Not too long ago, I went to visit a local mosque and I was invited to speak to the students. The students memorising the Qur'ān were of different age groups and levels. My task was to motivate the madrasah students and help steer them in the right direction.
Visiting a madrasah
One of the first things I did was to visit the class setup. I wanted to know how they arranged the class, what each student was doing, how they were progressing, and what challenges they were facing. I soon found out that motivation was a big issue. Not only that but it appeared that the madrasah didn't have any particular system that was personalised per student.
After that, we got the entire madrasah into the main masjid for me to address. I began with an exercise to divide the students into groups. I had prepared papers to place on the floor with labels on them like: "Motivated", "Not Motivated", or "In The Middle". I asked the students to go to the label they would identify themselves with. Guess what happened? Nearly everyone went to the label, "Not motivated".
From here on, I spoke to the students sharing my own story, the stories of others, and focused on the reasons for the memorisation of the Qur'ān. I tried to discover what it was that made them tick or understand what was driving them. I found that the students were not being very well engaged with and they were for the most part doing things just because their parents wanted them to.
The student induction system
That day I identified the need for a student induction system, especially for the Hifdh students. An induction system is important for any Hifdh teacher to have in place yet so many don't have it.
An induction is when a student starts his or her classes (from the moment of application and admission). The first few weeks are key in ensuring they settle in well and feel supported by you as a teacher. You’ll should equip them with all of the information, training and knowledge required to do their Hifdh to a high standard, without overwhelming them. For me, this is a hybrid of both onboarding and induction.
I'll share with you a simple model of what is required for this so that you can easily implement one with your students.
1. Exploring the foundations of the person
The first step is to help them understand themselves better. Everyone learns differently and are motivated by different things. Every student will need support and guidance at the beginning. You need to help guide them in determining their learning journey.
The most important step here are to have some conversations with them. At the very start of the journey ask them questions to help you discover who they are as a person. Teachers should remember that students are not robots but they are young impressionable people. You need to cater for them. The questions should be divided between the why, what, who, and how.
Memorising the Qur'ān, retaining it and living by it is a life journey. Every teacher helping a student embarking on this journey needs to realise that every student is about to become an athlete. Everything about them should be taken care of: physically, mentally, intellectually, psychologically, spiritually, and habitually. Your students are not just memorising the Qur'ān, they are also learning discipline, patience, inner strength and fortitude. They are building habits and you have to help shape them during the journey so that when they move forward they can do so with all the tools they need to remain connected to the Qur'ān. You have to think about the short, medium and long term plans.
So here are some of the questions you can ask.
Understanding the why
- Why are you joining this class?
- Why do you want to memorise the Qur'ān?
These should be a conversation starter. You want to try and discover why they are here and them them open their mind. Depending on the reasons they give, you'll want to either share resources with them or tell them about what the why needs to be. You can also take them through the rewards and benefits of memorising the Qur'ān. You can create a student handbook or journal that can contain all of this in it as well.
If the student is memorising the Qur'ān just because they are told to do so, don't dismiss them. Instead help them see things in a different light. Why not try it out and see how it goes, why not consider the rewards and benefits, why not consider the impact you might have on others, and you might actually like it. Plant the seeds and help them see the fruits.
Understanding the what and who
Your task here is to understand the student personality, behaviour, and motivations by asking questions like:
- Do you like reciting the Qur'ān?
- Do you like listening to the Qur'ān?
- Do you know Tajweed?
- Do you prefer memorising or exploring the meanings?
- What are your expectations? What do you expect to happen on this journey?
- What and who motivates you?
- What subjects do you like and interest you at school, college, uni?
- What do you think you're really good at? Like you're just good at it without effort.
- What do you like to do when you're free?
- What makes you feel nervous and anxious?
- What things do you hate? Things that make you angry
- What are your hobbies?
- What are you like with food? What do you like to eat?
- Do you like to go out? If so, where do you like to go out?
- What do you watch on YouTube and social media?
- Do you have your own phone? tablet? laptop?
