Long-Distance Shlichut

When I was in 11^th grade, a group of Israeli kids came to visit our public school. They discussed their lives, touched on Israeli politics and spoke frankly about different aspects of Israeli society, their impending draft into the Israeli army and their complex relationship with a complex society. The visit was an intensely meaningful one for me and helped cement my decision to make aliyah.

Various Jewish and Israeli institutions, including the Jewish Agency, the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry and several private organizations continue to organize such visits but the young ambassadors can't reach every school.

Last week JETS used distance learning to "bring" a young man named Ze'evi , to the classroom of Yeshivat Kadima where he spoke about his military service in a combat unit.

Ze'evi spoke frankly about the difficulties of serving in sensitive areas, specifically serving in the  Judea and Sameria region. The students have heard, and debated the different issues involved, but the real-time visit with Ze'evi helped them to see the concerns from the perspective of someone who had actually served in the region. 

girls class
JETS has created an opportunity for the school to run a
simultaneous boys and girls class, with the same
marterial and the same teacher, but in an environment
in which the students are separated by sex

Ze'evi discussed subjects that the JETS-Yeshivat Kadima Contemporary Jewish Issues class has been exploring during the past year, including the dilemma of whether Israel should negotiate with terrorist organizations in order to free captives. 

The kids had many questions. They asked about the military operations in which Ze'evi participated, the qualifications that combat soldiers must have, how soldiers request a specific unit, Hesder yeshivahs, etc.  

The students were particularly interested in hearing Ze'evi's view of the media reports that they've read criticizing the Israeli army, specifically the charges that the army indiscriminately hurts and kills Palestinians. Ze'evi responded  from the standpoint of a former soldier, explaining that soldiers frequently find themselves in dangerous situations but, per army rules, aren't able to do what they would have liked to  do to protect themselves and their fellow soldiers.  He summarized the soldiers' frustrations at the situation and noted that no other army in the world goes out of its way to protect civilians in the way that the Israeli army does. 

boys class

The students had many more questions which demonstrated the depth of their curiosity about the possibility of aliyah, as well as their evolving personal connections to Israel. One young student asked Ze'evi to summarize the most meaningful experience that he had as a soldier. Ze'evi gave a few examples relating to the camaraderie of the soldiers, but noted that one of the most moving moments of his army experience occurred when he visited the kotel with his unit and was asked to pose with an elderly American tourist. As the man, a Holocaust survivor, stood with 20 young soldiers he began to cry, and, Ze'evi, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, cried with him.

Project Based Learning and Marrano Art

Jake's Marrano Art -- hiding Jewish documents

Who would put a mezuzza in a Madonna's foot? Why would a Jewish family send their son to become a Catholic priest? Why does the holiday of Purim resonate with so many "Catholics?" Where did the tradition come from, among some "Christian" families in Spain, Portugal and South America, to keep locked rooms and secret cellars in their homes where they would light candles on certain days? Why do some "Catholics" clean their homes on Friday, turn their mirrors around when someone in the family dies and refuse to eat certain types of meat?

It's difficult for 21^st century Jews to imagine the turmoil and terror that the Jews of the Iberian peninsula experienced when the rulers of Spain and Portugal instituted the Inquisition. We can read about it and try to envision it, but most of us fall short of fully understanding what Jews of those times were forced to do to try to preserve their faith. How can we, as Jewish educators, impart the depth of Jewish history to our students?  

Over the course of the 2013-2014 school year, JETS director Smadar Goldstein has been teaching an online high school history class to 9^th – 12^th grade students at Yeshivat Kadima in St. Louis. In order to enable the students to view themselves as part of the continuum of Jewish history and tradition, Smadar employs online tools to foster project based learning, including the following elements:

• a compelling driving question
•  student choice regarding topics and modes of expression
• in-depth inquiry the requires student research and analytical thinking

to make the past "real" for the students.

This month the class is studying the impact that the Expulsion of 1492 and the subsequent Inquisition had on the Jewish world of the era. To drive home the lesson of what life was like for Spanish and Portuguese Jews of the 15^th century, Smadar assigned the students to create projects which summarize Jewish life of the era. Some students chose to create a timeline of Jewish history, but many of the students decided to tackle creating a Marrano Art Project. This assignment aims to demonstrate some of the ways that Jews used to ingenuously hide ritual objects along with a page detailing a "Day in the Life of the Marrano." This project helped the students internalize the complexity of the quandary faced by the Marranos, and the blessings of religious freedom. 

