Our stake YW President asked me to share some ideas of ways I increased participation in our YW lesson. So I typed up some of the things I have done that seemed to work pretty well. And just in case I need the reminder in the future, I thought I'd also share them here.
Think, Pair, Share: You ask a question, give everyone a minute or so to think (a minute is surprisingly much longer than you probably think when you have asked a question...most people tend to wait only a few seconds before filling in the uncomfortable silence.), and then have them share their ideas or answers with a partner. Then you can have a few of them share with the whole group...and they can share their own answer or their partner’s answer.
Conference talk rotation: Each young woman is given a copy of the same conference talk and they put their name on the top. Then they pass the talk to the person to their right. That person begins reading the talk, underlining anything they really like or writing notes or comments about what they are reading. After about a minute or two, everyone passes the conference talk to the right again and continues reading where they left off on the first talk, again highlighting, writing comments, writing questions, etc. Repeat this about 5 times and then the conference talk is returned to the original owner. Give them a minute or two to read what was written on their talk, what was highlighted, etc. Then have a discussion...what stood out? What did this teach them about the topic of that days’ lesson? Did someone else write down something that they really liked? Was there something that they highlighted that one of the readers of their copy also highlighted? Did they have any questions about what they read? This activity can easily take up about half to ¾ of a lesson but if the talk is chosen strategically, it can be a powerful activity. I have never tried it, but I bet you could do the same thing with a chapter of scripture that was related to your topic as well. Make photocopies of that page of scripture and then do the same process described above.
Sticky Note Response: Have a question on the board when the young women come in. Have 1-2 sticky notes on each chair and ask them to immediately read the question and begin thinking of answers. You can either have them write their answers down right away and put their answers on the board or have them just be thinking as you do the theme and the “counsel together” part of the lesson and then have them write their answers and place them on the board. Then either at the beginning of the lesson or whenever it fits best, either the teacher or someone reads the answers and discusses. This gets everyone participating in a safe (speaking free) way but often leads to young women getting new ideas from the comments that others have made.
Journals: For several years we purchased journals for each young woman. We kept them as leaders and passed them out each Sunday during lessons. They had copies of the YW theme in them and for a couple of years I printed out copies of each of the YW presidency’s testimonies and added those to the journals before we gave them to the girls. They could take notes during the lessons (and many of them did). But we’d also often incorporate a written activity into our lessons...have them take a few minutes to write their answer to a question or have them read a scripture and write what it meant to them or have them write down a personal experience related to the lesson. Then if they wanted to share, they could. They were often more willing to share after having taken that time to think and write. But even if they didn’t share out loud, they were engaged in the lesson and thinking about what was being taught. If you don’t think you would use journals regularly in church, you can also just pass out a piece of paper or a notecard on the days that you want them to write something down.
Jeopardy: A couple of times we created short jeopardy games (2-3 topics with 2-3 questions...not a full length 5 topic, 5 question game as that would last too long) that related to the topic of discussion for that week. I definitely wouldn’t do this often, but it was a fun way to get them answering questions about a topic. (For example...years ago there was a lesson on dating and so the questions were all based on the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and True to the Faith and what that teaches us about dating and relationships.)
Conference Talk posters: This was a favorite in Colony West Ward. We’d have parts of two conference talks (or divide one conference talk in half) and split the young women into two groups. They’d read the portion of the conference talk that they were assigned together and then they would create a poster to teach the other group about what they learned from that talk. They could use drawings, words, quotes or however they wanted to do it. This would take a good chunk of the class time between the reading, creating and sharing, but they always had great discussions in their groups AND did such a great job teaching each other what they had learned. And it allowed them to draw on their strengths...whether that was drawing or speaking or summarizing ideas or asking thoughtful questions.
Ask ahead: Send the young women the “counsel together” question(s) in advance or send everyone a question related to the lesson and ask them to come with at least one answer. Or ask a young woman to come prepared to tell a scripture story in her own words or ask a young woman to come prepared to share an experience related to the lesson’s topic or to be ready with an answer to a question. Giving one or more girls these responsibilities means you will have thoughtful, prepared involvement in the lesson...and sometimes it is a way to get a girl to attend that doesn’t always attend. (Obviously you have to know your girls and who this will work with, because for some this may have the opposite effect.)
Invite guests to attend: Again this is something I wouldn’t do regularly, and it is something you should approve with your bishop. But a couple of times for lessons and several times for activities we had a panel discussion and the young women could write down questions (on Sundays the questions would be related to the topic of the lesson...this is a good way to approach lessons related to marriage and family for example or missionary work) and then anyone who wanted to could answer the question. Or occasionally the question might be addressed to one specific person and they would answer. I remember a really great activity where we had several newly returned missionaries attend and the youth could ask them questions about where they served, how they prepared, their experiences, their challenges, etc. This could be for part or all of the lesson. Alternatively, with approval from the Bishop, you could ask someone to come for just a short part of the lesson to share a specific experience or to retell a scripture story.
Rally Robin: I actually haven’t used this in YW, but it is something I do often at school and I think it could work in a YW setting. Pair the girls up and give them a topic and a set amount of time (usually 1-3 minutes). Their job is to think of as many possible answers to the question/examples of that topic as they can during that time. But they have to participate equally...partner A speaks, then B, then A, then B. And they can’t repeat an answer that has already been given. You can either have them just do this orally or even better have them write it down quickly. This should be something where they are going to be able to think of lots of answers quickly. So for example, if the lesson is How Can the Savior Help me during My Trials (Aug. 28), they can spend a minute writing down trials you might have as a teen. (And then of course you’d discuss how the Savior could help you during these trials.) Or maybe three minutes thinking of ways the Savior has helped people during trials (such as giving peace, strength, hope, helping them know they aren’t alone, direction, sending the spirit to guide them in decision making, sending a friend to serve them and so on). After the time is up, have each pair or each young woman share a favorite idea from the list they made.
Cooperative Graffiti: Again I haven’t done this in YW, but I have done it at school. Pair the girls and give them each a 12 x12 or slightly larger piece of paper. Give them the topic and a time limit and they are to both write down anything and everything on the paper that they can think of related to the topic. Then after the time limit ends, they share with one another. Then you can display them and have each pair share something. Or you can do a “gallery stroll” where everyone gets up and walks around to look at all of the posters and then you can share out what they learned or liked.
Quote wall: A couple of times we printed a bunch of quotes related to our topic and hung them all around the walls of the YW room. Then each YW was given several minutes to do a “gallery stroll” and then we asked them to share which quote they especially liked and why.
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