There is a Price to Pay for Having a Price to Pay: Where Should Innovation Live in the Jewish Day School Ecosystem?

[Originally posted in my Prizmah blog, “Innovation Alley“.]

When you live your life by the school calendar – as I have only ever done – you know that we are in the season for closings and openings. The period of the omer in many Jewish day schools is not simply the counting up from Passover to Shavuot; it is often the mad rush to do all that needs to be done to close out the year in which we are in and to lay the foundation for the year to come. What is true for Jewish day schools is also true for the organizations that serve them and Prizmah is no exception. We, too, are in the process of assessing the year that (is) was and setting expectations for the year that is to come. As I have indicated before, it will be my intent (in a May blog post) to clarify how Prizmah intends to engage with Jewish day schools in the innovation space. And in the spirit of tying up loose ends, I have clarified and shared my post-Prizmah plans and how to follow my journey when a new (school) year begins.

Here, in my penultimate “Innovation Alley” blog post, I’d like to zoom in on how disruption and collaboration function – or don’t – in the Jewish educational ecosystem.

Fun fact. JEDLAB, edJEWcon, and the I.D.E.A. Schools all began around the same time with folks who knew (and know) each other well. They were each created to be disruptive, innovational forces in the Jewish educational world. They were each dreamed up by practitioners unsupported and unconnected to the hierarchy (at least at the times of their launches). They all generated a wave of positive Jewish press around the time of their launch and early work. They then took different paths, received different amounts of funding and patronage, were (or weren’t) connected to larger organizations and foundations, engaged (or didn’t) in fee-for-service work, added/subtracted leadership, collaborated, shared, etc. Each one evolved along its sui generis path. I don’t speak for JEDLAB or the I.D.E.A. Schools. They speak (wonderfully) for themselves. What I’m interested in is what they (along with edJEWcon) represent – three different models for encouraging innovation in the Jewish educational ecosystem.

A largely democratic, leaderless, agenda-free, extremely popular Facebook group…

A clear set of ideas for how to transform teaching and learning in a Jewish day school through project-based learning, packaged with coaching and a small network of fellow travelers, at a price…

An ever-shifting collection of ideas about connecting schools interested in 21st century learning through conferences, thought-leadership, fee-for-service coaching, a website…

…what can we learn from these different attempts to encourage increased innovation in the Jewish education space and Jewish day schools? How should Prizmah think about its role in supporting innovation in Jewish day schools in light of this learning?

Having had the unique experience of shepherding edJEWcon from a passion project of a small Jewish day school, to a signature program of a national organization, to a crossroads as that national organization became part of an even larger national organization, here’s what I presently believe to be true:

It is a much sexier story to disrupt from below or from the outside.
There is a price to pay for having a price to pay. Whatever skin in the game you gain through fees you seem to lose in global enthusiasm and participation, especially true for folks who view themselves as innovators, entrepreneurs and disrupters.
People love to ask their questions and get answers.
You can transform teaching and learning in Jewish day schools.
There are truly inspiring educational leaders throughout the system doing amazing work. And that work remains largely unconnected…

We have an abundance of networks to join, listservs to subscribe to, blogs to follow, etc., but we (edJEWcon, Prizmah, the field) have failed to create a vehicle for facilitating and supporting innovation that truly incorporates the kind of transparent sharing and active collaboration our schools and children deserve. At least so far…

As Prizmah contemplates its role in this work moving forward, here are some of the guiding questions we’ll be contemplating:

Does the world need another network (reshet) for “innovation” or would a “network of networks” be more appropriate?
How can we inspire a field wide culture of meaningful sharing?
What really is “thought leadership” and does it matter?
Where will new ideas come from? Who is doing R&D? Who is funding it?

Feel free to add questions or suggestions of your own to the comments below or in any of the social media you used to get here.

O Canada? My Serendipitous Return to the Headship

Do they celebrate Purim in Canada? – Maytal M., Age 9

I’m not going to lie.

I distinctly recall the first day of the 2014-2015 school year. It was the first time I drove carpool as a day school parent (only). I was wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a t-shirt and as I wheeled through the line, I locked eyes with my colleague Rabbi Jim Rogozen who had just replaced me as head of my children’s school. He had just returned to the headship after a brief time out and I was just beginning my first year out of the headship after nine years in. I said goodbye to my girls, waved to Jim wearing his tie and nice clothes, turned up the music and headed back to my new home office to begin the day.

I was not unhappy.

To be clear, I had not been unhappy in my work. Leaving my headship at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School to become Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network was an agonizing and bittersweet decision. We were just becoming the school that so many of us had worked so hard to begin to be; the chapter in the life of the school that I was there to help author was not complete. But I was called into service for Schechter and I ultimately answered that call. It was both that simple and that complicated.

