Self-Paced, Point & Click: The Jewish Problem with Programmed Instruction

[cross-posted to TAPBB]

Programmed Instruction

There is a growing fantasy in Jewish education that everything will be better if we only take the teacher out of the equation. This is manifesting itself in the claim that low level computer exercises can replace a day a week of Jewish learning. And it is leading to tools like self-checking folders that students work their way through at their own pace. What all of these hold in common is a reliance on an old education technique, programmed instruction, which was used mainly for industrial training and has mainly shown itself to be a failure in general education.

Programmed instruction grew out of the work of B.F. Skinner, the behaviorist who believed that learning was conditioning. In rewarding students who get the right answer, students become conditioned to repeat that answer. Programmed instruction sends students through a series of frames where they (a) receive information, (b) are asked about that information, and (c) are shown the correct answer. In more sophisticated forms, there is now a “branching” opportunity. If the student got the answer right, they move on to the next frame. If they get it wrong, they are put into a review loop.

The good news seems to be (a) the ability of each student to move at his/her own pace, (b) a high rate of retention (at least in the short term), and (c) the freeing of the class from the imposition of a teaching doing bad “frontal” education. But most of the advocates of programmed instruction, whether in software or folders, seem to forget three things:

1. Levels of Learning

Benjamin Bloom, one of my teachers, wrote a big book with J. Thomas Hastings and George F. Madaus called Handbook on Formative and Summative Evaluation of Student Learning. In it is a taxonomy of educational objectives that describes a series of “levels” of learning. In the cognitive domain there are six: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The problem is simple. Jewish life and real Jewish learning is all about Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation, the higher levels. Programmed Instruction is best for Knowledge, Comprehension and Application, the lower three levels.

There is also a taxonomy of affective objectives: Receiving (or Awareness), Responding, Valuing, Organization, and Characterization by a value or value complex. These affective objectives (usually called “Krathwohl’s Taxonomy”) are all about a process called “internalization,” whereby a student’s affect towards something goes from being aware (that’s the “receiving” part) all the way to the point where their affect has been internalized and consistently guides or controls the person’s behavior. It’s the path between knowing that kavod is a Jewish value and going through life treating people with kavod. Programmed Instruction can get you to Awareness, but it is not great at getting to the rest of the domain. Jewish education should be all about valuing and the rest of that process.

The argument can be made that Programmed Instruction is mainly being used to teach Hebrew language. That Alef Bet is only Alef Bet is partially true. But Alef Bet leads to Ashrei and Ashrei is supposed to build a connection to God. While learning folders with self-checking and computer programs may have a role in mechanical learning, they are incapable of taking it any further. When do you feel close to God? What is the right thing to do in this case? What do you think of when you say the Shema? These are all moments of Jewish learning that are simply not part of a computer’s function.

2. Community

The purpose of Bar and Bat Mitzvah is to acknowledge that a child is now old enough to function as an adult in the ritual life of the Jewish people. Reading Torah is a symbol that a child can now function as a member of the community. A new adult can now be counted in a minyan. Most importantly, this means that a new adult is old enough to go to a shiva house and be counted among those whose responsibility it is to help heal the pain of death. If we are going to turn our schools into B’nai Mitzvah mills, we could do worse than if they included the skills of participating in Jewish communal life and learning compassion and empathy. Those are not things that come from the kind of computer programs we have and are likely to have in the foreseeable future. They are the inverse of things learned when each student is moving at his or her own pace.

Tolerance is one of the things that one learns from being part of a learning community. So is patience, leadership, and being a good listener. The best way to learn how to participate in community life is practice. It is not an accident that Jews pray in community and demand community for most Jewish events. Studying prayer at home on the computer is not the best way to learn about community. Working alone at your own folder, checking your own answers, doesn’t develop leadership skills.

3. Teachers

Finally, the Jewish tradition believes in teachers. It sees teachers as rich (not mechanical) enablers of individualization and personalization. Teachers allow lessons to go off on tangents, listen to student needs, and take advantage of the moment. Teachers can appreciate and celebrate, understand and empathize. A teacher-free classroom can maybe transmit Jewish information, but it is not a Jewish classroom. The modeling of the Jewish classroom as Jewish learning community, the enabling of the community by a person manifesting and applying Jewish values – this is our goal. I know of no one who can claim that their best learning moment took place when completing a self-guided booklet. Not every teacher is ideal, but teachers are our ideal.

