Experiments with Google Docs

Productivity tools seem like a great way to have kids collaborate. Perhaps the best part about them is that they are accessible to most anyone. Our school has set up Google Accounts for every faculty member and students and thus Google Docs is an easy way to have kids work together, maintaining documents with revisions on the server. My early experiments however have been a mixed bag. The main culprit has been internet speeds. I do not know if it a software problem or a problem with our school’s bandwidth, but at times Google Docs is slow to respond. This frustrates students and derails a lesson. Your technology based lesson will only be as good as the technology you use, but this also iterates what we have seen as a common theme in integrating technology into the classroom, always have a backup plan in case you have technical difficulties.

Fundraising Shekalim

Rosh Chodesh Adar is the day Beis Din would announce the collection of Shekalim. This past shabbos we read parshas shekalim and the Haftora we read presented us with two different ways of fundraising.

King Yoash has decided to make repairs to the Bais Hamikdash. This is a tremendous maneuver on his part, the Beis Hamikdash having fallen into disarray after his father and grandmother, King Achazya and Queen Attalia, worshiped the Baal and allowed the Mikdash to deteriorate. In order to raise the capital needed for these repairs King Yoash decides to send the Kohanim out
as meshulachim for the Mikdash. He instructs them to go to every town and collect funds for the mikdash. The Kohanim are not pleased with this arrangement and they do not collect as much money as the king envisioned.

Yehoyada, the Kohen Gadol, then presents the king with an alternative method of fund raising. He places a chest in the mikdash, beside the mizbeach, and as people are serviced by the kohanim, the kohanim tell them they can make a donation into the chest. The chest is soon filled many times over, and the King’s improvements to the Mikdash are paid for.

It appears that Yoash and Yehoyada present us with two different modes of fundraising, dues and donations. Yoash has the kohanim collect dues from the nation. The result, the people are upset by the taxes, the kohanim are upset they have become tax collectors, and insufficient funds are raised. Yehoyada has the people make donations. The kohanim are to service the people, and as the people experience the mikdash they are moved to donate. The result, people donate sufficient funds for the repairs.

I think we are stuck in a Yoash model, our communal institutions charging dues and requiring community members to make additional building campaign and membership contributions. I am not sure how to switch to a Yehoyada model, but it has to start with servicing people. When people feel that an institution is vital and adds value to their lives they will donate, no dues required. If we have reached a point when we will not support institutions we feel are important we have truly fallen as a nation. If we have not, perhaps the best thing we can for our fundraising efforts is to make our services more relevant and vital to the lives of our constituents.

The Power of Simcha

Another guest post from an amazingly strong Northern Figtree.

We are now entering into a very special time, a time that presents us with an amazing opportunity to change and grow. We are all familiar with the famous Gemarah in Tannis 29 that says When the month Adar enters,we increase in simcha. The obvious question that needs to be asked is why? What is it about the month of Adar that we make a conscious effort to increase our simcha. Shouldnt this be something we do year round. The simple answer is, that if we look at what took place during the month of Adar we can understand why we are so happy. Back in the days of the stroy of the Megilah , Haman Harasha tried to wipe out the jews. He tried to have us all killed and with the help and blessing of Hashem he was not successful. Therefore in order to remember and celebrate the fact that he was not successful in destroying us, we not only celebrate during Adar but we increase our simcha to a higher level. However I think that we can go a little deeper, and see a different reason as to why specifically during the month of Adar, our avodah is to increase our simcha.Says Rabbi Nosson in Likutey Etzot quoting from Rabbanu, Rebbe Nachman Mi Breslov, " Someone who is himself happy, can give heart to somebody else. It is a great thing to bring joy to the heart of your fellow jews. Most people are full of pain and worry and all kinds of troubles , and they find it impossible to speak out what it is in their hearts. Someone who comes with a smiling face ,can LITERALLY GIVE THEM FRESH LIFE. This is a very great thing. You can make another person happy, YOU ARE LITERALLY GIVING NEW LIFE TO A JEWISH SOUL". Explains Reb Nosson , that when we come to someone and cheer them up, give them joy, add some simcha to thier life, we are not just doing a nice thing. We are not just as the saying go's "cheering them up". We are are MAMISH giving them a fresh start, a new life. That simcha has the ability to recharge, reinvigorate, renew the jewish soul. Haman tried to come and annihilate the jewish people. We respond to Haman, by countering exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to take life, so in Adar we respond by giving life. How do we do that? By increasing simcha ,by giving life to the jewish soul.Lets really take this torah of Reb Nosson to heart.Let us try to not only only increase the simcha in our lives, but in the lives of those around us. Lets try and give a new start, a new life, to all those that need it, by giving a smile, or saying a kind word or joke, or even just listening to someone who needs to let some things out. Lets dance a little more and sing a little more. Let us use the koach of simcha to make sure that " these days of Purim will never pass from among the Jews, nor shall their memory depart from their descendants" ( Ester 9:28).GUT CHODESH -GUT PURIM

Convenience (and maybe an authentic assessment)

I have a friend who says that the measure of a good piece of software is if it makes life easier. It appears to me that is what podcasts are good for educationally. They add very little in the realm of new functionality, but they can add quite a bit in convenience. . Having updates automatically downloaded takes away the need to check for new recordings and enables more immediate access.

