Lesson/Unit: Israel

D Gardner

• Students will gain exposure to  Israel’s major cities, historical sites, art and music as delineated in the  Assignment Section of WebQuest
• Layout of the lesson/scaffolding will be presented using a timeline, embarking  the first day of school when Israel is introduced as a major topic of study for 5th grade students, and concluding with presentations to the entire school the last day of class. Checkpoints include students selecting a topic by December; presenting a draft to the class in February; to parents in April and the school in May.
• Key technologies include:
• Teacher directed learning: wiki, webquest, timeline, YouTube, web sites, Google maps, virtual tours (cities and museums), flip camera, Google docs, and Diigo
• Student presentations: technology of their choice, with teacher approval re project design, or none (students opt to select means of presentation)
• Reflections
• This project based, year long assignment is the pride of the 5th graders. This year we  found that the written reports and posters weren’t as well researched as in the past. As a result, the WebQuest will direct students in their research and establish a common core of exposure/knowledge. Material selected is gripping, of high quality and intended to instill/foster  a love of Israel as well as set high standards for student reports. With the use of a YouTube capturing actual footage from Israel becoming a state, students will have a sense of the excitement in 1948 when Israel gained statehood. As eyewitnesses age, technology will become ever more important to capture their stories. I applaud the efforts of Facing History and Ourselves to embark on this, as well as the History Project in San Francisco.
• It was both fun and inspiring to pour over the wealth of material and resources available. How fortunate we are to have a homeland, after so many years in diaspora. Our rich culture, reflects the diversity of Israel’s population.


• I look forward to collaborating with the fifth grade teacher in presenting this next year.

CJPTTF Blog # 8 Big Ideas - Reflections re teaching and learning with technology

As I entered the class, I expected to expand my repertoire for engaging lessons. I now exit with exciting, dynamic tools to use with my students, fortified with resources and endless opportunities for my students, colleagues and myself. Not only will I incorporate technology in the classroom with my students, but already I have found it an invaluable tool and resource for both researching topics and facilitating the multitude of administrative tasks related to teaching.

Although I have always maintained that we all learn together (students and teachers,) and accepted that students are more tech savvy,  I am now: much more knowledgeable about technology; have achieved a comfort level, embrace it; and am having fun, as I became totally immersed exploring the many resources we’ve been exposed to in just the past few months. Another aspect that I gained from the course is the ever expanding circle of colleagues to collaborate with, combining best practices from across the country and around the world.

In my role coordinating Hebrew instruction for students with learning disabilities and for students who are new to the school, goals for future include:

• developing lessons incorporating on-line resources for Hebrew instruction;
• creating reports for classroom teachers, specialists, administrators and myself to access and update concurrently; and
• developing resources for students to access to further strengthen their Hebrew reading skills.
  
  

Within the school, we have project based learning and a school wide system of assessment for Hebrew reading skills within our spiraling curriculum. Based upon my research during this course, we have agreed to implement an incentive system for those who acquire 100% proficiency.  Classroom instruction will be somewhat “flipped” with the expectation that students practice at home to achieve this. Thus, our goals will particularly address the dual problems of student absenteeism, and the chronic complaint of teachers not having enough time to teach. It will be interesting to collaborate with other colleagues to achieve these goals.

My Take Aways

I have taken away more than I ever thought I could in four classes.  I feel very proficient in creating a Wiki.  Our Hebrew School is now project based and I have been creating a wiki with 12 3rd and 4th graders.  I am amazed by the great job that they did.  They look forward to coming to Hebrew School each Sunday to work on the computers.  Some of them even do work during the week on their own and come in all excited to tell me about it.  I think that next year I will create a Wiki for my class to keep parents up to date on what we are doing.

I also did not realize all of the things you can do on youtube.  I thought it was only for watching videos.  I really enjoyed making a create your own adventure with the seder plate.  I plan on doing that with other things next year.

Our school is in the process of getting more technology and hopefully next year we will be able to get wifi without relying on hotspots.

Svetlana was wonderful and if she is teaching a follow up class to this one I would love to take it!!!!

Thoughts upon finishing the Technology Fellowship

The technology fellowship has been an amazing way to connect to the best resources in Jewish educational technology and has totally inspired me to incorporate technology into my classroom regularly. 

