What Presents Are You Giving?

Last night Jews around the world celebrated the first night of Chanukah. Chanukah celebrates our religious freedom and I have always found it to be a holiday that spoke to me as a Rabbi and educator. I try to find an appropriate Chanukah message to share with people each year. . This year I came across the words of Lord Rabbi Sacks.

The message is one that we as parents and educators need to take to heart.

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Wishing  you all a Happy Chanukah and in the words of lord Rabbi Sacks, “The best present we can give our children is the chance to do something great.”

I hope Rabbi Sacks words speak to us as much as they spoke to me

Editors note: Because of the important message I will be posting this on a number of my blogs 

Here is a link to the complete article: http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ReadArtical.aspx?id=1424

“The best present we can give our children is the chance to do something great.

Children grow to fill the space we create for them, and if it's big, they grow tall. But if we turn them into mini consumers, we rob them of the chance of greatness, and I've not yet met a child not capable of greatness if given the opportunity and encouragement.

I do a lot of public speaking, and people sometimes ask me who taught me. The answer is simple. I went to a Christian school with a lot of Jewish pupils but no Jewish teachers. So we had to run the Jewish assembly ourselves, and that's how I learned as a teenager how to speak in public, because somebody gave me the chance. It was best piece of education I ever had.

Judaism is a child-centred religion. My earliest memories are of putting the bells on the Torah scroll in the synagogue, asking the Passover questions, lighting the chanukah candles. Judaism stayed young because it made heroes of the young. The best present we can give our children is the chance to do something great. It's a gift that will last a lifetime and transform their lives.” 

First Graders Skype

In my previous post I spoke about the educational benefits of skyping. Yesterday our first graders skyped with a Day School in Jacksonville Florida. They also do the Tal Am program and they shared songs and stories.

Thank you to Morah Katz and the teachers in Jacksonville for making this all possible.

Enjoy the videos!!

Why Should You Skype

picture: geeky-gadgets.com

Over the last two years since I have been active on Twitter I have skyped a number of times with different schools and different educators. I have also encouraged my teachers to skype with different schools. Many of our teachers have skyped with other schools and have established e-pals and skype buddies.

I have become known in school as somewhat of the Skype expert and classes that want to skype come to me. The truth is skyping is really very easy all it requires is a web cam and a skype account.

Some one asked me why do I skype so much. I don’t really but the question got me thinking as to what are some of the educational benefits to skyping.

Here is my quick ( short list) Please comment and add your own ideas.

1. Makes learning real
2. Allows students to connect with experts
3.Lets students become experts and teach others
4. Allows students to collaborate and communicate with others
5. Allows for students to be engaged in the learning and become active learners

6. Expands the walls of the classrooms and allows students to learn with peers all over the world
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This week our first graders will be skyping with a another Jewish day school about Chanukah. The teacher has been preparing them for the experience. She came to tell me that when ever she mentions it her students get all excited and can’t wait. One of the students said to her ” They learn the same things that we are learning”.

Last week my fifth grade class had the opportunity to skype with @michellek107 class in Denver. The first question I was asked afterwards was when can we do that again.

That in a a nutshell is why I skype and would encourage other to skype provided that it offers a learning opportunity for all.

A Thanksgiving Message

I posted a while ago before Rosh Hashanah about the importance of saying Thank You.
In that post I was referring to the the teachers and all that they do and I as an administrator need to be better at saying thank you, and showing my appreciation.

Last night I saw this you tube video of how educating our children is a sacred trust that both teachers and parents have, and that "We've got to be that light"
Therefore I want to thank you the parents for all that you do and for entrusting us the teachers with your children.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you enjoy and are inspired by this video

Bat Ami Sukkot program

Today our Bnot Sherut put together a Pre Sukkot program for grades 1-6.
They had three different stations. At one station students made Sukkah decorations, while at the second station there was a Tishrei quiz as well as some puzzles about sukkot that challenged our students.
Perhaps the most interesting station was the water balloon toss. Many of you might be asking what does this have to do with Sukkot. We are told that on Sukkot the world is judged on the amount of water and rain we will receive. As each student tossed the water balloon the one who caught it had to say how we use and why water is so important. Not only did they learn the importance of water in our lives and had fun doing it.

Please enjoy the brief slideshow taken from today's activity


Kol Hakaovd to Michal and Yehudit for putting together today's program

Chag sameach

Kindergarten Buddies- Yonah Story Books

YONAH STORY BOOKS

Today the fifth graders together with their Kindergarten buddies created their own version of the story of Yonah using Story Jumper.

