The Transparency Files: Annual Parent Survey

After making transparent the results of my own evaluation by both myself and my faculty, it is time to turn to our other annual survey: the Annual Parent Survey. [For comparison sake, you are welcome to explore last year’s reflection.]

I will try to highlight any trends I see over the years as well as indicate anything of import in this year’s survey.

The first trend is that this year more parents (32 vs 22 vs. 39 vs. 64) filled out surveys! This is the first time the number has gone up, although it is still a low number considering this represents the number of students whose parents filled them out. (Remember, it isn’t that 32 separate parents took the survey. It is the parents of 32 students (many of whom are siblings) who took the survey.

Possible explanations for ongoing low turnout?

Families could be thrilled with what’s going on. Families could be resigned that the results are not taken seriously enough to invest the time in. There could be a certain amount of apathy. Or perhaps we are not marketing the surveys enough.

Possible explanations for slightly higher turnout this year?

Families could be more satisfied or unsatisfied than last year. Families may believe that the results are taken seriously enough to invest the time in.

Regardless, we have the data we have, so in the spirit of hoping to learn from whatever there is to learn…let’s move on to the results.

This actually maps pretty well to last year’s distribution once you take into account class size. Let’s look at the BIG PICTURE:

The score is still promising, although a bit lower. On a scale of 1-10, our average score wound up being a 7.8. Last year we scored an 8.0. It is a fairly stable score – especially considering the sample – but definitely leaves us some room to grow. Let’s dig deeper.

[If you would like to see the full text of the questions, I need to refer you back to last year’s blog post. Our survey software changed and I cannot create a clean graph that has the full labels written out. For consistency sake, I like using the same survey each year, but we may revisit this in the future.]

When it comes to communication, we dipped down almost a full point in just about every category (except electronic communication). The biggest drop came in providing opportunities for parents to be involved in student learning (which was the highest improvement last year after having been the lowest one the prior year). Another decrease – and one that takes me by surprises – was in parent-teacher conferences, which this year saw us expand our Student-Led Conferences from Grades 4-5 to Grades 4-8. Feedback we received specific to those conferences was positive, so I would have imagined scoring better here. We will have to go back and be sure we are being clear in what our expectations are in the new format and whether we are meeting them. I am additionally disappointed considering our renewed emphasis on “Community of Kindness” that our sense of being welcoming dropped. I do wonder if this is a result of increased expectations, which should only stimulate us to reach higher. And one place to keep working appears to be ongoing communication about children’s academic status.

All in all, it is a disappointment to see us drop in this area and we will need to do our due diligence in reflecting and planning to do better. [I will have a thought at the end about what this all means in light of being in transition to a new head of school.]

I know it is a little crowded, so let me break down some of the highlights.

Let me unpack the non-subject specific areas first:

Very similar to above, everything is down about a point.
One category worth watching is homework. We have completely revised the homework guidelines and philosophy this year and I will be very curious to see how this changes in next year’s survey.

General Studies:

The big picture remains stable (as does our overall school satisfaction number).
Continue to be pleased with the impact of Singapore Math and look to see next year what the impact of expanded use of the Daily 5 will be.
The greatest jump up was in Science! I will attribute this having a first-time, full-time K-8 Science Instructor.
But there is still room to grow. Writing took a drop. Don’t know if this is connected to our iPad initiative and what the perception of that is on “writing”, but I do know that writing is a critical skill and we either need to do a better job hitting our writing benchmarks and/or we need to do a better job (as it says above) communicating to parents about what we are doing in this curricular area.

Jewish Studies, Resources and Extracurricular Activities:

Our marks in all these areas are up from last year! Perhaps the renewed commitment to Hebrew immersion has finally kicked in, but our Jewish Studies marks are way up and that is something to be proud of!
All our resources are up and even our extracurricular activities went up! We have had new offerings this year and hopefully they are something we can continue to build on.

So there you have it for 2013-2014!

Thanks to all the parents who took the time and care to fill out surveys. In addition to the multiple choice questions, there were opportunities for open-ended responses. They added an additional layer of depth; one which is difficult to summarize for a post like this. But please know that all comments will be shared with those they concern as we use this data to make enhancements and improvements headed into next year. This is especially true in a year of transition.

As I begin to work with Rabbi Rogozen to prepare for his assumption of this headship, my hope and my prayer is simple…

Everything that we already do well, I hope under Rabbi Rogozen’s leadership we continue to do and do even better. And in each area that we have room to grow, I hope with Rabbi Rogozen’s experience and expertise we grow and grow demonstrably. I will surely share my thoughts as my time here draws to a close about what we accomplished and experienced together while I was here. But as a returning parent and as someone who cares deeply about this school, my thoughts about the future could not be more clear – let it only be better and brighter than today…and I am confident that it will!

Habits of Kindness: “Sharpen the Saw”

We introduced the LAST of our 7 Habits of Kindness this week at our monthly spirit day assembly!

When our school introduces a new Habit of Kindness, I take it upon myself to blog about the new Habit. (Last month was “Synergize“.) Beginning with the fifth Habit, we have been enlisting our Middle School to prepare and present the new Habit at a monthly spirit day assembly. (You can stay on top of all our Community of Kindness activities by checking out its blog.) They have been very creative! Each month’s introduction has typically come with a song or dance that tries to explain the Habit in a catchy way that will stick. Here’s what they came up with for “Sharpen the Saw”:

Here’s what it says from the “Leader in Me: 7 Habits for Kids” page:

Habit 7 — Sharpen The Saw

Balance Feels Best

I take care of my body by eating right, exercising and getting sleep. I spend time with family and friends. I learn in lots of ways and lots of places, not just at school. I find meaningful ways to help others.

