Opening Staff Meeting - Sharing Our Learning from CJPTTF

In preparation for our first staff meeting of the year, our Director of Lifelong Learning, Marilyn Stern, asked Jennie and me to prepare a segment on how other teachers might benefit from what we had learned through our fellowship.  Jennie and I chose to introduce some of the tools we had found as fun and useful ways to share content.

We set the context of technology in the classroom through segments of the Youth Portrait of Cameron video and an explanation of what it means to work in the cloud, including some of the basic information needed to use the netbooks given to us from CJP and our newly purchased Chromebooks.  Jennie demonstrated Media Midrash http://mediamidrash.behrmanhouse.com/, Quizlet http://quizlet.com/, Vokis http://www.voki.com/, Diigo and Diigolet https://www.diigo.com/.  Sandy introduced Time Toast http://www.timetoast.com/,   Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html and shared the Common Craft video created on the video camera during one of our Fellowship sessions.  Several staff subsequently met with one of us to learn how to access and use the new equipment and/or use resources from the list we provided at this opening staff meeting.

Follow this link to the resource list we compiled and shared with our staff:      Technology Research and Tools                                     

4.  

The Family Tree of Abraham and His Future Family

The 4th graders are off and running, actually walking, in their search for the familial relationships found in Bereshit, the Book of Genesis.  Students have been divided into teams of four or five members to work collaboratively.  Each team will design, develop and produce a Family Tree of Abraham and His Future Family including the generations of Abram and Sarai through Jacob and Esau.  Some teams are finding a good balance of individual contributions and shared responsibility.  Some teams are struggling to develop a strong collaborative work style, learning to support each other in their individual strengths and personal challenges.  It is hard to always be patient!

In the next implementation of this unit, I will devote more time up front walking the students through the development of the Glossary.  The class will be guided through the Introduction, the Task and the first few searches in the Process.  Once I am confident that they grasp the concept of academic teamwork and how to navigate the various components of the WebQuest, they will be better equipped to succeed in their teams. As I reflect on the progress of each team and individual over the entire project, I expect more tweaks or larger changes will become evident.

Feel free to check out this WebQuest at The Family Tree of Abraham and His Future Family.

Technological Exploration of Bible Stories

As a new program at our religious school, we have moved towards project based learning. Next year’s big idea will be the Torah. Due to this, I decided to make my project an exploration of the Torah stories. My goal for the project was to assign each student one of the better known stories from the Torah, and to have them create a presentation that they can proceed to share with the class.

To start, I will use www.randomizer.org in order to fairly assign the students a story from the following list:


Creation
Adam & Eve
Cain & Abel
Noah’s Ark
Tower of Babel
Sodom & Gomorrah
Binding of Isaac
Jacob & Esau
Joseph
Moses

They will then be tasked with reading the portion in which their story takes place (or compiled excerpts based on the length.) I will point them towards http://www.biblegateway.com in order to find an online copy.

Once they've absorbed the material, they will be asked to create a graphic, using either wordle or tagxedo and the text from the passage. They will be asked to write a short analysis of why they think some of the words were so common.

Their next task will be to create a summary of their passage, and to use voki to present it.

Following that, they will be asked to use http://www.timetoast.com/ in order to create an interactive timeline of the passage. They will be required to include descriptions with each plot point, as well as a minimum of 3 images.

For the final presentations, they will be asked to dress as a character from their passage. They will then share the passage with the class, and they will present their word clouds, vokis and timelines.


Through this each student will have at the very least a rudimentary grasp of the stories.

CJPTTF: Take-Away Big Ideas

From the beginning, the idea of this fellowship excited me. As someone who has grown up surrounded by technology and who is just delving into teaching, the intersection of the two was a point of difficulty. I lacked ideas of how to meld the two, but I was already optimistic of the benefits the combination could impart to the classroom. Having seen how integral technology was in the lives of my students, it was crucially important that I use it to attract their attention to class.

I have learned many varied things from this fellowship. On a class wide scope, learning how to manufacture quizzes with Google documents, how to make flash cards online with quizzlet, and how to make entrancing visuals with programs such as tagxedo and wordle will all be used weekly in my class. On a macro level, our in depth exploration of the uses of wikis has inspired me to, in my role as technology coordinator for the religious school, to create a wiki for our school. This will be extremely useful to connect to parents, keep track of kids' work, and to keep track of the multiple facets of the technology we use.

