Category: Building Professional Learning Communities (Fall 2007)
Shalom Berger is the founding editor of Jewish Educational Leadership, and is now a member of its editorial board. In 1999 he initiated Lookjed, a listserv that supports a virtual community for Jewish educators, which he continues to moderate. Full archives of Lookjed discussions can be accessed at https://www.lookstein.org/lookjed.
The literature on Professional Learning Communities, which is amply reviewed in this volume of Jewish Educational Leadership, focuses on traditional school settings. The idea is a simple, intuitive one. Is it not obvious that an educational setting one whose primary purpose is to teach and learn should be a center of development and growth for all of its participants? And who should be the facilitators of this educational interaction, if not the teachers and administrators themselves?
Yet, all too often, a variety of impediments keep such a community from fully developing in school settings. Intuitive (and productive) as it may be, personal and professional concerns do not always allow for free exchange of ideas in every academic environment.
It was this realization that led me to suggest an e-mail forum for just these sorts of conversations, in an attempt to offer Jewish educators a virtual setting which would allow for interaction. With the help of simple technology, multiple participants who share similar interests would be able to cooperatively communicate, test new concepts and grow as members of a learning community. For more than nine years Lookjed has facilitated this discussion, offering a rich, stimulating environment for Jewish educators around the globe in effect, creating a virtual learning community.
The Virtual Community Speaks
I recently received an e-mail from a colleague, who directs a large educational institution in a centrally located, large Jewish community. His school is one in which there are a plethora of scholars, and during my visits there I have felt a sense of professional camaraderie and support. In discussing my work, he shared the following comment:
“Teaching is a lonely profession. Ultimately, most of us do our work in isolation from our colleagues. The Lookjed list has not only been a resource of information; it has helped create a feeling of collegiality among many Jewish educators”.
Let me share with you a smattering of examples that illustrate the power of this medium.
Broadening the Discussion
The principal of a large modern-Orthodox high school in the New York metropolitan area turned to the Lookjed community, sharing a concern that had been voiced by one of his teachers:
“I’ve been preparing and teaching Sefer Amos, (and to a large degree this applies to much of Neviim Acharonim as well), and I can't help but be painfully aware (and I have had this feedback from students who feel it as well) that so many of the messages contained within it are of a very reproachful/reprimanding nature. Sin follows sin, the nation always seems to be on a downward spiral and knowing how things turn out in the end anyway, makes the positive aspects of the Navi's efforts, as well as Nevuah as warning and/or encouragement to do Teshuva, seem futile. The tone is discouraging and the constant emphasis on criticism and blame for wrongdoings makes the messages of Amos, as crucial and relevant as they are, depressingly reproachful and therefore, difficult for young students (early high school) to absorb. Are there any ideas or methods for teaching this very important mussar in a way that promotes a more positive, encouraging mood both in the classroom and in the students' attitudes towards learning Neviim Acharonim in general....?
Why did this administrator choose this forum to discuss the issue rather than deal with it with his rich “in-house” resources? Apparently he believed that the power of the Internet would allow a broader range of voices to be heard than those sitting in the faculty lounges of even the best staffed high schools. In this case, senior professors from universities in Israel and America responded to this query with suggestions, recommendations, and learned analysis on these books and their relevance to contemporary society. Master teachers from across the globe chimed in with practical advice, describing what worked for them in their own classrooms. Responses ranged from sharing lists of modern problems or well-known Biblical themes in the book of Amos that offer opportunities for important and exciting teaching, to playing Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech (in conjunction with Amos 5:24). (To see the discussion, go to https://www.lookstein.org/ lookjed/read.php?f=1&i=15352&t=15352 )
A virtual learning community is powerful because it can successfully gather participants with unique expertise and experience, beyond what is found in a typical day school. It also offers another important element, one of diversity. In many cases, the staff of a Jewish day school is homogeneous. Faculty members often live in the same communities, attended similar educational frameworks themselves, and share similar ideologies. Once they become “comfortable” with one-another, it can be hard to think “out-of-the-box” since it is a “box” in which everyone has become familiar. The virtual learning community offers the Jewish educator a means to step outside of that “box” and hear perspectives that are radically different from what they are used to, perspectives that will challenge them to think and to rethink. It is not every day that educators in an Orthodox setting get to hear the perspective of a Conservative or Reform teachers (and obviously, vice versa, as well). The cross-pollination between American educators and their peers in other English-speaking countries and in Israel is one of the most powerful aspects of this type of forum.
Cultural Cross-Pollination
A clear case of cultural differences leading to a valuable educational discussion was a recent discussion about a well- known Bible story, Akedat Yitzhak -- “the Binding of Isaac”. One list member posed a question about how to present a specific issue in the story. i.e., how Abraham could mislead the servants by saying that both he and Isaac would return, knowing full-well that Isaac was destined to remain. This developed into a vibrant conversation about how this story, which appears to promote the idea that the Jewish God condones and, on occasion, may require human sacrifice, should be presented to students in our classroom.
