A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

Liveblog of OJCS EdCamp

Are you curious how we are spending our time during our “Professional Day” today at OJCS?

Well, the first part of the day will be an “EdCamp”!

What is “EdCamp”?

EdCamp is an “unconference” – an opportunity, without intense preparation or anxiety for teachers to “own” their professional learning. Teachers will show up at edcamp and find a blank schedule – only time slots and locations. They will then decide what topics they want to present on or which conversations they wish to facilitate and simply sign up until the schedule is complete. And then the learning begins!

Sounds simple, which it is, but its power is in recognizing how much teachers already have to offer and how strong their desire is to learn from each other. It is also an important acknowledgment that they are already experts in important topics and, thus, there is no need for intense preparation – simply share the work.

Today, I’m going to liveblog our first OJCS EdCamp to give you a taste…

9:00 AM Blank Board

9:30 AM OJCS EdCamp is Ready to Launch!

Session #1: A Conversation About Language Arts

OK…we are up and running!

We have Language Arts teachers across the grades, along with the Librarian, are having a meaningful conversation about how we currently assess students in language arts – which assessments, which benchmarks, etc., – and how we have been and should use the data to help students.

Teachers are engaged in conversation around the CASI Reading Assessment that we currently use in Grades 4 and higher. Teachers are sharing how they are currently using it. The Librarian is sharing a little about the other kinds of reading assessments she has been exploring. Our school also currently uses RAZ in Grades K -3.

What is great about the conversation is the attempt to connect the dots between the grades, between the assessments and about being clear about who the audiences are for the data – is this for students, teachers, parents, all of them, etc.?

I have to go peek in on the other sessions…but I look forward to seeing what emerges out of here and how it will enhance reading at OJCS!

Session #2: Exploring Collaborations Between STEM & Jewish Studies

What a great session!

We have Science and Jewish Studies Teachers exploring how to integrate our new 3D printer with Jewish Studies content. This is what the magic of Jewish day schools is all about! They are getting a tour of how the new 3D printer works and exploring fascinating opportunities for integrating Jewish Studies content. What if we wanted to create a model of the Temple in Jerusalem? What if we wanted to make a dreidel?

We can! And imagine what it will do to inspire student engagement…

They are about to print a key just to see how it works, but the ideas that flow out of here are going to dramatically impact project-based learning at our school? How? Stay tuned!

Session #3: How Can Teachers, Parents & Students Learn Together?

Jumping in to the end of a session is always hard, but I can tell just from the layout of the table that the impact of the Design Team is already beginning. They are engaged in data immersion as all those post-it notes will be created, synthesized and lead to new ideas and prototypes. They have been engaged in design thinking around a prototype for Passover this year that leads to a family learning experience.

Teachers are sharing examples from prior years and are practicing the art of asking deeper questions. For example, “What do parents really learn from some of our family experiences?” If you want parents to be meaningfully engaged in the learning, you will need to consider them as learners in the planning.

Part of the conversation shifts to how to schedule best to accommodate parents…

But the most unexpected and amazing part of this conversation is listening to two non-Jewish teachers talking with passion about “derekh eretz” and how important the “Jewish” is for our families. It reinforces a few things…

…all teachers and staff at a Jewish day school are Jewish educators.

…that there is no reason for “OJCS” to exist, if not for the “J”.

…parent engagement is a critical component for making it true.

As the conversation moves towards the end, they are having a remarkable conversation about how religion and faith have changed in society at large and how it impacts parent engagement at OJCS.

Session #4: edpuzzle

Our Grade 6 General Studies Teacher is explaining her experiments this year in employing a flipped pedagogy for the teaching of mathematics. She is showing them how she creates videos of herself teaching and how, using edpuzzle, she imports questions directly into the video so that after each concept is introduced, the video automatically stops and a quiz pops up that requires a student response. She is then showing them how she can check the data the next day including…

…did they watch the video?

…how did they do on the quizzes?

The big idea being that she is then able each day, based on the data, to tailor that day’s work according to which students grasped which concepts. She can group students together according to their exact needs, can assign more targeted schoolwork, decide who needs teacher attention, etc., and it can totally change day to day based on student needs.

Teachers are now asking great questions about how to use this pedagogy with other topics and other grade levels. What does this look like in a Grade 3 Social Studies class? Grade 8 Jewish Studies?

Teachers are now asking great questions about how to create the flipped videos (she uses the app “Explain Everything“).

I have a feeling we will see more flipping at OJCS in months ahead…

Session #5: A Conversation About the Whole Child

Walking into a great conversation about what matters most in education…

…is it about how much they know?

…or is it about who they are?

What kinds of memories are being created?

[By the way, I can observe how members of the Design Team have already been impacted by our first site visit by the language they are using, the kinds of questions they are asking their colleagues and the willingness to be risk-takers.]

The conversation has shifted towards how the school can touch souls as well as it touches minds…

Now there is a bit of a healthy debate about whether student-centered learning can work in early language classes…

As the conversation starts to shift towards sharing ideas, the sands are almost through the hourglass and we have to move on to the last round.

Session #6: Supporting Student Mindfulness & Wellbeing

Emerging from the data immersion captured by the Design Team, two members of the team are leading a conversation on how to help students in our school (re)gain “Composure” (one of Ken Robinson‘s 8 “C’s”).

A teacher shares how he marries meditation from Calm and tefillah to enhance kavanah (intentionality)…and how he is also experimenting with Headspace.

