Will Keller Teaching Texts Final Part 1 - Orientations My interest in Judaism came mostly from the desire to understand

d and create a system of values for myself to live by. While I grew up in a Jewish home I never had a strong relationship with Jewish text or history and when as an adult I began to explore these areas it was in order for me to understand who I was as a Jew and what that meant for myself in general. I have found the system I was looking for in the Jewish experience and feel the system I have is a strong balance of the traditions of Jews of the past and my personal synthesis of that history. My interest and desire to teach comes from the comfort I have found in Judaism. I am caught between the desire to show others a system that works for me and that I believe can work for others and the belief that a system only works if the user buys-in completely. In other words the system only works if the user engages in their own way. I want to help others by giving them tools but not forcing them to use those tools if they dont want to or if the tool is not right for that person. As a teacher this raising difficulties. Its often said that anytime one relays information a bias is presented. I see an important goal of a teacher as being to present a topic without pushing an agenda. This goal is sadly one we cannot perfectly achieve. We can however; identify the orientations and methods for how we present the material in an effort to minimize our impact on the learner. To borrow a term from the camping world we are aiming for leave no trace teaching. So who am I as an educator? I was once told that my persona as a teacher is the same person as I am outside the classroom. The thought of this both comforted and frightened me as I have qualities that are both helpful and harmful to me as a teacher. My orientation is one of context. I believe its most important to understand the context of a statement or text to unravel it and possibly learn from it. This context takes different forms both for us as those experiencing the text now and for those who wrote and experienced the text originally. How one believes the text was transmitted, direct from G?d or perhaps written by several different authors greatly informs how the text is used - if practice is derived and how the text is understood all need to be considered. Furthermore one must work to replicate and at least understand the experience of the initial users to best comprehend a text. Taking ideas or texts out of context distorts the original intention. The text I am choosing to use for this process is as the Jews prepare to enter into the covenant with G?d. I think it is important for students to ask for example if G?d really came to the Jews in a thick cloud or why it was important to purify oneself to join the covenant. I believe these questions are best processed using the generations of Jewish thinkers that

preceded us to inform our thought process. I am admittedly still trying to find the best way to introduce these thinkers into a students learning but understand that process takes time. After we work to understand context it becomes time to personalize the text further. One needs to look at a text to see if a system of values is present and how that jives with what else one knows about this system and how they relate to it. Personalizing a text means returning to that text and developing a more dynamic understanding and relationship with that text each time one encounters it. This process is a part of taking the text and making it real for oneself, taking ownership. What are the practical ramifications this text has on my life? My lesson is all about this process of deep contextualization. By exploring a text which falls on the fault lines of denominations I am aiming to have students evaluate their own orientations to text. Exploring this topic in a Modern Orthodox environment can be difficult. Growing up outside the Modern Orthodox community has me cautious about what buttons to not press and nervous about what is acceptable. I most nervous about a substantial struggle I think the orthodox educational movement wrestles with; free thought versus accepting a communal narrative. I see a pressure for my students to accept direct transmission and the theology and practice of the orthodox movement. While I myself see the value of choosing to be a member of this community on some level I simply want my students to agree with me rather then process for themselves. The lesson I am creating is an effort to push these students to make their own decisions about their relationship to the covenant and therefore I think also force them to consider their relationship with any Jewish text they encounter. I realize I cannot continue to talk about my plan without introducing the students. The students for my lesson are 8th graders in a Modern Orthodox school. The majority of these students have been in the school their entire academic lives and have grown up going to synagogue and youth group with the other students in their class. They have seen each other change and grow over the years - for better or worse. At their age these students are straddling Piagets line between the Concrete Operational Stage and the Formal Operational Stage meaning some are developing the ability to think abstractly and logically with deductive reasoning while other students are still thinking very concretely. This means as a teacher I need to meet each student on their own level - pushing for what each can achieve rather then a set assessment. These students are for the most part similar to me in that they are searching for a system of values. We may differ in that they are looking more subconsciously and absorb material and learn lessons differently from me. These students are struggling to revisit and refine information as we do when wel assume the information and theory we learn progresses

