Guest Author - Terrie Lynn Bittner

One of the challenges LDS teachers face is trying to get adults to read their scriptures and lesson manuals before coming to class. Our Gospel Doctrine teacher has taken a tip from the Seminary and starting keeping charts. Students who agree to read the New Testament this year have their names placed on a chart. Each week, we add to a card the information on our weekly reading
progress. We list whether we read daily (and this allows for no missed days at all, but counts regardless of which book of scripture we read and how many chapters or even verses we fit in), weekly (anything less than daily) or if we read only the lesson. Then our progress in reading the New Testament is marked off. The chart lists each book in the New Testament and each square represents five chapters. Each time we complete five chapters, our square is colored in and the color used tells us which level of reading we achieved that week. It is surprising to discover just how motivating it is to have that chart sitting before us each Sunday. Having recently come from Primary, I was finding it hard to study scriptures when I wasn't doing so in preparation for teaching. I had developed the habit of studying the story or topic I was to teach, and when I was released, my reading became haphazard. Now, I am progressing steadily, if not always on schedule, with my reading. We are asked to read five
chapters a week from the New Testament and then whatever else we want to read the rest of the week. Students anxiously check with the teacher to find out where we are supposed to be on a given week. Because the program is voluntary, no one is embarrassed. A school teacher has even promised to provide stickers to anyone who finishes. It seems that no one–well, women, anyway--gets too old for stickers.

Another method to encourage the reading of assignments is to make it difficult to participate fully if you are not prepared. Because the questions we are asked require a careful reading of the material, I find that I come to class having read the assignment and having reviewed the questions in the study guide. I am getting far more out of these classes than I ever imagined when I was first wondering how I would survive a class in which stories were never told with a flannel board.

Making advance assignments encourages those who are given the assignments to prepare and also ensures that at least one person is prepared to answer the hardest questions. When all else fails, the teacher can hand out reading assignments as students enter the room and a few minutes can be set aside to let students look over their assigned scripture. Last year, students in our class were offered a contract they signed, and then kept on the honor system. Use your imagination!

When the teacher is prepared and clearly expects students to be equally prepared, everyone gains more from the class. The class discussions are more stimulating, the students spend more time reflecting on the material and the lesson is more likely to be remembered.


ScriptureKIT Scripture Reading Schedule