Let Me Count the Ways Volume Two

Let Me Count the Ways, Volume 2 Practical Innovations for Jewish Teachers

Carol Oseran Starin

Torah Aura Productions

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In loving memory of Faye Tillis Lewy z”l, friend, teacher, colleague and valued member of our Five Things Advisory Group.

Starin, Carol Oseran, 1945– Let me count the ways, volume 2: practical innovations for Jewish teachers / Carol Oseran Starin.

Includes bibliographical references ISBN 1-831662-72-4 (alk. paper) 1. Jewish religious education of children Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Judaism—Study and teaching Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Classroom management Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4.

Teaching Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.

Copyright © 2006 Carol Oseran Starin Published by Torah Aura Productions All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Torah aura Productions• 4423 Fruitland Avenue, Los Angeles, Ca 90058 (800) BE-torah • (800) 238-6724 • (323) 585-7312 • fax (323) 585–0327 E-MAIL <misrad@torahaura.com> • Visit the Torah aura website at WwW.TORAHAURA.Com manufactured in the united states of america

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Table of Contents Contents Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Thinking about Your Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Five Ways to Create a Joyful Jewish Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Icebreakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Collaborative Learning: Five Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Five Ways to Actively Engage the Learner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Five Ways to Build Community in the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Five Community-building Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Defining a Heymishe Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Creating a Heymishe Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Hebrew Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Five Ways to Move Around the Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Rules for the New Semester. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Seven Ways to Take Attendance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Taking Attendanceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and So Much More. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Five Steps in Planning Meaningful Learning Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Five Ways to Work With Smart Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Gimme Five: Strategies for the Last Five Minutes of Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Five Projects for the Last Days of School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Seven Ways to Conclude and Extend the School Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 More Ways to End the Year Meaningfully . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Getting Inside Ideas: Techniques and Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Using Journals in Our Jewish Classrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 So, Your Class Is in Charge of the Friday Night Service: Five Elements for Success. . . . . 58 Five Ways to Create Interesting Electives (and Hugim) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Making and Using Jewish Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Using Themes in Your Jewish Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Read To Your Class: Five Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Read to Your Class: Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Five Book Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Blank Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Five Ways to Use Writing in Your Jewish Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

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Index Cards: Don’t Leave Home Without Them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Five Ways to Use the Humble Library Pocket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Five Ways to Use White Boards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Five Food Projects—No Cooking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Five Things We Can Learn From Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Knowing Hallah: Five Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Five Ways to Use Maps in Your Jewish Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 It’s about Timelines: Five Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Teaching the Alef-Bet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Boo, Bah, Beh: Five Ways to Call on Students for Hebrew Reading Drills. . . . . . . . . . . 98 Beh, Bah, Boo II: Hebrew Drills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Five Ways to Teach Parashat Ha-Shavu’a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Parashat ha-Shavu'a Ideas from Five Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Jewish Women’s Archive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Values: Living and Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Five Steps in a Process of Teaching Jewish Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Learning and Living Derekh Eretz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Five Things About the Ten Things That God Said . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Don’t Wear a Fur Coat in Seattle: Five Projects for Teaching About the Environment. . 114 Jewish Values in the Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Five Mitzvah Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Honoring Teachers: Walking the Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Honoring Teachers:In a Teacher’s Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Extend, Enhance and Enrich Jewish Celebrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

125

Looking Inward: Five T’shuvah Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Five Ways to Think about Hanukkah in Your Classroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Eight Gifts That Keep Giving: Creating Your Own Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 5 Tu B’Shvat Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Tu B’Shvat: Five Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Bal Tash'hit: The New Three R’s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Purim Carnivals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Concealed and Revealed: Five Purim Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Five Ways to Teach About Haman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Pesah: Personal Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 The Mouth Speaks: Five Ways to Tell Our Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Five Ways to Spice Up Your Seder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Five Ways to Count the Omer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Teaching Israel: Five Things Teachers Need to Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

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Five Ways to Teach the Israeli Flag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Five Ways to Teach about Rosh Hodesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Communication: Home and School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Home/School Communication: |Online Newsletters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Classroom Newsletters: In Their Own Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Taking Stuff Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Angry Parents: Five Things to Keep in Mind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Checking in with Parents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 My Bobby Is Bored: Five Strategies for Responding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Bobby Has No Friends: Im Ayn Friends, Ayn Torah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Hard Calls: Five Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Parents Who Act Out, Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Parents Who Act Out, Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Teacher: The Professional and Personal You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

