Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on October 1, 2014

Mosaic professor Dan Touey stresses academic independence in his classes.

by Lora Strum 30 September 2014

Mosiac Adjunct Professor Dan Touey reads from Voltaires Candide during a Mosiac class on Sept. 29. Andrew Thayer | TTN

Dan Touey does not like change. He does not drive. He does not even have a drivers license. He has woken up every day in Center City for 25 years.

An adjunct professor at Drexel, La Salle and Temple, Touey said he approaches his students not as an instructor but as a fellow student who is also learning. At Temple, he teaches Mosaic I in the Intellectual Heritage department.

Im not an expert on anything, Touey said. There were a lot of books Im not familiar with, and I thought [we would all] get a good student experience from continued exposure to the subjects.

Toueys course has no assigned readings, no midterm and no final. The students dont read at home unless they feel compelled to do so, which, Touey said, should be a self-compulsion, not the force of the teacher. Sitting with his students, Touey teaches five books throughout the semester, spending three weeks per book, which he reads aloud with his students.

If we read together in class, we have a better chance at getting it into our minds, Touey said. Its a very old-fashioned approach, like studying the Koran or the Talmud where you read together and just stop to have discussions or ask questions.

Students are assigned two ungraded journals weekly and various four-page, or 1,000 word, essays to express their thoughts. Hoping to encourage students to have a creative thought, Touey said he doesnt care if students miss a journal or exceed the word count.

These assignments are guidelines, and what Touey said hes really looking for is a student who takes control of his or her learning.

The rest is here:

Professor strays from status quo

Category: Talmud
Tags: