At the last RealSchool meeting, on Tuesday, October 16, two members of the Religious Identity team were discussing some of the challenges students face in a Judaic Studies classroom. The two students were aware that teachers had to cover a syllabus and make sure students came away from a school year with a basic knowledge of certain books of the Torah, let's say, or key topics in a Talmudic tractate. However, the students expressed frustration that sometimes the teacher would acknowledge that a good and important theological question might go unanswered because the class needed to finish course material. This led the two RealSchool members to ask what is most important in a Judaic Studies classroom: 1) answering key theological questions that a) only some students may have or b) all students in the class have or 2) covering course material so a school knows that by the time its students graduate, the students have knowledge of the central texts of our heritage.
The students felt that the discussion about whether to cover course material or troubling theological issues was one that was unique to a Judaic Studies classroom. The General Studies classroom may need to cover certain course material in order to fulfill state requirements and/or to prepare students for an AP or SAT II exam. However, a Judaic Studies class feels no such pressure. Further, the students felt that the goal of a Judaic Studies classroom is not only to create literacy for students in the texts of our heritage, but also to produce Jews who have clear theologies and ones that are meaningful to them. Therefore, the students wondered if knowledge of texts should take a back seat at times to ideas that trouble students theologically.
What is the balance a Judaic Studies teacher should strike between covering material and making sure students are well thought out theologically?
After reaching 101 Likes on Facebook on Monday and then presenting at yesterday's Club Fair at Frisch, RealSchool held its first meeting last night, when old RS members got to reunite -- two members aren't in the school anymore but are returning to work on the club's projects -- and new ones got to see the craziness that sometimes passes for a RS meeting. Amid the chatter and donuts, we did manage to thank Penina Warburg for being such an amazing social media director, see the work Ari Mendelow has done on the RS website, establish that all the teams need to complete a mission statement and fill out note cards about which teams each member wants to join, so we can set up a calendar for meetings.
RealSchool's home page; the website was designed by Ari Mendelow
The teams page of the RS website
Some of the teams for the new school year remain the same:
App Making
The Arts, with Fashion
Finance
Journalism
Marketing and Advertising
Religious Identity
Web Design
Some of the teams have been modified:
Social Entrepreneurship has become Social Action and Entrepreneurship
Nutrition has become Health and Environment and will be teaming up with Mrs. Mantell's Environment Club
And some of the teams are new:
Welcome Video Production and Graphic Design, which, among other things, will be helping RS implement and record our events!
Helping members decide what teams they want to join
Welcome back to old RS-ers and welcome to the new RS members! We're looking forward to another great year for the club!
RealSchool is all about what Sir Ken Robinson calls "changing education paradigms" (of course that video is below; it's a must-see for any education reformer), but we also model education reform by having students engage in experiential, self-directed learning.
If you're looking to initiate reform in your school or to empower students by having them try inquiry-based learning or other innovative pedagogical modalities, here is a list of videos to inspire you. They are the ones that launched RealSchool!
Top-ten lists usually go in descending order, but we're going to lay out for you our first year of RealSchool and show you, in order, the videos that our students watched to help them understand the educational experiment they were undertaking:
1) The first way to comprehend how badly education needs to be disrupted and how creativity-crushing certain aspects of the current school system are today, you MUST watch the following RSA Animate video narrated by Sir Ken Robinson.
2) The video was great, wasn't it? Sir Ken gave a TED Talk too. Want to watch that? Why not?! We did. It's entitled, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" We're trying to change the answer to a resounding "No."
3) Students immediately understood what Sir Ken was getting at in his talks, so much so that one student sent us a link to the next two videos, both of which became our go-to films when we wanted to explain that children are naturally curious and will want to learn when they feel motivated and excited about what they're discovering. Interestingly, you will not see students cramming for AP exams, making endless flashcards, or furiously filling in multiple choice questions at any point in these videos.
The first video is Sugata Mitra's TED Talk about the power of self-directed learning:
4) The second video that proves self-directed learning is something any self-respecting education reformer should be including in the classroom features Thomas Suarez, a sixth grader who learned how to make (and sell!) apps on his own. Resist the temptation to turn students into money-makers, but do focus on the power of learning by doing, another concept that powers RealSchool.
5) John Hunter is all over the concept of learning by doing, experiential learning, inquiry-based learning, interactive learning, project-based learning, whole-person learning. Yes, there are a lot of fancy and not-so-fancy names for the pedagogical concept that students want to learn as they did in kindergarten: not by sitting at desks, but by mucking about in the mud, making mistakes (sometimes gargantuan ones) and collaborating with others.
