tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64961509950269312022024-03-21T04:08:30.024-07:00The Fifth ChildQuestions that touch on how the modern world interfaces with the Jewish past, present and future. Conversations on how we can devise practical tools to transmit what we know (or think we know) to the next generation.Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-34327239842487845182011-12-15T06:06:00.000-08:002011-12-15T06:06:04.082-08:00The Fifth Child has a new home (click here to be transported)The Fifth Child has moved to JCast Network. You can access my blog <a href="http://jcastnetwork.org/5thchild" target="_blank">here</a>. When you travel to <a href="http://jcastnetwork.org/" target="_blank">jcastnetwork.org </a> you'll find a lot of great content from <a href="http://jcastnetwork.org/bio/BlackJoe.html" target="_blank">Rabbi Joe Black</a>, <a href="http://jcastnetwork.org/bio/Lau-LavieAmichai.html" target="_blank">Amichai Lau-Lavie</a>, <a href="http://jcastnetwork.org/Schmoozer" target="_blank">The Schmoozer</a>, and many other Jewish cultural and educational leaders. Check it out!Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-39571202520638662012011-11-29T06:18:00.000-08:002011-12-09T13:35:16.147-08:00Occupy Jewish EducationSomething has been bothering me lately. Where are all the congregational educators? Let me back up. If you've read my previous posts, you know that I've been taking part in on-line conversations about Jewish education. They've been great. They've opened doors that lead to a bevy of potential Jewish futures. But there's one element that is noticeably absent. My colleagues. Congregational/complimentary Jewish educators.<br />
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Don't get me wrong. There's been a relatively large cohort of complimentary educators participating in the webinars I've "attended". There's a lot of irony here. Webinars are becoming "old school". They're "formal" learning environments in cyberspace - a lecture in the cloud. Sort of passive (though one can chat). They're like frontal teaching in a classroom. L'havdil, the twitter and google+ based conversations that have popped up (#edchat, #jedchat, Hangouts) represent a new type of "informal"and "experiential" learning. And it's here that we find a dirth of synagogue educators. Why?<br />
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Okay, I know - we're out there. Of course we are. The majority of students that are enrolled in some type of structured Jewish educational program attend supplemenatary/congregational schools (at least according to Jack Wertheimer's "<a href="http://shefanetwork.org/docs/TrendsSupplementary.pdf">Recent Trends in Supplementary Jewish Education</a>"). And yes there is some very very important work being done to transform the way the majority receives their Jewish education. One great example is <a href="http://www.innovatingcongregations.org/">The Coalition ofInnovating Congregations</a>, in the New York area. This community that has taken on Cyd Weissman's "<a href="http://cydtakeslomedchallenge.blogspot.com/">Lomed Challenge</a>" will ultimately change the face of complimentary Jewish education. Kol HaKavod. My issue is that a disproportionate amount of attention is being lavished on full time Jewish education, even though it does not service most of the students. PLEASE NOTE: This is not a critique of the Day School movement, which serves an incredibly important purpose. I'm commenting on a state of affairs that relates to (mostly) synagogue based education.<br />
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At the last two #jedchats, I attempted to ascertain if any congregational educators were present in that portion of the cloud. I asked the question: "Any congregational/complimentary educators here?" The virtual silence was deafening. All of the other participants were Day School/yeshiva educators. A couple of weeks ago, educational technologist Sarah Shapiro-Plevan (@shaplev)hosted a google+ hangout geared specifically to synagogue educators. The turnout was...well... underwhelming. Why does it seem that we are so underrepresented in the emerging Jewish cloud. Where is our digital footprint? We teach the majority. Why aren't we present?<br />
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Day Schools, like their mostly secular counterparts (both public and private) are beginning to devote a larger proportion of resources integrating technology into their programs. Most synagogues are not able too. Their leaders are too concerned about paying the electric bills. I know of very few synagogues (actually I've only heard of one or two) that have any type of specialist devoted to Information/Education Technology. Usually it's the innovative teacher or education director who will explore the cloud, usually on an antiquated PC or laptop. It's an issue of time and money. And that's the problem. We need to draw attention to ourselves. We need the world to see that "Hebrew school" isn't the same as it was. It's evolving. And it's worth investing in, like Day Schools. Jewish public money from Federations as well as from private funders stream into the Day School movement. Why shouldn't the majority receive a proportional level of this largess?<br />
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We complimentary Jewish educators need to raise our voices. We need the movers and shakers in the Jewish world to start noticing that we are transforming part-time Jewish education, creating a climate that will encourage our students to engage in a pluralistic Jewish life tomorrow. We must stretch ourselves, take a risk, enter uncharted virtual territory and raise our profiles. Let's participate in #jedchat (Wednesdays at 9:00 EST). We can join videoconferences such as the Google + Hangout #jewpronet, hosted by Darim Online's Miriam Brosseau (@miriamjayne). The next one is at 2:30 pm EST on Thursday, December 1. Of course, last but certainly not least, we can appear at the next congregational educator Hangout (#congedchat) taking place on December 6, at 12:30 pm EST. Contact Sarah Shapiro-Plevan (@shaplev) to "rsvp".<br />
<br />
Maybe now is the time to take a cue from the OWS movement as it's being evicted from physical space. <br />
Maybe now is the time to Occupy Jewish Education - at least in the Cloud. All in the name of Complimentary Jewish Education.Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-66174219198106627522011-11-01T10:26:00.000-07:002011-11-01T10:28:43.885-07:00The Big Bang - Adventures in Cyberspace<div class="MsoNormal">The universe is expanding. That’s the core of the Big Bang Theory. As the cosmos gets older, everything in it moves apart. Not to delve too much into such esoterica like Hubbles Law, I need to affirm - אני מאמין - I'm a believer. In the last week I experienced something akin to this phenomenon in my own universe. Let’s call it the Virtual Big Bang.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Last Wednesday I participated in the first #jedchat., organized by <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/dovemerson">Dov Emerson</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/akevy613" target="_blank">Rabbi Akevy Greenblatt</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/rabbiwex" target="_blank">Rabbi Meir Wexler</a>. What was special about this was its synchronicity. Dozens of Jewish educators from around the globe simultaneously came together on twitter to build a new professional learning network. This real-time inaugural conversation focused mostly on introductions and general brainstorming about how to use twitter to grow this nascent PLN. Suggestions for the topic of this Wednesday’s (November 2<sup>nd</sup> at 9:00 PM eastern time) were thrown out. We are all anxiously awaiting the result of the online poll that will ultimately determine what we’ll tweet about.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then, earlier this week I took part in a Google+Hangout, initiated by <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/miriamjayne">Miram Brosseau</a>, focusing on the bridge that is being constructed between technology and experiential education. If you haven’t yet experienced a G+Hangout, you should. All it requires is a Google+ account, a quick and painless browser plug-in download, a webcam and yalla…you’re in. Video conferencing is old news, I know, but what G+ seems to have done is created a free and seamless environment for folks (up to 10 at one time, according to Google!) to come together to explore and learn together. What was exciting about this hangout experience was that it expanded my PLN that has, up to this point been, in a large way twitter based. Now, these tweeting encounters are being enhanced by virtual f2f encounters that deepen the educational experience. And it’s always fun to see the face and hear the voice behind the tweet.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We’re in the midst of a process of learning and development. As we all know, technology has the tendency of not working at the most inopportune time. At a hangout I facilitated last week we found ourselves gazing at each other while using the phone - one of our participants had microphone issues. But you know, that’s okay. Let’s call it growing pains. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For the past few years there has been a lively discussion about the nature of community in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. What does it mean to be part of a group of people who may never physically meet? What are the ramifications of non-f2f encounters that take place in the cloud? Paradoxically, as social networks evolve and expand, (like galaxies moving through space), we individuals are drawing closer. The technology that expands our worlds is becoming the very tool that brings us together.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Boom.</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-20349572294369834122011-10-10T13:45:00.000-07:002011-10-10T15:33:58.379-07:00Steve Jobs, the Consumer, and Inventing the Jewish Future<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of all the recent retrospectives of the late Steve Jobs, the one that has had the most impact on me contained the observation that he “hated traditional market research”. It was a comment made by one of the guests (advertising consultant, Cindy Gallup) on the public radio show “The Take Away” on Friday, October 7. You could hear the entire recording <a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org/2011/oct/07/innovation-post-steve-jobs-era/">here</a>. Mr. Jobs believed that successful marketing and production must be customer centered, but that consumers don’t really know what they want. He believed in what Alan Kay once said: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” According to author <a href="http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/">Steven Johnson</a>, also on the same show, Jobs understood that a product’s design incorporated usability. It isn’t just what the product looks like; it’s how it can be used by the consumer. Jobs’ genius according to Johnson, was that he believed that when designing a product, “the totality of the experience of using the product” must be part of that design process. So what do we, as Jewish educators and innovators take from this?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The iPod was created to fill a vacuum. Its creators saw what was trending in the business of music: (napster and clunky mp3 players) and created something new, thereby creating demand and changing the way we listen to and buy music. This is the paradigm that could work for Jewish education.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When we design a Jewish experience, we need to remember that there is a delicate balance between the goals we set as educators for our constituents, and their desires and needs. Franz Rosenzweig was right when he taught us that the periphery leads us to the center. Whatever Jewish experiences we develop, they must relate to where our students and families are today. It can’t just look cool. They need to be practical, useful and accessible. But therein lies the dilemma. Do we, as Jewish leaders, design experiences that we believe will serve the purpose of (and forgive me for using this phrase but it actually is apt) Jewish continuity, or do we develop models that may, in the short run, seem appealing, but in the end, add nothing to creating a Jewish future? Another way of asking this question is: Do we want to fill a vacuum (like the iPod did) or do we want to enhance the already existing empty space of ideas that lead nowhere?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Following Steve Jobs lead, what we design must be multifaceted, and informed, though not determined by conventional wisdom. Just because an idea is popular doesn’t make it The Truth or The Answer. We are on a narrow bridge, and need to make sure that we don’t fall off into the chasm of irrelevance. The subtlety is following the teachings of Steve Jobs in creating a synergy between what we design, how it works and our roles as leaders.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So we need to pay attention to what’s trending in our congregations and communities. Parents are busy. Kids are overwhelmed. There is a drive to create models of juvenile Jewish education that can fit into our overscheduled families’ lives. The question is….will these experiments really lead to a Jewish tomorrow? Is “fitting in” enough? </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Collaboration, construction of knowledge and finding personal meaning are all guidelines that need to shape what type of Jewish experiences we design. We need to master the tools available to us in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, both digital and experiential to make Jewish life to enhance the usability of the “product” we design. The role of a Jewish professional is to learn from conventional wisdom and then apply knowledge and experience to invent a new future. </span></div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-29975447216157136422011-09-06T05:33:00.000-07:002011-09-06T05:33:54.225-07:00Of Quills, iPads and the New York TimesThe other day I opened up my print copy of the New York Times (yes, I still rely on that ancient form of technology: The printed newspaper.) I couldn’t help but notice the article on the front page, above the fold: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/technology/technology-in-schools-faces-questions-on-value.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig" target="_blank">Grading the Digital School: In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores.</a> The piece described how the drive to digitize classrooms has not led to improved student scores, as measured by current standardized tests. Its perspective, in part, mostly challenged the prevailing philosophy that educational technology will result in increased student achievement. As I read it, I couldn’t help but think that all this is beside the point.<br />