I intend to use all we've learned as both a springboard for further exploration, as well as to pass it on to my fellow educators and down to my students. I hope to encourage our school as a whole to take advantage of this opportunity to forge forward, and to avoid stagnation. I am most excited to see in what ways I can use what I learned to engage my students, and to relate better to them. Many of the ideas shared with us were new and fresh to me, and I can't wait to try to fit them into a lesson plan. These ideas include web quests, vokis, online games, and the various timeline generators.

The final, critical idea I took away from the fellowship came from my own experiences learning during its duration. I discovered that technology can be a useful tool, but cannot replace classic instruction. I was reminded of the dangers of overwhelming students. I hope to avoid that pitfall, and to apply all we have looked into as part of next year’s curriculum.

Abraham's Family Tree Unit

4th Grade ~ Temple Isaiah

Over the year, 4th grade students will be exploring key texts of Bereshit from Abraham through Joseph. After the introduction and some scaffolding, students will be using a WebQuest to create Abraham’s Family Tree (from Terach through Jacob’s and Esau’s children). The Family Tree will require students to identify some middot/Jewish virtues from a partial list and explain how each middah connects to an individual and what source text student is using to support.

The whole exploration will be facilitated through a wiki (not yet created) and involve extensive use of project-based learning. The following is just the intro unit.

September 29 Genealogy – What is it?

Computer etiquette:
treating them with care; logging on; gmail a/c’s; saving & shutting down

Computer search and google doc definitions:
create your team definition of genealogy and begin building a Team Glossary – explore and add the following definitions:
ancestor, descendant, sibling, cousins, begot, family tree

Format and save file in the cloud:
identifying docs with file name & team member names

October 2 Finding Torah

How to navigate the Hebrew Bible:
3 sections: T, N, K: focus on T [Torah] ~ create list of a.k.a’s: chumash, 5 Books of Moses, 5 Books of Torah, Pentateuch, The Law,
List books in order in English: Gen, Ex, Lev, Num. Deut: English meanings (beginning; we’re out of here! laws; census, second law)
List books in order in Hebrew: Bereshit, Shemot, Vayikra, BeMidbar, D’varim ~ Hebrew meanings
Add all to their google doc Glossary


October 6 Invitation to Grade 4 Wiki

Review logging on, etc.
Explain the WebQuest idea: will complete project with team members – team to decide how to divide up work, discovering and using individual gifts, understand what project is, how project will be evaluated, resolving differences appropriately, collaboration, communication, where responsibility for learning lies; tools available for research, group work and presentations
Begin WebQuest!


October 9 Continue on WebQuest! The Family Tree of Abraham and His Future Family

October 13 - No School

October 16 Constructive criticism:
its purpose, how to offer it
Review other teams work
Class discussion on work

October 20 Consider classmates comments and decide whether or not to incorporate into project

Reminder that next Sunday will be a program with parents and students will share their family trees of Abraham and Future Family

October 23
Finish up loose ends
Last minute ideas on how to share work with all parents and rest of class

October 27 4th Gr. Family Program
Short story about where you come from; integrate Torah blessing into story (what kids have been doing in class)
Introducing the genealogy
Jewish Genealogy Expert & Clergy ~ brief introduction to what we can learn from genealogist and Clergy to specifically interact with students about what they learned from exploring Abraham’s Family Tree and how to take it further
Set up we are all responsible for one another and l’dor v’dor; bring cutting/peeling tools and veggie, cutting board and 1 recipe typed – collect and “publish” later
Stone Soup activity with soup being delivered to Bristol Lodge after program

