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Does a Second Century Rabbi's Teaching Methods and Process University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 8-2-2011 DOES A SECOND CENTURY RABBI’S TEACHING METHODS AND PROCESS ELEMENTS ALIGN WITH MALCOLM KNOWLES’ ANDRAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK? Luke Brad Bobo University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Bobo, Luke Brad, "DOES A SECOND CENTURY RABBI’S TEACHING METHODS AND PROCESS ELEMENTS ALIGN WITH MALCOLM KNOWLES’ ANDRAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK?" (2011). Dissertations. 415. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/415 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rabbi‘s Teaching Methods and Processes in Antiquity Compared to Knowles‘ i DOES A SECOND SECOND CENTURY RABBI‘S TEACHING METHODS AND PROCESS ELEMENTS ALIGN WITH MALCOLM KNOWLES‘ ANDRAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK? Luke B. Bobo MDiv., Covenant Theological Seminary – St. Louis, 2003 M.S., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1988 B.S., University of Kansas – Lawrence, 1982 A Thesis Submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education May 2011 Advisory Committee Paulette Isaac-Savage, Ed.D. Chairperson John Henschke, Ed.D. Pi-Chi Han, Ed.D. Ron Moseley, Ph.D. Copyright, Luke B. Bobo, 2011 Rabbi‘s Teaching Methods and Processes in Antiquity Compared to Knowles‘ ii Acknowledgements It is inconceivable that a project of this magnitude can be completed alone. I am especially grateful for the several people who offered their encouragement and concrete assistance along the way. I am grateful to my paternal grandparents, Henry and Willa Mae Bobo, who instilled in me as a child the possibility and inevitability of attending college. I am appreciative for my mother Connie Marie Frazier, who did not finish high school, but nonetheless emphasized repeatedly and emphatically the importance of obtaining an education. Covenant professors, Drs. Robert Vasholz and David Calhoun, modeled not only sound scholarship to me but they also modeled that one can have fun learning about Jewish and church history, respectively. I am thankful for Dr. T. D. Stubblefield, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Chesterfield (Chesterfield, MO) who had the uncanny ability and timing to call me when I needed it the most. And also grateful for my dissertation committee chair Dr. Paulette Isaac-Savage, the ‗APA goddess‘, who gladly took the baton from Dr. John Henschke (my former dissertation committee chair), and coached me through this arduous process. There are several people at Lindenwood University (St. Charles, MO) that provided encouragement along the way too. In particular, I am thankful for Connie Borjes and Carl Hubenschmidt. Ms. Borjes was gracious to make several draft copies of this dissertation during its many drafts and iterations and Mr. Hubenschmidt graciously fulfilled my many book orders and article requests. And lastly, I am extremely thankful for my wife, Rita S. Holmes- Bobo, who has not only been patient during my matriculation through this doctoral Rabbi‘s Teaching Methods and Processes in Antiquity Compared to Knowles‘ iii program but she has also labored through reading and editing these many pages and has gently encouraged me to finish this work. Abstract Teaching methods and process elements facilitate learning. Rabbi Akiva, a second century rabbi, used teaching methods and process elements that exercised his students‘ mental and auditory faculties and their imaginations and bodies. Practioners in the field of adult education who desire to hone their craft can learn best practices from the likes of Rabbi Akiva. This research study is therefore significant, because it offers assistance to practitioners in the field of adult education as the aim of this work is to discover if alignment exist between Rabbi Akiva‘s teaching methods and process elements and Knowles‘ teaching methods and process elements. Rabbi Akiva shaped and taught Rabbinic Judaism. And his teaching methods and process elements provide an excellent source of teaching practitioners how to help their students put into practice what they have learned in the classroom as this has been the primary goal of Rabbinic Judaism for centuries dating back to B.C.E. Rabbi Akiva is an ideal candidate to study as he considered the father of Rabbinic Judaism (Solomon, 1998). This is remarkable considering Rabbi Akiva was an unlearned man in Torah for most of his adult life. He was ignorant or considered an ‗am ha-arez. Stories about his beginnings in the learning of Torah are varied. Nonetheless, Rabbi Akiva is credited with systematizing the Mishnah and most importantly he was an adult educator. Solomon (1998) and Wigoder (2002) write that Rabbi Akiva was a pre- Rabbi‘s Teaching Methods and Processes in Antiquity Compared to Knowles‘ iv eminent sage of the Mishnaic era. Cohen (2008) added that ―he may be described as the architect of the plan of the Mishnah‖ (p. xxvi). Rabbi Akiva even has a street in Bnei Brak named in his honor (Efron, 2003). Akiva excelled beyond his colleagues and masters in the matter of understanding and teaching Torah. Teaching was of utmost importance to him. In fact, Akiva argued that one must continue to teach even in old age according to Ecclesiastes 11:6 (Tanakh). The late Malcolm Knowles is known as the father of American andragogy (Cooke, 1994; Henschke, 1998). And like Rabbi Akiva, Dr. Knowles was an adult educator. Both men practiced a philosophy of education. Both men used teaching methods and processes. For Knowles, he proposes teaching methods that compliment his six assumptions about the adult learner. Knowles also proposes eight process elements when teaching the adult learner. So, Knowles‘ teaching methods and process elements have been clearly articulated and employed in various educational contexts. In contrast, Rabbi Akiva‘s rabbinic philosophy of adult education (RPAE) and his teaching methods and process elements are yet to be discovered. And while Akiva did operate an academy in Bene Berek, little is known about his methodology for teaching adults. This is a qualitative research study which used historiography or historical research in particular as the primary data collection tool. Knowles‘ andragogical framework served as the data analysis tool. Namely, his teaching methods and process elements were categories or concepts by which the researcher analyzed the data. The Babylonian Talmud, which is comprised of the Mishnah and Gemara, served as the primary source as it was completed in the 6th century (Common Era). The Tosefta and Rabbi‘s Teaching Methods and Processes in Antiquity Compared to Knowles‘ v Midrash were consulted too. Akiva taught in the second century and until his brutal death in 135 C.E. Several of Akiva‘s teaching methods emerged including debate, question-answer, story-telling, the use of study-partners, shouting, lecture and delivering sermons and chanting. It is worth noting that these debates were far from polite and proper but rather quite intense. This was strictly an oral teaching and learning environment; so, note- taking, for instance, was not permitted because the rabbi was considered the living and sole voice of the Torah. Akiva‘s process elements included intellectual preparation and the creation of an environment conducive for learning. Knowles‘ andragogical framework, namely, the teaching methods paired with each assumption and his eight process elements, was used as a grid to determine if there was any alignment between Knowles and Akiva. In sum, many of Akiva‘s teaching methods did align with those teaching methods suggested by Knowles that complimented his six assumptions about the adult learner. However, only Knowles‘ process element of setting the climate aligned with Akiva‘s creating a conducive learning environment. This study merely scratches the surface of plumbing the rich depths of Rabbinic Judaism; thus, this area of study affords ample opportunities for future research for both researcher and practioners of adult education. Nevertheless, this study showed that some teaching methods and process elements not only transcend culture but also time. Rabbi‘s Teaching Methods and Processes in Antiquity Compared to Knowles‘ vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................ii Abstract ............................................................................................................. iii Chapter 1 – Introduction ................................................................................... 1 Teaching Methods ............................................................................................ 3 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................. 4 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................... 5 Purpose of Study .............................................................................................. 5 Research Question ........................................................................................... 6 Significance of Study ....................................................................................... 7 Methodology ...................................................................................................
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