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It isn’t that using iPads and Google Docs will necessarily make our students smarter. For better or worse, we live in an increasingly electronic world. The screen of tomorrow will define how we will interface with our environment; just as ink and paper defined how previous generations interacted with their universe. What we as educators need to do is grasp how the ubiquity of digital technology is shaping the way our students learn how to live in their future. We need to redefine our paradigms and expectations so that we can help them be prepared for tomorrow.<br />
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Indulge me as I look backwards: This is something I wrote nine months ago:<br />
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<div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><i>Technology is not meant to be the end, but to be the means. Technology is a tool to engage our students. Web 2.0 has introduced us to new ways of creating and defining community. Just as the chalk board created new ways to create relationships between the student and the teacher and the nature of education itself, the digital universe we are entering is opening up new doors that will lead to a different learning and teaching reality. It is incumbent upon us to grasp this new type of chalk, and start writing on the virtual chalk board.</i></div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>I wrote the above words as part of a homework assignment for my just completed education technology certificate course. I called this, at the time, my edtech “mission statement”. I still believe it. My understanding of the ramifications of using education technology in the Jewish classroom has deepened as I’ve learned how these tools can be used. More importantly, I believe more than ever that ultimately all of these programs and applications are merely aides to help us achieve a final goal – creating a Jewish future.<br />
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Yes we have no choice but to embrace this digital universe - but not blindly. We need to be critical consumers, analyzing whether this gadget or that program will serve our needs. Will using a smartphone help our students learn to chant Torah? How? Will creating a VoiceThread effectively teach our students what the Amida is all about? What would be a more effective way to learn about midrash: Through bibliodrama or Animoto? We need to define our goals, and then determine the best way to reach them.<br />
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Yes, I believe now, more than ever, that 21st century technology is a means to an end. But I also am mindful that the words of Torah are written on animal skin using a bird’s feather and ink made of gallnuts. They can be just as meaningful on that ancient form of technology as they are on my iPad screen. It doesn’t matter how I let those words touch me; its that they do. And that’s the point.Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-44627495104751173272011-07-11T09:45:00.000-07:002011-07-11T09:45:24.981-07:00Variable Rates of Change<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing”. This little piece of wisdom was uttered by Thomas Jefferson in 1787. What does this have to do with Jewish education and social networks? Everything. </div><div class="MsoNormal">At the <a href="http://www.iste.org/">ISTE</a> (International Society for Technology in Education) conference I was immersed in a sea of digital technology. I attended classes and window shopped at the technology expo – an open market filled with vendors selling their wares, both hard and soft. At one of the classes I attended, educator and author <a href="http://www.tcpd.org/thornburg/thornburg.html">Dr. David Thornburg</a> explained how we are in the midst of a revolution that is changing the social and cultural matrices that define our society. He described how we are living in the third of a series of “disruptive technologies” that have shaped learning and teaching. The first took place thousands of years ago, with the invention of the phonetic alphabet. In the 16th century the world was changed through the introduction of mass-produced books. The current “mobile revolution” is impacting the way our students (who will become the adults/parents/consumers of the future) look and interface with the world. He stressed that we educators need to recognize the new “21st Century Literacies” of our age. Another presenter, Lee Crockett, author, artist, and co-founder of the <a href="http://www.fluency21.com/index.cfm">21st Century Fluency Project</a>, had his own criteria, which he not surprisingly called, “21st Century Fluencies”. Both lists are more or less similar. <style>
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</style>These intertwined concepts can be roughly called survival skills for the future. They define how our students view their world, and how those perspectives will shape what that universe will look like. They include the ability to:</div><ul><li>critically assess content and resource<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>prioritize between a myriad of stimuli</li>
<li>participate and collaborate<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>seamlessly integrate the different types of digital and social networks and media</li>
<li>engage in creative problem solving.</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">All these proficiencies are expressed within the context of living as global digital citizens.</div><div class="MsoNormal">The kids in our schools respond to a learning environment that is characterized by being relevant to their interests. A structure has to be in place that provides the opportunity for students to create something that is their own. It also has to be authentic - touching upon their real lives. Learning happens when what is being presented matters to the student. If the kids don’t care, they won’t learn. So we as educators need to foster a process of discovery that sticks to their souls. To accomplish this, we must bring our school parents into the picture. We need to encourage them to participate and collaborate with their children to create a truly personal sense of Jewish engagement. Our educational goals should relate to our families’ lives. Lee Crockett put it best when he said that learning in the 21st century is not about the teacher - it’s about the learner. Our families need to care about being Jewish. They need to be engaged in creating a Judaism that belongs to them. </div><div class="MsoNormal">So now we get to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tachlis. </i>How do we translate theory into practice? Our students (youngsters and their parents) need to be comfortable with the idea that God can be found at the beach, in their neighbor’s house, on facebook, Google +, as well as in the synagogue sanctuary. Teaching for tomorrow is defined as the art of curation and facilitation. Creating environments for self discovery, informed by our 4,000-year-old tradition as translated by Second Life and Apple, are the new roles for Jewish educators. There are no concrete answers and “how-to’s” to offer, because tomorrow someone may invent a new app “that does that” (whatever “that” may be). That’s the point. Change is constant. It’s the rate that is variable. That’s the paradigm for Jewish education today: Adapting and designing for Jewish engagement that is consistent with this rate of change. Let’s learn from Yochanan Ben Zakai, who was carried out in a coffin beginning the process that led to the writing down of the Oral Law, adapting Jewish life to a new post-Temple future. It’s no longer a question of what Judaism will look like next week. It’s what we, as educators, will do to make that change meaningful.</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Disruption has always been the Jewish norm. Rebellion to the Jewish status quo should not be a surprise or anathema. It’s what we learn from it that is important. This is the challenge that will define our future. </div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-64709428937008754202011-06-28T22:14:00.000-07:002011-06-28T22:18:40.039-07:00Finding Dragons in the Clouds<style>
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<div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">I remember, as a kid, lying on my back on the side of hill looking at the sky, finding a dragon, George Washington and a tree floating amidst the white, billowing clouds. I'm going to bet that most of us have had similar experiences, finding disparate symbols in the mist that resides in the sky. Clouds are made up of water vapor, much of which has previously fallen near or to earth and then evaporates. They are self-renewing. But I think they stand for something else: The infinite reaches of nature. For me a cloud summons Heschel's idea of radical amazement. So attending ISTE 2011 I find myself being amazed and amazed again. Not at the works of nature or God, (unless we believe that the Deity's Hand is in everything) but at the efforts of Woman and Man. It's not so much that I am blown away by the latest animation software or iteration of optical touch screens. I am. It's that we are not done yet. We are still Primitives. Next year at ISTE there will be new technology. New applications. What is innovative today will be passé next summer. But that really doesn't matter. What's important for me, at least, is what these works of humanity represent. It's the symbolism that I'm writing about.</div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">I have a confession to make. In the middle of the day today I escaped the world of apps and androids. I needed fresh air. I also had a pilgrimage to make. You see, I’ve never seen the Liberty Bell in real life. It’s always been a part of every American’s life. For my family and me, all being immigrants from the “old country”, it took on special significance, as my parents had chosen the freedom of America that The Bell represented. So I figured that I’d take a couple of hours to visit this symbol of liberty for which my parents risked their (and my) lives to reach.</div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">Symbols are something conceived by humans to represent something greater. Our Jewish tradition is full of them: the Chanukiah, challah, the mezuzah, and tallit to name a few. The Liberty Bell is an example of one of the icons of American secular religion. I was surprised by my reaction as I stood before this flawed chunk of metal. I was truly in Awe.</div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">As I gazed upon the cracked and silent bell, I realized that it’s message of liberty (an idea that was associated to the bell 100 years after its casting to protest the abomination of slavery) transcended its physicality. The Bell represents something greater than itself. It is a symbol that bridges the past with the future. </div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">What does this have to do with Google, Second Life, and wireless document cameras? These amazing constructs that astound us at their power are but transient symbols and signposts pointing to tomorrow. One of the sessions I attended focused on virtual games and simulations. The instructor (Dr. Greg Jones) pointed out that there is no definitive research that shows that using gaming and sims in the classroom results in higher student achievement. They are short lived. Tomorrow there will be something new. Dr. John Medina, the keynote speaker on Sunday also said that it is still to early to judge the long-term impact of digital technology on the brain. The ISTE conference and the drive to integrate education technology in our classrooms is not The Answer. It is a symbol for a direction that we are choosing to travel. It is representing a new way to interact with our environment, what we have learned, and what we will learn.