Care to Join a Discussion on Curriculum Development?

Dear Friends,

Wow, I can't believe it is almost a year since my last postings...however writing is a serious commitment and time is short.

In any event, the question for today is, would you like to take part in an online discussion on the subject of curriculum development?

Some Background

My feelings on the lack of curricular materials available for Jewish day school are known. Just read my postings from a year ago. In brief, curriculum development is an area that seems to have received little attention in Jewish day school education. With schools struggling to stay afloat and support staff, very little resources remain for curriculum development. While there have been some notable gains in this area over the years, for the most part Judaic Studies students have been suffering due to a lack of professionally developed resources.

For example, there has been much discussion about the "Illiteracy Epidemic" - the phenomenon that many day school students cannot independently read a posuk of Chumash after twelve years of day school education. Some have suggested that a lack of educational standards and organized curriculum is at least partially to blame. After all, there is no objective way of measuring student achievement nor are there resources that can effectively develop our students understanding of Judaic Studies text in a methodological manner. Contrast this to what students have in secular studies where textbooks are developed by teams of professionals and based on the latest educational research. Our students simply lose out from walking around with photocopied sheets developed by an overworked educator not specifically trained in the field of curriculum development.

Recent innovations in digital technology are giving us access to more tools than ever (e.g. Smartboards or other forms of computer based instruction), however this too is essentially an exercise in curriculum development. Educational opportunities are simply being missed due to a lack of methodologically developed resources. (Could you imagine a Judaic Studies curriculum supported by an innovative textbook, an accompanying professionally designed Smartboard lesson and opportunities for individual online review?)

To be sure, the obstacles are many. Costs. Who would pay for upfront development costs? Is the market too small and fragmented? Are there organizations that can help in this area? What opportunities are there for combining resources? Are there other models that can be used to develop effective curriculum? Are there resources not widely known about? These are some questions that deserve consideration.

Recent Developments

The immediate reason for this posting is due to a recent development. The latest edition of Jewish Action magazine was devoted to the subject of "chinuch". One of the recurring themes in the articles was the need for new efforts in the field of curriculum development. To be brief, I posted my thoughts about this subject on LookJed and suggested it was time for educators to get together and brainstorm ways of improving this situation. The moderators of LookJed were kind enough to offer their assistance in hosting a web conference (after Pesach) and joining in the discussion - if there is enough interest.

Thus, if curriculum development is a subject that interests you, it is important that you let me know and I would be happy to keep you updated. Even better would be if you would post your thoughts about curriculum development on LookJed as well. Personally, I would like to see a conference that can be archived and discussion continued in an online forum so that everyone's thoughts can be heard. The thoughts expressed can be organized in a final document which can be used as a blueprint for future planning. If we garner enough interest we are hopefully bound to get someone's attention. Thus, no matter where you stand on the subject your thoughts are important and will be heard.

Thank you for interest and please forward this information to someone who would be interested in such a session as well. Feel free to distribute it at work as well.

Sincerely,

Tzvi Daum
tdaum@torahskills.org

http://www.TorahSkills.org
http://twitter.com/TorahSkills
http://opensourcecurriculum.blogspot.com/
http://joscp.org/ (webplatform can be used for collaborating on curriculum)