189

Five Things Principals Should Do for New Teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Being a Jewish Professional: Five Things You Need to Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Five Teacher Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Passion: NOT the Movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

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Many Thanks There

is a community of people who have shared their

“Let Me Count week.

knowledge and visions to make the

Ways”

column live from week to

the

Special

thanks to: Nic Abery, Laurel Abrams, Judy Aronson, Amy Azaroff, Laurie Bellet, Diane Bernbaum, Dan Bender, Idie Benjamin, Hilary Bernstein, David Bianco, Dr. Stevie Bravmann, Gayle Carrol, Evelyn Cohanim, Dale Cooperman, Joan Dickman, Gail Dorph, Barbara Dragul, Grace Dublin, Adrian Durlester, Irit Eliav, Paul Epstein, Maria Erlitz, Debbie Findling, Rabbi David Fine, Susan Fish, Mike Fixler, Dorothy Glass, Joanne Glosser, Ruz Gulko, Rabbi Sharyn Henry, Beth Huppin, Ronni Ihm, Rabbi Jerry Kane, Julie Katz, Linda Kirsch, Rivy Poupko Kletenik, Benzy Kogen, Brad Lakritz, Sue Littauer, Stacy Lawson, Audrey Levine, Scott Mandel, Sharon Morton, Rabbi Susie Moskowitz, Sharon Feinman Nemser, Alice Nussbaum, Fran Pearlman, Iris Petroff, Michael Raileanu, Debi Rowe, Shira Raviv Schwartz, Lynn Shirley, Marc Shoffren, Susan Hoffman Shure, Joyce Spielberger, Toba Spitzer, Peter Stark , Faye Tillis Lewy z”l, Janice Tytell, Sharon Wasserberg, Sharon Wasserman, Beth Weisberg, Ira Wise, Susan Wyner, Rabbi Elana Zaiman, Diane Zipperman and my TEI teachers and colleagues.

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Thinking about Your Classroom

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Five Ways to Create a Joyful Jewish Classroom In the Talmud we learn that Torah is acquired by forty-eight means or qualities (Pirke Avot 6.6).

These qualities include study, attentive listening, reasoning of the heart, awe, fear, humility, painstaking examination of a subject.

I’ve always loved this passage because it looks like a prescription for good teaching.

How wise were the sages of the Talmud! One of those forty-eight ways to acquire Torah is through simhah—joy.

How can we create a joyful Jewish learning experience in our classrooms? What’s involved?

1

Students feel safe, warm and comfortable—physically and emotionally. The classroom climate is one where there is no hitting, bullying or name calling.

Students feel safe expressing their opinions and ideas. It is a safe place to talk about feeling and fears, to struggle with ideas, and to learn how to discuss controversial issues without personal attacks.

The classroom is physically comfortable and attractive. Invite students to work with you to create bulletin boards and places to display their work. It should be THEIR classroom, not something done by you FOR them.

Make your Jewish classroom into a holy space—a makom kadosh. Fran Pearlman has a teacher who made a parokhet (the curtain on the ark) as the entrance to her classroom. Behaviors and attitudes changed when students began the day by walking through the parokhet.

2

Students know the learning is meaningful. Students know why they are learning what they are learning and the lessons are stimulating. You are continually making connections between the learning and their lives. Examples: “We must treat guests in our classroom with kindness because Rivka…” “We learn from Esther that…” “We are like Haman when….”

Use Jewish rituals and minhagim (customs) to celebrate accomplishments.

• Celebrate “Shehehiyanu moments”: losing the first tooth or getting a driver’s license or new clothes.

• Create a siyyum to celebrate the completion of a project, book of the Torah, or unit of study.

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• Learn and say appropriate blessings for a new sibling, new home, safe return from a trip, recovery from an illness.

• Use Rosh Hodesh as an authentic Jewish time not only to celebrate the new month, but to do some special classroom learning.

Do some reading about “Understanding By Design.”

• Take a look at Joel Lurie Grishaver's article on teacher's guides on the Torah Aura Bulletin Board (http://www.bb.torahaura .com/index. php?showtopic=235).

