Opening the world of Torah Learning to our Children

Part 1: Biographies wanted

Last week, one of the greatest Torah sages of the last few generations, Rav Ovadiah Yosef, died. As my husband described him, Rav Ovadia zt"l was a cross between Albert Einsten and Martin Luther King Jr, whose genius was unmatched and who elevated the lives of an entire ethnic group in Israel.

I wanted my third graders to have a taste of Rav Ovadia zt"l's greatness so that they could be inspired to work hard and  to appreciate the greatness & uniqueness of our Torah giants.

For the last two year, I have been presenting a Torah personality to my class once a week. Our gedolim unit is consistently the favorite period of the week for my students and myself. This past week, I presented them with the biography of Rav Ovadia Yosef. We watched a video of his funeral, saw pictures from his life and then I read a biography I had written for the occasion.

I could tell the biography truly resonated when one of my students, who happens to be my son, insisted that he read the biography aloud to the entire family at both Shabbos dinner and lunch.

Another student came in on Monday and asked if we were learning another biography that day. When I told him that we only discussed the biographies on Friday, he looked crestfallen. He said to me, "But Mrs. Hochheimer, I can't find any gedolim biographies written for my reading level!"  Sure enough, the books I found in the school library and in my home were either a compilation of stories that lacked historical context or were too long to hold the interest of a third grader. My student had already read the graphic novels of the life of Rashi, the Rambam, Rav Shmuel Hanagid, and he wanted more.

What my student wants is the Jewish equivalent of  the David Adler's Picture Biography series that includes major highlights in a person's life with some illustrations. There is a Jewish biography series with beautiful pictures, but these books focus on one or two stories and leave out the biographical data that illustrate why one gadol is different from the other and how he was a product of is time period.

Part Two: Halacha Books needed

My husband is teaching fifth grade and want to integrate Halacha and Ivrit. He felt his students were ready to write "teshuvos" where they respond to halachic questions proving their opinion by citing research from relevant seforim and books. For the project to work, the books and seforim need to be able to be understood by the students independently. This has not been a simple task. Books that have the appropriate content are written on an adult level, and the books written for children are superficial and lack the necessary information. Putting together source books for this creative project has proven more challenging than anticipated.

Part Three: Trade Books

Contrast the time invested in creating a halacha project with the resources available for a social studies project.

Today, my co-teacher showed me her fifth grade's projects. Groups of students are researching the Western Hemisphere to create annotated maps which they will present to the class. After being taught some background knowledge by the teacher, and being given supplies and access to two dozen trade books, they were set free to do the project on their own. The kids are enjoying owning their learning and discovering new information independently.

The reason this project is successful is because the students have access to appropriate trade books that doesn't frustrate them when they are learning. Trade Books, which are books found in the children section of a library, are very helpful in contrast to textbooks which had been the mainstay of classroom learning. As non-fiction literature has taken a more prominent place in the core curriculum, trade books have become an important part of the secular studies classroom. Unlike textbooks, trade books are written in a human voice, will explore a topic in depth and allows students to read different books about the same topic so that they can learn from multiple perspectives.The kids enjoy these books more than reading their textbook since the books are authentic literature and geared to their reading level. Students discover that they can learn on their own without a teacher as long as they can open the pages of a book.

Part Four: Problem Defined

The Jewish nation IS the people of the book. Yet, our students don't have access to enough Judaic trade books so that they can learn Torah without adult participation. Our students need books with pictures, simple sentence structure and complex information written appropriately  for their cognitive level. Each topic needs to be explored in  multiple books so that our students can learn how to research and synthesize new information into a cohesive whole.

There are some great children's books that teach Torah in an engaging and age appropriate manner. My book shelf at home is full of them, and my own kids have learned so much Torah from these books. However, there are just not enough of these books so that our students can begin to research and learn in our classrooms without adult help.

Judaic Publishing is a not a financially lucrative business. It would be impossible to expect publishers to publish books that schools, which are going broke, can't afford to buy anyway. So what can we do? How can we stock our classroom shelves so that our students who love to read can choose to learn about cities in Israel instead of about life in Ancient Greece? How can we gather research materials for our Torah projects without investing hours and hours of time?

Part Five: Solution

The question is how do we create literature written for kids on a wide variety of topics while keeping costs down?

Unfortunately, my question is better than my answer.  Ill offer my ideas, and I'd love to hear yours as well.

1. Our community has some great clearning houses for Jewish curricular material. Chinuch.org has the archives for the over 50 years of Olemeinu magazine online. The Olemeinu Magazine has some great reference articles about Judaic subjects that are age appropriate. Please let me know if there are other affordable content sources out there that I could make available to my students in my classroom.

2. On Jewish education websites, teachers generously share worksheets & project ideas. What if teachers would start to create books that other teachers could print for their classroom?  So many of us teachers love to write. We can self-publish and help each other. Let's get some books out there.

3. Who else can we get to write these books?  Well, middle school & high school teachers . . . here is the challenge. Your students are doing research projects anyway. They are using the internet, seforim, and research books to write about Torah topics for your classes.  What if, as part of their research projects, they had to write a children's book as well? You could teach them how to find images online that are not subject to copyright, and they could learn how modify their writing based on their audience. Knowing that their work is going to be used by other kids to learn will also motivate them to do their best.  Their hard work won't disappear once it has been graded and will provide a real service teaching Torah to other Jewish children.

4. Let's talk about the need to expand our classroom libraries. When we acknowledge the problem, solutions present themselves in unexpected ways.

Part Six: Conclusion

I started by describing the greatness of Rav Ovadiah Yosef and his impact on the world of Torah. He delved into the world of Torah as a child and never left.

Each of our students has unlimited potential. What a six year old learns will never leave him. Our students love to read. They love to explore. Let's make sure that if our students want to learn more, they have what they need to do so.

Biography of Rav Ovadia Yosef

Rav Ovadia Yosef was niftar this past Monday. I spoke to my class today about him as our first biography of the year. It is hard to capture the greatness of a man who was one of the biggest geonim of the generation but was also the greatest civil Rights leader of Israel who tranformed the lives of 50% of the Israeli population who faced discrimination, poverty, hopelessness and spiritual ignorance. Zechuso Yagen Aleinu.

