Using Creativity to Drive Student Engagement
As it appears in the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools website. I am a seasoned educator — having taught for more than 20 years, yet I still consider myself a student. Over the years I have continuously sought to learn innovative ways to educate and reach students. Based on my own experience in the classroom […]
Making Learning “Sticky”
In my middle school division we’re a week away from finals. My students are stressed and tense. I’ve noticed that a great way to reduce the stress and elicit great work from the students is to add an element of fun and playfulness to our work. I’ve been reading Ali Abdaal’ book: “Feeling Good Productivity” […]
Voice and Choice
I teach in an environment where many of my adolescent male students aren’t always so excited to learn General studies. Needless to say that when I see my students super engaged with their work it is very exciting. I have to share this “win” for my fellow colleagues struggling with similar issues. Last week I […]
The Benefits of PBL
Many of my friends and colleagues ask me why I think Project Based Learning is beneficial for students. This past week my students have been engaged in a project and I’ve noticed a lot of benefits that I don’t normally see when I’m using standard frontal teaching methods. I’d like to discuss a few of […]
Compassion and Curiosity
How can teachers do their part to help the war efforts? I believe- as hard as it may be – STAY UPBEAT. Without feeling truly positive inside it is so hard to be there for our students. Happiness precedes being able to support others. One specific area I am working on is to look for […]
Managing Group Project Dynamics
Two of my strongest middle school male students lost their rough draft to a project they had been working on for days where they painstakingly plotted out their plans. Tears began to well up in their eyes and they completely shut down refusing to do any work. We know from the research of Angela Duckworth […]
When Love is Hard
One of the hardest aspects of being a teacher is that you have to lead even when you’re not popular. Moshe Rabeinu was the ultimate teacher (he is called “Rabeinu- our teacher) and he wanted to quit. In fact, in one of the most shocking sections of Chumash he asked G-d to kill him because […]
Effective Group Work Dynamics
During a recent project my middle school students worked on, I told them that they could choose their partner. I wanted them to try to complete most of the work in class so that I could observe if students were working well together. I told the students that different students could receive different grades- even […]
Enhancing Students’ Work Ethic
We all want our students to put in their best effort and not hand in sloppy work. It makes grading miserable as a teacher and it makes students feel dejected to see a bad grade. What can we do as teachers to avoid receiving bad work? In Carol Dweck’s seminal book, Mindset, she explains the […]
Be Curious… Not Furious
Teaching middle school boys can really try your patience. Last year I had a student who was constantly being disruptive and wouldn’t comply no matter what type of educational techniques I used. It felt terrible to have to constantly send him out of class to go to the principals office and see zero improvement. At […]