Pesach is a time for questions.

So, in the spirit of the season, I would like to ask you some.  I’ll start with one: How do Jewish educators learn to use 21st century educational technology in the Jewish classroom?  This will lead to a few more.  What follows is a survey with 15 questions (an auspicious number for Pesach). The goal of this short (5-8 minutes) questionnaire is to find some answers to the question of how and…

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The latest post from Yechiel Hoffman, a teacher at Milken Community High School in Los Angeles and whose blog "21st Century JewishEd" is one that we highly recommend.  This one raises provocative questions about whether Jewish education can and should serve as a counterweight to an educational culture in our society today dominated by a quest for academic…

My grandparents were holocaust survivors. When they came to America, their primary focus was becoming American.  So instead of Hebrew school, my mom was a girl scout.  And instead of speaking Yiddish to their children, they struggled through English (with crazy thick accents).  When we grandchildren came along, my grandfather (Papa) thought is was a good idea to get a little Judaism back into the family, so they sent us all to day school.  When Passover came around, although Papa would sit…

I am a Jewish Education technology and art resources teacher/facilitator for a conservative Jewish religious and Sunday school. You can find me at the school's computer and technology lab every Wed and Sun, yet like many of you, spending a lot of my own  time in preparing school work and blogging.

 For the last three years I had tried to help update our program and curriculum to a 21st level and provide teachers with new educational resources to enhance their teaching.



As you…

When you hit upon resistance -- lean in and listen.

As we engage in the compelling work of school change we will hit up against resistance. Change is hard, change is threatening, change is unwelcome – for some of us more so than others. But change can be exciting and enriching and empowering as well. How can we help ourselves and our team move from the former to the later?

In my work with groups and educators over the years I see a consistent pattern – the most vehement…

The Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning, which operates in the greater Washington, DC community, is launching an imaginative new initiative to broaden the scope of synagogue-based education by providing students in congregational programs with opportunities to learn as well at JCCs, camps, and even day schools.  You can read a story from The Forward about the initiative here.

Synagogues remain a vital…