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">In the Jewish world, we are also travelling this evolutionary path. We are used to it. We started out with Oral Law. Then we wrote it down. Then we interpreted it…again and again. That’s what the Responsa and commentary are all about. We’re still doing it. <a href="http://www.storahtelling.org/">Storahtelling.</a> <a href="http://alpha.mediamidrash.org/">Media Midrash</a>. <a href="http://www.bibleraps.com/">Bible Raps</a>. <a href="http://www.g-dcast.com/">G-dcast.com</a>. <a href="http://www.jedchange.net/">Jewish Education Network</a>. <a href="http://yu20.org/">YU 2.0</a>. There’s more. Things I don’t know about and things we haven’t yet thought of. And before all that I am…Amazed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Clouds represent the infiniteness of nature, and if you will, the Holy as It interacts with the physical world. The cloud that we are creating represents human potential. Just like the Liberty Bell. The cloud we are crafting does not reside in the sky. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lo BaShamayim Hee</i>. It resides in us, in our hearts. Clouds flit across the sky, ever-changing. The electronic cloud we are creating also doesn’t stand still. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We</i> shape its form and direction. We must remember that we are in the midst of an ever-changing process that defines intellectual and technological development. This also applies to how Jewish learning accommodates and adapts to contemporary reality. If we want a definition of Jewish survival, I think that’s it: We never stand still. We change our shape and form, but we won’t dissipate into nothing. We adapt and renew, taking on new forms. Just like clouds.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Before I forget, here's a picture of the Liberty Bell. Can you find the crack?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoU2b8c51Jp12ZuSmCT7483Oqjyp0sx7d1VrNq42BnGMRkVXDrBlMXnnCD-drXJo4syHA3TrPgnGRjiojEB1xWU89Sd2VJ-MDcOsgyh_QKKm_yLzT8GSfUPKEwxt2hEHKvFoA7JzKR8MEk/s1600/qrcode.839675.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoU2b8c51Jp12ZuSmCT7483Oqjyp0sx7d1VrNq42BnGMRkVXDrBlMXnnCD-drXJo4syHA3TrPgnGRjiojEB1xWU89Sd2VJ-MDcOsgyh_QKKm_yLzT8GSfUPKEwxt2hEHKvFoA7JzKR8MEk/s1600/qrcode.839675.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-8293166754883895732011-06-27T20:06:00.000-07:002011-06-27T20:06:04.214-07:00Lessons Learned in the Cloud...So Far<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">My head is spinning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first 36 hours at the <a href="https://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/">ISTE 2011</a> conference have left me intellectually exhausted. And my feet hurt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to tell you that the Philadelphia Convention Center is BIG.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what have I learned that I can share with you? Well, let’s frame it in this context:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are my “takeaways” after one full day at the largest educational technology conference in the world? Here’s a random and partial list:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>The conference keynote speaker was Dr. John Medina, author of the New York Times Bestseller, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Principles-Surviving-Thriving/dp/0979777747/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1">Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School</a></i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Medina, a molecular biologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine revealed that every person’s brain responds to the environment in its own unpredictable and unique fashion. If there is one generalization that can be made about the human brain, it’s that "it is designed to <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">solve problems related to survival in unstable meteorological settings while in constant motion". According to Dr. Medina, the best way to learn is in a setting that is characterized by “a</span>erobic exercise punctuated by islands of learning”. In other words, the classrooms in which we place our children, and the offices in which we find ourselves are incompatible with our biology. The implications are that when it comes to learning, there is no one-size-fits all. Brain research is the proof text.</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Learning is quickly leaving the realm of the traditional classroom, and is entering an augmented, virtual reality. Mobile technology, such as QR codes, smart phones, and iPads, will soon be mainstream tools in the classroom. We’re talking within a matter of a few years, according to the <a href="http://www.nmc.org/publications/2011-horizon-report">Horizon Report: 2011 edition</a>, an authoritative annual publication focusing on the future of education.</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>On another note, it seems that Google is striving to become the proprietor of all human knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t believe how many applications can be found with the name Google associated with it:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plan your next vacation with <a href="http://citytours.googlelabs.com/">Google City Tours</a>; explore the human body with <a href="http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/body.html">Google Body</a>; investigate the science behind a bottle stopper at <a href="http://www.google.com/patents">Google Patents</a>; read the front page of your favorite magazine or news paper at <a href="http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/">Google Fast Flip</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I could go on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t because there is so much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the main thing I’ve taken away so far is that many of the assumptions that we have held about the nature of knowledge, learning and teaching are being revisited and rendered, in some cases, irrelevant. It’s almost like we need to start over and rebuild what we think we know when it comes to teaching our kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowledge no longer resides only in books or in the minds of great teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can find it anywhere, and anytime we want. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What is great is that when it comes to the future of Jewish education, I’m going to be an optimist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many Jewish educators here. Some are associated with Dayschools, others with what’s called part-time or complimentary Jewish education:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>congregational schools, after-school programs and informal education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are all here to learn, with our general and secular education colleagues, how to build a better future for all of our students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an exciting time. There is hope for a Jewish future.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Oh, and there is one more thing I’ve taken away. Hand luggage isn’t always hand luggage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t plan on a quick getaway from the airport by meticulously packing all of your belongings in a small carry-on. The flights attendants may decide that there is no room for your small bag. Then Murphy’s Law will come into play:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your hand luggage will be the last piece to arrive. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Maybe some things will never change. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-53389201803528446832011-06-26T08:10:00.000-07:002011-06-26T08:10:00.673-07:00Flying Into the Cloud<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">There’s something about airports. I find them exciting. For me I think they represent travelling into the unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean I know that I’m flying to Philadelphia to participate in the <a href="http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/">ISTE11</a> (International Society for Technology in Education) conference, but I’m not exactly certain what to expect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a thrilling prospect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I understand is that thousands (according to one description I’ve read, 20000) educators and participants will be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Thanks to <a href="http://www.pelie.org/">PELIE</a> (Partnership for Effective Learning and Innovative Education) I’m going to have the opportunity to explore ways that Jewish education can be transformed, through the use of digital and cloud based learning experiences. My pedagogical toolbox will be restocked and refitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These new implements of learning and teaching can be means that will certainly enhance the way we engage our students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as the radio and television revolutionized what went on in the classroom in the last century, <a href="https://docs.google.com/">Google Docs</a>, <a href="http://www.edmodo.com/">edmodo</a> and mobile technology can transform learning tomorrow.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, I’m going with a specific goal – exploring how edtech can be integrated into the Jewish classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as secular education suffers from budget constraints, Jewish education (especially complimentary Jewish education) also is impacted by a deficit in financial support from synagogues, federations and national organizations. My hope is to explore how we can overcome monetary limitations and create vibrant Jewish educational experiences with the technology we already have, while advocating for increased investment.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For the next few days I’ll be blogging here about my experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are interested in learning more about this conference from a Jewish perspective, follow on twitter at #pelietech, #jed21 and #avichaifdn. For general info about the conference, follow #iste11.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Onward and Upward!</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-39665914158902700322011-06-23T06:12:00.000-07:002011-06-23T06:12:09.749-07:00Challenging Conventional Wisdom<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">One of the blogs I follow is <a href="http://jewschool.com/">Jewschool.com</a>– a site that presents fascinating, and at times challenging, perspectives of the current and future state of Judaism. I just read this piece by Dan Ab questioning conventional wisdom and the view that Day School education is the primary Jewish educational tool. The writer reiterates the point I have made <a href="http://thefifthchild.blogspot.com/2009/12/one-way-or-another.html">elsewhere</a>: That the majority of children receiving any type of Jewish education DO NOT attend Day Schools. He reminds us all that we must devote our efforts to a broad based and pluralistic approach that validates and supports the various forms of formal and informal Jewish educational experiences. I’m posting this piece as a reminder that as important as Day School education is, it isn’t the ONLY answer or option. There are many keys that will open the door for our children that will lead to future Jewish engagement. We must not put our proverbial eggs all in one basket. (Note: I’m cross-posting most of the piece. You can go <a href="http://jewschool.com/author/danab/">here</a> to read it in its entirety. I did not include the original last paragraph.) </span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Taking from the poor to pay for day schools is not the way to improve Jewish education</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">A recent article in the </span><a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/138654"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Forward</span></i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">, by Jerome A. Chanes</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">, discusses the perennial issue of why we must focus our Jewish education efforts on day schools and how to make them affordable. “The system, at least with respect to the most prominent prescription for the [Jewish] future — education — is broken. Jewish parents find themselves increasingly caught between rising day school tuitions and declining real-dollar income. Teachers’ salaries in many Jewish day schools are disgraceful. And because in tough economic times, schools cannot afford to alienate anyone, day schools are increasingly parent-driven — not necessarily a good thing. Add to these a rather flaccid commitment on the part of federations to Jewish education. The system is collapsing.” He worries that, “The Hebrew-based charter school represents a further erosion of the classic text-based Jewish curriculum… The charter schools take this erosion to a new, dangerous, level by separating Hebrew learning from Judaism completely.” He concludes that charter schools are a distraction and only reallocation of more Federation funds towards day schools will fix the broken system.