Scripture Mastery Fun In-a-Snap!
By C.S. Bezas

Editor’s note: Last week C.S. Bezas discussed working with seminary students some might consider as “throwaway kids.” All students can contribute to the betterment of a seminary class and this week she offers a variety of fun activities to engage even the most recalcitrant of students.

As seminary teachers, we have the responsibility to arm our students as Captain Moroni armed his followers — with solid tools and faith that God will stand by them as they choose the right. How do we do this? Above and beyond the spiritual tools of stellar seminary lessons, we arm the students with the actual word of God, by getting them into their scriptures. For it is within the scriptures the students learn of and can meet the Master Himself.

One of the best tools we have for introducing bite-sized pieces of scripture study is that of scripture mastery. It is while memorizing these gospel nuggets that the spiritual nutrition found therein can begin to nurture the students’ spiritual and physical wellbeing.

But what if your students aren’t interested in memorizing these scriptural “happy meals,” whether inside or outside of class? Do we throw up our hands and say,

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.