Marching With Fruits & Vegetables (5775 Remix)

We are deep into the holidays! We have come out of Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur and headed straight into Sukkot. I just finished putting up my sukkah (talk about a “floor, but no ceiling”!) and look forward to picking up my children from their half-day and finishing the decorations together as a family.

This is absolutely my favorite holiday of the entire year. There is nothing else like it on the Jewish Calendar – sitting outside in a sukkah you built yourself (which is pretty much the one and only thing I actually can and do build), with handmade decorations from your children, enjoying good food with friends and family in the night air, the citrusy smell of etrog lingering and mixing with verdant lulav – this is experiential Judaism at its finest.

But here is a complicated truth: Even though our Jewish day schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday for Sukkot, it is reasonable to assume that the majority of our Jewish day school students will not be found in synagogue enjoying what is known as “The Season of our Rejoicing”. But I’d wager that many, if not most, were in synagogue last weekend for Yom Kippur. So when it comes to “atoning” we have a full house, but for “rejoicing” we have empty seats?

If our children – if we – only experience the Judaism of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and not the Judaism of Sukkot, the simple truth is that we are not exposing them to the full range of beauty and joy our tradition has to offer. So why, in fact, is this what typically happens?

I’m not entirely sure, but I think it has to do with the exotic nature of the holiday. As someone who did not grow up celebrating this holiday, upon coming to synagogue as an adult and watching a congregation march in circles waving fruits and vegetables – well this was not the Judaism I knew! Truth be told, there are surely pagan accretions to the way that we honor the harvest roots of this holiday which may seem alien to the typical prayerbook service. But for me, that is precisely what makes it so unique, special and not-to-be-missed!

No one likes to feel uncomfortable and adults especially are wary of feeling uneducated or unprepared. I know how I felt encountering Jewish ritual for the first time as an adult – it was scary. I, however, was lucky. I was pursuing a degree in Jewish education and, therefore, had all the support and resources I needed to learn and grow. I realize that most adults coming at Jewish practice for the first time (or the first time in a while) are not so lucky. The amount of “stuff” Judaism asks of us to do – building the sukkah with precise specifications, shaking the lulav and etrog in the proscribed way, chanting less-familiar prayers, coming to synagogue on unfamiliar days – can be overwhelming.

But don’t lose the forest through the trees…I’d simply ask you to consider this: When building your child’s library of Jewish memories, which memory feels more compelling and likely to resonate over time – sitting in starched clothes in sanctuary seats or relaxing with friends and family in an outdoor sukkah built with love and care?

You don’t have to choose just one, of course, that is the beauty of living a life of sacred time – there is a rhythm to the Jewish calendar, evocative and varied. Come to synagogue for the High Holidays, to be sure. But don’t miss out on Sukkot (or Simchat Torah or Shavuot or “Add Jewish Holiday Here”). Let this Sukkot truly be the season of our great rejoicing. I hope to see many students in synagogue this Sukkot. I hope to see many parents push themselves out of their comfort zones and join the parade. Go ahead…pick up your fruit and vegetables and march with us.

Chag sameach.

Shofar so good!

[Cross-posted to the Schechter website and our last Constant Contact.]

The Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah begins tonight and is the most well-known of the Jewish “New Year’s” (we actually have four different ones, including Tu B’Shevat). Additionally, since most of us also follow the secular calendar, we have an extra one each year on the eve of December 31st. And finally, if you are in the field of education, well, the start of school provides yet another “new year”. Putting it all together, suffice it to say, we have ample opportunities each year to pause and reflect on the year that was and to hope and dream about the year that is yet to be.

This is the time of year that schools engage in all sorts of creative ways to perform tashlikh – a ceremony in which we cast off the sins of the past with an eye towards improving our behavior for the future. A common activity for our youngest students has them draw a picture and/or write about a behavior they want to avoid doing again – mistreating a sibling, being disobedient to a parent, not being a good friend. etc. After they make their project, they crumble it into a ball and throw it into the trash. Bye-bye bad behaviors!

Were it only that easy!

All schools count “character education” as part of their mission. All educators consider it part of their already challenging jobs to help children grow and develop as human beings. Part of what I enjoy about working with Jewish day schools is that we get to make that part of our curriculum explicit. We are in the business of making menschen and during the High Holiday season, business is good!

This season, hundreds upon thousands of Schechter students will make lunches for those who are hungry and bake honey cakes for the holiday and deliver them to the elderly. Programs like this – call it “service learning” or call it a “Mitzvah Program” – are opportunities for our students to get outside the walls of the building and put into practice what they learn inside. It is not academic time lost, but rather life-changing experiences gained. Through programs like this, our students are reminded that there needs to be a proper balance between “study” and “action”, and we can see the “Schechter Difference” in action.