You can see that our students reinterpreted the ways to “sharpen the saw” into being “Spiritually Fit”, “Mentally Fit”, and “Physically Fit”.

And we hopefully do our best to encourage all of those kinds of fitnesses in our school. Certainly being a Jewish day school provides plenty of opportunity for spiritual fitness, which is one of its many benefits. And unlike many or most public schools, we have managed to hold on to three-days-a-week PE, critical for fitness as childhood obesity continues to plague our youth. We do our best to offer healthy options with our hot lunch program, but do struggle with the amount of sugar and snacks that the many birthdays and holidays bring with them. This is something we plan to revisit next year.

Of course mental fitness goes along with schooling, but one advantage to being a leader in 21st century learning is that it provides tons of opportunity for kids to “learn in lots of easy and lots of places, not just at school”. We agree!

Part of my goal of blogging about the habits is not just to demonstrate how the school attempts to foster them, but to model my own attempts to foster them. So how am I doing?

Unfortunately, being a mourner has definitely enhanced and strengthened my spiritual fitness. This is something I blogged about recently with regard to my daily minyan attendance.

Mental fitness? If I reinterpret the language for children into workaday life, mental fitness here would mean that I find opportunities to learn outside what I am required to learn or think about to perform my job. For years (many years), my graduate work and my dissertation-writing were more than sufficient to ensure mental fitness. For the last couple of years? Outside of many robust games of Words with Friends, my mental fitness may be lacking! I love the opportunity Shabbat affords me to be with family and friends…they are also my only hours to read…would hate to have to choose between those two! And by the time my kids fall asleep on Friday nights..so have I. So I definitely need to “Be Proactive” and do some goal-setting for future mental fitness.

That leaves physical fitness…

So I recently had a birthday and with it, a physical. Now my wife and I share the same general practitioner and by the time my blood work had come back, my doctor decided to share it with her before sharing it with me. Which explains why I came home from work one day last week to find a variety of items awaiting me from a recent grocery trip:

Oatmeal. Tunafish. Whole grain bread. Fish Oil. Almonds.

So, apparently my meal plan from now until eternity is set! I will be eating oatmeal for breakfast, dry tunafish sandwiches for lunch, almonds for snacks and fish oil for supplements. I am two weeks in and hopefully soon I will adjust to the idea of never enjoying eating again…

In all seriousness, as someone who just lost a parent who waited (perhaps) too late to take diet and exercise seriously, I definitely am willing to sacrifice potato chips to live a long and healthy life. So, bring on the almonds!

Exercise. I do remember it. And I will absolutely “Put First Things First” and prioritize getting my tuchus out of my office chair at work and couch at home and in motion on a more regular basis.

That’s how I plan on sharpening my saw…how about you?

The Transparency Files: Evaluation of Self

How great was it to have everyone back after Passover Break! Super great! A school without students is just a building…it is good to be back and headed towards the home stretch! The final quarter of school has begun…

And so, I would like to begin my annual series of “Transparency Files” blog posts which begins with my own evaluation, soon moves to reveal the results of this year’s Parent Survey, follows with a discussion on this year’s standardized testing results and concludes with a conversation about next year’s faculty and schedule.

We are in that “evaluation” time of year! As Head of the Day School, I have the responsibility for performing the evaluation of staff and faculty each year. [As Head of Academy, I have the responsibility for performing evaluation of school heads each November.] Fittingly, they have an opportunity to do the same of me. Our annual Faculty Survey presents current teachers and staff with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback of my performance as head of school. Please know that it is sent unedited to the Head Support & Evaluation Committee as part of their data collection for my evaluation.

If you want to see context, I invite you begin with last year’s blog post. This year’s self-evaluation is based on new goals for this year. You will not find a complete laundry list of my day to day responsibilities. Nor will you find my goals as Head of Academy. (I intend to reflect on my second year as Head of Galinsky Academy in an upcoming post.) Here, then, are selected components from my self-evaluation for the 2013-2014 MJGDS academic year:

Extend dedicated science instruction throughout the lower school of MJGDS.

Building upon one of our major accomplishments from last year was ensuring our students in the lower school (K-5) had the requisite amount of science instruction according national standards for science education. This year we hired our first-ever, full-time K-8 Science Instructor! Mrs. Jaffa has ably stepped into the shoes left behind by our long-time Middle School Science Teacher, Mrs. Burkhart, while beginning to create her own unique identity. And she has significantly raised the bar in our Lower School, ensuring that love of science begins at the youngest grades. “Science” is the “S” in “STEM” and we are pleased that it is becoming one of our strengths.

Whack-A-Haman

Our work with Jewish Interactive was a huge success! Students researched and gathered the Jewish content to be included in their game, developed a curriculum and learning objectives, scripted an instructional game design, and developed characters and graphics. Every step of the process was supported and guided by the team and educators at MJGDS and the Jewish Interactive team. We see this is an exciting new direction which ties together so much of what excites us about education – student ownership of learning, Jewish and General Studies integration, differentiated instruction, gaming theory, etc.

We hit our goal of over 1,000 downloads and are now dreaming new dreams!

Habits of Kindness

“Community of Kindness” made a great slogan and a lousy call to action. We all recognized the need to be more “kind” and to ensure that our community acted with increased “kindness” to all…but what exactly do you do?