Some videos & Links of Interest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3l-D0yuMV8 Rav Lau (who visited Rochester last year with Rav Ovadia)
4 minutes in the day of rav Ovadia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnEiRlxzjKg
CNN reports on his funeral - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCr525VBpD8
pictures from his life - http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=188831
Pictures from his Funeral - http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/191690/Photo+Essay:+Levayah+of+Maran+HaRav+Ovadia+Yosef+ZATZAL+(Photos+By+Chaim+Schvarcz+&+Yisroel+Baum+-+Kuvien+Images).html

RAV OVADIA YOSEF  (born 1920-2013 )

On the 3^rd of Cheshvan, Rav Ovadia Yosef was niftar. By that evening, over 800,000 people streamed into Yerushalayim for the largest funeral in the history of the State of Israel. 1 in 10 Israelis came to the funeral. There were sefardim, Ashkenazim, rich and poor, religious and secular and the greatest Gedolei Torah and the most unlearned Jewsl. There were so many people that the police warned that the buildings were in danger of collapsing.

What made Rav Ovadia Yosef so loved by so many people that they dropped everything to come to a funeral with only 4 hours notice? The reason they came is because of how much Rav Ovadia had meant to each one of them

Rav Ovadia Yosef was born in Baghdad on September 23, 1920. In 1924 he immigrated to Yerushalayim with his family. His family was very poor. His father was a grocer and worked hard to provide for his family, but they often went hungry.

As a teenager, Rav Ovadia studied at the Porat Yosef Yeshiva. He was in the top class taught by the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Ezra Attiya (1885-1970) a gadol from the Sephardic Jewish world.

Rav Attiya made sure that the young Ovadia would stay in yeshiva. One day, Rav Ovadia stopped coming to yeshiva. Rav Attiya went to his home to find out what happened. The Yosef family was shockingly poor.  R’ Ovadia Yosef's father said that he needed his son to help him in his store. The next morning, the father came to his store and found Rav Attiya there with an apron on. Rav Attiya volunteered to work for free as long as R’ Ovadia could return to yeshiva. “Your son's learning is more important than my time!" Rav Ovadiah Yosef was allowed to return to yeshiva.  

When he was in yeshiva, the dorm counselor noticed that his room always had light coming from the door. Even after all the other students  had gone to sleep, Rav Ovadia kept learning.

When R’ Ovadia was 17, Rav Addia asked him to teach a nightly class in a Persian shul in the Bukaharan Quarter. The people who came were local workers and did not know much Torah. At this time, Sefardim were treated very poorly and were poor and unlearned. They were used to learning a little halacha. Rav Ovadiah Yosef, who was already a Talmid Chacham, taught these people on their level so they would come close to Torah. He wrote that he would study each halacha until he understood it very well. He taught the halacha according to Rav Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch. There, he began a life long mission to “restore the glory of Jewish tradition” to try to have all the Sephardic Jews in Israel follow the halacha according to Rav Yosef Karo.

At the age of 20, he was given semicha to be a Rav.  In 1947,Rav Ovadia Yosef went to Egypt to be a Rebbe in the yeshiva and to be the head of the Beis Din and assistant Chief Rabbi of Egypt. After several years, he returned to Israel.

When Rav Ovadia first got married he was very poor. His wife had worked to put aside money to buy a closet where they could store their clothes. One day, he mentioned to his wife how he had written a sefer. She took all the money she had saved and used it to publish his seforim.

After that first sefer, Rav Ovadiah published many seforim including his important set of halacha sefarim “yabia omer” Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach wrote in the introduction to the second volume that Rav OvadiaYosef is "one of the greatest Torah scholars which have risen in Israel in recent generations.” At the time, he was only in his thirties. These sefarim have answers to many halachic questions people have asked him. It is considered very special because he included almost every source regarding a topic from very rare sources. Rav Ovadia acted like an encyclopedia for all Torah for Klal Yisrael.

When Rav Ovadia was a young man, he began to go blind, an effect of the poverty of his youth. He went to the Kever of Rav Yosef Karo (who is called Maran by Sefardim) and davened that he still had much of the Torah of Maran to teach. Baruch Hashem, his vision was saved, but for the rest of his life he wore glasses to protect his eyes.

When Rav Ovadia was in Eretz Yisroel he became a Dayan in the Yerushalayim Beis Din, then a higher level Beis Din in Yerushalayim before becoming the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Tel Aviv and finally of Israel.  As a Rav, he took responsibility to help many people who were in difficult situations. After the Yom Kippur war, many men went missing and their wives were agunos. He learned many seforim until he could find a way so that each woman could remarry.

Rav Yosef’s biggest goal was for Sephardim to come back to Torah and Mitzvos. When the Sefardim came to Israel, they were very poor and didn’t have yeshivos. He founded school systems, yeshivos and Beis Yaakovs so that all Sephardic Jews could come close to Torah. He provided hot lunches so that the children wouldn’t go hungry. He gave shiurim every night with humor and love. He was warm and friendly to all. When two boys were left as orphans, he brought them to shul and sat with them. Despite his amkus B’Torah, he related to each Jew with joy so that they would love Hashem too.As a result of his decades of work, there are now great Rabbanim and Poskim, and many families who are Shomer Torah and Mitzvos.

After being the chief Rabbi in 1983, Rav Ovadia founded a political party which had representatives in the government. He was respected and had great influence on the government of Israel. Because of his work, the oppressed Sephardim were accepted by the other Jews in Israel and were able to have good schools and get good jobs.

Rav Ovadia continued to teach Torah until the end of his life. Even though he was one of the biggest Torah scholars of our generation, he taught Torah to whomever wanted on their level. He told stories and taught Torah so that everyone would understand.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef lived Har Nof in Yerushalayim until the end of his life. He was buried next to his wife Margalit, with whom he had eleven children and numerous grand and great grandchildren.

What does my classroom Feel like?

This year, like most teachers, parents and students, I was lucky enough to have TWO first days of school. At least that was what it felt like. My first, first day was Thursday before Rosh Hashana. We had a total of eight school days interspersed over the course of 3 weeks with frequent breaks for secular holidays, Jewish holidays, and erev holidays.

This Monday was my second, first day. Come Friday (if I make it Please G-d), I will have taught my first full week of classes this year. So, although school began over a month ago, I figure I can write about some things that teachers think about during the first few weeks of school.

