Jewish Day Schools and Web 2.0

I posted a large part of this blog entry at classroom 2.0. But this entry represents an extension of my earlier thinking.

One of the things that I love about the Jewish religion is the importance of learning. When Jewish people study they don't just study with the people in the same room. Instead, they use a book that contains ideas, questiosns and answers from other Jewish people who have lived throughout the ages. A typical page of Torah, when it's written in a book, has several short sentences of the actual text, in Hebrew at the top right of the page. RIght next to the original text is a translation in Arameic from one of the great teachers of the Babylonian period, Onkelos. Typically, In the margin of the other side of the page, stretching below the primary text is a comment by a great French rabbi (1000s or so, I think), Rashi. The page also includes comments by a Spanish Rabbi (Mainmonides), and others. Take a look at what a page looks like: You can see all of the different comments.

So, you might be asking, what does this have to do with Web 2.0. What's Web 2.0?

Another way to look at Web 2.0 is that it contains dozens and dozens (likely far more now then when I began writing this sentence) of conversations. Each conversation starts with an original idea. But then lots and lots of different people from different backgrounds and different geographical regions chime in. Soon, as often happens with Jewish learning, you've gone off on such a tangent that it's hard to know how you got from where you were to where you are. But then again, does it matter?

Imagine a page of Mikraot Gedolot in which every comment had a set of links to other sites including information about the quoted text and the author. Where did the author live? How did the events of the Jewish world influence this author? How did events in the non-Jewish world influence this author? What traditional commentaries and modern opinions agreed with this author? What traditional commentaries and modern opinions disagreed with him? In what ways does this commentary effect the traditional understanding of the text?

Just as importantly, nay, perhaps more importantly as asking how the text compares to other texts, it's important to ask students their own interpretations about the text. Students could be asked to explain what the text means to them and develop a connection (link) between the text and a modern idea. They could be told to engage somebody else somewhere in the world about this text and include an original response to it in the set of links related to the page. The original idea could be a collaoration between the student and his/her outside contact.

The tools of Web 2.0 will allow students to 1. develop an understanding of the traditional text; 2. elucidate the ways in which the traditional text is connected to other traditional texts and modern ideas; 3. produce personal interpretations and responses to the text; and, 4. present the entire learning product in a coherent manner that others can incoporate into their own learning.


My first teaching job after college graduation was at a Jewish day school, teaching text. I quickly learned that the study of traditional text can push students to develop high quality thinking skills. I also learned that the study of traditional Jewish texts and modern secular texts can incorporate many of the same pedagogies and learning habits. My point is that while this blog entry has considered how to effectively teach Torah text using the tools of Web 2.0, this same discussion could have applied to secular literature.

Perhaps in a future blog entry I'll develop a sample portfolio product explicitly demonstrating how to grapple with literature using the tools of Web 2.0.

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