The first strategic decision was to pull the initiative in-house (last year we worked in partnership with Jewish Family & Community Services) and give the position to a full-time employee with knowledge, experience and relationships that transcend the academy, and so we named Stephanie Teitelbaum as our Galinsky Academy Community of Kindness Coordinator.

To further answer that question and to provide us with a common vision, language and set of behaviors we turned to a well-researched set of habits, seven of them to be exact.

With a huge assist from Andrea Hernandez, who had been quietly encouraging this for at least five years, we went ahead and adopted and adapted The Leader in Me.

We began at Faculty Pre-Planning when we held a joint session of DuBow Preschool and Martin J. Gottlieb Day School Faculty introducing the big idea and how we plan to proceed. Teachers of similar ages and grades were led through brainstorming activities on how to incorporate the first two habits as it is our plan, beginning in September, to focus each month on one habit. [The Bernard and Alice Selevan Religious School and Makom Hebrew High came on board as they opened up.] We began introducing the “habit of the month” at assemblies led by our middle school students. Activities were grade and age appropriate and included stories, lessons and resources. Parents were able to find evidence of how the habits came to life on school websites, classroom blogs, and student blogfolios.

Student Advisory

This year at MJGDS, we implemented a new Advisory Program. Each student in Grades 4-8 was assigned a teacher or staff member to assist the student in achieving his/her academic and personal goals. The advisor is an advocate to address personal, spiritual, social, and academic issues for each child.

What are the benefits of a student advisor?

Advisory offers emotional support for students. Social networks at this age can be extremely difficult for children. The advisor will supply support in challenging social and academic situations. The advisor will also provide a system to help new students acclimate to our school.

The advisor is someone the student knows s/he can trust and talk to about his/her progress in school. Advisors will help promote self-esteem and security. The advisor will become an additional contact person for parents, increasing their involvement, which is linked to student achievement at all levels. Each advisor is responsible for particular students, and each student will report concerns to their assigned advisor.

Homework

We went through a thorough revision of our homework vision, philosophy, guidelines and are continuing an implementation conversation to ensure that what homework we do give is authentic, meaningful, and of appropriate length of time.

Those are just some highlights…as has been my custom, you will also get an honest look at my shortcomings when I incorporate data from the Faculty and Parent Surveys in upcoming posts. Additionally, I will be sharing the unedited version of my self-evaluation as well as the unedited version of their evaluation of me on our faculty ning. Hopefully it will spark further opportunities for conversation and growth.

The Transparency Files: Homework Wars III – Return of the Homework

You may recall that in Episode I, which came out in late November, I blogged about what was then a pending conversation our faculty was going to have in order to revisit and realign our school’s homework philosophy with our learning target. In that post, I suggested some likely ideas that I imagined would make their way in based on all the work we have done these last few years making our beliefs about teaching and learning more explicit.

In Episode II, which came out in late January, I blogged about the process our faculty had gone through to create a new philosophy and set of guidelines for homework at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School:

We introduced the project at the December Faculty Meeting in a really interesting way. One member of our 21st Century Learning Team, randomly went onto class blogs and picked homework assignments that were then presented to the faculty to open the meeting. The question was then asked: “How long do you think this assignment ought to take the ‘typical’ students in this grade?”

The results were clarifying to say the least. Just about each assignment – regardless of grade level or subject – was estimated to take anywhere between 5-40 minutes!

So if our own teachers couldn’t agree about how long an assignment ought to take our students to complete, imagine how our parents and students feel!

This was a great introduction into a conversation about revising and articulating our school’s homework philosophy. Unlike other decisions in our school, I made it clear to faculty that although they would have input, the ultimate decision would be mine. [In our school we peg decisions on a hierarchy of decision-making. Some decisions they make with my input. Some decisions I make with their input. Some decisions require consensus. Some decisions are made democratically. And so on. I find it helpful to make this transparent to teachers so expectations are clear and there are no unnecessarily hurt feelings.] They were given the month to provide me with feedback to a draft. I was then to report back at our January Faculty Meeting what the new “MJGDS Homework Philosophy & Guidelines” were to be.

And so I did and I shared it in Episode II.

The final step in the process was and is, perhaps, the most important and complicated – implementation. Every teacher wants to and believes he or she is giving important and authentic homework. Every teacher wants to and believes he or she is giving homework of appropriate length and content. And yet…every teacher struggles to make those beliefs come true. What does it really mean for homework to be “authentic”? How can we be sure that the assignments we give are essential, necessary, meaningful and time-respectful?

Those questions we began to answer at our April Faculty Meeting. And in true MJGDS style, we utilized what is fast becoming a favorite pedagogy of ours: Speed Geeking! This time we selected five faculty representing different grades and different subjects who are experimenting with authentic homework and we “Homework Geeked”.

Like any “geeking” experience, it was both too quick and not quick enough. Faculty had enough time to get the basic idea from each Homework Geeker and to start to explore how that idea may or may not translate to their grade/subject, but not enough time for deeper engagement. We got to experience a range of ideas from badge learning for Lower School Math Enrichment to VoiceThread for Jewish Studies to flipped learning for Middle School Math to authentic reading as part of a Daily 5 philosophy (that we are going to extend school-wide next year) to family engagement for Kindergarten Social Studies.

