Ziva R Hassenfeld

Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Assistant Professor of Jewish Education

Departments/Programs

Education
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education
Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Degrees

Stanford University, Ph.D.
Brandeis University, M.A.
New York University, B.A.

Expertise

Literacy, Jewish Education, Bible

Profile

I study reading comprehension from a sociocultural perspective, focusing on how children develop interpretations of the Hebrew Bible as a case of student reading development. I use a variety of qualitative methods including ethnographic observation, stimulated recall interviewing, and think-aloud interviewing. These investigations connect my research to the worlds of biblical hermeneutics, both contemporary and rabbinic, as well as literary theory and criticism.

Lab website: https://www.brandeis.edu/scroll/

Courses Taught

ED	161b	Religious Education in America
ED	165a	Reading (and Talking Back to) Research on Education
ED	266a	Teacher Research: Principles, Methods, and Design
ED	266b	Teacher Research: Analysis and Publication

Awards and Honors

Provost’s Teaching Innovation Grant (2021 - 2022)

Theodore and Jane Norman Fund for Faculty Research and Creative Projects. (2020 - 2022)

Journal of Jewish Education “Article of the Year” Award (2018)

NRJE (Network for Research in Jewish Education) Research Award (2017)

Sylvia and Moshe Ettenberg Research Grant in Jewish Education (2016)

Scholarship

Hassenfeld, Ziva R and Bers, Marina U. "Debugging the writing process: Lessons from a comparison of students’ programming and writing practices." Reading Teacher 73. 6 (2020).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R., Govind, M., Ruiter, L., & Bers, M.. "If you can program, you can write: Learning introductory programming across literacy levels." Journal of Information Technology Education: Research 19. 1 (2020).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R and Levisohn, J.A.. "The challenge of professional development in Jewish Studies: Why the conventional wisdom may not be enough." Journal of Jewish Education 85. 1 (2019).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "A sacred language or the language of the Bible: A curricular study of Jewish Hebrew Bible instruction." Religious Education (2019).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "Pursuing fluency: A curricular intervention in Tanakh Education." Journal of Jewish Education 85. 1 (2019)

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "Studying sacred texts as a pathway to positive youth development: Middle school students read Hebrew Bible." Religions 10. 6 (2019).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "The Mistaken Assumption." Portraits of Jewish Learning. Ed. Diane Schuster. Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2019. 1-15.

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "Putting students front and center in the Hebrew Bible classroom: Inquiry-oriented pedagogy in the orthodox and liberal classroom." Journal of Jewish Education 84. 1 (2018).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "Resources of Jewish culture: A case study of two Talmud teachers." Religions 9. 7 (2018).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "Teaching sacred texts in the classroom: The pedagogy of transmission and the pedagogy of interpretive facilitation." Journal of Jewish Education 83. 4 (2017).

Hassenfeld, Ziva R. "Reading sacred texts in the classroom: The alignment between students and their teacher’s interpretive stances when reading the Hebrew Bible." Journal of Jewish Education 82. 1 (2016).