Aaron's project

Elianna's Project

Elianna's Project

Jake's Project

Sammy's Project

Yoni's Project

A Link in the Chain: Tips for Teaching Jewish History in Elementary Schools

Educators have often been guided by a conventional "wisdom" that students in grades 5 and 6 do not yet have a sense of historical thinking. This idea is challenged in an article entitled "Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years: A Review of CurrentResearch"  by Amy von Heyking,  in which she concludes that:

1. Thinking historically does not just mean thinking about the past; it involves seeing oneself in time, as an inheritor of the legacies of the past and as a maker of the future. 

2. Many studies support the claim that elementary children and adolescents can develop quite sophisticated historical thinking skills within an appropriate context of active engagement with source material, alternative accounts and teaching that scaffolds children's emerging understandings and skills.

3. Understanding change over time is central to historical thinking.

4. Children who are able to appreciate the subtleties of historical change are those who can make connections with their own experiences.

These ideas are quite relevant to Jewish education, which attempts to help students view themselves as part of the continuum of Jewish history and tradition. In a recent article published in Hayedion entitled "Inheriting the Past, Building the Future: Developing Historical Thinking in Upper Elementary Student", JETS associate Stan Peerless, in collaboration with Lisa Micley, apply von Hayking's conclusions to Jewish education. In the article, they describe new online Jewish history modules being developed by Behrman House that can be integrated into different curricular areas in 5^th and 6^th grade Jewish studies. The program utilizes the idea of a time travel app that enables the children in the story to experience different events, personalities, and periods in Jewish history as they search for answers to essential questions that derive from their contemporary lives.

The article includes examples from the curriculum that demonstrate how von Hayking's principles are incorporated in the program.  These examples also indicate the degree to which online learning can be used to make classroom learning experiential.

The authors conclude with guidelines for teachers who might want to create their own Jewish history modules for upper elementary students:

·      The first principle that can be derived is that history teaching does not begin in the past. Rather, it must begin in the present, with the actual experiences of the students and with issues that they or their contemporaries face.

·      The second principle is that students should be introduced to the broad strokes of historical change in Jewish history rather than to isolated events that occurred on specific dates.

·      The third principle is that the historical changes found in history must be explicitly tied to the personal lives of the students and their contemporary reality. Furthermore, the students must be actively engaged in discovering and formulating those connections.

Effective teaching of Jewish history can provide students with a learning experience that fulfills the function of historical learning as described by historian Gerda Lerner: "It gives us a sense of perspective about our own lives and encourages us to transcend the finite span of our life-time by identifying with the generations that came before us and measuring our own actions against the generations that will follow … We can expand our reach and with it our aspirations."

JETS online history class "Comparing the Land for Peace issues that the Jews of  the Roman era faced with the Land for Peace issues that Israel faces today:

                  

Developing Historical Thinking in Upper Elementary Students

Developing Historical Thinking in Upper Elementary Students 
by JETS co-Director Stan Peerless

Weird Warfare, the Divine and Stories from Under the Ground: A Virtual Visit to the Middle East

The history, ethnicities, diversities and conflicts of the Middle East undoubtedly account for some of the most confusing subjects of world studies. While Americans are bombarded almost daily with news stories about the events that take place in the region, surveys of the American public indicate that few Americans actually have even a basic understanding of the issues that are involved the region's geopolitical conflicts.   

For the past 5 years JETS Israel has been working with public and private schools throughout North America to provide a comprehensive overview of the Middle East in an interactive elearning environment. In the spring of 2014, JETS launched an engaging course on the Middle East with the 6^th graders of St. Agnes and St. Dominic in Memphis TN. The Israel-based instructors meet the class weekly via video-conferencing to present the course material, answer questions and guide the students to a deeper understanding of the historical background behind today's Middle East.

             

One of the most popular sessions, Weird Warfare, takes the students through the centuries as they examine warfare in the Middle East in ancient and modern times. The students are challenged to understand how the geographical, economic, and political realities of the ancient Middle East made Israel a battleground throughout the ages. They then compare the explosive nature of the Middle East today, as they consider many of the same issues which occupy the minds of world leaders: Should the U.S. continue military aid to countries in the Middle East? Why is Israel pulled in so many directions? How does an analysis of history affect Middle Eastern nations' military decisions today? In addition, they look at ancient and modern weaponry, and the military strategies associated with both.

     

Each lesson includes a follow-up assignment on the class Haiku Learning Management System page with engaging activities that push the students to delve into the subject more deeply. 

  

Through this session of the course, the St. Agnes – St. Dominic youngsters' have certainly increased their knowledge and understanding of the Middle East, and are  better-informed about the issues that affect their world.   