And as we went around each table, there were a whole host of other great examples and ideas put on the table and shared. All faculty were asked to continue the conversation and the sharing on our Faculty Ning. Faculty were also asked to think about other ideas that go along with an implementation strategy such as…

How will teachers who share a grade communicate with each other about daily homework to ensure appropriate time management?
How will we coordinate quizzes, tests and other major projects that – along with daily homework – must not only pass the “authenticity” test, but must also be factored into appropriate time management?
How will we solicit feedback from students and parents to ensure that our time expectations are accurate?
How will communicate with parents so they will understand our homework philosophy, guidelines and implementation strategy in order to be the critical partners we need to achieve success?

As we head into the final quarter of the school year, answering these questions will hopefully bring peace to the “Homework Wars” and usher in a new age of “Homework Authenticity”! Stay tuned…

edJEWcon FLA

Storify by
Jon Mitzmacher

Thu, Apr 03 2014 13:55:40

edJEWcon FLA

We took to Hochberg Prep in Miami this week for our next Regional edJEWcon – this one was about "Flipped Learning" with Dr. Marie Alcock. Thanks to the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, the Schechter Network and CAJE-Miami for making it happen!

Allison @Allison35454450

Interested to learn about the Flipped Classroom tomorrow.
@edjewcon

Mon, Mar 31 2014 17:32:49

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

Excited to start #edJEWcon with @mariealcock @CAJEMiami @valeriemitrani @jlamberted @edtechworkshop @SchechterTweets #FlippedLearning

@SchechterTweets

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 05:04:48

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Marie Alcock @mariealcock

Looking forward to flipping classroom at #edjewcon @Hochberg

Tue, Apr 01 2014 05:45:02

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Diane Taub @ofmiceandkeys

So excited to be at edjewcon again! #edjewcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 05:45:31

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aviva moshe @atmtweety

JSA is excited to join Edjewcon:-)

Tue, Apr 01 2014 05:55:53

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Ready for #edjewcon FL at @hochbergprep with @mariealcock Flipped Classroom 101 @SchechterTweets pic.twitter.com/KXnR1ap9Oa

edJEWcon @edjewcon

@SchechterTweets

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 05:59:08

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Aliza Kadish @ALeazy11277

#Edjewcon South Florida!! Let’s get flipped 🙂

Tue, Apr 01 2014 05:59:42

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CAJE Miami @CAJEMiami

With South Florida’s day school teachers at #edjewcon @CAJEMiami

Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:01:49

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Jane West Walsh @JaneWestWalsh

#edjewcon thrilled to finally be experiencing day school teacher learning EdJEWCon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:11:33

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Julie Lambert @jlamberted

The power of Flipped Classroom is @ meeting the needs of a wide array of students in a very limited time. @mariealcock #edjewcon @CAJEMiami

Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:16:19

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edJEWcon @edjewcon

Continue the conversation after today’s session. Join our new social network. http://edjewcon.spruz.com/ #edjewcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:36:21

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We are #FlippedLearning with @mariealcock @HochbergP #edJEWcon @CAJEMiami @SchechterTweets pic.twitter.com/UgBfCiP1BM

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:36:28

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Getting a crash course in #TodaysMeet @edjewcon with @mariealcock #PLN #jed21 pic.twitter.com/8MSEOg6fAU

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:40:32

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edJEWcon @edjewcon

@jlamberted @CAJEMiami “covering” certainly doesn’t = learning! #edjewcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:50:16

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Julie Lambert @jlamberted

Our classrooms are laboratories of education where students take responsibility for their learning- J. Bergmann & A. Sams #flipped #edjewcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 06:59:24

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

“Producing the videos is the easy part. What you do with the extra time? That’s the hard part!” @mariealcock #edJEWcon #FlippedLearning

@valeriemitrani

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:09:09

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CAJE Miami @CAJEMiami

3 selfies: self motivation, self regulation, self assessment #edjewcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:09:30

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edJEWcon @edjewcon

Need to ask WHAT are we assessing? What they learned or how fast they learned it? #edjewcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:13:57

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edJEWcon @edjewcon

Grading needs to be: accurate, consistent, meaningful, and promote learning #edjewcon @mariealcock

@ALeazy11277

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:15:18

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Andrea Hernandez @edtechworkshop

@mariealcock suggests we separate grades for achievement (mastering standards), habits of mind & growth. #edjewcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:18:48

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CAJE Miami @CAJEMiami

So glad wo welcome Dr Jane West Walsh @JaneWestWalsh to #edjewcon South Florida. Great to have PARDES represented.

Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:28:08

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

“Heterogenous grouping betters all students except the top 2% of the top 2%” @mariealcock #edJEWcon #FlippedLearning

Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:28:36

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

“Watching a video is not the same as participating in a flipped classroom. Students need to be trained.” @mariealcock #edJEWcon

Tue, Apr 01 2014 07:38:51

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#DifferentiatedProfessionalDevelopment @mariealcock @edjewcon @HochbergP @SchechterTweets @CAJEMiami #FlippedLearning pic.twitter.com/RznwpFHVMW

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 08:31:56

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

Flipped learning does not replace deep learning; it creates space for it to happen in school with teacher guidance. @mariealcock #edJEWcon

@morehmichael

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 08:54:53

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Teachers practicing the flip @edjewcon with @mariealcock #FlippedLearning @CAJEMiami @SchechterTweets pic.twitter.com/6wf0M90RC4

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 10:47:37

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CAJE Miami @CAJEMiami

More learning at #edjewcon around Flipped Learning for Mastery with Dr. Marie Alcock http://fb.me/7d5oShxGQ

Tue, Apr 01 2014 11:11:38

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Teachers from Jacobson Sinai explain their video process @edjewcon #FlippedLearning pic.twitter.com/CamDpNC69i

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

@mariealcock

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 11:33:12

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A teacher from @HochbergP presents her @PowToon @edjewcon #FlippedLearning pic.twitter.com/k4Ng54vXvq

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

@mariealcock

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Tue, Apr 01 2014 11:35:28

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Johannah Sohn @JohannahSohn

Remembering fondly my trip to #edjewcon – wishing I could be there this year!

