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Adopting and Adapting Seminary Curriculum Training

There are many effective ways to prepare to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. This preparation always includes prayerfully studying the word of God and seeking the guidance of the Holy Ghost to know how to best help those you teach to deepen their conversion to Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.

The seminary curriculum is a resource you can trust to guide you in your lesson preparation and help you teach true doctrine. As you use this resource, seek first to adopt what is in the curriculum, and then consider the needs of your students and the guidance of the Holy Ghost to understand where you might need to adapt some of the curriculum ideas.

Consider the following counsel by President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency about using the curriculum to prepare seminary lessons:

President Dallin H. Oaks

We first adopt, then we adapt. If we are thoroughly grounded in the prescribed lesson that we are to give, then we can follow the Spirit to adapt it. But there is a temptation, when we speak about this flexibility, to start off by adapting rather than adopting. It’s a balance. It’s a continual challenge. But the approach of adopting first and then adapting is a good way to stay on sound ground. (“A Panel Discussion with Elder Dallin H. Oaks” [Seminaries and Institutes of Religion satellite broadcast, Aug. 7, 2012], broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org)

• Why do you think it is important to first adopt what is in the curriculum before adapting the lesson?

Adopting the Curriculum

The Objective of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion states that we “help youth and young adults deepen their conversion to Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.” The objective goes on to state the following about helping students deepen conversion:

We center each learning experience on Jesus Christ and His example, attributes, and redeeming power. We help students learn the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as found in the scriptures and words of the prophets. We help students fulfill their role in learning for themselves. We strive to invite the Holy Ghost to fulfill His role in each learning experience.

The seminary curriculum is carefully designed to help you provide this kind of learning experience. Each lesson centers the learning experience on Jesus Christ (Christ-centered), helps students learn the gospel from the scriptures and words of the prophets (scripture-based), and provides opportunities for students to fulfill their role in the learning experience (learner-focused). By combining these three important elements of the objective, we invite the Holy Ghost to fulfill His role in the learning experience. Teaching in the Savior’s Way points out that “The Spirit is the real teacher and the true source of conversion.” Only when the Spirit is present can deepening conversion to the Savior really occur.

Spirit-Directed Learning Experience graphic

This diagram illustrates a Christ-centered, scripture-based, and learner-focused experience that invites the Holy Ghost to perform His role. The yellow indicates the degree to which the learning experience better invites the Holy Ghost. The center of this diagram illustrates when the Spirit is directing the learning experience and students are deepening their conversion to Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. By adopting the seminary curriculum, we increase the likelihood that students will have a Spirit-directed learning experience in seminary. Seminary curriculum has also been carefully reviewed and correlated to help you:

• Ensure doctrinal accuracy.

• Reflect the intent of the inspired author.

• Maintain a balanced approach to modeling principles of Christlike teaching found in Teaching in the Savior’s Way.

• Provide learning experiences for students to share and demonstrate what they are learning.

• Use a variety of methods.

There are a lot of important considerations to keep in mind when preparing a lesson. Adopting the curriculum can help guide you in both what and how to teach. It can also help you stay on a solid doctrinal foundation.

Here are some ways you can adopt the curriculum:

• Read carefully the purpose for the lesson. This is found in the overview document and the final sentence of the introduction to each lesson. All content and activities are aligned with this purpose or learning outcome.

• Read through the lesson. Consider how the selected scriptures students will read, bolded truths, quotes, and activities align with the lesson purpose and provide a Christ-centered, scripture-based, and learner-focused experience. Pay close attention to the learning activity near the end of the lesson, which gives students an opportunity to demonstrate the purpose for the lesson.

• Consider answering the questions and doing the activities as if you were a student. This can help you learn by the Spirit and enter the classroom having been edified, uplifted, and better prepared to provide a similar experience for your students.

• Seek to understand and teach all types of lessons found in the curriculum, even if they are new to you. (Types of lessons include Scripture Course lessons, Doctrinal Mastery Practice lessons, Assess Your Learning lessons, and Life Preparation lessons.) Each of these learning experiences contributes in unique ways to deepening students’ conversion to Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Choosing to adopt what is in the curriculum might be particularly important with Life Preparation lessons. These lessons focus on a variety of important topics for students’ lives. They have been developed with the help of different Church departments and other subject matter experts. Some teachers might feel unqualified to teach certain Life Preparation subjects but feel they have extensive expertise in other Life Preparation subjects. In either case, teachers would be wise to adopt the curriculum before seeking to adapt it. (See the case studies of Brother Alvarez and Sister Sato below.)

Case studies for adopting the curriculum

Brother Alvarez—A teacher who feels unqualified to teach a certain Life Preparation lesson

Brother Alvarez is a convert to the Church and did not serve a full-time mission. He feels unqualified to teach missionary preparation, because he never served a mission and considered skipping the Missionary Preparation section of the Life Preparation lessons. However, as he begins to look at the lessons, he notices that they focus on Christ as a perfect example of sharing His gospel and don’t rely on his own experiences. They include insightful scriptures and engaging activities to help his students prepare to serve as missionaries for the Lord. He realizes that the curriculum lessons could help his students have a great experience despite his own inexperience with missionary preparation.

Sister Sato—A teacher with extensive expertise in a certain Life Preparation subject

Sister Sato is preparing to teach a Life Preparation lesson about managing finances. She is a professional financial planner and is excited to share her knowledge and experiences with her seminary class. As she prayerfully studies the curriculum, she recognizes the simplicity of the material and the emphasis on Jesus Christ and the scriptures. She determines that teaching the lesson as outlined in the curriculum will help her students strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ and provide them with basic financial principles appropriate for their stage in life. Instead of preparing to teach more advanced financial principles, Sister Sato decides to stick closely to the lesson in the curriculum.