with us as we age - a misconception that results in lower comprehension. As with all students some are engaged and some are disinterested by the material. There is substantial communal pressure pushing these students in many different directions. Many are pushed towards specific practice and action which represents a theology. Often this pressure is towards acceptance of some version of direct transmission. This is coupled by an acceptance of Halacha as binding and a communal pressure to abide by communal behavioral norms regarding modesty, ones relationship to other genders and religious practice. My goal as a teacher in this context isnt to deliver information but rather to facilitate the crossroads of information with the student in an ideal way for each student. McEwan and Bull point out the misconception that Good teachers know things that others do not - I think more true is that good teachers meet each student on their level and help bridge gap between the student and the material. Part 2 - Lesson Plan
Jewish Text Lesson Plan Format (UBD Format)

Text Selected and Teacher Orientation to the Text: Text: Orientation: I see this topic as helpful for defining ones core set of believes. This text forces the reader to answer for oneself how they feel about and understand Jews as the chosen people and the obligation text places on an individual in of terms of action/response to the text. In other words are commandments or Halacha from the Torah binding for the reader. Our lesson will provide opportunities for students to explore these ideas using the text for clues to inform their opinions as well as outside secondary sources to help the student think critically and develop a rich understanding of the issue and their feelings towards that issue. Specifically, after contextualizing the text as we understand was intended - how does each students enduring understanding affect their view of the world? What does the text say about the Jews experience at Sinai and what are the ramifications for the student? Overarching Understandings Students will know detailed narrative of Students will engage with outside sources such as medieval/modern Jewish thinkers as well as other outside secondary sources depending on research plan

Students will formulate personal relationships with concepts of Jewish chosen-ness, source of texts (ie transmission) and obligation to text Spiritual Knowledge Students will derive/refine core theological beliefs/thought processes Students will contrast their core beliefs with other thinkers both in the classroom and from outside world Content Knowledge

Students will develop a strong understanding of ( Sinai narrative) Students will know values can be derived from text Students will know specific mepharshims stance and perspective on issues at hand Skill Knowledge

Materials

Students will continue to improve on navigating and understanding the Mepharshim Students will improve decoding text using dictionary and other aids

Whiteboard/Markers (chalk talk) Enough Tanachs for each student to be able to read - Ideal is copy Perek 19 or have each student work in personal Tanach for note taking (Group/Individual reading) Research proposal worksheet (Exit card) Guided research work (mepharshim for each subtopic, outside thinkers to help gear students in specific directions)

Research capability - Library, Beit Midrash, Computers Computers with Powerpoint for student presentations (Circle the Sage) Synectics Homework worksheet (Final homework/assessment)

Activities that provide for multiple learning styles: Read/Translate/Share for accessing text Individual exploration/discussion/research for developing questions/answers from text Written and Oral presentations of material

Lesson Plan - How do you enter the covenant?

Time (min)

Category

Activity

Directions

Actions

Prep

Prep

Chalk Talk

Write in middle of whiteboard statement and directions

Statement: Right before the Jews and Moshe received the 10 commandments... Directions: Without speaking write on the board any associations this sentence makes you think of Remind students who speak to keep quite write any directions on board to not disturb silent space Point out themes and fit unclear ideas into context with students help Remind students that throughout process important to compare/contrast to how student/communities respond to each concept Explain that students should: read perek out loud to one another in English. Return to section assigned and translate using dictionaries. While reading and translating for for evidence of the following three concepts: Actuality of events (What does the text tell us about if these events actually occurred), Purity (what did it mean to prepare for entering the covenant) and Chosenness (Where do we learn that Jews are chosen, what is the evidence? Do we make a choice to accept covenant?)

0-7

Activity

Chalk Talk

Allow students to have silent conversation on board Circle key themes - re-chart chalk talk on side by priority/theme Going to explore shmot 19 to refine and better understand how Jews accepted covenant Split class into three groups and assign section of Perek to each group (1-6, 7-13, 14-25) - Give group with strongest Hebrew 14-25.