- Do you know anyone that has memorised the Qur'ān? If you do, what impact have they had on you?
- Do you want to memorise all of the Qur'ān or are you ok with doing as much as you can?
The aim here is not dictate to them, how they should live or ban them from doing xyz. It is to understand what makes them tick, what interests them, and what type of a person they are at present. They might be just like any kid and not really have a clue. But they might not be, you'd be surprised by some.
Understanding the how
- How would you feel if you memorised the entire Qur'ān?
- How would you feel if you didn't?
- How do you remember things at the moment? It can be anything, numbers, passwords, things at school, etc.
- How do you think you remember things best? Listening, writing, reading, watching, etc.
- So if you were revising for exams, how would you revise best?
- How is your health? Do you have anything like OCD, ADHD, or anything else that you might know about?
- How do you spend your weekends?
- How do you hang out with friends?
- How would you feel if you had to sacrifice the things you enjoy for a few years?
- How hard do you think it will be to memorise the Qur'ān?
After you have a good picture of the person you are now about to teach, you will know how to go about doing things with them. You will know how to discipline them, how to direct them, how to speak and interact with them. Most importantly, you will know how to motivate and guide them with the memorisation journey.
2. Exploring the foundations of memorisation
The next step is to help the student find their feet with memorisation, thier abilities, potential, and methodology. Remember there are a number of things the student needs to understand including: what Mus'haf to use, what method to use, what route to use, what revision is and how important it is, how to be productive, and how to be consistent.
The first step would be to not give them anything specific to memorise yet. Instead you want them to naturally start from anywhere.
One thing that I always recommend is a litmus test. The idea is that you ask them to memorise a random page from the Qur'ān within a timeframe of an hour or two. Give them a target of memorising the entire page within that hour or two. By the end of it, test them. There are a number of things to note from this litmus test:
- How did they memorise? What did they choose to do? (Was it repetition, if so, was it a specific number or way? Did they recite out loud?)
- If they could have done anything differently, what would it be?
- How difficult did they find it?
- How much do they manage to memorise and how quickly?
- How good was their recall?
- How good was the recitation? (Tajwīd and melody)
- How was the speed of recall?
- How did they feel when reciting to you?
- How many mistakes are being made? What type of mistakes?
- How did you feel about making mistakes?
The litmus test gives you an idea of where they are today and what the potential can be. It will also determine how the student should begin their memorisation in terms of the amount of memorisation that should be set for them. When they recite to you, you should correct any mistakes they make.
What you should do next is to ask them to recite what they had memorised again the next day or session, first without any preparation. This will indicate to you how well they can recall what they memorised using the method that they did. If they can recall anything, it is a good sign. Whatever the case, after doing so, you should ask them to revise the very same portion and recite it again to you. This will introduce them to the concept of revision but also allow you to see how they do with it.
Don't give them a time period this time for the revision but ask them to go over it in whatever way that comes to their mind and make the portion strong. When they are ready, they can recite it to you again. When they do, take note of any progress they make compared to last time.
Now you have a picture of how they memorised a portion and how they revised.
3. Setting a direction
Given your understanding of what motivates them, how they like to learn, seeing how they did with the litmus and your own experiences. Now it's time to help create a plan for the student.
The first step here is to give them memorisation methods to try based on your findings. The student should try to memorise using the method and you'll want to see how they do compared to the natural way they chose to memorise during the litmus test. I would have them try at least three methods. You should also get the feedback from the student. How did they feel? How difficult was it? What did they find best?
You should then go forward with one of them but also tell the student, they can be flexible with the method depending on what they are memorising. Sometimes certain portions will be harder and sometimes they will be easier. You should now set the rules, the expectations, the standards, and schedule for the student based on everything you now know.
Doing these things as part of your induction for a week or two at max, will set your students on a great starting ground for their journey. Let them settle in. Let them self-discover. Let them engage and realise what they are about to embark upon. You want to create the right mindset, framework, and environment for them. Empower them with the right tools.
May Allāh grant you with blessing and success.
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