THE HONOR OF YOUR STUDENT

A Visions of Jewish Education ProjectMandel Foundation MTEI – MLI Alumni

RIVY POUPKO KLETENIK

HEAD OF SCHOOL

SEATTLE HEBREW ACADEMY

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Table of Contents

A Few Words………3Introductory Text Study……….7

Text Study #2………10Text Study #3……….20Text Study #4……….26Text Study #5……….29

A Few WordsVision, as we understand it, is not simply ideological preference. It implies both comprehensive understanding and guiding purpose. It places the work of education in the setting of a present that is an outgrowth of the past but that also contains within it the seeds of a future to be grasped creatively through imagination and effort.

Visions Of Jewish Education, Seymour Fox, Israel Scheffler & Daniel Marom, page 8

With these words taken to heart, together with the guidance of the faculty of the MTEI Visions project, I set out to develop a Visions Project. The timing was impeccable. As newly selected Head of School of the Seattle Hebrew Academy the opportunity to think as a visionary in regard to the school was an amazing challenge and blessing.

Identifying the vision was more than half the task. I wanted so much for the school; the teachers, the lay people and of course the students. My mind raced from ideas of hands-on learning to student leadership, from the need for rigorous academics and to school wide chesed initiatives and then to professional development and on and on. These are activities we desperately need, but what is the vision driving those activities that will happen in this school? What will be the ethos, the overarching idea that will be litmus test for our decision making?

After soul searching and much self reflection – I realized that the great school that I wanted a share in creating was a school where the honor of each student was at the center of every conversation. Whether the topic is about curriculum, hallway norms, and differentiated instruction and certainly if it involved discipline – I knew that student dignity could be the framework for a fruitful outcome.

As a devotee of those pedagogues and movements (Responsive Classroom, Love and Logic, T.E.T.) who put student dignity at a premium, I was interested in exploring these values from a Jewish perspective. So began this effort to identify Jewish texts that present opportunities to explore this notion of K’vod HaTalmid as a compelling philosophical stance for teachers in Jewish settings.

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Why K’vod HaTalmid? Why not derech eretz, respect for teachers and adults, the more all pervasive and ubiquitous approach towards relations in regard to student behavior. I sincerely accept as true that a product of student’s being treated with honor is that that honor then flows forth from students to those around them; fellow students, teachers, and other adults. We must model for our children the way we expect them to conduct themselves. We know this to be true; what children see they imitate.

An added benefit is that K’vod HaTalmid may affect student learning as well. A recent study demonstrates that adapting approaches such as Responsive Classroom improves student’s academic performance and test scores,

Our findings are consistent with a body of research-based theory in education and developmental psychology suggesting that caring school environments produce classroom environments that are conducive to learning, and ultimately, higher-achieving children with better social skills, “Social and Academic Learning Study of the Contribution of the Responsive Classroom Approach”, Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, October 2006, p.15.

If we are envisioning, an ethos, then honor must permeate every nook and cranny of a school’s being;

the pedagogic stance of the teachers, how are questions asked? Is learning drawn out from the student? How is information elicited? What is our reaction to answers that we are not expecting?

How is discipline handled in the school? Are students treated with honor even in the most trying of circumstances?

Does every person in the building know how students are to be spoken to whether it is lunchtime, recess arrival or dismissal?

Is the curriculum challenging and does it meet the needs of all student potential?

Is every child’s curiosity engaged within a spirit of inquiry? Is there a plan for differentiated learning – honoring every child’s

unique ability?

What are the strategies to create and to then nurture an ethos? Consistent with the Rabbinic idea expressed in the Talmud Kiddushin, that study is greater than deeds for it leads to action, I deeply believe that it is through lively conversations centered on text that people can come to know each

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other and themselves, that Jewish texts are the precise palette upon which to draw our understandings regarding how things should happen in a Jewish school; not to the exclusivity of other disciplines but rather as an enhancement and certainly as a necessary component. These texts come to inform teachers and provide a dynamic compass for the inner life of teachers’ thinking. Studying together provides a faculty with common reference points that unite the group and that can be drawn on in the future life of a school.

Working with teachers and staff is only part of the process. I was very interested in including our lay people as well. I used opportunities at Board Meetings, Education Committee meetings and other gatherings of lay people to introduce the idea of K’vod HaTalmid through texts study and D’var Torahs. This effort was particularly gratifying and wholly satisfying when the notion of K’vod HaTalmid became institutionalized through the unanimous passing of the new Seattle Hebrew Academy Vision / Mission Statement in the Fall of 2007. I now know to be true, that the concept of K’vod HaTalmid is one that resonates and whose time has come.