Collaboration is another one of the non-negotiable aspects of RealSchool: students must work together and, in doing so, they learn to appreciate and value the qualities that their classmates possess. RS students also discover that each student's unique talents contribute something valuable to the larger group that then enables the group to execute its projects successfully.
6) Collaboration and peer-based learning are also employed in RealSchool to connect students to the larger world. The community building in which RealSchool engages leads naturally to students' seeing how they can use their skills and talents to benefit the larger world. We posted the following ViewChange video on our Facebook page to emphasize RealSchool's commitment to helping the world:
7) The ViewChange video shows the importance of interdisciplinary studies in education, since innovative solutions to the world's problems are coming from ideas that combine different sectors and skills. The Frisch School, where RealSchool is based, focuses heavily on interdisciplinary studies, and the following video illustrates how exciting integrated studies can be:
8) RS is divided into different teams that then interact and work with each other to complete different projects and events. Sometimes the teams share ideas that fire them up with the larger RS group. Here's an example of a video the Finance team posted on the Facebook page in order to show how important and life-changing proper financial education can be. RS also values the way the school in the video integrated financial education into its curriculum and made learning math relevant to the real world:
9) RS is in awe of the video production class featured in the following short film, and we want to build an academic program as rich and connected to the community as the video production class is:
10) Want a sneak peek at how RealSchool is launching the 2012-13 school year? We're going to show the video "Where Good Ideas Come From." In it, Steven Johnson explores a notion RealSchool believes in deeply: that the smartest person in the room is the room.
We've been busy this summer investigating who else out there share's RealSchool's philosophies, and unsurprisingly there are tons of people and schools who do. Here is a collection of some cool and interesting ideas in education:
Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey created the following chart, comparing personalized, differentiated and individualized learning. RealSchool, of course, is all about Personalized Learning:
In fact, Ms. Bray is a Creative Learning Strategist. Here are some of her thoughts on 21st-century learning:
I have an idea. Let’s flip learning. Your students have been 21st century learners most of their lives. They know how to use all of the technology. If they don’t, they figure it out. Why not make them more responsible for their learning? What if…
your students create the videos about the content to flip the classroom.
involve your students in lesson design. Be partners in unpacking the standards and designing activities. Children today are very resilient and smart if we give them the chance. Check out this post from Kathleen McClaskey and myself on Personal Learner Profiles and the Common Core.
Ask your students to brainstorm and prioritize questions about the topic. This post on Making Just One Change where I interviewed Sara Armstrong helped me understand the importance of inquiry. Michael Wesch encourages his university students to wonder.
Imagine your students building lessons with you as partners in learning.
Mr. Truss has these thoughts to share on his terrific blog:
1. Time- Pro-D, preparation, planning & play – CSS [his school in Canada] has significantly more prep & planning time than most public schools could ever afford, but I do think we have to start being creative about the amount of time teachers spend in front of students vs how much time they spend collaborating and learning… after all, we are just as much in the learning business as we are the teaching business.
2. Co-teaching & collaboration opportunities - I think this is where we can start to get really creative in two ways: First, we need to get two teachers in the same room, including doubling up the classes and having 50-60 students in a larger room, or in learning commons. Secondly, blended learning models could mean that at times, one teacher has 2 classes that are using a technology guided program or activity, freeing up extra time for other teachers to meet. It is ironic, and unfortunate, that tighter class size limits are factoring into play in BC right when blended learning is going to push the envelope of continuous supervision of students in set classes.
3. Models & Mentorship - We actually have working models like the Calgary Science School to examine. At CSS new teachers are told not to plan anything until they meet their colleagues. New teachers aren’t handed the toughest positions, and they aren’t handed packages of work or set programs to teach. As Stephen Heppell says, “…you get ideas from colleagues, and from other schools, and… when your experience touches someone else’s experience”.
This blog is about the RealSchool experience. Here, we will update you on the progress of the RealSchool teams. What is Real School, you ask? RealSchool aims to reform education by piquing students’ interests in a variety of different fields that they may not be able to study in a traditional classroom. In fact, RealSchool is nothing like a traditional classroom. Students decide on the material they’ll be studying; their teacher serves only as a facilitator but not as an expert in the field of study; and all work is project-based and collaborative. RealSchool’s faculty advisor is Mrs. Tikvah Wiener, who was inspired by Ken Robinson’s revolutionary video about reforming education. Check out the video here:
Turning the school hallways into a place of learning:
The last event of the year for RealSchool was Detox for the Decalogue:
Students signed up for No Sugar Drinks Day, agreeing to drink only water
on the day we focused on physical health
Thanks to M and C Vending for donating the water bottles for No Sugar Drinks Day!
