“Taking Responsibility for Your Learning: Avoiding Excuses and Taking Action in Education,” Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual (2026)
“Taking Responsibility for Your Learning: Avoiding Excuses and Taking Action in Education,” Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual
Succeed in School: Lesson 193
Taking Responsibility for Your Learning
Avoiding Excuses and Taking Action in Education
When schoolwork becomes difficult, we sometimes make excuses and avoid taking action. As we follow the Savior’s example and take responsibility for our learning, we will increase in wisdom as He did (see Luke 2:52). This lesson can help students identify actions that can help them take responsibility for their learning.
Student preparation: Invite students to think about their educational efforts with the following questions:
Possible Learning Activities
Responsibility for our learning
Invite students to create a scenario about a teenager and a poor decision they made about their schoolwork. For example, the teenager did not study for a test, arrived late to class, missed an important assignment, or did not turn in an essay. You could have a student draw a stick figure on the board, give the teenager a name, and write their poor decision under the stick figure.
You could then write Excuses above the stick figure. Consider inviting students to write their answers to the following questions around the stick figure on the board.
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What are some excuses a teenager may make for this poor decision?
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Why do you think we sometimes make excuses for these kinds of choices?
President Russell M. Nelson and Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught important truths that are helpful to remember when we may be tempted to make excuses for poor choices in school.
Education is yours to obtain. No one else can gain it for you. Wherever you are, develop a deep desire to learn. For us as Latter-day Saints, gaining an education is not just a privilege, it is a religious responsibility. (“Will You Choose to Increase in Learning?,” New Era, Sep. 2014, 2)
In matters both temporal and spiritual, the opportunity to assume personal responsibility is a God-given gift without which we cannot realize our full potential as daughters and sons of God. (“Free Forever, to Act for Themselves,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2014, 18)
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What stands out to you from these statements?
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Why is it important to take personal responsibility for our learning?
Consider helping students recognize the following truth by writing it next to the drawing on the board: Taking personal responsibility for our learning helps us realize our full potential as daughters and sons of God.
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What are some specific things a teenager could do to take responsibility for their learning?
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How could taking personal responsibility for our learning help us become more like the Savior?
As students answer the questions above, you might invite them to share attributes Jesus Christ demonstrated as He took responsibility in His ministry and mission (such as diligence, humility, and love).
Take a moment to think about how developing Christlike attributes can help you overcome excuses and take responsibility for your learning. Listen for promptings from the Holy Ghost that can help you identify the attributes you can develop or actions you can take to be responsible for your schoolwork.
Scripture examples of taking responsibility
To help students discover truths about being responsible for their learning, you could invite them to complete the handout “Taking Responsibility.” Invite students to consider how the stories on the handout could be applied to them. You might organize students into small groups and invite some of the students in each group to read and respond to the questions for the story of David while the others study the parable of the talents.
Note: The last section of the handout will be used later in the lesson.
After sufficient time, invite students to share with the class what they learned.
Overcoming excuses to take responsibility for learning
To help students prepare to look at their own lives and overcome excuses they may be making, it might be helpful to do the following activity as a class.
Think about the teenager from the beginning of class. Reflect on what you have learned from the scriptures and personal experience about taking responsibility for your learning. Help this teenager by suggesting Christlike attributes and actions that show a willingness to take responsibility for learning that address the excuses on the board.
Before they begin, it may be helpful to provide students with an example. An excuse for arriving late could be “my mom didn’t wake me up on time.” Students might suggest, “I will be responsible like the Savior and set an alarm to make sure I make it to school on time.” You might write students’ suggestions near each excuse.
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How can the Savior help us in our efforts to take responsibility for our learning?
Consider inviting willing students to share what they have done in their lives to take personal responsibility for their learning. As they share, commend students for the efforts they are making.
Responsibility for my learning
Invite students to complete the last section of the handout. You may want to share the following with them as they seek the Lord’s help to take responsibility for their learning.
As you seek revelation from Heavenly Father on how to improve, the Holy Ghost can prompt you on needed changes. We can also remember that we don’t have to do it all on our own; we can seek the Savior’s help (see Isaiah 41:10).
Consider inviting willing students to share what they feel prompted to do. You might share an example from your life of taking responsibility for your learning. Encourage students to take their handout home to help them remember what they have felt impressed to do today.