Scripture Mastery - "Mystery" Game

Imagine my surprise as a new seminary teacher to learn that the goal of scripture mastery (for my students) was not just to memorize the targeted scriptures, but to be able to find them at any moment's notice. Once I discovered that "truth", I increased my ability to serve my students.

Thus, my teaching focus changed on Fridays, the last day of each teaching week.

(Fortunately, where I teach, my school district has five day school weeks. I have heard from some of you that you have four-day teaching weeks! Wow. My hat goes off to you. I know that the Lord will bless you for your even more intense service!)

Here is the game we played this week to enable my students' ability to master their scripture skills. It is a variation on the game we played recently.

1. I cut twelves circles out, using a small glass base to trace around.

2. I numbered the circles from "1" to "12".

3. I wrote on the opposite side a doctrinal application of the twelve targeted scripture "masteries" for the week.

4. I made a master list for myself, so that I could find the reference quickly to verify correct answers.

5. I mixed up the numbers and placed them (numbers up) in a muffin tin. I also readied a sheet upon which to write team points (or in our case, Brigham Bucks for the end of the year auction - to be explained in a future blog entry).

RULES FOR PLAYING:

A. All students have their scriptures closed and in their hands, ready for opening.

B. One classmate flips over one "Mystery Scripture" and reads it to the class. The class member who flips over the "Mystery Scripture" does not need to find the scripture themself for that particular round. (We usually start from one side of the classroom to the other. I have twelve students; you may need to vary this according to your number of players.)

C. As soon as the student begins reading the doctrinal reference on the back of the circle, the class can begin searching for the "Mystery Scripture." Once they find it, they then are to call out clues for the rest of the class. No-one earns points unless they all earn points. (This is to build team spirit and to reduce competitiveness. Not all students are good at these kind of games. I don't want any student of mine leaving seminary feeling like a failure.)

D. When they all have found the scripture in the first 15 seconds, they've each earned 500 Brigham Bucks.
* If found after 16 seconds, they've individually all earned 400 Brigham Bucks.
* If found after 30 seconds, 300 Bucks.
* If found after 45 seconds, 200 Bucks.
At this point, if they've not found the scripture, I allow those who *have* found the scripture to call out the page number. If all have found it by 60 seconds, they've earned 100 Bucks a piece.

E. They then close their scriptures. To drill home the "Mystery Scripture" they just did, I then call out a key phrase or word. Since they've just found the scripture, they all are able to swiftly find the same scripture and hollar out the reference. They close their scriptures and and I call out another key phrase or word (for the same scripture). They all quickly open to it again and call out the reference. We do this several times. By the third time or so, even the slower students are having fun and feeling successful in their ability to "dial in" the Mystery Scripture's Location.

All of this is a slight variation on The Ping Pong game we'd played recently. What I've found is that if I gradually "morph" the games from one to another, the students seem to gradually assimilate the scriptures without being rocked too hard by the newness of a game that takes a while to learn.

Just wait till you try "Hot Potato" next week! :0)

Until then, happy teaching! The Lord's work is amazing.

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Until next week,

just another early-morning-seminary-teacher mom! :0)