Click on the link below for the links to the stories

Gmar Tov

Akevy

https://sites.google.com/a/mhafyos.org/rabbi-greenblatt-s-class/student-page

Saying Thank You

picture: southbayschool.org

Below is my Rosh Hashanah ( New Year's ) Message that I sent out to my faculty.

I just wanted to take a moment and say Thank You!

Thank you for your support
Thank you for your help
Thank you for your understanding and patience
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication

The list can go on but I think you get the idea.

This often is a thankless job and I at times are just as guilty as the next person in not showing my appreciation and HaKarat Hatov (recognizing the good) in all that you do.

In the spirit of being open and transparent, I would like to share with you some of my SMART goals for the coming year some personal and some professional.

I hope to be a better friend and keep connected to friends in other communities

I want to set aside at least 30 min to an hour day for my own learning ( small and manageable)

I want to listen better to your ideas

I want to say thank you to each and every one of you at least once a week

I want to spend more quality time with my family

May we be Zocheh ( merit) a year of health and happiness and may this be a year of prosperity and peace

Wishing you all a Ketiva V'Chatima Tova
Akevy

Chaggigat Ariot

Thank you to Morah Katz!!

Kol Hakavod Kitah Alef

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosh Hashanah Program

Thank you to Michal and Yehudit for organizing and running the program

Kol Hakavod

Wishing you a Ketiva V'Chatima Tova

Enjoy

A NEW YEAR BRINGS NEW CHALLENGES

This Motzei Shabbat we begin saying Selichot and the season of the Yomim Noraim (High Holiday Season)begins. I believe there are a number of similarities between this special time of year and the beginning of a school year.
There is nothing like the start of the school year when one can feel the excitement in the air. Students and teachers alike are intently anticipating this new beginning, the building is clean and looks bright and shining with fresh paint and new wall displays and everyone is anxious to learn.
In those first couple of days our students are engaged and teachers are utilizing new tools and techniques that they learned at in-service sessions or through their own explorations over the summer. I am no different - for the first day of school I create an Xtranormal video and a wallwisher for my class.
However that leads to the following question and challenge. How do we take this excitement on both the part of the teachers and the students and bottle it so that the same enthusiasm and engagement that we have on day 1 carries over to day 71 and then on to day 171?

The same is true in our connection to Hashem (G-D). This time of year, a time of Teshuvah ( repentance) and renewal, there is a certain excitement in the air. People are preparing for Rosh Hashnah, the shuls looks clean and new as they switch over to the white Parochet, and people are reflecting on the past year and making resolutions for the New Year.
Again, I pose the same question. In a very few months from now, are we going to fill the same way about our commitment to Hashem?

I learned something from Rabbi Pessach Krohn and a heard a similar idea from Rabbi Feigenbaum. The secret is to make our resolution to change something small and manageable. In business and leadership parlance they talk about SMART goals:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Rabbi Krohn tells the story that in 1991, during the first Gulf War, people in Israel were told by the leading rabbis that one thing Jews throughout the word should do is to take on a new mitzvah or extra learning, etc. They asked one of the leading Roshei Yeshiva at the time what additional mitzvah he was going to assume and he responded that when he is at home, and only at home, when he says Birkat Hamazon he will say it from a Siddur so that he will have more Kavanah (concentration/intent).

Perhaps the answer is to pick two to three SMART goals in both our academic and religious lives that we can focus on during the year. It is important that they meet the SMART criteria and in that way we can hopefully keep the enthusiasm engendered by the start of a school year and by the “ Yomim Noraim season” all year long.

Wishing you a Ketiva V’chatima Tovah.

How Do I Feel When I Hear The Shofar by Kitah Gimmel

Thank you to Morah Daphna for putting this slideshow together.
Kol Hakavod!

Deep Roots a Key for the Future

I have blogged a lot lately about technology, 21st Century skills and Religion. How does it all fit together. How do we find that necessary balance. For those of you that have read my posts you know that someone who I respect and admire is Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Rabbi Sacks is one who on has achieved this balance between the modern world and religion.
Here are excerpts of a "Though of the Day" from June 2000 called "Dancing with the Past":
"Religious Jews are among the most enthusiastic users of the Internet for educational purposes; and in Israel, a country of only five million, Jews have created the largest high-tech industry outside the United States.
And yet, when it comes to the Torah, we still write the exactly as our ancestors have done by hand on parchment using a quill.
There is a view I hear often in the media almost every day....forget virtues like honour, fidelity,civility;above all,forget religion.They're old...For heaven sake aren't we living in the 21st Century.

