Moroni 7 - "Spiritual" Finals

[example of students' score sheets for Five in a Row]

Today, after opening exercises of devotional, etc., we played one round of our scripture mastery game Five in a Row to review for our scripture mastery day.

ATTENTION GETTER:
Then we moved on to the research topic for the day - the powerful spiritual content within Moroni 7. I had "Finals" all ready to pass out (not typical ones, though), but before I did that, I asked, "Please raise your hand if you are graduating this year." Three students raised their hands.

"Please raise your hand if you are graduating next year." Several students raised their hands. I continued on down to the freshman until all the students had a chance to raise their hands.

Then I said, "A few of the young women here in class had the opportunity to attend Relief Society two weeks ago. What was it like?"

An awkward, "Interesting" was the only comment I received. I smiled and said, "Yeees, that's right. Interesting, wasn't it? And guess what, soon you'll be teaching an "interesting" Relief Society lesson yourselves....or perhaps Sunday School....or perhaps...well, you get the idea! Graduation for all of you is so very close, and then you'll be receiving opportunities to serve, to teach, etc."

Again, I smiled. "It will be here all too soon. And you are powerful. So I want you ready to be able to handle a 40 minute lesson. Or 30 minutes. Or whatever the case may be."

FINALS TIME! :0)
That was when I handed out the "Spiritual Finals" to the teams (I'd written each team member's name on the top of the paper - this way I can control who works with whom. I switch the teams around each day to balance the individual growth of each student).

For the Spiritual Final, each team received a section for Moroni 7 from the teacher's manual. There were four main headings within the manual for Moroni 7, so I'd divided the team into four groups.

In life, it's not so much the facts we've memorized that sustain us. It is the knowledge of how to bring the spirit into our lives and into the lives of others. It is experiencing the sweet savor of the Spirit as we study the scriptures and as we prepare to bring that to others, that sustains us.

So for Midterms and Finals like these, I lean heavily on the students diving deeply into the spiritual waters of the gospel and seeing what they come up with. How adept are they at being able to handle things of the spirit? I NEVER "grade" the Midterms or the Finals; I simply want them to focus on things of the Spirit - not just facts.

Thus, as I distributed the "Finals" today, I reminded them of the opportunity to show what they are made of. They are sons and daughters of God, capable of great good. So I asked them to do the following as they were preparing their "Spiritual Final."

• Read the assigned verses together as a group - DON'T just assign one person to do that.
• Read the suggested application activities or stories mentioned in the sheet I'd given them.
• Decide as a team which activities would bring their "students"/fellow classmates the closest to understanding the message of the assigned verses.
• Prepare for presenting the "Final"/lesson to the class in a manner which will get their classmates into the scriptures during the lesson.
• Prepare to share your testimony with the class as to the importance of the topic of study.

The only thing which I failed to mention was to pray as a team for the spirit to be with them while teaching. This would be an important part of their preparation and I highly recommend that you add this to the list. :0)

SUMMARY:
At the end of class, they gave turned in their preparations. Tomorrow the first two teams will present their message and on Thursday, the final two teams will present.

To close class, we took an end-of-the-year group picture, since everyone was present (what's fun is to take one at the beginning of the year and then at the end). I'm going to surprise them with the picture in a frame at the end of the year (next week - wow, can it be here already?!). I want them to look back fondly on these days as a seminary class, in which they were able to deeply feel the presence of the Lord in studying His works. That is my prayer.

Warmly,

just another-early-morning-seminary-teacher mom!

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