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Chanes put forth an almost identical solution in a </span><a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/special_sections/education_careers/can_federation_superfunds_save_day_schools"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">2009 article for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The NY Jewish Week</i> </span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">. He hadn’t happened upon the Charter school bogeyman yet, but he did detail which priorities federations need to shift. He urges that federations spend more money subsidizing day school tuition and less money on gyms, immigrant aid, child care for those in need, and poverty programs. He rationalizes this by noting most of the poverty related federation programs spend a lot of money on non-Jews, and, “most analysts agree that Jewish poverty is, in 2009, not the pressing issue for the community.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Chanes is not the only opinionator preaching the doom of Jewish peoplehood that can only be avoided if we massively increase donations to day schools. I’m highlighting him because he’s one of the only ones brave enough – at least in 2009 – to say what charitable causes he considers less important than day schools. I (and a few millennia of Jewish ethical principles) might differ with his funding priorities. It’s also questionable if the UJA-Federation of NY, with </span><a href="http://www.ujafedny.org/get/43177/"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">annual grants of $167 million</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"> is even big enough to meaningfully subsidize the </span><a href="http://avichai.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Census-of-JDS-in-the-US-2008-09-Final.pdf"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">93,000 day school children just in NYC.</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"> I’m also doubtful federations would receive their current levels of donations if they followed his suggestions. Still, I give Dr. Chanes credit for being willing to propose where the money should come from.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">My bigger concern is that the basic solution for improving Jewish education woes through massive increases in subsidies to day schools, proposed by Dr. Chanes and others, ignores the greater problem we face in giving the next generation the education they need to live Jewish lives. In discussing the importance of day schools in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The NY Jewish Week</i>, Chanes notes that almost 30% of Jewish children in the NY area study in a day school or yeshiva. Even taking that number at face value, in the US region with probably the greatest proportion of Jewish day school attendees, over 70% of Jewish children don’t attend them! Many don’t receive any formal Jewish education. And there’s no evidence that any remotely realistic reallocation of Jewish philanthropy towards day school tuition subsidies will shift these percentages by a useful amount. For example, a </span><a href="http://avichai.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Dollars-Sense.pdf"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">2001 report from the AVI CHAI Foundation</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"> by Jack Wertheimer notes that, assuming a $10,000 cost per student, it would require an extra $1 billion a year to support a 50% increase US day school enrollment. An </span><a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/138723/"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">article in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forward</i> this week</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">—in the very same issue as Dr. Chanes’ article—details how a $65 million effort by the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education has helped created new day schools and improved quality, but did little to increase the total number of children actually attending.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Many day schools provide a quality secular education paired with more hours devoted to Judaics than any other option. The children who attend them are given the skills, and frequently the desire, to be vital and active members of our communities. Day schools have unquestionably earned the Jewish community’s intellectual and financial support. However, a narrow focus on supporting day schools as the primary means to educate future Jews shortchanges the educational needs of the vast majority of Jewish children.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">We need to find ways to bring more children into formal Jewish education, starting at young ages. We need to work together to improve the quality of Jewish education for children in all forms of educational programs. We need to innovate, document, and evaluate new models of Jewish education to increase the quality and content of Jewish education for children inside and outside day schools.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">New models like Hebrew language charter schools paired with afterschool education in Judaics (Dr. Chanes seems to have forgotten to mention the afterschool Judaics component in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forward</i> article), might be a good fit for some families and communities, but not others. Programs like </span><a href="http://www.kesherweb.org/"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Kesher</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"> and </span><a href="http://www.edahcommunity.org/"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Edah</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"> are trying to take the daily afterschool hours, when many families need childcare, and use them for Jewish education. I’m part of an effort to set up a similar program, currently called </span><a href="http://www.wmaja.org/"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">WMAJA</span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">, on the Maryland/ D.C. border. I described my vision in a bit more detail in </span><a href="http://www.uscj.org/What_I_Want_For_My_C8619.html"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">an article for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CJ Magazine</i></span></a><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">. These afterschool programs won’t be the right fit for every Jewish family, but they do have the advantage of being mostly self-supporting (after the start-up years), and they can give children who aren’t in day schools – for a variety of reasons – more Jewish education than they’re currently getting.</span></div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-52214800011537111132011-06-10T05:41:00.000-07:002011-06-10T05:41:06.124-07:00Genesis Redux<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1in 10pt;">“The medium, or process, of our time – electric technology – is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life...Everything is changing…Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men [sic] communicate than by the content of the communications.” (Marshall McLuhan)</div><div class="MsoNormal">These prescient words were written by Marshall McLuhan in his ironically entitled book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Medium-Massage-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/014103582X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307648197&sr=8-1">The Medium is the Massage</a></i> in 1967. The volume was an accessible explanation of his earlier (and denser) work. His premise, ergo the title, was that:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1in 10pt;">“All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive…that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Facebook has changed the world. It’s not so much WHAT’S said on this social network. It’s how it is said. It is the way we make ourselves known. We declaim. We share private moments. We express our opinions without regard of who reads our words. Being a friend is now a verb and relates to people who, in the past, we would have ordinarily forgotten. We publically open ourselves up to the world. The public square, once the center of town, is no longer a place where we need to physically gather to find out “what’s happening”. It is nowhere and everywhere. It is the global, virtual, social network. The soapboxes upon which we stand are plugged into an available power outlet.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what do we do about this? Embrace it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If what we say becomes, as McLuhan wrote, shaped by how we express it, then we need to understand the social networking environment. Notions of privacy are being thrown out, and replaced by new norms. The nature of public discourse is being redefined. The way our students conduct themselves in both the physical and virtual universes has been shaped by digital life and will translate into modes of behavior and learning in the classroom. The way we teach must reflect the way our students interact with their environment. We, the instructors, are just one facet of that educational milieu. Rather than bemoan the accouterments of social networking, it is incumbent upon us to truly understand the ramifications of these new definitions and modes of behavior and direct our energies towards accommodating what we do, as teachers and educators, to these new realities.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Socrates, in Plato’s <i>Phaedrus,</i> bemoans the state of humanity, blaming its inevitable demise on the invention of those insidious new technologies, the alphabet and writing. He claims that this new fangled idea of writing things down will result in the destruction of memory. How far have we gone! Technology shapes the way we experience the world. McLuhan wrote: </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1in 10pt;">“The wheel is an extension of the foot; the book is an extension of the eye…clothing, an extension of the skin…electric circuitry, an extension of the central nervous system. Media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique ratios of sense perceptions. The extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act – the way we perceive the world. When these ratios change, men [sic] change.” </div><div class="MsoNormal">Social media has led us to new ways to interact with the world and with each other. Maybe this is the next step in human evolution. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>And it was evening, and it was morning, the next day.</i></div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-34689348593248120662011-05-31T15:42:00.000-07:002011-05-31T16:16:19.073-07:00Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I Love Ya Tomorrow!<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">I had a conversation with a Rabbi recently. He was upset because a cantorial colleague of his had decided to strike out on her own, performing “destination B’nai Mitzvah”, divorcing herself from synagogue life, and setting up private Hebrew schools in community club-houses. He fretted that this is antithetical to the idea of community and affiliation. He felt that to be a true part of the Jewish community, one needed to belong to a synagogue. He continued, pointing out that he knows that times are changing, but he is concerned that the future of Judaism “may bear no resemblance to the Judaism that we are familiar with.” I looked at him, paused, smiled, and said, “I certainly hope so.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">At the recent Judaism 2030 conference, Jonathan Woocher, Chief Ideas Officer of JESNA, asked participants to share their visions for Judaism in the year 2030. I always get nervous about future oriented questions like that. A lot can happen in the next 19 years. In the past, the face of Judaism has unpredictably and unalterably been transformed in shorter spans of time. Yes we need to keep our eyes on the target of long term goals. For me I guess I’d want to see inclusive, engaged and vibrant Jewish communities both in and outside of Israel. But I also think we need to be very careful that in our rush to embrace our visions, we don’t ignore the realities of what our students need today. After all, what will be is built on what is. At a recent NATE webinar on the “History of Identity and Technology” facilitated by Ari Kelman, this very theme was brought up. By engaging our students in the process of creating their own Jewish knowledge databank today, we can shape how their Jewish practice might look in 2 decades.</div><div class="MsoNormal">The reality in America today is that we are in the midst of an era in which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply-side_economics">supply side economic theory</a> is victorious and has trickled down to what we do as Jewish educators. It’s become all about lowering “regulatory” barriers that prevent individual expression. No longer does the synagogue determine what it means to be Jewish. Parents and kids are searching for ways to engage in Judaism on their own terms - a free market mentality. The Judaism of tomorrow will be very different from what we, our parents, and grandparents are familiar with. It will be shaped by what we do today. </div><div class="MsoNormal">There is no one answer, one tool, one technology that can prepare us for this mission. There are many answers: learning via camp-like experiences, digital platforms, family programming, Day schools, Hebrew charter schools, even old-fashioned congregational schools. These are what we are familiar with now. I expect that more approaches that we haven’t thought of yet will arise. All we do know is that we must be open to the idea of choice. Rather then reject we must be prepared to embrace. We educators must be given the resources to retool and re-envision our profession.<br />