Here are a few ways the fellowship has inspired my work in the past few months:

1. I created a wiki to help my students learn Hebrew.
2. I crafted a project based learning experience on Jonah. I have done this before but never using technology and it is better than ever. 
3. My 7th graders have been engaged in a History game on Zionisms. We are creating a full length iMovie on our project that we will show at Israel day
4. I have helped my fifth graders move the skits they so love to iMovies that are much richer and full of midrashic possibility. It is really pushing their creativity and engagement. My classroom is so exciting!
5. I have moved several of my 7th grade facing history lessons to be digital. My iPad and laptop makes its way into almost every lesson and I am utilizing resources I didn't know existed before on the facing history website. 
6. I created a wiki for a Temple Israel professional development project. The wiki is allowing different groups to work together and is recording our work for the future. 
7. I have moved so many TBZ projects to google docs - no more sending word documents back and forth!

Though I am generally a tech savvy person, this fellowship has really pushed me to put technology front and center in my practice. My goal is to continue to learn and grow and technology changes and develops. Technology is a tool - I want to get better at choosing appropriate tools and allowing technology to be productive in my classroom. 

My Big Takeaways from the TTF

I am excited about the idea of introducing video-making into the classroom.  I think the kids are really going to enjoy it and I think that the various cuts done in film open up possibilities for exploring various ways to interpret and understand the Torah text.  Ideally, I would want my students to be as independent as possible with the editing and posting of video, music and pdf's.  As I ease into this, I imagine that I will be handling a lot of the final production elements and am a bit concerned about how much time that will take.  I think that I would benefit from further exploration of easy to use technology for the students to be empowered to complete the project themselves.

Wikispaces is a great, simple to use tool for my classroom.  I have been sending out weekly e-mails with assignments and class summaries but would be better served compiling it all onto wiki.

Plan for using technology in the classroom

Option 1:
I have created a main wiki page for my 2nd and 3rd grade Bereshit class that will have links to every unit's individual wiki page. For example, the unit Joseph: From Pit to Palace has a wiki page with a webquest of sorts. On this wiki page, students will review the material (with embedded youtube videos as well as written instructions for book reading), answer a couple questions, and choose an option for their own creative final project.

 The options for the project include:

1. Being the rabbi and coming up with your own questions about the story (posted right onto that section by the student) 
2. Film a news report about the story (using my Iphone and/or TBZ filming capabilities with laptops and a handheld camera) 
3. Drawing a scene in the story (to be scanned and submitted onto the page) 
4. Create a wordle with the words that you think are most important in the story (I'm not sure how one would post this other than printing it out and scanning it) 
5. Write and record a song (Iphone and garageband on laptop) Again, all of these projects would be posted on the Joseph: From Pit to Palace wiki page.

Option 2: Using the same wiki page, students will be asked to take the following steps after review the material:

1. Come up with a list of questions about the story 
2. For each question, think of at least two possible answers 
3. Film a news report where you are trying to give the viewers all of the information but you keep running into questions! To make matters more confusing, the reporters don't agree on the answers to the questions. This would be done in two groups of 4, filmed in class with cutaways to side reporters, drawings, and wordle. I would then edit the material in imovie and produce it for the class to enjoy!

Prezi on The Book of Esther and Historical Contextualization

Hannah Lindholm and I created this prezi in order to explore the historical contextualization of the book of Esther. It is meant to be a way for a teacher to guide the students in an active text study and exploration of the book. It is very much a work in progress.

Wiki for Jonah Project based learning

I am currently running this project based learning experience at Temple Israel.

Here is the lesson plan:

Essential Questions:
What are the big unanswerable questions in the book of Jonah?
How can we learn about the difficulties of leadership from exploring the our questions?
How can midrash help us delve deeply into the Torah?

Enduring understandings:
-The book of Jonah is filled with unanswerable questions that push us towards contemplating the problems of leadership, and what makes leadership difficult.
-Jonah is a difficult, real character that makes decisions that aren't easy. Through exploring his decisions, we can have a better understanding of our own decision making and what keeps us from stepping up sometimes.
- Prophets are human beings just like us. Being a prophet doesn't mean being perfect. We can be inspired by the prophets and also learn "what not to do"

Procedure in short:
1. Read the whole book of Jonah
2. Post 5 -10 questions you have after reading the book
3. Discuss the difference between an "answerable" question and a "not answerable" question
4. Review our class rubric
5. In chevrutah or alone, choose one question and post it
7. In chevrutah or alone, create a project that answers your question
8. Present your project to the class

In order to structure a project based learning experience about Jonah, I created this wiki. I am running this lesson right now and the students are all doing digital projects including iMovies, a prezi and a powerpoint.

