Mussar on the Court

I think we can all agree that a great way to connect with (some of) our students is through the basketball court. Being that it is an educational tool, it is important to remember how to act on the court as well. This story was a real shock to me when it happened, but I was content with the way it ended.

I knew it!!

We all know it is true, but how can we cram Recess into such an already overpacked dual-curriculum schedule?

Ridiculous

I hope the Yeshiva Day Schools in Pittsburgh do not pull the same shtick.

(If they do get it, I hope it is because of the depression of a terrible Steelers loss).

Let it Snow!

Today was one of those most magnificent days in the life of a teacher, a snow day. Of course, I am concerned about the potential lack of Talmud Torah/Tefillah B'Rabim that may face many of the students. There has to be a way to reach our students on snow days, even if not in a formal way. However, in some way we must try to spread the Torah out even on snow days. I know that at our school there is always a late Minyan on snow days a one of the schools as well as optional learning after. NCSY also runs a Minyan and programming from a different Shul. What more can we do?

Check this video of President Obama's reaction to school cancellations in Washington D.C.

Good Title

Apparently Dr. Marvin Schick recently delivered an informal and entertaining talk on the topic of "From Satmar to S.K.A. to...: Jewish Education in North America Across the Orthodox Spectrum and Beyond!" at the Gruss Kollel in Jerusalem. 

It is available at YUTorah.org (here).

Just planting seeds

Not that our goals should be about money, but this does remind us that we are just planting seeds as educators.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/education/31jimmy.html

Parshas Shemos

Just a quick idea from the Emes L'Yaakov:

Most of this week’s פרשה details the birth, development, and appointment of משה רבינו as the leader of בני ישראל. Yet there aren't many details in the פסוקים. Perhaps this is what motivates רש"י to make the comments he does on a פסוק towards the beginning of the פרשה.

פרק ב' פסוק ז' says "...וקראתי לך אשה מינקת מן העבריות..." - “…and summon for you a wet nurse from the Hebrew women…”. Miriam volunteers to find a Hebrew to nurse Moshe. רש"י quotes the מדרש that states that the fact that מרים specified she would get a wet nurse from the "עבריות" teaches us that בת פרעה took משה around to many מצרי women to for them to nurse משה, but משה didn’t nurse from them "לפי שהיתה עתיד לדבר עם השכינה" – “because he was destined to speak with ה' in the future.” Apparently, as an infant, משה knew he would be speaking to ה' and didn’t want to contaminate his mouth with Egyptian milk.

The שפתי חכמים asks, how do we know that משה refused to be nursed by מצריות specifically because he was going to speak with ה'? Maybe it was because he recognized his mother – he was already 3 months old and had been nursed by יוכבד!? He answers that it says "ותצפנהו" - Yocheved hid משה for three months. Presumably, משה was hidden in the dark and therefore probably did not recognize his mother. And so the מדרש’s explanation – that משה’s refusal to nurse from מצרי women was because of his role in the future – is a reasonable one, according to the שפתי חכמים.

Interestingly, this idea is cited as the מקור for a particular הלכה. The רמ"א in Yoreh De'ah (פא:ז) says that חלב מצרית כחלב ישראלית - the milk is the same, whether it comes from an Egyptian woman are a Jewish woman. He continues, though, that nevertheless, a Jewish child should not be nursed by a מצרית if a ישראלית is available (because the milk from an עובדת כוכבים will dull a child’s heart and make the child bad-natured).

The Vilan Gaon says that the רשב"א cites משה רבינו as the source. Since משה refused to be nursed by a מצרית, we try to avoid it as well. But as the אמת ליעקב points out, this is a strange source for the הלכה! Moshe's refusal was because of his destiny – his future – when he would converse with ה'. Is that really applicable to all of the children of כלל ישראל?! Do we really think that every child will talk to הקב"ה?

The אמת ליעקב answers with a beautiful idea about חנוך. No, we don’t think every child will speak to ה', but we do think that every child has the potential to speak to ה'. Therefore, the way we approach educating our children should be by thinking that this child could end up speaking with ה'.

I don’t know how literally we are to take this, but the message is an appropriate one. As parents and teachers, we should approach our children and students with that perspective – that they are capable of great things in the future. That’s how seriously we need to think about how we educate them. And perhaps more important than us realizing this, our children need to be told this – that they too are capable of tremendous things and can reach great heights.

Chalos Sheim

Check this article out.

Is there anything MiAkeiv about the word "school?" What about in Jewish schools? Should we make sure to place the word Yeshiva(t/s) in the title. Or Mesivta? Beit Sefer? 

"We decided from an early stage we didn't want to use the word 'school'," she told local newspaper the Sheffield Star."This is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning. One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school."Instead we want this to a be a place for family learning, where anyone can come.

"We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors. We wanted to de-institutionalize the place and bring the school closer to real life."

In Jewish day schools especially they try to create a community of learning, so is the word "school" too limiting?

Conference Conbrio

I recently saw this article on the New York Times website. I thought that it was incredibly interesting. After enduring a painful round of parent teacher conferences this year (which many have informed me were nothing compared to the disasters in other schools) I began to think about the parent teacher conference model. This trend of not only bringing students to the meeting, but actually having them conduct it really peaked my interest. 

I was surprised that many of the students feel comfortable with this, but apparently they do. Having them present or even running the meeting cuts out a lot of miscommunication and answers a lot of questions. If a parent explains to me (as many did) that their child who is doing well in the class is, in fact, bored by the ease of the material and the pace of the class, we can ask this child if that is the case or whether they are working to earn the A. If parents are hearing different stories about work and assignments from the teacher and the student, with everyone present the real story will probably come to light. These are some basic examples of how having the student there helps. 

I don't know how comfortable I would be with the really open conferences where siblings and grandparents are welcome. I can see that becoming a big distraction, and I don't really see the advantages of having these extended family and friends present at all.

One of the authors on this blog told me that in a school where he had worked they not only had parent teacher conferences, but they also had a day of student teacher conferences. I thought this was an extremely wonderful idea. It allows all students, both those performing well and those who are not, a chance to personally discuss the class and their performance. It also is formal which, hopefully, helps the students realize that it is a legitimate attempt to make their personal learning experience better. There is also something nice about the teacher having a one-on-one with all of their students once or twice a year. (I'll allow the author to elaborate in the comments).

Either way, I think it's time to spice up those conferences.