Initial Uses of Technology in My Own Teaching

This year, as I began to learn with TTF, I integrated technology in two ways. I created flashcards on the website we learned about for my 3rd grade Hebrew class and with my 6th graders, we used Quia.com to create an end of the year Jew-pardy game to review the year's learning with the 4/5th graders who the 6th graders were sharing their learning with throughout the year. In both cases, I saw how much more excited and engaged the students were. They all thought that using computers in class was very cool and their energy around learning and participation was markedly different.
One of the projects that I have devised for my 5-7th graders for next year (as a part of our new Project Based Learning curriculum) is a Digital Midrash project. This project will be presented with them with a Prezi (created on prezi.com), one of my favorite on-line teaching tools. I used Prezis with my Adult Ed course this year and they LOVED the slide presentations (and a Prezi is SOOOOOO much easier to create than a Power Point!). The Digital Midrash project will encourage the students to use a variety of the technology tools/ideas I learned about in TTF this year including (but not limited to): word clouds, timelines, Ted Talks, Blogs/Vlogs, and more! I'm very much looking forward to sharing the Prezi with the TTF class and to getting their feedback on how I can make this lesson even better before sharing it with the students next year!

Take-away Ideas from TTF

There are so many take-away ideas that TTF has provided me, and I am so grateful to have had this experience. I think the overall thing I am coming away with is a deeper appreciation for the importance of integrating technology into Jewish education, and perhaps more importantly how much easier it is to do so than I had expected, and how many more ways there are to do so than I expected.
Learning about the different tools, websites & resources had been invaluable but even more so has been the sharing of ideas. Each kind of technology we learned about - each website, each modality - has sparked so many ideas in me that I am excited to bring to my school, teachers & students. I am so looking forward to seeing how much more our students will enjoy learning with the added fun and creativity that these technology tools and resources will provide us/them. I know that this experience has changed my approach to teaching as I will now always be thinking about how we can weave technology into what we are teaching/doing.
My initial goals going forward are twofold: one is to encourage, teach & empower our teachers so that they can meet the expectation I will now have to see technology integrated into our lessons & classrooms. The second is to create a wikispace for the school to act as a hub for all of our teachers, students, parents, and the wider community and to link all of the technology tools & experiences of the coming year to one place. I'm really looking forward to seeing this come to fruition and to sharing it with the parents, students and community - I think everyone is going to be really excited about it!

How Different Families Celebrate Shabbat

For my lesson plan, I decided to focus on the class I will most likely be teaching next year, which is called Shabbat Club. Shabbat Club is a Friday afternoon class for kindergarteners. Although the class is not only focused on Shabbat, this is what I decided to focus my lesson plan on. I want the children to learn about how they all celebrate Shabbat differently at home. Through sharing their different family traditions students will be able to see that everyone celebrates differently and that there is not one set way to celebrate Shabbat.

This lesson will be one that is ongoing throughout the year, since it will involve each family taking home a "Shabbat box" that I put together. Each Friday evening a different family will take home the "Shabbat box" which will contain candlesticks, a kiddush cup, a challah cover, and a flip camera. The families will have the opportunity to record how they celebrate Shabbat together and show the class actual footage of their Friday night traditions. Because we are a reform community I don't foresee any issues with using technology during Shabbat.

In addition to the weekly "Shabbat box," I will ask the students for words that they would use to describe their own shabbat celebrations and together we will turn them into a tagxedo that the students can take home and share with their families. An example might look like this:

The final component to the lesson would be allowing students to each use a netbook and create a popplet diagramming how they do Shabbat at home. The popplet could look something like this:

To wrap up the lesson we would have a discussion about how our families are different and how they are similar. Students would be able to see that everyone celebrates Shabbat differently and there is no right or wrong way to do it.

Initial Technology Ideas

These are my initial thoughts of technology applications given our current 7th grade curriculum.

Topic: Jewish Life Cycles

Lesson Layout:
Introduction of Jewish life cycles with brainstorming session to assess students' understanding

Key Technologies:
Common Craft. I can see students having a lot of fun creating their own explanations of Jewish Life Cycles using this approach. I've seen it done with drawings instead of the paper cut-outs; either way, or a combination of the two, would make this a more engaging process for the students.


Topic: Purim
Lesson Layout:

Read the Purim story, discuss different ways to retell it. Do some online research for different Purim Spiels, music. 

Key Technologies:
Common Craft. Students could take their live presentation script or write one of their own. They could then collaborate to create their Common Craft pieces to retell the story in a way that the younger classes would enjoy. This is something that could then go into an area where teachers could just take it to present, or it could become part of an expanded Learning section of the temple web site.

