Bouncing in Bio

As I walked past a high school bio class last week I noticed that the kids were literally bouncing.  They were out of their seats, jumping up and down, and running around the classroom.  Thinking something was amiss, I walked into the classroom to see what was going on.  It was only then that I noticed the kids with thermometers in their mouths, those hooked up to blood pressure machines, those taking their pulse, and those furiously scribbling data on their worksheets.  It turns out I had walked into a skillfully orchestrated lab in which Dr. Soellner was teaching our boys (she had done the same thing with our girls earlier that morning) about homeostasis by having them measure their blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature before and after exercising in order to demonstrate the human body's capacity to adjust to new circumstances.

Here's a glimpse at what it looked like:

Opening Mishmar

The CYHSB Beit Midrash was ringing with kol Torah last night as high school boys, their fathers, their rebbeim, and a host of community members came out for our first mishmar of the year.  Everyone spent the first twenty minutes preparing source material relating to a passage in this week's parsha followed by a shiur which I gave.  Maariv came next, followed by a raffle, food for the boys and a late night game of basketball.

Here's a glimpse into what it looked and sounded like:

C21: Jewish Week Article

Much of the rationale which went into the launch of our C21 project is laid out in the article which I wrote for the New York Jewish Week several months ago, but which is just now being published as part of their special Education edition.  

You can read the full text of the article here.

PTA Back to School BBQ

Once again we ushered in the new year with our PTA's Back to School Barbecue.  It was great to see lots of old faces mixed with many new ones, as everyone enjoyed a relaxing evening with friends and family.

The High Schools Are Off and Running

Bolstered by the addition of fantastic new faculty members,  new students from nine different states (Tennessee, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin), and a giant infusion of educational technology, I dare say both high schools are off to their strongest start of the past five years.  It's not just enrollment which is up (higher than it's been in at least a decade, if not more), but enthusiasm, energy, and excitement as well.

Here are some pictures of the first few days:

Goldie Margolin School for Girls:

Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys:

Welcome Back!

There are few things as exciting as the first day of school...and today was no exception.  There were smiling faces everywhere, some familiar and some new.  Classrooms were filled with energized teachers and enthusiastic children and the sounds of learning percolated throughout the halls.  

Here are some of the sights and sounds for you to enjoy:

Second Grade with Morah Yehudit:

C21: The First Few Days

Laura Malbogat arrived in Memphis on Sunday to help us kick off our new Curriculum21 initiative.  She started by meeting with our admin team on Sunday night to give us her assessment of the considerable preparatory materials which we had provided her, to tell us what it said about where we were as a school, and to brainstorm with us as to what our first few steps ought to be.

On Monday, the project had its official launch with a three hour session in which Laura introduced herself to our faculty, masterfully set their minds at ease by insisting that we'd "go slow" and that each staff member would get individualized attention aimed at nurturing their growth as a 21st century educator at their own rate and from wherever it was they were starting.  She then reinforced the case for 21st century learning, which we have been discussing as a faculty now for over a year, through showing and discussing Ken Robinson's animated TED talk entitled "Changing Education Paradigms."  Lastly, she segued into a an activity focused on the creation of Essential Questions, which she told the faculty would be our entry point into the process of creating 21st century curricula.

Later in the day she spent some time meeting with our Early Childhood faculty and with our Lower School faculty with whom she further developed the concept of Essential Questions and challenged them to apply it to one unit plan from their own classes.  Today, she spent the entire day meeting one-on-one with those Lower School faculty members to talk about the lesson they had begun to upgrade yesterday, focus on areas that were challenging for them, and leave them "an assignment" to work on in anticipation of her next extended site visit in late October.

These next few days she'll shift her focus to the Upper School faculty, both General Studies and Judaic Studies, while also taking some time to observe some of our Lower School faculty in action.  We'll then take stock of what we've accomplished in our initial stage and create a plan for maintaining the momentum of faculty and administrator growth, risk-taking, and exploration until she comes to work with us again immediately after the chagim.

