VaYikrah

Big Ideas:

• Different sections of Torah focus on totally different concepts and ideas
• It can be challenging to make personal meaning for ourselves from sections of Torah which appear to be archaic and irrelevant
• All the diverse ideas in Torah can lead to important ideas for the reader

Essential Questions:

• How can the discussion of animal and grain sacrifices be important today when Jews no longer bring sacrifices?
• Why did the rabbis want all Jews to read about something that only a small group (the Cohanim) ever did?
• Should there be consequences for improper acts if they are done accidentally?  Explain your thoughts 
• What happens to a people when their situation changes radically altered by circumstances beyond their control?

Learning Activities:

• This commentary connects parshat VaYikrah with the upcoming holiday of Pesach in an interesting way.  It can offer a way to relate to what might seem archaic on its face
• American Jewish World Service invites us to consider why we should continue to read about things that we no longer do in this commentary by Evan Wolkenstein
• Shoshana Glatzer, my valued friend and even more valued teacher, wrote the following about this parasha.  It includes an explanation of the sacrifices, as well as a reference to the meaning of the Hebrew word het.  How does understanding the word affect the way you understand wrongdoing?

Assessment/Reflection:

The book Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, is a historical novel set in the first half of the 14th century.  It describes an Italian monastery in which there is a huge library of scrolls containing the collected wisdom not only of the Church, but also from Greek, Arabic and other cultural sources.   This library is open only to the official librarian and a few hand-picked helpers - scribes whose job it is to copy the texts and preserve them.  No one else is permitted access.  The purpose of the library is to preserve the knowledge within its walls, not to share it.

In the Druze religion, an offshoot of Islam, only the priests have deep knowledge of the religious texts, as stated on their website:

Ordinary members, Jahill (singular) and Juhaall (plural), do not normally have access to religious texts. They attend only the first part of their religious meetings. The remainder of the meetings are reserved for the Sheiks. There is no actual prohibition of the reading of religious books. It is just that if a person becomes educated in the truth of God and of life and yet do not follow the duties arising from these truths, then their judgment would be worse that if they had remained uneducated.

The Torah and other Jewish writings are open to all who wish to study them, and all Jews are encouraged to become personally involved in such study.

What does this mean to you?

Please read and follow my new blog, addressed directly to students about the Big Ideas in Torah.  It is found at http://parshakids.blogspot.com

It provides an opportunity for upper elementary and middle school learners to respond directly to thoughtful questions about each week's parasha, and to create valuable, collaborative meaning

Ki Tissa

Big Idea:

• Some phrases from the Torah have become well-known, even to people who don't know their origin

Important Questions:

• What words and phrases stand out for you when reading this parasha?  (i.e. 31:16-17; 32:9; 33:3; 33:5; 33:19; 34:6-7; 34:9; 34:20)
• Why do you think you know these words and phrases?

Learning Activities:

• Listen to this rendition of Adonai, Adonai, El rachum v'chanun and read the English translation of the words.  Why do you think this is part of the Yom Kippur service?
• Why, in your opinion, are these same words part of a traditional Bat Mitzvah observance in the Italian tradition?
• Read this article about Selichot in Jerusalem.  How does it relate to what we have been learning about?
• How does a teen understand this parasha?  Here is a d'var Torah from a young person
• What does it mean to "make Shabbat?"  Here is a short article you may want to read, from the Chief Rabbi Emeritus of the Great Synagogue in Sidney, Australia
• I had never heard of David Kronemyer, and may never again, but in his blog he asks some interesting questions about the idea of Jews being am k'she oref - a stiff-necked people.

...exactly when did God find out the Jews were stiff-necked? Did he know it before the Golden Calf incident, or is he attributing this characteristic to them on the basis of the Golden Calf incident? While the text is unclear on this point, I think God’s use of the term “behold” at 32:9 means he just now is finding out. This raises the question, though, of whether God would have made the Jews his Chosen People, if he had known they were stiff-necked, before designating them as such.

What do you think?


