Tech Fellowship furthering intentionality in the classroom

The past two months, in this technology fellowship, I have really thought about what technology I use to further my own learning and in general in my own life. While it is really important to me to bring fun and engaging new technologies into my classrooms, I also want to make sure that my time and focus is still on the materials and that my students grasp Jewish concepts rather than just tech concepts. This tech fellowship has been really helpful in structuring my thoughts and experimentation with what can be helpful and what is just adding in tech for the sake of adding tech. Learning how other teachers are using technology and accessing teacher connection/resource pages has been the most useful to me. For example, I think that using a wiki as a way to organize events for high school students could be a less chaotic way to plan. I also want to continue to explore all the online recording and movie programs.

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.

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!

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.