User:ProfGray/312/Lesson plan week 1

Lesson plan: Week 1

Religions of the Hebrew Bible

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MONDAY

Proposed agenda		Start	End
Chat	<10	2:30 p.m.	2:40 p.m.
Critical thinking	<15	2:40	2:55
Overview of course	<15	2:55	3:10
Baseline essay	<15	3:10	3:25
Readings for Wednesday	< 3	3:25	3:30
What is the Hebrew Bible?	<20	3:30
Timelines!	?		3:50

Chat (and survey?)

Critical thinking  Done

• What is critical thinking? What is critical thinking about the Hebrew Bible at a public university? How does it differ from religious thought?
• Brainstorm (meaning of the term; assumptions for teaching Bible)
• Discussion

Overview of the course  Done

• Goals, competencies, learning outcomes
• Schedule of assignments and readings (N.B. readings will be cut back)
• Key points in handout version:
  • Absences. Binders. Books. Collaboration in teams
• Social impact (~ service learning)
• Tour of Niihka and Wikipedia course sites?

Baseline essay  Done

• Due Monday, Feb. 2nd (though preferably this Wednesday :)
• 1-page essay governed by a suitable claim
• At least one footnote and bibliographic reference

Readings for Wednesday  Done

• I Kings 4:25 and Coogan p.292 on Shishak
• Jeremiah 36:1-4,32 and 39:1-10
• Coogan. Ch 1. 3-10, Ch 2. 13-15 (Land), (*15-21), 21-25 (Boundaries, History), 27-9 (Archaeology)
• Syllabus -- must read all the policies and bring questions or concerns to class

What is the Hebrew Bible? 

• Canon not book. Ezra 7.6  Done
  • Canonization. Apocrypha. Why is "Old Testament" less NPOV?
• Divisions: Pentateuch/Torah, Prophets, and ….  Done
  • Tanakh
• Textual criticism
  • Septuagint.
• Redaction criticism (Jer 36:1-4, 32)

Timelines! (time-permitting) → Partially done and bumped to Wednesday

Ezra as example

• When does the narrative take place within the Bible? Biblical chronology and Anno Mundi
• When was the narrative composed, according to scholars? Composition theories
• When does the event take place, if ever, according to historians and archaeologists? Historical chronology
• Terms. Anno Mundi. BCE. CE.

WEDNESDAY

Proposed agenda		Start	End
Chat	5	2:30	2:35
Policies and other syllabus details.	5	2:35	2:40
Timelines and Places	20+	2:40	3:00
Readings for Monday	5	3:00	3:05
Baseline exercise, include Lipson	20+	3:05	3:25
Texts --> key concepts	20	3:25	3:50

Policies and other syllabus details. Q&A with students.  Done

Timelines!  Done

• Biblical chronology. When does the narrative take place within the Bible?
• Composition timeline. When was the narrative composed, according to scholars?
• Historical chronology. When does the event take place, if ever, according to historians and archaeologists?
  • Box 2.1, p.23
  • Chronologies at back and in most chapters
• Example: Ezra-Nehemiah
• Example: 1 Kings 14:25

• Terms to learn. Anno Mundi. BCE. CE. Cyrus cylinder. Exile. Ezra-Nehemiah.
• Dates to memorize.
  • 722 BCE Assyria (around time of Hezekiah) 587 BCE Babylonians (Destruction). 538 BCE Persian (Return estimated), 333 BCE Greeks, 165 (Hasmoneans),
  • 70 CE Destruction of Temple by Romans
• Dates might learn: 924 BCE Shishak, 63 BCE Roman control, 5th vs. 4th Century -- events vs. composition of Ezra (p.1661)

Places and maps  Done (a few terms not covered)

• Current Middle East and Ancient Near East (ANE). 2.1, p.15
• Ancient Land of Israel. 2.3
• Places to learn include: Levant. Mesopotamia. Canaan. Israel. Kingdom of Judah. Kingdom of Israel (Northern Kingdom). Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia. 

Biblical texts and key concepts

• Canonization. Canon. Jewish, Christian, Samaritan  Done
• Textual criticism -- studying the origin and versions of the text  Not done
  • Genesis 1 from BHS
• Redaction criticism -- studying the editing process!
  • Jeremiah 36:1-4,32 and 39:1-10  Not done
  • Biblical chronology example  Done
• When does historical evidence corroborate the Biblical narrative?  Done
  • I Kings 4:25 and Coogan p.292 on Shishak
  • Ezra-Nehemiah and the Cyrus Cylinder

Readings for Monday -- include how to read the schedule  Done

• Genesis chapters 1-3, in conjunction with Coogan
• (Coogan. Ch. 2, review if needed)
• Coogan, Ch 3. 33-43, (*41-45) and learn some of the comparison with Enuma Elish for BWE
• Wikipedia background reading, which might be useful for your baseline essay. Have fun!
  • Browse on your own and go behind the scenes. Might try "Community Portal" and various "Talk" pages.
  • Browse articles on Genesis, and key terms in Biblical studies
  • ? Hand out the booklets Evaluating Wikipedia and Editing Wikipedia

Baseline essay  Done

• Questions
• Sampling of ideas
  • Canonization. Are documents authorized? How and by whom?
    • See Coogan, 3 criteria. Wikipedia AfD process. Xfd. Policy, guidelines, consensus.
  • Canon. Are there multiple canons?
    • MT vs OT. Different languages or SImple English Wikipedia.
  • Textual criticism. Cf. versions of an article?
  • Composition. Cf. merging of articles, versions from competing reliable sources, etc.
• Students shared their ideas, discussion of the class as a whole

Lipson book  Done

• Notetaking
  • Tip on skimming p.6
• Paraphrasing
• Citation

Handed out Wikipedia brochures  Done

Teamwork experiment  Not done

• Groups more to allocate, share, and peer review ("critique") your individual work, rather than to collaborate in writing a document together
• Groups are formed
• Choose one (or both) of these options
  • For the Baseline Essay due Monday, share your ideas by [choose a deadline for yourselves]
  • For Coogan reading due on Monday, split up note-taking and share notes (with those who did it) by [choose a deadline for yourselves]
  • Another goal?
• Report on Monday about what worked and didn't work with your group

Bumped to week 2

These items were on the ideal lesson plan, but not covered in week 1. They may be covered in week 2 or dropped:

• Jeremiah text as an example of redaction criticism

• Textual criticism -- with example -- more needed?

• Places not mentioned enough? Canaan. Israel. Kingdom of Judah. Kingdom of Israel (Northern Kingdom)

• Example of a doublet (?)
  • Noah at 6:5-7 and 6:11-13