Getting Into the Classroom

 Earlier this year I directed my teachers to think about times in which they could invite parents into the classrooms in order for the parents to get a feel for what actually is transpiring and to get parents to have access to our school during the school day, so that they can look at our displays and classrooms, pick up on the excitement and enthusiasm, and appreciate the level of the work that our students are producing.  I did not want this to be a “show piece” that required hours of work, preparation, and rehearsals on the part of the students or the teachers.  That would prove to be counterproductive.  What I wanted was for the parents to see what the students normally do and how comfortable they are with their required work, and how excited they are to share it with others.  These visits should be on a small scale, so that parents, grandparents and relatives can share the time in a meaningful way with one child, and not feel rushed or conflicted about which child gets the parents’ undivided attention

Brittney Friedman's first graders have been working on a habitat project, and this morning they got to share those projects with their parents.  Each student had selected an animal to research. Brittney had prepared worksheets for the children to complete as they were researching their animals.  From the information on their worksheets, they created sentences and paragraphs about the size, diet, life span, and environment of their animals.  They wrote out these answers by hand into individual booklets, which they all read perfectly, and accompanied their written explanations with their own drawings.  Finally, they all created individual dioramas of their animals in the appropriate habitat.  All this work was accomplished in school, without the input of the parents.  This project incorporated many of the best practices in twenty-first century education – higher order thinking, even for first graders, researching with technology, expository writing which includes correct grammar, handwriting, and artistic creativity, as well as the ability to articulate the information they had uncovered. The children were absolutely delighted with their own work and the work of their classmates.  Not only did they become experts on one particular animal, like tarantulas or river otters, but they quickly integrated all of the vital information from their classmates’ projects, as well. That made them experts on nine different animal species. The entire presentation took just under 20 minutes!

 

 Throughout the year, parents and family members will have opportunities to share the educational experiences of their children in a variety of different venues and formats.  Look forward to a sophisticated project coming up in sixth grade next week and our Chumash presentation in December.

Who Will Live and Who Will Die?

This morning the junior high students and the 11^th and 12^th grade girls had the privilege of hearing from Leah Kaufman and Helen Yermus, two Holocaust survivors and long time friends, who each shared their unique stories.  Leah was born in Rumania, while Helen was born in Kovno, Lithuania.  Both were very young children at the time of the NAZI conquests of their native countries, who witnessed first hand the unspeakable brutality of the Nazis and their supporters.  They spoke with great emotion and quiet eloquence about their earliest memories, their fear and hopelessness, their yearnings and sufferings, about finding themselves orphaned and alone in the most treacherous of all circumstances.  They shared with their audience those few words or unspoken signs that forced them onward, that kept them from surrendering to the fate of their friends and family.  Their childhood was abruptly stolen from them. Overnight they learned to live by their wits and cunning, in order to survive.  Like so many other survivors, they were plagued with questions like, “Why was I spared?”  Both women, whose experiences were so different, yet at the most basic level, so similar, came to the same conclusion.  We were spared to speak the truth, to tell our stories, to keep alive the memories of our past, of our loved ones, of our tradition and heritage, to educate the next generation of Jews.  We are that next generation.  It is up to us now to deliver those messages.

Leah Kaufman’s experiences can be found in her profoundly moving autobiography, Live! Remember! Tell the World! The Story of a Hidden Child Survivor of Transnistria.  Leah is the mother of Dr. Seth Kaufman and the grandmother of Jonah, Talya, Elaina, and Ariana Kaufman.  Both Leah and Helen are in Memphis to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Talya to Aryeh Sand.

A Day in the Life

6:30 – Wake up

8:00 – Daven Shachrit with the GMSG

8:30 – Teach Jewish history in the GMSG

10:15 – Pre-K 4 comes to the office to invite me to their Shabbat Party on Friday.  In keeping with the Parsha, they are inviting guests to their “tent”; complete comments on report cards for high school classes

11:30 – meet with Office Staff

12:00 – Teach  AP US Gov

1:00 – Grab some sloppy Joes from the hot lunch line; ( Sandra looks at my purple hat and purple dickey and asks me if I know it is purple day in pre-k 3);chow down while visitors roam in and out of my office, apologizing for interrupting my lunch ( no problem – I don’t like eating alone!!)

1:30 – Return tray to the kitchen, encounter Barbara Kutner on the way – make an appointment to visit the pre-k 3 room dressed in purple; return to office to attack emails; office in an uproar – Where is the banner from last year’s tournament?  Ahh Erica to the rescue!! Check on ads – for house on Conwell, for high school open house.

1:50 – Samantha stops by to remind me to visit the pre-k ( good thing, I was so absorbed in the emails I didn’t look at the clock!) I, in purple, was given the royal treatment by the pre-k.  I visited their “tent “and was provided with hospitality –a bag of SkoobyDo  cookies that got the pre-k 3 students drooling, and got to share their circle time ( them on the floor, me on a chair); Chany drops off paintings made by high school students to judge for their Renaissance Fair – I can only say “wow!!”.

3:30 – Meeting with a parent – First remark – “Don’t worry Mrs. Kutliroff, everything is fine.  My son loves this school.  Conversation about possible joint programs with other Jewish children in the city during Chanukah – following up on the good vibes of the “Shabbos Project” and thinking about ways to expand on the concept and include more members of the community.

4:30 – Try to sneak out to vote; caught up in the hallway to discuss recent issues that have presented themselves over the course of the day.

5:15 – Vote at Shady Grove elementary school

6:00 – Prepare dinner ( easy – we still have leftovers from Shabbat); catch up on the day with Jerry

8:00 – Attend meeting of Alumni Committee

9:30 – Think about newsletter article for this week – read through relevant section in Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s memoir , LISTENINGtoGOD, finish cleaning up from dinner; final view for the day of family Whatsap – Is Gavi really going to be on “X Factor Israel?” Check on election results – Yup, I knew it – a Republican sweep!!

10:45 – Settle in bed with A Murder in Lemberg, the latest selection for the Jewish Book Club at Baron Hirsch; can’t really fall asleep – muse about the day – What a wonderful life I have; I feel blessed!!