Not one of my students!

Not one of my students!
Not One of My Students!

Welcome - Baruchim Habaim

Welcome - Baruchim Habaim
Welcome - Baruchim Habaim

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Words of Wisdom for Simchat Torah

In celebration of Simchat Torah -

"...the Torah furnishes us with a failproof plan for leading our lives in harmony with God. The ideal of living by Torah is that whatever we do, we will act in unison with God in such a way that there will be no perceptible difference between what we do and what God is doing. God is behaving through us."
From commentary by Edward Greenstein in the book, The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary by Michael Strassfeld.

Chag Sameach!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Enrich with BabagaNewz.com

An amazing on-line resource for enrichment activities is the website BabagaNewz.com
BabagaNewz provides a wealth of information, activities, and lesson plans for a multitude of Judaic topics.

One small sampling of the offerings on BabagaNewz - I selected "Learning Torah" from a long list of "Jewish Values." Among the activities featured were a virtual tour of the Israeli Supreme Court building with an explanation of the various architectural elements; an article and lesson plan based on the long distance chevrutah experience of a Bar Mitzvah student ; an article and lesson plan connecting the wonders of laser light to the "Light of Torah." Each activity, in turn, included links to additional information. The possibilities were endless!

If you're lucky enough to have a computer in your classroom, BabagaNewz is a perfect site for students to explore independently. You might also assign topics for students to research on this site at home.

The "Teachers" section of BabagaNewz is a treasure trove of lesson plans on Holidays, Jewish History, current events, Israel, Torah, and more. I printed out a multi-page lesson plan about Tel Aviv, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2009. This lesson plan included art activities, creative writing, Hebrew vocabulary, a color poster, and color photos of city sites - all the makings of a classroom learning center.

As an unexpected bonus, on the BabagaNewz home page, I discovered a dance video starring students from Bet Shraga Hebrew Academy of Albany, NY. The students were led by their outstanding dance teacher, a friend and the parent of two of my former students from the days when I was a member of the Bet Shraga faculty.

Visit BabagaNewz.com and explore the enrichment possibilities!

And...keep on visiting Jewish Educators' Village - K'far Morim - your virtual community for sharing ideas, strategies, and resources for Jewish Education.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Words of Wisdom for Shabbat and Sukkot

On this, the second day of Sukkot, please enjoy these words from Arthur Waskow...
"We walk into the sukkah - the fragile field hut, open to the light of moon and stars, that our forebears lived in while they gathered in the grain. We dangle apples and onions, oranges and peppers, from its leafy roof. And we feel the joy that for a moment life is so safe, the world so loving, that we can live in these open-ended huts without fear."
From Seasons of Our Joy.

"Blessed are You, Adonai, Guardian of Israel, whose shelter of peace (Sukkat Shalom), is spread over us, and over all Your people Israel, and over Jerusalem."
From the Shabbat Evening Service

Chag Sukkot Sameach
Shabbat Shalom - Rest and Renew

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Lesson Plan G.A.M.E. E=Extensions and Enrichment

In the past few weeks, I've written a number of posts detailing the Lesson Plan G.A.M.E. We've arrived at the fourth element: E=Extensions and Enrichment.

Lesson extensions and enrichment activities enhance and personalize learning as the class progressses toward meeting curricular goals for a topic of study.

Example: According to your Lesson Plan, by completing the textbook and workbook exercises for the V'Ahavta prayer, students are learning to read the prayer accurately and fluently; to translate key words and phrases; and to understand the theme of the prayer. They may even be preparing for a test on the prayer. To help students express their personal connections to the V'Ahavta prayer, in your Lesson Plan, provide enrichment activities such as:

- Students draw a heart shape on an 81/2"x 11" sheet of paper. Inside the heart, they write several original ways that they can show their love for God. Those who wish to, may write their responses in the form of Haiku, cinquain, or other poetic format. Students may decorate their hearts with markers, crayons, or colored pencils. Students who would like to share their thoughts, may hand in their hearts for a display that includes a copy of the prayer and cards with key prayer vocabulary.

- Provide students with a blank sheet of paper and a box of collage materials (colored paper scraps, wrapping paper, pictures cut from magazines, words cut from the V'Ahavta prayer, bits of ribbon, trim, yarn,etc). From these materials, students create a collage which expresses their interpretation of the prayer.

Extension activities in your Lesson Plan can provide both remedial practice and advanced work for students with different skills sets.
For example, a student who is struggling with pronounciation of a prayer text may be given some of the difficult words clipped from an enlarged copy of the text. With assistance, the student cuts each word into syllables and then pastes the syllables in correct order on a colored index card. He/she uses the cards to pronounce each word aloud syllable by syllable. The student may read the cards to a partner in class or to a family member at home.

The Teacher's Guide to your textbook series probably includes extension and enrichment activities for each chapter. Check your synagogue library or teacher resource center for Judaic activity books. Copy a selection of learning games and activity sheets and make these available to students during independent study time. Secular learning activity books provide activity models which can be adapted for Judaic studies.