Students could paint in the relaxing, de-stressing style of Jackson Pollack
on the day we focused on alleviating mental strain
Students got to daven at a special minyan for the day we focused on spiritual health,
but then also signed up to do mitzvoth, which we proudly posted on our Har Sinai.
We were therefore able to focus on mitzvothbein adam l'makomandbein adam l'chavero
Detox for the Decalogue, a three-day preparation for Shavuot run by RealSchool, began on Wednesday, May 23 with a focus on physical health. The school's vending machine company, M and C Vending, donated 400 bottles of water, so we could offer bottled water to those students signing up for our No Sugar Drinks day. The Natural Spot in Teaneck donated a whey protein drink mix, which we raffled off, and RealSchool members also posted myths and facts about physical health throughout the school. Thursday's focus was on mental health. Freshman Ronit Langer started the day off with a dvar Torah after davening about the mental health benefits of prayer. Students were offered opportunities to visit a yoga/meditation room and a lounge that had been converted into a playroom, complete with hula hoops, pumped up music and brain teasers and other puzzles. Students could also de-stress with a Jackson Pollack-like painting session and learn fun facts about the mind that we posted for the day.
On Friday, May 25, a day focused on the soul, students could participate in a Decalogue Davening, a special minyan that began with a discussion about why tefillah is important. "PrayPals" then visited classrooms, polling students about what is inspiring about Frisch tefillah and what should be improved. The focus on tefillahcovered mitzvothbein adam l'makom. For mitzvoth bein adam l'chavero, RealSchool made a Har Sinai and had students write a nice thing they would do for someone else over the course of the weekend. We hope Detox for the Decalogue: Body, Mind, Soul got the Frisch community ready for Shavuot, the holiday on which we received the Torah!
Following is a found poem made from the student survey responses about the inspiring nature of tefillah:
I like davening
In silence
And at my own
Pace.
Davening is peaceful
Meditation
And gives me time
To reflect on my
Day and what
I've done.
Tefillah is important
To me
because
When I'm down
Or without hope,
It gives me
Faith
And a purpose
In life.
I like having a set
Time
To communicate with
Hashem.
It forces me
To continually refresh
The relationship.
I like the personal
Aspect of tefillah,
Not only reading
The words
But making them
My own.
Tefillah gives
Me the feeling
That I always
Have someone
To lean on.
It gives me
A chance to pour
Out my feelings to Someone
And to thank Him
For everything
I have.
It makes me
Feel like God is listening.
Images from the event:
Detox for the Decalogue logo
Detox for the Decalogue: One of the posters for Physical Health
Detox for the Decalogue: One of the posters for Mental Health
Detox for the Decalogue: One of the posters for Spiritual Health
Spiritual Health
Thanks again to our sponsors:
M and C Vending 201-342-8363
The Natural Spot 1440 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck, NJ 201-862-1055
The Frisch Fashion Show took place on May 21, 2012.
RealSchool Arts member Karen Segal designed the event's logo and T-shirt, but the majority of the work for the show was completed by the amazingly talented Danit Bretter, Judith Benichou and Golda Marcus. The show was entitled "You are Beautiful. You are Enough," and, inspired by the style of Man Repeller, had freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior girls modeling eclectic, bohemian, preppy and formal clothing in ways that inspired a sartorial sense of individuality and fun.
Neiman Marcus Last Call Studio in Paramus, NJ; Ezrah's Closet, a division of Project Ezrah; and the Teaneck Gown Gemach donated clothing for the event. Glam Salon in Englewood, NJ were the first to donate their services for the show and did a beautiful job on the models' hair and make-up, while former Frisch student Ilana Prager also generously donated her services and was an additional make-up artist for the night.
Proceeds from the event as well as from the bracelets and T-shirts sold at it went to Frisch and Sharsheret. If you still want to purchase a bracelet or T-shirt, email Tikvah.Wiener@gmail.com:
Here is a link to the presentation that ran as the models walked down the runway. The presentation features the work of artist Barbara Kruger and reinforces the message "You are Beautiful. You are Enough":