That leads to a great conversation with one of our Rabbis about traditional modes of meditation, the impact of meditation on prayer, etc., etc.

Session #7: Fakebook

I can’t believe I am popping into our last session!

This is a conversation on how one teacher is incorporating Fakebook as a pedagogy in the teaching of Grade 3 Social Studies. She is explaining her own learning as well as how she is introducing it with her students. Teachers are now sharing ideas about how to enhance the unit and creative ways to play with the pedagogy.

This is a lively conversation and it reinforces again (!) how much impact I can see from just one site visit on the Design Team…and the Design Team’s impact on the faculty.

That’s it! Our first OJCS EdCamp has come to a close. I can’t wait to see how these conversations will impact teaching and learning at our school. I look forward to more creative opportunities to harvest the excellence that already is, while adding new ideas to create the future that will be.

Les Fichiers de Transparence: L’assemblée de Français

As promised, we held a “town hall” on Thursday, February 8th to share back the results of our investigations, thus far; to discuss what we currently believe to be true; and to sketch out next steps. We were pleased by the turnout and with the candor and seriousness of the conversation (see more below). We would be happy share out the entire slide deck from the “town hall” so that folks who were unable to attend can be in the know. Please feel free to email me ([email protected]) with your request. What I would like to do here is walk you through the highlights and offer you the chance to add your voice to the conversation by commenting below.

A few caveats as prologue…

The spirit of this conversation is one of “transparency” – a value we have discussed in depth in prior posts.

You can read an earlier post for a more in-depth history of French education in Ottawa and at the OJCS.

Let’s restate the fundamental issue…

Unlike our Hebrew and Judaic standards, which are entirely our own to determine and whose outcomes are entirely ours to assess, our French standards come from the Ontario Ministry of Education and the schools our graduates attend perform assessments. So why is this so confusing and chronically debated?

What does French currently look at OJCS?

K: 10/40 Periods in French

1-3: 6/40 Periods in French

4-5: 6/40 Periods in Core French & 8/40 Periods in Extended French

6-8: 6/45 Periods in Core French & 9/45 Periods in Extended French

What kinds of data collection are we doing to better understand the issue?

Grade 9 Alumni Surveys
Grade 12 Alumni Surveys
Conversation with SRB & Ashbury
Conversation with Knoxdale
Anecdotal Testimonials
Exit Interviews (pending)

What did we learn from the Grade 9 Alumni Survey?

74% of Grade 9 students were enrolled in Core French with an additional five students in Immersion and one in Extended French. Of the children enrolled in Extended or Immersion French, no parent reported they needed an extra tutor or extra assistance.

At this point in time, we can see of the six students taking more advanced French, there is no issue with them keeping up.

What did we learn from the Grade 12 Alumni Survey?

Fourteen respondents are attending a public high school in Ottawa, with the vast majority at SRB. One student is attending Ottawa Torah Institute.

Four students indicated they were in Extended French and another two in French Immersion. (This was before SRB dropped “Extended”. Those four “Extended” students are now either in “Core” or “Immersion”.) There was one respondent who did indicate they hired a French tutor to help with Extended French.

The rest of the students (44%) were in Core French.

What did we learn from our conversations with Sir Robert Borden High School?

Students are placed in Grade 9 as recommended by OJCS.
Some students experience a temporary culture shock transitioning from “Extended” to “Immersion”.
Some students see a temporary dip in their grades in Grade 9, but typically recover by Grade 10.
Many students come in “super strong”.

What did we learn from our conversations with Ashbury College?

“Marks in French are strong.”
1/3 of OJCS students who go to Ashbury graduate with one of their two bilingual diplomas. (Anecdotally, we believe the other 2/3 self-select out, but more data collection will be needed.)

What did we learn from our conversations with Knoxdale Public School?

OJCS students who transition into Grade 4 for “middle immersion entry point” are well-prepared for success.
Grade 4 is an arbitrary entry point, susceptible to changing public school norms.
Students can be accepted into Knoxdale at any point and placed into immersion upon parental request.

What additional/ongoing data collection will be necessary to better refine our understanding of true French outcomes?

It will take additional years of data collection before our sample sizes will allow for more definitive conclusions. Additional data points that we will collect include exit interviews (families who transition out prior to graduation), testimonials from alumni and alumni parents (we have plenty of positive, anecdotal evidence, but we need a uniform protocol for collection), and adjusting our parent survey data to better determine how many families these issues impact. We also need to do a deeper dive into the details. For example, not only how many students earn a bilingual certificate, but do they score well enough to succeed at the next level?

What do we presently believe to be true about French at OJCS?

We believe there is a path from here (OJCS Extended French) to there (Grade 9 French Immersion). We believe we need to better illuminate that path, as well as being open to creating additional paths.
We believe that we have passionate, talented, capable, and responsive French teachers who are part of the solution.
We believe we need to be more transparent about what needs to be true during the year of transition to set (more) students up to be successful.
We believe we will need to collect more data over more years to better answer questions and address concerns.
We believe that for some families nothing short of full immersion will be satisfactory and we will have to meaningfully address what that means – for those families and for OJCS.

We believe we can make significant improvements to our current program, and plan to, beginning as soon as next year.

What can we do next year?

