When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe
and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and
demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical)
and virtual (i.e. online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. The
combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online
learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will
describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction
and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post
we will discuss how the Web Quest, an online authentic learning instructional
strategy, can be used for Judaic instruction and the mentoring/teaching of
pre-service and in-service Jewish educators.
Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART
Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a
computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD
projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access
to their own laptop computers or Ipads. Given parental and school
approval, and the development of specific guidelines, smartphones can be used
to enhance instruction as well.
Note: Although the Web Quest can be applied in the Judaic Studies blended
learning classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and
in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our
hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of
practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft,
and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of
Jewish educators. For example, here is
a CoP you might want to join.
As a review, here is our definition of authentic learning:
Authentic learning:
additional explanations
Click on these links to
find more elaborate definitions of authentic learning:
What is a Web Quest?
Here is the definition
of the web quest according to Web Quest.org:
A web quest is
an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that
learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie
Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early
input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational
Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of
participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium.
Web Quests which focus on
Judaic content
Click
on the links below to find Web Quests on Judaic Studies topics:
- http://www.colourpoint.co.uk/extra/localglobal/judaism1.html
- http://rbonnich.wikispaces.com/Judaism+WebQuest
- http://rbonnich.wikispaces.com/Judaism+WebQuest+Rubric
- http://sites.google.com/site/holocaustandhumanbehavior/Home/webquest-judaism
- http://www2.acaje.org/content/educationalResources/articles/usingInternet.shtml
- http://www.4shared.com/document/DdTUcak4/Judaism_Webquest.html
- http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_paxetaurora/AnneFrankMuseumofJewishHeritageWebQuest?bc=
- http://www.lookstein.org/lessonplans_9-12_bible.php
- http://tbyresources.pbworks.com/w/page/19652110/Limudei-Kodesh-and-Hebrew
- http://clfish.org/WorldReligions.htm
- http://www.dcs.edu/webpages/slewis/resources.cfm?subpage=593869
On the next post we will begin our discussion of how
problem based learning is another approach to implementing authentic learning.
