Thanks, Rabbi G!

While many people helped in making this past weekend a great success, only in Memphis does the principal of the Boys High School drive seven hours each way in order to serve as the lead cook, head waiter, rav, mashgiach, lead educator, star actor, trail guide, ski instructor, and just about everything else... for the Girls High School Shabbaton.

Thank you Rabbi Gersten!

Zionism at the GMHSG

One of the real gems in the curriculum of the Goldie Margolin High School for Girls is the two-year course on the history of Zionism and the State of Israel, taught by Mrs. Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein. Mrs. Finkelstein, a faculty member of the Bornblum Department of Judaic Studies at the University of Memphis, a noted author and recognized expert in her field, is known amongst our girls both for her rigorous course demands and for helping each and every student maximize their academic potential.

A few recent examples of course work, ranging from a powerpoint presentation on the Immigration of Jews from Morocco, to a short speech from a pseudo Libyan Jew, an essay on the Israeli MIAs, and an in-depth analysis of the Shemitah Controversy, serve to highlight the ways in which our girls are expanding their horizons and sharpening their minds, while gaining a nuanced understanding of Israel's history and its place in the hearts of Jews throughout the generations.

The MHA & The CJF

One of our many foci this year has been the strengthening of our school's and our community's relationship with Yeshiva University and their Center for the Jewish Future. The mandate of the center is to marshal the plethora of resources in Yeshiva University's undergraduate and graduate divisions, to help strengthen Orthodox communities across the country and across the globe.

While we have been collaborating on student programs, professional development, and faculty recruitment all year long, the most eye-catching, public manifestation of our strong and ever growing relationship was their acceptance of our invitation to host their sizable delegation of students and staff for shabbos prior to the GA in Nashville. The most recent CJF newsletter highlighted this event which was, without doubt, a smashing success on all fronts.

Learning How We Learn

As a school administrator, there are few things more gratifying than watching as your faculty reflects on their own practice, shares ideas with each other, and collaborates to make themselves and, thus, our school that much better. That is exactly what I witnessed this past Monday, as we spent the day together learning, sharing, and growing.

The focus of our time together, as has been the focus of much of our professional development this year, has been on what is known as Differentiated Instruction. Simply put, it is a process of classroom instruction that employs a variety of planning and implementation strategies aimed at reaching students of varying ability and of varying learning styles, within the context of a single classroom. Our program, coordinated by our Assistant Principal for Professional Development, Mrs. Melissa Perl, featured a presentation by the University of Memphis's Project Rise followed by two group activities: one which introduced a differentiated technique known as the Jigsaw Method, and the second, designed by Mrs. Perl, gave teachers the opportunity to begin planning differentiated lessons within their own grade level and discipline.

As I noted to the teachers in our final session, though, much of the success of differentiated instruction depends on the degree to which we know our students - their abilities, interests, and learning styles. The last of those three is often the hardest to assess, yet often the most important to ensure maximal learning. Therefore, we will be doing our best to make sure that we do, indeed, have a handle on each child's learning profile. As a start, though, it would be both informative and fun for each student to visit http://www.acceleratedlearning.com and take their free learning style profile assessment. Send us the results, and we'll be sure to share it with your child's teachers as but another helpful tool in maximizing his or her learning experience.

MHA and the Herald Tribune

On January 1st the International Herald Tribune ran this story about the growing awareness amongst educators of the need to provide Middle School boys with training in organizational skills - something known in the educational world as Executive Functioning Skills. Here is a excerpt from the article:

With girls outperforming boys these days in high school and college, educators have been sparring over whether there is a crisis in the education of boys. Some suggest the need for more single-sex schools, more male role models or new teaching techniques. Others are experimenting with physical changes in classrooms that encourage boys to move around, rather than trying to anchor them to their seats.

But as they debate, high-priced tutors and college counselors have jumped into the fray by charging as much as $100 an hour and up to bring boys to heel.

The tutors say their main focus is organizational skills because boys seem generally to have more difficulty getting organized and multitasking than girls do.