Conversations with parents about their hopes and expectations for maximal French contact time need to begin during the admissions process. Students who may require additional support to place into “Extended” need to be identified early.
The selection process in Grade 3 will be more rigorous, begin earlier, come with more parental engagement, etc., so that students who do continue into “Extended” for Grades 4 and higher are even better prepared for Grade 9.
We will increase the rigor and immersive experience of what contact time we presently make available. We need to squeeze every moment of immersive French possible.
We will provide additional extracurricular contact time with French through clubs, lunch, etc.
We believe we will be able to adjust our schedule to increase contact time with French. Stay tuned.

We had in attendance that night our full administration, our French department and a good mix of parents who represented different age groups, different views on the ultimate value of French education, but who demonstrated a shared sense of the issue’s importance, provided meaningfully constructive feedback and exhibited a genuine desire to partner with the school to get it right.

We took good notes from the serious conversation that followed the presentation and I have opened a GoogleDoc to track the feedback and recommendations that we hope continue to come in (see below). Here are some highlights from that night’s conversation:

There was a strong feeling that using Grade 4 as our arbitrary split into “Core” and “Extended” is unnecessary and that we are missing an opportunity to increase the immersive exposure in Grades K-3 when it could potentially have even more value.
There was a very positive response to the idea of OJCS offering French enrichment as part of an after school program and/or as part of a summer day camp experience. This seems like a no-brainer for us to jump on right away.
We have energized parents who bring a research background to the conversation and who are willing to help us craft better survey instruments and conduct more thorough analyses to address the issues raised above by way of data collection.
A Grade 4 OJCS “middle immersion entry point” may not be a crazy idea.

So.

This is where you come in. We desperately want to know what you think…

…what questions did this answer for you?

…what questions did this raise for you?

…what do you want to more about?

…what else do you want us to know?

We cannot encourage you more to email, comment or come in for a conversation. We need all voices heard as we work towards clarifying and enhancing our French mission and vision – next year and the years ahead.

By the way…if you like town halls (and you know you do!)…

Stay tuned for a Town Hall after Passover where will share back the results and the plans we’ve been working on to clarify and enhance the “J” in OJCS!

Go to the Principal’s Office! You’ve Been “Caught Being Kind”!

If each time the school calls is to inform the parent that their child has misbehaved (or is sick or forgot their lunch), one imagines that when the phone rings and the school’s phone number comes up on the “caller ID”, the parent is not exactly excited to pick up. But what if just every now and again we are calling to let them know how proud we are of their child?

How often do principals or heads of school get to call parents with good news?

We are on a mission at OJCS to inspire acts of lovingkindness by building a community of caring. We want to be a school where we proactively avoid unkind behavior through explicit skill-building and incentivizing menschlichkeit, not (only) reactively addressing unkind behavior through meaningful consequences. Our students are engaged in the work through Knesset (our student government) and our faculty are engaged in the work through its “Minds Up!” committee. And the administration is eager to play its part as well…

If each time you were sent to the “principal’s office” was because you were in trouble, you probably wouldn’t want to be hanging out in that part of the building. And if a principal only spent his or her time with students referred for misbehavior, there would be a significant gap in relationships.

As part of developing this spirit of leadership and a community of caring in our school, how wonderful would it be if each of our students – and our parents and teachers – held the additional title of “Kindness Ambassador”!

One step we look to take right away is to empower our teachers to start sending students to us when they do something kind. We look forward, as an administration, to focusing on positively rewarding kind behavior as much, if not more, than applying consequences to unkind behavior, so that when the phone rings in the home of an OJCS parent and the school comes up on the “caller ID” that the emotion it triggers is excitement and not dread. Pick up the phone when we call…your child may have been caught in the act of being kind!

As promised…

Taking a Leap of Fact

There they are…these are some actual members of our current Class of 2030.

All the talk and rhetoric about what we could be, what we ought to be – it is all for these children. They are not an educational theory to be debated; they are flesh and blood children to be educated. What we do now matters not in the abstract realm of philosophy, but in the practical realm of whether these girls and boys will be prepared for success in the 21st century in all the ways academic, social and Jewish that can be defined. They – and all of the children in our school – are what it is really about. They are the reminder and the inspiration; the goal and the promise.

January this year brings us a wonderful confluence of events – the publication and mailing of enrollment materials for the 2018-2019 academic year and the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat – a holiday celebrating, among many things, the planting of seeds and the harvesting of fruits. I always marvel when the rhythm of Jewish living intersects with the rhythm of school life – it never fails to create meaningful and new connections.

And so the time has come to see how well we have sown the seeds of confidence and competence; love and caring; rigor and renewal; energy and enthusiasm – have we begun to deliver on the rightfully lofty academic, spiritual, emotional and social expectations our children and parents have for us?

You are likely familiar with the phrase, “leap of faith”. A “leap of faith” is predicated on the notion that one cannot really know (at least in scientific terms) religious truth and so in the end it is a matter of faith. You believe…because you believe.

However, as admissions and enrollment packets find their ways into parents’ hands, all of us involved in the sacred and holy task of educating children look to this time of year and hope that we have nurtured the seeds we have sown with success. We are not looking for parents to make a leap of faith and enroll their children in our schools. We are looking for parents to make a leap of fact and enroll their children in our schools – confident that our school is the right place for their children to receive the education they want and deserve.

The seeds were planted during the summer. They were watered and nurtured during the fall and into the winter. As winter moves on (and on and on) and slowly moves towards spring, the faculty, staff, administration, lay leaders, donors, and supporters of the Ottawa Jewish Community School look forward to a rich and satisfying harvest.