Fall 2007

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An Early Childhood through 8th Grade Orthodox Jewish Day School

We provide our students, families and community a school of excellence,

founded on love of God & Torah and inspiring academics within an atmosphere of K’vod HaTalmid, student dignity.

We develop students of character and integrity through the pursuit of Torah knowledge and secular studies,

connection to the State of Israel and commitment to our Ashkenazic and Sephardic heritage.

We prepare future generations to lead lives of service and mitzvot

and to perpetuate our Torah and traditions in Seattle, Israel and worldwide.

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Introductory Text Study

Here perhaps is the original if not sole reference to the notion of K’vod HaTalmid in rabbinic literature. It is upon this text that we can build and develop a rich notion of the ethos of honoring one’s student.

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Prike Avot 4:12

:rnut guna ic rzgkt hcr

/lkaf lhkg chcj lshnk, sucf hvh/lcr trunf lrcj sucfu

:ohna trunf lcr trunu

Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua said:Let the honor of your student be as dear to you as your own:The honor of your colleague as the reverence for your teacher;And the reverence for your teacher as the reverence for Heaven.

Talking Points

What is the hierarchy outlined in this teaching?

What does this tell us about Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua’s

world view?

What are the implications of his assertion?

What does kavod towards students look like? Give examples.

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TEACHER REFLECTION

What are your thoughts about this notion of K’vod HaTalmid? What are some concrete ways that this might influence your teaching stance?

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Text Study # 2What is Kavod ~sucf~ Honor?

In this text study we will launch the conversation about the weightiness of kavod,starting with the very beginning of the creation of human beings.

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Bereshith 1:26

אמר אל’ים,   וי נעשה אדם בצלמנו

כדמותנו ...

And God said:

'Let us make humans in our image, after our likeness…

Talking Points

What is puzzling about this verse?

How would you answer the difficulties?

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Tehillim 8:6

רהו מעט,   ותחסמאל’ים;

וכבוד והדר תעטרהו.

And You make him but little lower than the angels,

and have crowned him with honor and glory.

Nachmanides

“Man crowned with glory” implies that he was created in God’s likeness; “Man crowned with honor” implies that man was created in His image. The image of God is thus identical with the “honor of God” The Jewish legal concept of human dignity, kavod habriyot, is constructed on this equation.

Talking Points

What is Nachmanides’ understanding of the verse from

Tehillim?

In what way does this relate to the verse from Bereshith?

Has Nachmanides answered your questions?

What are the implications of his approach?

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What’s problematic with this approach?

The Challenges of Honor

Pirke Avoth 4:21

רבי אלעזר הקפר אומר

הקנאה

והתאוה

והכבוד

מוציאין את האדם מן העולם

R. ELEAZAR HA-KAPPAR SAID: JEAL OUSY, DESIRE AND THE QUEST FOR HONOURREMOVE A PERSON FROM THE WORLD.

continue

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Talmud Eruvin 13b

למדךל , ,שכל המשפיל עצמו הקדוש ברוך הוא מגביהו .וכל המגביה עצמו הקדוש ברוך הוא משפילו,כל המחזר על הגדולה ־ גדולה בורחת ממנו

.וכל הבורח מן הגדולה ־ גדולה מחזרת אחריו

This teaches you that him who humbles himself, the Holy One, blessed be He, raises up, and him who exalts himself, the Holy One, blessed be He, humbles; from him who seeks greatness, greatness flees, but him who flees from greatness, greatness follows.

Talking Points What is the approach in these two sources towards kavod /

honor?

Do you agree with this attitude?

What issues do these next passages present to our

conversation?

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To Whom Does Honor Truly Belong?

