Students in Paramus, Israel talk to each other via 'wiki'

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

BY DEENA YELLIN
The Record
STAFF WRITER
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PARAMUS – Some local students are learning the benefits of a global education.

TARIQ ZEHAWI/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Frisch students in a ninth-grade honors Hebrew language class using the Internet to
discuss the origins of the State of Israel with Israeli students.
The Frisch School, a co-ed Jewish high school, is using a type of online forum
known as a wiki to learn from their counterparts in other countries. This year, the
Frisch ninth- and 10th-graders have connected with high school students in the
Israeli cities of Naharia and Neve Chana.

Rabbi Tzvi Pittinsky, Frisch's director of educational technology, recently traveled

to Israel to develop the program. "Students participate in online discussions and
will be able to work together on joint projects using wiki technology," he said.

Ninth-grader Gabrielle Schlakman said the program has enlivened the classroom.
Through the wiki, she is literally on the same page with her counterparts in
Naharia. Her teachers contribute information to the wiki pages and her classmates
in Paramus and her counterparts in Israel respond to it by posting their ideas on the
discussion board.

Students in the Paramus classroom often have similar perspectives, but now they
are encountering students who harbor far different ideas. "We studied the same
materials as they did and we all gave our opinions in an online discussion," said
Schlakman. "They are not Orthodox and live in Naharia so they have a different
outlook than we do."

Sheer Singer, a freshman, discovered that as different as the students are in Israel,
they also have a lot in common. "I like that we're connecting with people around
the world. We all share some of the same hobbies. They face a lot of the same
problems that we do."

The Paramus and Naharia high schoolers recently enjoyed a wiki-based discussion
in which they analyzed a song, "Every Year Begins with a Question Mark." Then
they shared their own questions and dreams for the coming months with each other
online.

Tikva Wiener, chair of the English Department, is teaching her literature class to
10th-grade Frisch students as well as 10th-graders at Neve Chana, an Israeli city in
the Gush Etzion area.

"It enriches the learning process," said Wiener. "It provides an opportunity for
students to synthesize their classroom knowledge in ways that promote the
development of logic and critical thought."

She added that including Israeli students makes for a richer discussion. "We have
100 percent class participation because they all have to post their ideas. They can
see how they are like minded and not just living in their own little world," she said.

On a recent day, students read online essays from their fellow students in Israel
about what region of the world they would like to explore. While many of the
Paramus students said they would want to explore a country in Europe, the Israeli
students talked about China, Thailand and Africa, countries closer to their
homeland.
Jeremy Kaner, a freshman, said he thinks the initiative will catch on in other
American schools. "When the other schools hear that we're connecting to kids in
Nahariah, they're all going to want to do this too."

E-mail: yellin@northjersey.com