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Are students prepared for the future? Are they graduating ready to innovate? What are some of the skills students should have in order to have a successful future? The answers this article provides are inline with Tapscott's Eight Norms of Net Geners - no surprise to me!

An interesting article/blog post about the future of reform Jewish education, including 7 "criteria" for a 'robust' future of RJE

For all of us, learning was an innate part of life. It was something we just did, that was as natural to us as breathing. If not for this innate desire to learn and with it the ability to do so, we would never learn to walk, or speak or interact with others.

Check out Deborah's nephew rockin it in Israel. He is at Ramah Outdoor Adventure right now with my two kids. He's an amazing musician and we also look alike. But there's 15 years difference. I posted his picture on my facebook page. Have you ever met someone Jewish who looked exactly like you? Do you love playing the game Jewish geography? What if there was an app called Jewish geography and you could actively play it with people all over the world? This would be good for the Jewish community. Stick.com is kind of like that. Enjoy this great Jewish music!

This is a great article about integrating the smartboard into your lessons. We don't have smartboards at the Synagogue (not yet) but they have one at the day school and at the federation. I've taught some classes before for adult ed at the federation and for kids at the day school and using the smartboard is quiet an experience. It is so much fun and really is the future. Typical story though: We have this family who donated a smartboard to the school but then wanted the smartboard to be used in the same class as their daughter who will be in first. But the director want's to have the smartboard in fifth grade so it can maximize student learning. Plus, the first grade teacher doesn't know how to use it and doesn't really want to incoorporate it into her classroom experience. If you were the director, would you put the nicely donated smartboard where the donor wanted it to go in the first grade classroom with their child or use it in another classroom entirely because that's what would benefit the school? Or would you humbly say no thank you to the gift because it has strings attached?

I would let the donor know that it is best suited in the fifth grade class. However, anytime any teacher wants to use it, arrangements would be made so that they could use the smart board. That's what we did in our religious school. The classes that would most likely use the smart board received it in their room. But if a teacher was doing a special project or needed use of the smart board, the classrooms were switched so that someone else could use it if need be.

Makes good sense to me. Giving gifts with strings attached really complicates the matter and everybody loses in my experience.

Over the last few years, technology has reshaped the classroom in many ways - and is continuing to do so. From digital textbooks and platforms that make teaching often-complex STEM subjects simpler to deep data analytics that measure and predict student achievement, ed tech is addressing a number of issues in the nation's schools.