So who will we become this year? Beyond all our academic hopes and dreams, will this be the year we become who we were meant to be? Will we live up to our own lofty expectations? Will we be better children, better students, better teachers, better siblings, better partners, better spouses, better colleagues, better friends – will we be a better “us”?

As the eve of a new Jewish Year approaches, it is my most sincerest hope that this is the year we’ve been waiting for. To all the teachers, staff, parents, students, donors, supporters, and friends in this special network of schools – thank you for your enthusiasm and your hard work. 5775 is shaping up to be a quite an amazing year! From our family to yours, “Shanah tovah!”

Schechter: Becoming the Adjacent Possible for Jewish Education

So…how was your summer vacation?

Passing the torch to my friend, mentor and new Head of MJGDS, Rabbi Jim Rogozen.

In June, I wrote my last blog post as head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School (MJGDS) and on July 1, I officially assumed my new role as Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network. It has been an extremely busy couple of months and as I have been finding my way in my new work, I put my blogging on hold so as to give me time to decide how to repurpose and reimagine who I am blogging for and what I ought to be blogging about.

If you are regular reader of this blog (and “thank you” if you are!), you know that it was born out of a desire to lead by example. I had inherited a school that embraced a culture of blogging and it did not seem fair to expect students and teachers to blog regularly if I wasn’t willing to do the same. And so in July 2010, I wrote my first blog post and pushed it out into the world.

I chose to title the blog, “A Floor, But No Ceiling,” which reflects my belief about teaching and learning – namely that there should be a floor, but no ceiling on expectations, achievements or possibilities for learning. I imagined my primary audience – if there was going to be an audience at all – would be the stakeholders of the school and I tried to find topics I imagined would be of interest for parents, board members, donors, supporters, etc., of this one Jewish day school in Jacksonville, Florida.

Perhaps it was the forced discipline of weekly blogging. Perhaps it was my wandering attention span. Perhaps it was the generous patronage of folk with a much greater online presence than my own. Perhaps it was the timing.

Who knows?

Over time, it became clear that the blog had developed multiple audiences and I tried to shift both my writing style and my topics accordingly. I could never predict when a post would resonate or with whom. And since even today most blog readers prefer to remain lurkers rather than active commentators, it remains difficult to be really sure you aren’t just whispering into the wind.

So…

…having come to believe in the power of blogging, I have every intention of resuming weekly blog posts, beginning with this one.

But…

…who am I writing this blog post for and what will I be writing about?

History teaches that the accurate answer will more likely evolve in time than be what I am suggesting here, but I do have some thoughts to get me started.

As was the case before, this is a professional blog. I am blogging as the Executive Director of a network of diverse Schechter schools throughout the world doing the critical and holy work of educating the next generation of Jewish children. I would hope that those who are already stakeholders of their local Schechter schools and for the larger mission of “Schechter” will find this blog a valuable resource. And I would hope that those who care passionately about Jewish day school, Jewish education and education will find this blog a useful read as I attempt to tackle important issues of the day, share perspective, answer questions, field feedback, and – in my own way – try to create a commonplace of exploration, discussion and celebration for the sacred task of educating Jewish children.

As was the case before, this is a professional blog written by a particularly personality…mine. I am blogging as Jon Mitzmacher. I don’t have dual identities and although I respect those who have both professional and personal identities, I neither have the time nor the interest in maintaining them. My understanding of authenticity leads me to be me. You will get my love for words you need to look up. You will get my many ellipses, asides, and occasional snark. You will get glimpses into my family when appropriate. You will get the extra 400 words that a more parsimonious (see!) writer doesn’t need to get to the point.

My colleague, Andrea Hernandez, who I am thrilled will be one of my daughter’s teachers next year at MJGDS and continues to lead edJEWcon into a bright future, introduced me to a phrase that I loved so much that I both wish I had thought of it and toyed with the idea of changing my blog’s title to it…and that is “The Adjacent Possible”.

It is not a new concept. A Google search will reveal lots of articles going back to 2010. Here is the definition that struck me from Steven Johnson’s fantastic essay for the Wall Street Journal called “The Genius of the Tinkerer.”

The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself. The adjacent possible captures both the limits and the creative potential of change and innovation. The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations.

And so goes my “a-ha” moment from the Summer of 2014.