We look forward to many, many leaps of fact.

Speaking of facts…

…our work with NoTosh – which we described at length prior to Winter Break launched this week with a first site visit. We debriefed the project with the full faculty and had our first Design Team meeting. We look forward to sharing more as the work develops!

…our Grade 9 Alumni Survey has closed (our Grade 12 has another week of collection to go) and we look forward to sharing the results. We are working on the “French outcomes” deliverable first announced here, but there are other important data points about how well (or not) OJCS prepared students for all aspects of high school that we’d like to share out as well. [All current Grades 2 & 3 Families, any current francophone families or any prospective family who has questions or concerns about French at OJCS should “save the date” for February 8th. Our “French Town Hall” will take place that evening; still tweaking the time. Stay tuned. Or restez à l’écoute.]

…our work with the Rabbinic Advisory Committee is moving forward as well. We are currently working through elements of tefillah that will ensure we deliver on our promises of strengthening the “J” in “OJCS”.

The OJCS Announces $50,000 Innovation Gift

“An older couple walk into a Jewish Federation…” is not the beginning of a borscht belt joke…but it just might be the beginning of the future of education in Ottawa. I am not normally the b’sheret type of person. I don’t often subscribe to the notion that the “universe” responds to what you put out there. I am not even sure I believe that you “make your own luck”. But I am paying attention now…

When I got an email from our Jewish Federation’s Executive Director, Andrea Freedman, that an older married couple had expressed interest in contributing to the future of Jewish education in Ottawa and did I have anything to propose, I tempered my enthusiasm. Not due to their age, simply out of having had the prospect of a meaningful gift floated many times without landing. But I definitely had ideas…

I just so happened to be sitting on two innovation proposals and with much help from Andrea and her team, we managed to put something compelling in front of the couple (they have expressed a preference to remain anonymous) in short order. And thanks to Andrea’s stewardship, not only did they agree to fund them both…they also agreed to do more.

We have consistently described the school as being engaged in three critical conversations in this year of transition. The first is a clarification of our Jewish mission and vision, the work of which continues to be shared out. The second is an honest examination of our French outcomes, the work of which is ongoing with a first deliverable expected in early February. The third is (probably) the most important of the three and if schools were not living creatures, would likely have launched first. However, since change management in schools is analogous to fixing an airplane whilst flying it, it had been parked on the runway. This conversation cuts to the heart of the very value proposition of the school and attempts to answer one very simple and consequential question: “What does the OJCS believe to be true about teaching and learning?”

The answer to this question lives in the messy world between mission statement and curriculum (both of which we presently have). The answer to this question serves as the connective tissue between our pedagogical choices and our academic benchmarks and standards (both of which we kinda-mostly have). The answer to this question anchors the school in a vibrant present while leading with clarity, strategy and purpose towards an innovative future.

The answer to this question is the work and the work just got real.

It is important to know your limits. Is something I try to remind myself of in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep, night-dreaming of all I want to do. Here in my third headship, with all the lessons learned working with schools all across North America and a deep-dive into innovation, I have tried on patience. I know that the system can only manage so much change in a given year and that it takes time to lay the ground for what’s to come. I know what I believe to be true about teaching and learning, but that simply imposing that on a school is doomed to failure. That is why so much of my focus this year is on systems and structures and processes. I am in the weeds with the nuts and the bolts and the fire-putting-outs.

We have introduced “bandwidth” to our shared vocabulary here at OJCS because its maintenance is an important reality check against all proposed change. And I have it as well. So when it became clear to me early on that in order to get us from here to there we’d need a little help from our friends, I knew exactly who to turn to for proposals. You are going to get to know them all much better in the months ahead, but let’s introduce the partners who are going to help the Ottawa Jewish Community School become the most innovative school in Ottawa.

Sometimes it’s the haystack you need to find, not the needle.

NoTosh is a global consultancy with a passion for learning and a conviction that innovation and creativity can change the way people think, the way they learn and the way they work – as individuals, teams, organizations and communities. NoTosh was established in 2009 to improve student engagement by challenging the status quo of teaching and learning in schools.

Beginning in January, NoTosh will work with the OJCS leadership team and faculty to:

Unpack some of the big questions that need answered to achieve its ambitious goals;
Co-design some of the nuts and bolts that will help get the school up and running with design thinking at the heart of its approaches;
Unpack what the unique value proposition of the school is and how does it stand apart from all other schools in the area.

Research has proven that a reflective learning culture is one of the best indicators to increase student learning.

Silvia Tolisano is a leading global educator and proponent of the documentation of learning as part of the learning process. [She has also been a colleague and inspiration during my last three stops. As part of my faculty at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, part of my team at the Schechter Day School Network and at Prizmah, and cofounder (along with our third partner Andrea Hernandez) of edJEWcon, I can attest firsthand to what an extraordinary educator she is.] The work we will do with Silvia beginning in the Fall of 2018 will be a powerful learning opportunity allowing teachers to experience that shift in their learning and make documentation, reflection and sharing part of their practice.

Selected faculty will build a learning network, and share their practices, successes and failures to benefit the school community, including parents, colleagues and students. While there is no one magic solution to excellence and this process will take time, developing a culture of shared documentation is the key to building an innovative school ready to tackle the challenge of preparing students to be successful in the 21st Century. It creates the spine upon which student, faculty and parent culture and communication thrive. It sets the conditions for project-based learning, collaboration and integration of new literacies. This is the future of education and we are ready to lead.