Now, I realize that nine years sounds like either a long haul or a blink of the eye depending on your vantage, but after nine years of night meetings, living and dying with each enrollment decision, going to synagogue and the supermarket with the potential for bumping into the micro-drama de jour, etc., I was ready for something different.

Like so many of the happy accidents that constitute my career path, these last three years have been a blessing. Having had the chance to be on the national stage, to engage with the foundations, agencies and donors who sustain our schools, to view the field from a different vantage, to visit over 50 schools, to help reimagine what a “Schechter” education can be, to participate in the birth and launch of Prizmah, and to dig deep into educational innovation – these have all been extraordinary professional experiences. I have learned so much more from my colleagues, first in Schechter, then in Prizmah, not to mention all my colleagues in the field that I could scarcely describe it.

I have also benefited from the opportunity to be more present in my family’s life than ever before. Despite a heavy travel schedule, when I’m here, I’m more here than ever before. Breakfast with my daughters each morning, carpool, the ability to participate in school activities, being home for bedtime, I know that these three years have bonded me with my family like never before at ages where my daughters still appreciate my active engagement (tick tock!).

So, with all the benefits that come with not being a head of school, why am I jumping back in? And why so far North!

Here is the simple truth.

A career is a function of what jobs are available when you are looking, which jobs you get, which jobs you don’t get, which jobs you want, which jobs you don’t want, who else is looking, how each interview is structured (or is unstructured), who you meet when, how you respond, how you are feeling, how other people are feeling, and who knows how many other variables. It is a remarkably unscientific process considering how important it is for everyone involved. I wrote about it at length when first considering it from the other side of the search process at Schechter.

When I describe my career as a series of “happy accidents,” I don’t mean to suggest that I wasn’t an active player, that I didn’t make choices or that I didn’t earn the jobs I received (or didn’t not-earn the jobs I didn’t get). I’m just being real – there are variables outside one’s control, there is a measure of luck, and sometimes the universe lends an unseen hand pushing you towards things you may not have chosen to explore on your own.

I’ve written and discussed many times the almost comical series of events that led me to become the founding head of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Las Vegas considering my professional experiences to that point. I’ve candidly shared that when “Jacksonville” popped on the list that I assumed it would be somewhere near Miami until I looked at a map. Yet my time here in Jacksonville made my career. Schechter was a calling I felt compelled to answer. And Schechter led me to Prizmah…

Once the decision was made to leave Prizmah, I found myself back on the market for the first time in a long time. Did I consider other positions besides head of school? I did. But as my process went on, it became clear to me that my passion for the headship remained intact. Looking at my options, what was most exciting, to me, was the opportunity to apply all this new learning I have accumulated at Schechter and Prizmah to the craft of the headship. These last three years have provided me with the humility of knowing how many great ideas other people are working on at Jewish day schools across North America. These last three years have shown me what can be done at schools of all sizes, flavors and geographies. These last three years have not had the power of intimacy, relationships, community and impact that nourish my soul.

Winter is coming… – Game of Thrones (HBO) and everyone who finds out we are moving to Ottawa

We may not know the story of Canadian Thanksgiving, Boxing Day, the metric system, or a word of French, but we do know a warm (no pun intended) community when we see it.

Our experiences, both professional and personal, here in Jacksonville were critical in our decision-making process this time around. I know that with generous donors, a committed Federation, a nourishing board, a passionate community, supportive parents, and talented and dedicated faculty, that you can be a school of global impact regardless of size or geography. We know that with kindness and love, that our family will thrive regardless of the number of kosher restaurants or the weather.

Putting it all together, when it came time for us to decide on the next chapter for our family, it was clear early on that we would seek to write it in Ottawa, Canada where I have enthusiastically agreed to become the next Head of the Ottawa Jewish Community School.

I’ll have much more to say in the weeks and months ahead about the work, the school, and the move. We are neck-deep in emigration law and relocation logistics. I appreciate all the unintentional political jokes moving to Canada provides at this unique moment in time. I know it will be cold.

But I also know something else. It will be great.

10 Quotes to Inspire Innovation in Education

[Originally posted in my Prizmah blog, “Innovation Alley“.]

“In quoting others, we cite ourselves.”
― Julio Cortázar, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds

As we (Prizmah) continue to work on our plans for next year, which we look forward to sharing out upon readiness – and I look forward to discussing its connection to ongoing activity in the innovation space as discussed previously – I wanted to make sure that some of the learning that my team has done this year about innovation was captured and documented. We have had the blessing to collectively read a variety of books, speak with a variety of folk and even visit a variety of places as part of our process. I thought it might be fun (wee!) and possibly useful to those who like to keep quotes handy as triggers for meetings, blog posts, papers, etc., to share our learning through the quotes we actually collected and shared with each other during this year of learning.