• Be sure that both you and your students always the know the big idea. Go to http://www.ascd.org and search for Understanding By Design.

3

Students have friends. This is particularly important in supplementary schools.

Our students come from many neighborhoods. Many of our students don’t know each other. Hebrew school is sometimes a very lonely place for kids. It’s hard to be joyous when you are lonely. Every time you plan something, ask yourself—how can I help students get to know each other?

Here is a list of suggestions for creating situations in which kids must learn and talk together.

• Design lunch, recess and transition activities that force kids to talk to each other.

• Design your classroom in ways that encourage group work, cooperative learning groups, study in hevruta.

• Create a mitzvah project everyone works on together.

• Institute a buddy system in which kids must call each other to find out about homework and to collaborate on a project.

• If appropriate, extend the learning to e-mail discussions.

• Create a class directory (include birthdays) so kids can contact each other.

• Structure learning that promotes interaction, encourages cooperative work, and empowers students to learn from and with each other.

• Peer teaching “Whisper to your neighbor’ “Ask three before me” Cooking together

4

Students are living the Jewish values they learn. Teachers and students live Jewish values, connect the values with their Jewish terms and demonstrate those values in their behavior, their work and their actions. Every student and every teacher knows Jewish ways to talk and act. Classrooms don’t waste paper, water,

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electricity, food. Students and teachers reuse and recycle. Students never hear (or overhear) teachers being unkind to one another. Students are not embarrassed.

5

Students know they are in a special place. Make your classroom a special place to be. Create a project, unit, or theme that is unique to your classroom. Students will know that when they get to Mrs. Goldberg’s class they will plant the pea patch. Or when they get into kitah gimmel they will be responsible for planning the edot fair.

Coordinate these special projects as a faculty so there will be no repetitions.

Students won’t be able to say “Oh, we did that last year.”

A joyous classroom in not about having fun. It’s about the joy of learning and joyful experiences that are possible because of classroom climate and careful, thoughtful teacher planning.

*Silberman, Mel. Active Learning: 101 Strategies

to

Teach Any Subject. Massachusetts, Allyn

and

Bacon. 1996.

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Icebreakers We do them on the first day of school at the first teachers’ meeting, the first committee meeting, the first board meeting.

Icebreakers are designed to melt the ice, to serve as a tool that helps people who don’t know each other, but who over time will learn or work together, learn each other’s names and begin building a relationship.

Melissa Kelly from the website About.com writes: “Although icebreakers can seem frivolous, they are an important first step to getting student buy-in. Unless a student is emotionally connected to school, they will lack motivation to learn. Fostering feelings of trust and acceptance is difficult, if not impossible, when students don’t know each other’s names.”

Icebreakers are especially important in Jewish Sunday and afternoon schools where kids sometimes see each other only once a week. We have to work a lot harder to help students get to know each other.

Icebreakers can: • help teachers and students learn each other’s names.

• provide an opportunity to learn something about each person that begins the building of a real relationship.

• give us a window into a child’s Jewish background or tell us something about his or her Jewish experiences.

• let us know something about a person’s taste, likes, dislikes, favorites (Jewish foods, TV shows, movies).

• become a bridge between the first and second days of school.

The following icebreakers have been assembled from our “5 Things Advisory Group.”

They can be used to start classes, to refocus the energy of classes, as a teaching technique or as a way to divide students into groups or pairs.

How to decide which one to use?

• Know what you want the icebreaker to accomplish.

• Make sure the icebreaker you choose is developmentally appropriate.

• Decide if you can make the icebreaker Jewish.

• Know how much time you can allot.

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• Find out what icebreaker/getting acquainted activity your students did last year—you don’t want to start off the new school year with “Oh, we did that one last year.”

1

1

Crossword Puzzles. This activity includes visual symbols of connection and self-introductions. The teacher prints her name on the board, leaving some space between each letter, and tells the class something about herself. The teacher then chooses a student to come to the board, tell something about himself or herself, and print his/her name—crossing the teacher’s as in a crossword puzzle. Students take turns telling something about themselves and adding their names.

Volunteers copy the completed puzzle as a poster. To save time, the puzzle could be written on paper taped to the board and left up in first-draft form.

This activity can be extended by asking students to write their names and a statement about themselves on a sheet of paper. The teacher can then use the statements as clues for a class-names crossword puzzle that can be made with crossword puzzle software.

