“Should we offer the best classes we can, or teach adults to become independent learners of Jewish texts?”
So my memory paraphrases a question asked on JEDADULT, a Facebook group discussing adult Jewish education.
An odd question, to be sure. In the best of all possible worlds, great adult education classes would teach content and skills. All Jewish adult educators would simultaneously share deep insights and empower student learners.
But we do not live in the best of all possible worlds. Most of us learned content through lecture, and demonstrated mastery by writing papers. In other words, through modeling plus drill and practice, we learned to create well-structured, interesting talks. Despite deep praise for chevruta, i.e., learning in pairs or small groups, no one showed us how to proceed.
For three decades, as both student and teacher, I have been chasing this esoteric knowledge. Today, I would like to share some of what I caught — one possible method of teaching text through discussion.
1. Know your text. Read it carefully before you plan your class, three times at least.
2. Choose a scheme for asking questions.
The Great Books Foundation in Chicago offers a great one. Factual questions (only one answer based on the text is possible); interpretive questions (multiple answers based on the text are possible); evaluative questions (multiple answers based on the student’s experience are possible); speculative questions (no answer is offered in this text).
The PaRDeS scheme, articulated by medieval Jewish mystics, is also powerful. Peshat (simple) questions (answers summarize content or narrative); Derash (teaching) questions (answers offer the moral of the story); Remez (hint) questions (answers speculate about the nature of God); Sode (secret) questions (answers describe human spirituality).
2. Play with the text yourself before teaching. Brainstorm questions in each category. Explore the chains of answers, questions, and re-readings they provoke.
3. Assess what background information is absolutely required in order for students to gain meaning from the text. Prepare the shortest possible lecture needed to transmit it. Alternatively, prepare a few information review questions for students to answer at the beginning of the class.
4. Welcome students to class. Let them know, in a general way, your plan or outline for the time. They will be less anxious and unlikely to pull the class away from your preparation.
5. For a long class, or the first in a series of classes, begin by teaching your scheme of questioning. Students will know what you consider a good question — and why you might sometimes say, “Let’s put your question on hold.”
6. Read the texts: shorter ones aloud; longer ones via quiet individual reading.
7. Start discussion with a good question. Working with the two schemes above, almost always the best starting questions will be an interpretive question (e.g., Why is Moses afraid to approach the burning bush?), remez question (e.g., How does God present Godself here?), or sode question (e.g., How does Moses change through his encounter with God?).
8. Continue reading through to step 13 at Rabbis Without Borders…
I wish I had read this posting when I was still teaching!
Lots of good guidance here for teaching adults. I am always a little stuck on the idea of Remez. I understand it more as allegorical interpretation. At any rate, even in synagogue I often lead a discussion oriented Devar Torah, sometimes breaking into small groups. I think that you are write; it is crucial to be well prepared and familiar with the text, but then focus on some great questions and not “tell all you know.” As I read somewhere, to paraphrase Moshe Rabenu, you must “let your doctrine distill as the dew,” or as Reb Zalman zt’l taught, Torah was given “mi pi ha-gevurah,” so teach with restraint, don’t say it all.
One of the strategies I used in order to minimize intro lecture time was to assign brief readings and require that learners pass an on-line quiz (multiple choice: factual or peshat questions only) on those readings prior to attending class.
Once in class we could move quickly into triads addressing deeper levels of inquiry.