If your school does not permit homework assignments, find other options to reading the textbook aloud

It is an unfortunate fact that many schools are reluctant to assign homework. Do not despair if the homework option is not available to you. Please don't fall into the trap of monotonous class reading. There are other, far more engaging, options to consider. Here are some alternatives to choral reading. Try to implement some of them even if you can assign homework:

• Divide your class into research teams of three or four students. Give each team a research question that requires reading the text in order to find an answer. Allot class time for research and team presentations, followed by a synthesis for the entire class by you or by one or more of the students.

• The textbook may have an accompanying workbook or exercise pages within the textbook itself. Alternatively, you may decide to create your own worksheets based on your goals for the lesson. Use these materials, as individual or group assignments, to focus attention on key ideas.

• Individually or in small groups, ask the students to read the material to themselves and:
  1. Construct questions based on it. Give them the opportunity to "test" their classmates, in pairs or as a whole group exercise.

  2. Role-play what they have read. For example, have students reenact the meeting of Napoleon's Sanhedrin, taking the parts of various members of the Jewish community, such as traditionalists who were fearful of modernity, liberals who welcomed it, and pragmatists who worried about offending the Emperor who convened the body.

  3. Rephrase textbook material, recasting it using the format of a newspaper or journal of the time. ("Jews Meet to Answer Questions Posed by Emperor.")

  4. Depict the material graphically: in map form; as a cartoon; or as a drawing.

  5. Think-pair-and-share with a partner. Think-pair-and-share is a term used by practitioners of cooperative learning. It is a very simple strategy which encourages participation and reflection. Give students time to jot down the central idea of what they have read. (Think.) Encourage them to compare their thoughts with a classmate, refining and rephrasing their synopsis. (Pair.) Share summaries with the entire class. (Share.)

  6. Ask the class to search the text for specific information about a topic which you assign, perhaps to answer a question you have posed. Make sure to provide a context for the activity, such as a debate or a presentation to the class.

  7. Ask students to describe what they can learn about a particular subject or person by using all the index references to that subject or person.

  8. Write a newspaper headline based on a particular paragraph or section of the text, or on a specific photograph or piece of artwork. You can do this after the chapter has been read in order to encourage students to synthesize the information, or you can do it before the chapter is read as a trigger activity.

  9. Create a "Hall of Fame " around the major personalities described in the book. Assign one personality to each student.

  10. Do a "what's missing " analysis. For example, in a book on Israel published before 1994, the peace accords signed with the PLO and with Jordan would not be included.

Meet the needs of diverse learners. For some students, the textbook may be too difficult. Still others learn best by tapping into their artistic, kinesthetic, musical, or interpersonal skills.

Recent research into how children learn has alerted us to the notion of multiple intelligences. Textbooks appeal to "verbal intelligence." Be sure to call on the other intelligences as well. By acknowledging the diversity of learning styles and adapting textbook use to them, teachers convey an important moral message. By shifting your focus from teaching to learning, you are telling your students: "You are important to me. I care about you. Because I care, I am adapting my teaching to your needs." This is a case in which you can do well by doing good: your consideration will pay off in more effective student learning.

• Adapt lessons for less able readers:
  1. Tape record important selections for students who learn best by listening. Create a classroom listening corner with a few tape recorders and earphones. Ask the students to summarize material orally or in writing.

  2. For some students, reading aloud in front of the entire class is torture. Do not torture your students. Encourage reading in pairs. Have students read to each other, or pre-assign specific segments so that all will have the opportunity to prepare ahead of time. Emphasize how important it is that they coach each other for success. Teach your class how to correct their classmates tactfully. Learning to balance standards and sensitivity is a lesson for life, not just for your class.

  3. Have the better readers prepare summaries, either written or oral, for less able readers. Both will profit from the experience.
  

• Provide opportunities for visual and artistic learners:
  1. Encourage students to use picture analysis as a supportive strategy. Ask them to consider an illustration or a photograph in the textbook. Have them speculate about who took a given photograph, on what occasion, and for what purpose. Create questions that require them to interpret a picture or to imagine themselves in the picture. Have them suggest their own captions.

  2. Have the class prepare cartoon narratives of the text, such as a cartoon depiction of the Hanukkah story. This can be done individually or as a class mural.

  3. Ask students to prepare "story strips." Choose a section of the textbook that includes a conversation between characters. Prepare a series of drawings in which you have drawn the outlines of cartoon figures with blank bubbles over their heads. Ask the students to draw in the faces to resemble the characters in their book. Ask them to fill in the bubbles with the characters' words. Have them read their story strips to a friend.

• Have activities for students who learn by doing:
  1. Have members of the class act out what they read, such as Passover preparations. To teach how to light the Hanukkah menorah, use real hanukkiyot and real candles.

  2. Introduce themes by asking students to role-play events from their own life. To discuss the theme of sibling rivalry in the Joseph narrative, ask students to dramatize moments when they and their siblings were in conflict. Use this material, quoting from the students' presentations whenever possible, as a hook into and a reflection upon the Joseph story.

  3. Invite students to retell a Bible story in dance or interpret a prayer with their bodies instead of with words.

  4. Have students form Hebrew letters with their bodies.

  5. Let students feel Hebrew letters by manipulating sponge or sandpaper letters.

  6. Encourage your class to draw and build models based on a specific portion of the text or a specific photograph. For example, a class project that culminates in the building of the mishkan, the portable desert sanctuary, makes abstract portions of Bible text accessible to youngsters.

• Involve students who learn musically:
  1. If you are comfortable singing with your class, do so. Point out song vocabulary that appears in the siddur or in their Hebrew texts.

  2. Ask the students to identify key siddur words or phrases which are found in a specific song. If you are listening to the song in class, have the students raise their hands when they hear the word or phrase.

  3. Play Israeli music before and during class.

  4. Invite student musicians to play holiday or Hebrew songs on their instruments.

  5. Create rhymes to help students memorize new material.

• Accommodate students who learn best in group settings:
  1. Create cooperative learning groups to develop student activities for various sections of the textbook. Cooperative learning is more than group work. It stresses individual accountability (each person has a clearly defined function within the group, such as reader, recorder, and presenter) and group accountability (the success of each individual depends on the success of the group). Give each group the opportunity to teach their classmates with the materials they have designed.

  2. Use cooperative groups to work on textbook assignments and worksheets, to review for tests, or to complement the text with research projects.

  3. When assigning a task to a group, make sure each student has a specific task (e.g., reporter, researcher, scribe, artist, etc.) Then make sure each group has the opportunity to present its results to the whole class.