That’s how I see what is happening in Schechter schools – an adjacent possible for the future of education. That’s what role I see for Schechter in the field – learning from and contributing to a larger adjacent possible for the future of the Jewish people. Let our ability to serve as incubators of innovation catalyze the field. Let our thirst for the new and the better stimulate and foster healthy collaborations with our sister networks of schools, foundations, federations, stakeholders, supports and friends, both in the Jewish world and beyond.

What do I hope to accomplish with this blog?

I hope – with your help – to make the adjacent possible.

We’ll start next week with a summer update of all things Schechter. Your comments and questions on this or anything else are genuinely welcome and if offered, will be addressed.

It is good to be back.

What STILL no “Model Seder” this year?

This was originally published last year also the week prior our Passover activities. I have revised it slightly…

Regardless of whether the thought of not having a “model seder” to attend this year makes you happy or sad, let’s revisit the “model seder” and why we have changed up our Passover programming here at MJGDS.

What, exactly, is a “model seder” supposed to accomplish? Do we need to do one in each grade? And if not, are there other Passover experiences we can offer families that might be nice to experience as well?

At the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, we had been pretty consistently offering pretty consistent-feeling model seders year after year for quite a while. Are they rehearsals for the main event? Are they just-in-case some families have no other Passover experience?

I admit that year before last I hit a bit of a “model seder” wall. I had my own two children’s to attend. And I had to make meaningful appearances at every other one in both the Preschool and the Day School. By the time we got to Passover itself, I really wasn’t in the mood for two more! I mean I love charoset, gefilte fish, and matzah as much as the next person…

We do believe in the “model seder”. The seder itself is amongst the most powerful pedagogies ever developed. Celebrating a holiday through reenactment is experiential education at its finest. We like it so much we have created them for Tu B’Shevat, Yom Ha’Atzmaut and holidays! And we do in the Jewish day school feel a certain pressure to provide Jewish experiences of holidays to ensure all our families have opportunities to participate. Hence, our monthly “All-School Kabbalat Shabbat” services and this year’s Purim celebration (we felt we needed to acknowledge Purim in school even though it fell on a weekend this year). Basically, outside of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we celebrate the entire Jewish calendar in school – whether they fall during school or not. So we were not going to get rid of Passover. But maybe we could provide a differentiated educational experience?

So the Jewish Studies Faculty and I met after that Passover to reflect and to plan, and we were pleased last year deliver a K-8 differentiated Passover experience for MJGDS students and families:

Kitah Gan: First “Model” Seder
Kitah Alef: First Hebrew “Model” Seder
Kitah Bet: Hebrew Passover Play
Kitah Gimmel: Historical Reenactment “Model” Seder
Kitot Daley & Hay: A Passover Experience
Kitot Vav – Chet: Lead Seder at Mt. Carmel in partnership with JFCS

Feedback from students, parents, and teachers last year was extremely positive and so next week we will try it again!

Each grade (or grade grouping) has its particular theme or experience (or both). Every student will have learned appropriate Passover material and each family will have a chance to have an appropriate Passover family experience. Hopefully, the differentiated experience will continue to give our students something new to look forward to each year…and give our parents and families (particularly those with multiple children) something different to experience with each child.

Looking forward to all the pre-Passover excitement coming soon!

The Schechter Difference: Minyan Matters

I am almost always the first car on the property each morning. This is not new. For the last nine years that I have been a Head of School at a Schechter – five years as founding head of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Las Vegas and the last four, here, at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School – however early childcare was available…that’s when the Mitzmacher family arrives. My daughters since birth have had the pleasure of dining at school each morning at around 7:00 AM. (You’re welcome!) Why do I insist on arriving so early?

Based on the title of this blog post, you might think the answer is “minyan”. That I try each morning to get to work as early as possible so that I can attend daily morning services at the synagogues in which my schools have been housed.

Nope.

Despite the fact that minyan begins (here) at 7:10 AM, I had not been in the habit of rushing to drop off my girls to attend. Not that I never attended; I would attend sporadically on my own or to be present at school-related events. But my rush in the morning was really to take advantage of that magic hour of silence before teachers and students arrived. That was my hour to catch up on voicemail and email and to be ready to greet teachers and students at their arrival times. For many parents and students, seeing me in the carpool line each morning is my primary point of contact, one that I take very seriously for communication and community-building. So if I am being honest, when the minyan would be short the requisite ten and I was sent for, there were times when I either went begrudgingly or not at all.

And evening minyan?

Never.

Ironically, with all my talk of transparency and role modeling, there was always a disconnect between my schools’ expression of the value of daily prayer and my own personal practice.

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

That is not typically my leadership style, but when it has come to prayer that has been my unstated approach.