Every teaching tool that is effective has its time and purpose. Programmed instruction and computer-assisted instruction are tools that have their time and place. But ironically, as we have less time to spend together with our students, now is precisely the time for more student-teacher interaction, not less. As we are trying to teach the skills of communal worship, now is precisely not the time to invite our students to learn Hebrew from computer screens. When we are trying to instruct our students to maximize their humanity and use it to change the world, now is precisely the time to make human interaction a foundational value of Jewish education. The elimination of the human in education is a step backwards.

Steps Forward

At Torah Aura Productions, we are dedicated to producing curricular materials that realize a depth of understanding rather than focusing only on facts and feelings. That means that we also must be active partners with teachers and educators to maximize the Jewish educational impact on their students.

Programmed instruction is perfectly useful if the goal is to develop students who can perform at a one-time event. We’re encouraging a different goal: students who are lifelong Jews. Our mission is to make materials that help teachers and educators to enable their students to become empowered Jewish adults.

We believe in doing what it takes to develop good teachers who can actualize impactful Jewish learning. That may be more difficult than asking teachers to facilitate programmed instruction in booklets or on computer screens, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Human interaction is the key to the Jewish future. And because we believe in humanity, we believe that Jewish schools can succeed at doing something bigger, better and worthwhile.

Spending Wisely in Difficult Times

[Cross posted to TAPBB.]

We’re hearing from a lot of schools that the difficult economic situation is having a profound impact on Jewish education. Synagogues are being forced to slash budgets, staff are taking pay cuts, and jobs hang in the balance.

With all these challenges, choosing books and curricular materials can be an especially daunting job. How can you make a shrinking amount of money go even further? Where can we “trim” without sacrificing the excellence in education that students and their families have come to expect? How can you drain a bit of the metaphorical bathwater without losing the baby?

We want to help you think about the choices you are going to have to make. We know you’re probably going to have to make cuts, but we want to help you keep the baby. Here are some thoughts.

Curricular materials are worth buying when:

1. They are books of texts. Ask yourself, “Are there words in these books (not just information) that are worth knowing?” Texts have a special role in the process of Jewish learning. We are a people of “quotations.” We learn not only with words, but we learn words. Text study invites a process of interpretation. To make sense of a text, a learner must choose its meaning. The process of studying texts is a process of deciding what they mean to the individual learner. In working with them, learners come to affirm what they believe is Jewish—and to draw the limits of what they believe is not Jewish, or not their Judaism. Text study is a process of saying “yes” and “no.” Text study is a process of identity formation.

Texts are conversations. They are chances to state, “To me this text means x,” while another student gets to say, “To me the text says y.” In bouncing meanings off of each other, students get to clarify their own understandings while building connection to those involved in the dialogue. Dialogue over texts builds community. People share intimacies. They feel closer. Talking together leads to more talking together. The end result of good conversation, conversations about meaning, is a sense of community. Texts create shared experiences.

Texts bring the past into the future. They are valuable relics of the past that we can carry forward. But unlike a Bronze-Age pot, texts also have a future. They teach us not only about their original context, the time and place where they were created but they also help us build the future. Texts’ meanings continue to evolve as we develop. A text doesn’t only have one meaning. Texts are stronger than memories because texts continue to offer a chance to choose and apply understandings. Texts are truths that travel and grow with us, and give us a chance to root an evolving Judaism in our ancient tradition.

Simply put, textbooks are worth buying when they are books of good texts.

2. They are filled with experiences. There are experiences and there is busy work. The key question is not if a book offers “seat work” that keeps kids busy. The question is not how much drill and practice a book offers. (And that is not saying that drill and practice isn’t valuable but drilling is one of the things you can do without textbooks.)

The core question needs to be: What kind of interactive and memorable learning does a book facilitate?

If a textbook involves reading and writing, that’s not enough. Either one of those alone is certainly not enough. But, if a book facilitates small group work, if it demands inquiry, if it leads to debates or theater or art or original discoveries, if its product is active learning… then it is worth having. Then you need it.

You have to ask yourself a few questions. Without these materials, would a classroom look different? Would it be difficult for a teacher to invent a memorable classroom without curricular resources? Would it be difficult for students to make authentic Jewish meaning for themselves without a textual foundation?

A good textbook should provide the resources for a classroom adventure. Textbooks are not for reading aloud. They are not to be lectured about. They are not a resource for word puzzles and self-evident questions, or a replacement for information that is easily found elsewhere. If a textbook is going to be worthwhile, it needs to facilitate great (not just adequate) learning moments. If your textbooks don’t do this, don’t buy them again next year.