It's a view that couldn't be more wrong. It is when the winds blow hardest that you need the deepest roots. When you are entering uncharted territory. it's when you need a compass to give you a sense of direction. What gives us the strength to cope with change are things that don't change....

I knew beyond a flicker of a doubt that those who carry with them the heritage of the past are those who can face the future without fear."

It is clear that as we move forward and face our changing society head on we can only do so if we take our heritage and religion with us.

Three Partners in an Effective School Environment

This is a post that I wrote last year as part of an initiative to create a better Home-School Partnership.
I thought it was appropriate to post on my Judaic Studies blog tonight as we come together for Parent Orientation. After all it is through events like tonight and others through out the year that we build this important partnership between home and school.

In “Ethics of Our Fathers” it states that there are 3 partners in creating man; Father, Mother and G-D. I tell my Teachers there needs to be three partners in a child’s educations; School (Admin + Teachers), Parents, and Students. If I would draw a diagram it would look like this:



All of the circles need to overlap and be on the same page if you will for this partnership to be effective.

How do we achieve this?

The first key is that all parties need to be able to listen and hear the concerns of one another. Listening isn’t enough. We need to listen and really understand where the other person is coming from and take their concerns seriously.

In real estate they say “Location Location Location”. In Parent school relations they say “Communication, communication, communication. I believe with open lines and true two way communication many problems could be averted if we are proactive and just communicate. We need to communicate in a way the fits the needs of each individual. For some email may be great, while others may prefer a phone call, and some may need a face to face meeting. I do think teachers should communicate with their students as well and the students need to have a clear understanding of the teacher’s expectations.

Finally I believe there needs to be involvement. Students need to be involved in their own learning and teachers need to involve and get input from parents.

Bottom line we all want what is best for our Children/ Students and if we work with that goal and keep these few keys in mind I think we can have an effective partnership and an effective school and learning environment for our children.

This post was originally written for the “Creating A Home-School Partnership Wallwisher initiative by @Thanks2Teachers

Looking Back To Look Forward

This year we are focusing on 21st Century Learning. For many myself included while this is exciting it can also be scary. What does it mean is it something new? Do I need to change the way I have taught for x years. To be honest some of the answers are Yes, but 21st Century learning is not new. The terms may be somewhat new the focus maybe new the ideas aren’t. As Rabbi Perl showed during in-service there are many examples of critical thinking and questioning found in the Talmud, which are key skills that we talk about when we talk about 21st Century learning. I also read today the following in Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s book, “To Heal a Fractured World”. Rabbi Sacks shares the following facts about Janusz Korczak who was Polish physician in the early 1900’s. :
“Early in his career, he was drawn to the plight of underprivileged children. He had revolutionary ideas about the young. He believed in trusting them and giving them responsibilities. He got them to produce their own newspaper, the first children’s newspaper in Poland. He turned schools into self governing communities…..
He used to say Children have the right to be taken seriously…”

Some very 21st Century ideas.

Yes today because of technology and our global economy and this new world we live in there is more of a focus on what we call 21st Century learning and it needs to be the norm rather than the exception but it is not something new.
It also not a term or tools we use but rather a mindset of learning that is predicated on what Carol Dweck calls a “Growth Mindset”. A mindset that pushes our children to question and take risks and where when we take those risks we tell our students it is ok to try and fail as long as that failure leads to success. It is also about the skills of critical thinking, questioning, investigating, collaborating, and being creative.

Therefore perhaps as we look forward we to take a moment a look back and understand that while the terms and methods may be new but the mindset and skills have been around do a long time.


Looking forward to year of risk taking and growth!

Rabbi Greenblatt

Taking Risks

A lot of what we are doing this summer focuses on 21st Century skills. At the core of this new endeavour is the ability to take risks. In that spirit I share this post with you.

One of my issues has been what to write for this blog post. I am a big believer that as an educational leader my role is not to just give you updates and a status report but to share with you some real substance about education. If I would share with you those ideas I wasn't sure if this school blog was the proper place to share with you my personal ideas on education, which may be a bit radical. The end result was exactly what I wrote about previously is that I chose to do nothing and did not keep up with this blog.

