Educators in Jewish schools often wonder:
- How can our students collaborate in a supportive, caring way?
- How can we teach Jewish values in new, different, and interesting ways?
- How can students of varying abilities and learning styles share their talents?
- How can we develop our students' creativity?
Student-created murals provide surprising and wonderful answers to these questions by providing the following benefits:
A positive learning atmosphere - Mural projects excite youngsters. Children intuitively know that they'll be moving their bodies, using their minds, and working together. These are all natural ways for kids to learn. In addition to creating lots of zeal, a mural project also provides a safe space for students to take risks. Mural projects offer constant opportunities for success and help to strengthen students' self-esteem and self-confidence.
Peaceful interactions and community building - Most synagogue-based Hebrew/religious schools' curriculum are designed as a progressive climb to becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Sometimes this Hebrew/religious school journey parallels a student's secular educational experience, where grades are assigned as signs of success.
With mural projects, the focus is shifted to a group accomplishment. Students work in teams to come up with themes, sketch designs, and paint together. This kind of interaction may be one of the few times that students have worked in such a collaborative and cooperative way. Also, utilizing the arts as a vehicle for learning was frequently a new experience for many students. The process is liberating, healing, empowering, and inspiring. It offers students a real life experience that demonstrates the power of community and teamwork to achieve a mutual goal.
Talking and doing, a powerful combination - Both the content and process of mural-making supports Jewish educational curricular goals. For instance, at Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, students explored the idea "Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah" (one good deed leads to another) in hevruta, or pairs. They talked about the idea that when others are kind to them, they in turn pay it forward and are kind to others. Creating a visual representation on the mural of what "Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah" meant to them made the lesson meaningful, powerful, and permanent.
Inclusiveness - Many students can participate in the numerous steps that are involved in a mural's creation and completion. Younger children enjoy drawing images and painting them in. Older children welcome the sophisticated concepts of composition, color mixing, and theme development. Parents and community members enthusiastically lend a hand.
Students with ADHD and other learning challenges also thrive, since the mural requires a variety of skills that do not characteristically occur a typical classroom scenario.
Unleashed creativity - Mural projects allow for students and adults to claim or reclaim their creative spirits. Their enthusiasm to contribute to the mural is kindled, fostered, and supported.
Community pride - A large, prominently displayed, and permanent mural in a synagogue-based Hebrew/religious school or Jewish day school fosters tremendous pride among students, parents, staff, and administrators, and acts as a daily reminder of a school's core beliefs.
By introducing a mural project into their curriculum, educators in a Jewish day school or a synagogue-based Hebrew/religious school can share an exciting, imaginative, and dynamic approach to teaching Jewish values. Students connect with this kind of a project in an passionate, energetic, and highly focused way. When Jewish values are taught through a variety of processes (such as discussion, collaboration, sketching, and painting) a deeper understanding is acquired.
- How can our students collaborate in a supportive, caring way?
- How can we teach Jewish values in new, different, and interesting ways?
- How can students of varying abilities and learning styles share their talents?
- How can we develop our students' creativity?
Student-created murals provide surprising and wonderful answers to these questions by providing the following benefits:
A positive learning atmosphere - Mural projects excite youngsters. Children intuitively know that they'll be moving their bodies, using their minds, and working together. These are all natural ways for kids to learn. In addition to creating lots of zeal, a mural project also provides a safe space for students to take risks. Mural projects offer constant opportunities for success and help to strengthen students' self-esteem and self-confidence.
Peaceful interactions and community building - Most synagogue-based Hebrew/religious schools' curriculum are designed as a progressive climb to becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Sometimes this Hebrew/religious school journey parallels a student's secular educational experience, where grades are assigned as signs of success.
With mural projects, the focus is shifted to a group accomplishment. Students work in teams to come up with themes, sketch designs, and paint together. This kind of interaction may be one of the few times that students have worked in such a collaborative and cooperative way. Also, utilizing the arts as a vehicle for learning was frequently a new experience for many students. The process is liberating, healing, empowering, and inspiring. It offers students a real life experience that demonstrates the power of community and teamwork to achieve a mutual goal.
Talking and doing, a powerful combination - Both the content and process of mural-making supports Jewish educational curricular goals. For instance, at Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, students explored the idea "Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah" (one good deed leads to another) in hevruta, or pairs. They talked about the idea that when others are kind to them, they in turn pay it forward and are kind to others. Creating a visual representation on the mural of what "Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah" meant to them made the lesson meaningful, powerful, and permanent.
Inclusiveness - Many students can participate in the numerous steps that are involved in a mural's creation and completion. Younger children enjoy drawing images and painting them in. Older children welcome the sophisticated concepts of composition, color mixing, and theme development. Parents and community members enthusiastically lend a hand.
Students with ADHD and other learning challenges also thrive, since the mural requires a variety of skills that do not characteristically occur a typical classroom scenario.
Unleashed creativity - Mural projects allow for students and adults to claim or reclaim their creative spirits. Their enthusiasm to contribute to the mural is kindled, fostered, and supported.
Community pride - A large, prominently displayed, and permanent mural in a synagogue-based Hebrew/religious school or Jewish day school fosters tremendous pride among students, parents, staff, and administrators, and acts as a daily reminder of a school's core beliefs.
By introducing a mural project into their curriculum, educators in a Jewish day school or a synagogue-based Hebrew/religious school can share an exciting, imaginative, and dynamic approach to teaching Jewish values. Students connect with this kind of a project in an passionate, energetic, and highly focused way. When Jewish values are taught through a variety of processes (such as discussion, collaboration, sketching, and painting) a deeper understanding is acquired.
About the Author:
Jennifer
Levine is an accomplished Jewish educator and visual artist. After receiving her
Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she spent
a year studying Jewish texts at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. She has been
a teacher for over twenty
years and a school director for fifteen years. She is currently the founder/director of The Peace
Garden Song and Mural Project, an initiative that brings collaborative art,
music, and mindfulness education to Jewish and secular schools across the
country.
Levine is an accomplished Jewish educator and visual artist. After receiving her
Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she spent
a year studying Jewish texts at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. She has been
a teacher for over twenty
years and a school director for fifteen years. She is currently the founder/director of The Peace
Garden Song and Mural Project, an initiative that brings collaborative art,
music, and mindfulness education to Jewish and secular schools across the
country.
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