Rashi Rounders

We've begun to emphasize more skill-based analysis in Chumash. After a 'whole class' preview of the pesukim, students are broken up in smaller groups according to skill (with learners who need more support receiving direct instruction from me). The groups prepare the pesukim, identify issues that provoke commentary from Rashi, study Rashi's explanation, and then respond to a series of review questions. (See the sidebar of this blog for a fuller description of differentiated instruction.)

These two rounds - one of Chumash, and another of Rashi - help students appreciate the connection between peshat (text) and peirush (commentary). They are also becoming more familiar with Rashi's methodology as an explicator - ask them about "professors" and "inventors"!

Our subject concerns the hierarchy of controls imposed by Pharoh and how that tied into his plan to break the Jewish spirit.