Mormon Share > Giving every person a turn
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
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 were able to cover them by doing those interview-style, like “You were present when Jesus…
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
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 group or zone leader to read the responses of the people in a group and…
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
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 the question should be a question that was triggered by reading the passage. They should…
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Jennifer Smith
December 31, 2012
You know how this works: each student’s name is written on a piece of paper. You draw a name out and that’s the person who reads or prays next. EXAMPLE: I use a bucket with craft sticks that have each student’s name written on it. One end of the stick is red and the other is green. Students with red facing up, have been chosen. It’s an easy way to…
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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
You already know how to play Scriptionary — one student draws a picture of a gospel story or item and the other students try to guess it. But in Seminary Scriptionary, I tell my students that they are going to draw a list of items that have to do with a certain gospel topic, like patriarchal blessings. Then I provide students a list of words, like – Liahona – scriptures…
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Jennifer Smith
February 10, 2012
One of the most boring things we do in class is go around the circle or down the row — in order — with every person reading a single verse of scripture aloud. Here are some very simple ideas you can use to keep students engaged while reading scripture passages aloud. Randomized Scripture Reading The following methods are ways to engage students by making assigned passages randomized. Hey there, Delilah!…
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Jennifer Smith
March 13, 2011
Here’s a great example of using drama to help gospel students learn from Seminary Mom: One of my number one desires as a seminary teacher is to have my students fall in love with the scriptures. I want them to know these individuals we read about who really lived a long time ago. I want the students to feel the truthfulness of what they are reading and to care so…
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