19 Why do I use scripture study pages?

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Why do you use scripture study pages every day, Brother Kirkman? Let me tell you a little bit about how scripture study pages came to be. Thirty years ago, my mother photocopied the entire Book of Mormon for me and put them in two three-ring notebooks so that I could have room to write in the margins of my scriptures. It was a blessing. It was a gift. And I love and adore my mom for such a powerful gift. Back then, we didn't have wide-margin Book of Mormons or other scriptures. That continued with me and was a powerful scripture study tool for decades Moving forward, from time to time as a seminary teacher, I would photocopy a page of scripture and give it to the youth. I literally laid the Book of Mormon on the photocopy machine, copied the page, and used that for scripture in class with wide margins. And I saw amazing things happen the few days I did it. And I started training kids on how to do it. And I had amazing experiences. But that just became one tool in my quiver, and I would use it from time to time, maybe once or twice a semester. And then back in twenty eighteen, I still remember the year, I'm pretty confident it was twenty eighteen, I did this activity with, I believe, Alma twenty six, and I had such a powerful experience in my class. I said to myself, "I'm going to do this every day." And thus began the evolution of my teaching because I was excited, but I was fearful because I knew I couldn't do it the same way every day. I had to be innovative and creative. And I was like, "How am I gonna do this every day?" And I asked that question over and over to the Lord, "How am I gonna do this every day?" But I had seen powerful scripture study, and I wanted to repeat it every day. And so I began, and I remember I had one other teacher that was kind of working with me on it. She had seen my class, decided she was gonna try it, and we walked this journey together that first semester. And then she left the state and was no longer teaching seminary. And so I was kinda left on my own with this journey. And I was like, "How do I do this every day, Lord?" And thus began the quest. And I started searching scripture journals and different things like that to find what people were doing to get people to write. If you haven't listened to the last episode, which is the most powerful scripture study tool is the pen, please go listen to that, the power of the pen. Eventually, I started developing strategies for scripture study, training kids to walk through the verse, training kids to mark, to circle, connect, using the ponder pencil to really have powerful experiences. And I found that if I had a box with a question in it, I could get more writing. There's something about a journal, a blank journal, that is intimidating to high school students, many of them. Not all of them, but many of them. A blank page to a teenager is often a mountain too big to climb. So there's something about having a little box, having the scripture on the page right there. It's so easy. It's like training wheels, and it makes it easier. The hurdle is so small. In the past, kids would lose their scriptures, lose their journals, refuse to open their journals. It was just too much of an ask. Whenever I asked a journal activity and I say, "Pull out your journal," kids had to go to the back of the class, get their journal and I would see lame results. The results weren't good. And I've seen some teachers really develop their journal arsenal and really make it work. But I've still seen more engagement with the scripture study page than any other method. And so what I found is that by having these scripture study pages, engagement went way up. Now I realize it's a big ask to create these scripture study pages. And I've gotten better at it as I've done it for years now. But let me give you some tips. First of all, start small. Start small and use lots of positive reinforcement, lots of compliments. You could start day one with one verse, you know, a powerful verse of scripture, and say, "Today we're gonna practice marking," and high-five each other whenever you mark. What'd you mark? And then get some different colors out there and just mark. And then say, "Okay, write it in your own words," or, "What's a one phrase or word that impresses you?" And write it. Writing is the tool that leads to revelation, so pick up your pen and power up your pondering and open your heart for revelation. Don't just read, ponder with a pen. Pen is the most powerful pondering tool. One tip, don't call these worksheets. Worksheet is a death sentence to teenagers. I just call them scripture study pages. This is how we're gonna study the scriptures. Why are we gonna write every day? Go back and listen to my episode on the power of the pen, the episode right before this one. The pen leads to revelation. Writing, pondering So anytime I want my students to write, I put it on the scripture study page with a box for them to write. And so simply here's how I do it. On a Word doc on Google Doc or whatever it's called, I'll just put insert text box, copy and paste scripture from and then paste it in a box, and then put another box, make that my question box. And you'll see many examples of strategies I've come up with in my videos and my strat- and my that I share on YouTube of course, and my school channel. Now let me talk about some of the hurdles some people will give. Some people will say But they'll never have these papers again. That's not the point of this activity. I love Elder Bednar. I've heard him share a story where, or explanation where he explained that he reads the Book of Mormon, a brand-new blue copy of the Book of Mormon every time he reads the Book of Mormon, and he picks a topic, and he reads the entire Book of Mormon for that one topic, and he highlights and marks it, and makes a lot of notes. And then he writes a one-page summary of what he learns, and he puts it in that Book of Mormon. And then he does it over and over, and he s- he said he has shelves of these blue copies of the Book of Mormon. One of his sons asked to look through one of his books, and he said, "Don't you dare." In other words, Elder Bednar wants him to do the activity himself. He does not want him to read what he has paid a price for. And so this activity, I've got notebooks and journals and stuff laying around. I'll probably never read them again. Maybe sometimes I pick them up and maybe ponder through them. But if I don't, that's okay because what I'm looking to do is connect with the heavens today to receive personal revelation about my life today. By writing and engaging with the scriptures, I get personal revelation. I feel comfortable with the Savior. I feel his comfort and love in my life. And I've seen kids, even ninth-graders, I've seen their hearts be touched by writing and pondering the word. What do I do with the scripture study pages? I get three-tab folders at the beginning of the year from Walmart for twenty-five cents. If you've got a small class, you can upgrade to the plastic ones for fifty cents each. I personally carry around a small plastic three-tab folder with some of my personal scripture study pages that I use, and I carry them around, and when I get a minute, I open them up and engage with the Word of God so that I can be led by the Spirit throughout the day. I'm sharing this tool and this strategy as a hopeful help. As I have done this, I have seen my engagement in my class rise and rise and rise. I typically get ninety to a hundred percent of my students engaged in the writing activities. The other thing that it allows me to do is walk around the class and see who is engaged. If they're not engaged, especially early in the semester, I kneel down next to them. I will help them write. Excuse me. I will help them underline and mark. I explain what I'm thinking. I'll write a little bit in their box, and then there's this social pressure because every time they write, unless it's super personal I say, "Turn to your neighbor and share some thoughts." And so that pr- that provides some social accountability and social pressure, and then I'm positively reinforcing, reinforcing, "Great job. You're awesome. You're amazing. Wow, I love your work. Wow, you're a hard worker. You're a diligent worker. I see how you think thing throughs-- thinks things through, and then you write. You're amazing at it. Keep it up. Keep going." Connect with the Lord and emphasize, "We're not just doing this for an assignment, for a grade. We wanna hear God, our God talk to us, and He will talk to you every day. You open your scriptures, you mark, and you write. He will talk to you every day." And that is the power of the scripture study page. Now, I don't want you to think this is the only way to do it. I realize that there's a shortage of time and things aren't easy, and this might add a layer of complexity to your lesson prep. Do what you can do and feel good about what you are doing because you are doing the work of the Lord and your effort is acceptable to Him And from time to time, you might wanna use a scripture study page if you can create one, or use some of the ones that I provide if you'd like to. No pressure. This isn't something you have to do. It's something you can do or when you can do. I wanna thank you for the work you're doing. I want you to know that you're a hero, that what you are doing is incredible. Walking with the Lord to serve the youth is no easy journey. It is incredibly hard. You're awesome. Friends. Remember, the Lord loves you. Jesus is with you, and this is His work and His kingdom. Have a great day,