In the spirit of learning and risk taking I want to share with you two other blogs that I have, where I express more of my personal philosophie about education, leadership and life. I would also encourage you to follow me on twitter @akevy613. Perhaps if there is enough of an interest we could have a MHAFYOS twitter account.

I will still update this blog about events going on in school but encourage you to subscribe to the other blogs so that we can learn together.

My hope is that together we can learn and grow.

Please join me on my journey of learning at agreenblatt.blogspot.com ( Principal's Post) and akevygreenblatt.edublog.org ( Beyond the Classroom Walls)

Enjoy the rest of the summer
Akevy

Questions: A Foundation for Education and Faith

Below are quotes from an article written by Lord Rabbi Johnathan Sacks Chief Rabbi of the British Common Wealth about the importance of questions and how asking questions is really something that builds faith.
http://chiefrabbi.org/UploadedFiles/Articals/mattot5771.pdfhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Isidore Rabi, winner of a Nobel Prize for physics, was once asked why he became a scientist. He replied:
"My mother made me a scientist without ever knowing it. Every other child would come back from
school and be asked, 'What did you learn today?' But my mother used to say, 'Izzy, did you ask a good
question today?' That made the difference. Asking good questions made me into a scientist."


As Wilson Mizner once put it: "I respect faith. But doubt is what gets you an education." To me, this is a caricature of faith, not faith itself. What is the asking of a question if not itself a profound expression of
faith in the intelligibility of the universe and the meaningfulness of human life? To ask is to believe that
somewhere there is an answer. The fact that throughout history people have devoted their lives to extending the frontiers of knowledge is a moving demonstration of the restlessness of the human spirit
and its constant desire to transcend, to climb. Far from faith excluding questions, questions testify to faith- that the world is not random, the universe is not impervious to our understanding, life is not chance. Critical intelligence is the gift G-d gave humanity. To use it in the cause of human dignity and insight is one of the great ways of serving G-d. When faith suppresses questions, it dies.
When it accepts superficial answers, it withers. Faith is not opposed to doubt. What it is opposed to is the shallow certainty that what we understand is all there is.

What struck me was the connection between education and faith. That we know how important it is for students to ask questions and that the skill of asking questions and being inquisitive is often more important than the answer. However we tend to at times in religious classes shy away or be afraid of certain questions. I think what Rabbi Saks is telling us that as in education we need to encourage our students to ask questions and that it is OK to have doubts.
My other takeaway from the article as an educator was the last line: “What it is opposed to is the shallow certainty that what we understand is all there is.” As educators we need to understand we don't always know the answer but that it is OK, because after all it is all about the learning and learning doesn’t only have to be from teach to student but it can be and perhaps should be the Teacher together with the students learning

Finally in my previous post I spoke about the balance between 21st Century learning and how it fits in a Judaic classroom. Here is another entry point that perhaps in the past certain teacher may have be prone to shy away from ,and that is incorporating more inquiry based or problem based learning but as Rabbi Saks shows us asking those questions actually straightens our faith and asking questions and inquiring is something we should embrace and encourage and not shy away from.

Finding a Balance

In June, during our Administrators Retreat, we spent a lot of time talking about 21st Century Learning. The bottom line is that today students are exposed to a lot more information and technological advances and the skills that are currently needed are not the same as in the past. If you don’t believe me I suggest reading “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink. Today our students need to be creative (not necessarily artistic), need to collaborate, and need to be able to problem solve. Learning needs to be more inquiry based and more student driven than teacher driven.

The question is how does this fit into a Judaic Studies classroom where the focus has always been on very basic skills of reading and translating. How can students get more involved if they are missing basic skills? Therefore, we need to strike a balance and to be honest, I am not 100% sure what that balance entails. We have begun the process of integrating technology and updated learning strategies into our classrooms and we plan to progress further each year as newer possibilities are open to us. As we continue to incorporate these components into our Judaic studies program, we must avoid the natural reaction to rebuff change because the end result will be detrimental to our students.

How do we deal with this issue of the future vs. our sacred traditions of the past? While in New York I bought a book by Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth. The title of the book is “Jonathan Sacks from Optimism to Hope; A collection of BBC Thoughts of the Day.” In one of the essays he writes the following: “Ours is a very future-oriented religion. We’re not afraid of new technologies precisely because they allow us to fulfill, in ways undreamt by our ancestors…and to become, in that lovely Jewish phrase, ‘G-D’s partners in the work of creation’. …The biggest mistake we could possibly make in the 21st Century is to believe that by embracing the future means jettisoning the past. .. Those most at home in the wisdom of the past can best face the future without fear.”