<br />
“Teaching” as a concept is undergoing a metamorphosis, reflective of new modes of learning that are embedded in what Eisen and Cohen called “the Sovereign Self”. We need to reconcile ourselves to this today. If we don’t adjust how we “teach” and “lead”, we’ll render ourselves obsolete.</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-19137553365147456672011-04-21T05:18:00.000-07:002011-04-21T05:18:54.354-07:00Answers to Open the Door<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:DoNotShowComments/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>HE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Pesach is a time for questions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, in the spirit of the season, I would like to ask you some. <span> </span>I’ll start with one: How do Jewish educators learn to use 21st century educational technology in the Jewish classroom?<span> </span>This will lead to a few more.<span> </span>What follows is a <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WXZGSRS">survey</a> with 15 questions (an auspicious number for Pesach). The goal of this short (5-8 minutes) questionnaire is to find some answers to the question of how and what we learn. <span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My friend and colleague Barry Gruber recently posted a <a href="http://jjffeducators.blogspot.com/2011/03/satisfying-hunger.html">piece</a> about the smorgasbord of opportunities to learn what the ‘net provides. He’s right – it truly is a blessing.<span> </span>I wonder if this cornucopia is so bountiful that there will be many who, like the 4<sup>th</sup> child, will be so intimidated by all the resources available that they will be daunted by the act of beginning to learn. They won’t know where to start. They won’t know what to ask. If this is the case, what should we do about it?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ergo the <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WXZGSRS">survey</a>.<span> </span>This is an independent project to explore the nature of on-line Jewish professional development related to the utilization of educational technology. <span> </span>It’s focus is to find out how we Jewish educators learn about these new tools, where we learn from, and if we need to make these learning opportunities more accessible.<span> </span>I'm hoping that this information will help shape the way Jewish educators can easily learn more about the use of digital tools in their classrooms.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Teaching is leading.<span> </span>We educators create an environment for our students to construct their knowledge base.<span> </span>The tools that are being developed today and tomorrow empower us to achieve this goal.<span> </span>The complicated part is that we need to learn how to use them.<span> </span>There’s the rub. <span> </span>What’s the best way for the educators, who can’t go to conferences or don’t have local resources provided by central agencies, to learn how to take the next step into the world of digital Jewish learning?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Questions.<span> </span>There are many.<span> </span>And the answers may lead us to an understanding of what we can do to build a solid base of Jewish educators who can comfortably engage their students, speaking a common language. This is why I’m asking you all to take part in this adventure.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I must thank Jonathan Woocher and Rebecca Leshin of the Lippman Kanfer Institute for supporting this project and providing the platform to make it possible. I also want to acknowledge the many educators in the Jewish cloud who have contributed ideas to help create this survey.<span> </span>There are too many to mention by name, but I do want to thank you all for you assistance.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So please click <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WXZGSRS">here</a> to access this professional development survey.<span> </span>Answers can be signposts leading us in the direction of creating Jewish futures for our students. We just need to start with the questions.<span> </span>Together let’s find the answers.</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-40802420957952681752011-03-09T04:21:00.000-08:002011-03-09T04:21:07.856-08:00Stepping Through the Door Together - Now's the Time“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!” I feel like the white rabbit. You know, rushing hither and yon, trying to figure out how to get where I need to go without being too distracted by all the tweets, network posts, and blogs I follow; not to mention the old technologies like the printed word and emails. There is so much information available to us. If I miss a day of twitter, I feel it’s a catastrophe.<br />
<br />
I’m not a technical neophyte. I sort of know what’s going on. Can you imagine being someone who has never tweeted, doesn’t know what a wiki is, thinks a glog is a type of fruit, and is trying to just stay afloat in this ever changing new world, let alone explore the Jewish educational cloud? There are so many resources and new technologies that appear daily. It’s easy to be intimidated. There are probably fantastic teachers in the front lines who are so afraid of trying to figure this stuff out that they retreat into their old tried but true habits, becoming increasingly irrelevant in the classroom. I know that there are folks who left both the JEA and NATE conferences with a sense of despair at not knowing how to proceed. Those who were unable to attend either conference are even more lost. I believe that the time has come for us to help our teachers, especially those working in congregational/supplemental schools, break out of their shells to find a new comfort level in tomorrow.<br />
<br />
We can lower the level of stress associated with learning new edtech skills by creating an accessible portal through which our teachers will learn to use the tools they need to move forward. We are all searching for scrapes of knowledge wherever we can find them. There’s too much out there that’s spread all over the place. We no longer have the one conference a year where we all came together to learn. Now's the time to get organized again!<br />
<br />
<b>This is what I propose: Let's create a new trans-denominational platform for Jewish educators of all flavors to gather virtually or, if practical and affordable, f2f to explore the possibilities that tomorrow presents. This collaborative cloud-based venue would be a forum that would promote dialogue, teaching and learning. It would be a consortium of all professional development providers that would “push” the opportunities to learn to us all. I’m talking one-stop-shopping - a mall for Jewish education. It would be one venue that would offer educators and knowledge seekers ALL the opportunities and resources to enhance the field of Jewish education: A 21<sup>st</sup> century virtual Pumbadita, if you will - an on-line center for Jewish learning that would be comprehensive, all inclusive and easy to access.</b><br />
<br />
This idea will be made real as a result of cooperation and collaboration between all Jewish education service providers, both those affiliated with a movement, like NATE and the JEA, as well as others like JESNA and PELIE. We all need to work together. We need to move forward now.<br />
<br />
I’ve started to have conversations about this vision with individuals affiliated with different groups and organizations. People are interested in seeing this come to fruition. I believe it is now the appropriate moment to widen the circle and have an expanded group of those who care about the future of Jewish education come together and brainstorm how to make a new Jewish Professional Learning Network happen. Dr. Jonathan Woocher, the Chief Ideas Officer and Director of the Lippman Kanfer Institute, has indicated that he is happy to host such a web meeting.<br />
<br />
This is a concrete call to action. If you are interested in joining in the conversation and taking part in a virtual brainstorming session, email me, Peter Eckstein at <a href="mailto:terrapin@mindspring.com">terrapin@mindspring.com</a><br />
<br />
If not now, when?Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-4287313711869229292011-03-04T05:02:00.000-08:002011-03-04T05:04:49.438-08:00Swimming to 31°47'N, 35°12'E - A Shabbat Homework Assignment<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.umsl.edu/%7Eschwartzh/">Howard Schwartz</a> is a storyteller, a folklorist, a scholar, and a poet. He's collected many Jewish stories, my favorites being found in <i>Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural, Elijah's Violin & Other Jewish Fairy Tales</i> <i> </i>and <i>Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism</i>.<br />
<br />
He has a new collection of poems out: <a href="http://www.mayapplepress.com/BookPages/Schwartz.htm#Bio"><i>Breathing in the Dark</i></a>. This is a sample (which is also posted on the publisher's website cited above. You can buy the book there.) I love it because I feel like I am always on a quest. I'm also searching for my Jerusalem. I thought I'd share this as a Shabbat gift to you all.<br />
<br />
It's also a Shabbat homework assignment. Where is your Jerusalem? Can you always find it at 31°47'N, 35°12'E? Shabbat Shalom.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">The first time<br />
I went on a quest<br />
for forbidden fruit.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">The second time<br />
I built an ark<br />
and tried to get there by sea.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">The third time<br />
I came in search of my ancestor,<br />
Abraham.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">If the sun was hidden<br />
I let the stars<br />
guide me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">If the tablets were broken<br />
I carved<br />
new ones.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">In the future<br />
my bones<br />
will roll to that city.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">Last night<br />
I dreamed<br />
I was swimming there.</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-59365691230288857222011-02-14T19:13:00.000-08:002011-02-14T19:13:51.216-08:00If Not Now, When - Blurring the Lines for the Future of Jewish Education<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The dust is settling after the January JEA and NATE conferences.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Synagogue educators of all stripes and flavors are returning to our old haunts: Congregations and real life. A taste of what is possible still remains in our mouths, though. We need to ask: How do we keep the spirit that we felt in Mt. Laurel and Seattle, alive?</span><span style="font-size: small;"> How do we move forward?</span><span style="font-size: small;"> What’s next?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now is the time for us to translate what we started to learn last month into our everyday routines.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> What this means, IMHO, is that we need to work harder to create our own Professional Learning Network (PLN). We have learned that we don’t have to be in the same room/city/state/continent to learn from each other.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> We have learned the real strength of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Now we need to take the next step and get involved in these networks, learning from each other and building something brand new.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The laboratory that was NATE or JEA was great:</span><span style="font-size: small;"> A controlled environment where the best of the brave new world could be displayed in all its cyber glory, pointing a way to what <i>could be</i>. But we all know that when we’re on our own in our offices back home, life has the annoying habit of happening: Distracting us with emergent issues like the kid and her mom who goes to soccer practice instead of the B’nai Mitzvah family program; the teacher who can’t get it together enough to turn in a legible lesson plan, let alone any; the board member who doesn’t understand why religious school teachers should be paid a reasonable wage. We all face these issues daily. We must not let them get in the way of our moving forward to build a vibrant edifice that IS the Jewish future. We can’t let the mundane get in the way of the sacred: L’mavdil ben kodesh l’<u>h</u>ol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let it be proclaimed through all the lands and Second Life: The tools we need to learn how to construct tomorrow’s educational systems are available in the cloud, from teachers and thinkers at #jed21, from networks, sites and blogs like the <a href="http://www.jedchange.net/">Jewish Education Change Network</a>, <a href="http://yu20.org/">YU2.0</a>, <a href="http://nextleveljewisheducation.blogspot.com/">Welcome to the Next Level</a>, <a href="http://paper.li/reuw/jewish-education/%7Elist?topic=Education">The jewish-education Daily</a></span> and many many more. They are a mere mouse click away.