Akirat haShulchan: Rock the Seder

In Talmud’s Mashechet Pesachim (Chapter 10, page 115b), the phrase okrin et ha-shulchan appears once, as if its purpose was clear and uncontroversial. “V’ein okrin et ha-shulchan ela lifnei me she omer hagemara” (and you only pluck -- uproot, eradicate, extricate -- the table that is in front of the one reading the Haggadah). The sudden act comes right before the four questions. 

What!? Why!? 

Picture the setting:  The full, rabbinic Passover seder, designed to resemble the free person’s banquets of their own time, looks a lot like a Greco-Roman Symposium. Picture elegant people in comfortably draped clothes lounging around on couches. Within easy arms’ reach of each person sits a small table laden with food and wine. The hours-long event is filled with singing, drinking, feasting, story-telling, and speaking at great length of local gossip, world affairs, and the latest fad, philosophy.

While in Greek and Roman cultures the symposium was an adult event of pure pleasure, the Jewish version has a different purpose: the transmission to each generation of our people’s history of our movement from slavery to freedom, as if it is current events. The pleasures, the lounging, the food and wine, the singing, the games, the lists, and the story-telling – these are not aimed at entertainment, they are entertainment aimed at education. Today, we would call it “edutainment”.

Commentators on the Gemara agree about why the seder leader’s table (or in our times, the Seder Plate) should be suddenly yanked away just before Ma Nishtanah and Maggid (the asking of the four questions and the subsequent recitation of the story). The surprise and physicality of uprooting a key item draws children’s attention to the proceedings and engages their curiosity just in time for the important Q & A.

I believe that the rabbis’ point was to engage the children as actively as possible, so that they don’t see the discussions and stories as the adults’ domain. At your seder, you might consider engaging in akirat ha-shulckan, uprooting the Seder Plate, but please do even more! By preparing ahead, you can have at hand a line-up of physical, surprising, and fun activities for the children. Bring each out as it becomes relevant to the story and each time you see the youngsters’ attention drifting. 

These websites have great free ideas and resources, including many downloadable games.  Remember, it’s all about attaching the next generation to our shared narrative as if it is their own, which, of course, it is! 

http://www.matankids.org/category/activities-for-kids/page/3/

http://simchatyechiel.org/english/pesach.html

http://www.challahcrumbs.com/seder-plate-discovery-zone/

http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/1925/jewish/Games.htm

http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/pesach/pesgames.htm

http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=901%20

Shabbat shalom and chag sameach!

Morah Rhonda

Wisdom from Sweden

Ingvi Hrannar Omarsson, an educator, entrepreneur and blogger earning an M.Sc. in educational technology at the University of Lund, Sweden, posted the linked blog entry, "14 Things that are Obsolete in 21st Century Schools." It is a concise, accessible summary of the direction in which we have begun moving our school, and in which we must keep moving to become the premier 21^st century Jewish day school we’re aiming to be. Good fodder for discussion.  Let's keep talking and planning together.

http://ingvihrannar.com/14-things-that-are-obsolete-in-21st-century-schools/

A Lifetime Reading Habit

This week, as we face both the hope of spring and the likelihood of getting stuck at home yet again, thanks to a late winter snowstorm, I offer you some web resources to help you nurture your children’s curiosity and pleasure in reading.

What is the main goal of reading at home? To develop in each child the habit of reading at home!  Reading should be a pleasurable daily experience, not a war of wills.  It should sometimes feel like sweet solitude, and at other times, like a precious shared experience.  Daily reading is not the time to insist your child bone up on new vocabulary, to quiz him or her for recollection, or to stretch beyond a comfort zone.  Rather, this is a time for engaging in relaxed imagination. 

Setting aside even ten minutes for quiet reading time helps establish the habit.  All the better, by the way, if you take the same ten minutes to share the couch and enjoy some pleasure reading of your own.

How do you pick good books for your child, Books that will stimulate interest, are of literary value, and are just plain fun?