They could be used by both teachers and students. Teachers can record review podcasts or have students prepare podcasts to demonstrate knowledge. In particular podcasts might be a good way to create an authentic assessment for reading Gemara. Have the students prepare a podcast of themselves reading and explaining a short piece of Gemara. The teacher can grade it on a rubric and the convenience of having it appear without having to go through email or search online will make it easier to organize a student’s reading over time.

I Love Tu B'Shvat

I present here an anonymous guest post from a beautiful Northern Figtree.

I have very fond memories of tu beshvat from my youth. Seriously, what is better then coming to school, having the school provide the ammunition, and spending the rest of the day pelting your friends with rock hard dried fruit.
However as I have gotten older, I may not be much wiser, but the day has become much more then a dried fruit free for all. Tu Beshvat is a day filled with so much meaning and potential, that if we look a little bit beyond the surface we can truly learn a lot.
Says the Divrai Chaim of Sanz ztl that on Tu Beshvat we should make a big feast. We are now entering a time period filled with joy and simcha, because from Tu Beshvat till Shavuos we have a diffrent yom tov every 15 days. (rosh chodesh adar-purim-rosh chodesh nissan-pesach-rosh chodesh iyur-pesach shani-rosh chodesh sivan-shavuos). The question is, as we enter this time period of Simcah, how should we begin.
I think we can find the answer to this question, with a teaching from the Lubavitcher Rebbi ztl that I saw quoted by Yitzchak Buxbaum. On Tu Beshvat we have the custom of eating fruits, but this seems strange. In reality, at this point of the season, fruits aren't even close to being ripe. As a matter of fact on Tu Beshvat only the sap inside the tree begins to flow. So why do we eat fruits now before their season has come?
He answers so beautifully, that on Tu Beshvat we really do have the whole perfection of the trees yearly cycle, however we have it in potential. It make take time, care, and hard work, but the potential that we will need to succeed in growing the fruits of the tree are here now. And as we sit at our feast, enjoying the sweetness of the fruits, we are reminded that with hard work, determination, and a proper use of the hidden potential inside the tree and each one of us, we have the ability to produce beautiful fruits.
Each one of us has so much potential. We are all capable of doing things we never dreamed we would be able to achieve. But we must believe in ourselves and our ability to succeed no matter what the task. We have to take that first step, plant that first little seed and then we can see it grow. Tu Beshvat is beautiful reminder of that. Rabbianu, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov ztl said " its not good to be old. There are pious and rightous elders, but to be older is not good. You must remain young, renewing yourself each day and always making a fresh start". Let us use Tu Beshvat as our fresh start. Let us recognize the potential that each one of us has, and the fruits that we have the potential to grow, if we use our kochos properly.
Enjoy the fruits and Gut Yom Tov- Gut Yur- Gut Purim.

Micro-usage

The Edtech challenge this week is to develop a lesson plan which incorporates Twitter into the classroom. While I am not sure that Twitter can be used as a primary tool in planning an educational activity, I will suggest four micro-usages (micro-blogging pun absolutely intended) of Twitter in a classroom setting.

1. As a bulletin board. Teachers can set up a Twitter account for a class through which they can tweet information about assignments, updates about projects, links to relevant information, or personal messages from the teacher to their class. This is similar to posting on a class website, but has the advantage of being sent immediately to students’ mobile devices. An example of this can be found at http://educationtechnology-theoryandpractice.blogspot.com/2011/05/twitter-in-classroom-part-1.html

2. To create a learning network for students beyond the classroom with the students in the class. Similar to what was suggested above in updating projects, should a student update their own work on a blog or presentation, they can tweet the link to other students who would quickly be aware that updates were available and could follow the link to critique the work.

3. To create a learning network for students beyond the classroom with people who are not in the class. By using hash tags we could in theory develop a network of students across schools learning similar materials that could use Twitter to share and critique work as described above.

4. Backchanneling. There has to be a better way to do this than using Twitter, but allowing students to comment on a lecture via Twitter could make a lecture more interactive making students more involved in the learning and giving the instructor real time feedback on what the students understand and are thinking.

Seeds of Growth

We previously learned (http://southernfigs.blogspot.com/2012/01/youre-beanstalk.html) from Rabbi Shneerson that the ma’ala of trees is that they never stop growing. Rabbi Shneerson further suggests that we learn not only the concept of growth from the trees, but also some methods to achieve continuous growth.

When a tree is first planted the coating around the seed needs to be broken by the emerging root in order for it to blossom. The seed needs to allow itself to be broken in order to take in the necessary water and then eventually take root and sprout. In allowing its coat to rot the seed opens itself up to the nurturing powers of the soil.

We can employ the same method in our attempts to continuously grow. First we have to let our outer coating rot. We need to open ourselves up to the nurturing power of Toras Hashem by riding ourselves of haughtiness and accepting God’s dominion over us.

David HaMelech taught us (Tehillim 126) that those who plant with tears will harvest with joy. It is not easy to plant, long days of physical labor with uncertain outcomes. But only those who plant on through the hardship can harvest a crop. It is not easy to rid oneself of haughtiness and accept the kingship of Hashem, but breaking down the soul is the tree’s path to joyously harvesting continuous growth.

In our Shemona Esrei we ask God to sprout for us the seedling of King David. Maybe the craziness of the world around us is intended to help us break down our coating, humbling us, and thereby opening us up to the nurturing power of Hashem, allowing for the sprouting of Mashiach ben David.