The Road to 21st Century Learning

As many of you know, with the generous support of the AviChai Foundation, we have embarked upon a school-wide initiative aimed at creating and implementing a written yet flexible, standards-based, inquiry-driven, differentiated curriculum for all disciplines, PreK-12, in which 21st century skills for both General and Judaic studies are explicitly taught through the core curricular areas.  Leading us through what will undoubtedly be a multi-year process is Ms. Laura Malbogat, a wonderful educational consultant from Montreal with significant experience and expertise both in curriculum development and in 21st century learning.

Therefore, in addition to my regular posts about events and accomplishments around school, I'll be using the blog this year to update you on the progress we're making toward this particular goal.  I'll share pictures and video clips, resources we're exploring, and projects our faculty will be working on.  Each post about this initiative will start with "C21," short hand for Heidi Hayes Jacob's Curriculum21, the book - and now the organization - which provided the initial inspiration for this undertaking. 

Please feel free to comment and to contribute to the conversation as we intend for this to be a collaborative project in which we will be learning from many different people and many different sources, and perhaps others will learn from us as well.

Facebook and Time Warner join to stop cyber bullying - School Leadership 2.0

Facebook and Time Warner join to stop cyber bullying - School Leadership 2.0

A new partnership between Facebook and Time Warner aims to expand the companies’ individual efforts to prevent online bullying. The initiative, called “Stop Bullying: Speak Up,” will combine broadcast, print, online, and social media outlets to get parents, teachers, and youth speaking about cyber bullying prevention.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of the people [who] use our site,” said Andrew Noyes, manager of public policy communications at Facebook. “Online safety is a responsibility shared among parents, teachers, teens, policy makers, and services like Facebook.”

(Click link above to read more)

Vote For Our New Logo

We've designed several new options for our school logo and want your input on which one to use! Visit our school homepage to cast your vote.

Invention Convention

Here is a message our fantastic art teacher, Mrs. Chany Fleishhacker,about the Invention Convention she ran earlier this week for our 6th grade.  Much of the talk today about 21st century skills focuses on the importance of nurturing creativity and out-of-the-box thinking within our core curriculum.  It doesn't get more creative or more out-of-the-box than this...

Dear Parents,

Today the 6^th grade art students gathered together for our annual Leonardo Da Vinci Invention Convention. This convention was the culmination of a long term art project that our artists have been working on for most of the spring semester.

The project began with a brief introduction to history of Leonardo’s invention ideas. We all of course know about his Mona Lisa, but many of our students were surprised to find out that he was the father of many of the modern conveniences that we use today. Leonardo was a dreamer. Though the technology and materials were not available during his time to bring many of his dreams to fruition; the meticulous notes and diagrams that he made in his journals have helped the scientists and inventors of later generations make those dreams come true. (For example, the Write Brothers’ first flying machine was based on his design).

The students were divided up into teams and each team had to come up with a proposal for an invention that would make life easier and/or more fun. Upon approval of their proposal each team received some class cash to spend on the supplies that they needed to build their scale model and create some promotional material to advertise their product.

I am so impressed with the ideas that hatched out of our students’ minds. Today each team presented their idea in front of a panel of judges along with their promotional material. The judges had a hard time making their decisions. The results were very close. (The winners won by 1 ½ points!). Congratulations to Noga Finkelstein and Rena Osdoba on their SMILE machine. Special thanks to Cindy Massey and Charna Schubert for their help with the judging.

Please follow the link below and watch the video of our young inventors hard at work. I know you’ll be impressed with what you see: http://chanyfleischhacker.blogspot.com/

Have a great summer,

Morah Chany

Girls Capture 2nd Place in City-Wide Writing Contest

The anxiety was building as Girls High School Principal Mrs. Anat Kampf, High School English teacher Mrs. Abby Johnson, 12th graders Shoshana Somer and Molly Brakha, their families, and I listened to the announcements of the winners of Bnai Brith's Diverse Minds Writing Challenge downtown at the National Civil Rights Museum.

