However, if at the conference, there was a way to create a mini-conference, a small group within this vast stream of people that would be very advantageous.
Kosher Meals Sponsored by the Avi Chai Foundation
As someone of Jewish descent, a member of the "tribe", I feel I have an advantage in this area. We Jews like to stick together and as an observant Jew who keeps the laws of kashrut, this becomes a religious imperative at least in the area of eating. Luckily, thanks to the kosher meals Avi Chai Foundation generously sponsored, we were provided with a space to converse with like-minded educators throughout the convention.This room where the meals were served became our base of operations not only for eating but to forge relationships with individuals in Jewish day schools throughout North America. Many lingered in this space or even came when it was not meal time to unwind and reflect with others. Instead of sponsoring a small cohort of Jewish educators as Avi Chai and Digital J Learning of the Jewish Education Project had done the past five years, by creating a common space for all Jewish educators, Avi Chai was responsible for creating a cohort of all observant Jewish educators at the conference. For this, I am very thankful. We even posed for a "selfie" at the end with a thank you sign drawn on an iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil by the talented Rabbi Michael Cohen, The Tech Rabbi.
The Jewish Educators Network Meet-Up
Besides meals, the other opportunity to come together was through The Jewish Educators Network, the ISTE supported PLN for educators in Jewish Day Schools. The Jewish Educators Network has been a part of ISTE for well over a decade. For many years, ISTE featured this group as a part of its "Birds of a Feather" meetings. These past two years, I have organized the group together with a team of Jewish EdTech leaders. Despite the fact that ISTE chose not to include Birds of a Feather meetings this year, they still gave us a room and scheduled our meeting as a part of the ISTE Program.
When we started planning our event, we realized that we wanted to change things up and give as many Jewish educators a voice as possible. Since Avi Chai was already sponsoring meals for all Jewish educators, the usual discussion based program for our meeting seemed less necessary. We would already have many opportunities for discussions during meals so we decided instead to give all participants an opportunity to present at the Jewish Educators Network meeting Ignite-type sessions, which would be no longer than 5 minutes using either 20 slides or some other technology supported platform. We made a call for a presentations about a month before the program and waited to see what would happen.
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| This year's Jewish Educators Network organizers, from left to right, Rebecca Penina Simon, Stew Greenberg, Seth Dimbert, myself, and Benny Gross |
- Faigy Ravitz presented on iTaLAM, a digital platform for learning Hebrew, showed off Ji Tap the newest game creation engine from Jewish Interactive, and gave a sneak peak at a new curriculum for teaching the history of Jerusalem featuring augmented reality, virtual reality and gamification.
- Shua Lindenbaum presented ways to utilize technology to transform Tefillah. Some of his ideas included creating a fully immersive Tefillah app, not just the siddur on a smartphone but a game-based learning opportunity for students to contemplate the different stages of Tefillah. Another idea he presented which I found particularly creative was to have students create virtual reality tours of various synagogues either within the school or by going on a class trip and describe how each space helps to enhance the Tefillah experience. This might have been technologically daunting even a few years ago but with the ability to create 360 photos using a smartphone and Google Street View or by purchasing a relatively inexpensive 360 camera this can now be accomplished fairly easily.
- Smadar Goldstein illustrated how to use a Lino Board for students to post notes about a chapter of Tanach they were studying and Google Docs for students to argue about different approaches to the text. This method not only enhances the study of parshanim but gives every student a voice in the class as everyone must comment on the text as opposed to a regular discussion-based class where often only the more vocal students have a chance to speak.
- Nance Adler presented on how she used flipped lessons to help students achieve fluency in chanting the prayer service. What I appreciated about this very practical tech tip is that it outsources something everyone considers to be important, the ability to say the prayers out loud, but which many don't do enough in class since it can be quite boring, to the flipped learning setting where students can spend as much time as they need to achieve mastery.
- Lisa Micley presented on the Online Judaic Studies Consortium of the Jewish Virtual High School which she is spearheading. What I found fascinating about her presentation was the example class on Digital Citizenship and Jewish Values which she showcased. This class connected issues like gossiping on social media to the concept of Lashon Hara and even featured a sample of a student's Internet Ten Commandments with commandments like "Do not gossip", "Take breaks from technology", and "Do not abuse the power of the internet".
- Finally, Michael Cohen, presented on using design theory in professional development as a continuous process to foster communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. His most memorable slide made the point that teachers will be unsuccessful if they just superimpose technology onto the same teaching methods they always use without thinking creatively about how technology can be effectively integrated to transform education. His illustrated this with a drawing of a horse and buggy on roller skates strapped to two jet engines. This might make for a hilarious YouTube video but it is not a very effective method of travel.
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| Michael Cohen presenting his souped up "horse and buggy" |
The six presenters were followed by closing remarks by Gary Hartstein of the Jewish Education Project, the organization that sponsored cool branded Google Cardboard headsets that were given to all meeting participants, who described professional development offerings that the Jewish Education Project's Digital JLearning Network will be offering in the fall.
Debbie Harris created an awesome sketchnote of the Jewish Educators Network Presentations which you can see below.
You can also view a photo album of the event.
The most memorable quote of the meeting was made by Lisa Micley when describing the connection between all six presentation and the name ISTE gives for these type of sessions, Ignite. She said:
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| Our six presenters, Nance Adler, Lisa Micley, Faigy Ravitz, Shua Lindenbaum, Michael Cohen, and Smadar Goldstein |
Sketchnote by @tktchr of our Jewish Educators Network Ignite presentations. #ISTE2016 #JedNetwork #NotatISTE16 pic.twitter.com/5CP3qeO58e— Tzvi Pittinsky (@TechRav) June 29, 2016
You can also view a photo album of the event.
The most memorable quote of the meeting was made by Lisa Micley when describing the connection between all six presentation and the name ISTE gives for these type of sessions, Ignite. She said:
נר לאחד נר למאה A fire will not just Ignite one candle but can be a spark for hundreds.
It is my hope that the meeting of the Jewish Educators Network at ISTE was not just an opportunity to ignite all the participants in the room but helped us to light a fire for the thousands of other ISTE attendees that we can take back to each of our individual schools to utilize technology to spark creativity and critical thinking in all of our students.
Thank you, Tzvi, and to all the others who worked to arrange this meet- up. It was the highlight of the conference for me. I totally agree about the kosher food and feeling of community it offered those of us who were part of that group.
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