A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words: A Reflection on Art-Based Assignments for the Study of Traditional Jewish Texts

ABSTRACT

As instructors of Jewish Studies struggle to find ways for their students to be more engaged in their learning, it is worthwhile for educators to consider whether art-based assignments are effective at reaching this goal. This article examines what students gain when their study of a biblical chapter is paired with the generation of an art product on that chapter. The study evaluates a pictorial summary assignment to retell the narrative and a dramatic production assignment to analyze the messages of a biblical chapter. The findings suggest that art-based assignments help students read Jewish texts more closely and make more personal connections to them more so than when no pictorial component is included with verbal-based assignments.

KEYWORDS:

• Art-based assignments
• engaged
• traditional Jewish texts

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15244113.2024.2341472

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yael Jaffe

Yael Jaffe PhD, is a Bible and Talmud teacher at Maimonides School. Her research interests focus on applying secular research about reading comprehension to the study of Talmud and other Jewish texts. E-mail: [email protected]

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.