Tips on How to Use Journals in Class- The Red Headed Hostess

tips on how to use journals in seminary or church

I was a very journal-centered seminary teacher.  Journals were a huge focus of mine, and through the years I saw how beneficial it could be for the students.   However, this was not without a lot of trial and error… A LOT!  So, I want to give you a few tips on how to use journals in your lessons if you are wanting to incorporate this teaching and learning tool.  One thing I learned is that the youth will want to use their journals, they just need to be shown how!

So here are some tips and ideas for you:

1-  Make journals a central part of class (not just something you hope they will use).

If you just give them journals and hope they will write.  90% of them will do really well the first few days, and the rest of the year they will mostly gather dust.  JOURNAL WRITING MUST BE A MAIN FOCUS OF THE TEACHER AND THE STUDENTS WILL GLADLY FOLLOW.  Most students want a record – but most of them will need guiding along.

how to use journals successfully in seminary or church

2-  Each page should have some common elements.

The page above is from our Doctrine & Covenants Study Notes.  Each page has some of the following common elements:

  • Make pages specific:  for example, each of these pages has the section title that will be studied, the date the revelation was given, where it was given, and background information.  This helps in being able to orient yourself to the notes on the page, the lesson where the notes were written, and it makes things really easy to find.  Also – when someone is absent, they may not want to have an empty page – so they could borrow another student’s journal.  If every page looked the same (no specifics), then it wouldn’t be a big deal if some lesson notes were skipped, but this way the students are more invested in learning from each section.
  • Add titles:  At the end of the lesson, either as a class or as individuals, decide on a good title that describes what you learned and took notes about.  This is a great way to see what they got out of the lesson, and a great way to make that page extra special.
  • Guide in lesson notes:  see #3
  • Apply to life / make goals:  At the end of each lesson, have them write down a personal goal.  It could be about a principle they want to live better, something specific they would like to do, or something they want to learn more about.  Then every once in awhile you can have them review their goals and reflect to see if there are some things that they did because of what they learned in the scriptures.  They probably won’t do every goal they wrote down, but if they do some of them, that is progress and something to celebrate.
  • Common themes for lessons:  In our journal, this box has them look for, and write their favorite scripture in each section.  So, as a teacher, every once in awhile you could say, “today I want you to flip through your journals and pick one of your favorite scriptures that you wrote about in your journal”.  Then invite the students to come up one at a time, write their scripture on the board, and then share about their scripture.  This is not only a great sharing activity, but also helps them see the value of their journal writing.  * You could also do this same activity by simply sharing some of their favorite notes or goals.

3-  Guide in lesson notes

One thing I learned is that I just could not expect my students to write in their journals.  I had to guide them.  Here are some of the things I did to help guide them:

  • I set the expectation that IF IT IS ON THE BOARD, WRITE IT IN YOUR JOURNALS.  Therefore all quotes, diagrams, explanations, etc.  would end up in their journals.  And funny enough, it didn’t just end up in their journals  – it often ended up EXACTLY like it was on the board.  Same colors, details, everything.  Especially the girls… they loved to copy exactly how I had put it on the board.  I always got a kick out of that.
  • Journal moments needed to be part of the lessons.  Whether it was questions I wanted the to reflect on, principles I wanted them to write about… whatever it was, my lessons came to be more and more journal-centered.  And do you know what I found?  When they had a chance to write about it, they were more inclined to share or take part in a discussion.  I think that is how most of us are.  When we have had a chance to think about something, we want to share about it and talk it through.  But, if we are just asked a question out of the blue – we might just recoil and hope we aren’t called on.  In fact, I found it more respectful towards my students to give them a chance to work through something before I asked them to talk about it.  PLUS I found it helped avoid having only 3 or 4 kids do all the talking.

4-  Give them tools for future talks and lessons

I would always say something like:  draw this diagram because it is a really good way to explain “faith”.  Or I would give them a good quote and say, “this is a great quote to have at your fingertips”.  Or I would have them outline the principles of repentance and then we would add to them by adding thoughts, quotes, scriptures, etc.  Or I would say, “watch how I teach you about this topic and then take notes about what you saw and then outline how you would teach that in Family Home Evening”.    Then the journals weren’t just about lesson notes, but prep for future moments when they would teach or speak.  I found the more and more effective I became at helping them fill their journals with awesome stuff, the more often I would see a student dart in after school on Friday to grab their journal because they were teaching their lesson on Sunday.  That was always rewarding to see!