Wiki to help Students Learn Hebrew

I have created a wiki to help students learn Hebrew. It is very much a work in progress, but I hope that it will be useful for my students and the teachers I work with. I appreciate any and all comments, particularly suggestions for resources!

Hillel and Shammai Lesson

This is a lesson presenting the famous Hillel and Shammai "On One Foot" debate. It is part of a larger history unit that spans the course of our year.

The lesson is presented in the form of a web quest scaffold in a google presentation. The students will start by watching a movie on youtube and then prepare for a class discussion to make sure everyone is on the same page in their comprehension after the video. 

Then the students will make their own videos using their computers' webcams or one of the hand held video cameras our school has available. They will be making a series of two videos with their group, one a short video explaining how to tie one's shoes (sub ten seconds) and another longer video explaining how to tie one's shoes (a minute or longer.) 

As the students move through the lesson they will add their own slides on to the end of the presentation, the first being a slide with both of their videos uploaded. Afterwards, to take the idea an move in a more intellectual direction the students will read an article from DOGO, a kid friendly news source, and then create a short video or comic strip with the tools at Primaryaccess.org to explain their article in a Hillel and Shammai like manner. 

Once they have loaded this into a slide at the end of the presentation they will choose one other group's article and presentation, look through it, and comment. 

Reflections: I have found in teaching lessons in this style it is very important to put the right group of kids together. Technology seems to be able to exacerbate bad group dynamics, as everyone wants a turn and anyone who is not proficient in the use of the computer tends to feel a tremendous amount of pressure from their classmates. I have seen that different groups will try to share the computer in different ways, such as one student using the keyboard and another using the mouse. Creating clear rules about how the computer can and should be shared seems important to reduce the risk of problems arising in the groups.

Winship's big ideas from TTF

It has been a great seminar and I have learned a lot about the powerful tools that exist on the internet that can help present information and engage students in a new way in class. I think more than anything else, the tools I have seen on the internet creating an engaging way for students to collaborate together in the classroom, and perhaps even more importantly, at home. There isn't a lot of class time in our after school program and by creating school google accounts that students can access from home, they are able to continue working on projects that interest them together without the need for photocopying the work they have done at school to send home or asking them to find time to meet together outside of school hours.

When we first started this fellowship and I started using technology in my classroom I felt that it could only benefit all of the students in my class. Throughout this past semester I have run into several issues using technology with students with different disabilities, especially those with processing issues. It is not enough to put technology in front of the students, it is about finding the right tools to support different learning abilities and styles. 

Often in the beginning of this fellowship I used google docs as a mode for my students to work during class, and found that for those kids with dyslexia this was a frustrating class that created problems with their group dynamics. This was solved with a personal computer for these specific students, or by starting to use other tools, such as comic strip creators and movies to allow these students to respond to our class discussions in alternate ways.

In the future I would like to utilize the ease technology hands to moving projects between the classroom and home to deepen the homework assignments I ask my students to do and help them continue their learning throughout the week. I also hope to find more efficient tools so that less time can be used in class to accomplish more with technology.

Wiki for Ninth Grade Israel Beth El Class

Wiki for the Ninth Grade Israel Class at Beth El

Our second project for the Technology Fellowship was the creation of a Class Wiki for our Ninth Grade Israel Class, on which we could post Webquests and assignments and the students could post finished work , as well as answer the “question of the day”.  We have enough netbooks for each student to have one in class, so they can work on the projects in class.

The Wiki can be seen at http://bethel-grade9.wikispaces.com/. It currently has two projects.  The first is webquest for Wars in Israel  in which students are asked to make a Prezi  about one aspect of one war.  There is a Prezi I made as an example on the Wiki.  The second is a Webquest to research an itinerary in Israel that is based on the itinerary the class will be using next year on their tenth grade HiBur trip to Israel.  The project is to make a popplet about one of the places on the itinerary.

