שלא יהו בעיניך כדיוטגמא ישנה שאין אדם סופנה
אלא כדיוטגמא חדשה שהכל רצים לקרותה
ספרי דברים פיסקא לג-
This site contains lesson plans and discussion topics, accompanied by worksheets and review charts ready for printing. The lessons are intended for Yeshiva High Schools although the material can be adapted for other grades, college courses, and adult education.
Curriculum Goals:
1) To make Tanakh relevant and inspiring to students- lives by bringing out the ethical and halakhic principles embedded in it.
2) To encourage group work, student participation, use of multimedia – maps, charts, diagrams, Powerpoint, and other modern techniques of teaching without lecturing.
3) To help students distinguish between peshat and derash and appreciate the value of both.
4) To help students gain skills so that they can learn Tanakh and Rishonim on their own.
5) To pay close attention to the structure of each Sefer or Perek and to place each of its sections within the structure. This helps students und erstand and remember the book as a whole as well as appreciate the importance of each section.
6) To include all those elements from tradition Jewish day school education that are important for “Jewish literacy.”
The goal of this project is to provide, at the least, a helpful reference tool for teachers preparing their own lessons and, at the most, an outline which each teacher can tailor to fit his/her needs. This guide is not meant to be a substitute for research and planning lessons by the teacher because every classroom has its own requirements and each teacher must bring together his/her own background, skills, and interests to the class. Lesson plans can and should be deleted, added to, or modified. To this end, student handouts contain no reference to lesson numbers or page numbers so that they can be used selectively.
Parts of Each Lesson Plan:
Each lesson in the curriculum may have the following sections:
Objective – The primary goals for this lesson. This should help you focus on the essential mtessage and skills that students should receive from this lesson and be responsible to remember on a test.
Background – Each lesson assumes a certain amount of familiarity with the text and its structure. Often, a lesson will assume the point of view of a certain commentator over another or will prefer one way of breaking up sections over another. It is important to be aware of these assumptions and to relay them to the students when necessary.
Activity – This is the meat and potatoes of the lesson. This section will include worksheets, activities, and discussion topics that you should use for this lesson. Of course, these are only suggestions and you should feel free to edit the worksheets and tailor the activities to suit the needs of your class.
Further Readings – Articles, books, or web sites related to the ideas of this lesson in case you want to delve further into them.
This curriculum assumes that all students come to class with a תנ”ך שלם ( Koren is preferred because it retains the פרשיות פתוחות וסתומות ) and a מקראות גדולות.