A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

The Transparency Files Bonus Edition: Head of Academy Self-Evaluation

First a little housecleaning…

Thanks very much to EJewishPhilanthropy for publishing this week an article I wrote entitled, If We Can Do It, So Can You! One Small School’s Journey to the Center of 21st Century Learning. And thanks to everyone who commented, tweeted, liked or otherwise made mention. It is a great credit to the faculty and staff of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School that edJEWcon was born from our pioneering work. And it is an even greater credit to our stakeholders for giving us the trust, space and resources to do it!

Our “Journey Through the Jewish Holidays” was completed on Shavuot. We are in the process of tallying the data and look forward to announcing the names of students who earned prizes for excellence in synagogue attendance as well how and when those prizes will be given out. There is no question that it had some impact – especially on Sukkot. We had increased attendance and, as a result, increased programming on these special holidays. It takes time to change culture, so we will evaluate this year and decide whether or not to continue, expand, tweak or adjust this program for next year. We would love feedback from parents as to whether or not these kinds of incentives are meaningful for you and your children.

We are not only finishing up the school year at MJGDS, but celebrating the successful close to the first year of Galinsky Academy! Here are some of the big accomplishments from Year One:

Creation of “Community of Kindness” Initiative – although there is LOTS more work to do, we did take important first steps. I will have an important update on this in the next few weeks!
Extension of 21st Century Learning to all Academy Schools.
Consolidation of LDVD Annual Campaign & hiring a Development Director.
Establishing clear and consistent Parent Communication vehicles.
Branding Initiative for the Academy and all its Schools.
Rebranding of DuBow Preschool
Better integration between Academy and the Center/between our educators and our clergy.

In the ongoing spirit of transparency, I would like to share my self-evaluation of my first year serving as “Head of Academy”:

As Head of Academy, I have the responsibility for performing evaluation of school heads each November. I also have responsibility for all Academy governance, marketing, budget and development activities. Much of my work in these areas has been led by the Three-Year Strategic Plans that govern all the standing committees and communities of the Academy: Preschool, Religious School/Makom, Day School, Budget & Finance, Development, Marketing, Committee on Trustees, and Head Support & Evaluation.

We have had tremendous success with governance. All of our committees and communities have been profiled and we have begun to address gaps as we finish the process of fleshing out all the committees and communities for the next two years. Strong chairs are in place as well strategic plans, governing principles, and a strong Committee on Trustees to manage the system.

Goal: In 2012-2013, I attended each meeting of each committee, community, Cabinet and JJC Board. While it was a necessary and worthwhile investment to get off the ground, it is not healthy (for anyone) for the big picture. I will be looking to strategically draw back next year so that I may place my time and energy in other areas of need.

We have professionalized our budget oversight and completely revised our Financial Aid process.

Goals:

Feedback from committees requires us to ensure all committee members are aware of how the budget works and are updated more frequently throughout the year.
I would like to find ways to move the financial aid process up a couple of months so that we can assess our maximal need before drafting our budget and to ensure that the process can be as compassionate and customer-friendly as possible.

We have dramatically increased annual giving through our L’Dor V’Dor Annual Campaign for Galinsky Academy.

Goals:

With a new Development Director we have an opportunity to better steward donors, maximize the Head of Academy’s role in development, motivate volunteers, etc., and create new benchmarks for annual giving.
Explore all aspects of development beyond annual giving, including endowments, capital giving, naming opportunities and planned giving.
Work to pool Admissions and Development to maximize strengths and opportunities – move towards an “Advancement” model.

We have spent 2012-2013 on a Branding Initiative for the Academy. We have created all new collateral, a new brochure, and an MJGDS curriculum guide and are finishing up on new websites. We developed a new social media strategy and employed parent ambassadors. Besides what has already been stated about admissions, one goal for next year is to ensure our new marketing plan comes to life.

The most significant challenge of this new position is assuming responsibility for the supervision of the heads of the other schools that make up the academy, one goal for next year is to create an assessment tool that measures the impact of leadership on the schools including how to factor in all the variables that determine whether a school is “successful” – especially when the normal variables don’t apply.

Overall, I believe it has been a very successful first year with a whole new paradigm. There is a lot of work to do and a long road ahead. Our strategic plan provides a roadmap. I look forward to coaching and mentoring from the Head Support & Evaluation Committee, and to working with all our lay leaders, senior leadership of the Center, my fellow school heads, colleagues and the entire faculty and staff of Galinsky Academy to help get us there.

