Unlike teaching Biology or French, when teaching Jewish Studies there have traditionally been no schemes of work, no resources, and no clear structure to follow. Whereas a Maths or English teacher will find ready made plans, worksheets and sequences available for each topic in the national curriculum, Jewish Studies teachers might simply be told: teach ‘Pesach’.
But with the advent of AI, the Jewish Studies teacher’s starting point has completely changed. Today we can ask for a draft scheme of work, key vocabulary, and lesson questions in minutes. It isn’t perfect, but it removes the paralysis of starting from nothing.
Here are a few very practical applications of AI that are being used in real Jewish Studies classrooms already:
- Turn historical figures into learning partners: prompt AI to role-play Avraham, or the Rambam, and let students question them to investigate a topic.
- Ask AI to generate three different explanations of the same pasuk — one simple, one analytical, and one debate-style — to spark classroom discussion.
- Use AI to produce key-word glossaries before starting a new unit so students enter the text with shared vocabulary.
- Ask AI to generate structured comparison tables between commentators so students can quickly see where views diverge.
- Upload a photograph of a difficult Hebrew commentary and ask AI to explain it in clear English before teaching it.
- Have students ask AI to summarise a sugya or text — then challenge them to improve the summary using the original source.
- When planning a new unit, paste in your previous scheme of work and ask AI to mirror the structure for a different topic, keeping progression consistent.
Through trial and error, teachers have built guidelines for using AI.
Do:
- Do use AI as a start point: ask AI for a draft scheme of work or lesson outline, then refine it yourself.
- Do upload your mark scheme before using AI for marking so feedback matches your assessment criteria.
- Do use AI to clarify complex questions: ask it in advance to rewrite an exam or essay question in simpler language for students who are struggling.
- Do ask students to critique AI answers: What did it miss? What did it oversimplify?
- Do use AI for scaffolding: simplifying questions, generating summaries, or structuring essays for students who need support.
Don’t
- Don’t give students AI output without checking it first. It can make confident mistakes.
- Don’t rely on AI plagiarism detectors. They are unreliable and easily mislead teachers.
- Don’t allow students to cite AI as a source. They should ask AI for the source and verify it themselves.
- Don’t outsource professional judgement: reports and subjective marking still need the teacher’s voice and oversight.
- Don’t design homework that only requires recall. AI will do it instantly; focus on analysis, critique and application instead.
AI hasn’t reduced teachers’ workloads in the way everyone expected — if anything, expectations are rising. But what it has done is remove the barrier of the blank page. Used carefully, it frees teachers to spend less time generating materials and more time doing what matters most: helping students think.
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