This year, I hope to write about how to improve learning in the classroom. But, before we can even begin to discuss the nuts and bolts of pedagogy, Ed-Tech, or PBL, we teachers need to figure out what our classroom culture is going to be like.  Planning how our classroom feels emotionally is just as important as planning lessons and learning content. 

Here are a few principles that have worked for me and are easily transferable to all grades.

1. Develop a relationship – Teaching a child is not the same as programming a computer. The child has this funny thing called "free will." No matter how well a teacher teaches, the student needs to want to learn. One of the biggest motivators for a student is their relationship with a teacher. 

How does a teacher purposely develop a relationship with students? Rabbi Noach Orlowek says, "If it is important to you, it is important to me” When I care about my students' interests and lives because they are interested in them, I create a bond. 

If they like baseball, I better know who won the game last night. My students know I don't care about baseball. But they know that I know that they care about baseball. If they are absent, sad or distracted, I let them know I notice and care. 

Goal for the year: Try to make a connection with at least 2 students a day about something that is important to them. 

2. Each student is his own world - Students want to know that a teacher sees them as individuals. Our students are in big classes and come from big families. They want to know that someone gets who they are as a person, not as a member of a group. During the first few days, I try to do ice breakers and have the students tell me about themselves. As I learn more about them, I direct comments to them in and out of class to let them know that I know them for who they are as important individuals in their own right. 

Some teachers ask students to write numbers on their papers for ease of sorting. What a shame! Our students are not just a number in our classes. They have dignity - they have a name! We need to use their names when speaking to them and when writing comments to them. During class, I also direct comments to them as individuals. 

"Shimon, I know you are a lefty, so just listen to this pasuk in Navi" 

"Kiryas Arbeh was  a city of GIANTS, no Akiva not THAT kind of GIANTS"  

"Leah, I know you are the class expert on sweeping, can you help us out by teaching us how to do it better?"  

When students feel proud of who they are as an individual and not just as part of a group, they take pride in what they do, become independent thinkers, and are more thoughtful in their choices.

Goal for the year: Reinforce that each student is an individual by addressing each student by his name at least once a day.

3. Fix myself first – I have expectations for how my students act, talk and treat others. I want them to respect themselves, their time, other people and other people's property. I can’t teach respect if I don’t practice respect. 

To model respect, I need to be thinking about my own character. I'm not perfect, and have plenty of flaws that need to be improved. When I focus on my own character, I am less critical of my students' mistakes and have more patience to help them improve. Self-improvement also sets an example for the class that learning and growth are life-long processes. Students don't feel threatened when they realize they are not perfect because they have a model of how to accept their process of growth as a positive rather than being embarrassed that they are not perfect. 

One day, a colleague commented how calm I was when some students were acting like children. I was surprised at his assessment but also proud. I have a tendency to get emotional. I had been working on my own emotions so that I could deal with classroom interruptions calmly. It was gratifying to hear that a colleague perceived me differently than my inherent nature. 

Goal for the year: Pick character goals of my own, and reflect on them on regular basis. Think aloud about self improvement to model the process for my students. 

4. Plan routines – Things go smoother when the transitions and common tasks are on auto-pilot. Getting students into routines at the beginning of the year means that I don’t constantly have to be involved in negative interactions by constantly correcting and being critical. I can focus on the positive and the learning instead. 

Routines don’t just happen though. They require time, planning and reinforcement. At the end of the summer, I thought of classroom events that happen regularly. How will my students hand in papers? How will they line up for recess? How will I get their attention? What happens if a student bullies? It takes a lot of time to  to practice the routines but it is  well worth the pay off after a few short weeks.

Goal for the year: Spend the first few weeks practicing routines even if students learn less content. If there are times of chaos in the class, think of systems and routines that could improve the situation.

5. Plan well – I try to stuff my classes with as much learning and engagement as possible from bell to bell (and beyond if possible). Human beings want to improve. It’s part of what improves the universe. I have confidence that if I give opportunities to learn, my students will try to grow.  I try to make these learning opportunities active and student-centered with multiple learning modalities so every student has a way to access the learning if they want. 

Goal for the year: Review my lesson plans nightly for multiple learning modalities and active learning. Look for down time and incorporate learning of some sort. 

6. Humor and Positivity - Students are more engaged when they are relaxed.  They can focus on learning when they feel comfortable and there is a light atmosphere of good cheer rather than pressure and stress.  You can do serious work even if the mood is not serious. 

As a teacher, I set the mood in the room. I force a smile on my face even if I am tired. My students are looking at me all day. Looking at a sour face is a real downer. In my classroom, I need to be a positive person and to use humor to diffuse many difficulat situations.

Goal for the year: Smile. Get enough sleep so that I can find humor even in tough situations. Bring humor and joy into the learning. 

7. Teach optimistic thinking– on the top of my tests, I write “The best you can do is to do your best!” I encourage my class to recognize that they are special, that nothing is ever the end of the world (except perhaps the end of the world) and to believe in themselves that they can be successful . 

Some of our students grow up in critical homes and need to learn how to view the world more optimistically. They need help retraining their thinking from highly critical to self-nurturing. When students are more forgiving of themselves and celebrate their successes, they don’t need to engage in negative conflicts for attention.

The first weeks of school is an important time to reinforce this message. Kids don't want to make mistakes. They are scared that they will be mocked by peers and lose the respect of their teacher. I always try to celebrate mistakes that come from hard work and effort so students learn that hard work, effort and perseverance is more important than getting it right.

 

Goal for the year: Praise effort over aptitude.

8. Realize no one is perfect, not me and not them – sometimes I have a bad day. Sometimes, they do. Rather than letting that set the tone for the rest of the year, I need to be able to let the day go and start over the next day. 

Goal for the year:  Reflect on the many positive parts of my day and let go of the negative. Problem solve rather than getting annoyed.

With these few tips, I hope that my classroom will be one of joy, learning and cooperation. I hope to enjoy myself this year and I hope that my students do as well.  