So without further adieu and in no particular order, I hope you may be as inspired to think differently about teaching and learning, schooling, and leadership as we were…

“As leaders in education, our job is not to control those whom we serve, but to unleash their talent. If innovation is going to be a priority in education, we need to create a culture where trust is the norm.” – George Couros, The Innovators Mindset

“The first step in teaching students to innovate is making sure that educators have opportunities to be innovators themselves.” – Suzie Boss, Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World

“You cannot empower students to be self-directed, responsible, critical-thinking people if they can’t ask their own questions. At that point, you’re teaching compliance rather than responsibility.” – A.J. Juliani and John Spencer, LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student

“What doesn’t work any longer is our education system’s stubborn focus on delivering a curriculum that’s growing increasingly irrelevant to today’s kids, the outmoded standardized assessments we use in an attempt to measure our success, and the command-and-control thinking that is wielded over the entire process. All of that must be rethought.” – Will Richardson, Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere

“Curiosity is, therefore, strongly correlated with intelligence. For instance, one longitudinal study of 1,795 kids measured intelligence and curiosity when they were three years old, and then again eight years later. Researchers found that kids who had been equally intelligent at age three were, at eleven, no longer equal. The ones who’d been more curious at three were now also more intelligent, which isn’t terribly surprising when you consider how curiosity drives the acquisition of knowledge. The more interested and alert and engaged you are, the more you’re likely to learn and retain. In fact, highly curious kids scored a full twelve points higher on IQ tests than less curious kids did.” – Amanda Lang, The Power Of Why: Simple Questions That Lead to Success

“One of the most important questions any school or teacher can ask is simple: ‘How can we be more thoughtful about what we do?’ Unfortunately, it’s not the question we ask most frequently. The question schools and teachers have fallen in love with—’What more should we be doing?'” – Chris Lehmann and Zac Chase, Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need

“What did they know? They knew that human qualities, such as intellectual skills, could be cultivated through effort. And that’s what they were doing—getting smarter. Not only weren’t they discouraged by failure, they didn’t even think they were failing. They thought they were learning.” – Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

“You can lament the changes that are happening today—tomorrow’s history—convincing yourselves of the negatives and refusing to be a part of a constantly changing culture. Or you can shake off your technochondria and embrace and accept that the positive metamorphosis will continue to happen, as it has so many times before. Young people today are building a new language, not demolishing an old one. And as you will soon see, developments like these new words are helping create significant and meaningful new communities and new relationships that are an essential part of our changing culture and our wireless future.” – Nick Bilton, I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works: Why Your World, Work & Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted

“The new survival skills—effective communication, curiosity, and critical-thinking skills—“are no longer skills that only the elites in a society must muster; they are essential survival skills for all of us.” – Yong Zhao, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students

“Establishing prototyping as a core competence for innovation, requires more than creating a research and development department or team. It requires school wide value for innovation, understanding of innovation processes, and that the bumps and disruptions are worthwhile discomforts of relevant student learning and success.” – R&D Your School: How to Start, Grow, and Sustain Your School’s Innovation Engine

The Story of #Prizmah17 #Playground

[Cross-posted from my Prizmah blog, “Innovation Alley“.]

It has just been a few days since returning from Chicago, but I am still thinking and reflecting on all that took place…

There will be other reflections to be shared about the overall experience, but my piece of #Prizmah17 was the “Playground” and what I want to do first is use one of my favorite reflective apps, Storify, to summarize and share the story of what took place.

Coming soon? Taking what we learned and applying it to the work Prizmah plans to do. Stay tuned!

If you would like a brief tour:

If you would like a full tour:

Elephants in Rooms & From Playgrounds to Planning

[Cross-posted from my blog on Prizmah’s website.]

Well that was quick and interesting timing!

I can assure you that sharing out with the field the relaunch of my blog at Prizmah and the news that I would be leaving Prizmah at the end of this school/fiscal year at almost the same time was a mere quirk of happenstance and the joys of start-up, back-end challenges. However, instead of leaving it out there as something to wonder about, let’s begin by naming the elephants in our room…

…my leaving Prizmah at the end of this year does not mean that Prizmah will no longer be thinking deeply about innovation or contributing to bringing innovation to the day school space.

…my leaving Prizmah at the end of the year does not mean that Jon Mitzmacher will no longer be thinking deeply about innovation or contributing to bringing innovation to the day school space.

It does mean that where and when and how that all happens will be different than we had, perhaps, originally thought.