The Transparency Files: Standardized Testing

This is our third year of publishing the “Grade Equivalent Scores” for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or ITBS – the standardized test we take annually at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School. We did not have comparison data the first year we published results. I also blogged that year about our overall philosophy regarding the proper context for standardized testing. Last year we able for the first time to graph out comparison data and provided an analysis of our findings.

There was, and continues to be, some confusion about the proper understanding of what a “grade equivalent score” is and, more importantly, is not. I am happy to refer you to a thorough explanation, but if you want the quick summary:

Grade-equivalent scores attempt to show at what grade level and month your child is functioning. However, grade-equivalent scores are not able to show this. Let me use an example to illustrate this. In reading comprehension, your son scored a 7.3 grade equivalent. The seven represents the grade level while the 3 represents the month. 7.3 would represent the seventh grade, third month, which is December. The reason it is the third month is because September is zero, October is one, etc. It is not true though that your son is functioning at the seventh grade level since he was never tested on seventh grade material. He was only tested on fifth grade material. That’s why the grade-equivalent scores should not be used to decide at what grade level a students is functioning.

This year, I blogged about our firm belief that “reflection leads to achievement”. In that post, I attempt to peg our pioneering work in 21st century learning to academic success. All the blogging, reflecting, technology, project-based learning, flipped classrooms, etc., we not only do because we believe it leads to the best outcomes…we do it because it does lead to the best outcomes.

We do not believe that standardized test scores represent the only, nor surely the best, evidence for academic success. Our goal continues to be providing each student with a “floor, but no ceiling” representing each student’s maximum success. Our best outcome is still producing students who become lifelong learners.

But I also don’t want to undersell the objective evidence that shows that the work we are doing here does in fact lead to tangible success!

Our graduates the last three years have successfully placed into the high school programs of their choice. Each one had a different ceiling – they are all different – but working with them, their families and their teachers, we successfully transitioned them all to the schools and programs they qualified for.

And for three years running, despite all the qualifications and caveats, our ITBS scores continue to demonstrate excellence. Excellence within the grades and between them. And let’s be clear, this academic excellence comes with an inclusive admissions process.

That’s the headline…let’s look more closely at the story.

First up is “Language”.

Remember…in order to track a class you have to compare 2012 to 2013. For example, in 2012, the Language Grade Equivalent of Average for Grade Two was 3.4. In 2013, those kids are now in Grade Three and scored 4.9. That class “grew” 1.5 from last year to this. (Also, the scale stops at 13…it is the highest score available.)

The positive, of course, is that each grade is functioning at an extremely high level! There are dips up and down, but when both the averages and the diversity level is high, it hard to find much to point to. One data point to explore is that although most classes grew at least one grade equivalency, Grades One and Two did not. They still have high averages, but this is worth looking at further. This is also the benefit of not teaching to the test…it can sometimes uncover gaps in curriculum or teaching.

Let’s move onto “Reading”.

Here the news is all positive! Each class grew at least one grade equivalency (technically Grade One grew .9) and all are functioning at very high levels. One possible influence that we will be looking to track is the growing impact of the Daily Five, which we began piloting in Grades 4 & 5, but also had influence on other grades.

Let’s take a look at “Math”.

Again, the overwhelming news is positive. This marks the second year we are using Singapore Math, the first year for a few of our teachers, and the first year of departmentalization in Grades Four & Five. The only trend worth noting is the relatively flat growth in the youngest grades. The grade averages, even in those grades, are appropriately high and the class averages still show growth. It is the rate of growth we will need to explore. It could be that our students are covering more than the curriculum in Kindergarten – where the curriculum is the most sparse – and it takes until Grades Two or Three before the curriculum jumps. [NOTE: It takes a lot of courage for teachers to work under this level of transparency.] We have noted in the past that the curriculum tends to start out slow and build…and if that is the case, we may need to think about how to supplement in Kindergarten and Grade One.

To sum up, despite our focus on individual growth, our average growth continues to significantly outpace national percentiles and grade equivalency scores. Does “reflection lead to achievement” at MJGDS? Does being a 21st century learning pioneer translate into high academic success?