2

2

Yarn roll. Have students sit in a circle. One tells something about himself, holds the end of a ball of yarn, then throws the ball of yarn to the next student, who tells something about himself, holds a piece of the yarn and throws the ball to anyone else in the room. When finished, there is a web of yarn in the middle of the circle, attaching every student. They can stand, sit, or walk around the circle holding it. It can be rerolled as they tell another fact about themselves OR as people remember what they said when they were rolling it out.

3

“Which-superhero-am-I” game. Using a computer and labels (or a marker for the low-tech approach), print the names of an assortment of fictional and real life heroes (comic books, cartoons, historical figures). As students enter the room, the teacher or madrikh puts one of the stickers on each student’s back without revealing who they “are.”

Students have to walk around the room and ask yes or no questions about themselves (the character on their back) à la Twenty Questions to learn their secret identity. When they are successful, move the sticker from back to front. After everyone has discovered themselves, sit in a circle and discuss what makes each character heroic or admirable.

Extra credit: In the case of the fictional people, discuss what is Jewish about each of them in terms of the values they represent and choices they make. For

This

1

idea was taken from http://712 educators . about.com /cs/icebreakers/a /icebreakers/htm

This idea was taken from a great Sausalito California 94965).

2

book.

Tribes

by Jeanne

Gibbs (Center Source System, 85 Liberty Ship Way, Suite 104,

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the real people, how might each be portrayed as a comic-book hero? What is their super-power?

The goals: break the ice and talk about values and the power of an individual to change the world.

4

Name Tents. Use file folders. Cut them in half. By tri-folding them they stand up nicely. In the middle section ask the students to write their names (English and/ or Hebrew). In each corner of the rectangle ask students to name and illustrate (categories can be varied depending on age level): a) a TV show they like to watch; b) their favorite Jewish holiday; c) a sport they like to play; d) their favorite Jewish food.

Ask students to share their name tent with a partner and then introduce the partner to the class. Keep the name cards on the shelves and use them as needed during the year. Have them available for substitutes. The passing out is done by those that come to class early and collected by those who might have to stay around after class because parents or teachers are otherwise not there to pick them up.

Goals for this activity: 1) to present and share some things that are important about oneself and have those shared by another within the class; 2) to get to know each other better; 3) to recall some connections they have to Judaism; 4) to do this in as unthreatening a way as possible; 5) to create something that can be used in the classroom for the rest of the year.

5

Whom Would You Like To Meet? Ask students whom in history they would like to meet. Then invite the students to line up in alphabetical order (last name) of that person they chose. Third, invite students to talk with the person standing next to them about their choice, who the person is, why they would like to meet them.

6 7

Introduce Yourself. Place the right shoe of each person in the middle of a circle of students. As the teacher pulls out the shoe the owner has to say three or more things about himself or herself.

Group Juggling. Students and teacher stand in a circle. Teacher calls out the name of one student and throws a Koosh ball to him or her. Child calls out the name of another student, and throws the ball to him or her. Repeat until each student has received the ball. The last student throws the ball back to the teacher. It is important for each person to remember WHOM s/he threw the ball

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to. The purpose of this step is to establish an order of throwers and catchers that will be used through the rest of the activity.

• First Task: Rehearse the order. Teacher emphasizes that this is about group success rather than speed or technique. The task is to replicate the order of tosses. If anyone forgot the name of the person s/he threw to, it’s time to re-learn it. Play this SLOWLY. • Second Task: Once the group is used to throwing the ball around in the designated order, the teacher stops the action and announces, “When the ball has gone about halfway, I am going to add ANOTHER ball.” Teacher starts the first ball, and then when the ball has gone halfway around, teacher calls out LOUDLY (they always concentrate on the first ball and need to be reminded of the second ball’s arrival) the name the person s/he throws to, then adds the second ball to the mix. Continue until the kids are adept at moving two balls around the circle.

Tips: 1) It’s always important, both for the name-game aspect and for the success of the task, to call the person’s name BEFORE throwing the ball.

2) One way to determine halfway around an irregular path is to count the number of kids and divide by two. If you have sixteen students, introduce the second ball after the first one has passed the eighth student.