1. Ask your child’s teacher.  Your child’s teacher can give you the closest assessment of what level book your child can read independently, what level book s/he can read with adult assistance (called the “instructional level”), and what level book s/he can follow aurally when being read to.  At home, independent and shared reading should be much more of a pleasure than an effort, so please take the teacher’s recommendations seriously.  Striving far above a child’s comfort zone at home can lead to frustration and “flooding out,” which is when being overwhelmed looks just like being bored, both of which work against the goal of establishing a happy habit of daily reading. 
   Teachers use different methods of helping students learn to choose books for themselves.  Here’s one you can use at home. Ask your child to test whether a book they are interested in is at a “just right” level for them by applying the Five Finger Rule.  Have your child open a page of the book, and start reading, and counting times they stumble on their fingers.  If they stumble up to around three times, this may be a “just right” fit.  Five or more may be a stretch for independent reading – so if they are just dying to read that book, please help them through it.  While zero to one errors may signal a “too easy” read, reading very easy books provides a student opportunities to build confidence and fluency, as long as the child is enjoying the experience and is not bored.   
2. Look for award winners.  Many organizations present annual awards for extraordinary children’s books. While the Newberry and Caldecott Medals are the best known of the bunch, many organizations put out annual “Best of” lists worth perusing.  Don’t forget to look at past years’ lists as well – some stellar books have won their awards in the past! Here’s a gateway site from which you can start exploring: http://www.readingrockets.org/books/awardwinners .  
3. Don’t forget about graphic novels and comics, particularly for reluctant readers.  Reading is reading: and your job at home is to encourage joyful and frequent reading.  Here are a few resources: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5038.Best_Graphic_Novels_for_Children (This is reader generated); from School Library Journal, http://www.slj.com/2011/07/collection-development/comic-relief-thirty-nine-graphic-novels-that-kids-cant-resist/ ; and from the American Library Association, http://www.ala.org/alsc/graphicnovels2013.  

Remember, the goal of reading at home is most directly to build a lifelong habit of reading at home! Keep it relaxed, model it yourself, and include your child in the selection process.

One Community, Many Denominations

Tomorrow afternoon through Saturday night, one teenaged Hebrew Academy alumnus and I will be co-chaperoning the Middle School Shabbaton.

We are not retreating to a camp or staying in sleeping bags at school. Quite the opposite, we are advancing into the area’s densest Jewish neighborhood, where many of our students live. Taking up residence in three families’ homes, we will be praying in one Orthodox and two Conservative synagogues, eating Shabbat meals in two families’ houses and at one shul, studying with five rabbis and a cantor, and, weather permitting, enjoying free time by the neighborhood pond, a regular gathering place for Albany’s Jews of all ages and denominations.

The Capital Region Jewish community is very special, in that it is both big enough to support several large synagogues within blocks of each other, and small enough so that Jews behave as one close-knit, Jewish community. People commonly meet members of various shuls at each other’s communal dinners and events. All of Albany’s congregations walk to Buckingham Pond for the Taschlich ceremony and festivities on Rosh Hashanah. The local Board of Rabbis includes clergy ordained in more than six different rabbinical seminaries.  

At Hebrew Academy, students study, play, and pray with Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Renewal, Reconstructionist, Traditional, and secular classmates. Their families’ varied modes of Jewish engagement and observance are respected by the teachers and through the curriculum. Such diversity often complicates school policies. Yet, with families proud of being part of this community of difference, Hebrew Academy gratefully works through those complications to craft an educational environment that affirms each  family’s choices.

These Middle School students are excited to meander from shul to shul together this Shabbat, learning about the different movements while strengthening their connections with each other as members of one Jewish community.  

Shabbat shalom!

Q: How does kashrut work at Hebrew Academy?

A: Hot lunches and all other cooked meals and snacks prepared in the school’s kitchen are subject to supervision by the Va’ad Hakashrut of the Capital District. Several staff members serve as agents of the Va’ad, supervising daily operations such as checking packaged foods for hecshers (seals of various kosher certification-granting organizations) acceptable to the Va’ad, and attending to all kashrut requirements. Children may bring snacks and meals from home that are dairy or pareve (neither milk nor meat), and because students’ home kashrut standards vary, no sharing of food is permitted.

Choice, Accountability & Academic Excellence: How Projects Work

Many Hebrew Academy primary and elementary students choose to work on projects during their student choice time. A project, in multiage methodology, is a medium-to long-term educational effort chosen, defined, shaped, researched, created, and presented to peers by students. The learning is often multi-modal and the presentation often multi-media.

Broad project ideas emerge from the overall theme of classroom learning, with an initial list resulting from a brainstorming session. Students may declare their interest in working on one of the ideas solo or with others. While students lead the projects, teachers take many opportunities to guide their efforts. On any given day, teachers may encourage any of the following: clearer articulation of a project goal; more exact planning; a shift in perspective; exploration of new data sources; and refinement of the presentation. Peers are also daily sources of new ideas and creative solutions.

Student-led projects are different from assignments related to direct instruction. Regarding projects, a child may but need not sign up to work on one. Having signed up for a project, she may but need not work on it on any particular day. The principle of choice goes so far as to allow that if he loses interest, he may but need not complete a project.