Three years in a row may not be conclusive, but it carries weight.

As with last year, all receiving teachers will have prior years’ data and be charged with making the next year even better. They have been up to the task these last three years and we look forward to more learning, more growth and more excellence in the year to come.

The Transparency Files: Annual Parent Survey

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

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

The first trend is that each year far fewer parents (22 vs. 39 vs. 64) filled out surveys!

Possible explanations?

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

Regardless, the lower the rate, the possibility of strong validity is reduced. But in the spirit of hoping to learn from whatever there is to learn…let’s move on to the results.

This is more even than last year, but still skewed a bit towards the younger grades, as expected in school surveys. Let’s look at the BIG PICTURE:

The score is still promising. On a scale of 1-10, our average score wound up being an 8.0 Last year we scored an 8.3. The year prior we scored 7.7. It is a fairly stable score – especially considering the sample – but still leaves us some room to grow. Let’s dig deeper.

When it comes to communication, we continue to have high marks. Each one has gone up (except the first, which is virtually the same)! The biggest jumps come in providing opportunities for parents to be involved in student learning (which was the lowest one the prior year). Hopefully this indicates growth on our part from what we learned. Another big jump was in parent-teacher conferences, which I would like to attribute to our piloting Student-Led Conferences. I am pleased that the biggest jump came in front office attitude, and I have shared that pleasure with those people. The place to keep working appears to be ongoing communication about children’s academic status, which could be a concern about our current system in the Middle School or lack of a system in the Lower School.

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

Let me unpack the non-subject specific areas first:

Most important increase! The education offered at our school is high quality: 8.4 vs. 8.28 (last year) vs. 7.72 (the year before last year)
EVERY category in this section is up – most importantly questions that deal with “teaching in different styles”, “teaching to different levels” and “satisfied…(with) individual attention”. All these categories blend with “21st century learning”.

General Studies:

The big picture is great! The OVERALL rating has gone to 8.3 from last year’s 7.97 from the prior year’s 7.19. That is a trend in the right direction.
Based on that it makes sense that all General Studies scores are up from last year, with one exception. The impact of Singapore Math continues to positively impact as does, we hope, the influence of the Daily Five on Language Arts.
But there is still room to grow. Science took a drop – and that is despite dedicating time and an instructor in the Lower School for the first time. It is impossible to know because of how the survey is done whether or not to attribute the drop to dissatisfaction in Grades K-2 (where there is time, but no teacher), Grades 3-5 (where there is time and a new position), or Middle School (which is the same). Regardless, this is something very important for us to explore. There is no “21st century learning” without high-quality Science instruction.

Jewish Studies, Resources and Extracurricular Activities:

The marks in these areas are, again, all slightly down from last year. Not dramatically so, but still noticeable. With renewed emphasis on language immersion, we really do believe our program is stronger, but for whatever reason it has not translated to parent satisfaction (at least from the sample). It is possible that we have set a higher bar and the distance from it is now more noticeable. We have pledged to post more video of our students engaged in authentic Hebrew speech and this will hopefully contribute to higher marks in the years to come.
Our weakest area has consistently been “After School Activities”. It is hard to know if this is a referendum on the quality of what we do offer or on the quantity of what we do not offer. We have added more club sports and a Chess Club on top of an Enhanced Kindergarten Program and partnership with the JCA. We might wish to do some parent surveys to unpack this one more fully.

So there you have it for 2012-2013!

Thanks to all the parents who took the time and care to fill out surveys. In addition to the multiple choice questions, there were opportunities for open-ended responses. They added an additional layer of depth; one which is difficult to summarize for a post like this. But please know that all comments will be shared with those they concern as we use this data to make enhancements and improvements headed into next year. By the by, we are very pleased with how well satisfied our parents are with how the school is going…but be assured, just like with everything else, we expect to see growth and progress in a school where there is “a floor, but no ceiling”.

Is Hosting edJEWcon Good for MJGDS?