• Third Task: Move up to three balls. Start one ball around; then, after a third of the group has passed the ball, add another, then after the first ball has passed a another third of the group, add another. It’s important for the TEACHER to pay attention here, because otherwise s/he will be so proud of the balls moving around, she will forget to be on the lookout for the FIRST ball, which will come whizzing back shortly.

• Fourth Task. Then and only then should you move up to difficult tasks, and only if the group wants to. You can try going fast, or you can try to see how many times around the group can keep the ball up. Remember to call out the name before throwing the ball!

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. “La Shana Tova” game. Two students (and first use a madrikh as one) are blindfolded, separated by several feet, spun around three times and sent in each other’s direction to find each other, shake hands and say “La Shana Tova.” Then take off their scarves and let two others have a turn. Once they get over the initial shyness, they line up to keep having turns to do this.

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. Word Search. Create a word search that includes the names of the teacher, the madrikhah, and all the students. There are computer programs that will make this up for you. This game is best played after the first week or two to be sure to include all students’ names. We know that some parents don’t pre-enroll, and

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we don’t want to leave anyone out. Even kindergarten students can usually find their own names, and students can help each other.

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Alphabet Names. Have students organize themselves in a line or circle in alphabetical order by first name. Explain that they need to talk with each other in order to this do this and should try to do it as quickly and as quietly as possible. Extensions of this game could include ordering themselves by birthday (Jan.-Dec., not necessarily including the year, as it is not necessary to emphasize age differences); eye color–darkest to lightest; alphabetized favorite singer, biblical character, food, etc.

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My Name. Students introduce themselves to either one person or the group telling what they know about why they have their name—first, middle or last (whether they were named after someone, whether it was randomly assigned at Ellis Island, etc.).

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Find Someone Who…Each student receives a list of sentences such as: Find someone who speaks three languages.

Find someone who traveled overseas this past summer.

Find someone whose favorite color is orange.

Find someone who is considering being a rabbi someday.

Find someone who doesn’t like pizza.

They complete the game by walking around the room and finding people who can positively answer the statements.

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Back to Back Interviews. In pairs, group members discuss various topics for brief amounts of time. After time is over for each topic, participants change partners and talk with someone new.

Community Bingo. Create a blank Bingo card. Students need to fill in each space with the name of a person and two interesting facts about him or her.

Then Bingo is played with names being called out and markers (pieces of paper) placed on squares. When someone gets Bingo, the winner reads out the card, including the two facts about the person.

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True or False. Each student should write down three sentences describing him or herself. For example, “I have attended eleven schools,” “I have an aunt and an uncle both named Laverne,” and “I love to vacation in Cancun.”

The catch is that two of the statements are true and one is false. The students then share their three statements with each other or the entire class (whichever you prefer) and vote on which they think are true and false. The more

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unusual the information, the harder it will be for the other students to guess.

Let them know this, and you are sure to learn some interesting trivia about your new students.

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Interview—Three-Word Conclusions. Have students work with someone they don’t know or don’t know very well. Then have them find out as much of the following information about each other as they possibly can in two to three minutes: name, hobbies, family, school, favorite color, favorite food, favorite type of music, etc. Then have them use three words to describe their assigned partner, but three words only (example: Joe Bob was my partner, funny, energetic, verbose).

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Word-at-a-time Story. Students suggest a theme or title, e.g., “My first day at Hebrew High.” They tell the story one word at a time. The story continues around the circle with students adding only one word at their turn. Variation #1: Students tell story until “conductor” points to someone else to continue.

Variation #2: Five students tell the story to the group while the teacher or another student conducts; each student tells part of the story with a different style, mood or character (e.g. melodrama, rap, shy, a police officer, a grandmother, etc.).

Ongoing, at the beginning and end of every class session. We learn about the best icebreaker we know from Dr. Ron Wolfson. It’s not a game or activity. Ron says that teachers start their day, every day, by standing outside the classroom door and welcoming each student. So often we think of “ice” as being a phenomenon on the first day or two. That is not true. Ice can develop in a student’s life at any time. The teacher with a warm smile and a friendly greeting can do much to melt the ice that forms overnight or between class sessions.

ON THE WEB http://www.humanpingpongball.com/ (This URL contains several dozen games.

