Perfecting the Saints — One Lesson at a Time
Throughout the Seminary year — but especially as you approach the end of the year — you may wish to look for ways to introduce (for younger students) or reinforce (for graduating seniors) all 100 Seminary Scripture Mastery (SM) scriptures. Here are a few possible ideas to help you do so: Give students a list of all 100 SM scriptures for them to glue into their scriptures. Have an in-class…
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By Eric Jorgensen Eric Jorgensen: — A daily learning + get-to-know-you activity — I thought I would share a teaching practice that has been working really well for my class this year. I call it the “Daily Do Now and Friday Lottery”. It provides a social learning activity at the start of every class which provides a double incentive to come to seminary on time. (Credit: This idea is a…
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By Scott Knecht It is satisfying at the end of a class to sit back and think how well I covered the material for the students. Teachers love to cover things and to say things like “we covered that really well in class today and the students are all ready for the test.” I think we feel victorious when we can acknowledge that our coverage was great. But here is…
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By Suzi Alkonis Suzi Alkonis : This is a great idea and a great blog: teachtolearn1.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-5-minute-lecture.html?spref=fb 2 (58 minutes ago) http://teachtolearn1.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-5-minute-lecture.html?spref=fb Not everything in a class should be or needs to be student discovery. Sometimes I just need to tell them something but I struggled for a long time to do it effectively and in a timely manner. Then I discovered the beauty of something I came to call The…
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By Scott Knecht One night in graduate school I went to the opening session of a new class. It was a bit of a different schedule – 2 nights a week for 4 hours per night for 4 weeks – so I had to get mentally prepared to endure the length each night. Little did I know the adventure that awaited. The teacher walked in at the appointed hour, called…
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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 “mini-lesson” from a conference talk excerpt. I have a similar one that focuses on…
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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 explain it on their feet. Adapted from Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher, Eaton and Beecher…
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When I teach, I try to apply the law of witnesses: “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established,” (See D&C 6:28, 2 Corinthians 13:1, Deuteronomy 19:15, 2 Nephi 29:8, Matthew 18:16) to my Lesson preparation. The idea is that as teachers, we’re always looking for “witnesses” to the word. When we establish the word with multiple witnesses, or testimonies, we help it sink deeply…
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While reading a scripture block, what are the things, phrases, allusions, etc that you don’t understand? What questions do you have after reading some scripture verses? ALSO, look for actual questions in the block. Can you answer them? What if you had to answer the question aloud, especially if they were asked by the Lord or His prophets? Example: Alma 5 is full of questions! Going through them asking them…
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The Student Study guide is full of great definitions for scripture terms and symbols. When you hit a difficult passage, look at the student guide for help. If that doesn’t work, keep a good dictionary nearby that gives the root meaning of words as well as definitions that you can understand. See what this does by looking up words–even common words–and see how the definitions give deeper meaning to the…
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As Nephi taught, we should “liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23). Where could you or a student place your name or situation into the scriptures and make an appropriate application? Could you substitute your name for someone else’s or personalize the situation to make the scripture speak directly to you? Look For: Look for ways to put your name…
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Many scriptures make promises and conditions by putting them in a formula, usually stated as a “If [this happens], then [that will happen].” Look For: Watch for the words like “If…” and “then…” CAUTION: many times the “then” part is implied and the word “then” word is left out. Example: 1 Nephi 2:20 “Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, (there is no “THEN” but it is implied!) ye shall…
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We are moving to http://NoBoringLessons.com/ where you can find Come Follow Me Lesson ideas for the new 2019 curriculum Dismiss