The tragic aspect of this question was perhaps most clearly framed by comments shared by Israeli educators, who argued that Akedat Yitzhak was a model for contemporary life in Israel, where parents are called upon to recognize that they and their children may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to defend the Jewish People and the Jewish State. It is hard for me to imagine many Diaspora educators recognizing this aspect of the story from their own experience; having heard it, I suspect that it affected the way many of them understand and teach this story. (To see the discussion, go to https://www.lookstein.org/lookjed/read.php?f=1&i=15499&t=15499)
The Anonymity Option
These examples illustrate that the value of virtual learning communities being able to draw from content experts and experienced educators who otherwise could not be brought into the conversation. There is yet another benefit the ability, when deemed necessary, to turn to colleagues and peers anonymously. Although the overwhelming majority of Lookjed participants identify themselves and the schools with which they are affiliated, occasionally, in my capacity as moderator, I receive posts that come with a request for anonymity.
A recent example is that of an administrator who raised a question about how schools deal with the common practice today of students sharing personal information on public internet forums such as MySpace or FaceBook. The concerns included a number of elements, and those concerns were amplified in the ensuing discussion. One respondent, for example, pointed out that MySpace.com made national headlines last year when it was discovered that the community contained hundreds of convicted sex offenders, including pedophiles.
Responses to this query came fast and furious. Suggested best practices included running a program for parents to raise awareness of the issues involved, bringing an outside expert in to run seminars for the students, encouraging use of a website called “Covenant Eyes” that allows students to assign a mentor to their browser who will receive a daily list of all sites that the student visited, and more. This conversation also encouraged list participants to discuss these issues with their students and children who, in this case, are the true “experts” regarding the use of this media. The option to share their comments anonymously, allowed those important statements to be posted without impinging on the students' privacy.
As often happens, the discussion of MySpace and FaceBook segued to another, related topic, namely how schools should react to the use of a site called RateMyTeacher.com, where students are offered the opportunity to rate their teachers and share comments about them. Perhaps surprisingly, among the reactions to this site were several positive ones. Some educators argued that student evaluations can and should be accepted as constructive criticism, which students are asked to share all too infrequently. The most powerful argument in this direction was voiced by a teacher who wrote:
I had never heard of the site, and went to take a look-see. As a parent and teacher in the school I was curious what the kids thought. I’d say their comments are 90% right on. Only one or two did I think were off-base. The teachers who are really good got the ratings to reflect it; the ones who were abysmal, ditto. I think this site could be extremely useful if viewed as a “performance review” from students. From time to time I give end-of-the-year questionnaires to my students, and ask for feedback about what they thought worked well, what didn’t, and ideas to improve the learning experience for them. I’ve gotten some great ideas and suggestions from them. Don’t look at it as chutzpa, think of the site as a cry for help from some of them. After all, we were all students once, and had some winners and some zingers, right?
That teacher closed the post by saying, “For obvious reasons, I think this post should be anonymous.” (To see this discussion in full, go to https://www.lookstein.org/lookjed/ read.php?f=1&i=15135&t=15135)
Lookjed as a Virtual Learning Community
Many of the roles that various players take on in traditional PLCs are found among Lookjed participants, as well. Consistent readers recognize the names of regular contributors and can name the people who are resource providers, which ones are specialists in curriculum or instruction, who takes on the role of mentor, and who is always ready to suggest a radical change from the way things are usually done in a day school. Furthermore, many of the challenges that schools – especially Jewish schools, which often have many part-time faculty members who teach at different times of the day, and play very different roles in the school – face in developing PLCs, can be overcome by participation in such a listserv. In the virtual world, technical challenges such as time and place for face-to-face meetings simply do not exist.
Lookjed, as a virtual professional learning community can never take the place of actual, in-school, opportunities for collaborative efforts to enhance faculty partnerships, team learning, and shared vision that make a difference in the school culture. Nevertheless, a platform that has succeeded in creating a community that offers opportunities to meet people with similar interests and to exchange ideas with peers with whom dreams and disappointments can be shared, can act as a place of growth and development for many teachers.
In the words of one subscriber:
I've been meaning to thank you as a passive participant of Lookjed for quite a few years. Questions and ideas discussed on the list often make it to my Shabbat table or relate to personal experiences, and the e-mail list has provided a fantastic place for reference and support. I also find it to be one of the few places where practical Israeli-American dialogue takes place without the traditional Babylon versus Israel dependency/hierarchy roles. Connecting so many Jewish educators across the spectrum really has an impact.