Resources
From the foreword, by Sharon Feiman-Nemser: "This book provides a rare glimpse into the hidden world of teacher thinking—how teachers of Bible and rabbinic literature decide what and how to teach and how they justify their decisions. It offers images of the possible—vivid cases of teaching and learning to nourish the pedagogical imagination. It contributes a shared language for analyzing the teaching and learning of classical Jewish texts by presenting useful concepts and frameworks. Finally, it models an investigative stance toward teaching and learning."
Is it possible to study parshat hashavua—the weekly Torah portion—with young children? In this paper, Shira Horowitz provides an in-depth, detailed exploration of “Torah Talk,” a teaching method she has pioneered with kindergartners and first graders involving a consistent, predictable structure and approach. The Torah Talk method has four key components: (1) Telling/ retelling one or more aspects of the weekly parasha (2) Acting out those passages (3) The specific component also called “Torah Talk” (sharing comments and questions), and (4) writing and/or drawing in Torah Journals. The author demonstrates how this method creates a culture of shared learning and a community of learners even among the youngest students. She argues that, given the right structures, young children can learn parshat hashavua in a way that is developmentally appropriate yet still takes the text—and the children—seriously, helps them develop general literacy skills and Jewish literacy, and engages them in the age-old Jewish enterprise of engaged textual interpretation.
This book is designed to teach Torah in early childhood settings. Each Parasha unit contains a section of text in English, a retelling of the text in child-friendly language, connections between the text and core Jewish concepts and values, and suggested activities. One volume is available for Bereshit and another for Shemot.