Before making the announcement, the director of the program informed the crowd that they had received at least one submission for the contest, a challenge that asked high school student to write and illustrate a children's book about tolerance and diversity, from every high school in Shelby County. Only the authors of the five submissions which a team of expert judges deemed best, were invited to the program at the Civil Rights Museum.

After her introduction she began by announcing the two Honorable Mentions: a pair of girls from St. Mary's Episcopal School and a girl from White Station High School.  Then she announced the third place winner, who would take home a $1000 college scholarship: it was two boys from Germantown High School.  Smiles then flashed across the faces of our entire contingency.  No matter what happened next, the girls from our tiny little high school had just beat out students from the biggest and most well-regarded private and public high schools in our city.

Molly and Shoshana were called next and went up to receive their $2000 college scholarship.  Though 1st place came with the additional bonus of having the book published by Bnai Brith, our girls realized rather quickly that the accolades their book received meant it might be worth exploring other publishing options.   So don't be surprised if in a few months, while walking through the children's section of your favorite book store or browsing on Amazon, you notice a book called the World of Color, written by Molly Brakha and illustrated by Shoshana Somer.  If you do, buy it.  It's well worth a read.

Pictures from Kindergarten Graduation

I apologize for the delay, but here is a link to the all the pictures from Kindergarten graduation. As all those who were there will attest, the kids were simply spectacular.  From an educational standpoint, though, what it made it all the more impressive is that the overwhelming majority of the performance was simply a reflection of material the children had learned over the course of the year, rather than new material learned just for the purposes of putting on a show.  Borrowing from the terminology of the Tal Am program, we would call this a chagigat ha-nilmad - a celebration of what they have learned, rather than learning for a celebration - par excellence.

Thank you Morah Michelle, Miss Katie, Miss Cathleen, Moreh Shimshon, and Miss Charna for all your hard work!

Kindergarten Graduation Slideshow

Here's the slideshow we showed at our Kindergarten Graduation.  Pictures from the graduation will be up soon.  Mazal tov to all our graduates!

Israel Festival and Color War

Even as the year winds down, things don't get any less exciting here at the Academy.  This weekend was a perfect example.  The festivities started on Friday afternoon with a fairly successful Color War fakeout, followed by a much anticipated Color War breakout for grades 1-8.  On Sunday our lower grades, under the direction of Mrs. Leba Kugielsky, performed at the rain-soaked Israel Festival sponsored by the Memphis Friends of Israel.  On Monday the fun continued with a full day of Color War activities between teams Gevurah (strength) and Chochmah (wisdom) culminating with banner, skit, cheer, and song presentations from each team.  It was a fell fought battle by both teams, but when all was said and done team Chochmah won with the slightest of margins.

Below are pictures from both events:

12th Grader Wins Flatow Scholarship

On April 9th, 1995, 20 year-old Alisa Flatow was killed in a terrorist attack outside of Kfar Darom during a year of study abroad in Israel.  To preserve her memory and to enable others to do what she had been doing when her life was tragically cut short, the Alisa Flatow Scholarship Fund was created to provide scholarships "on a limited and competitive basis" for full time religious study in Israel to students "showing academic promise in their religious studies."

In each of the past three years, only five such scholarships have been awarded from a pool of over 250 applicants nationwide.  Yet in each of the past three years, one of those five winners has been a student from our high school.

We are most proud to announce that this year Mendel Osdoba has been awarded the Alisa Flatow Scholarship. Undoubtedly a major factor in the decision was the powerful essay which Mendel wrote about what the ability to spend a year in Israel would mean to him. Here is just a brief a citation:

Learning Torah in Israel after high school has always been a dream of mine; learning in Eretz Hakodesh would also fulfill one of my father’s deepest wishes. I vividly remember the somberness and solemnity that enveloped all who stood in the airport hangar as my father’s body was loaded onto the airplane. The entire community, especially my family, though faced with the painful task of saying goodbye to a beloved husband, father, and friend, understood that my father’s final resting place was exactly where he longed to be. My head spun as fast as the plane’s propellers from the turbulence I had just encountered, yet I was calmed by the fact that my father was on a voyage to the place he coveted most, the land of Israel. Attending yeshiva in the Holy Land would not only make it possible for me to visit my father’s grave for the very first time, but moreover it would allow me with the good fortune of connecting to him on an elevated spiritual level. I fervently believe that going to Israel next year would help bring closure to the childhood tragedy that has permeated my life since I was eight years old.  

