I love our weekends
at Camp Ramah
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
We had a fantastic time at Camp Ramah last shabbat. JLC fourth through sixth grade students are just amazing! We began with a spirited Kabbalat Shabbat complete with singing, dancing and lots of ruach. Then we had dinner, it was delicious as usual. After dinner we spent time running around the basketball courts discussing the idea of "patience" as it applies to our lives.
Saturday began with chocolate muffins and hard boiled eggs - a most delicious shabbat breakfast at camp. Then the 6th graders were in charge of leading us in two pieces of tefillah before we set off on either a hike or meditation. I was near the dining hall when I heard the hikers chanting the Shema with all of their might from the top of the hill! We came back together for a Torah service where everyone in the room had an aliyah! Many of the students decided to wear tallitot that morning. Then we spent time learning about the Israelites and the Golden Calf from the Chumash before a yummy lunch.
After lunch we had some free time. We went swimming or played sports or rested in the cabins (in some cases all three!). Then we set off on an important mission - we put Aaron on trial. Using the text of the biblical story (and some commentary by Rashi) the students thought critically about who should be blamed for the building of the Golden Calf. It was amazing! Ask them about it - we were so engaged that we had to continue after dinner!
We had Havdallah at the observatory and looked at the "super moon". Then we had a camp fire and went back to the cabins for the night.
Sunday morning was pretty quick! We woke up, ate breakfast and then made cards to send soldiers over seas for Rosh Hashannah (I know, it is early but we wanted to be sure to make lots of cards for them!) before a closing circle where we sang a few songs and reflected a little bit on what we learned. Then we hopped on the bus.
It was fantastic!
Saturday began with chocolate muffins and hard boiled eggs - a most delicious shabbat breakfast at camp. Then the 6th graders were in charge of leading us in two pieces of tefillah before we set off on either a hike or meditation. I was near the dining hall when I heard the hikers chanting the Shema with all of their might from the top of the hill! We came back together for a Torah service where everyone in the room had an aliyah! Many of the students decided to wear tallitot that morning. Then we spent time learning about the Israelites and the Golden Calf from the Chumash before a yummy lunch.
After lunch we had some free time. We went swimming or played sports or rested in the cabins (in some cases all three!). Then we set off on an important mission - we put Aaron on trial. Using the text of the biblical story (and some commentary by Rashi) the students thought critically about who should be blamed for the building of the Golden Calf. It was amazing! Ask them about it - we were so engaged that we had to continue after dinner!
We had Havdallah at the observatory and looked at the "super moon". Then we had a camp fire and went back to the cabins for the night.
Sunday morning was pretty quick! We woke up, ate breakfast and then made cards to send soldiers over seas for Rosh Hashannah (I know, it is early but we wanted to be sure to make lots of cards for them!) before a closing circle where we sang a few songs and reflected a little bit on what we learned. Then we hopped on the bus.
It was fantastic!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Flipped JLC Classroom?
I am so excited about the concept of a Flipped Classroom. In a flipped classroom the teacher posts what would be traditionally a lecture as a 5-10 minute video for students to watch as "homework" so they can hop right into an activity or application of the content in the classroom. It has been used for a few years in high schools in math and science classes and is recently getting a lot of attention in the education universe.
I don't teach in a high school. I don't teach chemistry or math. I am the director of a synagogue based supplemental school program for K-6 and I can't stop thinking about the implications for my program.
This year at Adat Ari El we are piloting a new program. We have moved away from the traditional classroom model of "religious school" or "Hebrew school" and we are encouraging the students to explore and create. We have even stopped calling ourselves a school, instead we are the Jewish Learning Community of Adat Ari El and our pilot year is going swimmingly.
So what about the flip? I'll get there.
Well, our new program focuses on allowing our students (and their families) the space to live engaged and committed Jewish lives. We travel to Camp Ramah in Ojai, CA three times during our school year (twice for 4th to 6th graders and once as an entire community of parents, students, facilitaors, siblings, rabbis - everyone) to celebrate Shabbat and engage in Jewish practice. We spend Tuesday afternoons together at Adat Ari El exploring, cooking, making videos, dancing, creating art, singing together among other activities. We have factored in the time spent at camp as part of our yearly learning hours and have replaced our Sunday (with the exception of 6 spread out during the year) mornings with that time. Our focus is on "doing" and not on sitting passively and learning - but we have to be sure to be intentional in our instruction.
