Teaching Religion or Teaching About Religion? Conceptualizing Teaching in U.S. Jewish Congregational Schools

• In Event: Exploring (Ethno)Religious Truths in Curriculum Studies: A Dialogue Across Global Perspectives

Abstract

Purpose
Imagine the following anecdotal scene faced by a 7th grade Jewish studies teacher who is teaching the Biblical text of Sodom and Gomorrah. One student, Miriam, wonders out loud, “Why would God do that?” Another student, Jacob, worryingly asks, “Is God going to kill us if we do something bad?” and lastly an exasperated James questions, “Why are we studying these old texts in a foreign language that has nothing to do with our lives!”. Questions like these should be expected in a Jewish studies class, but what frameworks, tools and skills are needed for Jewish teachers to respond effectively, and by extension what does this mean for teacher education? How are enduring questions of faith, purpose and meaning to be facilitated to encourage student growth?

Theoretical Framework
Shulman (1986) teased out that beyond general pedagogy skills and content expertise there is a ‘missing paradigm’ called content specific pedagogy that highlights how the specific content of a discipline by its very nature affects the pedagogical moves of the teacher. A math teacher needs to know more than just how to teach generally, but rather, they need to know how to teach mathematics as a subject: anticipate student confusion, have a framework for new or difficult mathematical concepts, etc. Special colleges and departments are dedicated to train teacher candidates how to teach about science, math and English, yet at least in the US, one would be hard pressed to find a department on how to teach faith. While Ball, Thames and Phelps (2008) explored content specific pedagogy more, perhaps they did not go far enough in their conceptualization of preparing teachers ‘of mathematics’ and ‘about mathematics.’ What would teaching ‘for mathematics’ entail? The move is a subtle one from teaching about content, towards creating an identity and affinity with the content, discipline or field – in the case of this inquiry, the content being Jewish religious faith.

Modes of Inquiry
This exploratory research involves 16 senior congregational school directors from across the United States. In semi-structured interviews, conducted in conjunction with a professional development seminar offered in Israel, these educators shared their own experiences and trajectories of religious sense-making as well as their goals and vision of Jewish education and the roles that teachers play in it.

Substantiated Conclusions and Scholarly Significance
When conceptualizing teaching for Jewish faith, what is the curricular vision and content? Some scholars of Jewish education have suggested the primacy of teaching texts. Others have emphasized the primacy of teaching theology such as core beliefs and debates within the traditions of Judaism. Data from this project are currently being generated and analyzed in conversation with these scholarly perspectives, and one emerging theme is the primacy of Jewish values in curricula and program design, in contrast to a more text-based or theology-based curriculum.

Author

• Reuven Margrett, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author