Mark and Judy

Judy's Big Ideas from TTF

The primary ideas that I have taken away are that technology is indispensable for capturing attention in today’s classroom.  Students are so used to being able to find information for themselves that the teacher as a source of information has lost most of his/her value.  The teacher need to become a coach for the students self -motivated discovery. Also students’ attention span for screens is greater than their attention span for in-person presentations.  I believe that there is a real place here for collaboration between younger and more experienced teachers.  The younger teachers have  technological experience that is invaluable and the experienced teachers have the longer perspective and  more realistic approach  which is also invaluable.  Putting them together can make some wonderful things happen.

I am both a teacher and a director of education so the change in my approach to teaching applies to the whole school , rather than just my classroom.  I believe that the teacher’s role is changing from conveyer of information to coach in students’   learning to direct their own learning.  This is best utilized in project based learning which I plan to bring into the school in a more systematic way next year. I am also moving to a model where every class communicates on a Wiki, although I plan to initiate it only in two classes next year.

My goal is to move quickly but not too quickly in this direction.  I am cautious about too much change in a school where the students are actually happy and relatively engaged.  On the other hand, I am cognizant of being behind the curve compared to what is happening in public school and eager to try new things. The movie making retreat was a big success with the staff so I think I have a team that is excited about making this change happen. Tonight we had a teachers' meeting to discuss Project Based Learning  for next year.  Things are moving forward!

Heroes/Heroines of American Jewish History

Are you a Jewish American or an American Jew?  You might take for granted the freedom to be both American and Jewish, without having to choose between the two.  Ever since Jews have lived in America, there have been people who have struggled to find their place as Jews and Americans.  Many of them have made contributions to American history in the military, science, politics, religion, the arts, social service, sports, and just about every field that exists.  How many famous Jewish Americans can you name?  What were their contributions?  What qualities did they possess that guided thier choices?  You, our panel of judges, will delve into the lives and legacies of a myriad famous American Jews and choose the heroes worthy of our American Jewish Hall of Fame.

This is the introduction to "Heroes and Heroines of American Jewish History," an eight-week class for eighth grade students.  Students will be introduced to the wiki site from which they can navigate to sources for finding the candidates for our Hall of Fame.

Each student will be assigned to a group and a time period and will need to choose a hero/heroine.  They will then organize each candidate in a poplet and post it to the wiki, including the following criteria: name, when the person lived, important life events, concurrent important events in America and the world, accomplishment(s) and its effects on the lives of Jews and people in general. 

The class will then give feedback on each entry according to the inclusion of all criteria.  When every entry has satisfied the requirements, the class will create a media presentation of the  "American Jewish Hall of Fame"  using voki that they create.  We will make it public through social media, such as the Temple Facebook group.

The technologies are: wikis, poplets, vokis, social media (i.e. Facebook).  The curriculum is modeled on project-based learning.

This class will be taught in the fall.

Shabbat With Moses - A retreat

Shabbat with Moses: A retreat for Grades 3-6

One of our projects for the Teaching Technology Fellowship  at Beth El was a movie making retreat during which our students created a video of the life of Moses.  The retreat lasted from Friday evening until Saturday evening and the goal was to shoot the footage on the retreat and edit it when we got home so that we could show it to the students and their parents on the last day of school, which is also our Fiftieth Anniversary Birthday Party.

We shot the video in three separate sessions, working around the usual Shabbat retreat activities (dinner, Maariv prayer,  Breakfast, morning prayer, sports, Havdallah).  We used the new video camera we got at the last session on a tripod, and a second camera for close up shots We knew we would not have time to make the scenery so we shot against a green screen (a trick we learned from the Cameron video).

We began the first session by teaching them three songs that were written for the movie. Then the students heard the script and recommended people for parts (We allowed students to reject the part if they chose, but we did not allow them to volunteer.  They had to be volunteered by someone else).  Then the students in the act went off to rehearse while the rest of the students worked on making props (They made the Nile River,and  a doorway) We shot the scene before lunch.

At the second session the teen volunteers shot a funny scene of their own making (a video within the video about Moses killing the taskmaster) to the "live audience" of the students interacting with the teens.  Then we shot the three songs they had rehearsed in the morning. 