Tue, Apr 01 2014 11:52:53

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Marie Alcock @mariealcock

Love the images, thank you!!! http://youtu.be/tBcZ0NiaMn8 #edjewcon @langwitches @HeidiHayesJacob #flippedlearning

Tue, Apr 01 2014 13:10:45

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

@israelconnect This year we had regional #edJEWconLA & #edJEWconFLA Next year? A full #edJEWcon @mjgds AND more regionals! Who’s next?

@israelconnect

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Wed, Apr 02 2014 07:36:47

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Habits of Kindness: “Synergize”

First of all, it is hard to believe that we are already introducing the SIXTH Habit, “Syngergize”, because there are only seven…where did all the time go!

When our school introduces a new Habit of Kindness, I take it upon myself to blog about the new Habit. (Last month was “Seek first to understand, then to be understood“.) Beginning with the fifth Habit, we have been enlisting our Middle School to prepare and present the new Habit at a monthly spirit day assembly. (You can stay on top of all our Community of Kindness activities by checking out its blog.) They have been very creative! Each month’s introduction has typically come with a song or dance that tries to explain the Habit in a catchy way that will stick. Here’s what they came up with for “Syngergize”:

I don’t have video so you will have to supply your own tune (hmmm…that could be a fun contest for the future), but I can assure you that it was appropriately catchy!

Here’s what it says from the “Leader in Me: 7 Habits for Kids” page:

Habit 6 — Synergize

Together Is Better

I value other people’s strengths and learn from them. I get along well with others, even people who are different than me. I work well in groups. I seek out other people’s ideas to solve problems because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone. I am humble.

What I would like to do is take this line by line and offer a little midrash via hyperlink about why I think “synergize” has such great…ummm…synergy for a school like ours.

“I value other people’s strengths and learn from them.”

As we have documented our 21st century learning journey over the last four years, one thing that has consistently been borne true, has been that learning is no longer (if it ever was) about transferring knowledge from an adult to a child. One thing that I treasure about our school is the commitment our teachers have to lifelong learning and the willingness they have to learn not only from each other, but from their students.

“I get along well with others, even people who are different than me.”

Before we had chosen “Community of Kindness” as the initiative to ensure students feel welcome, protected, and loved within (and without) our walls, we had already made quite clear our desire to be an inclusive Jewish day school. Each student, of course, is different from every other student because each is unique. But we know that we – not just our school, but each of us – should be ultimately judged by how we treat “difference”.

“I work well in groups.”

One of the critical literacies for the 21st century is the ability to work well in “groups”. It is why we jumped early to adopt ideas from Alan November about the “digital learning farm” back in our earliest Skype-ortunities (thanks for the coinage Seth Carpenter!) we had students grouped to take ensure that everyone had a meaningful role to play and that students would have authentic opportunities to learn how to work together. It will be the rare job our students will grow up to perform, where working well with others will not be a key to success. It isn’t a skill you master in Kindergarten and then revisit in adulthood…it is an art form to be practiced daily so mastery ensues.

“I seek out other people’s ideas to solve problems because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone.”

So unlike the above, which is ensuring that everyone on a team has unique role, here we really see collaboration in action; that by working with each other and learning from each other we will come up something better together than we could on our own. I cannot think of anything that reflects collaboration – between students, between students and teachers, and between schools and other organizations – better than our recently completed “Whack-A-Haman” project that reached its goal of 1,250 downloads ahead of Purim.

“I am humble.”

We teach our children that each is made in God’s image and that we ought to remember that when we interact with each other. Humility is critical to collaboration because it assumes an attitude that one does not know it all and that there is wisdom to be found in each and every one of us if we are only willing to look and to listen. One way we have embraced humility is in the transition from Parent-Teacher Conferences to Student-Led Conferences and from Teacher Observations to Teacher-Led Evaluations. In both cases we put the onus of responsibility on the learner to share growth rather than on the authority figure to ferret it out.

Next month we will finish up with “Sharpen the Saw”!

Jon’s #iJED Storify

Storify by
Jon Mitzmacher

Tue, Mar 04 2014 08:13:41

Jon’s #iJED Storify

This is my quick, rather unedited, Storify of #iJED14 using JUST MY Twitter. I encourage everyone to make and share THEIR Storify using all the social media you are comfortable with! Let the connectedness and collaboration continue!

