Gratz 40208B/70208B TFJE

Learning by small groups of students who work together in a common learning task.

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.

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.

Collaboration in the Classroom and Over the Internet written by Yvonne Marie Andres email yvonne@globalschoolnet.org Copyright 1995 Why Collaboration is Important Significant global changes are rapidly occurring and political boundaries are becoming less distinct. Certain issues such as the environment, terrorism, and inflation affect all populations of all countries.

The idea of people who work, "together in teams to accomplish common goals" makes good sense to me because it's utilizing all of our resources. Especially when planning for classes, there's no need to recreate the wheel. There are so many lessons out there. What is important is knowing your goals and then having clear objectives which help you attain your goals.

case based learning

Classroom collaboration can take many forms. Teamwork, group projects, and team games all fit under the larger umbrella that is collaborative learning. Working with other students can provide children certain benefits but may also come with its fair share of costs. Collaborative learning should only be used with a firm understanding of its basic...

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.

Number 1 June 1992 WHAT IS IT? Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject.

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.

The Vitality of the Hebrew Language What are the secrets of its survival? This article is excerpted from William Chomsky's magnum opus Hebrew: The Eternal Language, first published in 1957. Reprinted with permission from the Jewish Publication Society. How we can use Hebrew today. Teaching Hebrew to our students.

Yes we can use Hebrew! Reminds me of the Dali Lama meeting with the Rabbis and asking how did Judaism survive while in exile for 2000. One answer is Hebrew. I think Hebrew plays a big role in our continuity. It's a language we can all use for prayer and now as the every day language in Israel. I want my own children to know Hebrew so they can pray in Hebrew and read seferim, chant Torah/Haftarah, and study gemara. They have a ways to go but have to put it out there and I also realize it has to come directly from them too. Thanks for the good reference and link.

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.

Moving Traditions inspires people to live fuller lives -- and to work for a better world for all -- by advocating for a more expansive view of gender in Jewish learning and practice. Moving Traditions really focuses on specific gender roles. The organization embraces girls helping girls and boys helping boys, so that each gender can learn to help themselves. Also, you are sometimes more comfortable talking to someone who is the same gender as you.

This site/app is awesome because you can take a picture of the child's artwork and save it. Then for each year, or however you want to divide up the artwork, you can make a book. It also cleans up the clutter of having to keep everything! I used it this past year for our class pictures that I took. Each kid got a little book of our year in review.

Using Word Clouds are a great way to initially summarize something you are about to teach in class. After doing the reading, have the students summarize on their own. This gives many different ways of how to use a Word Cloud in the curriculum.

I have used word clouds (digitally made and hand-made on paper!) for students to show their understanding of different concepts. For a unit where students created their own tzedakah organization, they had to create a word cloud for their organization.

If kids love online gaming, why not connect it with their Jewish education?

A program for Elementary children combining Purim with Tikkun Olam