Meir pogrow professional tips provider chumash lesson

‫בס"ד‬

Meir Pogrow Professional tips provider Chumash Lesson Objective: Every student should:  Make a ‫קנין בנפש‬, mastering all the information found in the ‫ פסוקים‬of today’s lesson.  See the content in the words and be able to read it himself.

(Through continuous back ‫חזרה‬, each student will never stop knowing today’s lesson). 

Before the lesson: 1. Decide on how many ‫ פסוקים‬will be learned in this Lesson.

2. Make sure you (the teacher) have a clear knowledge of those ‫פסוקים‬.

3. Divide the lesson into units.

The size of the units depends on the level of the students. The point is that the students should do ‫ חזרה‬on what they learned before they forget it. So, until the students are proficient in ‫ לה"ק‬start

with units of 2-3 ‫( פסוקים‬and for very young students even 1 ‫)פסוק‬, and gradually go up to 10 ‫ פסוקים‬a unit.

The size of the unit should be the amount of ‫ פסוקים‬that once taught, all students still remember how to ‫ טייטש‬it before ‫חזרה‬.



The lesson has 3 parts:  Giving the student the information - ‫ ידיעה‬ ‫חזרה‬

 Back ‫חזרה‬

These are the 3 ingredients for the student to master the ‫ חומש‬that he learned, and to become fluent in ‫לה"ק‬.

One cannot do ‫ חזרה‬on something he doesn’t know. Most ‫ חזרות‬that take place in Yeshivos are actually relearning the material. That’s not really ‫חזרה‬, and does not achieve mastery of the information.

To attain true mastery and fluency, the student must first know the 100% ‫פסוקים‬. He must then

immediately do enough ‫ חזרות‬to master it so that when he will get up to these ‫ פסוקים‬in the back ‫חזרה‬,

he will still remember it. Doing ‫ חזרה‬in this way will ensure that the student will always know everything he learned in the entire Chumash.

‫ידיעה‬ Step 1 - ‫גירסא‬ This first step is done with the entire lesson – all units at once.

 Read all the ‫ פסוקים‬- all units that you plan on learning in today’s lesson; reading each Possuk 5 times (10 times preferably) before going on to the next Possuk.  Read with ‫( טעמי המקרא‬without any ‫)טייטש‬.  In the beginning (when the students don’t yet know ‫)טעמי המקרא‬, first the teacher Lains the ‫ פסוק‬once or twice and then the students join. Later on, when the students are picking up on the ‫טעמי המקרא‬, they can gradually start joining in with the teacher already on the first Laining.

[Teaching the ‫ טעמי המקרא‬in itself is not part of the objective of the Chumash class. Therefore it is not

important to make sure the Students are getting it right in the beginning, but they will pick up on it over time.]

Purpose:    

To get the students used to and comfortable with the words of the ‫חומש‬.

The Mitzvah of ‫ לימוד התורה‬in ‫ תושב"כ‬includes just reading even without understanding.

The ‫ ניגון‬will help the students with memorizing the information and the ‫טייטש‬.

Children who are weak in memory but strong in music will be using their strong side to learn Chumash.

 Step 2 - ‫פשט‬ From this point on the lesson is divided into its units.

 Narrate all the information (every detail) of the first unit. The narration must be short and simple!  Repeat the narration up to 3 times so that you are sure that all students got every detail. (If you are sure they got it after 1 time, then don’t repeat).

Purpose: Since the students do not yet know ‫לה"ק‬, it will be much easier for them to learn the ‫ טייטש‬when they know all the information before seeing it in the words. The ‫ טייטש‬will then stick with them and won’t be “Chinese.”

Therefore, at this point, it is very important not to tell them any information that they cannot see in the words.

For this reason, the information you give should be ‫ פשוטו של מקרא‬in its most literal sense.

(If you feel you must be teaching the content according to Rashi’s explanations, then it’s best if it’s done after they learned the unit and did the 4 ‫חזרות‬. You then can tell them that there is a deeper meaning to these ‫)פסוקים‬.

This also means that any ‫ מוסר‬,‫ חסידות‬,‫ השקפה‬,‫ דרשות‬,‫ גוטע ווארט‬,‫ פשטלאך‬etc. should be given at a

different time. You may set 5 min at the end of the ‫ חומש‬lesson (once in a while or every day if you

feel you need to) for a ‫ ווארט‬on these ‫ פסוקים‬- but definitely not during the initial teaching of the ‫פשט‬ of the ‫)פסוקים‬.

Step 3 - ‫טייטש‬ Seeing all the information just learned - in the words.