Let’s leave the “how Jon Mitzmacher will be in the innovation space” questions for another time…

…what I would like focus on now is fulfilling my commitment of sharing back the results of the “Field Survey on Innovation” that I alluded to in my first Prizmah post and connecting some dots.

I see three very large dots connecting the work Prizmah will be doing in innovation this year…

…the Field Survey connected to the Prizmah Conference Playground (with updates pending) connected to a Strategic Planning Process which will ultimately clarify how Prizmah will engage with innovation in the year(s) to come. My transitional role at Prizmah is to help connect those dots and make those clarifications. This blog will be one critical address for this conversation.

Back to the survey…here are some key findings:

Now one can argue that only those who already thought innovation was important would fill out a survey about innovation…but still…that’s a lot of Jewish day schools who think innovation is very or extremely important.

Let’s a scroll through a few more and then make some observations…

Let’s pause here for a bit…

What seems very clear – and very exciting – is how committed, and how varied that commitment is – to this thing call “innovation” are so many Jewish day schools. I have been writing, reflecting and sharing on this blog across three very different organizations about the relationships and opportunities “21st century learning” presents for Jewish day schools. Our belief (which led us to create and continue edJEWcon) that Jewish day schools should not just be part of, but should lead the learning revolution is heartened by these results.

We see schools innovating across a wide array of prototypes (to use innovation language) with STE(A)M, Robotics, Service Learning, Leadership and a bunch of others near the top…

We see schools acknowledging they are still beginning and learning, with some proficient, and few masters in becoming innovative organizations…

We see schools realizing their capacity to engage in the kinds of R& D activities (again with the innovation-speak) is largely medium to low, with few high-bandwidth schools…

…so our field recognizes the power of innovation and their challenges in becoming innovative.

How can Prizmah help?

So here is where we can connect some dots…

…let’s assume that the leader in the clubhouse (“Webinars”) can actually happen through the other four…

…that leaves four ways schools would love to partner with Prizmah on innovation and each one is actually happening!

We will continue to provide thought leadership about innovation in this blog, through our regular edJEWcon Newsletters, our column in HaYidion, “Innovation Alley” and through social media.
We currently provide direct coaching through Prizmah’s “fee for service” department which has an amazing portfolio of opportunities for us to work with your school directly.
We will see you soon at #Prizmah17 and we hope you plan to spend meaningful time in our Playground to be inspired by what could be.
With the launch of Prizmah membership, you are now eligible to join Reshet Innovation if your school has become a Prizmah member (and hopefully it has). This conversation is beginning soon…

I am looking forward to collaborating with you through any and all of these channels before, during and after the conference as we continue to name elephants, connect dots, fuel innovation and plan for a field of thriving and innovative Jewish day school schools.

10 Innovative Ideas for Any School or Grade Level

[Cross-posted from an interview I did for Prizmah’s December Newsletter.]

10 Innovative Ideas for Any School or Grade Level

by Dr. Jon Mitzmacher, Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network and VP of Innovation, Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools

All schools have different capacities for incorporating innovation into their curricula; however, using new teaching methods and formats for teaching keep the classroom fresh, appeal to learners of all levels, and contribute to a sense of fun in the educational environment. So we quizzed Dr. Jon Mitzmacher about how all schools can infuse more innovation into their students’ daily experience.

Mitzmacher recommended these ten ideas, noting that almost all of them could be applied to any subject or grade level with minimal adjustment. He also pointed to the importance of having what educator George Couros refers to as “the innovator’s mindset” — that teachers and administrators are willing to take chances, learn from failure, have a growth mindset, and a culture that supports innovative approaches.

You may already be engaged in some of these strategies — others may seem like a stretch; but no matter where your school is in terms of innovation, you’ll find something on this list to inspire you. (And two of these ideas relate directly to content we are featuring at #Prizmah17: The Power of Story. So read on, and don’t forget to register today!

1) Escape the Room

Escape rooms are all the rage these days for adults, challenging groups to work together — and use their different skills — to complete the game. Mitzmacher says that schools are experimenting with a classroom version of the escape-the-room concept, designing the experience for the specific class and their curriculum, with clues based on the content they are learning. “It’s a fun way to get kids engaged in a subject,” said Mitzmacher, noting that the concept can be used either as an introduction to certain material, or as a final exam after students have studied it. (Conference fun fact: Breakout EDU (breakoutedu.com) designs escape-the-room kits for classrooms, and they will be at tjos year’s conference in Chicago! You can buy kits through them, or they will tell you all the tools you’ll need to buy to create your own kit. )

2) Visual Bingo

In a format created by master innovator Darren Kuropatwa, teachers can create their own bingo cards that ask students to photograph various things. In social-media-savvy classrooms, students can also use hashtags to tag related posts. This creates a “visual bingo,” which can be tailored to holidays, events or curricula, and which is a way to teach or expand digital skills. (Conference fun fact: Darren will be present in the Playground, so be sure to stop by for a round of hashtag/Twitter Bingo — make sure to join us there for a live experience of this innovative approach).

