Tarot Class Syllabus revision - need some input!

Wasn't sure if this should go here or in 'Chat.' This could be a tad long!

If enough people had signed up for my Tarot class I'd have been happier! However ... they didn't. The Director of Adult ed suggested that perhaps a 7-week committment might have seemd like 'too much' for some people and suggested I break it into two session - which would run concurrently, still end up the same price, but the shorter time 'up front' (which is illusory) might appeal to more people. So, I have been working on changing my syllabus for two sessions.

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ORIGINAL Syllabus - the way I have taught for years - 7-8 week course:

Week #1- Intro to the historical aspects of the deck; handling and storage of cards; shuffling; responsibilities & use; The First 10 Trumps of the Major Arcana (wants & needs); answering simple questions using yes/no and 2-card layouts; The Importance of Keeping a Journal

Week #2-Reading the Aces, 2's, & 3's (similarities & differences); 3-card and 3-pair 2-card layouts (good for hitting the highlights); doing readings for others; journal review

Week #3-Reading the Second 10 Trumps of the Major Arcana (emotions & feelings); Horseshoe layout (helps to determine options); journal review

Week #4 -Tonight is the halfway mark! Reading the 4's, 5's, & 6's (similarities and differences); Pyramid layout (helps organize your thoughts); journal review; reading for class members; Homework assignment *

Week #5-Reading the 7's, 8's, & 9's (similarities & differences); Contrary Cards- Are You Asking The Correct Question?; The Classic Celtic Cross layout-{this IS the 'Mother' of all card spreads}- 10 card spread good for considering all angles; journal review; reading for class members; Homework assignment

Week #6- Reading the 10's (similarities & differences); Reading the Pages and Knights (news & messages, changes); The Wheel Spread (influences and synthesis); journal review; reading for class members; Homework assignment

Week #7-Reading the Kings & Queens (people & their personalities); journal review; readings for class members; Homework assignment

Week #8- attempting The Tree Of Life reading (NOT for the feint of heart!).This is a highly technical and involved concept involving the Qabala. It may be replaced by a 'Reading For Others' workshop at the instructor's discretion.


* Homework Assignments: Homework assignments consist of a predetermined card reading with specific information and specific questions to be answered by the student. Although these are not graded, all answers should be written and submitted by the following class meeting. These ARE challenging, but they are NOT difficult! They will be returned to you with the instructor's comments the following week.

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To break this up I tentatively came out with this revision:

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{Known in poll as 'Revision One'}

Part One - Majors:
Week 1) Fool thru Lovers and some layouts (7 cards)
Week 2) Chariot thru Temperance and Life Cards (8 cards)
Week 3) Devil thru World and Year Cards (7 cards)

Part Two - Minors and Courts:
Week 1) Aces through Fours (16 cards)
Week 2) Five, Six, Sevens (12 cards)
Week 3) Eights, Nine, Tens (12 cards)
Week 4) Pages & Knights all four suits (8 cards)
Week 5) Kings & Queens all four suits (8 cards)
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MY thoughts about this are that I should teach the Minors 'first,' so that students have some intro into the deck while we also learn some of the basic card spreads. I feel that if i start with the Majors and give them spreads that their only dealing with a third of the deck would lead to frustrations, particularly if they don't buy a beginner book and only rely on class notes. (Yes~ I am fully aware I can have the students buy a copy of MY book! LOL!)

There is no way I can see to make this a '4 & 4 class,' although I did think about the Majors and the Court Cards (38 cards in 5 weeks) and the Minors without the Court (40 cards in 3 weeks.) That would look like this:

{Known in poll as 'Revision Two'}

Part One Majors & Courts:
Week 1) Fool thru Lovers and some layouts (7 cards)
Week 2) Chariot thru Temperance and Life Cards (8 cards)
Week 3) Devil thru World and Year Cards (7 cards)
Week 4) Pages & Knights all four suits (8 cards)
Week 5) Kings & Queens all four suits (8 cards)

Part Two - Minors:

Week 1) Aces through Fours (16 cards)
Week 2) Five, Six, Sevens (12 cards)
Week 3) Eights, Nine, Tens (12 cards)


Revision #3:

Part One - Minors and Courts:
Week 1) Aces through Fours (16 cards)
Week 2) Five, Six, Sevens (12 cards)
Week 3) Eights, Nine, Tens (12 cards)
Week 4) Pages & Knights all four suits (8 cards)
Week 5) Kings & Queens all four suits (8 cards)

Part Two - Majors:
Week 1) Fool thru Lovers and some layouts (7 cards)
Week 2) Chariot thru Temperance and Life Cards (8 cards)
Week 3) Devil thru World and Year Cards (7 cards)

Comments? Suggestions? Pointers? Remember - there is only one 2-hour class a week! I need to let the Office know within 3 weeks so they can get the book for next semester together.

Court is in session!

Someone did pm me that I could do 4 & 4 if I did the Pages and Knights of all the suits in one session and the Queens & Kings of all the suits in the other session, but I don't know if breaking up the Court would be a good idea, per se, but it would make the classes 4 & 4.

Ideas? Suggestions?