What’s this “more” you were referring to in the opening?

Great question!

In addition to funding these two amazing proposals which will transform teaching and learning at our school, this remarkable couple is also enabling us to double the number of iPads in the school. The great news is that our teachers are already doing such wonderful work with them that we can take advantage of this blessing immediately…and will.

As we enter Winter Break and the end of a (secular) calendar year, it is natural to look a bit back and dream a bit forward…

With a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears from our talented and loving faculty, administration, and board, it is starting to happen. We can feel it in the walls and hear it in the parking lot. We see it in the new students joining us this January and the tours being booked for next year. The blessing of this gift will accelerate and amplify what has already begun. We meant it when we said that the future of education will be written at the OJCS. That future just got closer…

The Silent Power of Chanukah

Why are these nights different than all other nights?

Wrong holiday, I know.

But there is actually something powerfully different about Chanukah that has much to teach us about the power of experiences and a pedagogy of meaning…

Chanukah is the only Jewish holiday without a sacred text of its own. (There is a Book of Maccabees, but it is part of the Catholic Bible.) Instead of a public reading, we are commanded to bear silent witness to the miracles of the season with a public doing – the lighting of candles in a window.

For me the pedagogical takeaway isn’t so much the “silence” as it is the “act”. It is an action that anyone can take; it is not so ritualistically complex that only the most knowledgable amongst us can perform it. It is an action performed publicly and in the home. And it is an act through which the meaning can be found through the doing. It is truly an act of “na’aseh v’nishma“.

This quotation from the Torah (Exodus 24:7) has been interpreted in many ways in Jewish tradition. The meaning which speaks most deeply to me is: “We will do and then we will understand.” This meaning comes from a rabbinic story (also called “midrash”) that explains Israel’s unconditional love for the Torah. The midrash is as follows:

When the Children of Israel were offered the Torah they enthusiastically accepted the prescriptive mitzvot (commandments) as God’s gift. Israel collectively proclaimed the words “na’aseh v’nishma “, “we will do mitzvot and then we will understand them”. Judaism places an emphasis on performance and understanding spirituality, values, community, and the self through deed.

Simply put, we learn best by doing.

This idea has powerfully stimulated my own Jewish journey and informs my work as a Jewish educator. I think there are two major implications from this: One, regardless of the institution, we have a responsibility to provide access to informal Jewish educational programs to our young people. Two, our formal educational institutions can stand to learn from what makes informal work. Namely, I believe strongly in education that is active, interactive, dynamic, and most importantly experiential. It is one thing to teach Judaism; it is something more powerful to teach people how to live Judaism.

“Grade 6 w/KISS FM celebrating the 107 purses collected for “Purses With A Purpose”.

It is one thing to teach social action; it is identity-forming for our children to go out into the world as part of their Jewish day school experience and make the world a better place by doing social action.

It is one thing to read about Israel; it is transformative to visit Israel.

And for this time of year?

It is one thing to study Chanukah; it is something infinitely more meaningful to light a chanukiah in the window, surrounded by family. Here at OJCS, we look forward to an opportunity to gather together to light the Chanukah candles and celebrate in song on Monday, December 18th at 6:00 PM (note new time) in the Gym.

Finally, this and each Chanukah, let’s not forget our Jewish values of tzedakah (charity) and kehillah (community). Along with your normal gift-giving, consider donating a night or two of your family’s celebration to those less fortunate than ourselves.

Chag urim sameach from my family to yours!

Thinking About Kindergarten? Readiness + Fit = Success

With the temperature dropping and Winter Break looming, we are entering prime time for parents – particularly parents of pre-kindergarten aged children – to explore and make decisions about schooling. With this age in particular, these conversations typically focus on two important ideas: “readiness” and “fit”. With regard to “fit” the research is clear: the most important factor in determining a child’s future academic success isn’t the school, but the fit between the child and the school.

“Readiness,” however, is more slippery.

Young children’s development is irregular and episodic, and difficult to accurately assess, particularly using conventional tests at a single point in time. Their performance is highly susceptible to immediate and transitory circumstances and can also be affected by physical health, nutrition, and living conditions. Over time, these contextual factors may also affect their knowledge, skills, and behavior. Children’s pre-kindergarten experiences are highly unequal, whether in the home and community or in preschool programs. Thus, the “supply” of readiness skills children bring to kindergarten varies widely. However, the impact of these variations depends on the demands that kindergarten and grade one place on children, and these also are variable. There is a lack of agreement regarding the implicit and explicit demands of teachers, schools, provincial standards, and readiness tests. Children who are seen as ready in one classroom or community—whether the result of a cutoff date or specific assessment—may not be similarly viewed elsewhere.

Let’s bring “fit” and “readiness” together. A definition of readiness must encompass what is “good enough” in each domain, while recognizing the unevenness of early development. Every child need not meet the highest readiness standard in every domain, and a distribution of abilities is to be expected. Despite our best efforts, some children will be less well-prepared than others. By carefully defining readiness in terms of expectations for children and schools, it may be possible to improve the preparation of both, and create a much better match between children and schools so that more children succeed and maximize their learning during the kindergarten and grade one years.

That’s why it is so important for parents to really get the feel of the different schools they are considering for their child(ren).