How could it be, then, that projects promote personal accountability and academic rigor?  Here’s how it works:

1.   Student choice ignites a child’s intrinsic motivation to learn. As with adults, the more “into” something a child is, the more focused effort the child will put into it. With high motivation, great focus and effort, and regular consultation with both teacher and peers, a student’s learning is propelled well past basic expectations. 

2.   Because of the opt-out option, children feel fully in charge when sticking with a project. With the teacher’s help, students reflect on their capacities and internal drive. They learn to generate their own goals, actively interact with concrete materials, tools, and resources, and make sense of their experiences. They learn what it feels like to put one’s whole self into a project, and later in life, into any demanding task, effort or job. With each project chosen and pursued, children practice acting on their internal drive and using their full capacity. Putting one’s whole self in feels good and becomes a lifelong habit of mind and heart.

3.   The accountability of a project is first to one’s own learning and second to teammates and teacher. This promotes a habit of personal accountability that will serve our students throughout their lifetimes, for instance, when studying for cumulative high school exams, in the classes of less-than-stimulating college professors, when writing a dissertation or starting an entrepreneurial venture, and when parenting their own children. 

4.  Taking advantage of the motivation, effort, and focus of a project, teachers prompt students to meet a high standard of academic excellence with great success; no attitudinal barriers stand in the way! Every skill students learn during direct instruction can be honed sharply during consultations around a project.

To thrive in their 21^st century world, our graduates will need to:

• tap into their own talents and interests, 
• hold themselves accountable for an excellent result, 
• leverage the knowledge, wisdom and perspectives of others, 
• and put their whole selves into the work they are doing, and the different work they will be doing after that, and the yet-again different work they will be doing after that. 

Hebrew Academy’s projects are superb preparation for adult 21^st century lives filled with personal satisfaction and success.

Q. What if my child does not want to pursue a project -- should someone insist?
A. If a student is not ready to throw his or herself into the long, focused commitment to a project, the best course is to continue to build her/his skills, knowledge and confidence through direct instruction and learning centers. The teacher will continually watch for opportunities to stimulate curiosity and gently encourage the first steps toward that commitment. Seeing peers take that leap will also help. Hoisting a project on a student erodes the very foundation of its "magic."  Without the internal drive, the work will become externally focused, and the student will not get to experience the thrill of self-propulsion.

Math and Me and Q&A

This is a story about math and me. There’s a physics story that goes with it; I’ll tell that one another day.

It was the 70s. I collected frogs (not real ones). I wore denim overalls with a tiny teddy bear peeking out of the bib pocket, walked barefoot in the halls, and listened to Cat Stevens, Dan Fogelberg and Renaissance. I wrote maudlin, historically-set stories.

When I entered jr. high school, it was determined with scientific objectivity that I was average in math. Advanced in other subjects, but average in math. From that determination forward, public school very nearly prevented me from ever understanding mathematics.

Average meant I was assigned to “B track” classes and “B track” students got the system’s most blasé teachers. In our progressive, upper middle class, suburban public school, “A track” classes got the shining stars and “C track” got the never-give-up-on-a-student heroes.

First there was Inverted-Camel-Man (ICM). He reeked of sour body odor and breath. Poor ICM! Once, he pushed out his protuberant belly and popped a button that pinged like breaking glass all the way across the silent room. I don’t remember what subject he taught.

Then came two years of teachers so skilled and interesting that I can bring nothing about them or their subjects to mind. 

Finally, there was Mostly-Deaf-Burn-Out-Man (MDBOM), who always—but always—faced the blackboard rather than the students. Trails of cigarette smoke followed MDBOM from his office to the classroom. He was the one who answered, “Because you have a test on Friday,” when I asked why we were learning long geometry proofs. MDBOM became my last math teacher, until my last summer at university. 

Before we head off to my alma mater, SUNY-Binghamton, I must tell you that in both jr. and sr. high school, I was a B+/A- student in math, and I got a 93% on the NYS Regents Geometry Exam. 

Riviera Ridge Apartments, Vestal, NY. I still collected frogs and wore overalls. By now, I was into ELO, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen, and the Police, and I had accidentally fallen in love with Donna Summer and – horrors! – disco. In order to graduate from SUNY-Binghamton, I needed one math class. I signed up for it during summer session. 

Day one.  My jaw was clicking; I barely slept the night before. In walks my first math teacher in five years: a nun. A nun! A nun teaching Algebra/Trig. Oy. So, when the sister asked for questions, up shot my hand. “Why do I need to learn this?"