I'm rather proud of the fact that here at the MHA we not only provide single sex education part-time at the Middle School level and full-time at the High School level, but as of today - January 3rd - and as the culmination of weeks of student assessment, curriculum development, and teacher training by our Assistant Principal for Guidance Mrs. Melissa Perl, we have implemented a special Executive Functioning Skills program for our Middle School boys who most need such help. The program addresses the precise issues referred to in the article, but does so within the context of the school day, thereby obviating the need for tutors and their $100 an hour fees.

We don't yet have the manpower nor the funding to implement similar cutting edge services for all of our students with special needs, but this is a great first step. If you'd like to help us take the next one, click here and under "Donate to" select the Louis A. Fineberg Special Education Fund. Doing so will facilitate our ability to continue creating new paths toward success for each and every one of our children.

Classroom Catch

I walked into a classroom today and found the students, during instructional time, immersed in a game of catch. It brought back a flood of memories from my own youth. I recalled quite vividly the day I decided to engage a friend of mine in a game of classroom catch. The game was quite simple. I had a tennis ball and was seated on one side of a "U" shaped arrangement of about twenty-five desks. My friend was seated facing me on the other side of the "U," on the opposite side of the classroom. The 6th grade rebbe was teaching us Gemara and would turn every so often to write on the blackboard. As soon as he did so, the one with the ball launched it across the room quickly and accurately enough to allow for a good catch and for the ball's quick disappearance inside the other's desk.

The game was rather enjoyable both for the players and for the twenty-three spectators who were cheering us on. Fun, that is, until I lost. An errant throw on my part bounced off my friend's hand and hit the classroom wall just as the rebbe was turning around. In an instant the game was over as was my welcome in the class until my not-so-amused parents wrote a not-so-pleased note assuring the rebbe that I understood just how bad of an idea my little game had been.

Despite the flashbacks, I'm glad to report that today's game of classroom catch was a bit different. In fact, in a dramatic reversal from the way in which our game was played, this game of classroom catch only happened when the teacher was facing the students and it stopped when she turned to write on the board. The game, which I have now seen in two different MHA classrooms, is a technique used to keep students on task and actively involved in the lesson: the teacher asks a question, hands fly up and one lucky student gets a ball thrown their way. She catches it (or tries to, at least), smiles triumphantly, answers confidently, and then sends the ball whizzing back to the teacher.

After seeing this game of classroom catch in action today, I wondered what would have happened if my 6th grade rebbe had played catch with us. Perhaps I never would have resorted to a game of my own. Perhaps...

Cooper Invitational

We could not have asked for more. The First Annual Cooper Yeshiva High School Invitational Basketball Tournament was a success from beginning to end. The three visiting teams, Block Yeshiva of St. Louis, the Yeshiva of Atlanta, and Torah Academy of Bergen County from Teaneck, New Jersey, arrived on Thursday afternoon looking for some good basketball and left Sunday morning having gotten so much more. The fierce competition on the court was rivaled only by the jovial camaraderie off the court. The cheering of the hometown fans was rivaled only by the spirited singing at Friday night's oneg.

While they got off to a slow start, the Memphis Macs awoke from their slumber on Motzei Shabbat and pulled off a stirring upset of the heavily favored, and eventual tournament champions, TABC Storm. They followed with a Sunday morning victory over Block and a very respectable 2-2 finish. Needless to say, they made us proud both on and off the court.

A heartfelt thank you to all who participated and, in particular to Coach Josh Kahane, for his indefatigable efforts in putting it all together. For more pictures of the action, click here.

Let the countdown to next year's tournament begin...

Recipe

Take one Styrofoam tray, add 2 large Hershey bars and 1 loaf cake. Spread 2 cups of Marshmallow Fluff, 1 cup of icing, 3 tablespoons of peanut butter, 9 cookies, 9 Hershey Kisses, 9 mini-muffins, 9 cups of chocolate pudding, 9 apples, 9 licorice sticks, 9 candy canes, and 9 overturned ice cream cones. Sprinkle concoction with rainbow sprinkles, Mike and Ikes, Candy Corn, add 9 puffs of whipped cream and you have... an edible menorah.

Or, at the very least, you've had a blast trying to make one.

A School Ablaze

Everywhere you look - in every classroom and in every corner, dangling from the ceiling and draped across every wall, lining every window and brightening every face - are sparks of energy and flames of enthusiasm. Our school is ablaze with the spirit of Chanukah.

