Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

youth standing in front of the class

The objective of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion is “to help youth and young adults deepen their conversion to Jesus Christ and His restored gospel, qualify for the blessings of the temple, and prepare themselves, their families, and others for eternal life with their Father in Heaven” (“The Objective of Seminaries and Institutes” [2022], ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

To help accomplish this objective, this manual provides students with a variety of learning experiences through two different types of lessons: Doctrine and Covenants lessons and Life Preparation lessons. Doctrine and Covenants lessons correspond with the scripture blocks emphasized each week in Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025. Life Preparation lessons help students learn to draw strength from Jesus Christ and apply His teachings to prepare for life challenges.

By utilizing the teaching suggestions found in these two types of lessons and following the direction of the Spirit, you can help students draw upon the power of Jesus Christ in many aspects of their lives—including spiritually, socially, intellectually, and physically. You will also help them prepare for their future with faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

This teacher manual is available in the Gospel Library online at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, where you can also find a downloadable PDF of the manual. It’s also available in the Gospel Library app. If you want to use a printed manual, please request it from your local coordinator or program administrator.

Tools to Help You Prepare to Teach

Regardless of which type of lesson you are teaching, a few tools will help you prepare.

The Scriptures

Studying along with the Come, Follow Me scripture block is an important way to prepare to teach students. The lessons contained in this manual need an inspired teacher who regularly studies the scriptures and seeks the companionship of the Holy Ghost. As you regularly study the scriptures, you can be confident that Heavenly Father will inspire you through His Spirit on how to adapt these materials to meet the needs of your students.

Overviews

An overview is provided at the beginning of each week of Doctrine and Covenants lessons and at the beginning of each category of Life Preparation lessons. These overviews provide lesson-specific information to help you prepare to teach, including:

• Lesson purposes

• Student-preparation ideas

• A list of object lessons, handouts, images, videos, or other materials that may need to be prepared in advance

Reviewing the overview before you teach the corresponding lessons can help you decide which materials to prepare in advance.

Find the weekly overview for the next week of lessons you will be teaching.

• What information do you find here that is helpful for you to know in advance?

• How might you use this information as you prepare to teach?

Teaching Tips

Each overview that precedes Doctrine and Covenants lessons contains a teaching tip that explains recommended practices or principles from Teaching in the Savior’s Way: For All Who Teach in the Home and in the Church. These tips are marked with this icon: . As you feel ready, try implementing these practices and principles while teaching. You will notice that incorporating these suggestions can help improve your teaching abilities.

The teaching tip in each overview points you to a lesson in which the recommended practice or principle is modeled. Look in that lesson for the training icon to find an example of the tip being modeled. These helps also point you to Teacher Development Skills that can help you learn more about the teaching practices or principles being emphasized. As time and your capabilities allow, consider using these trainings as part of your lesson preparation.

Review the teaching tip in the overview for an upcoming week of content you will teach. How might you try to practice this suggestion in an upcoming lesson?

Pacing Suggestions

The overview for each set of Life Preparation lessons includes pacing suggestions. These suggestions provide ideas of where these lessons could be incorporated into a pacing guide. Coordinators and program administrators can use these suggestions as they create a pacing guide.

Student Preparation

Each overview also includes suggestions for helping students prepare their minds and hearts for each lesson. You could look over these ideas at the beginning of the week and prayerfully decide which ideas you feel would best help your students. You do not need to use every student-preparation suggestion. You could adapt them or create your own ideas. Many of these suggestions are designed to be given to students a day or so in advance of the learning experience.

Review the student preparation ideas in the overview for an upcoming week of lessons you will teach. Consider which ideas you will utilize, adapt, or not use. If you decide to invite your students to prepare, how will you share the preparation idea with them? You could share it verbally or display it at the end of the preceding class. Or, if appropriate, send it via email or a messaging app.

Teaching Instructions

Throughout each lesson, you will notice boxes that contain instructions for teachers. Teaching instructions are designed to help you prepare to teach. They can also help you know how to use the learning activities that are suggested in the lesson. They might explain purposes of lesson activities or offer suggestions on how to adapt the lesson content to better meet students’ needs. These suggestions may include alternative approaches, questions, or activities that help you adjust the content and activities as necessary.

Review some of the teaching instructions in a lesson you will be teaching soon. What adaptations might you make based on the teaching instructions you find?

Possible Learning Activities

Each lesson contains ideas of possible ways you could approach the learning experience. You are not required to use all the suggested learning activities in the lessons you teach.

For your students to have the best experience possible, you should use the content in this section as a guide rather than a script. If you are just beginning as a seminary teacher, it may be best to start by following the suggested learning activities closely. With more experience, your ability to adapt the content of this manual to best meet the needs of your students will become refined.

Many suggested learning activities will invite students to complete them in a study journal. A PDF of a study journal that students can use is available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org/si/seminary/manuals. Please contact your coordinator or program administrator to obtain printed copies of this journal for your class, if desired.

For help to know how to balance incorporating suggested learning activities with adapting curriculum materials to better meet students’ needs, see “Adopt Then Adapt Seminary Curriculum Training” in Seminary Curriculum Training (2025). It may be most effective to complete this training within the first few weeks of the year.

Additional Resources

Most lessons contain an “Additional Resources” section at the end of the lesson. This section includes information that can help deepen learning. You can find possible responses to questions students might have or find statements by Church leaders that you might want to include in the lesson. This section is only available if you are accessing the teacher manual through the Gospel Library app or the Gospel Library online at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. The “Additional Resources” section is not included in the PDF version of the teacher manual.