Psalms 24כדתהילים פרק

לדוד, מזמור:  א תבל, וישבי בה.  לה’, הארץ ומלואה;

ים יסדה;   ב ועל-נהרות, יכוננה.  כי-הוא, על-ימ ומי-יקום, במקום קדשו.  מי-יעלה בהר-ה’;   ג ובר-לבב:  נקי כפים,   ד

ולא נשבע למרמה.  אשר לא-נשא לשוא נפשי; וצדקה, מאלהי ישעו.  ישא ברכה, מאת ה’;   הרשו;   ו מבקשי פניך יעקב סלה.  זה, דור ד והנשאו, פתחי עולם;  שאו שערים, ראשיכם,   ז

מלך הכבוד.  ויבוא, מלך הכבוד:  מי זה,   ח

וז וגבור; ה’, גבור מלחמה.  ה’, עז ושאו, פתחי עולם;  שאו שערים, ראשיכם,   ט

מלך הכבוד.  ויבא, מלך הכבוד:  מי הוא זה,   י

הוא מלך הכבוד סלה.  ה’ צבאות--

1 A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.2 For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.3 Who shall ascend into the mountain of the LORD? and who shall stand in His holy place?4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not taken My name in vain, and hath not sworn deceitfully.5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.6 Such is the generation of them that seek after Him, that seek Thy face, even Jacob. Selah7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; that the King of glory may come in.8 'Who is the King of glory?' 'The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.'9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates, yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors; that the King of glory may come in.

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10 'Who then is the King of glory?' 'The LORD of hosts; He is the King of glory.' Selah

Isaiah 6:3

וקרא זה אל-זה ואמר,  קדוש קדוש קדוש

ה’ צבאות;מלא כל-הארץ, כבודו.

And one called unto another,

and said: Holy, holy, holy,

is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of His glory.

Ezekiel 3:12

ותשאני רוח--ואשמע    אחרי, קול רעש גדול:

ברוך כבוד-ה’, ממקומו.

Then a spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing: 'Blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place';

Talking Points Circle the occurrences of kavod / honor in all the passages.

What do you notice?

How do you understand the glory / honor of God?

Why is it so central to the prophetic experiences of God?

How can we reconcile this inherent conflict; on one hand we are urged

to think as Nachmanides, that humans are endowed with an honor

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similar to God, however our sages urge us to not seek honor; indeed is

it not truly only God who is endowed with honor?

Drashot HaRav “The Doctrine of Assignment” p.46Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

The imperative of והלכת בדרכיו “And you shall go in His ways…” Deuteronomy 28:9,

imitatio Dei ,is well known.

The Talmud expands on this directive to suggest that just as God is merciful, so must we be merciful; just as He bestows kindness, so must we bestow kindness.

Further extending the Talmud’s statement, if God Himself is called the King of honor, and honor is one of His attributes,then the attainment of honor should actually be a mitzvah, a commandment.

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continue

Drashot HaRav “The Doctrine of Assignment” p.65Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

…as long as kavod is bound within its etymological root, kaved, heaviness. When one feels the heaviness of God’s charge, always yearning to accomplish an exalted objective, then kavod is indeed a fulfillment of imitatio Dei.

Talking Points How does this conclusion of the Rav elucidate the notion of

kavod being a positive quality that each of us must pursue?

In what way does this resolve the conflict?

What do you think of this notion that attaining honor should be a mitzvah?

The Rav speaks elsewhere about every person having their own particular mission in life, in what way does this connect to the notion of K’vod HaTalmid?

How does this relate to K’vod HaTalmid?

Teacher Reflection18

Think about a specific student; reflect on the challenge you are facing with them. In what way does this teaching play into your thoughts?

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Text Study # 3Life and Death in the Classroom: A Case of Honor

The scenario presented here is a lively and a somewhat bewildering one.What are the potential pitfalls of the dynamics of classroom interchanges?What are the risks inherent in the classroom situation?

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Bava Kama 117a,bThe Characters – Rav a great sage in Babylonia, Rav Kahane is his student, Rabbi Yochanan great teacher in Israel, Resh Lakish is his colleague extraordinare.

[Rav instructs Rav Kahane that as consequence to Rav Kahane’s slaying a Jewish informer without the official go-ahead from the Head Rabbi, Rav himself, Rav Kahane must leave Babylonia and ...]

…‘Arise therefore and go up to the Land of Israel but take it upon yourself that you will not point out any difficulty to Rabbi Yochanan for the next seven years.’

When he arrived there he found Resh Lakish sitting and going over the lecture of the day for the younger of the rabbis.

Rav Kahane thereupon said to them:

‘Where is Resh Lakish?’

They said to him:

‘Why do you ask?’

Rav Kahane replied:

‘This point in the lecture is difficult and that point is difficult,

but this could be given as an answer and that could be given as an answer.’