Our 7th graders present a Purim play to the religious school each year. This will give them an opportunity to present the play in a lasting way. They could also use this same approach to create short plays for some of the younger classes.

Another fun approach for students might be to create a storyboard or comic strip version of the Purim story. That's even something they could put together and use as a donation to the temple library, or as a fundraiser, depending on how it's done.

Topic: Holocaust
Lesson Layout:

Flipped Classroom mode. We have an extensive Holocaust study packet. The problem is that we never make it through the whole thing because it's just too long.

It will take some commitment on the part of the students, their families, and the religious school to get students to read this material outside of class so that we can jump right into the discussion and project work.

Technologies:

An all-class collaborative timeline using Timetoast or similar online timeline creating program. I envision students each taking a different aspect/person/time period of the timeline, and adding in what they've learned from their reading. Also, if the families are amenable to it, students could add in family history, making this timeline unique. At the end of the project, we will have a lasting timeline that will become part of the temple archive.

I think this approach is useful because of the amount and type of information you can add to the timelines. It's also important for the students to see what else was going on in the world around them -- in the arts, sciences, sports, politics, etc. -- to gain a better understanding of how something like this could happen and go unnoticed or misunderstood for so long.

TTF: Big Ideas

I have to say that my head is still spinning with all the options I now see are available for me to use in the classroom. I am more inspired than intimidated. This has been a wonderful learning experience!

Technology in and of itself is not necessarily something that will benefit students in the classroom. However, after extensive exploration (and diving down numerous, fascinating rabbit holes), I can see ways to apply different technologies to various subject areas in the classroom.
   
I will be more likely to go to my extensive bank of online resources to look for more innovative ways to engage my students in the topic at hand. While Life Cycles are an important part of our religious school curriculum, the textbook we have is fine, but it doesn't grab the students' attention. The funny thing is, I think that if I took the activities in the textbook and converted them to some online format (blog, game, flash cards), the students would jump right into it and actually enjoy it more!
 
I hope to find the right match of technology to enhance my students' understanding of the topic material. There's so much available that I think it will wind up being fairly easy to find programs that are suitable matches for the tone of the lesson I want to present; the challenge, I think, will be winnowing down my choices. I look forward to checking in here for future input and inspiration!

Country Report 5 grade

The idea of Country Reports was born 7 years ago when I had to explain to my students in 5 grade how is that possible to be a Sephardi Jew, who grew up in Russia. It was me, their teacher and I had a challenging task to teach , so I decided that the best way for that class to learn would be through Project- based learning. First, we would use a map in class to find Spain and Portugal for Sefarad - Spain, Then we would find Germany and Eastern Europe ( Poland and Russia) for Ashkenaz. Creating a WebQuest for students to use at home and in class.The Big idea of a Flipped Classroom will be utilized next year when I will be teaching this section again but this time the technology will be used. I will have a list of resources, helpful information that will include both Judaic and secular facts. During this project each student will learn and explore; Map and general population Flags( your country, Israel, US Facts about Jewish Life (population, Jewish communities,houses of worship, kosher markets,Jewish schools, hospitals. Can Jews practice religion openly? Are there any diplomatic relations between country you chose and Israel and USA? Have a short report about a famous Jewish person who connected to this country(was born, lives there today or lived in the past) Include a picture,short bio and who is this person ( sportsman, actor, scientist, fashion designer, politician)

Reflection on Teaching and Learning with Technology

Coming into this class, I expected to leave with the idea that technology is always the answer in the classroom in order to make more interesting lessons, greater communication with students, and more efficient learning time. Rather than come away with the idea that more is always better, I am now able to see technology as a tool and a support, instead of a replacement for the quality teacher-student interaction that is a crucial part of any classroom environment. I have also learned that there are good ways to use technology in the classroom and bad ways. Finding the balance of good and bad with technology is challenging, and something with which I am still struggling. In addition, I have learned to never be afraid to explore technology and see if it could be a useful classroom tool. This class has shown me that you never know how much you can accomplish with technology until you try. In the future, I won't be afraid to sit down and really dive into a piece of technology and see if it would fit in my classroom.