From the overwhelming response I am guessing most of AT reads Tarot but doesn't teach Tarot? Which revision do you think would produce the best results for student understanding ~ based on your knowledge of the cards?

Hello? *knocks on monitor screen* ...

Your original class syllabus is very comprehensive; however, since the need for revision, I voted for Revision One--albeit with some reservations.

In my view, where Part Two's Minors & Courts concerned, best to keep all the Court cards in one class session for continuity & context purposes as its Week 4. Week 5 could cover some basic spreads/layouts with students pairing up for practice readings.

Numerology basis?

Thanks, Meewah! I feel like I'm talking to myself here!

I also came up with this (O.K. - Meewah suggested it) based on doing cards connected by numerology:


Week 1) Fool, Magician, Wheel, Sun, Aces, Tens (12 cards)
Week 2) HP, Justice, Judgement, Twos (7 cards)
Week 3) Empress, Hanged Man, World, Threes (7 cards)
Week 4) Emperor, Death Fours; Hermit, Moon, Nines (12 cards)

Week 5) Hierophant, Temperance, Fives, Pages (10 cards)
Week 6) Lovers, Devil, Sixes, Knights (10 cards)
Week 7) Chariot, Tower, Sevens, Queens (10 cards)
Week 8) Strength, Star, Eights, Kings (10 cards)

It's only an 8-weeks class - so I had to put the Hermit, Moon, & Nines somewhere! LOL!!!

Why not break your original syllabus in half? I mean, because then it leaves more to be desired and you'll probably get a nicer turn-around for those that took your first class to take the second one.

Amanda_04 ~ someone responds! LOL!!!!!

Yes, I COULD just cut the original syllabus in half, since I am teaching it concurrently, anyway. My concern is for those who may take only one half and not the other not being exposed to enough of the Majors, Minors, and Court cards - but then no matter how I may break it up - if they only take one session they only get one session's work!

In truth - in the original syllabus the Eighth week is just an exercise so that anything I don't have time to cover I can put in that class, and use it to answer questions and do readings and spreads - the 'Tree of Life' discussion listed is just there so the Office sees I have a lesson plan! I could crunch this into 7 weeks and changing the plan makes it go 8 weeks. The original plan is what has always worked in the past!

Thanks for the input! Keep the thoughts coming!

I'm not sure the problem is the length of the course. 8 weeks is a perfectly reasonable commitment - for example, the meditation class I attended was 10 weeks, repeats two to three times a year and is always oversubscribed or full. All the adult ed courses at the local colleges here are a similar length, so unless it's dramatically different over there, I'm sure that's what people would expect. Could it be that the college (or wherever the course is being held) haven't given it enough exposure, or have given it a boring write-up or something of the sort? I feel like there's something else here, and that it's nothing to do with your syllabus.

I like your original syllabus and the suggested revisions (in my opinion) detract from it - that's not your fault, of course, you're having to make the best of the situation.

If it HAS to be altered, then I would go with revision 1. More people are familiar (again, in my opinion) with the majors so this seems a good starting point. Any completionists out there *cough, cough* would then HAVE to do part 2 so they knew about the minors as well. I think people tend to assume the majors are 'more important' and would find it odd to start with minors. Also, there are a few majors-only decks out there, so if someone only did part 1 of the course, they'd at least be able to read with those.

Edit: Teehee! I did have to add a vote for you being crazy... couldn't resist!

There are a lot of factors, Est, and any one of them could be affecting it; the first of all being the economic climate.

What I think also 'did this in' was them putting it on a Thursday - the day many people get their paychecks and go shopping. On a Tuesday may have been a better choice but I don't get to make that decision. (Mon - Wed are considered the best days for Adult Ed classes - held in a H.S., BTW)

Another factor is when they scheduled the Thursdays. What they unwittingly did - which I will be forearmed next autumn - this has happened before- is that it would have been Oct, 4, 11, 18, and 25 - which is O.K. - but when it goes to November it was broken by the Thanksgiving holiday - November 1,8, 15 - skip a week- then Nov 29 - which is after Thanksgiving and into the Christmas season and right there I think is the problem. If the class was supposed to have started this past week on a Thursday and ended before Thanksgiving it might have had some more takers!

Anywho - the next semester starts in February - in which there is a week off for winter vacation - so I will have to look and see what spring holidays will screw things up! Once you don't have a class for a week everyone's attention span gets chopped.

Do you think it's easy being an instructor? LOL!!!!!

I also liked your initial syllabus. It seems to be aimed at people who have some familiarity with tarot. It is comprehensive and interesting.

Are you going to working with a particular deck (sorry if I missed that reference anywhere). You could suggest that people read the notes and do a few simple exercises before the class begins.

I think I have seen a YouTube video of you making pasta and you have communication skills, so no worries there.

Perhaps you could add something personal for each participant by giving one person a reading in each class - a kind of demonstration or 'master-class'.

Sometimes novelties like that are attractive to participants.

Good luck, Tarotbear. Small numbers are good sometimes. The quality of experience is better for each participant. You will learn from the experience as well and if others enjoy it they will spread the word or return for more advanced events.