Assessment:

• Which of the ideas you studied in this parasha is most meaningful to you personally?  Be prepared to support your choice in a discussion
• Create a visual representation of one of the segments in this week's parasha that expresses your feelings about it.
• Write a short reflection of your reaction to this week's parasha

Better Jewish Educators=Better Jewish Education

Arne Duncan, secretary of education, has some interesting ideas about the problems in teacher education.

Susan Engel, senior lecturer in psychology and director of the teaching program at Williams College in Massachusetts, offers some suggestions in this article.

As you read the article at the link, think about which of the ideas might be relevant to the improvement of Jewish educational practice.

I certainly agree that "...future teachers should continue studying the subject they hope to teach, ... It makes no sense at all to stop studying the thing you want to teach at the very moment you begin to learn how."

And surely it would be wonderful if "...young teachers, like young doctors, [could] work side by side with skilled mentors, getting plenty of feedback, having plenty of opportunities to observe and taking on greater and greater responsibility as they improve."

What if "...young teachers [were encouraged] to record their daily encounters with their classrooms and then, with mentors and peers, have serious, open-minded conversations about what’s working and what isn’t."?

And who could argue against the suggestion that "Teachers must also learn far more about children"?

Few of our schools have the size or resources to "... hire these newly prepared teachers in groups of seven or more" to create their own supportive community. But we know from other sources that collegial reflection and learning among teachers is one of the most important roads to improvement, and I'm sure that it doesn't have to be a community of only new teachers to be effective.

We in Jewish education don't have to re-invent the wheel. The wheel exists. It's been 'rolling around' for quite a while now in general education. Some wheels are expensive, but some just take a few people with initiative and motivation to bring them into a school.

What we are doing as Jewish educators is important. Let's act as though we believe that.

Teachers Need...

You may have noticed that the lesson ideas posted here are not prescriptive. In other words, they offer suggestions and choices to the teachers using them, along with a structure for thinking about what is important in the teaching and learning.

This is intentional. It is not that I couldn't present a script for direct use - first say this, then that, and finally the other - but rather that I don't believe that is a best practice.

Teachers should be treated with respect - respect for their motivation, for their knowledge, for their abilities. Requiring the use of a script presumes that without one the teacher would be unable to work effectively. I just don't think that is the case.

I do not believe lessons should be, as is sometimes recommended, 'teacher-proof', as if anything other than word-for-word lessons leads to inferior learning.

What I do think is that teachers need support in getting better at what they do; they need opportunities to work together to improve their practice; they need the time and space to reflect on their experiences and challenges; they need to be treated as the professionals they are.

You may want to read the article in Education Week at this link: Stress, Control and the Deprofessionalizing of Teaching for more thoughts on this topic.

More on Haazinu

A suggestion if you are teaching this parasha: since the body of it is a poem, and since poetry is often better understood when recited rather than when read silently, I urge you to read sections of this poem aloud to your students - and dramatically!!

I never suggest having students read aloud in turn - in my opinion (and that of most educators) the only two people paying attention in that case are the reader herself and the person who is on deck to read next and wants to be sure to know the place.

The difference when you read aloud is that you will have

• prepared the students to put themselves in the position of the people who are listening to Moshe
• reminded them that they were born in the desert, don't have their own memories of Egyptian slavery or of the Exodus
• pre-read the passage, thought about the meaning of the passages you have chosen, and
• will read with expression and passion. You will be sure you
• know how to pronounce all the words, you will possibly have
• edited the language to be more understandable to your students without changing the meaning of the text, you will
• direct your students to listen for the answers to some questions you have posed... How do you feel about listening to Moshe? What do you think about what he is saying? Have you ever heard any of this before? Why do you think he is talking about it now?
• select the sections that clearly illustrate what you want your students to think about.

One of the interesting issues this parasha raises is the question of why one obeys laws. It appears that the reason for obeying the laws stated by Moshe is that the people will be punished - severely punished - if (or when, if you read the text carefully) they disobey.

BIG IDEA:

There are many reasons people obey laws

QUESTIONS STUDENTS WILL NEED TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER:

Why do people obey rules?

Are there reasons for obeying some rules and not others?

Who has the authority to set the rules?

Who has the authority to punish rule-breakers?

If there were no punishment, would people obey rules?

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

Discuss some of the laws we live by in this country (traffic laws, taxes, etc. You might want to mention the red light cameras that are being installed in Nassau County as an example of a way of enforcing a law). Who creates the laws? Who enforces them? What happens to those who disobey the laws? Are laws and rules the same thing? Compare and contrast the rules God sets forth through Moshe and those of your community. Are they equally binding? Explain your answer.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES:

The purpose of these activities is to help students better understand the important ideas they have been uncovering together. They are actually self-assessment rather than teacher-assessment, which is really more appropriate especially at this time of year.

1. During this season of teshuvah, have students may come up with their own thoughts on doing better in following God's rules. This can be done privately, during quiet time in class. You may want students to write what they have decided, and to seal these papers to be opened at a future time you will determine with the students.
2. Have students create a display that illustrates rules/laws that they expect will be followed in the synagogue/school because they are the right thing to do, rather than because of fear of punishment.
3. Set aside reflection time at the end of each class session during the month of Tishrei for students to think about which of God's rules they have followed that day, which they might have done better in following, and which they plan to concentrate on the following session.

I WISH YOU ALL G'MAR HATIMAH TOVAH.

New Year, New Thinking?

Sunday's NY Times Business Section had an article about the way companies approach their work. Welcoming the New, Improving the Old describes two very different ways to get better at what we do. One approach - Six Sigma - involves precise measurement and adjustment to reach the desired results. The other - Design Thinking - promotes "outside the box" creativity, in which everything is deemed possible.

At first, when I read this article, I thought about the implications for education. After all, we all want to improve, don't we? Which of these two ideas would work for us? What combination of the two would get us where we want to be?

And yet as I read further it became obvious to me that some of the assumptions that are made in the business world just don't work in the world of education, and certainly not in the world of Jewish education.

The business world can deal in absolutes. Problems are measurable. Solutions can be neat. An item you manufacture either works or doesn't. Procedures can be put in place to resolve problems. Money is available in the hopes that the product will increase the bottom line.

Education is fundamentally different. Some outcomes are measurable but others are not. The "product", which is what I will call the learner, can be a moving target - reacting one way on Monday and another on Tuesday.

So how do we improve our outcomes in Jewish education?

First we need to decide what we want our outcomes to be. Not so easy. Content knowledge? Group identity? Behaviors? Theological perspective? All these are parts of the outcome, and no one segment is sufficient.

When we think about our challenges we need to accept the fact that perfection is not an option. Teaching is not neat. Learning is not neat. Even Jewish thought is not neat.

As we begin the school year, and the Jewish year, I urge you to be open to new ideas, to be ready to try something you never tried before, to reflect on what you are doing, and to continue to approach Jewish education with the passion it deserves.

Here are some websites that may help you think about the upcoming year:

Teachers' New Years Resolutions - written for the general New Year, but certainly applicable for Rosh HaShanah

The Art of Teaching - by a science teacher, with a wonderful lesson for all of us

Inspiring Teachers Blog - appears to be inactive, but the posts available are valuable

Teaching Resources - provides a link to a number of Educational Resources and Videos for Rosh HaShanah

BJENY has a number of lesson plans on its website

Oprah Winfrey may not have had Rosh HaShanah in mind, but I like her attitude:

"Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right."

Guilt, Shame, Elul and Research

Today's NY Times Science section carried an article about the development and usefulness of guilt in children.

The title of the article is 'Guilt and Atonement on the Path to Adulthood'. When I saw the term "atonement" I thought- and how could I as a Jewish educator at this time of the year NOT think - about the upcoming Tishrei holiday season, and about the month of Elul, and I'm really beginning to think that the writers and editors of the NY Times may be studying Torah with us!!

What prompted me to write this note is the following quotation in the article:

'“The key element is the difference between shame and guilt,” Dr. Tangney says. ...