I will definitely attempt to use more technology in the classroom now that I've taken this course and learned so much from it. Previously, technology felt like more of a replacement for the teacher. Now, I see that I can work with the technology to supplement my teaching in order to give students more learning opportunities than I could provide on my own. Many times, educators try to keep technology out of the classroom as much as possible, but after seeing how valuable it can be to have technology in the classroom I would think twice before asking students to refrain from bringing technology in. I have even seen how cell phones can be a valuable educational tool in the classroom. Overall, I am definitely going to bring more technology into the classroom and work with students to use the technology to which they have access more effectively.

My future goals from this class are to find that happy medium between technology overload and no technology at all. I do not want to rely on technology to teach the lesson for me, but I also do not want to deprive my students of the opportunities that can be reached through technology. I hope to allow my students to have fun with the tools I give them while enjoying learning together.

http://babaganewz.com/games/do-you-know-your-seder-plate Click on the link above to play a Passover game!

Here is another way to review the 4 Passover questions besides learning it in a classroom.

The Shema is an example of a prayer that can be practiced at home with the support of technology.

Learning to read is difficult for many students especially when they do not have anyone to practice with at home who knows Hebrew. This video will help them to practice on their own.

Here is an example of how Second and Thirds Graders can use a video to enhance their learning. Repetition and songs tend to stay with students longer than typical classroom teaching styles.

Learning Center/Parent/Teacher Resource

Being the Learning Center Specialist at two temples is challenging. Not to mention that one is conservative and the other is reform. I see students from Second through Sixth Grade so the needs are very diverse. My plan is to make a place where teachers, parents and students could go to and learn, explore, practice...

I have started on this quest for the "ultimate website." It is still at the planning stages because it will take me all summer to complete. However, a great majority of it is done and her is a sampling of what it will offer...

Click on the hyperlinks to get a navigate through a sampling of my blog.
Learning Letters
Learning Words
Learning Prayers
Holidays
Games

As I reflect back on the CJP TTF program I am so pleased with how far it has taken me.  I was limited with my computer use and did very minimal with it.  Yes, I know how to e mail, use facebook, print items and find different sights.  I also new how to copy and paste but that was about the extent of it.. Now I feel a little more comfortable in trying to press those keys that were making me nervous, trying new ideas. 

Through this course I have learned a few special programs which I am hoping to use with my classroom next year.  I would like to open my classroom within the first 2 weeks by having each student make a special wordle all about them.  I think they will have fun with this and be able to use it to learn about one another.  I would also like to use wordle at the end of units to show what we have learned.  These will be displayed within our classroom and hall ways of our school.

As I have recently learned, I will be moving up several grades and working with 5/6 graders whom I am sure will be more computer savvy then myself.  Having notebooks available for us to use on many days will help in the diversity of the learning styles and level of leaners, I will have in the classroom.

I  like  Rubicube and so glad I learned how to use this.  I think at the 5/6 grade level they are learning about rubrics and this will help with the few projects I would like them ot do partially in the classroom and at home. 

By using tech with this age group I am hoping for more successful outcome with homework and projects.  I know our students love technology and this hopefully will help in the Judaic aspect of their learning and make it more exciting for them to participate with.

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to learn more and bring back to my community, mostly my students and school.
H :)

holidays

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/holidays--41

Here, I made a time line to show the classroom where the holiday falls within the year and also added pictures to represent each holiday

I had fun learning to make this and hope to use it with my class in the coming year
Maybe they will each make one as well with their project

Reflection on Teaching and Learning with Technology

As I look back and think about how did I become involved in this fellowship I remember our teachers meeting and when we were sharing new ideas, talking about lesson plans and creative ways to make our class time FUN... Well, as soon as our Education Director told us about availability of this fellowship , my hand went up first yelling "I AM IN!" People assume if you are young you are born knowing technology before you can begin  talking.
I have to admit that before this fellowship my technology use was very limited and BORING. I didn't feel comfortable using it, utilizing in class or even at home.
Svetlana and Julie showed me not just how to use it but also explained to me so I could do it myself.
The idea of a flipped classroom and project-based learning is definitely new, fresh and I can not wait to try it with my students and other teachers in September.
Knowlege is power that opens up many doors, and when it comes to technology that knowlege gets old every day. New things come out and as teachers our job is stay connected. I hope to continue with this attitude and share my learning with other teachers as well.
Besides teaching at Hebrew school, I am a substitute teacher at Jewish Day Schools and I am so impressed to see the level of technology use. Most importantly what concerns me is online safety.
After this fellowship I feel confident and aware of many kinds, names, websites and tools to help me in my learning so I could be more productive and helpful.
As I was creating this post my kids asked me "Are you doing your homework? Do you know how to do it?"