<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Yes, these resources are there to teach us, but what we need to do is to organize, to work together, regardless of affiliation or movement. This is my Unified Field Theory for Jewish Education: One “place” where we can all “meet” and discuss and build. Rather than the disparate links that can become overwhelming to us and especially to those who didn’t attend either conference, we should create a clearinghouse that will enable us to learn from each other. We don’t have time in our ridiculously busy days to follow every tweet or blog. I know how traumatic missing 12 hours of tweets can be. We congregational/supplemental/complimentary school educators need to (If I may mangle my friend and colleague Ira Wise’s blog title) get to the Next Level and create one forum that will be OUR Professional Learning Network, irrespective of denomination or movement.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I’m ready to work on this experiment.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Anyone want to join me?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">And if not now, when?</span></div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-54327621327932912902011-02-08T19:40:00.000-08:002011-02-08T19:48:12.924-08:00A Testimony to Jewish Educators<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Robyn Faintich (@Jewishgps and <a href="http://www.jewishgps.com/">JewishGPS</a>) posted this piece entitled <a href="http://jjffeducators.blogspot.com/2011/02/todah-rabah-to-our-educators.html">"Todah Rabah to our Educators!"</a>on </span></span></i><a href="http://jjffeducators.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Davar Acher-On the Other Hand</span></span></a><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> blog on Sunday</span><b>. <span style="font-weight: normal;">In it she celebrates the profession of Jewish educators and their role in building the Jewish future. As a Director of Education in a congregational school, I would like to say Todah Rabah to Robyn for her words. I couldn't have said it better myself.</span></b></span></i></h3><h3 class="post-title entry-title"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b></span></i>Todah Rabah to our Educators! </h3><div class="post-header"></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the world of Jewish education, the people who run our synagogue religious schools are often the most under-appreciated and under-recognized. We often defer to the role our rabbis and cantors play when reflecting on the Jewish education of our children and certainly the role a child’s Hebrew tutor plays. But behind the scenes running the religious school is a director of education (sometimes known as the principal) who cares about the Jewish journey of the students and their families.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">For the last two weeks, I have traveled across the country to participate and present at professional learning conferences designed for these educators. The Conservative movement’s Jewish Educators’ Assembly (JEA) and the Reform movement’s National Association of Temple Educators (NATE) sponsored the two events held in Philadelphia/New Jersey and Seattle respectively.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Collectively, over 450 educators gathered to learn about the challenges and opportunities that technology and social media offer us in education. (Yes, both conferences engaged in the same theme.) While together in their respective conferences, educators took the opportunity to network, collaborate, and engage in meta-level conversations about Jewish education in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. If you want a glimpse at all they learned and toiled with, you can check out the twitter feeds for #jea59 and #nateseattle. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">I had the opportunity to present at both conferences, which gave me the chance to learn with the participants in a unique way. These educators work hard. They work hard at their own learning. I only wish their students and the parents could see them hard at work. I wish they saw the role modeling in life-long learning these school leaders engage in. In addition to the core education components, each of the conferences included aspects of Torah L’shma (text study for the sake of study), offered t’filah, and community-building activities. A perfect dugmah (example) of what our synagogues are trying to offer the student learners. From sun-up at 8 a.m. until way past sun-down (sometimes after 11 p.m.) these educators gave 1000% of themselves for the sake of their own learning, for the sake of being better so that they can serve our people better.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">These educators don’t make a fortune; they don’t do the work because of the first-class perks they get, or the year-end bonuses. They do this work because it is a true passion for each and every one of them. So the next time you wonder through the halls of your synagogue, take time to peak your head into the office of the education director, and just thank him/her for dedicating themselves to this sacred work.</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-19569245025872246612011-01-26T15:39:00.000-08:002011-01-26T15:39:41.565-08:00From Sinai to Cyberspace, Pt. 2: Thawing out<div class="MsoNormal">As I reflect on the Jewish Educators Assembly conference that just ended, the lyrics of an old song pops into my head: “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” It’s not that we’re clueless when it comes to us knowing what Jewish education will look like in the future; it’s just that we’re not sure in what direction we’ll be traveling.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So…maybe we are a little clueless after all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let me back up for a moment. The close to 200 participants at the Conservative movement’s education conference were exposed (many for the first time) to web 2.0 platforms that foster collaboration and have the potential to build community in new ways. For many of those present, the learning curves were steep as questions were posed, such as: “How do I set up a twitter account?” and “What is a Personal Learning Network?” Lisa Colton (@darimonline) presented the challenges facing Jewish professionals as we reach out to a new generation of Jewish parents. Caren Levine (@jlearn20) introduced tools that enhance professional development, all within the context of social media, and opportunities of cloud based collaboration. David Bryfman (@bryfy) stressed the importance of stepping out of our professional and institutional comfort zones as we look at existing structures, re-visioning them through a process of re-prioritization. discovering new opportunities we never dreamed of. <br />
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So in this embarrassment of riches with which we were blessed at the JEA, we must ask the hard question: What is truly necessary in our work and for our constituents? And here is where we get to the hard stuff.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Who are our constituents? Parents? Kids? How are Baby Boomers, Gen “Xers” and Millenials different from each other? How do we rise to this challenge of being effective in reaching different generational cultures? How do we cope with the democratization (or is it the rise of the consumer ethic) of knowledge? More than any other time in history, not only do people have a greater exposure and ability to get answers to ALL their questions; they also demand a say in what they want to learn, and when. We seem to be on the cusp of a reordering of the traditional dynamic between parent, teacher and child. Pam Edelman, from Yerusha, presented a model of Jewish education that is sort of a combination between home-schooling and the scouting merit badge program. It exists outside of current institutions, and was born out of young families’ frustration with organized Jewish life today. Is this a fad or a trend? Should we, as Jewish professionals, feel threatened by this new phenomenon, or embrace it? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The new tools that enhance collaborative learning (like Voicethread and Google Docs) and building school communities (such as interactive school websites like Activit-e) reflect the reality that relationships are central to building authentic Jewish lives. What this means is that the digital tools we have available to us today are only means to create a 21st century Klal Yisrael. This idea of unity certainly isn’t new. It’s just that the way to achieve it, is.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> Ultimately, the question that underlies all others, in my mind, is what will Jewish communal life look like the day after tomorrow? The idea of Social Networking was ubiquitous at the JEA conference. It’s all about relationships and how technology can be a tool to enhance the growth of community. As others have said before me, it’s not about the tech, it’s about the people.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I write these words, I’m sitting in the Philadelphia airport waiting for my flight to take off in the driving snow. At the same time, the final keynote address is being given back at the conference. Robyn Faintich (@Jewishgps) is live-tweeting it at #jea59. The speaker, David Bryfman has asked the participants to close their eyes and “think about the future: What COULD Jewish life look like in your imaginary vision. Who are the learners? Where? When?”<br />
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Next week the Reform movement's educators are meeting in Seattle for their conference: called "Imagineering Jewish Education for the 21st Century". They too are exploring the frontiers of technology and Jewish education. I can't help but think that we are at a serendipitous moment, when we all are on the same page of Talmud. We all know what needs to be done, we're just trying to figure out how. I believe now is the time for Jewish futurists, educators,and leaders from all movements to come together and explore tomorrow. If I may borrow Jack Wertheimer's imagery, we need to break down the denominational silos and finally collaborate.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We don’t know what next week will look like. Before us are possible paths. In this age of cloud computing, virtual communities, and social networks, we need to take the leap of faith and move forward, not knowing exactly where it will take us, but being confident that by embracing the future, we will ensure a Jewish context for all those who will live in it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-22156618390885436292011-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:002011-01-23T10:41:54.763-08:00From Sinai to Cyberspace, Pt. 1: Preparing to freeze.I'm sitting in a pizza joint in Palm Beach International, waiting for my flight to the frozen tundra of southern New Jersey. Why would I, a 17 year resident of tropical Florida be braving the Arctic cold of the North East? What would have prompted me to purchased a down jacket - my first since the 1970s? There's only one answer: looking for tomorrow, today.<br />
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I'm on my way to the Jewish Educators Assembly Conference, called "From Sinai to Cyberspace: Exploring the Impact of Technology on Jewish Education". The Conservative movement (like the Reform next week) is embarking on a journey to investigate the interface between digital learning and Torah. We educators know that something must change. We also know that the process of re-visioning Jewish learning is well on its way. We are in the midst of learning how these Jetson-like tools can work for us today.<br />
