How the Site Came to Be

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This website was initiated as part of a project for the Lookstein Fellowships, of the Lookstein Centre for Jewish School Leadership, Bar Ilan University.

The original idea for the heart of the website was that Chumash work by 10 year old Year 5 pupils would be transferred from their 'Hyperlink Workbook' to a real website.  The pedagogic foundations for this idea were that the hyperlink facility would enable pupils to pick out the separate textual and contextual aspects in a pasuk and link them to corresponding pages in their web in a question/answer format.  The webs would be constructed by the pupils in paper workbooks then transformed into real webs and put on to the Internet by the teacher.  Pupils would then be able to present and explain their completed webs to their classmates.

The pupils worked hard on the Hyperlink Workbooks and the results of these activities can be viewed in the 'Our Own Work' section.  This work generated a great deal of genuine inquiry into the Chumash text, active learning and much heated discussion both in pairs and as a class.

Ultimately, however, we moved on from the Hyperlink Workbook, as learning objectives were clarified and the workbook's benefits in terms of these objectives were evaluated.  We realised that, in using the Hyperlink Workbook, our focus had tended to over-dwell on the context, the narrative, at the expense of textual elements - vocabulary and grammar.

In an exciting whole class exercise we constructed the diagram you can see on the 'Our Method of Learning the Pesukim' page.  There is an explanation beneath it as well as a link to more comprehensive 'Teachers' Notes.'

The Tasks and Groups Method described on those pages did not involve the use of computers.  However, as our learning moved on, and as Year 5 moved into Year 6, new ideas became new pages on the website, some largely representing the new work we were doing (such as 'emphatexts') and others actually helping us in our learning (such as the Rashi Letters and Words Flashcards).  The Rashi Reading Crash Course presents a thorough system for learning how to read Rashi script in a relatively short time.

The site continues to grow and develop alongside the changes and developments in the ways we learn in class.

Explore and enjoy!  (9th February 2003)

23rd March, 2005:

TorahSchool has now become a more general resource for Limmudei Kodesh teachers, providing ideas and materials for a variety of L.K. subjects.  Do click around the site and then submit a little feedback using the Visitors Book page (and get your name 'up in lights'!)

7th October 2008:

TorahSchool continues to help L.K. teachers around the world.  Please do let me know if you find anything in TS useful in your teaching.  I always get lots of 'nachas' when visitors to the site email a little feedback.
B'Hatzlacha!

J. Richards
Kerem School
London
England