And I like prayer!

So much so that it is the focus of my teaching time in the school. I teach tefillah to Kitah Alef twice a week, to Kitah Zayin once a week, and teach a seminar about tefillah to Kitah Chet once a week as well. I love visiting all our minyanim and our monthly Kabbalat Shabbat service. We come each week to Shabbat services as a family and attend all Jewish holidays. So what’s going on?

I think it has to do with my initial visit to the University of Judaism (now American Jewish University) in the winter of 1994. I have shared about my religious upbringing before, but it is worth mentioning that that morning began with this thing called “minyan” and I can still feel the shock to my system I felt that morning as I watched peers participate in the first Hebrew (only) service I had ever experienced. It was also the first time I had ever seen tefillin. And that feeling of discomfort served both as the catalyst for the Jewish journey my life has taken since…and the roadblock to my daily minyan attendance.

Because, I still feel it each time I put on my tefillin. I still feel it each time I walk through the doors. I still feel it each time I am asked to lead. All those feelings of inadequacy or ignorance or fraudulence…they are still there. Despite all my years of education, my years of teaching, my years of leading those same prayers for children and teens – you put me in a room with 500 children and I am fine. 7:10 AM with 9 other adults? Terror.

And if that’s how I feel…imagine how the average parent in our schools feel.

I can.

And in a normal year, this would be the point in my blog post where I would transition into an educational and religious exposition of the value of prayer, linking it to why we engage our students in daily prayer and our aspirations for the outcomes. But for me this is not a normal year. Because my life changed forever almost eight months ago when I unexpectedly lost my father and with that change, my attitude about minyan has undergone a fundamental transformation.

I realize it is a cliche. The process of mourning often has this impact on people. But cliches are often built on a foundation of truth and one person’s cliche is another person’s life-changing experience and this has been mine. And since July, I have attended minyan each day in order to say Kaddish. Any my appreciation for those who ensure that there is, in fact, a minyan is unbounded. And it isn’t always easy to do…there are days we struggle to make ten. This is why my colleague Hazzan Holzer began a campaign this year at the Jacksonville Jewish Center called “Minyan Matters”.

It really does.

And this is the part that I do connect to our school and my newfound appreciation that as a Schechter school we value daily prayer. We value it not only because of the skills it provides them with so that they will never have to feel the discomfort and fear many of us experience as adults with prayer. We value it not only because we hope to inspire a lifelong love of prayer and future synagogue affiliation. We value it because part of what it means to be a community is to provide its members with opportunities to have its spiritual needs met. It is a blessing to have that opportunity with our children each day.

It is a blessing for me to have that opportunity each day as well.

And only by raising our children to appreciate this value can we be assured that when it is our turn in the circle of life to be the subject of someone else’s Kaddish that there will be a minayn in which it can be said.

That’s the Schechter Difference.

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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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]

Habits of Kindness: “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.”

“Man was endowed with two ears and one tongue, that he may listen more than speak.” – Hasdai, Ben HaMelekh veHaNazir, ca. 1230, chapter 26

We introduced Habit #5 this week at our monthly “Habits of Kindness” assembly: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Our 8th Graders introduced the habit through skits and song and the essence of the habit seems to boil down to the ability to be a deep, active, empathetic listener. Therefore, many of the activities we will engage in this month will be to educate and encourage our students (and our teachers and our parents) to practice the skills of being better listeners.

This is actually something I blogged about a long time ago with regard to thinking through how we prepare our teachers for challenging conversations with parents. More recently, however, it is a topic that I actually have had the privilege of teaching to exceptional leaders in the day school school field through a program called YU Lead (part of the Yeshiva University Institute for University-School Partnership). It is the second year I have taught this module and each time, I have used similar prompts to facilitate fascinating conversations.

So what I thought I would do to inspire conversation here is to share the prompts and see what it…prompts!

The part that I want to share here was the part that was the most impactful to the students and was borrowed completely from a professional development session we did here with our faculty with Dr. Elliott Rosenbaum in preparation for an early round of Parent-Teacher Conferences in which he showed us the following examples of ineffective and effective communication:

This led, with our faculty, to a very productive conversation about listening that opened our eyes (or I guess, ears!) to a better way of interacting with the parents in our school.

When I use it for YU Lead, I ask the following question:

Compare and contrast “The Ineffective Physician” and “The Effective Physician”. What can we learn about the art of communicating difficult truths?

And to be fair, I ask the school people to read an article from a parent’s perspective called, “Help! I Can’t Talk to My Child’s Teacher!” by Domeniek Harris.

