When I was a child, my association with Thanksgiving consisted of symbolic gestures, like hand-traced turkeys and the annual kindergarten re-enactment of first Thanksgiving. (For the record, I played the part of an Indian, which, considering my temperament at the time, now seems apt.) Over time, these associations changed and became physical – the neighborhood game of flag football, raking leaves, my mother’s stuffing. But now, as an adult, I want more. I want more than just Black Friday and the Macy’s parade and the NFL. I’m searching for a new association, a new meaning. And I think I’ve discovered it through the eyes of Governor William Bradford. Continue reading →

Seventeen months ago, I made my first “flipped learning” video. Tonight, I created my 100^th. Some reflections from the road to one hundred: Continue reading →

I usually find air travel a nuisance – crowded cabins, interminable lines, and unavoidable TSA pat-downs. But flying back east the other day for a family visit, I actually found the experience educational. About halfway through the three-hour journey, the teacher in me started to notice similarities between flying and learning, two experiences that seem worlds apart but actually share quite a bit in common. My top ten discoveries: Continue reading →

Is technology going to save or savage 21st century learners? To deny the disruptive force of digital technology in schools is about as useful as contesting the presence of TSA screenings at airports – it’s here, so accept it. But is it good for students and the future of learning? Continue reading →

I watched silently as two dozen 4^th graders trickled into my classroom, dropped their backpacks by the wall, and obediently took their places. Time for our daily morning ritual: the feigned prayer. The scene doesn’t draw much attention from passersby; it’s easy to miss the mechanic looks on the children’s faces or the way their bodies seem to sink into their seats. The optics can be deceiving. My students sing along. They have their fingers on the place. Most of them even read the words aloud, some with great devotion. But I know better. My students are present and absent, all at once. There may be a rhythm to their singing, a familiar ring to their cadence and beat. But beneath that façade lies a starker feeling, one that is at once apprehensive, mystified and defeated. When morning tefillah rolls around, I get the feeling that my students are ready to leave just as soon as they arrive. Their siddurim are open, but their hearts are closed. Continue reading →

Teaching is both an art and a science, but for the inexperienced educator, it can sometimes feel like mad science. Or bad art. Continue reading →

When I trained with Jim Knight at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, he shared a simple truth: Teachers would rather put the car in drive, not reverse. When it comes to receiving feedback about their practice, teachers prefer to hear about future behaviors, not past performance. Turns out, so does corporate America. Continue reading →

He presided over the most tumultuous period in United States history, blazed a path for freedom and human dignity, and shaped a new vision for a still-young union. One hundred and fifty years after his death, Abraham Lincoln looms larger than life, a man who, according to former British prime minister David Lloyd George, “was such a giant figure that he loses his nationality in death.” What can 21^st century educators learn from a 19^th century president? Continue reading →

If a tree falls in a forest…would teachers even notice? Today’s pressure-cooker schools have made our students more hurried than ever before. Over-scheduled and over-worked children are breathlessly chasing elusive goals, as the powerful film Race to Nowhere documented. That, of course, needs to stop. But I’m also worried about how hurried teachers have become. I should know – I’m one of them. In almost a decade of classroom teaching, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel hurried. Hurried to make lesson plans. Hurried to grade homework or assessments. Hurried to make the most of an instructional minute. I am hardly alone. I see colleagues dashing off in different directions, moving at a frenzied, frenetic pace. But we probably don’t even realize. We are all probably too busy running to realize that we’re rushing. Continue reading →

It’s fashionable these days to question the future of Jewish education, particularly because of its price tag. Amid much communal hand-wringing over cost and sustainability, day schools have slashed operating budgets, sought efficiencies through cost-sharing, and even pioneered blended learning with hopes of taming the public outcry over affordability. But to some observers, there’s a larger crisis looming, and it doesn’t concern the cost of Jewish education, but its value. What is a Jewish education worth, broadly speaking? What return on investment can parents expect to receive after a dozen years of paying day school tuition? Aside from developing Jewish literacy, knowledge and skills, will students who graduate from our Jewish institutions absorb the value-added elements of belief, commitment and morality? Are educators even conscious of this mandate for meaning? Continue reading →