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In reference to Reuven Spolter's question about teaching Tanakh to different
skill and grade levels:
I too have found this to be one of the difficult areas in teaching Torah
subjects. In the secular subjects each grade has separate curriculum with
different academic standards and expectations. However, in Torah subjects
often the whole school is learning the same sefer or mesekhta. In subjects
that require intensive textual skills such as Gemara there has been much
work in my school, Frisch, and in other schools to develop a curriculum,
which identifies and seeks to teach different skills for each grade.
For example, in ninth grade the focus is on defining the vocabulary and
syntax of the gemara, the key words that come up throughout shas and
indicate how to navigate a daf. Also, we try to identify the basic
sentence structure of the gemara. Is something a Kushya, attacking
question, a Sheylah, information question, Basis, prooftext, Terus, answer
etc.?
In tenth grade we try to build on the basic reading skills acquired in
ninth grade and try to understand what the discussion in the gemara is
seeking to accomplish. What assumptions does the gemara have in each
question or answer? How do these assumptions change over the course of the
sugya?
In eleventh grade we try to discover the logic or lomdus in the gemara.
What is the nekudat hamachloket, point of argument, between 2 amoraim in
the gemara or between rashi and tosfos?
In twelfth grade we try to introduce the students to other parallel sugyot
so that they can see the gemara as an integrated whole.
I believe this well thought out curriculum has been very successful in
Frisch and can be adapted well to different skill levels in each grade.
In Tanakh especially Navi, I find it much more difficult to adapt my
teaching to many different and disparate levels. I usually teach four Navi
classes ranging from the lowest level ninth grade to the higher or highest
eleventh or twelfth grades. Since Navi is usually learned more Bekiut, and
the same sefer is learned throughout the school, the emphasis is on themes
and content not on textual skills. In these areas the ability to think and
analyze is more important than the ability to read a parshan. I often find
that the lowest level ninth grade class is sometimes capable of making
more enlightened observations and asking more difficult questions than the
higher classes. So how do you adapt to different levels? I find that I
prepare the same way to teach Navi to all of the different levels. Why
should the twelfth grade understand Eliyahu hanavi's character and
motivations better than the ninth grade?
I will adapt in the classroom to the different levels by getting constant
input from the students. Through their questions and answers and even the
look on their faces I can gauge how to adapt the material to different
skill levels. The areas where I do make significant changes for the
different levels is in preparing written materials such as worksheets,
review sheets, projects and tests. In the higher levels I can assume
better reading skills so the focus of my work sheets is more analysis and
interpretation. In my lower the classes the worksheets try to walk the
students through the Pesukim by asking leading questions and giving cues
to understand the verses. For tests and review sheets, obviously I test
the higher classes on more material than the lower classes.
I am also considering making the higher classes responsible for knowing
the parshanim inside. I will give them selected meforshim to study in
advance and then give selected phrases from them on the test that they
have to explain in the context of the commentary as a whole. I am very
interested in comments from other savvy teachers out there who have other
ways to adapt the same material especially in Tanakh to different grade
and skill levels.
Tzvi Pittinsky</HTML>