When they mentioned this to Resh Lakish, Resh Lakish went and said to Rabbi Yochanan:

‘A lion has come up from Babylon;

let the Master therefore look very carefully into tomorrow's lecture.’

On the morrow Rav Kahane was seated on the first row of disciples before, Rabbi Yochanan , but as the latter made one statement and the former did not raise any difficulty, another statement, and the former raised no difficulty, Rav Kahane was put back through the seven rows until he remained seated upon the very last row.

Rabbi Yochanan thereupon said to R. Simeon b. Lakish:

‘The lion you mentioned turns out to be a mere fox.’

Rav Kahane thereupon whispered in prayer:

‘May it be the will of Heaven that these seven rows be in the place of the seven years mentioned by Rav.’

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He thereupon immediately stood on his feet and said to Rabbi Yochanan:

‘Will the Master please start the lecture again from the beginning?’

As soon as the latter made a statement on a matter of law, Rav Kahane pointed out a difficulty, and so also when Rabbi Yochanan subsequently made further statements, for which he was placed again on the first row.

Rabbi Yochanan was sitting upon seven cushions. Whenever he made a statement against which a difficulty was pointed out, one cushion was pulled out from under him, and so it went on until all the cushions were pulled out from under him and he remained seated upon the ground.

As Rabbi Yochanan was then a very old man and his eyelashes were overhanging he said to them,

‘Lift up my eyes for me as I want to see him.’

So they lifted up his eyelids with silver pincers.

He saw that Rav Kahane's lips were parted and thought that he was laughing at him.

He felt aggrieved and in consequence the soul of Rav Kahana went to rest, [Rav Kahane died]

On the next day Rabbi Yochanan said to our Rabbis,

‘Have you noticed how the Babylonian was making a laughing-stock of us?’

But they said to him,

‘This was his natural appearance.’

He thereupon went to the cave of Rav Kahane's grave and saw a snake coiled round it.

He said:

‘Snake, snake, open thy mouth and let the Master go in to the disciple.’

But the snake did not open its mouth.

He then said:

‘Let the colleague go in to his associate!’

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But it still did not open its mouth, until he said,

‘Let the disciple enter to his Master,’ when the snake did open its mouth.

He then prayed for mercy and raised him.

He said to him,

‘Had I known that the natural appearance of the Master was like that, I should never have taken offence; now, therefore let the Master go with us.’

He replied,

‘If you are able to pray for mercy that I should never die again through causing you any annoyance, I will go with you, but if not I am not prepared to go with you, for later on you might change again.’

Rabbi Yochanan thereupon completely awakened and restored. Rabbi Yochanan used to consult him on doubtful points, Rav Kahane solving them for him.

This is implied in the statement often made by Rabbi Yochanan:

‘What I had believed to be yours was in fact theirs.’

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Talking Points

What is unclear about the passage?

Describe the student-teacher dynamics in the story.

List the missteps that contributed to the death of Rav Kahane.

Why is access to the cave finally granted?

Why do you think it was a snake barring the entrance to the cave?

What insights does this story offer to teachers about teaching?

What do you think is the primary theme of the story?

Where in the story can one see K’vod HaTalmid? Where not?

What is in the significance of student’s honor in this story?

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Teacher Reflection

In what ways can you bring your students to life? Are there ways that the opposite can occur as well?(hopefully not literally…)

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Text #4Just who is teaching whom?The goal of this text is to further explore the notion of K’vod HaTalmid through the concept of learning from one’s students, as did Rabbi Yochanan learn from Rav Kahane, in the last text.

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Talmud Ta’anit 7a

אמר רב נחמן בר יצחקלמה נמשלו דברי תורה כעץ?

,שנאמר )משלי ג׳( עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה ,לומר לך: מה עץ קטן מדליק את הגדול ־ אף תלמידי חכמים

.קטנים מחדדים את הגדולים:והיינו דאמר רבי חנינא

,הרבה למדתי מרבותי ומחבירי יותר מרבותי .ומתלמידי יותר מכולן

Rabbi Nachman ben Yischak said:Why are the words of Torah likened to a tree -as is it says,“It is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it?”This is to teach you just as a small tree kindles a larger oneso too it is with Torah scholars, the younger sharpen the minds of the older. Rabbi Chanina said:I have learnt much from my teachers,and from my colleagues more than from my teachers,but from my students more than from them all.