See if the lesson you are teaching next includes “Additional Resources.” Are there any questions, answers, or statements by Church leaders that may be beneficial to share with your students?

Supplemental Learning Activities

This section, also included at the end of the lesson, has additional ideas for approaching the learning experience. These learning activities include ways to adapt current activities in the lesson, or ways to teach material not included in the lesson. Supplemental learning activities are only included in the teacher manual if you are accessing it through the Gospel Library app or the Gospel Library online at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. This section is not included in the PDF version of the teacher manual.

If your upcoming lesson includes a “Supplemental Learning Activities” section, review these activities. Are there any that you think would be beneficial to use with your students in addition to or in place of the learning activities included in the main section of lesson material?

Doctrine and Covenants Lessons and Life Preparation Lessons

Students should be taught both Doctrine and Covenants lessons and Life Preparation lessons throughout the year. In general, three lessons per week will usually be Doctrine and Covenants lessons, while the other two lessons per week will be Life Preparation lessons. There may be weeks that require you to adjust these general expectations.

The following information can help you understand the purpose of and ways to implement both types of lessons.

Doctrine and Covenants Lessons

Doctrine and Covenants lessons correspond with the scripture blocks emphasized each week in Come, Follow Me. These lessons give students opportunities to have in-depth experiences studying the Savior’s teachings in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Doctrine and Covenants lessons also include Doctrinal Mastery Practice lessons and Assess Your Learning lessons.

Doctrinal Mastery

An important priority for you as a teacher is to help students accomplish the outcomes of doctrinal mastery. These outcomes include helping students to:

• Learn and apply divine principles for acquiring spiritual knowledge.

• Master the doctrinal mastery scripture passages and the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ that they teach.

Mastering the selected passages and the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ that these passages teach means students will:

• Know and understand the doctrine taught in the doctrinal mastery scripture passages.

• Explain the doctrine clearly using the associated doctrinal mastery scripture passages.

• Apply the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in their daily choices and in their responses to doctrinal, personal, social, and historical issues and questions.

• Remember and locate the doctrinal mastery passages and memorize the key scripture phrases.

The Doctrinal Mastery App can help students accomplish some of the outcomes of doctrinal mastery. It is designed to help students practice memorizing the references and key scripture phrases for each of the doctrinal mastery passages. You may want to use the app in class and encourage students to download it on their own devices, if possible. It is available for iOS and Android devices.

For more information about the purposes of doctrinal mastery, watch “What Is Doctrinal Mastery?” (3:56), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Doctrinal Mastery Practice Lessons

Doctrinal Mastery Practice lessons are intended to help students work toward accomplishing the outcomes of doctrinal mastery.

For more information about how to help students accomplish the outcomes of doctrinal mastery, see “Doctrinal Mastery Training” in Seminary Curriculum Training. It may be most effective to complete this training within a few weeks after you complete the “Adopt Then Adapt Seminary Curriculum” training.

Assess Your Learning Lessons

Assessment is an important part of learning. Opportunities to pause and reflect on learning can be a positive experience for students and motivate them in their continued growth and development toward becoming more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. By assessing their learning, students become active participants in the learning process and take more accountability for their learning.

The Assess Your Learning lessons give students opportunities to explain key doctrine from the Doctrine and Covenants, reflect on their attitudes and desires, and share their progress in developing behaviors that help them become more devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. These lessons can help students feel joy as they recognize their growth and identify future areas for additional progress. To receive course credit, students will need to participate in at least one Assess Your Learning lesson in each half of the course.

Students who did not participate in any of these lessons during one half of the course will need to complete an Assess Your Learning lesson for each half as necessary to receive course credit. Included in the appendix of this manual are two Assess Your Learning lessons. “Assess Your Learning, Part 1” can be used to make up the assessment missed in the first half of the course. “Assess Your Learning, Part 2” can be used to make up the assessment in the second half of the course. You could provide students with this assessment and have them complete it with other classmates or family members. When they finish, encourage them to share with you what they learned from the experience. This can give you opportunities to minister to these students and celebrate their spiritual growth with them. Give them credit for the assessment for the half of the course when they complete this Assess Your Learning lesson.

For more information about how to implement Assess Your Learning lessons, see “Assessments Training” in Seminary Curriculum Training. It may be most effective to complete this training within a few weeks after you complete the “Doctrinal Mastery Training.”

Life Preparation Lessons

Life Preparation lessons give students opportunities to apply the Savior’s teachings to:

• Handle difficult questions and challenging life circumstances

• Make inspired choices using the teachings of Jesus Christ and His prophets

• Build self-reliance to provide for self and family

• Become more physically and emotionally healthy

• Develop skills to succeed in school

• Make plans to prepare for future education and employment

• Prepare for missionary and church service

• Prepare to make and keep covenants in the temple

Try to teach two Life Preparation lessons each week. Some weeks you may teach more than this and other weeks you might teach fewer, but on average you should try to teach two lessons a week as often as possible. This will provide an opportunity for students to be taught each of these lessons during the school year. It is not usually necessary for you to teach these lessons in a particular order, although there are a few lessons that draw upon ideas taught in prior lessons.

The overview for each of the categories of Life Preparation lessons can be a valuable resource in helping you make decisions about when to teach certain Life Preparation lessons. These overviews will help you quickly see the lesson purposes for the different Life Preparation lessons, as well as pacing suggestions about possible times of the year you could consider teaching them.

Be sure to obtain a copy of a pacing guide provided for you by your coordinator or program administrator.

You may also want to consult “Create a Pacing Guide Training” in Seminary Curriculum Training to help you adapt your pacing guide to the needs of your students.