Can someone help me figure out how to teach a beginners' class??!!

S.O.S.!!! I have been offered a position to teach Tarot on a website & I need to know the basics of how to structure a class. Here are my ideas thus far:

Going by - I think - 5 weeks:

Week I. Tarot - History
Week II. Tarot - The Major Arcana
Week III. Tarot - The Minor Arcana
Week IV. Tarot - Beginning to Read
Week V. Tarot - Conclusion: Read For Someone (Non-Student)

I figure the history will be where they read the book I choose & get an overview, then they write a brief essay on the topic. The Major & Minor Arcana will be gone through a card at a time, with free-association as to what the card means to the student, finishing with a brief essay on both. "Beginning to Read" will be an experiment in reading on themselves; then I would have them partner up & exchange readings. Lastly, I would have them find somewhere else to go read. I'll have them summarize in an essay. I'll heavily recomend AT, OF COURSE!!!! Link 'n' all. Does this sound good? Does anyone have any suggestions?

- d.

I think you're right to have a structure in place for your class. You seem to have planned that out well in advance and I think that's the best start.

For me, though, I'm not sure if I were taking this class, that the first part would be right for me. It seems like the history of the tarot and then having to do the essay on it would be kind of dry and rigid and might start me off with the wrong idea about how to work with tarot, since so much of reading involves intuition. Maybe just touching on the history of it when you talk about it to the students at first and then going right into the major and minor free association and the rest of your course would be better. If you want to get into the history, maybe you could do that at the last and then for a final exam if you're planning that sort of thing, work in some questions on the exam that have to do with tarot history. I think putting the actual study of the history last might keep the course more interesting to the students than starting out with a history. Plus it would keep the course geared toward the intuitive nature of reading, which requires more free thought and creative thinking than what learning history allows for.

I hope I expressed this right so it makes sense. I was having trouble figuring out how find the right words, for some reason. Maybe because it's only 7am and I just woke up.

Hi danubhe, you might want to check out "Professional Tarot" by Christine Jette. It has a suggested curriculum for tarot courses:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/books/professional-tarot/

-- Lee

Thanx, lee, for the most excellent suggestion! It will help me in 2 ways: the class, & my website.

I'll work history in somehow (I feel it's important), but instead of having that be 1st I'll just have a general overview of Tarot & have them read the book first. Would that be better?

Goodluck with that! Are you going to have them use the same deck or choose their own?

I was going to require the - you guessed it - good ol' RWS. It's so standard, it doesn't cost much, & it will put everyone on an even footing.

For me, that would be the best to work in history later, yes.

Excellent idea to start with RWS or maybe Universal Waite. I didn't start with it myself. I ended up finding that I should have, though. I think what I'd suggest to a beginner is to get a RWS and then, if funds allow, get one other deck that really tugs their heartstrings. Put the one that tugs at them away and learn with RWS, but keep the other one and periodically "check in" with it to just get familiar with it and see any parallels with or differences from RW that might be there. Not any real serious work with the other deck, though, that might confuse them while learning with RWS. I really hated the RW deck myself, but it truly was the best for me to learn with, once I got that through my head the hard way (and many dollars spent foolishly) later. Now it's an old standby that's opened the way for me with other decks and I do have a fondness for it. If I had gotten a RW and then just one other deck that really appealed to me more in order to console myself that RW wasn't going to be the end of the tarot world for me, that might have been a better start.

danubhe said:

I'll work history in somehow (I feel it's important), but instead of having that be 1st I'll just have a general overview of Tarot & have them read the book first. Would that be better?

Click to expand...

Well, I don't think you'd want to have them read that particular book. What it provides (in one of its chapters) is a sample curriculum, so it's a good reference work for the teacher to use when designing the course. If you want a book to recommend to students to read, or to use as a textbook for the course, then I'd recommend the Michaelson book which others have also recommended (in the other thread).

-- Lee

I would spend the first class getting to know the deck, looking at the pictures, picking out favorites and least favorites, having students make notes in their journals, etc. Which would mean they would need a journal and a tarot deck. I would tell them about Major and Minor Arcana, suits, courts. I think you can talk about where Tarot came from, but nothing too indepth, just a brief overview. You can devote an entire class later to tarot history, but I think at first students are eager to learn how to USE tarot. Many tarot novices skip to the backs of the books where the spreads are...that tells you something.

~Mercy

I agree with MercyMe... Do the history later. You can tell them certain things but just like MercyMe said... I personally never cared about the history in the beginning... I wanted to learn the meanings... I wanted to USE it. I feel that if they start learning the meanings and start utilizing the tarot then later on they will be more willing and interested in the history of Tarot. Do whatever feels most comfortable to you though.

Vadella

Just wanted to add that by knowing the meanings of the cards and physically working with them helped me to understand the history more so than when I tried to learn that first.... but everyone has their own learning style.

You could also put pieces of history in with each card you're teaching... then at the end sum it all up.