The Pesah Seder is often cited as the model of the quintessential educational experience as envisioned by our sages. It is interactive and stimulates all of our senses to create a profound impact on our core identities. A close look, however, reveals that the way it...
Imagination leads to education We understand and create the world for ourselves differently because of the stories we hear. Since we retain stories longer than lectures, those tales teach us our important values, traditions and faith in a non-threatening way....
Jewish schools in Israel and the Diaspora dedicate many hours and resources to study of Talmud, but more than seventy percent of all students are still unable to learn a page of Talmud on their own at the end of secondary school studies. Why? Study of Talmud in our...
This article will present the methodological underpinnings of Gemara Berura, describing the pedagogical principles that guided our team in its development. The general education world has recently been undergoing a series of improvements and efficiencies that have...
Many teachers shy away from using Midrash in the classroom, despite the ease with which they teach Rashi’s midrash-laden commentary. Because there is no well-established style of Midrash study, teachers may hesitate to introduce what feels like a wild card into their...
In the early 1970s in the United States and Israel there emerged a new wave of classroom teaching methods. They were based on the use of small groups of students as the social and organizational unit within the regular classroom for the purpose of teaching and...
Introduction Jewish Day Schools are increasingly drawing a varied population in terms of socioeconomic background, cultural background and academic ability. As the Head of Jewish Studies of a Jewish high school in the United Kingdom, I experienced the challenges that...
Information to share with your teachers…. 1. Isn't this just hevruta learning with a modern name? While hevruta learning could be seen as one form of cooperative learning and as a forerunner to the complex of activities known as cooperative learning, cooperative...
1.The “Avot, Melakhim and Neviim” Tanakh Series This new series, written for middle and high school students in the Israel non-religious State school system, includes four student workbooks and four accompanying teacher's manuals on central themes in the Tanakh. Each...
“…Seven times three is twenty-one. Eight times three is twenty-four. …”* Many of us recall how we learned our multiplication tables by rote, repeating the lines until they were embedded in our memory. “Five sixes?” In a flash we respond: “Thirty,” with not so much as...
