October 2011 Blog Posts (22)

How do we support Jewish education and technology. All schools are strapped for cash. The day schools must compete with the private and public schools to provide the best secular education. This means they need to have the latest and greatest in terms of technology.  On the other side, there are the complementary schools who are equally strapped for cash, and need to provide a meaningful Jewish education in a…

Over the past few weeks, I received a number of links to the following NY Times article which presents the model of the Waldorf school system that prides itself on not including technology in schools. Ironically, the author claims, technology professionals who fill the offices of Silicone Valley choose to send their children there. Proponents of this…

This past Saturday at the tail end one of the earliest snow storms on the east coast, my husband, daughter and I proceeded to walk 3.2 miles to a Bat Mitzvah of one of her new friends. I did ask my daughter if she would prefer to go in a car after Shabbat, but she replied she…

#jedchat is coming - and you are it! The first #jedchat synchronous twitter chat for Jewish educators will be held Wednesday, October 26 at 9pmET.



What is…

I recently came across this article and thought I would share it.  

www.fastcompany.com/magazine/159/indian-engineers-education

It makes some interesting points about the importance of teaching students to be creative and to problem solve, but I think it fails to stress that they also need high levels of knowledge to do it effectively. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html?ref=todayspaper

This is definitely worth the read.  It is interesting and is food for thought.

    A few years ago I attended a conference by NYSCATE.  The section of the conference that I found interesting was the how gaming industry has come up with the perfect built in scaffolding for children to succeed in winning a game.  With this theory the children could not move to the next level until showing a level of mastery. I kept this theory in mind trying to use the simulations and games for the students to scaffold and master concepts as math facts and grammar.  We are now using…

For the EdTech course I am taking, I found a Judaic Studies lesson plan on the Lookstein website. The lesson I chose was a Chanukah Mystery Webquest for grades 3-5. I found it to be a very good lesson and was inspired to find out more and learn about WebQuests.  Once I learn more about them, to try and create my own lessons. I found a website that includes a tutorial on how to create a WebQuest, a rubric of what should be included in a good Web Quest,  and other WebQuest resources (among…

I just read a chapter (Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use Chapter 3) about critical thinking and it struck me that any good sugyu should have the critical thinking built in.

Allow me…

The NY Times front page has a report about

Inflating the Software Report Card

By TRIP GABRIEL and…

As most of you probably know, Steve Jobs passed away yesterday at the young age of 56 from pancreatic cancer.

Steve was a visionary and not only revolutionized technology and computers, but as the mark of all good leaders, inspired others. No longer did you own a Mac or a…

Across my desk today came two relevant commentaries on instructional technology that couldn’t have been more different.  A passionate article in Independent School Management's  e-newsletter Monthly Update for Heads enticingly titled “How Do We Operate Five Years into the Future,” could only make one yearn to see played out in one’s own classrooms its promise of intense student engagement coupled with student freedom and joyful collaboration.  So it was with eager anticipation that I watched…

I have found web quests to be a great learning tool for all of the students in my class.  It allow the students to work at their own pace, at times depending on the project work in groups allowing the students to work on the part of the project that allows them to show genuine understanding of the topic being covered.  Since this is a web based project it also allows the students to hone their research skills that are out there today.  I found this great site called…