There is no criteria I can think of that would not conclude that this week’s edJEWcon 5773.1 was anything other than an unqualified success. And I do not want to duplicate the amazing curatorial efforts of my colleagues and present my summary of what took place, when they are continuing to do such an amazing job of it themselves. I’ll simply cut-and-paste from their terrific contributions to the website and move on to a question I need to answer as head of the school who hosts…

Here is the story of edJEWcon through its keynotes:

edJEWcon Closing Keynote by Steve Hargadon from Martin J. Gottlieb Day School

Here is the story of edJEWcon through Storify (thanks to Silvia Tolisano for creating!):

http://storify.com/langwitches/edjewcon-5773-1-day-1

http://storify.com/langwitches/edjewcon-5773-1-day-2

http://storify.com/langwitches/edjewcon-5773

And here is what was undoubtedly the highlight for many attendees: Speed Geeking!

However, before moving into the meat of my reflection, special mention must be made of Andrea Hernandez, who is the most responsible for the conference. Others make meaningful contributions, but Andrea makes it happen. No Andrea? No edJEWcon. So please be sure to share your admiration and appreciation to her directly.

Considering how much time and energy it takes to put on an experience like edJEWcon, it is reasonable to ask whether or not hosting edJEWcon is good for the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School? Remember, after all, that our primary responsibility is to the students, parents, teachers, donors, and stakeholders of MJGDS – if edJEWcon doesn’t serve their needs we have to consider the question.

Upon reflection, I can think of three categories in which to consider this question.

Financial Impact

If our school made money off of edJEWcon that could be reinvested in the school, that could be one reason why edJEWcon is good for MJGDS! The EduCon we borrowed the original idea from does, in fact, turn a surplus which is invested back into the host school, Science Leadership Academy.

In our case, we have been generously funded by the AVI CHAI Foundation in order to put on edJEWcon the first two years and have charged fees to cover expenses. We have not looked to monetize edJEWcon – either through fees, sponsorships, vendors, etc. Our plan was to transition from being subsidized to a sustainable business model that allowed us to break even. We have not focused on edJEWcon as a possible source of revenue for MJGDS. Considering how much fundraising goes into the school’s budget, it is at least reasonable to ask whether or not hosting edJEWcon should be viewed as a business opportunity. Would it change the mission of the conference? Would it change the program? Would it impact how people felt about the conference?

All worthwhile questions worthy of consideration.

Recruitment/Retention

Does hosting edJEWcon and the accumulated prestige associated with it have enough of a local impact to positively impact retention and recruitment of students into the school? Retention is a harder one to measure because there are so many co-variables. In the abstract, it makes sense that the more our local community has access (through the public keynote, publicity, social media, etc.) to the significance of hosting a conference such as this, that it ought to lend prestige to the school, bolster its reputation and hopefully encourage families to want to send (and keep) their children in a school like this. I think we have some anecdotal evidence, at least with retention, that this is the case, but I think the recruitment question is not yet clear.

If it were the case that hosting edJEWcon lead to higher rates of retention and increased enrollment, it would be well worth the time and energy it takes to put it on.

Quality of Education

Does the fact that we host edJEWcon positively impact our teachers’ professional growth and, ultimately, their performance? Or, more simply, does the fact that we host edJEWcon make our teachers better?

This is a difficult one to measure as well, because there is no control group of MJGDS teachers in a non-edJEWcon MJGDS to compare them to. But it is my opinion that the knowledge that people are coming to our school to see a “21st century school in progress” does exert positive pressure. I also believe the opportunities our teachers have to present at edJEWcon contribute positively to their professional growth. They also, of course, benefit from the professional development opportunities of participating in edJEWcon.

If hosting edJEWcon makes our teachers better and, thus, improves the quality of education at MJGDS, it may be well worth doing.

[I could also mention the incredible opportunities our students have to present at edJEWcon and what impact it has on their growth.]

edJEWcon is an enormous task for a school our size to take on. It comes at a significant price – the time, energy, and care of the conference organizer, the conference planning team, and one way or another the entire faculty and staff of the school. We all have pretty important day jobs to concern ourselves with – ensuring that the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School is everything it can be. As we reflect on edJEWcon 5773.1, it is my responsibility to ensure that if there is going to be an edJEWcon 5774.2 that it serve the greatest good for the greatest amount.

And in the spirit of transparency, it is important that I make that explicit.

In the meanwhile, we will continue here at MJGDS, on the edJEWcon website, and through social media to keep the edJEWcon-versations alive for all who care about the marriage of 21st century learning and Jewish day school education.

But first a good weekend’s sleep!

The Transparency Files: Evaluation of Self

Despite the excitement and time crunch as we sit on the beginning of a weekend that will end with edJEWcon 5773.1, the regular business of school surely continues!