Jewish Teachers, User-Friendly Tools and Easy Entry into the World of 21st Century Online Learning

"At the beginning it all seemed overwhelming but as we went through each tool, I really felt like I had a virtual toolbox of how to make learning more interesting and engaging for my students...all of the follow up emails with links and the recorded classes gave us the ability to listen whenever we wanted and go back to the links via the haiku…these aids took the pressure off a bit".

When I signed up to take the JETS No Teacher Left Behind online course, I found myself diving into a world that seemed to be light years away from my previous teaching reality. Online bulletin boards? Linos? Google forms? Vokis? Vocaroos? Spreadsheets? Presentations? Who was I kidding? I still lived in the world of chalkboards and textbooks.

It turns out that chalkboards and textbooks translate very well to the digital age. All over the world, kids as young as 1^st grade are learning more and stretching their limits with synchronous, blended and asynchronous learning which can be delivered on a tablet or PC screen.

I was astounded by the No Teacher Left Behind course. I may not have been the most technologically-advanced student in the virtual classroom, but I expanded my horizons as I explored the different options that were at my fingertips which would allow me to present material via new and exciting techniques to students who lived anywhere in the world.

My NTLB course provided me with a base for using elearning tools and ideas to engage and challenge my students about almost any subject. Each year, JETS runs three such courses in which educators from around the world meet virtually and become acquainted with the new world of distance learning. This interactive course provides ample opportunity for hands on experience, as each participant prepares and presents a model lesson which is reviewed by the instructor and the other students.

The spring 2014 course ended a few weeks ago and educators from North America, Israel and Europe shared their reflections about the course.

"The instructor was absolutely excellent, what a joy to work with such an experienced educator. I was also pleasantly surprised by the level of the participants and loved learning from and with them. And so great to see all those motivated Jewish educators!"

"As we work with various students (day school, supplementary school, agegroups) it might be an idea to combine participants according to their target group. On the other hand, I loved seeing all these different perspectives."

"The fact is that working with these new educational tools is not as complicated as I expected. The choices were excellent; most could be applied directly and it was fun to use them to create teaching material. The lino board, in particular, was an eye-opener. For me, this is just a beginning and I am looking forward to learning more, especially about curriculum development for online teaching."

"I especially liked the fact that it was so interactive. And the course taught me that I can use so many different kinds of new media in online learning as well as in classroom learning."

"The course showed me new tools and taught me how to use them. Some tools I already knew, but I just had no idea I could use them as teaching tools. The course also motivated me to try those tools and practice using them."

"I gained a lot of new tools, and more importantly a new way of looking at learning - how do we learn online differently than we learn face-to-face? What are the advantages that we can use and what are the challenges we have to watch out for?"

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Making the Aliyah Story Real -- Shutafut Partnership

When I was 14, I came across Leon Uris's book Exodus and my life was changed forever. I identified with the history, the struggles, and the exhilaration of the people who made their way to the Land of Israel to build the country and work to create the state. I decided then and there that I would live in Israel. 

My aliyah differed significantly from that of the late 19^th century halutzim , even though I was a founding member of a new kibbutz for a while. We did move some rocks and bicker over ideology but we had plenty to eat and comfortable living accommodations. The only thing that I needed from "back home" was tuna fish and chocolate chips (novelty items in Israel in the mid-'80s).

Aliyah isn't a step that everyone can take, but it's still a concept that speaks to the imagination and longing of Jews worldwide. To give youngsters a sense of the magic and feeling of wonderment that aliyah engenders, JETS uses online tools to help them develop an understanding of why so many individuals are prepared to uproot their lives in order to be a part of the Jewish country.

Throughout the year, the TALI Shutafut program has been building towards the highlight of the year – the opportunity for the Israeli and American students to join together in their celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut.

After building up to the aliyah unit with units that examined the ethnic origins of Jews around the world and the challenges facing Diaspora Jewish communities, the May Tali unit is focusing on an overview of the reasons that Jews choose to make aliyah, the challenges that they face, and the aliyah stories of different ethnic groups.

The aliyah unit encourages the American and Israeli partner-classes to join together to examine some of the reasons that Jews make aliyah, despite the difficulties. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of Ethiopian Jewish aliyah, both on Israel and on the Ethiopian Jewish olim themselves. 

The students are also given the opportunity to consider the concerns that making aliyah raises such as moving to a new land with a new language that is far away from family and friends.

The unit concluded with inspiring personal aliyah stories that underscore the unique connection that Jews of all backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and religious affiliations feel for Israel.