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In the Rabbinics Lab project, I have worked with both technology and
different modalities of learning. My students are primarily using the
text databases, but a variety of other tools makes it possible for them to
gain access to these texts in creative ways. If they use Mordecai
Torczyner's Webshas or HaMakor, they (the first is a topical index of the
Talmud, the second a diachronic look at selected topics in HaZaL through
the breadth of Jewish literature) begin to evaluate how information is
organized. They learn about commentary as an ongoing process by writing
their own commentaries.
Although I was always excited about giving my students the same kind of
access that I had, the primary reason for the RabLab was to allow
different kinds of students to succeed in the study of Rabbinic
literature. Early on in my teaching, I recognized that there was either
too much failure or too much spoonfeeding in studying gemara. So I
decided to diversify. By using the technological resources available to
me, I crafted a seventh grade curriculum that explored different topics
using a wide variety of genres of Rabbinic literature. I found that
although some students could handle all of the material, having different
kinds of material allowed every student to find something on that topic
that they could hold onto.
The Rabbinics Lab is the extension of that model because I let students
find texts that are appropriately challenging. Some students find the
associative logic of midrash more akin to the way they think than the
logic of the gemara. Some students are better at categorizing and
organizing, and therefore they find their way to halakhic sources.
HaZaL knew that there were ba'alei halakhah and ba'alei aggadah and
masters of each different kind of literature, so why try to force each kid
into a gemara curriculum? When I look at the results in the RabLab, I
marvel at how amazingly appropriate the breadth of Rabbinic literature is
in matching the needs of my diverse classroom. And then I pause and
recognize that the breadth of Rabbinic literature probably exists because
our Sages had different learning styles as well.
As a final note, a portfolio model of assessment in which I evaluate the
student's product, and which showcases the work on the website, enables
even the students who require the most support to produce fine work of
which they can rightly be proud. I doubt anyone could go on to the RabLab
website and identify which pieces of work were produced by students in our
Gesher program (students with mild to moderate learning disabilities).
B'vrakhah,
Jeffrey A. Spitzer
Director of the Rabbinics Lab (http://www.uscj.org/ssds/boston/main.htm )
Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston
Jeffrey@Spitzer.net</HTML>
