To become lasting, meaningful and lead to actual change, the things we teach need to have a connection in the minds of our students with their own lives. Through examples, questions and invitations we can help our students discover how the gospel principles we teach can make a difference on a day to day basis. If after a lesson they are thinking “This is like algebra, something I will probably never use!”, then no matter how masterfully we may have taught the principle, we only accomplished information sharing – not testimony building.
President Thomas S. Monson shared this thought on teaching, “The goal of gospel teaching … is not to ‘pour information’ into the minds of class members. … The aim is to inspire the individual to think about, feel about, and then do something about living gospel principles.”
On the lds.org website you can find 22 excellent suggestions on how to help students make the connection between what you teach and what they live:
https://www.lds.org/youth/learn/learning-teaching-ideas/ss/connections?lang=eng
Help the youth make connections between what they are learning at home, in church, and in other settings
Make a list of truths
Ask the youth to make a list of gospel truths they have been learning and discuss how they relate to each other.
Write a word or phrase
Ask the youth to share a word or phrase that summarizes something they learned recently.
Share a scripture
Invite the youth to share a scripture they have studied recently and talk about what they learned from it.
Share a learning experience
Ask the youth to share an experience in which they learned about a doctrine of the gospel in a meaningful way.
Share a teaching experience
Ask the youth to share a recent experience they had teaching the gospel. What do they feel went well? What would they like to improve?
Share an application
Invite the youth to share how they are living the things they are learning.
Ask questions
Invite the youth to ask questions they have about a doctrine they are studying.
Share questions
Invite the youth to share questions they have been asked about the Church or their beliefs and how they would answer them.
Introduce the doctrine the youth will be learning about in class
Find the doctrine in the scriptures
Invite the youth to look in the scriptures for a verse that teaches the doctrine of the lesson.
Ask a question
Invite the youth to respond to a question about the doctrine.
Sing a hymn
Invite the youth to sing a hymn related to the doctrine.
Answer the question in the lesson title
Write on the board the question in the title of the lesson, and invite the youth to ponder how they would answer it.
Role-play
Ask the youth to role-play a situation in which someone asks them a question about the doctrine. How would they answer?
Explain what you know
Ask class members to explain what they know about the doctrine.
Divide the doctrine into parts
Divide the doctrine into parts, and assign different youth to explain what each part means.
Explain a picture or object
Show the youth a picture or object related to this week’s doctrine, and ask them to explain it.
Draw a picture
Invite the youth to draw a picture that represents what they understand about the doctrine you will be discussing.
Find and share scriptures
Ask the youth to find a scripture that helps answer the question in the title of the lesson.
Summarize what you know
Invite the youth to summarize in a few words or phrases what they know or have experienced about the doctrine.
Anonymous survey
Give class members a short, anonymous survey that asks about their feelings or experiences related to the doctrine.
Quiz
Give the youth a brief quiz to find out what they already know about the doctrine.
Make a list of words
Ask the youth to think of words that relate to the doctrine they will be discussing. Which words or phrases do they have questions about?
Thank you for all you do in bringing others closer to our Heavenly Father.