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

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

If you want to see context, I invite you begin with last year’s blog post. This year’s self-evaluation is based on new goals for this year. You will not find a complete laundry list of my day to day responsibilities. Nor will you find my goals as Head of Academy. (I intend to reflect on my first year as Head of Galinsky Academy in an upcoming post.) Here, then, are selected components from my self-evaluation for the 2012-2013 MJGDS academic year:

Require dedicated science instruction in the lower school of MJGDS.

One of our major accomplishments this year was ensuring our students in the lower school (K-5) had the requisite amount of science instruction according national standards for science education. Published schedules were created for accountability and a dedicated science instructor for Grades 3-5 was introduced. While there may be more work to do in terms of curriculum development, program evaluation, etc., I am confident that we are heading in the right direction.

Experiment with software development in middle school.

Our work with Jewish Interactive has already begun! It will continue into next year and culminate in our production of a new Purim game to be sold commercially next spring. We have blogged about it extensively. We see this is an exciting new direction which ties together so much of what excites us about education – student ownership of learning, Jewish and General Studies integration, differentiated instruction, gaming theory, etc.

Complete curriculum revision to be published for parents and teachers.

This was simply too big job for one year. Further visioning for the Academy and MJGDS will be necessary before revising curriculums and publishing them for each school. I am hopeful we can tackle this in 2014-2015.

Provide continuing education opportunities for all teachers.

I think we have been very successful in encouraging a culture of teachers who see themselves as lifelong learners. Beyond curriculum-specific training, our faculty ning is a hub for professional development and, of course, we have edJEWcon. We are blessed at MJGDS to be able to provide coaching and mentoring for our teachers and staff. A school is only as good as its teachers. And we believe that our teachers are only as good as their professional development opportunities.

Correct any recommendations from most recent accreditation.

We went through our five-year FCIS reaccreditation last year. I shared the results in a blog post and indicated what the committee’s recommendations were based on their assessment. We have successfully corrected and implemented those recommendations.

Create internal assessments for Jewish Studies courses.

There are no standardized tests available for Jewish Studies as there are for General Studies…our goal is to try to create an external (non-curriculur based) assessment we can use to measure ourselves – particular in Hebrew fluency. This has not yet been accomplished and I hope it is something we can work on next year.

Develop a Parent Ambassador program which can serve as a way of disseminating information, mentoring new parents, guiding tours, etc.

Thanks to Talie Zaifert, our Admissions and Marketing Director, and Claudia Margolis, the Chair of our Marketing Committee, we did begin this project – focusing on social media. We have invited parents to become “ambassadors” and provided training on how to best serve as such. This has spilled over to the DuBow Preschool and we hope can filter up and down the entire Academy. It has had measurable impact in our social media exposure and has given our tours a positive added dimension.

I will be sharing the unedited version of my self-evaluation as well as the unedited version of their evaluation of me on our faculty ning. Hopefully it will spark further opportunities for conversation and growth.

If you are coming to edJEWcon, we can’t wait to greet you! And if you are not, we hope you find a way through Twitter (#edJEWcon) or the website to participate virtually!

Dugma Ivrit

There is a Hebrew expression often used in Jewish educational settings known as a dugma ishit – a personal example. We remind ourselves as leaders and our students (or campers or youth group members) of what it means to be a role model and an example to others. I take this concept seriously, not only for my teachers and students, but for me. As a Jewish educational leader, I should strive to be a dugma ishit. However, as I was reminded by my Jewish Studies Faculty last week, in a school like ours that prides itself on Hebrew language immersion, what that really means is that I must become a dugma ivrit.

My oldest daughter is now in Grade Two. Having attended preschools where she always had at least one Israeli teacher and being in a day school that utilizes the Tal AM curriculum, she has developed an authentic (and very cute) Israeli accent. She, like her classmates, have been listening to Hebrew for as long as they can remember and although they (naturally) vary in their abilities, they are comfortable speaking Hebrew.

Let me define “comfortable”.

The biggest difference between adult learners and child learners is self-consciousness. As an adult, I am very conscious when I make mistakes and, as an adult, I am uncomfortable making them. As a child, I am often less conscious when I make mistakes, but more importantly, as a child, I am comfortable making them – because that’s what learning is.