3. They grow a teacher’s skills and abilities. It there is nothing that brings new insights to the table — if a textbook doesn’t enable a teacher to explore new kinds of activities and expand their teaching vocabulary — then save your money. A good textbook brings resources to the class that teachers would not or could not find on their own. It involves teachers in creating classroom moments that they would or could not create on their own. After using a book, a teacher should grow in their understanding of the content, expand in their relationship to the material, and move into classroom tools that are new for them. Good curricular materials are not about repetition. Rather, they should be vehicles for innovation. They should challenge both students and teachers and allow both to soar.

Research has shown that new teachers do better with the traditional combination of textbook, workbook, and teacher’s guides. The researchers suggest that it is the structure that provides success. Rather than worrying about what to do, the teacher can focus on how to do. For new teachers, books offer a path to success that is a helping tool. That would be a good enough reason to purchase a textbook for a new teacher. But the right book provides the foundation that lets a teacher improvise and improve. Rather than defining textbooks as millstones, think of them as stages on which teachers can perform.

4. They are necessary for effectively teaching Hebrew and Prayer. Language work is different. While oral-aural Hebrew can be taught somewhat successfully with limited print material, visual learners need resources that enable their success. But the core issue that needs to be addressed is whether there is real benefit to the Hebrew-Prayer materials you are using. The question that you must start with: “What do your students learn that they wouldn’t learn from just using the siddur itself?” A good Hebrew primer enables success that lasts. Think about how many of your students retain their mastery of the alef-bet. When it comes to the siddur, think about what your students learn. If they are just mastering the performance of the prayers, save your money and use the siddur. A good siddur curriculum should go into the meaning and kavanah (spiritual purpose) of the prayers, enable an understanding of the placement and sequence of each prayer in the siddur, and should grow students’ ability to understand the Hebrew of the siddur through mastering and applying language structures.

You’ll notice that lots of Hebrew-Prayer materials are quietly getting more expensive. Make sure that you are getting true cost-benefit from you Hebrew-Prayer resources. Are your students learning twice as much? Are more of them coming to services? Are your teachers inspired to make their classrooms interesting places? If you don’t have three “yes” responses, consider switching your curriculum.

The bottom line:

Even though we are interested in selling you books, we’re interested in you spending your budget wisely. School educators and principals tell us that they are first-and-foremost interested in two outcomes: happy kids and happy parents. Until those two are satisfied, you can’t get to the real work of ensuring a Jewish future. You need resources that excite students in class and that get the most out of your teachers.

For a book to be worth the money, it has to come off the page. It has to become conversation (not just short answers). It has to be meaningful (not just entertaining) to students and parents, because novelty doesn’t last long. A book should make a connection with eternity, with learning that is not only for the moment, but will last a lifetime.

We believe that Torah Aura Productions offers affordable excellence. Call us. We’ll be more than happy to help you make choices within your budgetary limitations. We are committed to work with you and to help you succeed.

Did God Create the Dinosaurs?

by Joel Lurie Grishaver
[cross-posted to TAPBB]

I was doing a workshop on “teaching God” to about sixty San Diego teachers. We get to the point in the conversation where I ask them to bring into our discussion questions about God that their students have asked them. And the winner was, a third grade teacher who had a student ask, “Did God Create the Dinosaurs?” Teachers frequently bring up this question when I do God workshops. They get asked it all the time (especially by precocious eight-year-olds), and they’re not sure that they know the right answer to give.

It is not as simple a question as it might seem. What it represents is a testing of two information sources. For an eight-year-old, dinosaurs are the heart of scientific reality. It is what they buy at science museums and read about in science books. Dinosaurs are a symbol of history that has been reconstructed from bones and fossils and clues. They are the end result of the scientific method, the C.S.I. of history. On the other hand, the Bible (Torah) is God’s truth. In the reality experienced by most eight-year-olds, the Torah is not yet a metaphor. It is literal. The distinction between it being a book of truth rather than a book of history (science) is not yet comprehensible.

By Twos and Fours

Last week I was a guest teacher in Gilroy, California. (Yes, the garlic capital.) In a very quiet way it was a life renewing experience. First, I sat with both students in the Bet class. These were two boys who, in a very quiet way, alternated between competing with each other and supporting each other. Then I taught all four students in the Alef class; three girls and one boy. There is something amazingly renewing about teaching students one, two, three, or four at a time. It reminds you that education is a conversation, not a chain of presentations. It cues you that teaching is as much about listening, and listening well, as it is about speaking. But most of all it clarifies the truth that a classroom is a few people sitting around a table talking, not an audience watching and evaluating a performance.