3) “Fakebook”

Available at Classtools.net/FB, “Fakebook” allows teachers and students to create imaginary profile pages for study purposes. This can teach students how to use Facebook responsibly, said Mitzmacher, and also permits teachers and students to create profiles for Biblical characters, like the ones in the Hanukkah story.

4) Skype-ortunities

Mitzmacher said that many schools are always on the lookout for new “Skypeortunities,” opportunities to connect with other schools and organizations via Skype. He further noted that this can be a great way to engage and give ownership to students, encouraging them to invite an author of a book they read, a scientist, or a sister school in Israel/or other Jewish community or organization to a Skype interaction.

5) Digital Learning Farm

Alan November, educational innovator, shares the idea of a digital learning farm: a model in which every student has a job to play. All jobs — whether it’s photographer, videographer, notetaker, IT coordinator, or others — are essential to the success of the classroom.

6) “Livestreaming Something….Anything”

Mitzmacher points to livestreaming as an invaluable opportunity “to show people what you want them to see” about the classroom, whether it’s parents who work, grandparents, or other relatives who don’t live in the area. He notes that it’s also an opportunity to engage in tikkun olam projects, like teaching how to be in relationship with people who are homebound.

7) Flipping the Classroom

In this concept — which is already in process in many schools, Mitzmacher notes — teachers send new material with students to learn at home, and then at school check for how well they understood the content. Instead of taking class time to introduce basic material, teachers and students can spend their classroom time going deeper into the material.

8) Mini Makers Space Challenge

Mitzmacher says that some schools have expensive Makers Spaces set up, but those who don’t can still create a smaller version in the classroom. Teachers can collect tools or stuff to play with and challenge students to solve a problem and to think about something in a different way. (For example, around Hanukkah, students could use tools to create the best possible Hanukkiyah prototype.)

9) Blogs and Blogging Challenges

If a classroom doesn’t have a blog, start one. Those who are already set up with blogs can participate in a blogging challenge (a sample is available on EdJewCon). Blogging challenges can include everything from “describe your classroom” to learning how to hyperlink or creating and uploading a 30-second video journal.

10) Speed Geeking

Mitzmacher pronounced this method a “great way for a class to showcase its skills to parents or to the school or other kids.” Children have ten-minute bursts to display their skills to visiting guests, then rotate around the room. Skills may include: how to use Google Docs for organization or using the iPad for photography.

The Power & Promise of Prizmah

So…it’s been a while.

🙂

A certain pause seemed perfectly appropriate. When last we spoke, I was tying up (or at least naming) the loose ends of an independent Schechter Day School Network winding down in preparation for the launch of Prizmah. (At that time, you may remember her best as our old friend “NewOrg”.) The time between then and now has flown by in a blur of activity. The list of tasks and projects necessary to bring Prizmah from launch to stratosphere continues to ebb, flow, morph and grow. To even be where we currently stand strikes me as a bit miraculous, even if I have firsthand experience of the heroic work it took.

The larger story of Prizmah is not mine to tell (alone). Neither is the smaller story of Schechter schools, although I maintain a passionate interest. Our CEO, Paul Bernstein, speaks for Prizmah using his unique voice. Our School Advocate for Schechter Schools, Chaya Friedmann, speaks with Schechter schools (and all our schools) with her unique voice. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a story to tell…

I hoped to have a meaningful role to play in realizing the promise of Prizmah when joining my former colleagues in a leap of faith from our prior organizations. Having been part of the collective who drafted Prizmah’s first business plan, I had a general sense of what might be and how I might be of service. And I was wrong.

Innovation is bringing an idea, practice, or object perceived as new to an individual, a team, an organization, or community in order to meet important learning needs (Rogers, 2003).

Paul’s vision for Prizmah is not only to meet the needs of the here and now, but to prepare for the what may be. It should be noted that meeting the needs of the here and now for a diverse field of Jewish day schools is in and of itself requires extraordinary talent, resources, programs, conferences, networked learning, etc., etc. It rightfully occupies the bulk of what Prizmah does day to day. But the ability to learn and to inspire others to learn is part of how innovative organizations thrive. That’s why Prizmah was created with a Department of Innovation. My story continues as its first leader.

Our mission?

