Adopting and Adapting the Seminary Curriculum

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:

Why do you think it is important to first adopt what is in the curriculum before adapting the lesson? Please share by clicking reply.

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.

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.