Dr. Eliezer Jones @DrEliezerJones

Getting geared up to head to IJED2014 and get my mind blown! #jed21 #ijed14 #yusp

@Jon_Mitzmacher

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Thu, Feb 27 2014 08:04:03

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

New blog post: #ijed14 http://wp.me/p370gp-yw @YUSchoolPartner @SchechterTweets @PEJEjds @Gates2JewishEd @curriculum21 @korenpublishers

Thu, Feb 27 2014 15:00:53

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Boxes-lots of cardboard boxes- get ready to create!
@DrEliezerJones @DrRonaNovick @Jon_Mitzmacher @iJEDConference pic.twitter.com/EAFyOBzqcE

Dina Rabhan @DinaRabhan

@Jon_Mitzmacher

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Fri, Feb 28 2014 10:11:54

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Jane TaubenfeldCohen @batami

What’s a little snow? Almost 600 educators have a lot of learning to do. #ijed2014

@Jon_Mitzmacher

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Sat, Mar 01 2014 16:24:23

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

Prepping for #ijed14! We just need some #UnSnow for the #UnConference @SchechterTweets @YUSchoolPartner @PEJEjds @curric21 @Gates2JewishEd

Sat, Mar 01 2014 16:30:41

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

@israelconnect @SchechterTweets @YUSchoolPartner @PEJEjds @curric21 @Gates2JewishEd No snow! #ijed14 will melt it; learning will be hot!

Sat, Mar 01 2014 16:41:06

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Team #iJED prepping for the #UnConference pic.twitter.com/0mACLRnYIP

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Sat, Mar 01 2014 19:26:17

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

@DinaRabhan @batami @iJEDConference @DrEliezerJones Hydration is the key to 21st century learning!

Sat, Mar 01 2014 19:27:54

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The only snow I see is on the ground! Ready to fill the parking lot and let the learning begin! #ijed14 #TeacherDay pic.twitter.com/ukzdAv2yEo

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 03:51:26

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

@Edtechmorah @JewishInteract Don’t miss their presentation! @mjgds @shoshyart There is always room for more collaboration! That’s #ijed14

Sun, Mar 02 2014 04:50:21

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@mjgds @MSmjgds & @JewishInteract presenting about #WhackAHaman @iJEDConference #ijed14 @shoshyart pic.twitter.com/MXItgQQHXJ

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 07:37:43

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Proud to see old @mjgds friend @fisher1000 present @iJEDConference #ijed14 #edJewcon pic.twitter.com/JpVr74BlZ4

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 07:41:43

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Go @shoshyart ! So proud of @mjgds to be presenting at #ijed14 with @JewishInteract #WhackAHaman pic.twitter.com/62CLoQ6FQJ

Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 07:51:13

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

If your neighbor is not on #twitter…help them get started! #ijed14

Sun, Mar 02 2014 09:52:15

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Schechter Network @SchechterTweets

@Jon_Mitzmacher “We want you to own the learning.” #ijed14

Sun, Mar 02 2014 10:16:33

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Schechter Network @SchechterTweets

#ijed14 #oneword growth

Sun, Mar 02 2014 10:13:23

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

Learning is no longer bound by time and place. #ijed14

Sun, Mar 02 2014 10:33:59

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

@HeidiHayesJacob “Help our students as self-navigators and collaborators in the physical and virtual world” #ijed14

Sun, Mar 02 2014 10:41:44

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There you go! #iJed14 is a TRENDING TOPIC! Way to go, Tweeters! Keep up the momentum! pic.twitter.com/XdbL5VIjXY

Michael Fisher @fisher1000

@Jon_Mitzmacher

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 10:49:29

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

“Foster the creativity of every child” @nirvan #ijed14 @CainesArcade

Sun, Mar 02 2014 16:58:00

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Learning from @nirvan about how to find, foster, and fund the creativity of children. #ijed14 pic.twitter.com/wSnaEJoXng

iJED Conference @iJEDConference

@SchechterTweets

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 16:51:39

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Gabby Goodman @GabbyGoodman1

@SchechterTweets etgar b’karton? The Carboard challenge in Hebrew #ijed14

@SchechterTweets

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 15:22:58

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

All learned out from day 1 of #ijed14 Can’t wait for an amazing day 2! @PEJEjds @curric21 @YUSchoolPartner @SchechterTweets @Gates2JewishEd

Sun, Mar 02 2014 20:08:11

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Schechter Network @SchechterTweets

The Schechter Network will be livestreaming our Network time tomorrow, from noon to two. Click this link to watch it– http://bit.ly/1g2M0KM

Sun, Mar 02 2014 08:35:29

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The event honoring Elaine Cohen will be livestreamed tomorrow at 12 during the Network time http://bit.ly/1g2M0KM pic.twitter.com/qMbgJCfSzc

Schechter Network @SchechterTweets

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Sun, Mar 02 2014 11:43:12

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FranUrman @DSLTI honors ElaineCohen @SchechterTweets with @PEJEjds @AVICHAIFDN @YUSchoolPartner #ijed14 #onecommunity pic.twitter.com/PJTMXPU4eB

Jonathan Cannon @EduCannon

@SchechterTweets

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Mon, Mar 03 2014 10:12:11

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These children are amazing! What a beautiful tribute for Dr. Elaine Cohen! Thank you @SchechterLI! @SchechterTweets pic.twitter.com/JnL8hyeKUN

Ilisa Cappell @icappell

@SchechterTweets

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Mon, Mar 03 2014 09:51:48

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TY @sjgoldberg for helping every one of us “build our capacity” each day! @batami @iJEDConference #ijed2014 pic.twitter.com/4phLoquUtI

YU SchoolPartnership @YUSchoolPartner

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Mon, Mar 03 2014 10:53:37

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Gabby Goodman @GabbyGoodman1

Looking forward to hearing Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks here at #ijed14 @SchechterTweets and @YUSchoolPartner!