710

Review

Chalk Talk

10 11

Intro

Transition

11 25

Reading/Decoding

Group reading

25 32

Formative Assessment

Jigsaw/Whip Around

Have each group report its findings (each student should have opportunity to share) Put students into groups of 4 and number (1-4). Call out a question (give 10 seconds of processing time) and set of numbers (1,3) and let students discuss issue for 1 minute or so then cold call on students for what discussions were about.

Record major themes/questions which relate to three overarching questions on board Discussion Questions: What clues does the text give us about whether these events actually happened or not? What is your personal opinion? Based on the strict explanations of purity in this chapter how do you understand your obligation to follow the laws of the text? Should we as modern Jews be able to reinterpret and perhaps contradict what Torah tells us? What does being chosen mean in the context, for us, for G?d? Are we chosen or do we get to chose or both? Three teams will cover each subtopic - (divide students by interest and who works well together). Need to brainstorm with group members what 5 thematic questions your group wants to answer on topic and ideas for answering those questions. Each student

32 42

Student Processing

Think, Pair, Share

42 44

Regroup/Next Step

Directions/ Explanations

Class is embarking on research project focused around these three concepts: Actuality of events, Purity and obligation to law, Chosenness

also responsible for turning in 5 paragraph essay about personal response to the questions the group asked. 44 50 Brainstorm Team Huddles Students meet to fill out proposal form Students turn in proposal as leave class Teacher circles room to help guide students to create appropriate questions for research. Collect proposals and suggest directions for research.

50 Exit

Formative assessment NEXT DAY

Exit Card

0-5

Bell Work

Proposal return and labor division

As groups receive their proposal and start creating division of labor for research and action items for how to get to finished project

Teacher circles and gives verbal feedback and strategic help to groups who need.

Rest of class Homework

Research

Put presentation into Powerpoint/outline for 5 paragraph essay on personal response to question

NEXT DAY 025 Assessment/ Student teaching Circle the Sage One group at a time has its members in different corners of room and other students pick a Sage to learn about the topic with. Groups rotate

through Sage position. 25 50 Critical Thinking Synectics not my topic Is like a noun because (paragraph description) students who finish may start essay on personal answers to group questions

HW - Finish essay

Alternative Options If pace slows down the class or the directions arent clear then scope of activity can be readjusted. Instead of class covering three topics at once, the project could become a class research topic. This could mean creating the essential questions as a class, researching and presenting together. To increase focus on Hebrew text students could be responsible for decoding and translating entire text. Also while activity allows for students to do some grouping on their own, teacher may need to step in for subtopic groupings and Circle the Sage rotations. As different groups move through different activities teacher should be prepared with mini thought provoking assignments to always keep students on task and considering subtopics. Ongoing assessment This project is filled with ongoing assessment. Examples are: When a teacher circles during group reading to hear if students are focusing on subtopics and what questions are being asked, Whip around to hear what ideas are most important to students from reading, Think pair share as students discuss teacher can hear opinions and ideas, research presentation is a clear indicator of assessment (although perhaps more summative then formative in this case) and synectics shows a students understanding of a subtopic they didnt focus on. Explanations of Pedagogic Development Chalk Talk: Chalk talk provides a unique opportunity for students to express themselves silently in front of other students. Teachers who assign lots of written work get to read a students perspective often but this gives quieter students the opportunity to have their ideas processed and responded to by the rest of the class. I use this strategy to prime a student for the topic I am approaching. This helps remind students of what they already know about the topic so as a class we can journey into new ideas. Often students have prior knowledge about a topic and

