If you are a reader of this blog you probably know about The Frisch School Wiki. This wiki was created to foster integration across the curricular areas. Teachers post materials on the wiki pages from various subjects centered around a common theme and students interaction primarily through the Discussion section of each page.
I would like to share with you another wiki originating from The Frisch School which is completely created and run by students, Students4Israel. Since it's creation 3 years ago by a group of Frisch students, the Students4Israel wiki has expanded to include 5 participating schools. Below is the Students4Israel Mission Statement:
Students4Israel is a dynamic community that fosters advocacy among high school students on behalf of the State of Israel. Our key vehicle is our website which seeks to be "one-stop shop" for high school Israel advocacy programs by providing factual information about Israel and the world, acting as an aggregator for the free sharing of ideas, and most importantly, bringing the community and high schools together to act as a united body in support of Israel. We are dedicated to helping students from all backgrounds and all schools advocate for Israel, both as individuals and through their schools. We continue to hope and pray for Israel's peace and safety.
The reason a wiki was chosen as the platform for Students4Israel is because it is the fastest and easiest way to post information online. In one session with the student creators of the wiki, I was able to teach them what they needed to know to be able to continuously post compelling content online. We chose Wikispaces as our wiki provider since they offer ad free, password protected wikis for K-12 schools for free.
Besides posting information of interest to students who wish to advocate on behalf of the State of Israel, this wiki has become the focal point for many online petition drives to the United States Congress, the President, and the United Nations. In the Frisch School, these petitions are facilitated by Israel Advocacy Laptop Stations that are set up in high traffic areas in the school so that hundreds of students can sign the petitions in a single day. With the help of the wiki, these petition drives are posted in one central location and coordinated with the other participating schools so that they all can be signing petitions on the same day.
Our hope is that through this wiki and its many online projects, we can train the next generation of Jewish leaders who know how to advocate effectively for the State of Israel. If you are involved with a Yeshiva high school in the United States or elsewhere in the Diaspora and would like your students to become involved in this project, you can contact them using the following link: Contact Students4Israel.
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