Prizmah believes in the power of innovation to transform teaching and learning in Jewish day schools. We know that many of you are currently investing in innovative practices and many more are considering how innovation can impact your students, families, schools and communities. Prizmah is committed to the work of fueling the research and design work that will secure the future as well as sharing and amplifying the extraordinary work Jewish schools are doing at present. Prizmah’s Innovation Department was created to be a hothouse, a clearinghouse, a laboratory and an R(research)&D(design) engine.

Our goals?

We shave three overarching goals for Prizmah’s Innovation Department:

To identify, showcase, share, leverage innovation that already exists within Jewish day schools.
To identify, showcase, share, leverage innovation that exists in the larger world of education and in the innovation sector and bring it to the field of Jewish day school education.
To help Prizmah function as – and model – an innovative organization.

Our philosophy?

We have developed a philosophical model for understanding our work based on the classic innovation process. Highlights include:

Prizmah’s Innovation Department building its capacity to be an engine for R&D for Prizmah.
Prizmah’s Innovation Department developing a method to help Jewish day schools build their capacity to be an engine for R&D for their schools.
Prizmah’s Innovation Department performing R&D for Jewish day schools.
Prizmah developing unique products to pilot, implement, scale, etc., in Jewish day schools. [edJEWcon (blogfolios) is one such product.]
Prizmah playing a catalyzing role to pilot, implement, scale, etc., products developed outside Prizmah that are of interest to Jewish day schools. Examples could include Makers Space, Robotics, multiage classrooms, etc.

Top 10 Innovation & Collaboration Thoughts

What are we starting with?

Well sure we have some ideas of our own, which include…

Thought Leadership (my column in HaYidion, edJEWcon’s social media, etc.)
edJEWcon (check out our work with the amazing Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School)
Networked Learning (think about joining Prizmah’s Reshet Innovation)
Conference (visit the Prizmah 17 Playground)

…but we exist to serve schools, not to create programs.

So how are we really going to do it?

We’re going to ask you.

Yesterday we sent a survey to all Prizmah heads of school to begin the conversation…let this blog post officially declare that the office is open.

Saying “L’hitraot, Not Shalom”. Again.

So here we are again. Sooner than anyone could have expected, but with great excitement about what is yet to come, it time again for me to pause, prepare and repurpose this blog for the next chapter of my journey.

Two years and nearly sixty blog posts later, my time at the Schechter Day School Network – and the existence of the Network itself – draws to a close.

Almost two years to the day, I wrote my last blog post as the head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in which I reflected on what had been and looked forward to what was going to be…a task made easier by my knowing with greater clarity “what was going to be”. To be transparent, that is not a luxury I yet have, at least in terms of my personal professional situation, but it diminishes not one bit my enthusiasm for Schechter’s future.

The first post I wrote as the Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network was entitled “Schechter: Becoming the Adjacent Possible for Jewish Education”. In it, I wrote of my hopes for a reborn Schechter:

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.

“[L]earning from and contributing to a larger adjacent possible for the future of the Jewish people.”

Having had the blessing of visiting over forty of our schools, I can say with confidence that Schechter schools are contributing to the future of the Jewish people each and every day. Our schools broadly share assumptions about standards, innovation, excellence, rigor, integration, Zionism, Hebrew language acquisition, centrality of prayer, and much more which simply cannot be reduced to policy or schedule or a prayerbook. They are big tent schools who serve diverse communities. They produce Jewish communal leadership in unprecedented numbers ensuring there is a future to reach towards.

“Let our ability to serve as incubators of innovation catalyze the field.”

I am proud of the growing impact of edJEWcon on the field as a result of the stage Schechter has been able to set for its ongoing evolution. I am staggered by how many of our schools are leading innovation and inspiring the field. Robotics, STEAM, Coding, Makers Space, Project-Based Learning, 21st Century Learning – pick any slice of the innovative educational future and I can give you 3 Schechter schools who are leading the way.

“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.”

NewOrg.

We are proud of this brief, but critical chapter of Schechter’s proud history that we have helped write. We are excited about the next chapter of Schechter to be written as part of the story of NewOrg. And we look forward to both knowing and sharing who the authors of that story will be…

As for me?

Well, I hate to end the season and head off to summer on a cliffhanger…

…but it wouldn’t be authentic or transparent to suggest that I know more than I do. And as of this writing, there isn’t much more I can say other than, “Stay Tuned”!

I can say for sure that when my future becomes more clear, you’ll be able to read all about here on “A Floor, But No Ceiling”. This blog will again be reborn with new challenges to explore, new opportunities to share, and new issues to grapple with. I look forward to resuming our journey together soon…

Pausing For Gratitude As A Chapter Begins to Close

[Reprinted by request from our final Constant Contact to Schechter stakeholders.]