Mon, Mar 03 2014 15:01:01

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iJED Conference @iJEDConference

Wonderfully inspiring speech by @rabbisacks. #ijed14

Mon, Mar 03 2014 17:35:10

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Jonathan Cannon @EduCannon

@rabbisacks at #ijed “nothing is more important Jewish Day School for Jewish continuity”
@rabbihouben @DinaRabhan @mosheschochet @AVICHAIFDN

@iJEDConference

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Mon, Mar 03 2014 17:18:52

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Rabbi Sacks @rabbisacks

Delighted to have joined you & the remarkable teachers. RT @iJEDConference: Wonderfully inspiring speech by @rabbisacks. #ijed14

@iJEDConference

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Tue, Mar 04 2014 05:53:49

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Schechter Network @SchechterTweets

@rabbisacks discusses the parallels between Anglo Jewry and American Jewry over the past 30 years #ijed14

Mon, Mar 03 2014 17:09:03

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Shana @shoshyart

@fisher1000 is talking about how great our students are in his session @Jon_Mitzmacher @edtechworkshop @HeidiHayesJacob @mjgds

@Jon_Mitzmacher

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Mon, Mar 03 2014 06:24:02

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Ruth Gafni, representing Schechter at the #ijed14 conference! @iJEDConference pic.twitter.com/PkQd4X4Up7

Schechter Network @SchechterTweets

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Tue, Mar 04 2014 05:55:37

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

“Why am I not happy? How can I be happier?” #ijed14 #PositivePsychology

Tue, Mar 04 2014 05:46:26

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

Tal Ben Shahar: “Focus on what works” #PositivePsychology #ijed14 “Build the best qualities in life”

Tue, Mar 04 2014 05:48:24

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

Reality. Reality. Reality. The 3 secrets of happiness – Tal Ben Shahar. #PositivePsychology #ijed14

Tue, Mar 04 2014 05:50:16

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Naomi Lev @AccidentalTchr

Happiness is looking at reality – both of what works and the problems. But what works is vital to recognize! #ijed14

Tue, Mar 04 2014 05:50:34

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Rabbi Dr. Aaron Ross @RabbiRoss

Tal benshachar: resilience is a key factor in success #ijed14

Tue, Mar 04 2014 05:57:28

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AVI CHAI Foundation @AVICHAIFDN

When you have a “what for,” every “how” becomes possible -Tal Ben Shahar, Positive Psychology #ijed14

Tue, Mar 04 2014 06:01:25

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Rachel K. Slaton @Money4DaySchool

“The best self-help books are biographies because they give us reality- stories of real people!” – Tal Ben Shahar #ijed14 @PEJEjds fav bio?

Tue, Mar 04 2014 06:11:07

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Shira Heller @ShiraHeller

In schools, physical activity improves grades and levels of well-being and decreases depression and anxiety. Let’s get kids moving. #ijed14

Tue, Mar 04 2014 06:16:37

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Jon Mitzmacher @Jon_Mitzmacher

Tal Ben Shahar: “When we appreciate the good, the good appreciates.” #PositivePsychology #ijed14

Tue, Mar 04 2014 06:44:24

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iJED 2014

This week is a big week for MJGDS Faculty being honored by their participation in national conversations and conferences!

Liat Walker spent time this week in New Jersey participating in a new “iTal AM” think-tank as recognition of our school’s leading role in thinking about 21^st century learning. Andrea Hernandez will be co-presenting on Friday at NAIS about the role of 21^st century learning and the teaching of empathy – which came directly from people and conversations from last year’s edJEWcon. And Andrea will be at iJED as part of the MJGDS team representing our ongoing interests in the future of edJEWcon. Shana Gutterman has been invited to present at this year’s iJED (the national conference that includes the Schechter Network [see below]) about the work she has been doing with Jewish Interactive in the creation of the amazing “Whack-A-Haman” app that our Middle School helped produce and is now available at all the app stores. And Talie Zaifert and I co-facilitated a PEJE Webinar on Tuesday about the role of social media in retention and recruitment! And Karin Hallett had an article accepted in an upcoming publication from Lookstein about the changing role of libraries and the new ways we need to teach students information literacy.

Congratulations to them and to all of us for creating an environment that encourages experimentation and continues to lead the field! That’s quite a week!

I want to spend just a few more moments talking about iJED…

What’s “iJED”?

So what’s iJED?

As you can see, it should be something very special!

And as always, you can expect me to be tweeting and utilizing all kinds social media to share our experiences. The hashtag for the conference will be #ijed14. I look forward to reflecting on my experience (which I am so pleased to be sharing with Shana and Andrea) upon my return. I am confident that it will be a conference unlike any other and that there will be lasting impact on our school…and most importantly, our teachers and students.

MJGDS Got Game II – “Whack-a-Haman” – Now Please Get It Too!

[Quick note about last week’s post covering edJEWcon LA: The decision to take edJEWcon on the road this year as regional mini-conferences was jointly made between the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and the Schechter Day School Network out of recognition that the dual national Jewish day school conference schedule made it impossible to hold a third-annual full edJEWcon here in Jacksonville. In order to keep the brand and the learning alive – and out of responses from across the nation – we decided to take the show on the road. By continuing to provide the highest quality 21st century professional development to Jewish day schools throughout North America, we have simply widened the scope of what edJEWcon might be in the future. There may be a full edJEWcon in Jacksonville in 2015 as well as other regional mini-edJEWcon’s. But what last week demonstrated and what April 1st will demonstrate at edJEWcon FLA, is that the desire for what edJEWcon has to offer the field remains intact and the need for edJEWcon to grow and thrive remains significant. We’ll keep you posted on the future of edJEWcon and if it winds up coming to a neighborhood near you soon!]

