Differentiated Instruction in the Judaic Studies Classroom
Tamar Appel is the Director of Education at Hidden Sparks, an organization that partners with Jewish day schools to increase their capacity to serve all learners. Previously, she was the Associate Principal of Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls (Teaneck, NJ). Tamar is a leadership coach on Prizmah’s YOULead program and for individual clients, and she facilitates workshops for cohorts of leaders. She has served on the editorial board of HaYidion and has written about supporting and supervising faculty.
Judaic studies is a high-stakes undertaking for teachers who aspire to cultivate in their students not only deep knowledge of texts and traditions that shape Jewish identity, but also a personal relationship with the Torah and with God. Either of those objectives without the other misses an opportunity to foster in children a love of their heritage and the desire to keep it vital in their lives.
Engaging classrooms and supportive connections between teachers and students are important for fulfilling these missions, but they are not sufficient. Students who struggle academically and earn consistently low grades experience Judaic studies as hardly meaningful and frequently off-putting. It is unfortunate enough when this happens in a History or Math class, undermining a child’s self-confidence and growth trajectory. In Jewish studies, the additional harm to their sense of self within their Jewish tradition risks alienation.
By the same token, students who find religious inspiration in intellectual pursuits often thrive on the challenge that a complex text or class discussion offers. While larger middle schools and high schools offer tracked classes that can accommodate these varied needs, smaller schools may not have those resources, and classes in lower school are typically not tracked.
How then do we give children what they need to thrive as students and as young Jews? Differentiated instruction is not a panacea, but it can help.
Differentiation in the Process of Learning
Differentiation that is organic to teaching creates goal posts that need not be the same for each student to achieve growth, beginning with the process of teaching and learning. A prime example of this is the use of stations (otherwise known as centers) for experiencing different modalities of learning. Station-based lessons create an opportunity for grouping students based on the skills and content knowledge they have for the subject at hand and then tailoring the assignments at each station for different groups.
I observed a fourth-grade, stations-based Humash class in which the students rotated through three 15-minute stations: one used memory games to facilitate learning vocabulary, a second utilized electronic tablets with instructions for reviewing the text, and a third offered small-group instruction with the teacher. For each of these stations, the teacher had tailored the activity toward the skills of the students in each group. Having clearly learned the routines of station work over the course of a few months and without any noticeable tension about what kids in other groups were doing, the students were engaged in multifaceted and engaging Torah learning. While the schedule of lower-school classes more obviously allows for station learning, it can be equally successful and productive for the upper grades when timed appropriately and designed well.
Variability in student skills for Judaic studies can be most prominent in the realm of language. This is especially prevalent when engaging with texts in their original Biblical, Rabbinic, or modern Hebrew (and Aramaic). It is even more pronounced for students who struggle with language in general, and is compounded by the literal and conceptual vocabulary of English, which can pose an additional challenge to their Torah learning.
A middle-school Humash teacher addresses this challenge by creating tiered work, providing her students with different versions of the texts based on their linguistic facility. Some of them learn using the Humash and commentaries in their original Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew, looking up words that they don’t understand. Others use the English translation of the same texts, easily accessed from Sefaria, and a third group is given a translation modified by ChatGPT from the higher-level translation into grade-level English. Depending on the unit of study and her objectives, she assigns one of the three varieties to specific students or allows them to select on their own.
The teacher shared with me that incorporating that element of choice has yielded an opportunity for insight among some students who have chosen the text in English after having previously been assigned pages from the Humash: they have noticed that translation, while helpful, also removes the nuance that exists in texts in their original language. Differentiation in this context inspires sophisticated reflection in addition to varied access points for comprehension.
Hevruta Work
Hevruta study can be a powerful tool for Judaic studies in all its forms, connecting students with the texts, each other, and our age-old traditions in Torah learning. A middle-school Halakha teacher has shifted his approach this year toward being intentional about forming hevruta partnerships.