It is easy to cite Jewish texts up the gezipke that suggest that teaching is a relationship and establish a teacher’s obligation to students is not be entertaining, but to facilitate growth. But this is all clearer to see when you are sitting at a table with two students. We live a reality where our classes are held against the clock, where we are rushing with too much to accomplish in too little time. Our world is one where teachers are graded on entertainment value, and perhaps on niceness, but rarely on quality of communication, depth of knowledge and honesty.

Where most of us teach, our classes (depending on our pace) are either wind sprints or slow crawls through a desert hunting for the oasis. It is import for us to have a moment of renewal, of going back to sitting at a table with twos or fours and remembering that teaching is about is more about listening than it is about talking. Most of all, in the rush between music and dance, between late carpools and leaving early for soccer, it is important to remember that teaching is about knowing each student and learning with them. There is in good teaching, moments when the clock stops. All this is a truism, a too simple reality, till you sit again with just a few kids and remember.

“Are We Arguing?”

I have this adult Talmud class that has been going for more than fifteen years and that has been more or less the same people for five years. We were studying a passage from Sanhedrin that discusses the end of time, specifically resurrection of the dead. My class hated the text. It kept confronting them with ideas that they did not like, with ideas that challenged their own belief system. It fell into this rhythm where they ganged up on the text, shooting it as fool of holes as possible. Essentially, even though they knew that I was not imposing the Talmud belief system, they were uncomfortable differing with it dramatically. Meanwhile, I began defending the text, explaining its thinking on its terms again each of their challenges. The discussion got a little heated. At one point as the voices on both sides began to be raised, and the tone got harsher, I asked, “Are we fighting?” It was a joke, thinking of my relationship with different people in my life, but on a certain level it was a serious comment. The class protested, “no we are actually learning more tonight than most nights.” I think there are a couple of big lessons that comes out of that moment.

First, when we teach text, we need to invite our students to really engage the text. That means not just learning what the text says, but using the text to learn what they believe. Here was a text that could seem obscure that made big difference to those in the room.

Second, there is a difference between speaking for the text and speaking for yourself. This does not mean that the teacher cannot share their own thoughts (if they are clearly stated as such) but a text teacher has a responsibility to speak for the text on its own terms. That is a big part of the process.

Three, the Jewish tradition celebrates arguing, not fighting. Inviting your students to get passionate about their beliefs—and fairly challenging those beliefs—is powerful teaching. When we act as Jewish teachers, we are never merely conveying information or simple understandings, instead, we are always inviting dialogue—and that dialogue when it is honest, sometimes involves arguments. Conflict can make for good teaching and good learning.

Election Reflection

It may surprise a few people that “Democracy” is not a Jewish value (but “freedom” is). That doesn’t make democracy anything less than a significant addition to the Jewish tradition—one of the gifts of America to the Jewish tradition. In this year of the 350th anniversary of Jewish in America, we get a chance to understand two things: (1) what Jews brought to America and (2) what America brought to Judaism.

Judaism gave America (1) the sense of the holiness of every individual, (2) the need of people to take care of each other, (3) the wrongness of prejudice and the like. We were the ones we contributed “proclaim liberty throughout the land.” America added the commentary, “one person, one vote.” Civil rights in many ways are an idea rooted in Judaism, elections aren’t. Traditional Jewish communities actually used “money” as a governing principle—calling the board of the synagogue or a community, the funders (those who made the biggest contributions). But Jewish values on taking care of the poor and those in need were very strong—selfishness less accepted.

So we are facing an election, and an election is a chance to teach Jewish values. Truth is a Jewish value and there is a sadness that after every debate the news media has to unpack the lies and distortions that were told. Each of the big issues here, defense, war, medical care, education, Israel, and the like have Jewish components and Jewish insights. Free of endorsing any candidate, elections give us a chance as citizens to clarify our values and to explore our priorities.

Here is a great opportunity for some Jewish learning. But, most of all, here in year 350, there is a chance to show something that Jews got because they came to America—democracy—something that forever shifted the face of the Jewish community. Voting is now the way that virtually all Jewish organizations and Jewish institutions run. Roberts Rules of Order have become almost a volume of the Mishnah and the Jewish people are richer because of it. As Jews, as Jewish teachers, we all have an obligation to vote —and to share with our students the way voting is an extension of our values, and all of that can be free from partisan choice.