Chinuch Energy: The Importance of friends in the teachers' room

Every other Wednesday, I post ideas about how to improve the learning going on in the classroom. There are so many buzzwords and great ideas floating around about what could make education better: blended learning, 1 to 1 education, media labs. It would take 30 hours a day to get schools to be perfect and for teachers to prepare the needed lessons to implement these ideas. Yet, even if all these innovations were implemented, I'm not sure these ideas would improve the learning drastically without addressing a more fundamental issue. No matter how much research and effort we put into improving education  there is still one factor that impacts all teachers, young and old, novice and expert that can turn an excellent teacher into a burned out one. That factor is what it's like to work in a school.

Teaching in Isolation

Teaching can be an isolating job. As a teacher, I am often all alone in a classroom facing a room full of kids.  I love them, I adore their energy, and I understand that each one has unique challenges and gifts. But like parenting, if I have to do it  by myself, it gets tough. Technically, in a school, no teacher is ever alone. The building is full with other adults: teachers, administrators and staff. However, there are schools where each man is for himself, and schools where everyone is part of a team. 

I have taught in both kinds of schools. There were some schools where going into the teachers' room left me feeling queasy. In other schools,  I felt emotionally respected and professionally invigorated. When the environment was stressful, my energy was spent worrying about politics rather than my students. When I felt like a respected part of the team, I was able to give over that feeling to my students and their learning improved. 

The Role of the Adminstration

A lot of the emotional feel of the school, its collegiality and culture, come from the top. The administration sets the tone by how they communicate, how they accept and give influence and what behaviors are allowed. So if you are an administrator - your school culture is huge and needs attention.

What's a teacher to do?

But, I'm a teacher, so I can't make these global decisions.  But I am someone else's colleague. The only one I can work on is myself. So what can I, a teacher, do to improve the culture in my school? Because, just as much as anything else, improving the culture in the school improves the learning in my classroom

Today, in the teacher's room in my school I asked my colleagues for help with writing this blog post (Go Team!) We came up with a few suggestions:

1) Be kind - If there is a chance to help someone else out, do it. Today, a faculty member, Dr. E., came into the teachers room with arms loaded with packages. Mr. P  jumped up cleared a spot on the table and helped put all the stuff away. Mr. P is in grad school and this was his prep period, yet he spent those moments being helpful rather than thinking about himself. Two years ago, when I needed more space in my classroom, Mrs. R and Mr. F spent their prep time  problem solving to come up with a solution that inconvenienced them but helped me. "How can I help?" is a phrase that turns a roomful of strangers into friends. 

2) Be gracious - Give with good humor and humility. Receive with a smile and a sincere thank you.  Today, Dr. E brought lunch for the staff because there were difficult  meetings that lasted all day. She didn't announce, as I have heard in other schools, that she provides lunch to improve the school morale or that she does it even though no one ever appreciates her efforts. Instead, she sincerely thanked us for all our hard work and encouraged us to enjoy the lunch. When I give a compliment to another teacher, I love hearing a thank you rather than a self-deprecating comment.

3) Be positive - Cheerful energy spreads. Negative energy spreads, too. Try to leave wherever you are a better place than it was before. Today, I was leaving the teachers room when Rabbi C. called out when looking at the lunch spread "This is the best place in the world to work!" Those kind of positive messages are infectious and frame the day with joy. I couldn't help but go into my classroom in a better state of mind. Spread positive messages about your school to others and tell them to yourself too. In another school,  teachers spent their lunch breaks criticizing students, other communities and the administration. It was hard to appreciate my students and their gifts after hearing so many put downs..  

4) Be forgiving - All teachers, kids and administrators (yes even administrators) are doing the best they can with the tools they have. If they could do it better and become perfect, they would. If you can help improve the situation while being kind, gracious and positive, go for it. Otherwise, realize that hostility and judgement just makes the other person defensive. As teachers, we are trained to analyze and notice. We need to train ourselves not to notice when it leads to negativity and despair. 

5) Problem Solve - Teaching has its challenges. For some reason, the children and adolescents in my school  insist on acting childish and adolescent. I'm assuming the same is true in your school. As a result, teachers all over the world have days where they want to tear out whatever little hair they have left. Rather than getting stuck on bad feelings, try to move the issue into the problem solving stage. Identify and label the problem and then think about possible solutions with your peers. Be the kind of colleague that doesn't judge someone else for having a bad day. Encourage your colleague and support them when they are down. A few weeks ago, I had a tough day. I called my colleague, and she reminded me that I'm a good teacher and we all have hard days. Her positive, affirming messages, together with some good suggestions helped a lot

6) Have integrity - Be a trustworthy person. Don't try to get a colleague to do your work for you. Leave the copy machine area the way you found it. Don't gossip about co-workers, students or parents. Treat the new staff with the same consideration as you do the old-timers. Keep the private lives of students and their learning struggles confidential. When you have integrity, colleagues trust you and feel comfortable around you.

7) Learn together - Find like minded staff and talk ideas (as long as you can stay kind, forgiving, and positive) so that you grow as professionals together. Don't use your interest in education as an excuse to put down other teachers though. Share ideas in a positive way so that you feed each others' creativity. 

The Culture Killers

There are a bunch of ways that make a teachers room into the worst kind of prison. Watch out for  Gossip, Sarcasm, Snobbishness, Resentment, Judgementalism, Inconsideration, and Negativity from creeping into your interactions. If you find that these habits are sneaking in, it's time to take a break and refuel your energy before you burn out and burn out others. Look around your school for people who don't share these characteristics and start sharing the 7 positive relationship building tools mentioned above with them.

As a teacher, what would you like to see in your school?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

CROSS POSTED TO CHINUCH ENERGY   YU 2.0  YUHS CHINUCH COMMUNITY

Common Core Judaics: The Six Steps of Academic Vocabulary

The Common Core

I don't know about you, but my school has been living and breathing the common core over the last few weeks. Although as a private school, we are exempt from the 3-8th grade testing requirement, my school administered the tests anyway to help provide benchmarks for the General Studies program.

So we lived through the state exams. Our students did really well, and I got to feel good that I'm  not the only one who has trouble making assessments that capture the vibrancy of  the curriculum. An important lesson. But, even more important, I learned that there are some great techniques and research being used to teach the Common Core that we should make our own in Judaic Studies.

Academic Vocabulary - the key to learning 

A major part of the common core is a focus on teaching academic vocabulary from grades K-12.