Adapting the Curriculum

As a seminary teacher, you are in a privileged position to help your students to come unto Jesus Christ. Through your regular interactions with your students, you will come to know and love them well. Knowing and loving your students will increase your ability to receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost about when and how to make adaptations to the curriculum. As you prepare lessons using the curriculum, begin your preparation with prayer. Heavenly Father will inspire you through the Holy Ghost with what adaptations, if any, you might make to the lesson content to better meet the needs and abilities of your students.

Reasons you might adapt a lesson include:

• To help students with current issues and questions. (See the case study of Brother Jones.)

• To make a portion of the lesson more relevant based on your students’ needs, abilities, culture, or available resources. (See the case studies of Sister Dube, Brother Reyes, and Sister Rodriguez.)

• To use more recent statements, direction, or resources provided by leaders of the Church. (See the case study of Sister Schmidt.)

• To find a better way to accomplish a given section of the lesson. Examples could include adjusting an object lesson in a way that still prepares students’ minds and hearts to be taught or inviting students to role-play an account from the scriptures rather than watching a video that depicts the same event. (See the case study of Brother Li.)

Before adapting the curriculum, consider asking yourself questions like the following:

• Does my adaptation still provide a learning experience that is Christ-centered, scripture-based, and learner-focused?

• Is my adaptation in harmony with the promptings of the Holy Ghost and principles of Christlike teaching found in Teaching in the Savior’s Way?

• Does the adaptation reflect the intent of the inspired author?

• Does the adaptation focus on converting principles?

• Do I understand how my adaptation can affect future lessons and assessment experiences for students?

Case studies for adapting the curriculum

Brother Jones—Adapting a lesson based on current and time-sensitive issues

Brother Jones diligently prepared on the Friday before general conference weekend to teach a Scripture Course lesson for the coming Monday. To his amazement, he heard the prophet announce that a new temple would be built in the area where he teaches. He knows that students will come to class eager to talk about the temple and that many will have questions about it.

Brother Jones feels prompted by the Holy Ghost to adjust his pacing guide to teach one of the Temple Preparation lessons from the Life Preparation section of curriculum on Monday rather than the Scripture Course lesson.

Brother Reyes—Adapting an activity based on students’ abilities

While studying a lesson, Brother Reyes notices that the lesson relies heavily on a discussion format for students. Brother Reyes has observed that his students are often very quiet and don’t respond very well to discussions. They do, however, really enjoy writing in their journals. Rather than facilitating a discussion, he decides to write two questions from the curriculum on the board and invites students to write their responses. He plans to have willing students share what they wrote.

Sister Rodriguez—Adapting a lesson based on the local culture

Sister Rodriguez is preparing to teach a lesson that includes scripture references about Mary, the Mother of Jesus. There is a culture of strong feelings and differing beliefs about Mary where Sister Rodriguez lives. Many even worship Mary because of her role as the mother of Jesus Christ. As she studies the lesson from the curriculum, Sister Rodriguez looks for an appropriate place to help students understand what the scriptures and Church leaders have taught about Mary. She decides to adapt the lesson by adding the following two questions to what is included in the curriculum:

“What does Alma 7:10 help us understand about Mary? While we honor and love Mary and other faithful disciples in the scriptures, how does Alma 7:11–13 help us understand why we worship only Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?”

Sister Dube—Adapting a lesson based on available resources

As Sister Dube prepares a lesson, she notices one of the invitations is for students to search for their ancestors on FamilySearch.org. She knows that most of her students do not have access to the internet. She wisely adapts the invitation to have students begin filling out paper family group sheets and talking with their ward temple and family history consultant to learn how they can research other family names.

Sister Schmidt—Adapting a lesson to use more recent statements from Church leaders

During her lesson preparation, Sister Schmidt is reading through a lesson she is going to teach on the following day. While reading a statement from a Church leader in the lesson, she remembers a more recent statement that could accomplish the same purpose. She has recently studied the talk in her personal study, and it is fresh on her mind. She decides to use the more recent statement in her lesson instead of the statement in the curriculum.

Brother Li—Adapting a learning activity to better accomplish the purpose

As Brother Li is preparing to teach a lesson from the curriculum, he reads a suggestion to bring a soccer ball to class. He notices that the purpose for the object lesson is to help students see that the value of a soccer ball can be influenced by knowing more about its history.

Wanting to accomplish this purpose in the most effective way for his students, he ponders for a minute what item he could bring to class that his students would best relate to. He decides to adapt the lesson by bringing a simple necklace to class. After students share how much they think the necklace is worth, he will share who made the necklace and why knowing its history makes it worth much more to him than it might otherwise be.

Suggestions for Adopting and Adapting

Although any of the material in the curriculum can be adapted, the following diagram illustrates a range of how different parts of a lesson may be more appropriate to adapt than others.

For example, the lesson purpose, the context of a block, or the bolded truth may be less appropriate to adapt than how a lesson begins or what examples a teacher might share of a bolded truth. Items closer to the left side may more often be adopted, whereas items on the right side may more often be adapted. Keep in mind that these are suggestions. Teachers are not expected to adapt everything on the right side, just as they are not expected to adopt everything on the left side.

How a Teacher Might Adapt the Curriculum graphic

Conclusion

Heavenly Father will guide you through the Holy Ghost as you prayerfully study His word and prepare lessons to bless His sons and daughters. He can help you understand how to adopt what has been provided in the curriculum and when to make adaptations to better help your students.