It is clear that we can’t nor should we do away with the past nor does it mean that we can ignore the future and new technologies. My hope is that this year we find that balance and we can instill not only the wisdom of the past into our students but embrace the future as well.
Enjoy the rest of the summer
Rabbi Akevy Greenblatt

Reflection Vs. Retrospection

As we come to the end of another school year I wanted to share these thoughts with you.

As we come to the end of a school year many of the tweets and blog posts that I have seen talk about reflections and looking at our past accomplishments and looking forward as well. To be honest when I hear the word reflection the image that comes to my mind is that of looking in a mirror and seeing my own reflection. Yes there are other definitions for the word (one of them being careful thought, especially the process of reconsidering previous actions). But for me I still have that image of the mirror. Therefore at this time of year do I want to see look at see who I am now who is that person in the mirror or do I want to see how far that person has grown. Perhaps more importantly do I want to see the student that stands before me now or how much he has grown. To be honest I think we need to do both. We need to celebrate our successes and accomplishments and celebrate who we have become and the person that stands before us now, and we need to know and realize how much we have grown. Therefore another word comes to mind and that is Retrospection. That means that we think about or review past events especially from a new perspective or with new information.
We need to realize that we are not the same person that we were in September nor are our students the same and therefore as we look back we need to look back based on our new perspective , so that we can appreciate how far we have come and also understand how much more we all can grow.
So as we end the year let us look back on the past in retrospect, let us reflect and celebrate the present, and let us look forward with renewed energy towards the future.

Wishing you all a relaxing and enjoyable summer vacation
Rabbi Greenblatt

Plant A Seed and Watch it Grow

I posted this on my Principals Post blog and I wanted to share with all of you as well.
We should take pride and Nachas from our children.

Last week someone tweeted the following “Plant a seed and watch it grow”. The tweet had a link. The tweet got my interest as an elementary school principal and teacher. I assumed it was a catchy title about children so I clicked on the link. To my utter amazement it was actually a link about planting seeds.
However the idea was still stuck on my head. In reality that is what we do as elementary school teachers we plant the seeds now and we nurture them, water them and feed them so that they will grow. So times this growth can take many years. I remember when I reconnected with a former student some 15 years after I taught her in fourth grade (I am not that old) that one of the reasons she went into teaching was because of the feeling she got in my class. If we are lucky we can the see growth sooner. Over the past few weeks I have had the privilege to see amazing growth in the students in my school. From their Science Fair projects, preparing questions for skyping with another school, in class presentations, the level of their Hebrew language skills, or the major music production that the First through Fourth graders did, all of it showed how much they have grown.
This past weekend talk show host Michael Medved was a scholar-in-residence at one of the local synagogues and he said one of the problems with Television media is that “If it bleeds it leads’, meaning we focus on the negative. Sometimes in education as well we focus or only hear about how bad things are and all that is wrong. Yes there are things that we need to change but there are also many great things.

I am luck that I get to not only plant and help nurture those seeds I am also able to watch them grow.

Religion and Technology

As our world is always challenging and technology and social media have become almost second nature at times we need to stop and take stock of our lives and remember what is truly important. As Religious Jews I believe we were given a safety net and that net is Shabbos.
Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks says it much better than I can:

The soul needs its silences in the midst of the web chatter and the electronic noise.
Credo - the Times - February 2010
Here is the link to Rabbi Sack's article http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ReadArtical.aspx?id=1736