“I’m guessing that you are not an engineering student, or computer or hard science student, right?” She waited for me to nod ascent.

Nod.

“Then the truth is that you won't need it. Is the real answer that you are learning this because you need these credits to graduate?” Wait.

Nod.

“Do you like crossword puzzles?” she asked.

“Yes,” I answered. What an odd question! 

“So, you enjoy thinking for fun.”

“Yes.”

“What about this, then? What if you think about what we’re doing here just the way you think about completing crossword puzzles? Pretend it’s fun and see how it goes.” Wait.

Confused stare. Head tilt.  

“Can you try it?”

“I guess….”

“Good,” she nodded. “Next question?”

That June, I spent many happy hours drinking iced tea or Genny Cream Ale, and “doing” math as if I was doing a crossword puzzle. When I didn’t get something, Sister Anne explained it, or had a classmate explain it. Patiently. Again and again as needed. Once, I even got to explain a point to another student. Through some holy alchemy of attitude, kindness and connection, not only did I ace the class, I actually understood the math.

As I became an educator, I learned more about math and me. For instance, had someone noticed that I “got” English syntax and grammar, s/he could have built a bridge from that strength over my confusion:

(X² x Y) + 32 = 12.  This is a sentence. (“I understand sentences!”) It is broken into phrases or clauses (“I can see them”) that include nouns (“There they are”), verbs (“Of course”), and modifiers (“I totally get that”).

Instead, I relied on my memory to “earn” respectable grades while understanding little of value, and deciding that I was mysteriously stupid at math.

While I loved getting good grades in other subjects, in math classes, decent grades were my defiant refusal to be crushed. (“Watch, mom, I will ace this class and the Regents. Then I will never take another math class in my life.”) I knew that I had no clue what any of it meant. And while I refused to let others see me fail, I believed deeply in the mathematical stupidity that my good grades masked. 

That is, until a kind, patient and wise teacher broke through my certainty of failure and found a way to invite success.

Q. Without grades, how do you measure my child’s achievement?

A. Hebrew Academy teachers use recognized standards of achievement to assess your child’s progress and to determine what s/he needs to work on next. Where they are available, such as in Math and Language Arts, we hold ourselves and your child accountable to the Common Core Standards. For Spanish, Hebrew, Social Studies, and Science, we look to culminating Regents and other high school level exams or expectations, to set challenging goals. In Judaic Studies, we have developed our own standards, under Judaic Studies Dean Julie Pollack’s leadership, and we are always raising the bar. 

There has been much controversy about the Common Core in public schools. The debate is rarely about the standards themselves, but rather about how the state is deciding to test everyone (read: more standardized tests) and how it determines when all children of a given grade are considered accountable for certain material.

At Hebrew Academy, your child is deemed to be ready for this skill or that material when s/he has mastered the skill or material that leads up to it. Developing this much awareness of the standards and of each child (what is the next instructional point, how do I best deliver it for this individual, and does s/he have it yet) is the daily work of our teachers. They do it intensely and collaboratively, child by child, observation by observation, demonstration of mastery by demonstration of mastery. We are fortunate to have the teachers who devote themselves to each student in this way and to have the resources to support their efforts.

Why Multiage Classrooms?

                                         

This blog is also the Q&A. Enjoy!  Shabbat shalom, Rhonda

Q: Why Multiage Classrooms?

A: In response to extensive parental input regarding social and academic opportunities, and to secure the school’s economic viability, the Hebrew Academy board of trustees sought a new educational model that would support strongly differentiated instruction while allowing for larger and more diverse social groupings.  After extensive research nationally, the board became very interested in the writing of Multiage Learning proponents, and investigated this model deeply.  Once choosing it, they then sought a new head of school (me, ultimately) whose educational vision matched that of the school’s and who had the experience to lead teachers, parents, and students through the transition. 

Four Learning Advantages in Multiage Classrooms

1.       Differentiated Instruction—Teachers in multiage classrooms focus on the learning goals of each student rather than on a single set of goals for all students (e.g. “Fifth grade Language Arts”).  By combining ages, we dissolve the persistent though wrong-minded thought that everyone in the room ought to be at the same developmental place. This frees teachers to find the next instructional point for each student, regardless of age or the grade they would have been in. For instance, we have some 5 year olds and some six year olds reading at a “second grade level” while other five and six year olds are reading at kindergarten and first grade levels. One sixth grade student may be reading the Talmud’s Aramaic with beginner’s understanding while a seventh grader (who might be superb at Math) continues to master a Mishnaic statement in Hebrew. Differentiation addresses the reality that every person learns differently and at a different pace. By acknowledging that reality and using it as one’s teaching (and parenting) premise, we adults can foster rather than hinder growth for each child.  “I can’t,” becomes, “I haven’t yet.”  And “I can,” becomes, “I can now do X and next up is Y.”   “I can’t” stops the train; so does “I can.”   In each of these frames of mind there is nowhere else to go.  In the former case, the child can never achieve it; in the latter case, the child already has achieved it, so that’s that.  By deeply individualizing (differentiating) instruction for these children, they are motivated rather than stopped; they want to progress from where they are now to a new place just over the horizon.

