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I Thought He Was A Rabbi, He Was Only In 12th Grade!
I recently returned a voicemail to someone who said they have a question about a chinuch article that I wrote. When I asked to speak to Rabbi Moshe Cohen*, he said he’s not a Rabbi he’s only in 12th grade. Moshe explained that his class has a three hour b’kiyus seder in the afternoon. They are serious and want to learn, but they don’t have the textual skills to learn by themselves. They get restless and go to the canteen for coffee during seder and their mashgiach chases them back to the Bais Medrash. They read an article that I wrote about the importance of teaching textual skills and they wanted to know if I had any solutions for them.
I asked Moshe if his father was in chinuch and he said no. I asked him then why he was reading a chinuch magazine. Moshe explained that his class likes to discuss topics and my article really resonated with them. I was speechless. He explained to me how they were taught in elementary school and I understood why they couldn’t learn today. I told Moshe that I have a program that can help him if he wants to spend the time and money to do it, but I didn’t have a good solution to help his whole class. I explained to Moshe that his dilemma is unfortunate because it didn’t have to be this way. There are ways of teaching in the younger grades that insure that all students can become textual independent. He was justifiably upset that his whole class was short changed. They are serious and want to learn, but they can’t.
Moshe urged me to tell his school about what can be done. So here goes. Chosheve mechanchim across the globe, it is possible to teach Chumash and Gemara skills with little cost and without changing your curriculum or teaching style. A few consistent supplementary activities can make a tremendous difference in the skill level of your students. It is being done by dozens of classrooms and schools successfully. Talented mechanchim have devised different ways of achieving textual literacy without changing their mesorah of how they teach. Our program (THE LIST) is one such program that has made a phenomenal impact on the schools that have embraced it. We urge you to look into THE LIST. Your teaching skills will grow tremendously and the “Moshe’s” in your classroom will be indebted to you forever. Don’t let them down!
*Not his real name
I asked Moshe if his father was in chinuch and he said no. I asked him then why he was reading a chinuch magazine. Moshe explained that his class likes to discuss topics and my article really resonated with them. I was speechless. He explained to me how they were taught in elementary school and I understood why they couldn’t learn today. I told Moshe that I have a program that can help him if he wants to spend the time and money to do it, but I didn’t have a good solution to help his whole class. I explained to Moshe that his dilemma is unfortunate because it didn’t have to be this way. There are ways of teaching in the younger grades that insure that all students can become textual independent. He was justifiably upset that his whole class was short changed. They are serious and want to learn, but they can’t.
Moshe urged me to tell his school about what can be done. So here goes. Chosheve mechanchim across the globe, it is possible to teach Chumash and Gemara skills with little cost and without changing your curriculum or teaching style. A few consistent supplementary activities can make a tremendous difference in the skill level of your students. It is being done by dozens of classrooms and schools successfully. Talented mechanchim have devised different ways of achieving textual literacy without changing their mesorah of how they teach. Our program (THE LIST) is one such program that has made a phenomenal impact on the schools that have embraced it. We urge you to look into THE LIST. Your teaching skills will grow tremendously and the “Moshe’s” in your classroom will be indebted to you forever. Don’t let them down!
*Not his real name
