The new school year begins and children and teachers go to
school with hopes for a new beginning. What principles should a teacher know
before he enters the classroom? How should he prepare his lessons? How much
encouragement should he be giving his students? This and more in the article
that follows.
Many concepts
have become distorted through the generations, to the point that today our
understanding of them is largely convoluted. One such concept is that of
maggid shiur. This phrase is commonly understood to refer to the role of
lecturer. Anything beyond that is considered to be the function of mashgiach.
But this assumption is incorrect. A maggid shiur, with all due respect to
him, is primarily a melamed, though he teaches at a higher level.
Aside from his
knowledge of the material, and aside from his ability in delivering the lesson,
he has to understand what a bachur is; he needs to know his students’
rate of intellectual development and how extensive their knowledge is, as well
as their emotional side. Only by truly understanding the talmid can a
meaningful bond be established, allowing the maggid shiur to teach
properly and the talmid to successfully absorb the lessons.
A maggid
shiur needs to know that his role as melamed requires far more than
lecturing. He must do all he can in the best possible way for the student to
learn well. If he sees that a certain approach doesn’t work, he has to make
efforts to discover why, and find a better approach.
When we speak of
another approach we don’t mean a better explanation or deeper analysis. The
maggid shiur has to find the best way to impart the material in accordance
with the student and the type of material. If he finds that the best way of
getting the material across is unconventional and perhaps not accepted, he has
to use it - even if he raises some eyebrows or is criticized for it.
Furthermore, the
maggid shiur should not think that he must stand on a pedestal to teach
and lecture, exhorting his students while guarding his honor. The maggid
shiur must relate to his students in a respectful manner, as one would to a
man of great intelligence. Instead of teaching with moral sermons, he needs to
provide a personal example, to tell himself that if he, the maggid shiur,
would behave as his position requires, the student would learn from his example,
he will acquire desirable habits and ways of conduct, both in behavior and
midos as well as in learning. The more the maggid shiur demands of
himself and provides his students with a rolemodel, the greater his success will
be.
The Gemara
emphasizes in a few places how important the maggid shiur’s behavior is
to the student. In Maseches Taanis it says that if you see a student
whose learning is as hard for him as iron, the fault is the teacher’s. The
reason is that the teacher disrupted the order of learning. Rashi explains: He
put the Gemara before the Mishna. The explanation continues with an emotional
perspective: The student finds his studies difficult because his teacher didn’t
show him a smiling face. In other words, the maggid shiur must look into
himself to see what to improve to allow the student to absorb the learning
better.
What are the
principles of preparing a lesson?
The effective
maggid shiur remembers that the profession is comprised of three essential
elements: the teachers’ personality, the student, and the material.
1) You need a
teacher to teach the lesson.
2) The teacher
has to relate to the student based on the following criteria: the
student’s age, his level of learning, his ability to concentrate and his level
of vocabulary.
3) The teacher
must fit the level of the material to the student’s level.
The material:
How does the teacher make the material age
appropriate? When the maggid shiur sees a student with tremendous
potential and a high level of comprehension, he immediately desires to raise the
level of the lesson, otherwise he won’t, chalila, interest the talented
student (who will complain that the lesson is superficial and shallow, and will
be bored and tune out).
The maggid
shiur, in his attempt to raise the level of the class, will generally make
this common mistake: He will try to add material, to bring in additional
commentaries, quote from here and there, ask questions and present answers.
Maybe he doesn’t know it, but despite the additional material, the student will
consider it a hollow achievement. Why? The student will say: Okay, so Abayei
asked and Rava answered, and the Pnei Yehoshua also asked and answered, and then
somebody disagreed with him. So what? The maggid shiur pushed in a lot of
material, but the general level of the class remained the same.
Some students
will treat the teacher’s attempts to add material very seriously. The additional
material puts pressure on them and they write down all the mefarshim with
all the questions and answers as though this way, it’s all organized. They feel
that if they don’t do this, they have no place in the yeshiva and they
might as well go back to cheider.
The maggid
shiur feels he needs to prove to his students that he’s on a high level and
that he knows mefarshim, and that he can be mefalpel too. But in
actuality, the level of the learning remains the same as it was in cheider.
The maggid shiur only added some variety, which can’t be said to have
raised the student’s level of thinking.
The goal of
learning is to create a change in the student’s way of thinking; to get him to
think on his own, to be creative. The foundation for creating this change comes
as a result of the teacher’s work.
How to construct
a lesson: You set the student up to be surprised
by his earlier way of thinking. The maggid shiur shows how things that
seemed clear just a moment ago are not clear at all. Things that seemed obvious
are not obvious at all, and truly obvious concepts were missed entirely because
they were so simple!
When the level
of the learning and the level of the student correspond, you see a spark in the
student’s eyes. There’s a connection between the teacher and his student and the
changes in grasp and comprehension begins. This is the way to construct a lesson
and to build a connection between teacher and pupil.
The importance
of creating a good atmosphere: Encouragement
must be an integral part of the lesson. Even in a successful lesson, the student
should get a good feeling and should have his self-confidence and his enjoyment
of success bolstered. Encouragement is vital, but it must be given properly to
lead to good results and not, chalila, the opposite.
Some people
mistakenly believe that if they exaggerate the praise and compliments they will
encourage their students. Sometimes a student on a low level is made into a
genius. When he asks a simple question the teacher goes into raptures over it,
saying, , what a fantastic question! And you thought of it on your own! You
plumbed the depths of the Gemara and this shows you have a great future. When
you grow up you will be a gadol like Rabbi Akiva Eiger!”
Encouragement
like this is more harmful than beneficial. First of all, deep inside, the child
knows he doesn’t deserve this kind of praise. His question, as good and timely
as it may have been, was not a brilliant thought, and he feels uncomfortable
with the compliments. He knows that his classmates who heard the praise know it
was exaggerated. The maggid shiur does not want to create a situation
where the slower student is teased because of the exaggerated response of the
teacher.
In addition, the
teacher’s praise can put pressure on the student. He can feel that being like
Rabbi Akiva Eiger is a real burden. Perhaps, in his naiveté, he will even try to
take on the role given to him; but since he isn’t Rabbi Akiva Eiger, in
the end he will be neither Rabbi Akiva Eiger nor himself! He’ll be nothing,
which is a serious letdown. This could be prevented if the encouragement is
given without exaggeration.
The maggid
shiur has an advantage in that he was once in yeshiva. He experienced
sitting in front of a maggid shiur, and he can remember how things were
and what was considered accepted practice. In his day, along with his fellow
talmidim, he observed his maggid shiur and whatever he saw he
accepted as the way a maggid shiur ought to behave. Years later, as an
adult with the perspective of time, he can examine that approach, see the flaws,
and do better.