Research has shown that students who are academically successful  have broader and deeper academic vocabularies.  And while students who read more often have better academic vocabularies, forcing students to read more won't increase their vocabulary. We need a system to teach vocabulary if we want all our students to be able to learn and read.

As a result, the 6th shift  for the ELA standards is toward vocabulary learning.

Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts ( http://innovativocab.wikispaces.com)

Teachers from K-12 are now focusing on teaching vocabulary and developing systems to do so. They are  teaching academic vocabulary in all subject areas to make sure that students can read the required texts in each discipline.

So what is academic vocabulary? Non-academic vocabulary is vocabulary you learn in daily life such as "My mother went to the store yesterday". Academic vocabulary is denser and is not generally used in life. Example: We will need to examine more data before we can make any conclusions (http://www2.gsu.edu/~esljdb/awl/).  Academic Vocabulary are the words that are prevalent in written text which may not be familiar to the students,

But I teach Ivrit B'Ivrit, or Mishna do I need to worry about Academic Vocabulary?

The answer is a resounding yes. No matter the language of instruction, all students need to be learning vocabulary. 

1. If students don't understand over 90% of what they read, they are not reading for meaning. 
2. They won't learn the language just by reading words in context. 
3. Biblical Hebrew, Mishnaic Hebrew, and the Hebrew of the commentaries differ from modern and spoken Hebrew. The different idioms and grammars must  be taught explicitly.

So, if you teach Ivrit B'Ivrit,  or advanced Chumash in high school, you can still benefit from the information I'm about to present. Modify your exercises so they resemble the vocabulary instruction done in the General Studies classroom but please still do them.

What is the Academic Vocabulary in Judaics?

• During Chumash, the high frequency words and the common grammar forms are the academic vocabulary. In later grades, new words and grammar constructs would be the academic vocabulary.
• In Mishna, there are key words that appear throughout that should be taught until they students know them  automatically
• Gemara, has key words that indicate logic and text structures. Plus, of course, Aramaic is its own academic vocabulary with new grammar, high frequency words and other common words.
• Halacha has its own vocabulary: whether it is concepts like בטל בששים or just terms לחתחילה and בדי עבד 
• Holidays: קְעָרָה and הֲדַסִים are academic vocabulary for the holidays
• Rashi: The hebrew of Rashi is different than Biblical Hebrew. There are idioms that convey meaning such as the shoresh א.מ.ר means a quote, אֶלָא, וּמִדְרָשוֹ, etc.  
• Other Meforshim: The Ramban, Ibn Ezra etc all use vocabulary specific to their time. Their structure is also dense and needs to be unpacked. Students need to be guided in how to unpack and read these very academic texts.

Vocabulary instruction must be systematic and explicit to work.

Robert J. Marzano, in his book Building Academic Vocabulary outlines 6 steps to help students learn vocabulary. While each of these steps can be used individually, they are most powerful when used in sequence and together. 

The Six Steps

Step 1:  Teacher will give a description, explanation, or example of the new term.
Step 2:  Linguistic: Students will restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
tep 3:  Non-linguistic: Students will draw a picture, symbol, or locate a graphic to represent the new term.
Step 4:  Students will will participate in activities that provide more knowledge of the words in their vocabulary notebooks.
Step 5:  The learner will discuss the term with other learners.
Step 6:  The learner will participate in games that provide more reinforcement of the new term.

From http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/strategies.html

On to vocabulary instruction . . . . 

Step 1:  Teacher will give a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

First,  describe the term. Act it out. Draw it on the board. Tell students a story with the word. Just giving a definition isn't helpful because that's not how we learn language. 

Use both verbal and non-verbal communication to explain the term to help the learning and to prepare the students for the next step.

I have pictures I use for each shoresh, I draw on the board and I do charades for many terms. This makes it fun and helps the students learn the new words in the most natural way possible.

Step 2:  Students restate description, explanation, or example of the new term in their words.

Having the student use their own words is very important. Make sure they understand the idea and haven't gotten confused. By taking ownership of the explanation, the students take ownership of their learning

I have the students write the definition in their learning log which is very useful. In this example, I was able to spot the spelling mistake and correct the error.

Step 3:  Students will draw a picture, symbol, or locate a graphic to represent the new term.

Drawing pictures and symbols forces the student to process the information in a different way. For some, this is the way they love to learn, and they brighten up after being forced to read, read, read. They finally get to doodle!  Other students find this very challenging and need help to come up with their own pictures especially for abstract ideas. After a while, they get it, and they enjoy a chance to use their creativity.

I also have students draw their own picture in their learning log.

Step 4:  Students will participate in activities that provide more knowledge of the words in their vocabulary notebooks.

In this step, the students use the words in context and out of context. Have them look for prefixes, and suffixes and roots. Record antonyms and synonyms.

In Chumash class, I ask the students to locate the shoresh in the pasuk and write the phrase in their log (see above image). When possible, I ask them to translate the phrase. At the beginning of the year, I had them highlight the prefixes and suffixes using different colored highlighters for עבר, הווה and עתיד. Now, this step is unnecessary and we review this information verbally.

Some other ideas: ask students to list שרשים that are synonyms or antonyms or ask them if they have seen this word in other contexts: תפילה, previous פרשיות etc. This is very exciting for  students when they remember pesukim they learned in the beginning of the year and they connect their learning to previous learning.

Step 5:  The learner will discuss the term with other learners.

When students interact with others their learning is deeper and more memorable. I have my students explain their drawings to their friends, have chavrusas while reviewing the pesukim and describe when they may have experienced the terms in their life or use the term in a conversation with the partner.

Step 6:  The learner will participate in games that provide more reinforcement of the new term.

Marzano has found that games motivate the students to learn and forces them to use the new terms in context and out of context and with friends.

I have  a word wall in my classroom that changes for each perek.  It was very inexpensive to create. I put up large pieces of felt that I bought at a craft store, and bought 1000 velcro hook dots and stuck them to the back of all my laminated vocabulary word cards. Now I can use the cards for many different games and activities to help reinforce the learning and to keep track where each student is holding.

One of my students favorite games is "airplane". They line their seats up into airplane style rows in front of the felt boards. I give the students tickets, 3 green, 3 orange, and 3 yellow. Each row get to take a trip to the board. Each students takes down a word from the board that matches a ticket in their hand and translate the words. If they get the translation right,  they put their name on the ticket and it goes into a raffle. Otherwise, I get the ticket.