new learning cant take place until the student has the opportunity to share - Chalk talk deals with that issue. Chalk talk also helps introduce major concepts and/or specific details that are important for the upcoming lesson. This activity relies on its novelty and shouldnt be used all the time. Finally Chalk talk only works for open ended questions. JigSaw/Whip Around: Jigsaw/Whip Around is a quick a useful opportunity for a teacher to check if the students are getting it, to see is the questions asked is being answered by the students. By refining the information to explain concepts one just learned or questions one has the student processes the information in a deeper way and enables a higher level of comprehension. Furthermore this Whip Around functions like a Jigsaw in that the student presentations provide deeper understanding about parts of the text the student did not focus on in as much depth. This technique can be used when the class is all on one topic or as a Jigsaw when different parts of the class are focused on different tasks and the sum of each of the parts equals a greater whole. In this case we hear students beginning to tease out from the text where they see evidence and their opinions about issues central to their theology. Think, Pair, Share: So far in this project the students have had the opportunity to see text and generate questions about the text. This is an opportunity for the students to begin considering how they would answer those questions. Think, Pair, Share encourages each students participation and shows each student that their thoughts are valued by the teacher due to each students statements being heard by another student. The thinking process before sharing allows for teachers to use this method for critical thinking questions not factual information. Often students do not feel comfortable sharing their more abstract answers with the class at first and a process of discussion with another individual can be helpful in aiding a students confidence to present to a group. I am using this method for the reasons listed below but also as a method of having students consider what subtopic they want to focus on for their research project. Group Investigation: There is great power in a student creating their own academic plan and group investigation is a great model for that. By allowing students to pick a topic of interest and work with a small group the teacher creates a productive mechanism for expanding ones knowledge on a subject. The group dynamic is helpful in that skills students do not always use are accessed such as division of labor, teamwork, research and presenting. I am using the group investigation as a focus/research group on subtopics. The group is responsible for creating and answering academic questions and each individual takes a piece of that process and is also responsible

for synthesizing and presenting their own responses to the subtopic. My lesson is about personalizing and contextualizing text and individualized/small group research is the ideal manner to do achieve this by forcing the individual to engage directly with the text and search out answers for their own questions. Circle the Sage: Never underestimate the power of having a students voice be heard. As humans we love having our actions or knowledge be acknowledged and this activity allows each student that ability. Each student gets the opportunity to present their own work on a topic but the students are also responsible for learning from their other group members so they can present on the topic fully. This activity means the student deeply processes the material by taking own research and combining it with what the rest of the group discovered then synthesizing that information for presentation. Furthermore the inputting the information to Powerpoint or any mode of presentation allows for a further level of refining and consideration. Circle the sage can be used to present factual material but also allows for a student to be able to present their own answers to conceptual questions. Synectics: Synectics is another novelty activity that needs to be used sparingly. Here the student is asked to re-contextualize a concept or idea. This allows the teacher to assess if the students got the point of the exercise. Synectics is often a popular activity and students have fun creating metaphors and reconsidering and expressing their knowledge in unique ways. Synectics is used for conceptualizing rather then describing an idea in a concrete manner. Part 3 - Reflection I see the essence of the reflection to be explaining how I arrived at my big questions and understandings and the process of creating and facilitating a lesson plan based on those questions and understandings. To do so Ill start with how I came to this specific lesson. I started from the orientation that contextualization and personalization is central to deep thinking and therefore high levels of comprehension. I wanted a text that would emphasize a students approach to text and challenge their beliefs. Generally, I see mishna as a clear way to push students to consider the practical ramifications of the interpretations of text but in this case I choose a Perek from the Torah. I choose Perek 19 of Shmot as the Jews prepare the enter the covenant with G?d because I see this text and sitting on the fault lines of denominational and theological lines.