Creating a Webquest for a 5th grade classroom

I have created a 5th grade web quest for the students to use when learning about the V'ahavta prayer. In this web quest, the students will learn about one of the 3 signs or symbols that is referred to in this prayer. I would like them to understand what the symbol is, what line in the prayer refers to that symbol and think about why that symbol is mentioned in this prayer.

This lesson plan will be one of many used to teach about the prayer. The will be learning about vocabulary, grammar and the meaning of this prayer. This lesson will be one of the stations in which they learn more about the meaning of the prayer. The class of 16 students will be divided into 4 groups. One group of 4 will be at this station for 30 minutes before switching with another

group. At the following class, the 2 other groups will have a chance to access this station. Each group will be assigned one of the 3 symbols to research. When they get to the laptop, the laptop will be set to the webquest page. They will need to read articles, watch videos, and fill in a worksheet. When they have completed these activities, they will be ready to create a poster with an image of their symbol and some facts about it as well.


I have used weblinks in this webquest which link to various articles. I have also used multi media pulled from YouTube so that each group has a video to watch. In addition, I linked the worksheet right to the page so that the students can work on it right at the laptop. Finally, I used a Voki to assign the students their presentation portion of the project. I also downloaded a rubistar rubric to the site so that the students know what they will be evaluated on.


I used this webquest with my daughter, but will not be able to truly evaluate it until fall of 2013 when 5th grade will use this in their classrooms.

Reflections on CJP TTF

I am so glad that I decided to take this class.  I have always loved developing curricula and thought that I was utilizing technology fairly well.  Before this class, I believed that using technology in the classroom meant letting the kids use laptops to do research and/or use some type of media that they were familiar with.  I also felt that I used technology to develop my curricula but that pretty much refers to googling a topic and seeing what I could find!

Since this class, the primary ideas I have taken away have to do with bringing the world to my classroom, letting the students lead me at times, and not being afraid to try new things.  I hope that in bringing the world to my classroom, I will be keeping the teachings of Judaism relevant to the children in new and exciting formats.  I also hope to allow the students to show me tools that they are familiar with.  I see there being two main benefits to this, giving the child a sense of self esteem that I trust them and want to learn from them as well as learning about new technologies in each classroom!  The part that will be most challenging is not being afraid to try new things.  I get anxious about using technology for big programs as I worry about it not working or my not using it correctly.  I think I can get past this by always having a back up plan in place.

I think that due to this class, my teaching will become more exciting and more fresh for both the students and myself.  I also hope to teach the other educators in my synagogue how to bring technology to their curriculum.

I am really hoping to use at least two tools that I learned about in this class in each grade that I teach.  I have already planned a 5th grade webquest and am working on formulating more ideas over the summer.

Reflections of the Fellowship

I have always enjoyed technology and what it can do in the workplace.  I had always thought of it as a tool for papers and presentations in the school venue.  Having the opportunity to see some of the latest tools out there was eye opening.  The variety of available technology is truly amazing.  I can see how it can be exploited in the older grades to assist in learning.  Once children can read, the opportunities are endless.

As far as the age I'm teaching - preschool - I'm not sure I see the full connection.  I think the technology is still most useful as a reference during class and to show pictures and videos to the kids of current curriculum.  I also believe that they enjoy seeing videos of themselves, and that the parents enjoy the videos too.  I tried visiting some of the web sites with my three-year-olds and found that due to either the internet connection or slow computer, we were very frustrated at the multiple tries necessary.  Also, a quiet classroom is a rare thing in preschool, so recording is difficult. 

Most of the kids I'm teaching have exposure to technology in their homes, so what they need from me is more hands on experiential learning.  Perhaps more of a robotics approach would work as we could integrate the hands on and a simple computer language based on blocks.

