I’m not sure the Lord
would condone such a harsh perspective, even with
regards to a simple activity such as scripture mastery.
For isn’t the purpose of scripture mastery to nourish
the students, so that when they are exercised by the
challenges of worldly, daily strife they will not
faint? Thus, if my students are not yet mature enough
to “chew” upon their scriptural nuggets outside of
class, I make sure we do some “chewing” inside of
class! The saying, “If you can’t get Mohammed to come
to the mountain, you bring the mountain to Mohammed”
comes to mind.
As a seminary teacher,
I am always interested in bringing the mountain of
the Lord “to Mohammed.” That is my charge. And while
doing so, I am to fashion my lessons and teachings
to the capacity of even the weakest. We learn of this
approach by reading in Doctrine & Covenants 89.
Joseph Smith gave us teachings of great significance
within that chapter, important both to our physical
as well as our spiritual wellbeing.
Because these teachings
are significant, the Lord prepared them in a manner
for “the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are
or can be called saints” (D&C 89:3). If that approach
is good enough for the Lord, it certainly can be good
enough for the Lord’s seminary teachers.
Therefore, if our students
currently don’t have a desire to enjoy scriptural
nutrition on their own, that’s just fine by us as
the Lord’s finest. As His seminary teachers, we work
to bring these “meals” to our students each day in
class, until the students become strong enough to
seek out the Lord’s feast individually. We are always
looking for ways to make tasty the scripture mastery
verses, these sweet packets of sustaining, eternal
food for the soul. And we don’t have to wait till
Fridays to share these yummy morsels.
Here are a few suggestions
of how to blend the “happy meal” of scripture mastery
nuggets into the daily classroom. If shared consistently
enough, even the weakest of our students can and will
be nourished. By incorporating a few fresh approaches
each week, your students’ eyes will sparkle and the
nutrition of the Lord’s love will sustain their souls.
And during the time that the students’ confidence
in memorization is growing, they are welcome and free
to use their scripture mastery cards or their scriptures
as powerful tools for these activities.
In truth, the more we
recite something, the more it becomes ours. So by
all means, we let the students use the tools they
have until these priceless words become part of their
very hearts.
What I have found works
best in the classrooms I’ve worked in is to build
towards an entire classroom goal (through points or
some other reward unit), rather than pit individual
students or teams against each other. Thus, the focus
can remain solely on the goal of getting the scriptures
down, rather than “winning” over someone else. Consistency
is key.
Raise the Rose.
The students love feeling
as if they are in charge, and when well handled, it
can be quite helpful to let them lead out in scripture
mastery efforts. We as a class have a targeted scripture
mastery verse that we work on all week long, finishing
up with completing our final memorization efforts
on Fridays.
During certain weeks
(dependent on lesson or other scripture mastery activities),
one member of the class presidency receives a silk
red rose. At any point during class that day, the
presidency member can raise the rose. The entire class
stops what they are working on and we recite together
the targeted verse. The goal is to have the rose raised
at least five times during the class to provide
consistent reinforcement that day and all week long.
You may want a different member of the class presidency
each day to “raise the rose,” thus distributing the
responsibility amongst class presidency members throughout
the week.
Chickenpox.
At the start of class,
distribute five circle stickers to each student. The
students stick those stickers on their faces anywhere
they want. To be “cured,” they need to recite the
targeted scripture mastery verse on four different
occasions to individual “doctors” in the room (other
students in the class). If recited fairly well, their
“doctor” can remove one “pox.” The student then goes
on to the next “doctor” and recites the scripture
mastery; that doctor can then remove one “pox” (and
so on). For the permanent “cure,” the student goes
to the teacher and recites the scripture mastery verse
after four pock marks have been removed. If passed
off, the teacher can remove their final pock mark
and the student is pronounced “cured.”
In-a-Snap.
This activity is a variation
on Raise the Rose, only anyone in the class can begin
snapping their fingers. When someone begins snapping
their fingers, the class is required to recite the
targeted scripture mastery verse. By allowing the
spontaneity of anyone in the class to initiate snapping,
it gives students personal power and ability (who
otherwise might be overlooked) to steer their class
in a leadership way. Although initially there may
be a lot of snapping and amusement, eventually it
balances out as you use the activity throughout the
week. And even if there is a lot of snapping, with
some potential disruption of the lesson, it all works
to an excellent benefit of getting the students to
recite that targeted scripture mastery verse over
and over! (You may want to talk privately with the
class president to oversee the activity; if other
class members forget or fail to initiate snapping
their fingers at least every ten minutes, he or she
can periodically snap his own fingers to keep up the
activity.)
Round Robin.
This is a class race
against the teacher. The entire class, after becoming
fairly familiar with the scripture mastery verse,
competes against the teacher to see who can finish
the verse(s) first. The teacher has to write out the
verse-of-the-week faster than the students are able
to say it. The only trick? Each student can only say
one word. So the verse goes “round robin” through
the entire circle of students and continues in like
manner until finished. For example, D&C 8:2-3
would go like this:
Joe: “Yea,
Candy: behold
Alishia:
I
Fred: will
Mike:
tell
Dan:
you
Saria:
in
Anne:
your
Rachel:
mind
etc. The goal is to finish
before the teacher finishes writing the scripture
from memory. Thus, it’s a no-pressure situation for
the teacher; don’t worry if you have the verse perfectly
memorized or not, since the goal is seeing the kids
win! Do this every day at the start of class, mixing
up the order of students, and by the end of the week
the memorization will be much stronger amongst the
kids. And yes, allow them to use the scripture mastery
cards as a tool to help them, if they so desire. It
will reinforce the activity through both visual and
auditory feedback.
Mr. President.
The game is similar to
“Mother, May I?” with a slight variation. The class
president stands at the front of the room. The students
each stand when it is their turn. A student asks one
of three questions — to either recite a scripture,
to provide a scriptural reference to a given clue
from the president, or to create a clue of their own
for the whole class to find.
Example:
“Mr. President, may I
give a clue?” The class president says yes, and the
student gives a clue for the class. The class then
races to find the scripture mastery in their scriptures,
thus earning points for the class.
Or…
“Mr. President, may I
have a clue?” The class president says yes and gives
a clue to one of the targeted scripture mastery verses.
The student can either find it in his scriptures or
recite it from memory, earning points for the class.
Or…
“Mr. President, may I
recite a scripture?” The class president says yes,
and the student recites one of the scripture mastery
verses from memory (the student himself selects which
scripture to recite — this is all about building confidence).
The student earns points for the class by so doing
(no perfection required, just true effort).
The class president always
says yes to each response, symbolic of Heavenly Father
agreeing with each of our positive choices. The activity
also avoids any negative competition from pitting
one team against another; instead, the class is working
as a whole toward one common purpose — earning class
points toward a class party or whatever the class
might have chosen at the beginning of the year.
Scripture mastery has
many hidden and wonderful components to the process.
Not only do the students become more familiar with
the physical layout of the scriptures, they also become
more familiar with important doctrine found in these
scripture mastery verses. But most importantly, as
they work through the process of memorizing these
keynote verses, they bless themselves with spiritual
sustenance that can see them through the darkest of
days possible now and awaiting them in their future.
Just as happy meals come
with a premium or toy that makes the meal more appealing,
classroom fun can help make scripture mastery attractive
— both for those who have need for motivation as well
as for those who do not. May the Lord bless us to
have sufficient enthusiasm and tenacity to see scripture
mastery through each year, so that we can succor even
the weakest amongst us and give all involved the scriptural
nuggets that will sustain them throughout their lives.
