Mormon Share > Determining student level of understanding
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
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 is to divide the class into small groups and have the whole group drawing at…
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
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. When called on, each student should state the “one-liner,” or the words or phrases that…
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
You can do this as a group activity or as an individual activity. I generally do it as a group activity. Assign students a passage to read. Have students imagine they are newspaper reporters who are going to write a headline for this passage. What will they write? What headline will tell your readers the most important information in the fewest words? Give students a few seconds (I usually do…
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
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 like fall, creation, resurrection, birth, war in heaven, outer darkness, death, celestial glory, paradise, spirit…
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
WordStorm is kind of like brainstorming in that you take a topic word and write down the class’ thoughts on the board. Easy Lesson opener. EXAMPLE: I wrote the word “friend” on the board and asked my students to say words that describe a perfect friend. I noted their words on the board. When they slowed, I pointed out that Jesus Christ called some people his friends in the scriptures….
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
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 triggered a new question. If they can’t find something new, I let them share something…
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