Generally, Orange is shorashim, Yellow is high frequency words and Green is new vocabulary. Everyone has a chance to be successful and reviews all their vocabulary multiple times.

I look forward to hearing how you teach vocabulary in your classrooms and any games you may play!

Other Resources about Academic Vocabulary:

There are a lot of websites out there but these are some I used to help me

• Colorado Springs Schoolo District:  http://www.d11.org/Instruction/Literacy.LanguageArts/Pages/Six-Step-Academic-Vocabulary-Instruction.aspx
• Tennessee's academic vocabulary program: http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/TN.html 
• http://innovativocab.wikispaces.com/ - A Collection of Technology Resources to help create a new vision of Vocabulary Instruction!

• Game boards online:   PowerPoint Games, Word Game Boards, Excel Games, WORDO, Twister, Fly Swat. 

CROSS POSTED TO CHINUCH ENERGY   YU 2.0  YUHS CHINUCH COMMUNITY

Students - the Hidden Professional Development Resource in the school

Have you ever found yourself with the following dilemma?

You are an OK teacher, but sometimes the kids drift off in your class. Or you explain a concept for five minutes and the class looks back at you with a blank look as if you are speaking Chinese. Or, you thought the kids were with you in class, but they bombed the test. These kinds of days are demoralizing. It's not fun to feel like its been a FAIL.

So, what are your options?

You can go to your principal, but you know she is overworked and stressed. There is a big board meeting tonight where they will be reviewing the budget for next year. The assistant principal, while nice, has given you some canned suggestions that are quick fixes but are not long term solutions. She sat in on your class once or twice but you need more active guidance. After talking to colleagues you hesitate to bring up your concerns again because they are busy grading papers and you don't want to be the one who is always negative and clueless.

What can you do?

Yes, you can find colleagues on twitter, or make a PLN, but you want more than that. You want immediate feedback from people who understand your school, who have met you and have clocked hundreds of hours of teacher evaluations and observations this year alone.

Who are these people who can tell you how to become a great teacher?  They are sitting right in front of you. They are called your students.

That's right. The best people who can really help get your teaching from good to great are the people who you are trying to teach.

Think about it. Who else in your school building spends all day experiencing different teaching styles? Who else can name the good teachers and mock the bad ones? Who else spends their lunch breaks doing a post-mortem of their best and worst classes of the day?

I discovered that students are the most underutilized professional development resource in a school during my sixth year teaching. One day, a junior approached me exasperated. "Mrs. Hochheimer, " she chided "I can't understand what you are writing on the board. This is not how my teachers taught me last year."

For a second, I was offended. Then, that feeling subsided and I realized how lucky I was. This students had just transferred to my high school from one of the top 100 public schools in the United States. She knew quality teaching and was telling me I wasn't making the cut.

I sat down with her and recorded her concerns. I modified my lessons and got her feedback. We were engaged in a dialogue for two years. I taught her how to learn Torah, and she helped me tighten my pedagogy.

Soon, I was demanding feedback from all of my students. My probing questions were worth five points on the test and I didn't accept one word answers. My questions were exploratory and required the students to think about how they best learned and what the pedagogic goals of my lessons were.

The suggestions were generally mature, concrete and requested more rigorous work rather than less. Surprisingly, the students learning improved and they began to take more ownership of their class work. They began to understand what skills they needed to improve and sought ways to do so.

As the year progressed, I started to explain to the students how the learning process was working as I was teaching. I told them how pointing while reading helps fluency. I taught them why graphic organizers are helpful. They became conscious of whether they were visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners. (See http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Dev_Metacognition/ for more information about why metacognition is so important)

Finally, I started doing experiments in class. I would read up on a new pedagogic technique and use it the next day. They were expected to tell me the strengths and weakness of what I was doing and whether my research was correct. My class became an action research lab  (more about action research http://sutlib2.sut.ac.th/sut_contents/H112461.pdf here) and we started to really innovate how we learned together. We developed a system of learning that has been successful from elementary through high school.

The story of feedback didn't end with this class's graduation. That group has had a remarkable percentage of successful madrichot (guidance counselors) and teachers whom I mentored without even knowing it. The first student who commented about my teaching is herself set to become a teacher. She has developed from a student with good intuition about teaching into a quality educator herself.

This chain of events all started with my being vulnerable with my students. Rather than taking my questions as a sign of weakness, the students felt it was my biggest strengths. They respected that my classroom was not about being perfect or impressing people. It was about learning, growth and authenticity. My students knew that if they came to me with a concrete suggestion I would change and when I came to them with feedback, they responded in kind.

In case you are still unconvinced, let me tell you about a friend who tried out my suggestion. I pointed her to some examples of the feedback forms I had used  . She modified the forms for her needs and distributed it to her junior class. A remarkable educator, my friend was honored the following year in the school yearbook. In the dedication, the students mentioned how meaningful her requests for the students' opinions had been to them. They felt cared about and respected. She had asked for feedback to improve the academic quality of her class and ended up impacting the students in ways she didn't anticipate.

Getting feedback from students is a win-win for everyone. Your teaching will improve, student learning will improve, your relationship with your students will improve and you will have identified and mentored the next generation's most talented teachers.

Here are some important pointers to remember about feedback:

1. All feedback requests should be goal oriented questions so that students don't have the chance to be nasty or place blame for their character flaws on you. 
2. High school kids make awful bosses. Expect the feedback to be blunt. Learn how to steer conversations away from emotional responses to concrete suggestions.
3. Inform your students of your classroom goals. This lets your students know why they need to be in your class and they can brainstorm with you how to best accomplish those goals.
4. Have the students do self-evaluations of how well they have met the classroom goals. This helps them put their grades in a healthier context. Teacher feedback goes from being judgemental and punitive to being another source of information about themselves. 
5. Maintain boundaries. Getting feedback from students doesn't make them your friends. You need to maintain appropriate and healthy boundaries with your students even as you are allowing them to see a human side of you
6. Have fun and embrace failing as a chance to improve yourself.

Speaking of feedback . . .

 I'd love to hear from you what I can write about. I have topics that I enjoy but without feedback, I can't improve these blog posts. In a classroom, I can at least see the yawns and half shut eyes when the topic doesn't resonate. Online, not so much.