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I plan on blogging the conference, sharing with you my thoughts, impressions, questions, and maybe even gossip and trivia, if anything pops up. I'll also be tweeting my experiences at #jea59 (as well as #jed21). If you can't be with me, freezing your tuches off, at least you can vicariously experiencing how today we take our steps, virtual and real, into the future.Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-508441422716220412010-12-28T15:46:00.000-08:002010-12-28T15:46:42.894-08:00Building blocks for the future<h3 class="post-title entry-title"></h3><div class="post-header"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've written a lot over the last year and a half about creating a Jewish tomorrow. Cyd Weissman, Director of Innovation in Congregational Learning at The Jewish Education Project recently posted a piece entitled</span><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/inspired%20by%20a%20student:%20an%20article%20about%20new%20models%20">"inspired by a student: an article about new models" </a>on her blog</span><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://cydtakeslomedchallenge.blogspot.com/">Cyd Weissman Takes LOMED Challenge</a>. In it she presents eight building blocks that she urges be considered as foundations for new models in congregational school education. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">When Cyd speaks, I listen. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> In the summer of 2006 I invited her to take part in a think-tank about Jewish education in the 21st century (some of you reading this were there). This was in preparation for the CAJE 32 conference that I chaired in 2007. At that discussion, Cyd taught us that the term "education" is outmoded in the contemporary Jewish context. Learning Judaism is not just something we derive from books: It's living it, incorporating it into our daily routines, being <i>engaged </i>in Jewish life and learning. She introduced us to the idea that what we need to do is to foster an environment that will engage our students, whether they be children, teens, young adults or seniors. The idea of <i>Jewish engagement</i> needs to be the framework within which we create Jewish learning environments. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since that hot summer Queens day (at St. John's University of all places) in June of 2006, I've looked at my profession differently. It's not that I'm teaching my students something static like trigonometry (my apologies to math teachers, please! I guess that comment is a reflection of how I was taught that subject.) My goal is to teach how to live a life (a <i>halacha</i> if you will) that is defined by simply being Jewish - by "seeing the world through Jewish eyes". Cyd taught me that. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">So I present to you what Cyd Weissman calls the "Architecture of Jewish Education" for the future. I think we can learn much from it.</span></div></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Eight Building Blocks for New Distinctive Architecture</b></span><br />
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<u>1. Regular engagement of parent/caregiver as well as the child</u><br />
<i>Parents and families are essential to a child’s life journey according to designers who use this building block. Regular engagement (e.g weekly learning at synagogue, home or other settings, socializing, using daily life as a classroom) of families most often includes a combination of adult and family learning and Jewish living. Engagement includes time for praying, learning, socializing, and action. This building block contrasts with programs that offer additive family programming (e.g. parents attend programs a few times year). Family engagement becomes regularized. The whole family, not just the child is considered the focus of engagement.</i><br />
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<u>2. Learning in real life settings</u><br />
<i>Emphasis is placed on the lived experience of Judaism. Focus is on doing and being Jewish instead of a classroom experience that teaches about being Jewish. Instead of preparation for a “someday” event, this building block emphasizes the lived experience of doing and being Jewish. Shabbat, holidays, home, and tikkun olam action are examples of the lived experience that becomes central with this building block. While the lived experience is central in this model, most often it is book-ended with pre-learning that enables rich participation and post-learning that enables meaningful reflection.</i><br />
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<u>3. Integrating children’s Jewish learning experience with the larger congregation’s values and practices</u><br />
<i>Recognizing the influence of a “norming” community, this model situates a child’s experience within the prime activities of the larger congregation. A “norming” community models “what is learned is lived.” It provides a living context for content. This contrasts to models where children’s experience is physically separated from the central activity of the congregation (e.g. in the basement), separated in time (e.g. on times and days where the larger congregation does not gather) and or separated by core activities (e.g. children study content areas, while the larger congregation is deeply engaged in acts of gemilut chasadim).</i><br />
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<u>4. Making connections with the larger community</u><br />
<i>This building block assumes the benefit of cluster experiences where a child has multiple Jewish experiences in multiple settings over the course of time. This building block recognizes that the congregation is not the only effective way to engage a Jewish child. When applied, this building block links the child’s regularized experience to resources in the community such as summer camp, museums, Israel, and youth organizations. One can imagine a model where learning during the year is linked to visits to Israel and/or camp. Next step models might include year long experiences that are more like being in Israel or camp than in a classroom setting.</i><br />
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<u>5. New Teacher roles and expectations</u><br />
<i>Just as the traditional classroom model, even if it has engaging activities, will not reach the goals set by the congregations, neither will traditional teaching. Congregations build regular time (e.g. twice a month) for teachers to learn how to create powerful learning aligned to their learner outcomes (e.g. Learners will be on a journey of applying Torah to daily life). Hired staff, teens and adults in the community learn together, and review one another’s practice within their own learning community. They learn from one another to shift teaching practice from a focus on covering material to creating learning that is a) life centered, b) relationship focused, c) makes rich content accessible and d) enables inquiry, reflection and meaning making. When this building block is established, congregations transform the traditional “teacher” role to facilitator, counselor and/or mentor.</i><br />
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<u>6. Relationships among peers and across generations</u><br />
<i>Peer relationships, teen role models and intergenerational connections are viewed as essential to raising a child. Accordingly, this building block ensures that a child develops relationships with peers, teens, and adults in the larger community. An example is a model that has seniors and teens meeting weekly for Jewish learning and living with children and families. With this building block, children’s experiences are situated in multi-aged havurote (learning partners/groups). Another adaptation of this building block is a model that prepares adults in the community to act as mentors for children and families.</i><br />
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<u>7. Choices for the learner</u><br />
<i>According to this building block, one Jewish learning plan does not fit all.. The system of Jewish education that emerged in the US in the 1950’s had each congregation offering one model of learning, x number of days and with specific subjects to teach. Now congregations are empowering learners with bolder choices. Families choose programs or learning plans. Or individual learners can shape or choose their method or area of learning. Choice for the learner also impacts the nature of learning where the learner drives inquiry and exploration.</i><br />
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<u>8. Other</u><br />
<i>Additional building blocks were noted in the first decade models created in NY that were used, but have not yet been widely implemented. An example of this is the use of technology. For example, congregations are recognizing that decoding skills, although important, can be achieved at will online, or through skype with a person.</i><br />
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<i>Next decade designers will create models based on these eight building blocks and ones yet to be articulated. New models will engage young children in ways that they enable them to construct lives of meaning and purpose, because of the deep connections they have made with Judaism and the Jewish people.</i><br />
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Those are blueprints. Let's start building.Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-55498099465409541652010-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:002010-12-07T14:21:05.094-08:00Tinkering With Tomorrow<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When I was a kid I loved tinker-toys. I would spend hours constructing skeletal looking and what I thought were futuristic buildings. I never knew what the outcome would be, I didn’t know if what I was building would stand up to the forces of nature or my brother’s kicks, but I had fun. I just built and then decided if what I created was worth the effort. That was then, this is now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I bring this up as I finish watching the videos from the recently held Jewish Futures Conference that were just posted for all of our viewing pleasure and edification. Go <a href="http://www.jewishfutures.net/conference-video">here</a> to watch the presentations yourself. I’m also in the midst of reading a fascinating collection of essays published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, entitled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Curriculum-21-Essential-Education-Changing/dp/1416609407/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291676875&sr=1-1"><i>Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World</i></a>, edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. The book and the conference videos are serendipitously providing me an opportunity to think about how we, as Jewish educators and futurists can tinker purposefully with a Jewish tomorrow.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What will we want our children, our students, to know when they emerge from their Jewish educational cocoon? What will the Jewish curriculum look like tomorrow? In one of the pieces in <i>Curriculum 21,</i> Jacobs suggests that we ask three guiding questions as we reevaluate curriculum and content in secular education. Let’s consider them within a Jewish context:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Within the discipline being reviewed, what content choices are dated and nonessential? </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> In our world of Jewish learning, this question can be considered heretical. Isn’t it all sacred? What isn’t essential? How do we evaluate that? Who makes that judgment call?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What choices for</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <i>topics, issues, problems, themes, and case studies are timely and necessary for our learners within disciplines?</i> What is happening in the Jewish world NOW? How does Jewish practice and interpretation reflect life in the 21<sup>st</sup> century? What are the roles of Israel and the Diaspora; of men and women; of interfaith families in Jewish life?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Are the interdisciplinary content choices, rich, natural, and rigorous?</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> What does it mean to engage in Jewish life, learning, and spirituality? What are the different ways of creating meaningful Jewish experiences?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Among the winners of the <i><a href="http://www.jewishfutures.net/competition">Jewish Futures Competition</a></i>, a contest for the most “forward looking” Jewish educational thinkers and doers that was featured at the Jewish Futures Conference, we find Charles Schwartz and Russel M. Neiss, the creators of <a href="http://alpha.mediamidrash.org/index.php">MediaMidrash.org</a>. In their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56x46QezJ9k">submission</a> to the competition they posited a paradigm for future Jewish engagement resting on four guiding principles: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jewish resources need to be<i> open, discoverable, and accessible</i>. The body of Jewish learning needs to be available to all who seek it - free and non-proprietary.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Remixable.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Jews need to be provided the tools and opportunity to transform and reinterpret Jewish tradition and life. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jewish education needs to be <i>meaningful and relevant</i>, providing the learner with a context in which to construct a Jewish life that matters.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Meaningful Jewish life needs to continue to incorporate a process of <i>community building</i>, recognizing new definitions of affiliation and belonging, both face-to-face and virtual.