You can find the essay in its entirety here.  It is well worth reading.

Mazal tov to Mendel and we look forward to hearing great things from him next year and for many years to come!

Brother and Sister to Headline Graduation

For the first time in our 62 year history (or at least in so far as anyone I spoke to can remember), our high school graduation addresses will be given by a brother-sister combination.

Valedictorian for the Yeshiva of the South Graduating Class of 2012 will by Maddie Tavin and Salutatorian will her brother, Jonathan.  Both of the Tavins will be heading to Israel for a year of study next year; Maddie to Shaalvim and Jonathan to Yeshivat Har Etzion.  Following their year abroad both Maddie and Jonathan will enter Yeshiva University's Honors Program, where both were awarded significant academic scholarships.

We look forward to hearing from them at graduation and to hearing about them for many years to come!

Students to Participate in NY Siyyum

As part of the new Masmidim Program instituted by Rabbi Noam Stein this year, 8th graders Avi Katz and Asher Finkelstein, as well as 9th graders Akiva Somer and Bentzy Kampf, and 12th grader Jonathan Tavin, have successfully completed mesechet Megilah.  The Masmidim Program, which is intended to provide opportunities to students for additional Torah study, works in conjunction with the Bronka Weintraub Bekius Program at Yeshiva University, which provides a framework and incentives for high school students across the country to engage in Talmud study beyond the classroom.  As part of that program, Yeshiva University is organizing a siyyum in New York this month, marking the completion of mesechet Megilah, for all of the students who participated and our boys will be flying up to New York to participate.

As those who have done so can attest, completing an entire mesechta of Gemara is no small feat.  For these boys to have done so outside the context of their regular classes is all the more impressive.  We therefore wish them a sincere mazal tov and yasher kochachem li-orayyta.  We're looking forward to many more such celebrations in the future!

News Coverage

If you didn't catch it, today's Business Section of the Commercial Appeal mentioned Yosef - a.k.a. Jay - Gersten's award:

Local student honored

Memphian Jay D. Gersten, a senior at Margolin Hebrew Academy, has received a $1,000 scholarship from the National Federation of Independent Business Young Entrepreneur Foundation.

Gersten is one of seven students across the state -- and the only one from West Tennessee -- chosen to receive the NFIB/Tennessee Leadership Council Young Entrepreneur Award, which promotes entrepreneurship among high schoolers.

"It's a challenge for anyone to start a business and keep it going," said Jim Brown, state director of NFIB. "These scholarship winners managed to start successful small businesses while keeping up with their classwork. They really are an inspiration to anyone who's ever thought of starting their own business."

Nationally, more than 4,500 students applied for the scholarships and 131 were awarded.

Corrections

Now that Noga Finkelstein's book review has been published by Moment Magazine, I need to make a few corrections to my last post.  It turns out that there were six winners, not four.  However it also turns out that the submissions - and the winners - came from across the globe, not across the country.  Here is a list of the winners taken from their website:

• Hannah Levine, 10 years old, 5th grade, Fair Lawn, NJ
• Noga Finkelstein, 12 years old, 6th grade, Margolin Hebrew Academy, Memphis, TN
• Chunchom Gonmei, 9 years old, St. Mary’s Montessori, Dimapur, India 
• Samuel Farbman, 10 years old, 4th grade, Ezra Academy, Woodbridge, CT
• Beatriz Maria Sofia C. Pangalangan, 13 years old, 7th grade, Pasig City, Manila, Philippines
• Andrew Gary Walters, 9 years old, 3rd grade, Duncanville, TX