A pair might be complementary in strengths, with one student who has solid translation skills and another who needs support in that area but has analytical capabilities. Another hevruta pairing might harness the strengths of a student who consistently remains focused and organized who is paired with one who needs friendly encouragement in that area. The teacher had begun the year with a jigsaw-puzzle activity to depict how the students’ hevruta work should function, with each person applying their skills toward supporting the other. Taking this to heart, and with the purposeful formation of groupings, the students have invested deeply and consistently in the hevruta work to an extent the teacher has not experienced in previous years.
Another instance of differentiated hevruta work involves a high-school Talmud teacher who has taught different tracks within the same grade. As a regular part of her teaching, she created study guides for students to use as they prepare or review the Gemara. Noticing the wide range of skills even within a given track, she modified her study guides to provide variable support for different students and created hevruta pairs that comprise students with similar skills.
Students with the strongest skills work at translating the Gemara entirely on their own, parsing it by identifying where different rabbinic statements began and ended, and labeling each one according to its function (hypothesis, proof, question, rebuttal, and so on). Those who need some scaffolding are given study guides that include translations of some particularly complex vocabulary along with indications of where each section of the Gemara begins; their job is to translate the rest of the text and label each section. For the students with the most limited textual skills, the study guides include the full text of the Gemara along with its translation, and most of the notes already filled in. Their assignment is to complete the rest of the notes and be able to answer simple questions.
Talmud study can be uniquely hard to master, and the scaffolding embedded in this method makes space for all students to join that sphere of learning. For this teacher, the emotional impact is equally important: encouraging students to view themselves as being able to do hard things has powerful implications for their self-perception as learners and as people, even beyond this classroom. For students with stronger skills, this approach to hevruta work allows them to enjoy and flourish in higher-level reading and thinking.
“Two are better than one,” says King Solomon in Mishlei, “for if they fall the one will lift up the other.” These two models of differentiated hevruta pairing and activities fulfill this maxim by honoring children’s strengths, vulnerabilities, and belonging within the community of learners.
Differentiated Assessments
When it comes to assessing what students have learned, positioning them for success requires defining what success will look like. In the framework of differentiation, it also requires flexibility in this area. That begins with formative assessments, which teachers use regularly to gauge how each student is progressing and to help inform their next lessons. An exit ticket at the end of a Mishna class, for example, might include a few basic vocabulary questions along with a question about two rabbinic interpretations of a verse in the Torah. The teacher can adapt specific exit-ticket questions to correlate with the classroom learning expectations for different students.
Differentiation has similar advantages for summative assessments, which culminate units of study and are typically graded. Consider the case of a team of teachers who were used to writing their Judaic studies tests in Hebrew, which worked for most of the students in their classes, but not for those whose Ivrit skills did not correlate with the vocabulary of the instructions. While at first resistant to modifying their standard, some of them eventually experimented with writing English-language directions for those particular students, hoping that the accommodation would remove the barrier to showing what they know. They learned the same texts and commentaries as everyone else in the class, and were expected to know them in Hebrew, but their test questions were written in English.
Witnessing a dramatic improvement on their exams, the teachers recognized that their intentions for these tests—encouraging students to review content and practice skills, and to assess what they have learned—would be equally attainable if they were to differentiate for these students on a regular basis. To be sure, differentiated exams necessitate a shift in perspective on the part of teachers about the value of grading based on variable standards. But the alternative does not provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned or data which accurately reflects student progress.
Some differentiation strategies, such as choice boards, can enhance either learning or assessments, depending on how a teacher uses them. Choice boards are grids that list different learning activities in each box, with the teacher determining how the students should select which ones to do. The instructions might be to accomplish a specific number of activities from among the total, or to complete a line in any direction, tic-tac-toe-style; alternatively, a point value can be assigned to each box, and the goal is to complete activities adding up to a certain number.
The possibilities of learning activities in a choice board are endless, ranging from translation to analysis to opportunities for students to produce creative work. A well-crafted board allows students to draw on their strengths while stretching them in realms that they select. It also invites imaginative and concrete thinking to different degrees so that their own preferences play a role in how they deepen their learning or show what they know. Above all, the choice involved generates enthusiasm for learning.