I will continue to use technology to supplement teaching and look forward to trying the site we saw on creating books.  Perhaps as I continue to explore the resources presented I will see more sites to inspire me.  Thank you for this tour and and opportunity to explore.  You've set me on a fantastic journey.

Reflections on TTF at 6/28/13

• I believe that much of the technology that we (CJPTTF fellows) have been exploring over the past few months will allow for deeper content exploration for more learners within the classroom. Technology provides great tools for project-based learning by providing portals into resources online not easily accessible offline and also expands the possibilities for creative student-directed exploration. I have learned about many tools that will assist and support students who need to move faster, those who need to move either more slowly or those moving in different directions or those taking alternate routes to the same destination. Using wikis and webquests, google docs and other tools along with appropriate scaffolding provides a safe way for shifting greater responsibility for learning into the hands of the students.

• I have already begun integrating a little technology into my fourth grade class this spring. In a lesson reviewing the Ten Commandments, I located a YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoXyk5AFAvs with kids doing a “rap boogie” (my definition!) of the Ten Commandments. Before giving my students the assignment to dramatize the meaning of a Commandment of their choosing, I shared this video. By the end of the short video, most students were already doing their own interpretive dance and rap. They also volunteered where the commandments were slightly different from what we had studied (i.e. resting on Sunday). I then handed groups a video camera to record their Command(ment) Performance. We did not have time to view the videos during that class so I created a Ten Commandment video loop for the next class and left it running as they arrived. They loved it and they demonstrated what they had learned.

• This positive experience linked with the work we did in and out of these seminars, has set me off on another adventure of creating a wiki and webquest for the first half of the coming year. I already have the complete buy in of the grade coordinator and director of congregational learning in re-creating the Judaic curriculum for the coming year using whatever technology/creative tools I can. At a minimum, the months (about 4) devoted to exploring Bereshit will be learning constructed through a grade wiki and using many different internet/digital tools. In addition, the website I created this past spring for the entire 6th grade as a home base for creating a siddur, will become a wiki so that students can be their own editors in the same process of creating a siddur. The wiki will also connect students to diigolet to find useful information in building their understanding of prayers and the construct of a Shabbat shacharit service. The siddur they create serves as the liturgy for a 6th grade family service near the end of the school year which the students lead from beginning to end including chanting from Torah. Students will be able to access trope, prayer and their individual verse melodies directly from this wiki as they prepare for this service.

Reflections About Myself and Class

When I first was approached by a past Cohort student (a friend of mine since grade school) about taking this class I was skeptical.  Technology was certainly not a strong point of mine.  I graduated in 1993 with my teaching degree when computers were just emerging into the classes. Only a handful of students had a computer in the dorm room and the majority of students used them (in the school computer lab) only to write up papers. I never really gave computers a chance other than sending off e-mails to parents, writing a paper on the computer or checking out my social media accounts (or my kids to monitor them). Besides, I had 5 jobs and 2 teens, so when was I ever going to find the time to go to class each month or to complete the classwork required of me?
 However, I thought about all I would be missing without this class.  The chance to connect with my students and show them that I, too, could be "hip" and get on the technology bandwagon.  I am the Learning Center specialist at 2 temples, so how could I say that I was helping every student that I saw when I  didn't have all of the resources needed to help them feel successful? The chance to connect students, parents and teachers together under one source was also appealing to me. 
So, here I am.  After asking myself one important question, "Why would I not?" Boy, am I glad that I stopped making excuses and decided to overcome my fear of technology.  I may not be one of the youngest teachers, but the analogy "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," is wrong.  I have learned a lot from this class.  I am so pumped to show my fellow colleagues, educational directors, parents and ALL of the students new ways to utilize learning and the web. I have learned to try new things and not be afraid to ask for help.  The support that I got in this class was phenomenal and readily available to anyone who took advantage of the help offered.  I look forward to teaching next year and showing off my new tech savvy self!

Celebrating our Multicultural Class at TCEE

This year our three-year-old class, the Dubim, is blessed with students from all over the world.  Taking full advantage of our parents and the internet, we decided to study a little bit about each of the cultures represented.  We started by identifying where each child is from using Google Maps and our classroom world map.