Dear Friends,

The emails and updates are coming fast and furious and are coming more and more from OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA NewOrg and less and less from us as the transition from what was to what will be grows closer each day. Critical information about “Membership”, “Conference”, “Fee For Service”, “Staffing”, etc. – the stuff you really need to know in order to better understand your engagement with NewOrg next year and beyond is finally making its way to the field. And not a moment too soon (and maybe a few moments too late) considering our earliest schools are already beginning to close for the summer.

I am incredibly proud of the work our staff and lay leaders have done over the last six months along with our colleagues from the other legacy organizations to get to this point. There is clearly much more to do and to come. Here at Schechter, we will continue through June pushing out information and being available to answer questions and concerns. I will also be publishing closing blog posts where I have more space to be expansive about what I think these last three years have meant.

But now, I prefer to pause for gratitude.

Without going into the laundry list here, I will simply say that what we have accomplished together during our brief run as an independent network of amazing schools is almost inconceivable. And it didn’t happen by accident.

It took the vision of Dr. Steven Lorch, Rabbi Jim Rogozen, Jane Taubenfeld Cohen, Dr. Susan Kardos, Rabbi Shelly Dorph and Dr. Elaine Cohen.

It took the leadership of Dara Yanowitz and our founding (and closing) Board of Trustees.

It took the wisdom and advice of our Professional Advisory Board.

It took the partnership of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Camp Ramah, USY, and the American Jewish University.

It took the generous capacity building support from the AVI CHAI Foundation and an anonymous foundation to launch us, and the programmatic support of the AVI CHAI Foundation, the Alan B. Slifka Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, and Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah to help us soar.

It took the excellence, the openness, the hospitality, the candor and the magic of our schools.

But more than anything else? It took the blood, sweat and tears of our staff.

Our Associate Director Ilisa Cappell, who essentially ran Schechter as “Acting Director” our first year, was the only partner I could ever have imagined going on this journey with. I have never worked with anyone who complemented me better and who I should have complimented more. Hiring Ilisa was the best thing I did as Executive Director.

Followed very closely by the hiring of everyone else! Pearl Mattenson has provided us with wisdom and warmth. No one is more aptly named than “Pearl”. Working with her has taught me more than most of my graduate school classes.

Alisha Goodman inherited an organization with no Business Manager, HR Manager, or Development Director and she has managed to wear all those hats and more with tireless effort and dedication. Her speed at Excel spreadsheeting is only surpassed by her wit.

Andrea Hernandez and Silvia Tolisano are probably more responsible for my career than anyone! Our work together as school leaders forever changed my beliefs about Jewish education and to be able to continue the work together at Schechter and beyond remains a daily joy.

And of course there is Doree Greenfield who stepped into our most transitory position and very quickly mastered not only the work, but the relationships. She has been invaluable during her tenure at Schechter.

the-future We don’t know exactly what or who the future will bring. But we know what the past and present has meant. On behalf of the staff and the board of the Schechter Day School Network, let me thank all our stakeholders one last time and to be clear that we are not saying shalom, but l’hitraot.

This is not goodbye…because we will see you later.

Shining the “Schechter Spotlight” – Volume 3

Believe it or not, as we sit here in the midst of the Jewish holiday rollercoaster this season brings, we have schools who are now counting weeks, not months, of the remaining school year! As with our schools, so is true of our network. Except with summer comes not an end, but the beginning of a new chapter in a NewOrg. While we look forward to exciting updates about the field, we definitely want to keep the focus on schools. So…let’s take another opportunity to “shine the spotlight” on Schechter schools!

As a reminder…

…each of our schools was asked to share in their own words examples of programs and initiatives of what they think makes their school unique, special, excellent, and innovative. We promised to batch and share out as they came in. The first volume was published in early March and the second a few weeks later . It is my pleasure now to introduce you to three more of our amazing schools…

Name of School: Kadima Day School (West Hills, CA)

Area of Strength/Passion/Specialty: Differentiated Hebrew Program

Brief Description of Current Work/Projects: Kadima’s Hebrew program is designed to meet the variety ability levels of our students. Currently the school offers advanced and grade level courses throughout the elementary, in addition to ulpan as necessary. In the middle school, the program is able to differentiate even move by combining learners from a variety of grade levels.

Links to Photos/Articles/Videos of Current Work/Projects: 5th Grade Student Weather Report – Click Here & Click Here – Video 2

Area of Strength/Passion/Specialty: Character Education

Students being recognized for dedicating themselves to the value of "Protecting the Earth, Shmirat Ha'adamah" and helping to raise over $1000 to plant our self sustaining Kadima orchard. — Students being recognized for dedicating themselves to the value of “Protecting the Earth, Shmirat Ha’adamah” and helping to raise over $1000 to plant our self sustaining Kadima orchard.

