing the events of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Each zone received a section of Matthew 21 to give a news cast on. The parables were difficult, but the kids […]
Teachers can randomly assign students to read randomly by calling them by name. The key is the order of the direction and the assignment. Here's how: "Turn in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 1. [pause] Everyone look at your scriptures. We'll be reading verses 1-15 aloud one at a time and discussing each individually. Verse […]
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 […]
Try to identify patterns in the scriptures that can help your students overcome challenges. Look for words that repeat, phrases that describe a behavior or character trait, or doctrine, principle. EXAMPLE During our discussion of Matthew 4, I had my students explain Jesus' three temptations to the class. I listed them on the board. Then […]
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 […]
Students open their notebooks and write two things: one question they had about the reading and one thing they learned anew or that they had forgotten. We spent probably 40 minutes covering the things they wrote. Great discussion and opportunity for sharing.
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 […]
I used these questions on a worksheet to help students evaluate and understand personalities in the scriptures: :: Character Study :: Name: Scripture: Spouse/Children: Age: Hometown: Occupation: Describe this person using only three words. Circle the word you feel is this person's core quality: ________________ , ________________ , ________________ Briefly describe the person's attitude toward: […]
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. […]
Have each student read a scripture on a gospel topic or a keyword written on a wordstrip and then place that wordstrip under the correct header. EXAMPLE: I used this method to teach the plan of salvation. I divided the board into three sections: premortal, mortal, and postmortal. I also stuck Post-it notes with words […]