Talking Points In what way can younger students ignite older scholars? Could this be true that a sage could learn more from students than

from colleagues or teachers? In what can does this approach inform your teaching?

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Teacher Reflection

Can you remember a time when you really, truly learned something new form a student? Write about how it came to be and how it felt to be learning from a student.

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Text Study # 5To Teach Children: Elisha ben Avuyah & Walt Whitman

In the pursuit of K’vod HaTalmid we raise the issue of the impressionable nature of children. Everything we do is as if inscribed on their pristine parchment. Using both a Jewish text and a selection of American poetry has the added advantage of reaching all our staff on familiar and comfortable ground.

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Pirke Avoth 4:20

Elisha Ben Avuyah said –One who teaches a child to what may it be compared?

To ink written on new parchment.One who teaches an older person, to what may it be compared?

To ink written on erased parchment.

מסכת אבות פרק ד

אלישע בן אבויה אומר --

.הלומד ילד למה הוא דומה .לדיו כתובה על ניר חדש

.והלומד זקן למה הוא דומהלדיו כתובה על ניר מחוק

Talking Points What is the difference between teaching the old and the young? Has this been your experience? How do you understand the metaphor of ink and parchment in relation

to teaching? In what way is this a troubling passage? In what way are students parchment upon which we write?

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There Was A Child Went Forth by Walt Whitman

THERE was a child went forth every day;And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became;And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part ofthe day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.

The early lilacs became part of this child,And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and redclover, and the song of the phoebe-bird,And the Third-month lambs, and the sow's pink-faint litter, and themare's foal, and the cow's calf,And the noisy brood of the barn-yard, or by the mire of the pond-side,And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there--and thebeautiful curious liquid,And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads--all became part of him.

The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part of him; Winter-grain sprouts, and those of the light-yellow corn, and theesculent roots of the garden,And the apple-trees cover'd with blossoms, and the fruit afterward,and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road;And the old drunkard staggering home from the out-house of thetavern, whence he had lately risen,And the school-mistress that pass'd on her way to the school,And the friendly boys that pass'd--and the quarrelsome boys,And the tidy and fresh-cheek'd girls--and the barefoot negro boy and girl,And all the changes of city and country, wherever he went.

His own parents,He that had father'd him, and she that had conceiv'd him in her womb,and birth'd him,They gave this child more of themselves than that; They gave him afterward every day--they became part of him.

The mother at home, quietly placing the dishes on the supper-table;The mother with mild words--clean her cap and gown, a wholesome odorfalling off her person and clothes as she walks by;The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger'd, unjust;The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture—the yearning and swelling heart,Affection that will not be gainsay'd--the sense of what is real--thethought if, after all, it should prove unreal,The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time--the curiouswhether and how,Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?

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Men and women crowding fast in the streets--if they are not flashesand specks, what are they? The streets themselves, and the façades of houses, and goods in the windows,Vehicles, teams, the heavy-plank'd wharves--the huge crossing at the ferries,The village on the highland, seen from afar at sunset--the river between,Shadows, aureola and mist, the light falling on roofs and gables ofwhite or brown, three miles off,The schooner near by, sleepily dropping down the tide--the littleboat slack-tow'd astern,The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping,The strata of color'd clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint, awaysolitary by itself--the spread of purity it lies motionless in,The horizon's edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud;These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who nowgoes, and will always go forth every day.

Thinking About the Poem

Write down an immediate response.

I think …

I feel …

Paraphrase the poem in a sentence or two.

Write a few sentences about what the poem suggests to you?

Focusing on this stanza alone…

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THERE was a child went forth every day;And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became;And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.

Talking Points

How do you understand the notion of “that object became a part of

him”?

What became you after you “look’d upon” it?

In what way did it lead you to become who you are today?

What do your students look upon in your classroom that will likely

become them?

To what degree does what a child looks upon become them?

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Pirke Avoth & Walt Whitman In what way do the two texts, Pirke Avoth and the poem inform each

other?

Compare the two different images.

Which imagery speaks to you most?

Which one most speaks to you as a teacher?

What does each bring to the conversation of K’vod HaTalmid?

In what way do the two texts clash?

How does our being cognizant of this conflict contribute to the ethos of

K’vod HaTalmid?

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Teacher ReflectionIn what way do these images lead you to think differently about your classroom? To what degree do you think your students are impressionable?

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