And then I ask the following questions:

What new ideas about parent-school partnerships has this conversation raised for you?
How will these new ideas impact your current practice?
What new ideas about parent communication has this conversation raised for you?

And I then spend the rest of the week, mediating a conversation between these rising professionals on these topics and wherever these topics take us…

So…I invite you to check out the clips, read the article, and share how you think our school – its teachers, students and parents – can do a better job to embody the habit of “seek first to understand, then to be understood”!

DIY Mah Tovu Spaces

One of my joys as head of school (for real!) is that I teach a weekly Tefillah class to Seventh Grade. Because as everyone knows, there is nothing that seventh graders enjoy more first thing in the morning than an opportunity to learn and explore prayer with their principal!

This is the second year I have taught this class (I also teach Tefillah to Grade One twice a week and have a weekly seminar with Grade Eight), and I have tried to make sure that my pedagogy is in line with our learning target despite my limited exposure (and planning time). I don’t always succeed, but I think it is important to talk the talk and not leave it up to the rest of the faculty to walk the walk.

A couple of weeks ago, after completing a unit, I thought it would be interesting for our students to design their own prayer spaces. We had been studying “Mah Tovu” – a prayer which comes early in the morning service (traditionally on the way into synagogue) – and discussing the blessing of having synagogues and sanctuaries and places in which we are encouraged to connect with our spiritual selves. I was curious to see what environment our students felt encourages spirituality and so, without time to prep, they were given one brief period to design their own personal “Mah Tovu” space using whatever medium they liked and to email it to me by the end of the period.

Almost each student chose Pixie as their medium and you can see for yourself what some of them designed:

Do you see any common themes?

Do you see anything that surprises you?

How would you design your own prayer space?

I look forward to more integration between 21st century learning and Tefillah and welcome suggestions from those of you who are doing this work in your schools and synagogues. I am going to spend some time thinking about what my Mah Tovu space would look like and when I’ve designed it, I’ll update this blog post.

Habits of Kindness: “Think Win-Win”

This time we will let our 8th Grade introduce this month’s habit:

Like others of the 7 Habits, I am struck by the paradox of simplicity the habits create. “Think win-win” seems so simple, right? Yes, there are developmental examples where that not might be the case (thinking of my 5 and 8 year-old daughters) and, yes, there are issues that perhaps are not so easily resolved with two winners (someone has to win the basketball game). But as a philosophy? Sure – of course things are best if we viewed challenges as opportunities for everyone to win, not with an inevitable outcome of a winner and a loser. We might not always achieve a full “win-win”, but striving towards it will always yield a kinder result than “winner-takes-all”.

So instead of using this blog to highlight a personal or professional “win-win” of my own, I want to make a brief comment on the power of transferability utilizing the Habits of Kindness between home and school…

Our leadership team is presently reading The Leader in Me, which is the book that helps schools begin the journey of bringing the 7 Habits into the school. And as we have been reading, we are realizing the broader impacts, particularly the opportunity to strengthen the relationship between school and home. From Chapter 3,

“…observe that the same principles and approach being taught at these schools can also be taught at home. One of the great things about the leadership approach is what it is doing to enhance the parent-school partnership. For starters, it is bringing more parents into the schools to volunteer and support school and classroom activities. But even more important is what is occurring as students apply the principles to their daily tasks and behaviors at home. In other words, it is not just teachers who are reporting better behaviors and reduced discipline issues. Parents are reporting the same kinds of positive results. This is particularly true in families where parents have come to know the principles for themselves and have made conscious efforts to reinforce and teach them…If you are a parent, I promise that if you open your mind to it, you will have endless ideas of how you can apply what these educators are doing to your home.”

Excerpt From: Stephen R. Covey. “The Leader in Me.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/NPFVw.l

Now that we are a few months in, I do actually see – as a parent – my children beginning to use the language. Eliana will say that she is “being proactive” or that she is “putting first things first” which has definitely allowed her to be better organized. Because we are currently working on “think win-win”, I am hopeful it will have a spillover to our family because I think this attitude could only help siblings navigate the everyday challenges of sharing time, people and stuff in a busy 21st century family.

I have shown examples from our school of how we are putting the Habits of Kindness into effect…

…if you are a parent at MJGDS or Galinsky Academy and you are seeing the impact at home, please offer a quality comment!

…if you are a parent or educator at another school who utilize the 7 Habits, please share your experiences with us so we can continue to improve our implementation here!

We’ll keep sharing our successes and struggles…and if you keep offering advice and feedback…well we just might achieve a “win-win” of our own!

Jon’s #iJED Storify

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