You can learn Hebrew as an adult. I did. I was in my 20’s attending ulpan as a prerequisite to begin graduate school before I spoke my first Hebrew sentence. I was a pretty good student and so I learned. But as I good as I ever got in the heart of my studies, I could never escape the heart palpitations when called upon to speak. What if I didn’t know the correct word? What if I mixed up my verb tenses or used the wrong grammatical construct? And so even though I have lots of Hebrew in my head and would be considered “fluent” by some, I still have to manually shift my brain and screw up my courage to speak. For example, Jewish Studies faculty meetings are typically conducted in Hebrew. And I am perfectly capable of participating. But when it is my turn to speak, I may get a few Hebrew sentences out, but will almost automatically switch to English.

Here’s the irony. (Or, perhaps, hypocrisy.)

I have been on a mission since arriving at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School to up the intensity of our Hebrew immersion. I am the first one to call out Jewish Studies teachers if I hear any English spoken in the hallways, let alone the classroom. As an educator, I know that any hope at true second-language acquisition and authentic fluency is dependent on our ability to provide as pure an immersive environment as possible. And yet when Dr. Mitzmacher comes to teach prayer – I mean Tefillah – to First Grade – I mean Kitah Alef – he speaks to the children in English, while praying with them in Hebrew.

Some dugma ishit that guy is!

So after almost three years of hearing me preach Hebrew immersion (in English!), I finally got called out by our Jewish Studies Coordinator. Why don’t I speak to the kids in Hebrew when I am teaching Jewish Studies? If we want to truly be more of a bilingual school why don’t I make school announcements in Hebrew or speak Hebrew during school assemblies and other events?

Why don’t I?

Because it scares me.

What if I forget the words? What if I say it incorrectly? What if I get nervous and go blank? What will people think?

And for me it is about more than Hebrew. Because if a school prides itself on transparency and praises spirited failure, then it requires that leaders lead.

So even though it terrifies me I have set some new professional goals for next year. I am going to try to speak only in Hebrew when I am teaching Jewish Studies. I am going to try to include spoken Hebrew in major school events, like graduation. I am going to try to speak Hebrew during Jewish Studies faculty meetings. I am going to try to speak Hebrew with my daughters, even though my older one’s vocabulary will soon outsize mine. I am going to try and I am likely to fail. But I will keep trying.

Because that’s what it means to be a dugma ivrit.

The Impact of a Teen Israel Experience

This Sunday is Community University!

Community University is an annual day of learning for the Jewish Community of Jacksonville, cosponsored by the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville and the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and in conjunction with local synagogues and agencies. Once created as a day of parallel learning for MJGDS parents, Community University (known until recently as “Family University” now serves as day of learning for the entire Jewish community, with programs for all ages and stages. [Online registration for Community University is now closed, but you are still welcome and encouraged to join us! Same-day registration is permitted.] The theme this year is “iNDEPENDENCE, iDEAS, and iNNOVATION: Israel on the Cutting Edge”. All our programming: Preschool, Elementary, Middle and High School AND Adult Learning will have Israel at the center as we celebrate Israel’s 65th birthday.

In addition to having responsibility for planning the youth education component, I have found an opportunity each year to teach adults. This year, I am offering the following:

The Impact of a Teen Israel Experience

With so many Jewish teens traveling to Israel, what happens when they return? Are there lasting impacts? This session will provide data and conversation for those who are considering sending their teens to Israel, parents who have teens who have spent time in Israel, and anyone who is passionate about Israel education. What can our local Jacksonville Jewish Community do to support teens who return from Israel experiences? Let’s discuss!

This topic is personal to me and that’s why I wanted to spend a few minutes reflecting on. Because like a lot of Jews of my generation, a teen Israel experience (along with camp) was a crucial step on my Jewish journey. It also was my very first job in Jewish education.

I first went to Israel in 1988 as part of our local Federation’s teen tour. It was an extraordinary experience and I met friends that summer that I am still close with today. I returned to Israel in 1992 as part of a NFTY in Israel summer experience. I unfortunately decided to pose in the awkward position you find me in the lower, righthand corner of this picture. Yes, my hair is shoulder-length. And yes, sadly, I am wear socks with sandals.

