"Prayeraoke"

For years I have enjoyed my Hebrew teaching but found it to be challenging.   As you well know, those of us who teach in after school programs have very little  going for us.  With only an hour a week per class, students arrive to us tired, hungry, stressed and certainly not at their best.  On top of all of this, they have no incentive to do a great job or study at home,  since no one has given students the sense that we are giving them a skill that will be useful to them, outside of classic Bar Mitzvah preparation fear.

So naturally, teachers like us quickly realize that one way of motivating students to learn some Hebrew in the classroom is to make it fun.  There are lots of kitschy Hebrew games to play in the classroom, however the mileage varies with such games and usually we sacrifice content or leave someone behind as we give in to the feel-good.  We acquiescence to the begging for games.  In essence, we water down our efficacy by avoiding what really works for mastering Tefila skills.  Repetition, repetition, put it away, then repetition.  Did I mention repetition?

As a long time bar mitzvah tutor and Hebrew teacher, it has been proven to me time and time again that this is the simple formula for learning prayers and melodies.  Repetition scientifically contributes to short term memory,  and returning to it often contributes to moving knowledge to our long-term memory.

My final project started out with the intent to create a Hebrew prayer version of karaoke, called Prayeraoke. I have had this idea for years, but have never found software or a person that could create it for me. This remains in my list of things to do.  (Please feel free to use my idea, in return for free rights to use it!)

Quickly realizing that I wasn't going to fulfill my dream of creating real Prayeraoke, I started to think about my use of music in the classroom and out.

In many places that I go, I consider my guitar and my song leading skills to be tools that not too many other people have. So when GarageBand was introduced to me in TTF, I naturally gravitated to it.  I layed down a few tracks, using only a quiet room, the iPad and my musical ability (which is mediocre) as tools.  Very quickly and gratifyingly, I produced something that sounded decent and could be used in order to tell a digital story.

Once the audio was complete,  I was able to export it to iMovie and smash it with a little bit of ExplainEverything and Drawing Pad.  iMovie seems like an appropriate app to bring it all together because it is versatile and accepts virtually any media as an import.

I ended up using the final product to tell a digital story (visual and audio) with key values intertwined in the text and subtext.  Students were asked to sing  along with the intermittent prompts on the screen to snap them back to attention, if needed.

Below, I'm including the 5W's and an H as to why one might use this combination. While it lacks refinement that I would want to use it for REAL humans, here is the link to the beginnings of the project:  http://youtu.be/_TKSYYDpbRc

Stop reading here or read on to learn why this might be an interesting medium:

Using Music and Digital Story Telling to Teach Values 5 W's and H

Why?  

• Digital story telling may be a medium that better catches attention of our kids, due to conditioning and maybe wiring?
• It is a way to combat students' desensitization to the teacher talking all the time
• It may allow for greater creativity and encourage students to take on similar projects of their own
• May appeal to different learning styles due to use of visual and auditory sensory input
• Can be repeated more than once to reinforce, if needed

Who?

• Teachers or students can create edit, embellish, or just be receivers of media
• Parents can receive exactly what the kids saw via electronic media or email, blogs, etc.

How?

• Can be used in a flipped classroom, PBL, Philosophical inquiry, or other modalities
• Knowledge of the medium and software/apps can be part of the discovery process or part of a prerequisite
• Assumes that materials are available for presentation:  ie internet access, projector, smart-board, iPad, etc.
• Work toward goals and check in frequently on progress toward goal.  Don't use it if it will not help.

When?

• When you need a change of pace in your classroom
• When the goals of the lesson support using it
• When you can create or find appropriate materials
• The technology will not work against you
• You need to reach more or different students than you might usually
• Someone in contact with your material  (students, educators, parent) will  appreciate  the work

Where?

• This sort of materials can be used in informal settings, home, school, etc.  Important to use in appropriate setting.  (Example:  video around a campfire may not be the mood we are looking for)

What?

• We can create a digital version of almost any lesson.  Content can be anything
• Engagement is key - ask how often in your presentation people are asked to do something. Is it appropriate for your goals?

Values planned for this lesson:  Shalom and g'milut chasadim.

Shalom:  Lo Yisa Goi - Nation shall not lift up sword against nation  (Isaiah 2:4, Michah 4:3)

G'milut Chasadim:  Story of Two Brothers

Thanks for reading!

Initial Technology Ideas

by Lauren Lichtel

Beth El Temple Center, Belmont, MA

Sunday School 2nd grade teacher
Hebrew School 3rd grade teacher
CJP TTF: Cohort 6

My second grade class studies many different subjects over the course of the year. Some of them include Israel, mitzvot, holidays/calendar, Hebrew, God, prayers, and much more. 


For this blog, I will be describing my plan for my plan for the Israel project. After my students finish learning all about Israel from the book, I want them to be able to create something. Create a video or some kind. They will be able to use one or all of the apps that we've used here in this class. 

For example, they can use the Puppet Pals and have a couple of characters take a trip through Israel as they explain what it is they see. They could use the app Garage Band and create a song about Israel. They can use Explain Everything to create a lesson for their classmates about something they've learned. Really, the possibilities are endless. 

After the students are done with these projects, which may take a couple weeks to complete, I will post them on our class website for the parents to check out! I really think this is going to be a wonderful project! I cannot wait to begin!

The Big Ideas

The Big Ideas

by Lauren Lichtel
Beth El Temple Center, Belmont, MA
Sunday School 2nd grade teacher
Hebrew School 3rd grade teacher
CJP TTF: Cohort 6

I thought I knew how to use an iPad in the classroom before I walked into the CJP Technology Fellowship. I have used my iPad in the classroom for two years. I put my agenda on it, I had by lessons on it, and I took tons of pictures. I made a video to show at the end of the year.

After being a fellow for the last couple of months, I am so excited to be able to take these apps and tips/tricks into the classroom next year. Due to the fact that I only have these kids in the classroom for a couple of hours once a week, I need to figure out a way to engage them from home as well. So many of the tools I have learned will allow me to do this in a way that they will love. The parents will be able to watch their kids' progress throughout the year. The students will be able to see the progress they have made year after year. It will be so incredible!

I have always been a creative person and I love to take that approach in the classroom. Before, it has been poems, maybe a video, etc.. With these new apps and websites, I will be able to make the material come alive for these kids!

I want to be able to use the Flipped Classroom method in order to make the most of the time in the classroom that we do have. In addition, an added benefit could possibly be the parents learning along with their children. 

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

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!

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

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.