 ‫ טייטש‬each ‫ פסוק‬Phrase by Phrase (not word by word).  Do you do it with ‫?טעמים‬  Is this done just by teacher or also with students?  Repeat each ‫( פסוק‬or each phrase?) enough times until you are sure that every student knows the ‫ טייטש‬of each phrase (not word) literally (‫)עפ"י פשוטו של מקרא‬.

Step 4 - ‫טייטש מילה במילה‬ If you are doing Rabbi Rietti’s ‫ שרשים‬program in a different lesson 15 min a day, then you do not

need this step. You are doing phrase by phrase and the students will begin to pick up on their own the meaning of individual words.

If you are not doing the ‫ שרשים‬program:

 After you did the unit phrase by phrase, repeat it ‫ טייטשינג‬word by word.

‫חזרה‬  Everyone together (teacher and student) repeat the entire unit ‫ טייטשינג‬phrase by phrase 4 times.

If the unit was 2-3 ‫ פסוקים‬it should not take more then 1.5 min.

(If you are teaching older students that are proficient at ‫לה"ק‬, and the entire lesson is taught in one unit, then this ‫ חזרה‬can be with ‫)חברותות‬.

After you did the 4 ‫חזרות‬, continue with the next unit: narrate, ‫ טייטש‬each ‫ פסוק‬phrase by phrase, 4 ‫חזרות‬, next unit etc.

At the end of lesson when you finished all the ‫ פסוקים‬do 1 ‫ חזרה‬of all units together?

The entire lesson should be no more then a half hour! (Back ‫ חזרה‬not included).

Back ‫חזרה‬ Starting from the beginning of Torah or from where the students started this system, ‫ חזרה‬is done

on about 30 ‫ פסוקים‬a day. (When the students get up to where they are currently holding, they start again).

It should take about 10 min. a day.

1. Students together with the teacher read today’s quota with ‫ טעמי המקרא‬without ‫טייטש‬.

2. In ‫ חברותות‬students do it with ‫טייטש‬.

After a number of ‫חזרות‬, as the students become very fluent with the ‫ לה"ק‬of these ‫פסוקים‬, they no longer need to ‫ טייטש‬these Pesukim during the back ‫חזרה‬.

The more talented students who finish the 30 ‫ פסוקים‬before the others, are required to know them with ‫( טעמי המקרא‬out of a ‫ )תקון קוראים‬so they won’t be bored during the end of ‫חזרה‬.

(In general it’s advisable that the back ‫ חזרה‬be done in a ‫ תקון קוראים‬or ‫ חומש‬without ‫ מפרשים‬in which the ‫ פרשיות‬are divided as in the ‫ ספר תורה‬with ‫ פתוחות‬and ‫ סתומות‬etc.)

The back ‫ חזרה‬is the most important part of the learning, and must be done every single day including Fridays and days that there is no ‫ חומש‬lesson for any reason.

The students should also be encouraged to do the back ‫ חזרה‬on days there is no ‫ ישיבה‬like ‫ שבת‬and ‫יו"ט‬ etc. even ‫( !יו"כ‬It can also be the homework for ‫)שבת‬. Having such a defined ‫ קביעות‬on days there is no Yeshiva will also train students into having ‫ קביעות עיתים לתורה‬later in life when they leave ‫!ישיבה‬

‫קיצור‬ ‫ידיעה‬  Read all the ‫ פסוקים‬- all units in today’s lesson; reading each Possuk 10 times with ‫טעמי‬ ‫( המקרא‬without any ‫)טייטש‬.  Narrate all the information (every detail) of the first unit, short and simple! repeat the narration up to 3 times so that you are sure that all students got every detail.  ‫ טייטש‬each ‫ פסוק‬Phrase by Phrase. Repeat enough times that every student can ‫ טייטש‬each phrase (not word) literally ( ‫)עפ"י פשוטו של מקרא‬.  If the students are not doing the ‫ שרשים‬program, repeat the unit ‫ טייטשינג‬word by word.

‫חזרה‬  Everyone together (teacher and student) repeat the entire unit ‫ טייטשינג‬phrase by phrase 4 times.

Continue with the next unit: Narrate, ‫ טייטש‬each ‫ פסוק‬phrase by phrase, 4 ‫חזרות‬, next unit etc.

Back ‫חזרה‬

 Every day set 10 minutes for back ‫ חזרה‬with a quota of about 30 ‫פסוקים‬. Students together with the teacher read today’s quota with ‫ טעמי המקרא‬without ‫טייטש‬, and in ‫חברותות‬ students do it with ‫טייטש‬.