Extension and enrichment activities for a study topic may also be assembled and presented as a class Learning Center.

Refer to Bloom's Taxonomy and related verb lists (discussed in previous posts) for inspiration in creating/selecting for your Lesson Plan, extension and enrichment activities which stimulate a variety of thinking skills.

G=Goals A=Amount of time M=Methodology E= Extensions and Enrichment
You now have the tools for success in the Lesson Plan G.A.M.E.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Yom Kippur and Bloom's Taxonomy

The Gates have closed. The notes of the shofar are a memory. The evening to evening observance of Yom Kippur has provided us with an extended opportunity to think Jewishly about ourselves, our families, our world, and our God.

On Yom Kippur, we recall events both joyful and troubling from the past year. We try to make sense of our behavior in a variety of sometimes challenging circumstances. We promise to implement changes and set new priorities. We choose to participate in a communal confession of our sins. We decide to make our actions in the coming year more productive, more reflective of Jewish values, more personally fulfilling, more responsive to the needs of family and community.

In short, we employ a range of lower and higher level thinking skills like those described in Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain. Bloom's Taxonomy is resoundingly secular. It doesn't mention Prayer, Divine Judgement, Sacred Connections, Holy Texts, or God. The purpose of Bloom's Taxonomy is to classify the way humans think.

According to Bloom, there are six major thinking skills listed in order of complexity: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Each thinking skill can be developed and demonstrated through a myriad of intellectual activities . These intellectual activities are listed in the form of Bloom's Taxonomy verbs. (For printable lists of Bloom's Taxonomy verbs, go to the topic "Bloom's Taxonomy" at http://www.teachervision.com/ )

The way humans think...the very act of categorizing and listing some of the actions of which the human mind is capable points to the Divine. We have the power to tell, to predict, to instruct, to differentiate, to formulate, to choose - and these are only a fraction of the actions derived from Bloom's Taxonomy. Yom Kippur reminds us to use our wondrous God-given intellect for good, to turn away from destructive thoughts and apply our thinking skills to the enormous task of creating a better world. We have been given the gift of uniquely human thought processes. Yom Kippur reminds us that we are being judged in how we make use of this gift.
Have a truly good year.
L'shanah tovah - tikateivu v' teichatemu

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Words of wisdom for Shabbat and Yom Kippur

"... Yom Kippur has become the moment when most Jews individually and the Jewish people collectively experience the strongest sense of partnership and covenant with God - the strongest sense that if the people have striven with all their energy to redress the wrongs they have done, God will forgive them and give them a sense of harmony and wholeness...

This moment of most intense spiritual experience is the moment of atonement - the moment when all misdeeds are covered over. Yom Kippur becomes a kind of tallis in time - a prayer shawl to cover the confusions of the year. As worshippers walk into shul and pick up the tallis , they cover their heads for a moment so as to wipe away the pointless, pathless wanderings of the world. Under the tallis, with the world invisible, it is possible for a moment to look toward God. So we could look at Yom Kippur as the prayer shawl that God spreads over all the people Israel, if we will take the trouble to pick the tallis up. Under this tallis we can stand face to face with God.Italic"
From Seasons of Our Joy by Arthur Waskow


Putting on the Prayer Shawl

"Recalling the generations,
I wrap myself
in the tallit.

May my mind be clear,
my spirit open,
as I envelope myself in prayer."

From ItalicThe Book of Blessings by Marcia Falk

Shabbat Shalom Rest and Re-new
G'mar Chatimah Tovah

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

*Shalom Kitah Gimel Students and Families #1

*Posts entitled "Shalom Kitah Gimel Students..." are written especially for my Hebrew students and their families. All are welcome to read these posts and share in the excitement of a new school year.

What a wonderful first day of Hebrew School! Our students were pleased to hear that we're studying modern Hebrew. As this is the first year of the modern Hebrew curriculum, Kitah Gimel students will use the Hebrew skills which they developed in previous grades to master modern Hebrew vocabulary, language structure, and oral communication.

Judging from our students' responses today, they're off to a great start.
Class began with the blessing for Torah Study because, as we discussed, Torah is at the heart of all Jewish learning.

We recited the "cookie" blessing over our "on-time" oreos and, at a student's suggestion, we said the Shehecheyanu Blessing to begin the New Year together.

Taking attendance provided an opportunity for students to practice the questions and answers, in Hebrew, for this weekly procedure.

Next - on to Chapter 1 of the modern Hebrew textbook series, Shalom Ivrit. In a short time, students were rapidly translating the vocabulary and creating original sentences based on the new words.

From the vocabulary lists, students prepared flash cards for study at home. For the convenience of family members who may be unfamiliar with Hebrew, but who would like to help students review the cards, a transliteration sheet accompanies the flash cards.

In all, students learned 20 new Hebrew words - and used them in various activities. When students bring their cards to the next Wednesday Hebrew class on October 6, , they'll continue to add more words on a variety of topics.

