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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.

Collaborize Classroom is a free, online learning platform for teachers and students to create structured discussions in a private online community. Students can expand on discussions as well as interact with online lesson plans that allow for deeper participation inside and outside the classroom.

Interesting blog post about whether or not technology can replace teachers. This blog says "teachers are still the heart and soul of Jewish education".

Learning Never Stops is a site that offers a wide variety of current events articles for students to read. Users can browse for articles by searching one of their eight categories and many articles come with ready made quizzes. What separates Newsela from other sites is the ability to set the articles to varying reading levels.

Howard Rheingold speaks about how to know if a Web-based source is reliable.

I like that term Crap Detection. Literacy is so important. Not everything you read or see on the web is true. Haha. Seriously though, he makes a good point about the site that mentions MLK that is really a white supremecy site. I also feel like I have to be very careful when I send out links to parents to check out. I do this in all my mass emails because it's a good way to continue the discussion and learning. But one time I sent out a youtube video and in the comment section there were some bad words. So important to scroll to the bottom. Another time one of my teachers was using this site to get prayers off of but then realized it was a Jews for Jesus site that was cloaked as a Jewish site. Oye. She was mortified. So important to know how to detect crap! Especially when you can't smell the screen but have to dig a little deeper with your eyes.

Jewish Day Schools are moving steadily into the 21st Century. This new site is for Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivot. It's an opportunity for these schools to bring technology into their programs in a clear and enduring way. The site also allows teachers and administrators a forum for discussion and collaboration.

Teachers are continually looking for ways to enhance student collaboration in the classroom. Student collaboration in the classroom can add much-needed variety to the standard, traditional lecture style of teaching. Classroom collaboration also encourages communication and cooperation among students and in effect allows them to teach one another.

NOTE: You might also be interested in My Best Posts On The Basics Of Small Groups In The Classroom You might also find my Education Week Teacher post, Response: Do's and Don'ts for Better Project-Based Learning, useful.

Great presentation about mobile learning. Hebrew school like camp, Skype classes.

He uses an image of a young/old woman on one of his slides. I use this same image (along with some others) in the first few days of class to talk about perception and acceptance of others' viewpoints. For me, it is a matter of figuring out how to change within the framework of my school. I only have so much flexibility in what I am allowed to do. I can use tools and technology, but have to seek approval for any new technology tool (online forums, social networking sites, etc.). My school is talking about having students sign up for Judaic Studies courses online to broaden their choices of topics. I am not sure what impact this will have on the teachers on campus, as these students would then not need to be in a physical class for their Judaica requirement. I think it is important that we look at alternatives for Jewish Education, we don't lose our human resources on site.

Another article about tablets being used in the classroom setting

Tablets will be the new spiral notebooks, every student will have them. Even in our Synagogue supplemental school, we are moving away from computers with keyboards and more in the direction of having tablets for the students to work on. Hebrew apps continue to get better and I hope one day our Jewish games will be as tech savvy as the best of the X-Box or whatever counsel games. We're on the right path but we are not there quiet yet.

Another benefit of using the tablet is that it isn't as likely to get left at school, like textbooks are now, they weigh less, so much less impact from those backpacks kids lug around with them all day and finally, when kids want to read or work on an assignment they easily can. Not just at a time or place where they are suppose to. I think having a flash card program on a tablet or hand held mobile device can be a great tool for Hebrew teachers to use also for vocabulary. Morah Rickey uses Quizlet for our class. So I agree with EK that we are on the right path in this respect.

An organization that is "Re-imagining Jewish Education for the 21st Century" by developing and networking educators (I'm spending my week at their conference!)

In Australia, teachers at a yeshiva are used remote control devices for classroom instruction.

A great slide show differentiating collaborative as a philosophy of learning in which the learners have tremendous control of output etc. Cooperative is defined in terms of a structured approach to learning in which teacher maintains substantial control even as students move through some sort of educational process together.

A must for teachers of Torah (and/or TaNakh). Lectures and articles by top Jewish educators provided by Yeshivat Har Etzion (in Hebrew & English)

NETA-CET is a cutting edge Hebrew language program, bringing Hebrew alive with print and digital media and face-to-face and virtual training for Hebrew teachers.

Welcome to the world of TaL AM and Tal Sela, a unique curriculum of Hebrew Language Arts and Jewish Studies geared to students in Grades 1 to 6. Based on years of research on the principles of language development and learning patterns, these two programs are nurturing a generation of Jewish children around the world who are literate in the Hebrew language and equipped with the knowledge, skills and commitment they need to live vibrant Jewish lives. This curriculum was developed by a dynamic team of writers and teachers in Montreal and in Israel, led by Covenant Award recipient Tova Shimon.

The Critical Web Reader (CWR) is designed to enable students, teachers, and schools to focus on effective teaching and productive learning using web information sources.

One of the more creative & modern approaches to parshanut, holidays,Torah, rabbinic literature, and more. Videos are mostly free, with inexpensive downloadable teachers' guides for support. Also have apps, mostly for younger kids. (From g-dcast.com: Jewish questions? Don't know where to get started? We've got you covered. Videos, apps, and interactive experiences for everyone.)