A Worthwhile Endeavor
There is no question that differentiation requires a shift in thinking and effort to create multiple pathways for classroom learning. It takes time to design assorted station activities, tiered instruction, diversified hevruta work, varied assessments, and choice boards. However, it is time well spent, and teachers consistently report higher levels of engagement and understanding as a result of differentiated approaches. Differentiation gets easier with experience, and teachers can and should reuse successful templates, modifying for relevant content.
Making Torah accessible and beloved to all students while challenging each one to grow in skills and content is the ultimate manifestation of hanokh lana’ar al pi darko, the mandate to teach each student in the way that is appropriate for him or her. Differentiation can help teachers live up to this principle for the sake of all children in their care. If we free ourselves from the presumption that every student in a class needs to display the same level of skill or substance, we can do the real work of teaching our students rather than teaching our subjects.
Tamar Appel is the Director of Education at Hidden Sparks, an organization that partners with Jewish day schools to increase their capacity to serve all learners. Previously, she was the Associate Principal of Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls (Teaneck, NJ). Tamar is a leadership coach on Prizmah’s YOULead program and for individual clients, and she facilitates workshops for cohorts of leaders. She has served on the editorial board of HaYidion and has written about supporting and supervising faculty.
From The Editor: Winter 2026
For many years I believed that I was a good educator. Students, alumni, and parents told me so. I was mostly effective at exciting my students to learn, drawing them in, and teaching them content and skills they remembered for a long time. Students thought that I was fair and sensitive and really committed to their success. Hey, I even learned how to admit my mistakes and learn from them.
And then I got married and started raising children.
From Scaffolding to Independence
I run a progressive N-8 Jewish day school (Luria Academy of Brooklyn) committed to inclusion of children with a broad range of abilities and needs and backgrounds. One of the questions I get asked frequently by parents is when we are going to build a high school. Truthfully, it’s not currently part of our plan and we are blessed to be in New York City where Jewish high school options abound. What prompts the parental requests for a high school is their very reasonable concern for how their child will transition from our student-centered, individualized, supportive classroom to a more traditional, less flexible environment.
What Mainstream Schools Can Learn From a School Like Mine
I recently had a conversation with a faculty member at a school of education which is part of a local university. He teaches a course titled “Learning and Cognition” and finds himself under pressure from students every year not to teach it. The students, as they enter the classroom, understandably want practical tools, and do not see the connection between how people learn and what they do in a classroom.
Choice in the Middle School Beit Midrash
In a small Jewish day school, differentiation is a fact of life. Some of our students have diagnoses which explain why they have challenges in learning and some do not; some need lots of repetition of material in order to synthesize ideas and others seem to understand and be prepared to explain the content the first time they read or hear an idea. In our small community, some are able to thrive in a Hebrew immersion class while others begin to shut down in this environment. A typical curricular model in middle schools at small Jewish day schools is to offer grade-specific Jewish studies courses; this has the advantage of all students being exposed to the same content, and building upon past learning is an easier task. At Oakland Hebrew Day School (Oakland, CA), a K-8 school, we, too, had this model until ten years ago, when we found ourselves grappling with the following issues:
Traditional Text Study for neurodivergent Students
During our time in school together, Jewish studies classes were streamed based purely on Hebrew language skills. This approach, with its exclusive focus on Hebrew facility, prevented us—and we suspect many other neurodivergent students—from accessing and engaging in the depth and richness of Jewish texts and traditions. Furthermore, by focusing solely on translation and basic comprehension, it denied us the opportunity to apply our own strengths of analytical and creative thinking, which are often reserved for advanced streams.
Trauma Awareness In Jewish Day Schools
A painful reality for Jewish educators is that, despite our most valiant efforts, a significant population of young people who go through the Jewish day school system feels distanced and removed from their education, as if they are perpetually outsiders to their community. Who are these young people? What causes this sense of distance? What can we do to help them? While every case is different, often these children are dealing with some sort of trauma that educators are not always equipped to support, and sometimes can inadvertently inflict. However, proper awareness and appropriate responses can go a long way in helping these young people feel welcome and understood.