So please leave comments about this topic or what else we can discuss or get in touch with me by email.

Next Time . . . 

To be decided . . . .

See you on May 1st

CROSS POSTED TO CHINUCH ENERGY   YU 2.0  YUHS CHINUCH COMMUNITY

Keeping it Real: Learning from Pesach All Year

All success begins with some failure . . . 

I have written about my fun few years in the web industry during the dot-com boom. I had a grand time and enjoyed feeling like my stock options were worth something before the market crashed. Then came 9/11, and I decided to devote myself to doing something meaningful like teaching our holy Torah to the next generation. Honestly, I didn't have such a grand time for the first few years at all. 

Kids and classes do not come with instruction manuals. I was never quite sure what I was supposed to be doing and how to judge if I was achieving it. There was content, skills, relationships, professionalism . . .  I was sucked into the never-ending list of what teachers should do and trying to pretend like I knew what I was supposed to be teaching and why.

When I moved to Rochester, I started a certification program to become a school administrator. The first course I took was "Literacy as Social Practice." What I learned changed how I taught and transformed my attitude from just trying to get by to helping my students take on leadership roles in our community. 

A Different view of education

The course began with an overview of the socio-cultural historical theory as described by Lev Vygotsky and Barbara Rogoff. While it  sounds complex, the premise is that a child learns by being an active member of his culture. He learns by working together with adults to improve their community together.  In this theory, less accomplished team members must work together with more accomplished team members to create something bigger than the both of them. 

This model of learning was always used to train  carpenters, glaziers and blacksmiths by matching apprentices with master craftsmen. Both the apprentice and the master worked together to create art, each learning and growing at his own level. Through communication and example, the apprentice learned and became a master in his own right. The results of the master/apprentice relationship are the great works of art that have stood the test of time.

To make this model work, the apprentice in the relationship must be provided with scaffolds to help him  accomplish more than he would have ever been able to do on his own. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is the difference between what a learner can do independently and what he can do with help. 

The Good old days of Jewish education

I realized that Jewish education was also premised on this master/apprentice relationship. In the good old days (circa 0 CE and before), Jewish children learned how to lead Jewish lives from their parents. There were no formalized schools, and they were not home schooled in the sense we describe today. 

Children learned through hands-on activities and were gradually integrated into communal life and leadership. Boys would work along side their fathers in the fields, come home at night and learn Torah with their fathers. Girls would help their mothers with their tasks and learn Jewish law and morals through discussions with their mothers. The children would learn the values, content and skills they needed to continue the Jewish heritage. As they proved their reliability, they were given increasing roles in their families and  society so that the values that the community cherished would continue to the next generation.

During the mid first century CE, this all changed. Some orphan boys were no longer  being taken in by complete families to be apprenticed as had been done in the past. Yehoshua ben Gamla started schools for children as young as 6 to ensure that everyone would be educated even if it was  done in a less ideal way.

Girls were fortunate to maintain their original educational system until the 20th century when they too had to be subject to a factory style education. Today, all boys and girls learn about their rich, experiential heritage while sitting in desks and filling out worksheets.

The Pesach Seder

Even after the institution of schools by Rabbi Yehoshua ben Gamla, this master/apprentice learning was never completely removed from Jewish life. Jews were given the commandment to teach their children at the Seder using this specific model. 

At the Seder, parents have multiple mitzvos that they must fulfill. They are enjoined to discuss the Exodus with as much thought as the great sages Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva. They must eat matza and marror and read from the Hagadda text. They must drink four cups of wine and sing Hallel. At the same time as they are fulfilling their own obligations, they are commanded to  teach their children about the Exodus. 

We don't run a model seder and then have the adult seder after the kids go to sleep. Instead, we say kiddush and wash our hands without a bracha. The kids get curious. We eat a bite sized vegetable. The kids get even more curious. We then play 'now you see and now you don't' with the Seder Plate. The kids are finally so curious that they burst forth with questions, each according to his own level. A conversation is begun, and the children are active and central participants of every mitzvah fulfilled that night. As the adults analyze, discuss, learn and grow, so  do their children, together with them.

Our Classrooms As Factories

Modern Jewish schools have looked to the industrialized model of schooling rather than to our own model of the Seder. Schools became more institutionalized and lost the vision  of apprenticing our children into our cultural and religious practices through hands-on, authentic learning.  

Jewish education is far more than learning how to add or read. While we want our students to be able to translate the Torah, we also want them to be passionate, independent, life-long learners. We want them to infuse their lives with spirituality and take responsibility for ensuring that our way of life thrives in the future. We want our students to live as Jews rather than just to learn about Judaism. 

Informal Education is not Enough

The structured model of education, while necessary for an institution to function, has inhibited the natural transmission of Jewish values and separated the emotional elements of religious life from the intellectual. 

Schools have tried to compensate by adding informal education to their programs. However, these activities are a small and contained part of the school experience rather than being characteristic of the entire school day. With informal education, we are still treating our children as subjects to be influenced rather than as important members of the larger society.  

We give them their own minyanim, their own groups, and their own activities hoping it will inspire them. We continue this model into adulthood as we found Young Leadership Boards and separate minyanim to attract young adults. While these groups may provide a sense of belonging, they don't allow the younger generation to learn from and with the older generation. 

The youth misses out the chance to meaningfully impact the whole group. They are also not  trained to take over when the experts retire. Invariably, there is conflict between the younger generation and the older generation in managing communal affairs. The younger group has ideas that they feel are not being heard, and the older group feels that the younger members are not respecting the history and culture of the organization they are trying to change. These conflicts would not occur if the younger generation had been naturally eased into their role in communal life having learned how to work their way up by proving their commitment and reliability.

Changing Our Mindset and Our Classrooms

In my "Literacy as Social Practice" course, I discovered that there is a different model to use if we can change our mindset.  For the past seven years, I have been using the socio-cultural historical theory with great success in elementary school, high school and even with  adults. I have blogged about my techniques   here,  here, and  here. The main premise is that the less experienced learner needs to be involved in authentic activities together with the older members. 

I didn't change what I taught; I still teach the same subjects. What changed was why I was teaching and how I defined the learners in my classroom. I began to think of myself as a master and my students as apprentices. With this idea, I'm able to teach any students whether they are kindergarteners or PhD candidates. Instead of teaching, I began learning with my students and trying to make the experience as authentic as possible so they could become masters. Class is the journey I take with my students to greater expertise for both of us. 