Steak Dinner

The following letter was taped to the doors of the Boys' High School Beis Medrash this morning, in response to the absolutely incredible job our boys did last night in their 14th Annual Steak Dinner. From peeling the potatoes and grilling the steaks, to setting up, serving, cleaning, and doing the dishes - not to mention the filming and editing of the surprise video tribute - there was no part of this magical evening that didn't come directly from our boys. This letter is but a glimpse into the many things that make our school, our kids, our faculty, and our community so special:

November 19, 2007

Dear CYHSB:

Needless to say, we were totally surprised, overwhelmed, and humbled by your tribute last night. I never suspected anything! What does that say for my perceptiveness and for your ability to withhold information? The very moving video combined the two most meaningful and precious things in our lives: you, our students, and our children, who as you heard, grew up with their parents always immersing their lives in the various schools of which we have been a part. Believe me guys, as bad as it might get for you, just imagine that your mother is your teacher and your father is your principal! And by the way, my sons were not “goody goodies.”

Thank you again for the very wonderful tribute. It makes us doubly proud to be the honorees for a school with boys of your caliber, your level of hakares ha tov, and your commitment to Rabbi Gersten and your teachers. You probably don’t realize what a rare commodity you are. Administrators in other schools can only dream about having a student body like yours.

May you all merit to mature into adulthood, carrying with you the fondest thoughts and the best lessons that you learned in the halls of MHA/FYOS.

Fondly,

The Kutliroffs

My Space, Facebook, etc.

I wanted to thank Allan Katz for sending me the link to this important article about keeping kids safe on My Space. While some of our kids (like kids in every other yeshiva high school in this country) definitely do have My Space pages, Facebook is generally the social networking site of choice amongst yeshiva day school kids. While perhaps a tad safer than My Space, just about everything mentioned in this article applies to Facebook as well. It is also worth noting that My Space and Facebook no longer have the market cornered either. This wikipedia entry lists another 60 or so similar sites, and it is only a matter of time before kids from our community and communities like ours begin building virtual communities on those sites as well. It is critical, therefore, that we create relationships with our children in which we can talk to them openly and honestly about their virtual lives and that we take the same steps to protect them in the "virtual" world as we do in the "real" world.

Pampered Kids

Today's Commercial Appeal features a story about Dr. Madeline Levine, author of an important book called The Price of Privilege. The book discusses a surprising array of issues facing high achieving teens from middle and upper class homes. The book is worth reading, as is the article, which features the expertise of our own school psychologist, Dr. Kip Parish.

Kids Being Kids

The primary objective of education is to prepare children for what lies ahead, and to facilitate their advancement into the next stage of their lives. Indeed, the world we live in is fixated on the notion of advancement and of ever moving higher, faster, and better. That's not bad. At times, though, we lose sight of the importance of allowing kids to be kids; of savoring the innocence, the exhilaration, and the playfulness that childhood brings. While walking from our Boys High School to our Girls High School the other day, I saw precisely that and I decided to capture it with my camera. These pictures speak for themselves.

Tal Am

The wonders of our Tal Am Ivrit curriculum were once again on display this morning as our 2nd grade celebrated their Chagigat Otiyot, marking the completion of their unit on the script alphabet. The celebration provided a microcosm of the Tal Am program itself by incorporating multiple sensory experiences - songs, props, stickers, books, and, of course, food - into the learning process. As Tal Am continues to expand and improve its product, we plan to expand and improve our implementation of it throughout our elementary grades. There are few more precious moments than when a grandmother joins with her grandson in an educational activity designed using the most recent educational research to teach fluency in our language and in our heritage. There are few better ways to bring our proud past together with our bright future.

Tugging on our Circles

People everywhere live tucked within concentric circles which affect them and on which they have an effect. From family to friends, school, shul, camp, work, each plays a role in varying degrees depending on the person. It seems to me, though, that in a community like this, the "gravitational" force which connect those circles to the individual are that much stronger.

When a student in our school is seriously injured, everyone is hurt, everyone is jolted. When the seat in shul next to his father is empty, everyone feels the loss. When he appears at the community Barbeque contest, everyone notices. When he is welcomed back to shul, everyone cheers. When he comes back to school, he is embraced.

Welcome back!