Each student received a "gift" of candy, stickers, and a tiny eraser with a Rosh HaShana message attached. Why a tiny eraser? There are two reasons -
To suggest that we can "erase" our errors of the past year by asking forgiveness during The Days of Awe and
To symbolize that as long as our students respect themselves, their classmates, and their teachers (parents included!) any mistakes made as they participate in Jewish learning are small mistakes, a necessary part of the learning process.

Following our session in the classroom, we joined with the other Hebrew School classes and their families to continue our learning with the Cantor and the Rabbi at Family T'filah. In anticipation of Yom Kippur, the Cantor led us in singing the Aveinu Malkeinu prayer and the Rabbi told a story about a poor tailor and an amazing fish. The lesson of his story and indeed, an important theme for the school year ahead is: When it comes to Jewish living and learning, we must all put forth our very best effort.

G'mar Chatimah Tovah,
Morah Ronni

Friday, September 10, 2010

Words of Wisdom...from Arthur Waskow

Shabbat Shalom.
After services on Rosh HaShana morning, I picked up a copy of the Jewish Calendar for 5771.
The first month was Tishrei - no surprise there! But Judaism can be tricky - as Arthur Waskow explains in the following excerpt from his book, Seasons of Our Joy:

"Rosh Hashanah comes in the month of Tishri, which the Bible calls the seventh month. It is the month of early fall, of catching our breath after the dry hot winds of summer. Because it is in the seventh month, it echoes the seventh day, the Shabbos of rest and contemplation, of catching our breath after six days of hard work.

So perhaps Rosh Hashana is the new year for renewal. Like Shabbos it is the time to focus our attention on ultimate spirtual truth. This is then the new year for learning how a human being can turn toward God. Perhaps it is the head of the year because the head is raised toward heaven, away from the earth..."

Shabbat Shalom - Rest and Renew.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Richard C. Overbaugh


Lynn Schultz

Old Dominion University



Bloom's Taxonomy













New Version

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. During the 1990's a new group of cognitive psychologist, lead by Lorin Anderson (a former student of Bloom's), updated the taxonomy reflecting relevance to 21st century work. The graphic is a representation of the NEW verbage associated with the long familiar Bloom's Taxonomy. Note the change from Nouns to Verbs to describe the different levels of the taxonomy.



Note that the top two levels are essentially exchanged from the Old to the New version.





Old Version



Remembering: can the student recall or remember the information? define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce state

Understanding: can the student explain ideas or concepts? classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase

Applying: can the student use the information in a new way? choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.

Analyzing: can the student distinguish between the different parts? appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.

Evaluating: can the student justify a stand or decision? appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate

Creating: can the student create new product or point of view? assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write.



Michael Pohl's Website about Bloom's Taxonomy



Example of Questions at different levels (done using OLD taxonomy)

L'Shana Tova

L'Shana Tova U M'tuka - A Happy and Sweet New Year

May the New Year 5771 be filled with opportunities for joyful living and learning.

In the coming year, visit Jewish Educators' Village - K'far Morim for information and inspiration. Our Gates are always open!

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Lesson Planning Game: M=Methodology - Bloom's What!?

The methodology part of lesson planning is the "how-to." It's where you plan what your students are actually going to do in order to achieve the learning goals for their grade.
Like goals, methods of learning come from a variety of sources - from teacher's guides to textbooks; from in-service training and administrative guidance; from numerous resource books; from the internet; from colleagues; from your own experience at school, at home, and in the workplace.

From all these sources, we could brainstorm a long list of teaching and learning methods under such categories as: pencil and paper activities, oral activities, games, hands-on activities, team-builders, independent study, memorization, creative writing, music and dance...and more. the categories, themselves, overlap and intersect. What we need is an overall organizing principle to ensure that students acquire the knowledge outlined in our goals by developing and exercising a range of intellectual skills.

Good News! Enter Dr.Bloom and Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain.

Once, I attended a workshop where the presenter was explaining at length about a Dr. Bloom and his research. I had a startling vision of Dr. B. sitting in his hunting lodge surrounded by moose heads and other stuffed wildlife. What on earth did this have to do with education? I began to listen more attentively and was relieved to discover that the presenter was describing Bloom's Taxonomy and not Bloom's Taxidermy!

According to the dictionary, "taxonomy" is "the science dealing with the classification of plants and animals." Bloom applied the classification concept to the Cognitive Domain - ie. to the acquisition of knowledge and the development of intellectual skills.

The next few posts will provide the details of Bloom's Taxonomy and suggest ways to use it to select teaching methods for your students.

Information about Bloom's Taxonomy can also be found at www.teachervision.com

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Shabbat Shalom - Words of Wisdom From Abraham Joshua Heschel

Shabbat Shalom Today's "Words of Wisdom" are from Abraham Joshua Heschel as quoted in Shema Yisrael, the Siddur published by Temple Israel of West Bloomfield, Michigan.

"TO CELEBRATE TIME RATHER THAN SPACE"

The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space: on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day when we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of Creation, to the mystery of Creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.


Shabbat Shalom: Rest and Renew