5-  Have a variety of colored pencils, markers, etc. at hand for those who want to be creative in their journals.  Or invite them to bring their own.

I always kept a bucket full of supplies on top of my piano, and man, they got used.  Plus, when they can color things, highlight things, etc.  then every page is different and unique.

6-  If there are quotes in your lesson, print them out and have the youth glue or tape them into their journals.

Journals are to be written in and added into.  I was constantly giving them pictures, quotes, maps, etc. to add right into their journals.  Whatever book you are teaching (especially OT, NT and D&C) , you can have them add pictures into their journals of places where significant events occurred.

7-  Keep glue and tape on hand at all times.

This will help you with #6.

8-  Make quote stickers for their journals  

You can download label templates of various sizes and print out quotes on the labels.  How fun it would be to make a quote into a sticker like that!  You could also print them onto 8 1/2 x 11 full label sheets and fit  several quotes onto one page and cut them up.

9- Put General Conference talks in journals

If you want to use a General Conference Talk in your lesson , you can format it into a pamphlet that can be taped right into the youth’s journals.  Go to this post for a tutorial on how to make format it on your own computer.

In fact, I hardly ever gave a handout unless it could be put right into their journals.  That way things don’t just get stuck into their folders, but instead everything is filed into the journal pages that are relevant to that talk.

10.   Make sure you give those you are teaching plenty of time to write.

It is also a good idea to give them an idea of how much time they have:  “I will give you 4 minutes to answer this question in your journals,”  but then if you find they are all still writing, re-evaluate and give them more time.  If the Spirit is teaching them, that is really important to recognize.  Also, when you can see they are wrapping up, it is good to say, “one more minute…”  And because you had them write their answers in their journals, it won’t just be a question they answered in class, it will be something they will always  have.

11.  Insert quizzes and activities into journals

Sometimes you may want to start a lesson with a quiz, a fill in the blank activity or something like that.  Using your basic Word document, you can format it to fit into their journals.  When making the handout, make it into “columns” and then make multiple handouts on one sheet and then cut it up.  So I may make 2 columns and put the quiz in the first column and then copy and paste it into the second column.  Now it will fit just great!

12.  Insert valuable descriptions into their journals

Using the same technique as above, you can give the youth things like:  descriptions from Preach My Gospel, excerpts from the For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet, etc.

13.  Have the youth write to each other.  

For example if you were teaching about “Gifts of the Spirit”,  you could have the youth write in each person’s journal about gifts they observe in each other.

14.  You must keep a journal yourself.

This is perhaps the most important out of all of the above tips.  As you keep a journal the following things will happen:

  • you will know how to properly instruct the students in specific activities (since you have done it first, then you will know how to explain it to them)
  • you can show them your journal page as an example
  • they will see you value your journal and that will impact them
  • you will know appropriate time allowances for each writing activity
  • you can use your journals to write future quizzes, tests and review activities
  • you will have a record of your lessons

Awesome scripture study journals for the Doctrine& Covenants! #scripture journals

If you want to check out the journals we offer – you can check them out in the links below.

We have them in either bound books, or PDF format that you can print on your own.  You can find the BOOKS HERE, or the DOWNLOADS HERE.

Alright… if any of you have any more ideas, spread the love and leave them in the comment sections below!  🙂

14 tips on how to use journals in seminary or church!

Want to see more of our favorite things? Check out some of our other study guides and journals!

3 Nephi 8-11 Journal and Marking Guide- The Red Headed Hostess

2 comments

  1. Just received my journals Yesterday! I am so excited to get them going!!! Thank you so much for all of the help and inspiration!!

  2. Hey Shannon! Hope you and the baby are doing well! I just wanted to tell you that I just got called as a beehive advisor in my ward, and ALL of the young women have your journals and use them every Sunday! I was so happy to tell them that my cousin designed these!

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