Here at the Ottawa Jewish Community School, we are excited to think about all the wonderful new faces we are meeting and will be meeting as parents go about their due diligence to discover which is the right school for their child(ren). We are always honored to be included in the search and we are confident that for many children, we will be that right choice – that best fit. We are confident that no one will know your child better than us and no one will be better able to ensure that there truly will be a floor, but no ceiling for your child.

A WORD in the Hand is Worth Two in the CLOUD

My last few blog posts have been long and heavy…so, let’s switch gears.

Readers of this blog know a few things…

…I will make bad puns.

…I will take 200 words to say something better said in 20.

…I will use a complicated word to say something better said simply.

…I love ellipses.

…I will worry aloud that only my mother and the people she shares with on Facebook read my blog.

…I will insert a punny Spotify playlist.

…and

…I love word clouds.

If you are unfamiliar with the idea, in a nutshell, word clouds (through an algorithm only they know) takes any piece of written text and represents it graphically in a way which highlights frequently-used words. It is a fantastic device for visually summarizing the essence of a written text. Another great feature is that, not only can you cut-and-paste in any written document, you can type in blogs, websites, etc., and it will go back and search them for content, add it all up, and spit out a word cloud representing the sum of all its written content.

For many years, I have used word clouds to visually summarize the content of this blog and compare it to years past in order to reflect on whether I am living up to its goals.

I will have to wait a bit longer to do a comparison on how things evolve here at OJCS, but even a quick glance at the current state of things is illuminating.

It is definitely not perfect, but it hits many of the high notes. The two most important mission/vision issues under exploration? Jewish mission/vision and French outcomes. The most important paradigm shift? Transparency. Digging deeper, you can see interesting patterns in what we are emphasizing (time, new, share, etc.) or what might be missing (innovation, technology, personalization, etc.). Either way it really gets you thinking…

If you see something interesting in the OJCS word cloud..let us know in the comments!

Quick Pedagogy Epilogue:

Who is using word clouds in their schools, classrooms or organizations? You can check classroom blogs, school websites, the Torah, your mission statement, a behavioral code of conduct and so on.

How fun!

So…let’s word cloud up! Find a text that is meaningful to you, create a word cloud, and find a way to share it. If I can write a post with less than 400 words, you can do it!

Les Fichiers de Transparence: Parlons français à OJCS

OK, I cheated. My French has barely made it past, “Bonjour,” but I wanted to set the right tone for this conversation and asked for a translation. You’ll forgive me for conducting this conversation about French in English, but this will sadly be one aspect of the job where I cannot lead by example. At least not yet…

This blog post marks the third in a series of “Transparency Files” posts designed to lay out the significant conversations we are engaging in this year in order to become the best OJCS we can be. The first was about “transparency” itself and the kind of culture we are creating. The second was about reimagining and clarifying our Jewish mission and vision. [Quick update: We held our first Rabbinic Advisory Committee meeting this week. Pulpit rabbis from across the spectrum participated. The meeting was serious, engaging and meaningful. I look forward to offering a more substantial update, including how other stakeholder groups will begin to launch their conversations, soon.) Here, I want to lay out the beginning of a conversation about French so we can finally put to bed what either is or is not true about French at OJCS, its outcomes, and what it prepares you for, or not, for Grade Nine.

What I find most interesting about this conversation is how frustratingly frequent it has taken place in recent years despite how incredibly knowable the outcomes actually are. Unlike our Hebrew and Judaic standards, which are entirely our own to determine and whose outcomes are entirely ours to assess, our French standards come from the Ontario Ministry of Education and the schools our graduates attend perform assessments. So why is this so confusing and chronically debated?

I have spent some time learning a lot more about French education in Ottawa than I ever would have imagined and still have much more to do in order to be as authoritative as I will need to be as the conversation evolves. But here is what I (think I) know…

Our current French studies program is built upon a public school model that increasingly no longer exists. The majority of public schools in Ottawa used to operate three tracks for French: Core, Extended and Immersion. OJCS, as a Jewish day school with an entire Jewish Studies curriculum to manage – including a third language – reasonably adopted Core and Extended into its program. Over time, however, as public schools continued to feature greater and greater immersion, the middle track – Extended – began to be dropped. More and more public schools (writ large) now only offer both a Core and an Immersion track, and there are more public schools who specialize in French immersion. “Extended” is ceasing to function as a meaningful distinction, at least in terms of how French functions in any of the next schools of choice. Graduates of OJCS’ Extended French program may soon only have two choices in high school – Core or Immersion.

And this leaves us with the critical question for families who view French fluency as defined by the ability to pass the bilingual exams in Grade Twelve: Does OJCS’ Extended French program prepare students to successfully transition into a high school’s French immersion track in Grade Nine?

And the answer to that question leaves us with the critical question for OJCS, if meeting the need for French fluency is non-negotiable for a critical mass of Jewish parents: What should OJCS do about it?

Let’s pause for a moment to name some things that feel important.

This is an important issue for the families for whom it is an important issue. Without current survey data, it is hard to know exactly where to peg the number, but let’s assume it is significant enough to represent an existential threat to the school’s long-term viability.

Our current Core French program is exactly the same (at least in time allocated and curricular benchmarks) as all other schools, with the same outcomes, tracked in the same ways all the way through Grade Twelve. Families for whom Core French is sufficient are presently having their needs met.

Our current Extended French program isn’t something to sneeze at! It is not an immersion program, but it is an immersive experience. Families for whom Extended French is sufficient are presently having their needs met.

