Perfecting the Saints — One Lesson at a Time
At what point in the scripture block did the Spirit touch you and whisper to you that something you read was true? Maybe a particular part was something with which you have already had experience. Bear testimony of it during class, and invite students to do the same. Look For: Be aware of your feelings as you read. What verses touch you? Look for phrases that speak to you. Example:…
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The following is a report I wrote after a Seminary inservice meeting where I attended a class on Asking Better Questions: I had the good fortune of being in Brother Baraclough’s class on Asking Better Questions. Watching him teach was at least as instructive as the material, if not more, and so I really enjoyed this. Improving the Set Up First Brother Baraclough demonstrated a common mistake teachers make (one…
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Anciently, making an oath or covenant was the strongest form of commitment one could use. When the Lord swears something to us, this should be very serious to us. Look for such language as “As I the Lord liveth,” “I am the Lord,” or when the Lord uses a certain Name (ie. “the Lord of Hosts is my name, or “Holy One of Israel,” etc), or when he calls someone…
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When a weasel finds an egg, he punctures it and sucks the life out of the shell. In a similar way, some words in the scriptures suck the life out of a story or verse. Look For: Look for words that seem to deflate everything that was said before or after. Example: Jeremiah 6:14 “They (the priests) have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly ….
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Elder Richard G. Scott taught, “Never, and I mean never, give a lecture where there is no student participation. A ‘talking head’ is the weakest form of classroom instruction.” (Address to CES Religious Educators, February 4, 2005) Lecture has its place in teaching, but teacher presentation or lecture should not be your entire lesson. It should not, in my opinion, make up the majority of your lesson either. I learned…
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The Lord often uses “formulas” to show how to obtain certain blessings or outcomes. Mark these with an equal signs. They signal a plain truth of the gospel. Look For: Look for places where the Lord defines something or ties two or more things together. Words like “is,” “like,” or “in other words” Example: D&C 93:24 Def. of Truth 3 Nephi 11:29 Contention is of the devil. (therefore what does…
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These words say a lot without a lot of letters. And they are meant to draw our attention in a hurry–just like a billboard–and usually there is a message just after them that we were intended to focus on. Look for “Wo”(especially double or triple Wos), “O,” “Thus,” “And Thus we see,” “Behold,” “Nevertheless,” “Therefore,” “Yea”,” “Now,” “Likewise,” “Let us,” “Finally,” etc. Today, we use superlatives such as: “good, better,…
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This is a familiar but underused teaching technique. When you invite students to role play, “The students’ job is to shore up their friend, and they almost always bear testimony in the process — almost without realizing it.” (Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher, Eaton and Beecher, p 91) “We’ve had our students play everything from missionaries to parents of troubled youth to concerned friends. The more realistic the situation, the…
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How does connecting different parts of the story in the same or other chapters help make one scene more powerful and meaningful. Look For: Put parts of a story or teaching together (don’t forget previous and future chapters!) and “look for” connections. Examples >1 Samuel 1 –2 Hannah’s sacrifice of giving up her firstborn Samuel when you connect it with the suffering she went through (v. 6-7). It also makes…
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What are things in the scripture block that you could actually see, touch, smell, visualize?. Picture these in your mind or better find the actually object and see what it teaches you about the way it is used in the verses you are reading. Look For: Look for objects in the scriptures–things that you could see, hold, touch, etc. Example: Isaiah 5:18 describes people that carry their sins like beasts…
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Use a respected adult to help you teach the class. Separate into groups and have the other adult teach one group while you teach another. Give the students a few minutes at the end of class to share what they learned. EXAMPLE: When teaching Ruth, I asked my husband to take the boys while I took the girls. We wrote down the qualities that Ruth and Boaz had that would…
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Sometimes we get into the habit of saying that this particular chapter has nothing to do with us and there is no way to apply it to us or find something meaningful to our situations. But sometimes we must take a step back and look at the overview and then compare similarities to our lives. Look For: Try to state the overall essence of what you read in the simplest…
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