Brief Description of Current Work/Projects: Kadima Day School is committed to helping our students navigate through both the social and academic journeys of elementary school. Our emphasis on character education is rooted in our mission, helping students build an identity that is based on core Judaic values. Each grade will tackle the foundations of character develop and grow in their understanding of “The Kadima Way.”

In order to create a cohesive program, the school has identified the following components to be implemented on an annual basis:

Value of the Month
Visual Cues to help students self monitor (posters in classrooms / hallways)
Grade Level Mitzvah Projects
Rosh Hodesh Mitzvah Award – monthly award teacher to student

Name of School: Perelman Jewish Day School (Melrose Park/Wynnewood, PA)

Area of Strength/Passion/Specialty: STEAM

Brief Description of Current Work/Projects: Perelman’s inquiry-based learning fosters critical thinking skills and empowers students to wrestle with complex issues using traditional texts and new technologies. We teach an authentic Jewish legacy while preparing students to compete in the digital age. This educational approach establishes a superior intellectual and emotional foundation for future education – and for life.

Our STEAM program connects individual disciplines as access points for guiding students to take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem solving, innovate and create.

Fifth graders are engineers, working in teams to build a boat and bridge using a standard set of materials. Fourth graders are entrepreneurs, developing their own business plans with advice from students at the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania. All levels experiment with coding and learn to create their own QR codes. Students become experts on a particular system of the human body, presenting its function to their peers and a team of doctors, defending why it’s essential to our survival. They integrate science with language arts and research skills in a non-fiction reading unit about biomes. Art education is also integrated into science, as students learn about the solar system by studying an atmospheric phenomenon called the Aurora Borealis – Northern Lights – a fantastic light show in the night skies when solar energy erupts from the surface of the sun.

In the coming weeks Perelman will open an even more innovative classroom, one where kids will be writing on the white-board wall, posting sticky notes, thinking, designing and building. This will occur in our new MakerSpaces, where diversity and cross-pollination of activities are critical to the design. These innovation labs will accommodate a wide range of activities, tools and materials, and provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent, as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering.

Our curriculum empowers teachers to take risks so that they too become agents of change. The silos of teaching and learning are interdependent as our students speak up, own their learning, ask questions and design the future.

Name of School: Academies at Gerrard Berman Day School (Oakland, NJ)

Area of Strength/Passion/Specialty: STEAM

Brief Description of Current Work/Projects: September 2015 marked the launch of Untitled the GBDS Science Academy, with the goal of employing hands-on , inquiry and project-based learning and experiments at all grade levels. This innovative curriculum integrates the Next Generation Science Standards, the Engineering Design Process, and environmental awareness. A partnership with PicoTurbine/STEAM Rocks! has led to 3D design enrichment programs during school breaks.

Some notable examples of student projects are:

Building drawbots using small hobby motors and legs made using markers
Utilizing squishy circuits to make “hamantaschen” for Purim, with filling lit up with LEDs
Testing water quality of streams in the 40 acre Great Oak park adjacent to the school
Investigating cell growth in different conditions through guided inquiry
Building Rube Goldberg machines
Employing an earthquake shake table to test building codes
Designing and testing parachutes (with action figures not people!)
Participating in NJ Makers Day

Area of Strength/Passion/Specialty: Leadership & Environmentalism

Brief Description of Current Work/Projects: The Academies at GBDS is proudly Untitled the only Leader In Me Jewish Day School in NJ. Based on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, our Leadership Academy gives our students the 21st century skills needed for both professional and personal success. Several new initiatives have developed as a result of adopting the Leader in Me culture: the Middle School students created a Wax Museum exhibit called “Through the Eyes of a Leader,” and this year’s theme for the school play is “Robin Hood and the Leader in Me.” Additionally, at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, a premiere Leadership Day will celebrate our many successes. Please visit our school’s Leader in Me Blog for updates about how our school thrives using “The 7 Habits”.

The Academies at GBDS is committed to promoting practices that make the school more environmentally conscious and sharing those practices with the community. A school-wide recycling initiative, through our partnership with TerraCycle and Preserve Products, is bringing the school closer to the goal of sending zero-waste to landfills. This initiative was launched by constructing a large permanent mural, using plastic waste diverted from the cafeteria waste stream,which is displayed in our multi-purpose room.

This year, inspired by the Leader in Me, the Middle School students are planning, building, and maintaining a greenhouse and garden, thanks to a grant from Project Learning Tree. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students are in charge of all aspects of the project, including designing and building the raised bed gardens, and selecting, planting, and maintaining the gardens. The students will also design and print hydroponic gardening equipment using the 3D design program TinkerCad, eventually leading to year round gardening.