YOUR BRAIN out of Playdough

In a multi-sensory educational activity which brought memories of Kindergarten rushing back to some our high school's best and brightest, our AP Psych class, under the guidance of Mrs. Melissa Perl, constructed brains today out of Playdough. Rather than simply reading the book and memorizing the diagram, Mrs. Perl wanted her students to actively engage the material - and with yellow canisters, toothpicks, and post-it notes in hand, her students were happy to oblige.

Safety Note

Please note that as means of modeling safe internet behavior, I will not be indentifying any of the students in the pictures posted on this blog. I ask that if you submit a comment - which I hope you do - you please do the same. For more information on internet safety see the important work of Philip Rosenthal. Thanks!

9-11 Fire Station Visit

We just came back from fire station no. 21 on Mendanhall Rd. where representatives of our Student Council presented the firemen with cards and poems (and doughnuts) written by every class in 1st through 6th grade in recognition of their service to our community. It was a special moment for our students and for the firefighters who noted that they have been to our school "more than once." For more details on the program see next week's Hebrew Watchman.

Student Council Elections

The race is on. Candidates for our student council gave rousing campaign speeches this morning to a captive audience of 1st through 8th graders. Tomorrow is election day and exit polls indicate a close contest for many of our positions. Here are some pictures of the candidates and the voters.

May the best boys and girls win!

Adolescent Mental Health

The most recent edition of Penn's Alumni Magazine called my attention to an important website called Cope, Care and Deal which bills itself as "a mental health site for teens." It offers resources and information for successfully dealing with everyday stress, guidelines for spotting indications of the onset of illness, facts about depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and other common teenage illnesses, as well as instructions for where and how to seek help.

The pressures exerted on our youth in the rapidly changing world of instant communication and global economies, makes it imperative that we educate ourselves about and sensitize ourselves to the mental health of our teenagers. It is during the adolescent years that most mental-health disorders first appear. If recognized and treated there is a great deal that advances in therapy and medicine can do to ensure that our children live vibrant, well adjusted, and productive lives. If left undiagnosed and untreated we could be setting our children up for years, if not a lifetime, of anguish and frustration.

Have a look at the site and encourage your kids to do the same.

Back Up and Running

As I'm sure you've all noticed, much to our chagrin, our website has been down - or at least unupdatable (if that's a word) - for quite some time. I figured, therefore, that there was little point in blogging if there was no one to read it. I just got word that we'll be back up and running shortly, though, so I figured I'd get back to blogging. Please check back often and share your thoughts with me and the rest of our MHA family. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Wet Feet

It's been really great getting my feet wet over these past few weeks. I've especially enjoyed the opportunities I have had to begin getting to know our remarkable faculty. While we certainly have work to do and room to improve, these past few weeks served to confirm my initial sense that we have a strong core of talented and dedicated teachers upon which to build. I'm looking forward to seeing them all in action.

Teacher Magazine: Epitaph for an English Teacher

In his recent article in Teacher Magazine, Howard Good, a well respected author and professor of Journalism offered the following reflections on what we all might learn from the AP English teacher he had some thirty years ago in high school:

Mr. Thompson can be an inspiring example to all of us who are responsible in one way or another for educating the young—school board members, administrators, faculty, and staff. The educational community gives regular lip service to the notion that "every child can learn."

It is time—in fact, long past time—to finally put this notion into practice. Mr. Thompson demonstrated how.

First, be sympathetic to those in your keeping. You may have become accustomed to the sight of youngsters struggling with the rigors of growing up, but this is the first time through for them.

Second, never assume that a student is just average. Every student possesses the ability to excel at something worthwhile, whether drawing, science, or friendship. Third, grades count, but sincerity of effort counts, too. Fourth and last, the opportunity to teach is ever present—seize it as often as you can.

That is sound advice for all of us. For the entire article see Teacher Magazine: Epitaph for an English Teacher.

Co-education

Teacher Magazine is featuring this article on the value of single sex education for high school girls. While single sex education is clearly a halachic value in our community, I was wondering to what degree our community also ascribes to the socio-educational benefits alluded to in this article (amongst many others).

Summer Break for Teachers?

Renne Moore, a high school English teacher in Mississippi, argues in her blog post (for those new to blogs, references to other websites will always be hyperlinked, so that clicking right on it will take you to the site to which I am referring) that the difference between an average teacher and an excellent teacher is often reflected in their summer plans. Although personally I think downtime is incredibly important and the need for educators and administrators to refresh and rejuvenate can not be underestimated, Moore's contention is certainly thought provoking. At the very least, the list she has compiled of what master teachers are doing during their summers, provides us with a portrait of educational excellence to which we can all aspire.

ISM

I just returned from a three day "Summer Institute" run by Independent School Management (ISM). ISM is the largest independent school consulting firm and an organization with whom we plan to work rather extensively in our efforts to introduce best practices into all areas of school life. This workshop was limited only to Heads of small schools like ours and was chock full of practical information and good ideas on everything from school finances to time management. I also had the opportunity to network with other Heads of School from New Mexico to New York and from Pennsylvania to Indonesia, as well as to learn from their experiences and insights. While I was the only head of a yeshiva in our workshop, there were heads of other faith-based independent schools (Baptist, Episcopalian, Quaker, etc.). The similarity between the challenges we all face was rather amazing and, in a way, reassuring.

Survey Says...

So far, we have collected 65 responses to our parent survey. When we factor out the bouncebacks and those families for whom we had multiple email addresses, we land up with about 130 potential responders. As far as surveys go, 65 out of 130 is fantastic. Of course, 130 out of 130 would be even better! So, if you haven't yet sent yours in, please do so. Also, if you are a current or past parent who did not receive an email with the survey invitation, or you know someone who should have received it and did not, please email me and let me know: gperl@mhafyos.org , and I'll be happy to add your names to the list. We do hope to share the results of the survey with you in the beginning of the school year so stay tuned.

Shalom y'all

Welcome to my blog! For those of you familiar with the blogosphere, please forgive me as I learn the ropes. For those of you who have never been to a blog before - don't worry - we'll figure this out together.

The purpose of this blog is to give our school community brief and informal glimpses into the wonderful world of the Margolin Hebrew Academy / Feinstone Yeshiva of the South. I'll try to post as often as I can with descriptions, pictures, perhaps a video clip every now and then, of happenings related to our school. I'll also use it as a forum to share links that might be of interest to our parents as well as some of my own thoughts on Jewish education, current events, and just about anything else relevant to our school community.

Of course, a blog would not be a blog without readers posting their responses to my posts. As such, I hope that this becomes a vehicle not only for the expression of my own thoughts, but for conversation across our diverse and incredibly dedicated community. So, thanks for joining me and please check back often!