Scattergories

Second Coming "Scattergories" (see end of post for other adaptations)

We are studying the signs and events, listed in Doctrine and Covenants 43 and 45, that will take place before Jesus Christ's Second Coming. 

• Preparation in advance (not necessary-but helpful) the day before, I assigned the students to read D&C Sections 43 and 45 and note the signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ for the next class. (About half of my students did this and they are the ones who got the most out of this activity, but everyone participated and learned more than they would through just reading in class and making lists in their journals, etc)
• I divided my class in to teams. ( I suggest teams of no more than 3-4)
• Each team had a rolling chalk board that was out of the other teams' view. (you can give each team a large piece of poster board and that would be easy to place them side by side at the end)
• Based on D&C Sections 43 and 45 (where our lesson was from) they were to list as many signs of  Christ's Second Coming as possible in 15 minutes (this gave time for reading and discussion amongst team members)
• Instruct them to write neatly and make lists in neat lines/rows 
• I told them that once they listed the signs from those sections, they were also allowed to list any other signs from any other scriptures, just be prepared to name the source.
• When the time was up, they rolled their boards side by side.
• We started with one board, reading their list and comparing the other lists. Anything that was a duplicate had a line drawn through it.
• We went through all the lists and the team who had the most signs listed that the others did not list was the "winning team"
• We then discussed the signs that were most interesting, surprising, the ones that have happened already, etc.
• They chose the top 4 signs that they want to learn more about-which is where I will focus more time as we study. 

This was a very effective way for the students to dig in and study the different signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I was very impressed with how interested they were and it helped me to know where to focus our lessons and discussions.

It was interesting to note the teams who figured out the use the footnotes to find other signs of the Second Coming. They used the Topical Guide and their "True to the Faith" books as they made their lists longer and longer. 

Going forward:
There is a list of 51 signs of the Second Coming in Bruce R Mc Conkie's book, Mormon Doctrine, under the heading, "Signs of the Times" pp 715-738. This will be helpful to use some of this as we study these lessons.

Other adaptations: 
I used this when we studied the names of Christ. They were not allowed to use their books for this one.  ( I think I gave them about 10 minutes)

With or without looking in their scriptures, have each team list the names of people in the Old Testament, New Testament, or Book of Mormon. I am going to do this with people we have studied in the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History after a few more people are introduced. (again, give a time limit-usually 5-10 minutes is good but I gave more time of the signs of the second coming as they had to read)

If they use their books, it is good to have them be prepared to state the reference or location.