Maps

 

Check out our interactive map and classroom map:




View Dubim in a larger map

Questions

We asked the student what they wanted to learn about the different nations.  This student did not want to speak, so I typed her questions into the program for her.  Here are her questions:


Student Questions

Flags

We then looked up the flags.  Working as a group, we created flags from each nation and then worked on individual flags to display then take home.

USA and Belgium

     

Brazil

South Korea

Israel

We created a matching game with the flags.

Here the students are describing our wall of flags and how we made them.

Parent Participation

When the parents came in, they showed us pictures of houses, played games, sang songs, and read books in their native languages.  We played an origami based game for Japan, and ate waffles for Belgium.  (They were delicious!)  Here is the recipe for the waffles - in Metric, of course!

Ingredients:
250g ordinary flour, 250g castor sugar, 250g butter, 4 eggs, vanilla sugar or extract to taste

Preparation:
Mix the flour and sugar. Blend in melted butter and the 4 egg yolks. Mix well. Whip egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form peaks. Blend them into the mixture along with the vanilla. Important! Leave the dough to sit for at least three hours before cooking.

Then I heat my waffle iron to the max, to then reduce heat and start baking at a good speed. This means your first two waffles are always slightly burnt, but you are making a batch anyway so just throw those out :-) I always lightly brush the inside before baking the first waffle, but I don't repeat that afterwards. The trick is to not open the iron until you hear the sizzling stop, otherwise you will tear the waffles apart.

Languages

Children are always interested in birthdays.  One of the ways we looked at the various cultures was by watching a video of the song, "Happy Birthday" in Korean.  The children were delighted.







We learned to say "Hello" in all the languages represented in the classroom.  The children from the various countries helped us with the pronunciations.

Student Comments

Finally, some of the children commented on what they had learned.  They picked Avitars, backgrounds, and then recorded their comments.

Flipped Classroom

Students who get conventional education, with lessons in class and project work assigned for home, are getting shortchanged. Their education is not as complete as it could be.

In a flipped classroom model, students are more likely to get the whole picture.

The flipped classroom stands conventional education on its head. Instead of assigning students big projects to complete independently or even as teamwork outside of the classroom, the project work gets done at school and the lessons happen at home.

How does that work? Teachers put together their lessons in the form of podcasts or video. They post them online. The students then have the assignment of watching/listening to the lessons outside of class. Once they've had the virtual lesson, they come back to class with the background they need to begin the project work.

In class, the students get together in collaborative groups to work on their projects. The benefit of doing this in class over doing it at [someone's] home is that if they're in class, they have the teacher as a consultant as well as their classmates. When someone hits an "aha!" moment, they can share it with the rest of the group. Collaboration can inspire more creativity.

So, the key benefit to the flipped classroom, as we see it, is that students get the opportunity to more clearly demonstrate their understanding--or lack of understanding--with the teacher right there, ready to support them and help them out. If students get the "lesson" ahead of the activity, they should be more likely to come into class with questions, having had some time to reflect on the material (assuming they did it in a timely fashion).

Here's our PSA for the Flipped Classroom:

Project Based Learning

PBL, better known as Project Based Learning, is a creative way to include all students in our learning environment. Students have various needs and learning styles.  PBL allows for differentiation to include everyone, making them feel special and bringing out the best of each student. The multi disciplinary approach encourages collaboration, multi tasking, problem solving skills, utilizing the community and staff as mentors in the learning process. Creating a newspaper by  having a local printer come in and help them produce their work. This collaboration improves the quality of the final project. The learning becomes relevant and connects to real life issues that provide a wonderful community service, taking students to the next level.

To get started the kickoff event helps to generate questions from the students which inspires and directs them in their research. Creativity is used by students in their researching the project. Research is not limited to the computer or books but through keeping data on experiments they have created. They share their research for feedback from classmates and mentors to improve the quality of their project. Each student works on their strengths to the best of their abilities collaborating together to support their challenges.

Final presentations are made to a broad audience including parents, general public, specialists, faculty, and the remainder of the school community. PBL is a very effective educational model for all types of students.

For more information go to Edutopia.org http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-maine-project-based-learning-six-steps-planning

http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-student-motivation

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/project-based-learning-getting-started-basics-andrew-miller