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The way Jewish knowledge WILL be acquired tomorrow is different than the way it WAS attained yesterday. David Bryfman once <a href="http://bryfy.net/?p=632">wrote</a> about the 19<sup>th</sup> century revolution in general education revolving around the new fangled tool called the chalk board. We are in the midst of a similar phenomenon, this time being driven by digital and social technology. Learning is becoming non-linear. It is more and more a social process, driven by demand and developed by a community that is linked in synchronous and a-synchronous environments, both present and remote. For better or worse, education is turning into an even messier affair than it already is. This is what will drive us to answer the questions of what to teach. The structure will be more fluid, transparent and flexible. Stephen Wilmarth writes in <i>Curriculum 21</i> how education has been a cathedral, an elegant top-down process designed by “wizards and experts”. The future reality can be described as a bazaar, a market place that is noisy and unpredictable, a result of uncontrollable forces. Knowledge will be <i>open</i> to all, redefined and <i>remixed</i> when appropriate so as to become personally and communally meaningful in contexts of yet unimagined social networks, creating new types of <i>communities</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jonathan Woocher, in his closing remarks at the Jewish Futures Conference notes that there is no one Jewish future. It can’t be pre-determined. There are multiple possibilities. Schwartz and Neiss retell the midrash of Moses visiting Akiva’s classroom of the future, not understanding a word, even though his teaching is the lesson being taught. If we were to step into H.G. Wells’ Time Machine and be transported into a Jewish learning environment of the future, what would we find? Would it be alien to us? Should it be? </span></div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-62754950327466254732010-11-24T08:43:00.000-08:002010-11-24T08:43:17.412-08:00Long Distance Runaround: Pondering the CyBar/CyBat MitzvahWhen I first read this past <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/fashion/21Mitzvah.html?_r=1">Sunday’s New York Time’s article</a> on digital B’nai Mitzvah preparation, my first thought was that it was intriguing that this topic would be the lead story in, of all things, the Fashion and Style section. It then occurred to me that the topic’s visibility in the soft news section is a sign of how truly mainstream Judaism has become in American culture. This is what we have been fighting for – to be accepted in secular society. We have done such a good job that a central Jewish-American ritual has become a subject of pop culture. Like all the rest of American lifestyle, our traditions are now morphing into something potentially unrecognizable in this real world made virtual.<br />
<br />
The point of the article, as I see it, can be found in this question asked in the fourth paragraph of the piece: “If dating, shopping and watching TV can be revolutionized by the Internet, why should bar and bat mitzvahs be immune?” That is it in a nutshell. Our communal striving for normalization and acceptance in the Diaspora has essentially led to the eradication of the line between the holy/kadosh and the mundane/<u>h</u>ol. Nothing is sacred. Our coming of age ceremony, which is more of a process of becoming then merely a single event, has lost so much of its uniqueness that it can be acquired while the recipient is physically absent. Is this a tragedy? Maybe. What do we do about it? Embrace it.<br />
<br />
Reaction to the CyBar/CyBat phenomenon seems to center on it being a reflection of a general decline in the centrality of Jewish communal life in the early 21st century. This is not news – those of us who work in synagogues struggle with this on an almost daily basis. We respond by trying to find new ways to engage our existing synagogue members and families, as well as to reach out to the unaffiliated. We are constantly exploring new models and technologies, and striving to create new visions that will enhance existing institutions. This is as it should be, and this is why we need to see the rise of the digital B’nai Mitzvah as an opportunity for us to expand our community. This requires developing a new paradigm of affiliation and membership. We need to leverage on-line participation, incorporating it into what we do in our brick and mortar facilities. This may take the form of a new synagogue membership category with its own price structure - call it “Virtual” if you will. We should contemplate creating semi-permeable walls that welcome those who are trying to find their own personal niche in the Jewish community. We must dare to think that digital experiences, if handled artfully, can be gateways to synagogue life for the unaffiliated. Face-to-face encounters no longer may be the only, or even primary, means of introduction to the Jewish community.<br />
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A Florida Rabbi I know, upon reading the Time’s article commented, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” This made me think of Sun-Tzu, the 6th century Chinese author of “The Art of War” who wrote, “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”. We, the inheritors of the tradition passed down to us from Moses to the Great Assembly to our parents need to find the open hands waiting to receive that birthright. Could it be that those we think are the “enemies”, those we accuse of emasculating the Judaism from which we grew, are actually reshaping our heritage, leading us to the next step in a dynamic and flourishing Jewish future?Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-11580327831851660212010-11-05T15:08:00.001-07:002010-11-05T16:06:21.727-07:00Sharing a Shabbat ArgumentI came across this poem recently. It’s by Leonard Cohen and appeared in his collection entitled Book of Longing. There’s something about it that has touched my soul, and won’t leave. I thought I’d share this as my Shabbat Shalom wish to you all.<br />
<br />
You might be a person who likes to<br />
argue with Eternity. A good way to<br />
begin such an Argument is:<br />
<br />
<i>Why do You rule against me</i><br />
<i>Why do You silence me now</i><br />
<i>When will the Truth be on my lips</i><br />
<i>and the Light be on my brow?</i><br />
<br />
After some time has passed, the answer to these questions<br />
percolating upwards from the pit of your stomach, or downwards<br />
from the crown of your hat, or having been given, at last, the right<br />
pill, you might begin to fall in love with the One who asked them:<br />
and perhaps then you will cry out, as so many of our parents did:<br />
<br />
<i>Blessed be the One</i><br />
<i>Who has sweetened</i><br />
<i>my Argument.</i>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-17719884285282184442010-10-31T20:52:00.000-07:002010-10-31T20:52:00.602-07:00Strikes, Spares and the Jewish FutureI’m a bowler. I’m in a league. Sometimes I hate it. You see, once the ball is rolled, the outcome is by no means assured. I can control how I grasp the ball, swing and release it, but that’s it. Once it’s thrown, it interacts with the oil that is spread on the lane and is impacted by the laws of physics that determine the way it hits the pins, as it ricochets, slides and rolls. I can set up the perfect shot, but the process that takes place after I release that sphere is up to forces over which I have no control. There are too many variables. It’s sort of like planning for a Jewish future (you knew this was going somewhere.)<br />
<br />
We can plan tactics, strategies, and methods of engagement but when we talk about modern Jews, we’re not dealing with a herd (Klal Yisrael notwithstanding). The phenomenon that Cohen and Eisen defined in The Jew Within 10 years ago describes American Judaism today and probably tomorrow – Jews are making their own Shabbat and are increasingly becoming alienated from established forms of Jewish communal life. Jonathan Woocher got it right last week when he <a href="http://blogs.jta.org/philanthropy/article/2010/10/29/2741498/guest-post-jonathan-woocher-questions-relevance-of-jewish-education-system">wrote</a> that we need to adjust the paradigm of Jewish education, empowering each individual to be involved in personally constructing "a meaningful and satisfying Jewish journey." And this is how building a Jewish future is like bowling.<br />
<br />
There are many different types of bowling bowls designed for the particular style of individual bowlers. One size cannot fit all. As we design the foundations of 21st (and 22nd) century Judaism, not only do we need to contemplate how to link the silos of Jewish institutional life; we may very well need to build new ones to replace the antiquated structures that are still standing. But we can’t tear everything down, at least not for the time being.<br />
<br />
As long as I’ve been in my present position as a synagogue educator, I’ve communicated with my religious school families via weekly e-mails. This year I decided to take the next step - I just created a religious school Facebook page. I happily announced it and received fascinating feedback. There were those religious school parents (all in their 30s and 40s) who thought it was cool. Then there were those (same demographic) who began to tremble in their shoes…as one religious school mom put it: “I’m one of the handful of people who refuse to use Facebook. I hope you will continue with your email updates.” As I’ve <a href="http://thefifthchild.blogspot.com/2009/08/of-parking-meters-and-particle.html">written before</a>, we need to be careful of how quickly we embrace our future. We don’t want to leave anyone behind. <br />
<br />
Obviously it will be impossible for us to forecast the outcomes as we tinker with the Jewish future. We may be positive that we’ll get a strike, but in the end we may only knock down a few pins. The trajectory of 21st century Judaism is radically different from anything that Jewish civilization has experienced before. One center of Jewish life, concentrated in North America, is a place where state sanctioned anti-Semitism by and large never existed – at least not since <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/amsterdam.html">Peter Stuyvesant</a> and <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/grant.html">Ulysses S. Grant</a>. The only Jewish ghettos in the United States were self-imposed. This communal history has left an indelibly unique mark on the character of American Judaism.<br />
<br />
The other center is Israel – with a flavor of Judaism that is defined by an amalgam of socialism, European nationalism and religious orthodoxy, and topped off with strife, both internally born and externally imposed. The resulting concoction is a type of Jewish identity that, at times, is almost alien to the Jewish sensibilities of its brothers/sisters/cousins across the great sea. Is it possible to link these silos?<br />
<br />
In “The Big Lebowski”, John Goodman, playing the weirdest Jew I’ve ever seen, declares that he doesn’t “roll on Shabbos”. Now that I think about it, he may not be so weird, actually. He’ll drive. He’ll drink. He’ll fight. He just won’t bowl. He’s like many of us. We all seem to be making our own “Shabbos”. As we strive to engineer the future of our people, we must not be so confident that we have all the answers. We don’t. Sometimes the exception, or the unexpected, becomes the rule. That’s the only thing we can be sure of.Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496150995026931202.post-57092280008295105542010-09-04T16:13:00.000-07:002010-09-04T16:13:24.764-07:00L'shana Tova to One and AllRepentance. Renewal. Returning to our pure selves. Looking in the mirror. T’shuvah.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">One of my favorite midrashim is about Reb Zusya – who upon his death was worried that he had been emulating Moses and Abraham too much, and not achieving his own Zusya potential - "In the world to come, they will not ask me, 'Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me, 'Why were you not Zusya?'" </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
In <i>Mishkan T’fillah</i>, the Reform siddur, you can find a text attributed to the Jewish Funds for Justice and associated with the <i>Nisim B’chol Yom</i> blessings:</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br />
<i>I can stay the tears of others, if I can see myself<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>as diminished by their sorrows.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>I can hasten time when everyone will be able<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>to rejoice in freedom.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i><br />
And if I can see myself as the companion,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>of those fighting against oppression,<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>I can honor the struggle of people everywhere<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>to gain dignity and deliverance from bondage.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>When I look at myself in the mirror<o:p></o:p></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><i>who will I see?</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">As the year 5771 begins, may we remember that the way we connect with one another, even the stranger, is how we find God. Let’s not forget that we have worn the sandals and shoes of the oppressed. May we not allow ourselves to wear the boots of the oppressor.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Together we can make 5771 a year of freedom and justice and peace. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">L’shana Tova u’M’tookah…May this be a year filled with goodness and sweetness.</div>Peter Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08259821085010212966noreply@blogger.com1