For students to act as masters would, they need supports. These supports have differed for each age and level. All my students have needed some kind of language support since Biblical Hebrew is not their native tongue. Some students have learning disabilities, and I provide them with supports so they can  engage with the rest of class . Other students, while strong academically, have trouble staying organized or focused. Before, I  ignored these issues because they didn't impact test scores. Now, I realize that a key function of my job is to help my students develop in all areas so they can mature into the successful adults they dream of becoming.

Examples of Authentic Learning

In the Classroom

How can Torah learning be made authentic? It's not a question of making abstract concepts in Torah relevant to 21st century ethics. As adults, Torah scholars don't read emotional poetry to understand a Ramban. Torah scholars debate and innovate. They reflect and learn with chavrusas. They think.

Kids love to do this kind of real learning. They thrive on reading the text and arguing over its meaning no matter their age. Unfortunately, most of the time, they don't have the maturity or language skills to do it. As the master, it is my job to provide them with the Hebrew reference materials and teach them social skills so that they can learn the texts independently every day.

Last year, I had two students who really took this to heart and viewed themselves as budding Torah scholars. Together, they started a notebook which they headed with the words  "the R"AYH and the R"AK." I asked them what that meant and they told me that the seforim of Rashi, and the Ramban are called by the authors' initials. The boys were writing a sefer together, and the title came from their initials. Every day on the bus, they were writing down the questions they had in Chumash class and trying to think of good answers before discussing the ideas with their parents. These students were 9 years old at the time. I can't wait to get my hands on the next sefer they publish.

Before preparing for a Chumash  lesson, I ask "What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for this lesson? What do my students need so they can learn Chumash as authentically as possible as they would when they are adults?" The tools I provide are different for each class and age. I imagine my students as accomplished adults and then provide them with everything necessary so they can act like that now. Like apprenticing craftsman, there is a lot of monotonous work. However, the students know the goal is one they appreciate, and they do their drills because it is allows them to do what they really enjoy.

Jewish Communal Activisim

Another great example of training apprentices came in the area of communal responsibility. We all want our children to feel responsible to help the Jewish community. How do we get them from being takers to being givers? The answer is to get them involved and get them involved when they are young.

One day, my son came home from kindergarten and told me that he and his classmates had planned a carnival for the first day of summer vacation.  They wanted to make some MONEY. The plan, hatched by the finest 5 year old minds, involved shuttling kids between the various houses since the kids couldn't figure out how they would carry the supplies across the streets.

The other parents and I recognized a golden opportunity. The kids had great ideas. I called a meeting in my house for all the kindergarten kids and acted as a secretary to write down all their ideas. (They hadn't yet learned their long vowels, so writing ICES would have really stumped them) They divided up the tasks, and the kids set to work making their carnival. They used their best literacy skills to write the signs, and their math to keep track of ticket sales.

The carnival was a huge hit. There were relay races, a bounce house, a lollipop game and they even made food to sell.

Here are some pictures of these kids during the event

Entrance table manned by Ester Tova who really wanted to be in charge of the cash. Notice the sign for frulowups. She was aided in her task by a helpful high school sophomore.

Pinny (standing in the back next to the laundry basket) coordinated the relay and balloon races for the big kids.

Preteens taking a shot at "Flour sifting for pennies", always a big hit. The manager of this table is the girl with the orange shirt.

Kids helping an adult play "find the boat with the dot." Her wallet is out! Hurray! This table is manned by Chana, the young lady in blue.

The day went really well. All the neighborhood kids showed up to see what these kids had put together. In the end, the class made $43 which they proudly donated to their Day School. They felt like they could do anything.

Would you be surprised if I told you that this class has organized class fundraisers whenever they are given the chance. Last year, they earned enough money to go to the Corning Museum of Glass. This year, they have been working all year to save up to go to Niagara Falls.

In Jewish Communal Life

My last example comes from something that I witnessed in my shul on the Shabbos following Simchas Torah. I generally am not there for Maariv so I can't tell whether this happens in all the shuls across the US or if this is something special about my shoul. 

After Maariv, a few fathers stood around shmoozing, trying to look nonchalant. Their bar mitzvah age sons were busy around the sanctuary taking the colored paroches and coverings out of the closets. The boys then went up to the white covered bima, and proceeded to fold up the covering while giving a running commentary to their younger brothers how to do the task. At one point, a boy went over to his father so he could help him change the paroches which was still to tall for the boys to take care of independently. When the job was complete, everyone smiled, wished their friends a good night, and headed out for a sweet new year.

When I saw what had just happened I wanted to shout "SOCIO-CULTURAL HISTORICAL THEORY!!!!" Okay, maybe not. But what I saw was really cool and a great example of how a community survives. Each generation was teaching the next how to take care of the shared experiences they hold dear by giving them responsibility. The younger boys understood that not only could they care for the shul, but that they were also responsible for training the next group of boys to take over from them when the time came. 

Some Tools to Use

So, how can you start having authentic learning in your classroom and integrating your students into Jewish community life?

• Begin by reminding yourself that while you are the master, your job is to become irrelevant

and then ask yourself the following questions.

• "What do I want my students to be doing in this area when they are 35?"
• "How can I have my students do that behavior right now?"
• "Are they learning and working with experts in an authentic setting, or are they doing the activities by themselves?"
• "What tools are they missing so they can live full Jewish lives?"
• What tools can I provide?

Summing up:

People love to learn. They want to improve and they want to matter. When Students are involved in real learning, they are motivated and view their learning as an extension of their lives rather than as an academic subject. They learn skills and knowledge at a quicker rate than they would otherwise. Most importantly, they are actively forming a religious identity that involves community life and a commitment to Jewish learning.  

Next time . . . 

In every school, there are untapped experts on what good teaching looks like and how you can improve. No, these experts are not the administrators or the teachers. They are sitting in your classroom - the experts on good teaching are your students.

Next time, we will discuss how to use get effective feedback from parents and students to help with innovation and professional growth.

Happy Matzah Crunching!

See you after Pesach

Cross posted to  Chinuch Energy   YU 2.0   YUHS Chinuch Community