The connection between Grade Four and French fluency is a function of the evolution of French immersion in Ottawa public schools. There are currently programs offering a “Middle Immersion” entry point at Grade Four. [The other entry points are “Early” (Grade One) and “Late” (Grade Nine).] There are no guarantees as educational pendulums continue to swing that those will continue to be the (only) entry points. The fact that for some number of parents the Grade Four entry point has become their critical decision-making window is absolutely important, but not necessarily determinative. Our responsibility is to be clear about our Grade Eight French outcomes to ensure our current and prospective families have all the options available for Grade Nine, including French immersion.

Our graduates begin their next schools of choice in the French program that we recommend them for. If we recommend a student graduating out of our Extended French program for French immersion in Grade Nine, that student is in French immersion if they choose to. That’s a fact.

Let’s return to our two critical questions.

Does OJCS’ Extended French program prepare students to successfully transition into a high school’s French Immersion track in Grade Nine?

Here is where data counts. There is ample anecdotal evidence to suggest that the answer to this question is “yes”. I have read years’ worth of testimonials from graduates and have spoken with numerous parents whose kids did, in fact, successfully transition from our Extended French program to high school’s French immersion, stuck with it through Grade Twelve, and earned their bilingual certificate. And yet, there is a persistent narrative that this cannot be true. I have spoken with many current parents who share this belief. They genuinely believe that if we don’t offer an apples-to-apples French immersion program, then you cannot, by definition, successfully function in a high school French immersion program.

So how can we find out?

By doing some research – both quantitative and qualitative. We are going to survey our graduates in both Grades Nine and Twelve to see how many of the students we recommend for French immersion…

…opt to stay in French immersion.

…feel prepared to be successful in French immersion.

…are successful in French immersion.

…earn their bilingual certificate in Grade Twelve.

We are going to explore whether there are other key variables which may impact a successful path from here to there such as…

…coming from a French-speaking home.

…participation in French-langauge extracurricular activities.

…use of a French tutor either during their time at OJCS or in high school.

We have also begun direct conversations with high schools. I have met with the heads of Sir Robert Borden High School and Ashbury College (to begin with) and they are providing us with data about our French outcomes. I have meetings scheduled with a variety of other schools as well.

The bottom line is that this question is eminently answerable. Our graduates are either capable (with or without conditions) of transitioning into French immersion in high school or they are not. They are either successfully prepared or they are not. We can and will answer the question.

If it turns out that the answer is, “yes,” then we have a serious responsibility to improve our marketing. Schools are only as good as the stories they tell and the stories told about them. And right now the story of OJCS is that it lacks adequate French to achieve fluency with all that that means in Ottawa. If that isn’t the story, then we better start telling the true story as loudly and as often as possible.

If it turns out the answer is, “no,” then we have a serious responsibility to revisit our school’s mission and vision. There are French immersion Jewish day schools in Montreal, I’ve been to see a few. If it turns out that we actually cannot provide adequate French to achieve fluency, then we better figure out what that means so we can be transparent with families about what you can and cannot expect from your OJCS education. And we’ll have to decide what kinds of French programs we need to have in order to remain viable.

This is an urgent issue and we are addressing it with due urgency.

The research is ongoing and the deliverable is intended to be shared out in writing when complete and discussed in a Town Hall setting that we are looking to schedule in January/February for current Grades Two-Three families and any Francophone family for whom this is an important discussion. Stay tuned.

In the meanwhile, we have an incredibly talented French department who pour their hearts and souls into our Core and Extended French programs. They take great pride in their work and in the accomplishments of their graduates, as should we all.

Can OJCS answer the critical questions about its French outcomes? Will OJCS effectively share the answers to those questions with all its stakeholders? Are current, former and prospective families invited to share their feedback with us as we do our work?

As they say…J’en mettrai ma main au feu!

The Transparency Files: Let’s Talk About the “J” In OJCS

How amazing it is to have five full days of school in a week!

As joyous as the holiday season is – both here in school and at home – it is a lovely thing to be able to resume the regular rhythms of school. This time of year it almost feels like a second beginning to the school year as we are now able to fully inhabit schedules and string together sufficient contact time to bring meaningful projects to life. It is also wonderful to have put behind us much of the business of carpool lines, Google Classroom, hot lunch, parent communication procedures, PTA structure, behavioral expectations, care of the physical facility – so many of the preconditions for the transformational work ahead are sliding into place that we can take a collective breath and move forward.

We have discussed in prior posts as well as through many public and private forums of the need for OJCS to clarify its “Jewish mission and vision”. Let’s take a few minutes to unpack what that means…

Doesn’t OJCS currently have a Jewish mission/vision?

Yes.

From our Parent Handbook:

Vision Statement:

The Ottawa Jewish Community School is dedicated to enriching the life of its students along with strengthening their character and instilling their love for Israel. Inspired by Jewish values and heritage, a love of learning, and guided by teaching excellence, students reach for their potential, in order to become the leaders of tomorrow, and responsible citizens of the world.

Mission Statement

The Ottawa Jewish Community School is an all day, trilingual elementary school that aims to develop academic and personal excellence in its students, in an inclusive, caring, and pluralistic environment that is based on Jewish religion, culture and values.

The school’s mission is summarized in the OJCS community themes;

RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, REACHING FOR EXCELLENCE.