2.       Individual Attention and Assessment—The heart of instruction in a multiage classroom is the individual student, so each student is regularly listened to, thought about, encouraged, and directed according to his or her specific needs as identified regularly by the teachers over the course or two or three years.  While much of the work is done in groups, these groups are formed based on the teacher’s ongoing assessment of each member’s instructional (and sometimes social) needs.  Individual attention and assessment address the reality that children flourish when attended to deeply by caring adults. After a baseline is set in the fall, teachers revisit each student’s progress several times each week.  While whole group instruction sets a theme, a big idea, or a direction, individual and small group meetings, conferences, and assignments move the individuals along their own continuum of growth.

3.       Pursuit of Individual Interests—In multiage classrooms, part of each day’s learning takes place at centers and through projects.  These centers and projects are orchestrated by the teachers and often relate to the unit theme or big ideas, but they are chosen by each student.  Do I feel like writing? Listening to music? Doing a computer search? Solving a puzzle? Playing a math game?  Do I want to work alone right now or with my friends?  Teachers note what each student is drawn to, and in subtle ways encourage students to stretch themselves and, at times, take small social and intellectual risks.  Student choice addresses the reality that everyone’s set of passions and talents is unique, and that life fulfillment comes when it shapes one’s  work, learning, communal, and social choices.

4.       Opportunity for New Friendships—Each year in a multiage classroom, a student is part of the youngest, the middle or the oldest group in the class.  As each grade group “graduates out” from a class and another group “graduates in,” the social dynamics change.  Last year’s novice may become this year’s old hand.  Last year’s confident eldest may have to work through shyness again.  Personal growth is presumed normal. The social reinvention children undergo periodically, that is so very difficult when one travels with a static set of peers, is encouraged in this combination of stability and change.  In our slightly larger classes there are more options; over the years those options grow, not only in number but also in quality.  Opportunities for new friendships address the reality that as children develop, they crave the stimulation of different relationships.

"Learning is the Work"

I am experimenting with a new format for communicating with you: a Looking Forward blog to replace my weekly column.  

At the end of each entry, I will include FAQ that has come to my attention. (Please email your questions to me at rrosenheck@hacdalbany.com. I will strive to incorporate them in a growing FAQ compilation.)



My starting point today is the words of organizational change maven Michael Fullan, who writes, "Learning is the work."  And so it is at Hebrew Academy, among the children and the adults on whose learning I am focusing today. 



Our assessment format has changed from grades to narratives in our K-7 classes, and our faculty is exploring how best to paint the portrait-in-words of your child(ren)'s learning. Julie Pollack, Patty Balmer, the teachers, and I are working collaboratively to ensure that each of their descriptive reports is clear, accurate, and revealing, and that it relates to the standards and goals to which the student is being held. Once you've read them, we look forward to your feedback.



We have learned that without the information once provided by homework, tests and grades, parents were getting less information, and so we began seeking alternative approaches to keep parents looped in regularly. I know that many have started to see the results of these efforts already.

As for me, the educational leader, I am also seeking clearer and even more transparent modes of communication. It is understandably scary to let go of the familiar "code language" of grades and grade level. Yet that is what I ask of each parent.  Our teachers have the talent, skill and perseverance to bring out the best in each of their students. I believe you will discover that this daring approach, taken on wisely with this profoundly skilled faculty and with strong leadership support, prepares students for successful future learning and work far better than the "sort and label" industrial-age model of graded classes and graded children.




FAQ ~ How will high schools know in which classes to place Hebrew Academy students in ninth grade?

A ~  Several of the local high schools’ guidance counselors asked that we retain the traditional grading system in eighth grade. They affirmed that descriptive assessment prior to that year will have no negative impact on placement decisions for high school classes. As preparation for their transition to high school, our 8^th grade will be a stand-alone (not multi-age) class, with Regents coursework and subject grades from which the high schools can easily make placement decisions. The schools' guidance counselors already understand that a Hebrew Academy education gives students a solid foundation for high school; as we communicate with them about our new approach, we are confident that they will be even further impressed.