I. Introduction
Designed for middle school and high school teachers interested in questions of culture, identity, and multiculturalism, Posen Foundation Professional Development Seminars emphasize the history, cultures, and literature of the Jewish people. Graduate credit or CEUs are available to all participants.
The Posen seminars are divided into segments that underscore key themes, critical junctures, and major figures in the Jewish experience from the premodern era to the present. So as to be useful in a variety of Social Studies and Humanities settings (e.g., classes on the Holocaust, World Religions, Literature, American Society, Europe, etc.), many subcomponents are also designed as self-contained units that may be tapped for discreet purposes. Owing to the widespread availability of educational materials on Israel, the Middle East, and the Holocaust, the seminar does not explicitly address the latter topics. However, because such issues necessarily arise in much of the literature used here, it is also possible to conceive of the seminar as a prelude to or context for such subject matter.
The seminars present a broad overview of the Jewish experience and demonstrate the central role played by the forces of secularization and modernization in Jewish history. We operate from the premise that there has never been one monolithic or homogenous concept of Judaism or Jewish life. Organized chronologically and thematically, the seminars focus on foundational texts, key issues, and critical junctures that illustrate the dynamism and variety of Jewish cultural, literary, and political expression over time.
II. Conceptual Approach
The Posen seminars introduce participants to the dynamism and variety of the Jewish experience, and highlight the development of secular Jewish culture, history, and literature from the premodern era to the present. They also explore the place of Jewish text study in learning and teaching practices. The seminars reflect a serious consideration of the middle and high school arena and are, in large measure, a response to concerns and ideas raised by high school teachers, administrators, and scholars interested in the work of the Posen Foundation, especially the unbiased academic study of the nexus between modernity and the Jews. At an elemental level, the seminars underscore the importance of studying and working with a variety of primary documents, secondary analyses, artistic representations, and prose. At the macro-level, the seminars are constructed as a series of "problems" for which there are often conflicting interpretations and conclusions. As a result, learning how to apply a scientific critical method to primary texts, archival documents, novels, and films - that is, developing critical thinking skills - is also a major theme of the seminars. Participants are encouraged to question and challenge prevailing assumptions and notions about Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history and culture - much of which they will encounter in the secondary texts, novels, and films.
The philosophical orientation that guides the Posen seminars emphasizes the relationship between the student, the teacher, other students, and texts that inspire genuine learning and excellent teaching. As such, seminars are rooted in an exploration of the place of Jewish text study in the learning and teaching process. We believe that a close examination of secular Jewish history and culture (roughly from the 17th century to the present), the rich tapestry of modern Jewish texts, and the essential relationships of classroom life serves as a useful springboard for asking important questions about the place of Jews and other minorities in the lives of our students, schools, and society as a whole. By bringing together the fields Jewish Studies and education, the seminars present participants with a unique educational and professional development opportunity.
Seminar participants will be presented with a range of key Jewish texts drawn from both traditional and modern sources. In addition, they will engage each day in structured conversations that explore and map out new curricular strategies for using texts to examine Jewish history, culture, and literature. Materials used during the seminar - as well as supplementary readings and a bibliography - will be compiled and distributed in a binder of materials. Prior to the seminar, participants will be sent preliminary readings and asked to complete a pre-course assignment. These items will serve as touchstones for the seminar and offer a common platform for our investigations.
III. Academic Objectives
Since its inception in the ancient period, the Jewish people has been an amalgam of competing internal and external forces - some elements of emerging Jewish life looked inward and strove to attain greater uniformity and insularity in the quest to create a cohesive community, others looked outward and were shaped by and absorbed many of the ideas and values of surrounding theistic, cultural, and political influences. In time, this dynamic tension, which proved to be both adaptive and generative, spurred the development of a rich, variegated, and distinctive Jewish experience that took root in the Islamic world, Europe, and the Americas. To be sure, as Jewish life unfolded certain ideas, texts, and structures proved to be dominant, but such emphases were also often a matter of degree and varied from place to place. Even today, after centuries of innovation, interpretation, and revision, the core problematic of Jewish life - how to sustain Jewish culture and identity in the modern world - remains a matter of considerable public debate.
Against this backdrop, Posen seminars stress the following teaching and learning objectives:
- Participants will investigate key themes in secular Jewish culture, history and literature and gain an understanding of these thematic strands;
- Participants will develop familiarity and facility with historiographic inquiry practices that will help them teach inquiry-based approaches to texts;
- Participants will experience and gain an understanding of a reflective and relational approach to teaching and learning;
- Participants will be introduced to new curricular models and teaching strategies for studying and teaching about the secular Jewish experience.
IV. Contact Information
Dr. Mark A. Raider, University of Cincinnati
posen.ed.project@gmail.com
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