CORE VALUES

Talmud Torah / Love of Study: Lifelong learning rooted in Jewish and secular studies, emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving and creativity.

Kevod HaBriyot / Respect for Humanity: Living and learning in ways defined by decency, kindness, respect for oneself and others, and honouring diversity.

Ahavat Yisrael / Love of Israel: Centrality of the State of Israel to Jewish identity, and a deep connection to its people, land, and history.

Chashivut HaIvrit / Importance of Hebrew: Recognition of Hebrew as a living language, integral to Jewish life, and an essential link to Jewish texts, prayer, and modern Israel.

Tikkun Olam / Repairing the World: Instilling social responsibility and an engagement with the global community built upon the foundation of tzedakkah (charity), chesed (good deeds), compassion, and courage.

Mi Dor Le Dor / From Generation to Generation: Fostering Jewish continuity and instilling Jewish identity and a sense of peoplehood by transmitting traditions, participating in rituals, and engaging with the Jewish community at home and around the world.

So what’s the problem?

Let’s take a closer look…

Chashivut HaIvrit / Importance of Hebrew: Recognition of Hebrew as a living language, integral to Jewish life, and an essential link to Jewish texts, prayer, and modern Israel.

There are many ways OJCS could seek to live this value. What does “recognition” really mean? Does it mean that all students should learn to speak, read and write modern Hebrew? Does it mean that all Judaics classes should be taught with Hebrew as the language of instruction? What are the outcomes for Hebrew literacy that parents should expect through this core value?

Without further clarification, it is hard to know.

…pluralistic environment that is based on Jewish religion, culture and values.

What does OJCS believe to be true about “pluralism”? What is a “pluralistic environment”? Does it mean recognizing the diversity of our students as an audience? Does it mean the responsibility for creating experiences reflective of each denominational affiliation (as well as unaffiliated)? Are we a melting pot? A stew? Individual bowls?

Without further clarification, it is hard to know.

OK, so we go ahead and clarify our values. Is that the task?

Not entirely.

Time is a zero sum game. So even if/when we clarify each value and/or add new ones…how do we know what to prioritize by way of our time and outcomes?

For example…

Is Hebrew the most important academic subject within Jewish Studies? You might think so by virtue of its mention in the overall mission as a “trilingual” school. But is it? And should it be? It is likely true that our school would look very different, especially at the K-5 level, if Hebrew literacy was the highest value.

What else?

Where does tefillah live in all of this? It is interesting in and of itself that it is not explicitly named in the mission, vision or values. And yet from our conversations with parents and rabbis, there is clearly a felt need that students who attend a Jewish day school should come out with basic prayer and synagogue fluencies. If that is true, it will need to wind up as an explicit value with a specific curriculum and schedule. (In the meanwhile, as we have shared, it has been restored to the daily schedule.)

What does this have to do with the day-to-day teaching and learning?

Great question, hypothetical question-asker!

Unlike the work we do in secular education (which will also require revisiting and re-clarifying), there is no external set of benchmarks and standards that we are required to follow. There are no universally adopted textbooks or curricular materials shared by all Jewish day schools (or even by traditional groupings of Jewish day schools). We have to translate our school’s mission-vision-philsosophy into self-created (or borrowed) academic benchmarks and standards. We have to build a schedule around those outcomes. We have to choose curricula based on what we believe to be true about teaching and learning. Etc.

But the school is 69 years old. Surely it already has all of those things.

Kind of.

Like we have discussed in prior posts, the school has frequently added layers of program on top of program…it has done a great job of cluttering…not the best job of de-cluttering. So, yes, there are written descriptions of different strands of our Jewish Studies curriculum, but there really is not one coherent document – either for internal or external purposes – that actually describes what we do. And that’s a problem.

By the way, it does not mean that excellent teaching and learning isn’t happening in each of our grades in Jewish Studies! No one should think that this is some kind of lost year. We have talented and dedicated teachers working hard to provide a high-quality rigorous Jewish academic education and meaningful Jewish experiences. Good things are happening. But we need to move from “good to great”.

How will the work of clarification take place?

That’s where you (will) come in.

There are a number of critical stakeholder groups that we will call upon to contribute to this work. They include our community’s rabbis, soon to be invited to an Ad-Hoc Rabbinic Advisory Committee. They include our Jewish Studies Faculty, already beginning to do its due diligence on what was, what is and what could be. They include our institutional partners, synagogues, our pipeline schools and Federation. And they include our families – current and prospective. Vehicles will be created to onboard the feedback and recommendations from all these critical stakeholder groups.

The process through which these groups form and do their work will be shared and transparent. The feedback and recommendations will ultimately go to the OJCS Board of Trustees who, ultimately as charged by their role, will (re)establish the Jewish mission and vision for OJCS. That, too, will be proudly and transparently shared out with our full community. With that clarification will come the charge to the administration and faculty to bring that mission and vision to life. And, surprise, that will also be transparent.

If we are passionate about this, what can we do in the meanwhile?

Talk about it! Share your thoughts! (Comment on this blog post.) Make an appointment to come see us. What can be better than talking with people who are invested in our Jewish mission and vision? What topic can be more important for us to discuss?

At the end of the day…there is no reason for this school to exist if not for the “J”. We realize that that doesn’t necessarily mean that the “J” is everyone’s first priority. But, still. There is no reason for OJCS to be a Jewish day school, if not to be Jewish. Not Jew-ish. Jewish.

What does that mean? We’ll find out together.