The Unique Opportunities for Personalization in Jewish Studies
My experience at Jewish summer camp played an important role in forging my identity, first as a Jew, and then as a Jewish educator. When I made the jump from Director of Education at the camp I grew up at to the Jewish day school classroom, I would often reflect on what made camp so impactful and how I could bring aspects of experiential education into the formal classroom. I soon realized that it is not just about what camp has that the classroom does not, it’s just as much about the aspects of formal education that camps are unburdened by.
Forty Ways to Learn Navi
One of the most powerful sources of professional reflection for me has always been hevruta—the back-and-forth of honest, challenging dialogue. Several years ago, a teacher with whom I shared a classroom told me that my teaching was “too frontal” and that I needed to give students more “voice and choice.”
Being naturally competitive and reflective, I took the critique to heart. During winter break, I spent two solid days redesigning my Navi curriculum for my sixth graders. My goal was simple: to create a system where students could take genuine ownership of their learning while still meeting our academic expectations.
Making Tefilah More Student-Centered
Every student enters tefilah with a different story. Some find comfort in familiar words and melodies; others feel unsure, disconnected, or skeptical. Yet tefilah in schools often assumes uniformity—everyone doing the same thing, in the same way, at the same pace. When we shift our focus to the people in the room, new possibilities for meaning can open up.
Differentiation, Relationships, and Planning with an AI Partner
Jewish Studies teachers have long known the importance of meeting students’ individual needs, yet differentiation in practice has remained elusive. Judaic Studies teachers often lack ready-made resources or formal training in differentiation models. In this article, we share our experience using AI to help Jewish studies teachers overcome those challenges.
Unlocking Every Learner: An Instructional Reflection For 1-5 Grade Judaic Educators
Educate the child according to their path (Proverbs 22:6).
This well-known verse beautifully captures the essence of differentiated and personalized learning: each child enters the classroom with a unique constellation of strengths, challenges, interests, and ways of understanding the world.
Blended and Personalized Learning in Jewish Studies
Blended and Personalized Learning (BPL) has become a valuable approach for Jewish studies classrooms seeking to meet wide-ranging student needs without overwhelming teachers. BPL provides structures that allow educators to teach more precisely, differentiate more naturally, and build student independence and choice. When implemented with clear routines, consistent expectations, and thoughtful planning, BPL transforms classrooms into dynamic spaces where learners move at an appropriate pace, engage more deeply, and take increasing ownership of their learning. Educators also benefit from having a mentor/coach guide them through the different steps. The following overview outlines the core principles of effective BPL and illustrates how these principles come to life in real 1st–8th grade classrooms.
Hevruta as a Tool for Differentiation and Personalization
Meeting the needs of every learner in the room is one of the most complex tasks a teacher faces. No two students process text in the same way. Some absorb information quickly, while others need more time. Some think visually, others verbally. Some feel confident sharing ideas in front of the class, while others shut down the moment they feel unsure. Even highly motivated learners approach Torah with very different strengths and needs. Teachers want to support every student, yet it is difficult to personalize instruction when the class is moving through the same pasuk or section of Gemara at the same pace.
From Teaching the Class to Teaching Each Student
Walk down the hallways of many schools today or step into a teacher’s lounge, and the shift in conversation is unmistakable. Instead of talking about plans for a trip, Shabbat, or the newest and most exciting curriculum, the conversation frequently has shifted towards struggling students, classroom behaviors, and the plight of supporting an ever-growing diverse Jewish student population. These discussions reflect a new reality: Teaching at a Jewish day school now requires an expanding skill set to meet the evolving needs of students and the growing challenges teachers face.
Differentiating Jewish Education – Not If But How
In the early 1970s, my mother sat in her 9th grade halakha class cowering in fear. Her teacher loudly berated the class as not one student volunteered to translate the words of the Rosh Hashana prayers. Her pulse racing, my mother suddenly realized she had an advantage. As the daughter of Holocaust survivors who came from two different countries, my mother’s first language was Yiddish and the mahzor she had pulled from her parents’ bookshelf the night before was a Hebrew-Yiddish one. She timidly raised her hand, provided the translation, thus saving her class from incurring further wrath from the teacher. Jewish education is unique in that each student brings their own personalized version of Judaism with them into the classroom. For my mother that day, it looked like a mahzor with a Yiddish translation.
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