In December of 2012, I blogged about an amazing new project we were launching at our school:

We are pleased to announce that Jewish Interactive will be embarking on a joint project with the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School of Jacksonville, Florida, where students will be designing from the ground up an educational Purim video game. Jewish Interactive will actually build the software, to be released in advance of next Purim for use in their current network to more than 50 elementary schools around the world.

In this jointly planned and executed cross-curricular project, MJGDS students will first learn about the software development cycle and form project teams, each receiving a specific role, e.g.:

 Project manager

 Content expert

 Instructional designer

 Gaming expert

 Graphic artist

 Programmer

 Animator

 Sound effects

Students will research and gather the Jewish content to be included in their game, develop a curriculum and learning objectives, script an instructional game design, and develop characters and graphics. Every step of the process will be supported and guided by the team and educators at MJGDS and the Jewish Interactive team.

The MJGDS team has been a leader of innovation and entrepreneurship in the field, and a strong voice of change and advancement, most noticeably through their edJEWcon initiative, a conference for Jewish schools and institutions on 21st century teaching and learning, and the cross-curricular use of technology in their own school, sharing Jewish Interactive’s vision.

Jewish Interactive is thrilled to embark on this joint initiative with MJGDS and to pioneer the involvement of students at the very core of the learning experience.

And it is with great pride that just over a year later, we can share the following post from the Jewish Interactive website:

Whack-a-Haman is an international collaboration between Jewish Interactive (based in South Africa, UK and Israel) and Martin J Gottlieb Jewish Day School (Jacksonville, Florida).

The students designed the game and its assets under the guidance of Jewish Interactive and their teacher. Jewish Interactive produced the game.

Download and play this game on your computer now.

MJGDS Team

MJGDS teacher/director: Mrs. Gutterman
Project Manager: Casey B.
Quality Control: Sarah C.
Art Director: Sarah S.
Art Team: Talya P. and Lily H.
Audio Engineer: Sydney T.
Photographer: Noah R.

A special thanks to sixth grade for coming up with the questions:

Benjamin C., Elior L., Gil S., Itamar L., Jamie B., Jolie W., Rebecca B., Zachary S. and Zoe M.

Follow the MJGDS blog describing their progress here.

JI Team

With thanks to the JI team for mentoring and believing in the talent of young adults and for their individual roles:

Instructional designer and production management: Corinne Ossendryver
Programmer and game mechanics: David Komer
Graphics: Rachel Silke
Curriculum development: Chana Kanzen
Content approval: Rabbi Johnny Solomon
JI Director: Nicole Newfield

Jewish Interactive presented Skype lessons to the middle school students on:

Purim
Lesson plans and education
Instructional design of games
Audio
Graphic design
Basic programming
Marketing and budgeting

Thank you to all the students who submitted game ideas and we look forward to collaborating and producing them in the future.

Thank you to Jon Mitzmacher and Andrea Hernandez, Corinne Ossendryver, Chana Kanzen and Nicole Newfield for initiating this project and to Shana Gutterman for making it happen.

Or to see how our students’ wrote about it:

I cannot be more proud of the results! And I am pleased that Shana Gutterman has been asked to present alongside Jewish Interactive at next week’s iJED conference in New York to share with the field the amazing work she and the students have done.

I cannot think of a project that brings together everything we have been learning, talking and trying to do here at MJGDS these last four years than this amazing project. I hope you download the game. I hope you go onto to the students’ blogfolios and let them know how incredible their project was.

This is this thing called “21st century learning” in full flower. This is the future of Jewish education. And this is just the beginning…

UPDATE: This just came from the good folk at Jewish Interactive…

Dear Team

Mazeltov on the release of the first Jewish Game made by kids, for kids. This is truly a ground breaking project. It is very rare that a collaboration is so seamless, so mutually productive and enjoyable. Well done to everyone who worked on it to make it happen. I am proud to be part of a dynamic team that believes so strongly in the power of our children, who hears what they need and helps facilitate their process of learning. Often people talk about doing projects but they often don’t happen – even for legitimate reasons.

Everyone on this team has given of their personal time to make this a success. I appreciate all the intellect, guidance, out-the -box thinking and for being ‘YES’ people who find ways to do things. I pray that our learning will help empower many other teachers and young students to have such a positive learning experience and that the App ‘Whack-A – Haman” inspires many schools , families and kids.

Shana and Corinne and David and Rochi – you were the real push to actually make it happen. Jon thank you for making it happen . To the following kids:

Project Manager: Casey B.
Quality Control: Sarah C.
Art Director: Sarah S.
Art Team: Talya P. and Lily H.
Audio Engineer: Sydney T.
Photographer: Noah R.

Benjamin C., Elior L., Gil S., Itamar L., Jamie B., Jolie W., Rebecca B., Zachary S. and Zoe M.

Message to Kids : Thank you for being part our time. We have been honoured to work with you as colleagues. You guys have talent and we will watch you as you grow and develop over the years . We believe in you and know you all going to do big things in this world to make it a good place for us all. We look forward to more projects with the whole school.

Shalom and thank you from Jerusalem,

Nicky

•••

Nicky Newfield
Director, Jewish Interactive

Mobile +27 82 307 4691
Email [email protected]

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