Assess Your Learning 4

youth studying and talking about the scriptures together

This lesson is intended to help you evaluate the goals you have set and the growth you have experienced thus far during your study of the Book of Mormon.

Helping students act on personal revelation. To act on revelation, students must recognize that they are receiving revelation. Help students understand that their spiritual feelings are associated with the Holy Ghost. By discussing how to apply gospel principles, you give the Holy Ghost an opportunity to prompt students on what they should do to become more like Jesus Christ.

Student preparation: Consider inviting students to talk with a parent or friend about what prophets do and how prophets have influenced or blessed them.

Possible Learning Activities

The following activities are intended to help students assess their goals, their ability to explain teachings in the Book of Mormon, and how their attitudes, desires, and ability to live the gospel are changing.

Your class may have focused on different truths in its study of Enos–Mosiah 17. If so, feel free to create assessment activities that address those different truths. For help on adapting or creating assessment activities, see Assessments Training, found in the Seminary Curriculum Training at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

“Evaluate … and keep on trying”

Periodically, it is important to take time to reflect and evaluate how we are doing. Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said:

My invitation to all of us is to evaluate our lives, repent, and keep on trying. … As we change, we will find that God indeed cares a lot more about who we are and about who we are becoming than about who we once were. (Dale G. Renlund, “Latter-day Saints Keep on Trying,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015, 58)

Students could reflect on the following questions. As needed, use the activities in the lesson to help students self-assess in more specific areas.

In what ways do you feel you are growing or changing because of what you are learning from the Book of Mormon?
How have you progressed on the goals you have set?
What would you like to continue working on, or would it be beneficial to choose a different area of focus?

The following activities can help you measure your understanding, your knowledge, and the progress you are trying to make. Invite the Holy Ghost to help you recognize your efforts and feel Heavenly Father’s love.

Explaining the role of prophets

The following activity can help students practice explaining the role of prophets. To begin, you could invite a student to briefly retell the story of Abinadi.

When you studied about the prophet Abinadi in Mosiah 11–17, you may have recognized that Alma believed he was a prophet and followed his teachings while King Noah and the other priests openly rejected him. You may notice in our day that some people accept the prophets while others reject them.

Use the following resources or others you find to prepare a short response to help someone understand what a prophet is and why prophets are needed today. Include one or more scriptures to support your response.

For variety, students could create a social media post or a short video that could be shared with the class. Students could also work in pairs to prepare their responses.

You might consider displaying the following resources and questions to help students as they prepare. It can also be helpful to move around the room to better assist those who may have questions.

Scripture resources that could be helpful:

Mosiah 8:13, 16–18
Mosiah 11:20–21; 13:33; 15:11
Search Gospel Topics for “Prophets” at topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Questions you might consider in forming your response:

What is a prophet, and what do prophets do?
What questions or misunderstandings might people have about prophets?
What else could you share to help others understand why God calls prophets today?

Give students time to present their responses or take turns explaining the role of prophets.

Helping to gather Israel and serving others

This activity can help students follow up on invitations they have acted on and evaluate their growth and progress.

One of the truths God has revealed through His prophets is that His work and glory is to help His children achieve eternal life (see Moses 1:39). In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin pointed out that one of the ways we can help achieve God’s work is by serving others (see Mosiah 2:17). More recently, President Bonnie H. Cordon, General Young Women President, taught:

Our eternal purpose is to come unto Christ and actively join Him in His great work. It is as simple as doing what President [Russell M.] Nelson taught: “Anytime we do anything that helps anyone … make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.” And when we do His work together with Him, we come to know and love Him more. (Bonnie H. Cordon, “Come unto Christ and Don’t Come Alone,” Liahona, Nov. 2021, 11)

Think about the goals or plans you may have made in earlier lessons that are helping you participate in God’s work by:

Assisting the Lord in His work to gather Israel (see Jacob 5:71–72, 75)
Serving others in Christlike ways (see Mosiah 2:17)
Working on a different gospel-related goal you are or want to begin working on

Give students time to respond to the following questions in their study journals. Be sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit if you invite students to share thoughts on their spiritual progress.

How did you (or why do you want to) progress in this area? What did (or could) you do to make this progress?
What are some of the obstacles or struggles you did (or expect to) experience? How did (or could) you try to overcome them?
How have you felt Heavenly Father’s love as you have worked on this goal? Why do you think He would be pleased with your efforts?

Feeling happiness and joy through Jesus Christ

The following activity is intended to help students evaluate the level of happiness and joy they experience through Jesus Christ. To prompt students’ memories, you might consider displaying pictures of these scriptural accounts.

In your study of the Book of Mormon, you have read accounts of many people who found joy and happiness through Jesus Christ and His gospel. Take some time to review some of these examples. They include the following:

Lehi and those who came to the tree of life (see 1 Nephi 8:10–12, 30)
Enos (see Enos 1:1–8)
King Benjamin’s people, who rejoiced because of what they learned about Jesus Christ and His gospel (see Mosiah 2:41; 4:3; 5:1–5)

Think about how you might describe or illustrate the happiness you feel through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You might consider beginning the following mind map activity on the board as a class before students work on their own. Reassure students that their thoughts are private and do not need to be shared.

In the center of a blank page in your study journal or a separate piece of paper, write the words Joy and Happiness through Jesus Christ. Draw a circle around the words. Now begin adding ideas that you relate to these words. To start, you might consider how you would answer the following questions.

Do you feel the gospel of Jesus Christ is contributing to the joy in your life? Why or why not?
What have you learned in the Book of Mormon that has helped you feel happier?
Do you feel your relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is better because of your scripture study? Why or why not?

As you think of ideas, write them down on your paper and circle them. Connect them to each other or back to the phrase in the center. As you add more thoughts and ideas, your mind map could begin looking something like this:

Give students time to continue working on their personal mind maps. They could use different colors of pencils or pens to emphasize meaningful ideas.

After finishing your mind map, consider putting it in a place where you will see it for the next week. You may want to pray to Heavenly Father for help to find and recognize greater joy and happiness in Jesus Christ and His gospel.

While it is not intended that students share their mind maps, you may want to invite students to discuss what they felt as they created them. Be sensitive and follow the promptings of the Spirit when considering whether to invite students to share their thoughts.