This having been said, many teens have shown a remarkable capacity for not processing or absorbing the information they've been exposed to in classes and church activities. I once asked a YM class to tell me about apostasy, and finally one girl raised her hand and volunteered the answer that "they were the guys who hung out with Jesus."
Another time, I asked a student to read a passage from Genesis during our Old Testament year in seminary and he blankly asked me where to find Genesis — it was the middle of the year! We'd been studying Genesis for months!
It's good to "mix it up" in class and not just read "at" students and expect them to absorb the scriptures through osmosis. Having students act out scriptures stories, participate in reader's theaters, art projects, posters and collages, and even games and activities can help students retain what they've read in the scriptures. But it's important to center activities squarely on the scriptures and to balance the fun with the learning and never to try to interpret scriptural messages for students, but to give them ways to interpret them that they can use for the rest of their lives.
Hope it helps.
Jackie in Washington State
Jackie, you had some great advice. I really enjoyed the stories you told. The apostasy one reminded me of the first summer I went home from BYU (still as a nonmember) and went to Protestant Sunday school. My sister was supposed to be in the same class I was in, and she stayed home on this particular day. The teacher asked where Sandee was, and I said, “She's apostatized.” The teacher recoiled in horror. She thought I'd said, “She's a prostitute.” Apparently apostatized isn't a word that is commonly used outside the Church.
Your advice to have students act out the scriptures reminds me of something I did back in ancient times, when I was trying to get some of the girls in a high school club to develop an appreciation for Louisiana history. (It was an assignment. Even I didn't have a natural appreciation for Louisiana history!) What I did was to have us act out some of the pivotal historical events on film.
This was back before video cameras, so filming things was a big deal. But we wrote the script and made the costumes and practiced, and then we filmed ourselves with a home movie camera. Even though the company that developed the film messed it up and we never got to see what we did, I still remember that LaSalle sailed down the Mississippi River, claimed the Mississippi basin for France, and named it Louisiana.
In this day of video cameras, it would be a whole lot easier for kids to film scripture stories than it was for me to do it back in the Stone Age. Teenagers (and even younger kids) could have a ball acting these things out in front of the camera. Young Men and Young Women could produce the stories for their younger brothers and sisters to watch, or whole families could do it as part of Family Home Evening nights. This would be a way to make memories and develop an appreciation for the scriptures at the same time. Two benefits for the price of one!
Another thing that really impressed me was something our stake Relief Society did a few years ago. When the presidency went from ward to ward for ward conferences, instead of preparing talks they had each member of the presidency tell her current favorite scripture and say why that scripture meant something to her. Then they opened the floor for women in the ward to do the same thing. (The women may have been asked ahead of time so they would come prepared, but I'm not sure about that.)
I went to all ten of our ward conferences that year, and the program was such a huge hit in every ward that I was sorry when ward conferences were over. The stories that were told were inspirational, and everyone had a different treasured scripture — many of which had never caught my attention before.
An idea like that could work with youth just as well as it did with Relief Society members. If you give teenagers an opportunity to share scriptures that are important to them, you may be pleasantly surprised at what they say.
One thing I have done for a Young Women class I'm teaching in a couple of weeks is that I've ordered “Dear to My Heart” scripture stickers to give to the girls. Girls love stickers, and these transparent heart-shaped stickers can be stuck right over a favorite scripture to remind teenagers of a passage that touched their hearts. From my experience in Young Women, I know that the girls I teach are so crazy about stickers that they'll actually read the scriptures in order to find favorites so they can use the hearts.
In case any of you want to order stickers, here's the link.
If any of you have other ideas, please send them to meridianmagazine@aol.com. If we get any other suggestions, we'll post them. If not, we'll move on to another topic next week.
Before we close for today, however, we have a request to see the study that was quoted in last week's column. Here's the letter:
I would love to get my hands on the study that showed that 95% of youth that practiced personal scripture study and prayers daily went on to receive the Melchizedek priesthood, go through the temple, serve missions and be married in the temple. It said that family prayer, family scripture study and family home evenings were a (if not the ) greatest factor in those who did read and pray daily.
Can you help me find that study? Do you have any idea who conducted the study? Thanks, I really appreciate your help. I will look forward to the comments that get sent in about helping our families learn to love the scriptures.
Christine Hair
Sandy , Utah
Okay, people. For those who love a challenge, please find this study and send it to us so we can post it here! Enquiring minds want to know! Send it to meridianmagazine@aol.com, so all of us can benefit from documented information.
Meanwhile, if you still want the autism letters but still haven't written to ask for them, it's not too late. Write to us and just put “Send Autism Letters” in the subject line. That's all it takes, and you'll get the ones that were published and the ones that weren't — plus links to all the autism-related articles we have published in Meridian. Such a deal!
Until next week —Kathy
Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life,and they are they which testify of me.
John 5:39