After visiting this page, select “game categories”. You will see that several categories have games that apply, and their use or goal is clearly defined.)

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Collaborative Learning: Five Strategies What is the meaning of the verse “Iron sharpeneth iron”? (Prov. XXVII, 17). This is to teach you that just as in the case of one iron sharpens the other, so also do two scholars sharpen each other’s minds by halakhah.

R. Hama b. Hanah said, “Why are the words of the Torah likened to fire, as it is said, ‘Is not my word like as fire said the Eternal?‘ (Jer. XXIII, 29). This is to teach you that just as fire does not ignite of itself so too the words of the Torah do not endure with him who studies alone.”

R. Nahman b. Isaac said, “Why are the words of the Torah likened to a tree, as it is said, ‘It is a tree of life to them that grasp it‘? (Prov. XIII, 12). This is to teach you, just as a small tree may set on fire a bigger tree so too it is with scholars, the younger sharpen the minds of the older” (Ta’anit, 7a).

Teachers are in a position of power. Over the last decade educators have moved away from this notion of “teaching as telling and learning as listening.” No longer do we promote the idea that teachers have all the knowledge and they just pour it into the students. The secular education world has learned what the Jewish world has known for hundreds of years—students can learn with and from each other.

The teacher, serving as guide, empowers students by finding ways to help them access the knowledge. Here are five strategies that promote collaborative learning—strategies in which one student can sharpen the mind of another; strategies in which a student’s idea may set fire to the teacher.

1

Hevruta. Learning with a partner is traditional Jewish learning. For hundreds of years and still today, students throughout the world study in hevrutot. This model is re-created in many adult learning situations and, with structured questions, is a wonderful learning model in our schools. Students can be given a topic, question, text or problem that they must tackle with their learning partners. Example: After listening to the story Why Noah Chose the Dove, learning partners are given two questions to work on together. Older students, after studying a piece of the Noah text together, may be given a set of study questions that ask about the meaning of Noah’s name and what names teach us.

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The Power of Two. This activity is designed to promote cooperative learning and the “two heads are better than one” concept. Give students one or more questions that require reflection and thinking. Ask students to answer the questions individually. After all students have completed their answers, arrange into pairs and ask them to share their answers with each other. Ask the pairs to create a new answer to each question, improving on each individual’s response.

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When all pairs have written new answers, compare the answers of each pair to the others in the class.

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. Learning Stations. This strategy can be structured several ways. In each scenario, the classroom has several learning stations. Each station is outfitted with different kinds of resources. One may have a text or two, another may have articles or books, and another may have artist’s renditions, music, or poetry: use your imagination and think of the many different ways in which we all learn.

In the first scenario, all students are given the same set of key questions and invited to uncover responses at one (or more) of the learning stations. In the end, students share their different interpretations with one another. In the second scenario, students are given different sets (on color-coded paper—e.g., a red set, a blue set, a green set) of guiding questions and invited to open up responses by working at one or more of the learning stations. In the end students get into groups (with one red, one blue and one green in each group) to teach each other what they learned.

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Hevruta combined with Learning Stations. Rivy Kletenik created a wonderful Rosh Hashanah “mystery.” Why do we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah? She selected four key sources.

Each text was written at the top of a large piece of chart paper, followed by the question, Why do we blow the Shofar? The charts were placed around the room. Students divided into four groups. Each group went to one of the charts, read the text, discussed its meaning, wrote some ideas on the chart, then moved on to the next chart. When each group had rotated through all four charts, the class came to together to discuss the mystery question.

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Discussions Grown out of Group Participation. My friend Beth Huppin created a strategy that I have used many times. When I learned it from Beth, she was teaching a group of teachers. Beth has collected a lot of texts about Jewish teachers and Jewish teaching. Each text is printed on a 3x5 card. After an appropriate set induction, Beth gives each person three or four cards. Students are instructed to read the cards, choose one they like and pass the others to the person on their left. After a few minutes of reading and passing, each participant ends up with a text they like, feel comfortable with, are challenged or troubled by, etc. One student is asked to read his card and tell why he chose it. The discussion that follows forms the backbone of the learning. Text builds on text.

Discussion builds on discussion.

B. Hanina said, “I have learnt much from my teachers, and from my colleagues more than from my teachers, but from my disciples more than from them all.”

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