Is the internet making us stupid? Are social networking sites distorting personal relationships, encouraging us to substitute virtual encounters for real ones? Are the almost infinite distractions of the Web making us lose self-control?
So argue Nicholas Carr, Sherry Turkle and Daniel Akst in their recent books, part of a wave of scepticism that has overtaken the utopian expectations of how the Internet might change our lives. Carr argues, in The Shallows, that the internet is rewiring our neural networks, changing the shape of our minds. It maximises distractions, making it hard for us to pay attention for long, or to follow complex and subtle arguments.
In Alone Together, Turkle contends that social networking media like Facebook and Twitter are making demands on us that are not good for real relationships in real time. They make demands on us to be “on”, available, accessible, all the time. They tempt us to present “edited” editions of ourselves. There is a difference between electronic communication and genuine interpersonal care.
Meanwhile Daniel Akst claims, in We Have Met the Enemy, that the Web is one of what he calls the “weapons of mass consumption.” By making everything available to us all the time, our twenty-first century lifestyle is causing us to lose our self-control and do everything in excess.
All of this is true, up to a point. But it is also true that the Web is making information accessible at a speed and with a reach that is unprecedented, thus democratizing knowledge. Social networking helps people stay in touch in ways they simply could not do before. I have seen it bring support to people who are seriously ill and helpful advice to worried, housebound mothers of young children. And yes, we need to learn self-control, but did we not always have to do so?
The truth is we are living through a revolution whose consequences are immense, far-reaching and impossible to predict. We have just witnessed how Facebook and Twitter played a significant part in the popular uprisings in both Tunisia and Egypt. They helped get people on the street. They spread provocative images and words with extraordinary speed and power. They allowed people to defy and circumvent state control of conventional media. Within less than a month they helped bring down two governments and destabilise an entire region. The world is changing fast.
New information technology has this effect and has done so throughout history. The invention of writing, first in Mesopotamia, then in Egypt, led to the dawn of civilization. The alphabet led to the book and to the people of the Book. The invention of printing led to the Reformation, the growth of science, mass literacy and the birth of the modern. Only in retrospect do we know where it leads.
Information technology makes it easier for people to communicate, but what happens next depends on what we communicate, not just how. In and of itself, technology never solves people problems. Only people can do that.
Which is why the Jewish Sabbath is acquiring new salience. It’s the day when, for the most part, we put technology aside. We don’t watch television, answer emails, switch on our computer or use our smart-phone. In the synagogue and at home we spend real time with real people. The Sabbath builds communities, strengthens marriages, and gives parents and children undistracted time with one another. It’s also, around the dinner table or in synagogue, a time for study of our ancient texts, study that demands extended concentration on arguments and interpretations.
It is, in other words, the perfect antidote to the negative effects of the web. It is astonishing how the Sabbath has been a form of liberation in age after age, from the tyranny of slavery three thousand years ago to that of technology now.
The Sabbath teaches us about limits and the ability to say No. It tells us to take time out to focus on what really matters: the important as opposed to the urgent. It gives our most significant relationships the time and space to breathe. It keeps us human, reminding us that we are the masters of technology, not its slaves.
I thank God for the Sabbath because, reconnecting to Him I find it easier to reconnect to others without the interruptions and distractions of the latest i-miracles, wondrous though they are. The soul needs its silences in the midst of the web chatter and the electronic noise.

Chagigat Ha’Nilmad Times Two

One of the ideas promoted by the Tal Am curriculum is called a Chagigat Ha’Nilmad, a celebration of what we have learned. Rather than spending a lot of time preparing for this celebration the students put on a short 30 min program reading and signing the songs from the unit they just finished. Yesterday the third grade finished their unit on Tu B’Shvat and had such a celebration. They read, sang, and danced about the water cycle and how things grow. The program was done by the students and entirely in Hebrew. Thank you to Morah Yehudit and the Kitah Gimmel for a wonderful job.
However our story doesn’t end there. As the title suggest the third grade did the presentation a second time. This time however they did for a third grade class in Jacksonville Florida.
It was an amazing experience one that we hope to continue and have both our students and teachers collaborate and connect with them in the future.
I want to thank Morah Yehudit and Mrs. Liat Walker in Jacksonville for their time and effort in making this happen.

Here is a message I received from Mrs. Liat Walker: My students and I would like to thank you for sharing your hagiga with us. We really enjoyed it. We would like to host next time

Kol Hakavod!
Rabbi Greenblatt

Taking the Next Step

As a faculty we have been talking about what skills are needed for the 21st Century learner. Some of the skills that are often mentioned include but are not limited to; problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and design. We have also talked a lot about curriculum and what we are teaching.
At today’s faculty in-service we took the next step and took all that we have been talking about and starting working on. Rabbi Perl created a curriculum wiki so that the teachers can in detail write down what they are currently doing in each subject. We can’t talk about updating our curriculum if we don’t clearly state what we are actually teaching.
To be honest I was a bit nervous about presenting this document to the teachers however the reaction that I got was overwhelmingly positive. One teacher commented, “This is a great idea and it makes me actually think about what I teach.”
We still have a long journey a head of us but often taking the first is the hardest and today as a faculty we took the first step on a journey that will help prepare our students better for the world that they are entering into.