At the final session, which was held after free time, we incorporated our traditional retreat talent show into the video by presenting the short talent skits as performances that were done before Pharaoh's throne.  While they were presenting these, another group rehearsed a second scene (the burning bush) , and we shot that scene as well. 

The final scene was shot on the Sunday following the retreat , when we were back at  Beth El.  The final movie is still being edited.  When it is done we will upload it to the wiki.

The retreat was a huge success.  It was wonderful to see the students of different ages cooperating on the project, and the combination of music,drama, and art allowed everyone to find their strength.  The students are excited about seeing the final result.

Judy and Mark

big Ideas

      You know that dream when you show up for class in your pj's (or worse, with no clothes!) or you have forgotten to study for the test or learn your lines for the play?  Well, I thought I was going to live that dream in this seminar.  Ok, technology is still somewhat of a foreign language, but at least it's one that I can understand.  I have learned so many new things, even though I still have to return to some of the basic tutorials from time to time.
      The most important lesson I have learned is that there are so many interesting ways to use technology in education and it isn't that hard to find them.  Just being exposed to a variety of applications has opened a new world for me.  Having the confidence and courage to just mess around and actually try to figure out how to make something work was a major accomplishment.  When I emailed my coach to say, "You know that question we had that we didn't know how to answer?  Well, I figured out how to make it work!" That was when I realized I could actually do this.  I'm no expert, and I have a lot to learn, but I know enough to get started and I will continue to learn along the way.
      I don't think I will actually change my approach to teaching.  My orientation has always been to put the students at the center and make them responsible for their own learning.  Technology just gives me more opportunities to make this happen, and will allow the lesson to meet the students where they are, since this is definitely their world.  As Charlie told us, "You don't really need this."  But it does make things more engaging and interesting.  I am also reminded that I don't always have to know how to implement the technology that I am using.  The students can figure that out.  They are much better at it anyway.  I just have to be able to lay the foundation, to know where we are going, and to lead them in that direction.  Their natural abilities and creativity will take over from there.
      I am excited to apply the lessons that I have created to my eighth grade class, as well as to introduce some of the technologies to my staff.  We are beginning to implement project based learning in our school, and the ideas I have gathered from TTF will inform our learning and apply to the project based curriculum.  This will be the basis of our professional development in the next year.

Presenting on EdTech at Jewish Learning Connections Showcase

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of presenting about my work at Temple Ohabei Shalom, and the planning and research we all do through the Teaching and Technology fellowship. In the Prezi above, I touch on maximizing instructional time, using resources fully, and figuring out answers to the question

How can the Divine rest between two people when they are miles apart, connecting through satellites?

While this presentation is mostly images, check out the screen captures of students at the Ansin Religious School connecting on Schoology and discussing a midrash, and a video of our 7th grade students discussing their b'not mitzvah projects and coming to really insightful conclusions.

We are teaching a unit on Passover. Students will learn about the Seder Plate and Passover Songs.

• Students will learn the parts of a Seder Plate by going to a website that will describe the Seder Plate.
• In teams, they will be given a section of the Seder Plate. Then they will google an image, write a definition about it and print this information on posters.
• The teams will then practice saying their definitions and will be video taped.
• The videos will be uploaded into a "choose your own adventure" Seder Plate.
• The students will make Pharoah hats and learn the song Pharoah, Pharoah.
• Using video Star app on the iphone, they will be videoed singing and dancing to this song. It will be a music video.
• The key technologies: Computers, Video camera, iphone 
• Students will be be using digital storytelling that will be uploaded to You Tube

I think the hardest part is realizing how time consuming using technology can me.  It is also difficult when students is absent to keep them still involved when they missed the week before.  I do think the students are more engaged and just loving using technology.

Reflection on teaching and learning with technology

I have taken away all these amazing tools that now will enhance my teaching and my students' learning.  It may take some set up but the final project is worth it.  The students are so engaged when using technology.  I now feel more comfortable taking lessons to the next level.

Our teaching in our school is now project base learning and we will use these new insights to teach.  We have already used digital storytelling and the class make a wiki.

My personal goals was to learn new technology approaches and then how to apply it to my class.  I feel that I have attained this goal but would love to keep learning new ideas (if there is a Step 2 class with Svetlana, then count me in).  This class has excited me and I can't wait to think of more ways to mesh my teaching with technology.