My very first job in Jewish education was working for the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angles (BJE-LA) running teen programs, paramount of which was the LA Summer-in-Israel Ulpan. I cannot provide a link to the program because, unfortunately, it no longer exists, but for many years it was a signature summer-in-Israel program combining the regular touring experiences of other trips with an actual Hebrew ulpan for which students received high school and college credit. I spent the summers of 1997 and 1998 leading this trip and having an opportunity to provide teens with the experiences I had been blessed to have as a teen myself.

The power of the teen Isreal experience is real. Here’s excellent proof (Spoiler Alert: I will be showing this trigger video at Community University):

A 2011 study conducted by Ramie Arian and sponsored by the iCenter indicated the following:

Roughly 11,000 teens traveled to Israel in 2010 – almost the same number that participated in peer-trips to Israel in the late 1990s. One difference, however, is that over 130 agencies took teens to Israel in 2010.
The majority of teens traveled with youth organizations, middle schools, high schools, community trips and camps.
The mifgash is becoming a normative part of the teen Israel travel experience, with a few select groups extending it to the full length of their programs.

Based on two iCenter convenings of 30 teen Israel trip stakeholders, the following was underscored:

An experience in Israel must be seen as an essential component of Jewish Education. Ideally, students participate in multiple Israel Experiences over time.
The Israel Experience is most impactful as part of a Jewish Educational continuum (pre- and post-trip programming).
Teen years are critical from a developmental perspective to help form identity and relationships.

So what happens when teens return?

This is what I plan to discuss at Community University! But if you aren’t able to attend (or would rather attend someone else’s session!), I welcome your feedback in the comments.

This is NOT a hypothetical question! My Master’s Thesis for my MBA at the University of Judaism was a strategic plan for the creation of a program we created at the BJE called “IsraelPlus” – a program that continued the experience back home, found a place to channel the positive energy and excitement teens typically return home with, kept the Israel education and advocacy alive, and bridged the gap between the teen Israel experience and university. Of course, the lack of hyperlink indicates that that program, too, no longer exists, but it was a worthwhile attempt and it did morph into other important programs that still survive.

So I really mean it…what should our Jewish community do for teens returning from peak Israel experiences to ensure that enthusiasm for Israel doesn’t fade when summer does?

C-U@C-U!

Getting Ready for edJEWcon 5773.1

Who was the smart guy who didn’t build a travel day into this year’s Passover Break?

This guy!

It has been quite a short week recovering from Passover and preparing for a tremendous amount of important events and programs to bring us from now through the end of another terrific year at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School. We are engaged in annual parent and faculty surveys. We are finalizing financial aid decisions. We have many important and exciting Jewish holidays to celebrate and experience. Our Middle School is off next week to Washington, D.C. We will have standardized testing to analyze and disseminate. We will have a graduation. We have our annual L’Dor V’Dor spring event (save the date coming soon!). We have a faculty to hire and new students to enroll. We have a gaming project to embark upon and we are just opening up our K-2 digital portfolios to sit alongside our existing 3-8 blogfolios.

Needless to say, there is plenty to do!

And smack dab in the middle of it all comes edJEWcon 5773.1!

Thanks again to the generosity of the AVI CHAI Foundation and the support of the Schechter Day School Network we will again welcome over 100 participants representing schools, agencies, foundations and universities from all over North American and Israel who are coming to Jacksonville, Florida to learn, reflect, share and co-create the future of Jewish day school education. Want to get excited? Check this out.

Want to get excited if you are not a Jewish educator, but care about education?

Even with the difficulty in scheduling between Jewish holidays, we are thrilled to not only have great turnout, but we have changed the conference from last year to this in a few important ways:

Requests for presentation were offered and we received back more than enough high-quality proposals to allow edJEWcon to be a conference by the field for the field.
We have built in reflection and collaboration to ensure the conference is simply the beginning of an ongoing conversation about teaching and learning.
We closed school on the Monday so that our faculty can more fully participate and benefit from the conference.
We have expanded our outreach to ensure that Chris Lehmann’s Keynote: “Building School 2.0 Creating the Schools We Need” is well attended by our local school community as well our larger Jewish and educational community here in Jacksonville.
Working with DSLTI, we will have a post-edJEWcon experience focused on leading cultural change in a 21st century learning organization facilitated by Jonathan Cannon.

