The Second Conversation
Interpretive Authority in the Bible Classroom
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Brandeis University Press
Published:7th Mar '24
£32.00
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A teacher reflects on her teaching practice, bringing literacy scholarship into the arena of Jewish education.
In The Second Conversation, university professor Ziva R. Hassenfeld returns to the middle school classroom to study her own seventh grade Bible class. The book explores dilemmas of practice she encountered around interpretive authority in the classroom. She analyzes the questions that came up in her teaching within the context of the most influential religious education scholarship, literacy scholarship, sociocultural theory and literary theory. She highlights the importance of two conversations about interpretive rules within the classroom, the first about the text’s meaning, and the second about competing conventions for determining its meaning. Instructors of any type of literature will benefit from Hassenfeld’s study, which offers rich ideas about when and how teachers enforce a classroom’s way of reading or follow a student’s line of inquiry toward more flexible interpretation.
“. . . Providing students with the space to pursue an interesting train of thought while attempting to maintain established boundaries for interpreting the text, sets the stage for Hassenfeld’s exploration of the complexity of literacy, interpretation, and teaching. The book is an account of Hassenfeld’s research, but the narrative approach is particularly accessible, moving through a year of teaching at a K-8 Jewish Day School with a skillful blend of theoretical discussions, personal reflections, and classroom accounts.” * Religion and Education *
“With abiding respect for learners, teachers, and texts, Hassenfeld beautifully articulates a rarely addressed but deeply compelling problem of practice. The Second Conversation gets to the heart of teaching and learning and invites educators to join the author in a vital, field-building conversation about the meaning-making process itself—what is at stake and for whom. Serving as a model herself, Hassenfeld guides educators to become ever more intentional in shaping the communities of learning they envision.” -- Allison Cook, founder and codirector of Pedagogy of Partnership at the Hadar Institute
“The time for this book is now, a time in history when conversations in classrooms—religious and secular alike—are being restricted and debated. Playing at the intersections of theory and practice, Hassenfeld draws readers in from the very first words. This should be essential reading for literacy teachers and researchers alike.” -- Lara J. Handsfield, Illinois State University
“How can classroom teachers notice and make visible for students the tacit interpretive rules guiding textual response processes? How can we invite students to intellectually question and compare sets of interpretive rules? Hassenfeld explores these questions through a beautifully crafted teacher narrative, infused with delight in the beauties and complexities of the Hebrew scriptural writing she teaches. This masterful book exemplifies how much literacy educators and scholars stand to learn from interdisciplinary inquiries in religious education. Read this book and be transformed!” -- Mary M. Juzwik, Michigan State University
ISBN: 9781684581894
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 18mm
Weight: 286g
166 pages