Shore Jewish Academy – Chabad, Long Branch, NJ
May 23, 2023
Did ChatGPT Write this Essay?
June 28, 2023
Miriam Gettinger
As a digital immigrant who did not even know how to turn on a computer prior to becoming principal in a cutting-edge technological school environment, I have learned much over the past 15 years. In reflection, it is important to focus upon the medium of technology in Jewish education independently of its messaging. Technology after all is a tool, an educational implement which can be used to enhance Judaic studies instruction, increase motivation and student engagement, and provide a platform for student voice and choice in presentation or consolidation of their extended thinking and learning. It is not, however, a panacea nor is it designed to babysit restless students. Technology can be misused or abused, addictive and even dangerous. Just as we would never put a power drill or circular saw in the hands of a child without proper safety goggles and adult supervision and guidance nor give a young teenager the keys to a car with a carte blanche ‘license’ to go wherever and whenever they wanted, we ought not grant unsupervised technology exposure to our children without controls and trainings.
And yet we all face the ubiquitous reality of doing just that! Importantly, though, we must not blame nor eschew technology, for it is just the tool. We must be wary of setting up a ‘forbidden fruit’ scenario, and instead mine and direct its usage to our advantage in reaching 21st century students growing up in this very digital environment.
School Leaders as Digital Immigrants
Principals must be vulnerable, truly and transparently reflective in analysis of the medium of technology with themselves, teachers, parents, lay leaders, and students. In particular, we must acknowledge the generation gap and erosion of kibbud horim u’morim in a society where even the youngest of children are intuitively adept and able to navigate apps, order from Amazon (I have a seven-year-old student who was featured on national television for ordering $3500 worth of random Prime items delivered to her grandparents’ home as she played on their phone), and where savvy tweenagers can circumvent filters and blocks. Like the early 20th century, when most immigrants did not drive while their teenagers embraced their new freedom of movement, the digital divide between immigrants and natives must not be denied nor glossed over.
Pancake People
We are forced to confront the educational implications of the superficial information explosion with facts and figures at our fingertips, creating the ‘pancake people’ syndrome of students knowing a lot but being unable to think deeply and critically. Principals must direct and model for their teachers how we might use quick and easy access to content knowledge to dive deeply and synthesize such information into concept-based instruction, challenging students to rich, strategic and extended thinking learning opportunities.
By way of example, in teaching Parshas Bamidbar, a teacher might assign a technology-based census project, beginning with having students use the pesukim to create a Google spreadsheet comparing the numbers of each shevet in Parshas Bamidbar with Parshas Pinchas, analyzing the total population numbers and tribal counts, which dramatically increased or decreased over the 40 years, subsequently creating a digital model of the location of their camps and degel simanim, and then coding them to actual march according to both of Rashi’s shitot. They might then extend the learning activity by providing research or specified sites on world Jewish population pre- and post- Holocaust, or American centers of Jewish population from the early or mid-20th century to today, which students then create into an interactive Tiki-Toki or Flourish digital timeline to share with their peers or other authentic audience.
Screen Zombies
Finally, principals must address the neuroscience of the ‘screen zombie’ effect as it impacts student focus, blurs the lines of artificial or augmented reality versus real reality, and stifles creative thinking and communication. Most significantly, they must contend with technology’s inherent obsessive or addictive nature which invites and incites a spiraling spiritual yerida, totally independent of the internet or content viewed. Metaphorically, it is akin to avoda zara whose ubiquitous worship, decoration, and closeting beyond cabinet doors, depicted in Sefer Yeshayah, plagued Klal Yisrael throughout the period of the Shoftim until the destruction of the first Bais Hamikdash.
My father, Rabbi Wein, shlita, compares the advent of technology with the disruptive innovation of the printing press in the late 15th century in revolutionizing education and literacy for the masses. In considering the message and content of technology, he notes the fascinating parallel to our digital milieu, that the two most commonly printed materials were Bibles and pornography, opposite sides of the spiritual continuum.
Opportunities for the Digital Natives
Seen through the positive lens of expanding limudei kodesh Judaic instruction opportunities, principals might focus on McTighe’s Curriculum Mapping 3.0 which moves beyond description, scope and sequence of content, and even beyond alignment with standards, to the next frontier of the presentation platform, highlighting student outcomes by providing rich and motivating project ‘voice and choice’ extensions, predicated upon Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Level 4 skills: proving, creating, synthesizing, designing and applying concepts.
Ted Talks, infographics, authoring and illustrating books for a younger audience, videos, or student-created escape rooms are each designed to simulate real adult world skills in a results-focused continuous improvement culture. The Garage Band app facilitates music creation as a Tanach summary, NearPod and Explain Everything apps allow students to present research projects on a myriad of Jewish history or chagim topics, while Flip Grid, Book Creator, and CoSpaces can be utilized to share family tree interviews, connecting students in Israel with our own through a shared grandparents project such as the one sponsored by the ANU (formerly Diaspora) Museum. Emerging virtual reality (VR) tech like MERGE Cube and Spatial can be used to create immersive experiences within places or objects.
As principals we can advance our students’ 21st century critical and creative thinking skills, communication and collaboration, digitally in routine instruction. For example, challenging them during a Hebrew luach lesson to find the corresponding secular date for a chag in 2054 or asking them to determine when the next shmitta would be. They could choose to use the Comprehensive 100 Year Jewish Calendar book, Google the answer, or ask Siri, and will be shocked to find out that often referencing the book is fastest. Similarly, students can be tasked with writing an overview to the date, names, minhagim, and mitzvot of a chag as a Wikipedia entry in English or Ivrit. Afterward, as an anchor activity or opportunity for differentiation, they could compare it to what is actually out there in cyberspace.
Innovative multigrade and/or cross curricular integrative project ideas which foster student agency through unique technology opportunities and expositions of learning include a student designed and docented Holocaust museum (https://hhaihm.weebly.com/,) or a digital siddur project for both a younger and middle school level, creating Thinglinks connecting tefillot to engaging activities like playing notes on a harp for any of the pirkei Tehillim or a game simulating the fall of Yericho’s walls for Aleinu, each coded by the students themselves. This kind of technology use is the stuff of inspiring emotional memories in Yiddishkeit.
Conclusion
Technology in Judaic instruction is the future. In this future, profiles of our graduates will likely include evidence of these very student outcomes of learning, augmenting standardized assessments like the JSAT. CoJDS curricula like L’havin U’lehaskil, as well as their new navi and tefilla offerings, afford rich and engaging digital resources for student rehearsal of content and mastery of textual skills, ongoing feedback through interactive assessments, as well as linked songs, videos, and maps.
Technology is really a force to be harnessed in the present. As technology advances, many of the human roles of today may be replaced by computers and intelligent robots. What about teachers? The mantra of a 21st century learner in the digital age is that there are two ways in which human beings are inherently superior to technology in the realm of education generally, and Jewish education specifically. Computers cannot be empathetic while teachers must always be, nor can computers exude passion, an attribute our students must consistently strive for in becoming future bnei aliyah.
Mrs. Miriam Gettinger has been a principal for the past 30 years, currently at the Hasten Hebrew Academy of Indianapolis and previously at the South Bend Hebrew Day School, as well as at the helm of Bais Yaakov High School of Indiana. A graduate of Beth Jacob Teachers Institute of Jerusalem as well as Touro College, she has taught Limudei Kodesh to all ages from elementary to adult for over 40 years. Contact Mrs. Gettinger at mgettinger@hhai.org.