Our time together is meaningful and important.
Also, our time together each week is brief.
The Flipped Classroom model will allow us to share important content with our students outside of our limited class time. Students (I am thinking 3rd and up, probably) will be required to view content with their families, and who knows, maybe the entire family can benefit from the video. I imagine Monday nights as viewing nights where families sit together for five to ten minutes and learn together. This quick burst of content can go a long way in extending our desire to create a community of learners. Behrman House just created a whole online learning portal where we could house our own video content then direct students to do some independent Hebrew practice.
What if they don't watch the videos?
In the supplemental model lack of participation is always a risk. What if our kids don't show up to school for several weeks in a row? What if the baseball schedule suddenly gets moved to Tuesday afternoons? Posting content and asking our students to watch it before school is a "what if" that I'm willing to risk. Allowing our teachers to act as facilitators of self directed student learning rather than the teacher from Peanuts sounds pretty awesome to me.
Stay tuned. I'm pitching this idea at our staff meeting on Sunday. Of course I'm going to ask them to watch a video on Flipped Classrooms first and let them do the talking at the meeting....
I don't teach in a high school. I don't teach chemistry or math. I am the director of a synagogue based supplemental school program for K-6 and I can't stop thinking about the implications for my program.
This year at Adat Ari El we are piloting a new program. We have moved away from the traditional classroom model of "religious school" or "Hebrew school" and we are encouraging the students to explore and create. We have even stopped calling ourselves a school, instead we are the Jewish Learning Community of Adat Ari El and our pilot year is going swimmingly.
So what about the flip? I'll get there.
Well, our new program focuses on allowing our students (and their families) the space to live engaged and committed Jewish lives. We travel to Camp Ramah in Ojai, CA three times during our school year (twice for 4th to 6th graders and once as an entire community of parents, students, facilitaors, siblings, rabbis - everyone) to celebrate Shabbat and engage in Jewish practice. We spend Tuesday afternoons together at Adat Ari El exploring, cooking, making videos, dancing, creating art, singing together among other activities. We have factored in the time spent at camp as part of our yearly learning hours and have replaced our Sunday (with the exception of 6 spread out during the year) mornings with that time. Our focus is on "doing" and not on sitting passively and learning - but we have to be sure to be intentional in our instruction.
Our time together is meaningful and important.
Also, our time together each week is brief.
The Flipped Classroom model will allow us to share important content with our students outside of our limited class time. Students (I am thinking 3rd and up, probably) will be required to view content with their families, and who knows, maybe the entire family can benefit from the video. I imagine Monday nights as viewing nights where families sit together for five to ten minutes and learn together. This quick burst of content can go a long way in extending our desire to create a community of learners. Behrman House just created a whole online learning portal where we could house our own video content then direct students to do some independent Hebrew practice.
What if they don't watch the videos?
In the supplemental model lack of participation is always a risk. What if our kids don't show up to school for several weeks in a row? What if the baseball schedule suddenly gets moved to Tuesday afternoons? Posting content and asking our students to watch it before school is a "what if" that I'm willing to risk. Allowing our teachers to act as facilitators of self directed student learning rather than the teacher from Peanuts sounds pretty awesome to me.
Stay tuned. I'm pitching this idea at our staff meeting on Sunday. Of course I'm going to ask them to watch a video on Flipped Classrooms first and let them do the talking at the meeting....
Friday, January 20, 2012
BJE Educator's Conference Key Note Address
This past Sunday, while our families were concluding our retreat, religious school educator's from around Los Angeles were gathered at the yearly BJE conference. The keynote address was by Dr. David Bryfman, an inspiring educator out of New York, who spoke to the importance of experiential education. While I was sad to miss his address, I was able to listen to the recording later and delighted in the fact that I missed the address to be on our 1st Annual Family Retreat.
The JLC is not about preparation for bar mitzvah, we are are not about passing into the next Hebrew level, we are about changing lives. We are about creating engaged, committed Jews.
The JLC is not about preparation for bar mitzvah, we are are not about passing into the next Hebrew level, we are about changing lives. We are about creating engaged, committed Jews.
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