She recommends focusing not just on the bad deed, but more important, on how to make amends. “Both children and adults can be surprisingly clueless about whether and how to make things right,” Dr. Tangney said. '

Enter the Rambam, who gives us clear directions for teshuvah, for getting from wrong to right, from guilt to atonement:

1. Recognize the wrong
2. Apologize for the wrong
3. Make amends to the one you wronged
4. Promise not to repeat the wrong
5. When in a similar situation in the future, behave correctly, don't repeat the wrong.

In addition to the actual steps, the fact that the process is called in Hebrew teshuvah, or 'return', is a concrete way of separating the action from the individual. I may have done wrong, but I am capable of turning toward doing right next time.

This concept aligns so well with the instruction in the article for parents - not only to verbally separate the child from the misbehavior, but to do so with a concrete action that empowers the child to act to right the wrong.

Isn't it wonderful when research reaches conclusions that Jewish wisdom has come to so many years ago!!

Big Idea: Teshuvah is a process

Essential Questions:

1. What does the word teshuvah actually mean?
2. What part of the process is internal?
3. What part of the process involves actions?
4. What makes the process complete?
5. Why are there 5 steps listed above, when Maimonides lists only 4?

Activities to Promote Learning:

• Read about Maimonides' steps of teshuvah here.
• David Blumenthal writes about teshuvah here
• Write your own story of teshuvah, either fiction or non-fiction
• Create a visual display that symbolizes teshuvah. Be prepared to explain the elements of the display
• Write and perform a song or poem about teshuvah for the rest of the class.
• Collect true stories of teshuvah from the world around you.
• Private: choose an area in which you would like to do teshuvah and do it. You don't need to share this with anyone else if you don't want to.
• Compare and contrast 'teshuvah' with 'reflection'

Hoping Elul is a time for all of us to participate actively in the process of teshuvah.

And to encourage our students to do so in a meaningful and personal way.

The Challenge of Change

Reading yet again about the challenge of changing our health care system in the United States it occurred to me that there is a parallel to Jewish educational improvement here.

The health care system needs change.

The Jewish educational system needs change.

Change is difficult.

Systems resist changing.

Change is messy.

Meaningful change needs constituent buy-in.

And here is the BIG QUESTION!

CAN MEANINGFUL CHANGE OCCUR INCREMENTALLY, ONE ELEMENT AT A TIME, OR MUST IT BE SYSTEM-WIDE?

In the case of an educational system that exists within a fundamentally conservative setting, which I would suggest Judaism is, I believe that the necessary constituent buy-in is much more likely to support change that is incremental than that which is system-wide.

And I really believe that this incremental change can be meaningful in improving outcomes.

What can you change in preparing for the school year that can improve student learning outcomes?

What can you change about your teaching throughout the year to support improved learning outcomes?

What can you change about your class?

What can you change in your school?

Take a few minutes to reflect on these questions now, before the school year starts. You may find yourself on the way, one step at a time, to valuable change.

What it is, What it is not

Teachers in Jewish educational settings face many challenges. One of the most important is: How does what our students are learning relate to their lives outside the walls of the classroom? Do we and our students see our lives through the lens of Jewish wisdom? Does it ever occur to us, or to them, that what we are learning together for one, or two, or even six or more hours a week has any impact on how we make decisions about things that really matter? Things in our "real lives"?

The vision of these posts is to relate the two domains in which we and our students co-exist.

In linking ideas and events in the general culture with those grounded in Jewish thought we can give our students the foundation for understanding that their Jewish identity and values do in fact relate in powerful ways to the lives they live outside our direct influence.

Summer is a wonderful opportunity to think about teaching and learning without the pressure of planning lessons or worrying about classroom behaviors.

What happened this year?

What did my students learn this year that is IMPORTANT? WHY is it IMPORTANT?

What did my students learn that they will remember forever?

How do I know they learned what I think they learned?

What were some of the most successful classroom experiences we had this year?

What were some of the disasters?

Think about the questions, and come up with some answers that make sense to you. It's a great start for the upcoming year,

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” Albert Einstein