This process proved difficult for me in several ways. Initially I struggled with what I felt to be conflicting ideas; to create a lesson plan with a specific amount of activities but stick to a Understanding By Design format. I struggled because I felt that an essential question could take one any number of ways and creating a specific lesson plan could serve as a detriment to that idea. However once into the planning stages of creating my EQ and big ideas based of that I saw the value of using activities I had spent a semester contemplating as well as incorporating outside activities. Furthermore I struggled with working with my students to keep their prior ideas and perspectives about theology and/or the specific text out of classroom to allow for the most unbiased learning environment or as Irvin Greenstein mentions that, should we be honest enough to admit it, that out beliefs and understandings do not follow from our textual interpretations as much as they shape and produce them(Greenstein, 5). To combat this difficult issue I reminded my students of the dangers of our previous perceptions and pushed them to develop genuine ideas based on the sources at hand the primary source of the text and the secondary sources of commentators and modern thinkers who would guide them. I approached the learning of this text by asking the questions I would have as a student in my class. I tried to reconsider what it felt like to be an eighth grader and incorporate what challenges living in an orthodox environment would introduce. Greenstein goes on to discuss an effective big idea of a lesson saying that, research or inquiry, begins with a problem or question we have (Greenstein, 4) to me this means that effective education all stems from asking the right questions. As a teacher I see this as central to my position, teaching students how to best ask the question so that they can benefit in the most ideal manner from the answer. More so than just objective educational goals I want to create a classroom where my students feel that what they are learning is relevant to their lives. In doing so I think I will help motivate students to push themselves academically if they see ramifications of their intellectual discovery. Student driven questions are simply as Holtz suggests, the way Bible is taught (Holtz, 109) and I took this to mean that student driven questions centrally inform the pedagogical methods I utilized for this project. Now that Ive begun explaining how I came to this approach Ill expand on the population I was looking to reach. My students, as all students do have diverse needs in terms of how to best present material for high levels of comprehension. As the teacher this meant that I needed to provide alternative methods of engaging with the text to best reach each student. It was important for me to enable each student to feel like his or her ideas and opinions mattered. The subject matter in itself was helpful in showing each student his or her value. By picking a text where ones personal reading and understanding greatly changes the practical

reactions/ramifications of the text I felt that this lesson would provide students personal motivation to dive into the subject matter. I was concerned however that presenting material in different manners could seem repetitive to students so I focused on making each engagement with the text unique with different partners and using different mediums such as close reading, discussion, research and presentations. By allowing for such diverse methods of input and output of information I believe I encapsulated what Holtz meant by quoting Eleanor Duckworth, Good teaching is about providing students with opportunities for the having of wonderful ideas (Holtz, 111). By this idea I mean that unique dynamic experiences lead to unique, thoughtful and productive insights. I was concerned that the students would struggle at this point in their education with what I perceive as a large problem in the orthodox educational field the pressure students feel to think and express themselves in a certain way which is consistent with the ritual behavior and theology of their community. This ties into what I discussed earlier about preconceived notions entering the classroom. By being transparent with my students about the struggles of such an issue and keeping this as a topic of conversation I feel I was able to combat this issue. While I feel this was a success in this lesson, preconceived notions are a constant problem in education and one I am continuing to brainstorm on how to deal with. The teaching of this lesson led me to reflect in a unique way to consider what would have worked and not worked with a imaginary group of students. Within this I felt I was greatly successful in certain areas and need further improvement in others. For example I felt that many of my pedagogical methods were useful and successful such as Chalk Talk, Group Reading, Jigsaw, the research component and Circle the Sage. I feel these activities provided dynamic methods for students to process and refine their ideas about the material. I was happy with providing the students the opportunity to develop their own ideas and was impressed with the sophisticated ideas they considered and developed as they drove each other to think deeper. I was also satisfied that by providing different methods of engagement I was able to reach different learning styles in ideal manners to help each student learn in the method that worked for them. There were of course areas that I can improve in. My research proposal activity needed more hands on guidance by the teacher. Even at an age where students are learning where to turn if they have questions the teacher still needs to be involved in creating academically sophisticated research questions and the direction to find answers to those questions. Similarly I needed as a teacher to provide opportunities for each student in the subgroups to learn from their other group members that way the Circle the Sage could be more factually based then a

presentation of emotional responses. My biggest personal critique was that I would like students to be involved earlier in the process of developing big questions. In this exercise I did the initial work of developing subtopics for investigation but ideally I would like this to be a more student driven process. The overall experience of developing this plan and executing the lesson plan was largely helpful. I refined and expressed my orientations to the text and how different students would respond. This helped me prepare strategies for interacting positively with different types of students and providing students of different strengths comparable learning opportunities. Developing and planning the lesson for someone else to teach pushed me to be explicit and provide details I had previously assumed to be obvious. This led me to flesh out and bring more meaning to everything I do in front of students to be more efficient about my process so that I can best focus on the students and their needs. Reflection is of course always important in that reflecting allows one to understand if they met their initial goals and how to adjust for the future. I see now the areas I need to improve upon: Helping students develop questions to drive the learning, providing instructions to those who might teach in my place, helping students ask the questions they want to ask and dealing with preconceived notions and pressured environments.