So much gratitude and thanks goes to our 21st Century Learning Team who does the bulk of the conference preparation. Thanks to all the students, teachers, parents and stakeholders at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School whose hard work allows us to host an edJEWcon. Extra thanks to those MJGDS teachers who are presenting this year! Much thanks to Karin Hallett and Silvia Tolisano for innumerable hours of work. Extra special thanks to Andrea Hernandez who steers the ship and who will very deservingly be giving the opening keynote.

We have a lot of work to do over the next three weeks to ensure edJEWcon’s success. But it is inspiring to know that the future of Jewish education is happening now…and it is happening here.

Stay tuned!

A Pre-Passover Prezi Premiere – Jews in Film!

In my role as head of Galinsky Academy, I had an opportunity to teach an evening of our MAKOM Hebrew High a few weeks back. I was given free range on topic and format and so I decided to use my 90 minutes to learn a new skill to teach about a personal passion.

The new skill was to learn how to use Prezi. As it says on their home page,

Prezi is a presentation tool that helps you organize and share your ideas.

It is somewhat like PowerPoint, but has added features and components. I’ve watched other teachers use it, but never learned how. So subbing for MAKOM gave me a great opportunity to try to figure it out. I have a lot more to learn, but I LOVED it!

My personal passion? Movies. I love movies. And although I haven’t had as much occasion to watch them like I did before having children, I do love them so. I have an eclectic taste and a particular sense of humor…which you will see below.

So, I took my passion for film and my experiment with Prezi and created a Prezi entitled “Jews in Film” – a totally biased survey of great Jewish films from 1927 to 2007. It is completely arbitrary based on my own tastes. Almost all the clips are PG and below…and the ones that are not have been edited. It should be safe watching for high school and up.

Most of the embedded videos are from YouTube and, therefore, don’t always play as intended. I watched it last this afternoon, so hopefully all the links are still intact.

Every now and again I think it is healthy to be a little more revealing and a little less pedantic. I have plenty of opportunity to share deep thoughts about important issues of the day…sometimes I just want to play! Especially on the Friday before Passover Break!

See you at the movies!

Setting Limits: Jewish Approaches to Parental Discipline

As far back as the time of the Mishnah, we have been faced with the challenge of setting limits for our teens and children. Archeologists have unearthed clay tablets, dating back more than six thousand years, that describe how the adults of the ancient Babylonian community were completely confounded by the behavior of their children.

Clearly, this is an old and familiar problem!

Great teachers remind us that our children’s behavior often may reflect more about us than about them. Children raised in a household permeated with tension, manipulation, dishonesty, distrust, or depression may act high-strung, deceitful, morose, uncaring, rebellious, unsure, listless, inattentive, or angry. A classic rabbinic parable tells of a man who opened a perfumery in a marketplace frequented by prostitutes and unsavory businesspeople. One day, the man caught his son in the company of prostitutes and in the midst of a deceitful business deal. Incensed, he began to shout insults and threats at his son. Finally, one of the merchants retaliated by asking the man what he expected his son to do and who he expected his son to become when he placed these influences in his environment.

Do you deal with conflict by exploding, pouting, surrendering, bullying or ignoring? Well, if you do, chances are that your children will study your responses acutely and imitate them consciously or unconsciously. As Saadia ben Joseph, the tenth-century gaon of the academy in Sura, Babylonia, observed: “Little children do not learn to lie until they are taught to do so.” Similarly, it is often the case that little children do not rant and rave, yell and scream, hit and pound, ignore and flee, or bully and bluster unless significant people in their lives do the same.

The Hebrew word for parents is horim, which comes from the Hebrew word hora’ah or instruction. We are the ones who gently guide our children to proper behavior by demonstrating it for them consistently and persistently. We are the ones who teach our children about appropriate responses to disappointment, threats, challenges, and provocation as much by our actions as by our instruction.

The Jewish approach to discipline advises us never to shame a child or attack his or her character. We are challenged to teach our children that particular behaviors, words, and attitudes are inappropriate, immoral, unjust, or unacceptable while at the same time showing them love, patience, and sensitivity. Guidance and instruction are best achieved in a relationship. If we hold them, hug them, and honor them as human beings in the eternal process of becoming, we manifest the divine, supernal qualities of compassion and wisdom that sustain Creation even when flawed. We become our children’s models and mentors and by our example and influence, contribute to the world’s blessings and our children’s health and wholeness.