I was so blessed to be part of the Jewish Women’s Archive’s 2010 Institute for Educators. The JWA is about to release their social justice curriculum Living the Legacyand we certainly spent plenty of time reviewing that and the JWA’s multimedia resources (in development right now – stay tuned). But we also spent time learning with some amazing educators, exploring ways to integrate art into education, examining how to use oral history with students, and much more.

We heard from Rabbi Jill Jacobs, author of There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law and Tradition, who modeled using text to teach social justice. Integrating text has always been hard for me, and I’m grateful for Jill’s teaching and for the remarkable resource that her book provides. There’s also a teacher’s guide which you can download from the Jewish Lights website. Dr. Jayne Guberman also taught us how to use oral history in teaching and modeled it by interviewing Judy Frieze Wright, a woman who was a Freedom Rider in the 60′s. That was an incredible experience. I hope the interview, which was filmed, will be available at some time – it was a true gift to be there.

If you haven’t been using the JWA’s resources, go visit them. Take a minute to bookmark the website, because as soon as the multimedia archive is up and the Living the Legacy curriculum is released, you’re going to want to go there again and again. And keep your eyes open when they announce their next institute – it was an incredible experience and I’m so grateful that I was part of it.

Debbie Harris is the technology coordinator at the Sager Solomon Schechter Middle School in Northbrook, IL and teaches religious school at Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism. She was a participant in JWA's 2010 Institute for Educators. This piece was originally posted on her blog, Muse for Jews.