7/8 Boys Take Second Place in Cross Country

It was the very first meet of only our second year of competitive Cross Country, and yet the results were astounding.  As Coach Nokes explains to our students over and over again, Cross Country is about each individual student doing their personal best and so it was at yesterday's meet.  From top to bottom on each of our teams, boys and girls alike gave it their all.

In a rather remarkable turn of events, the "personal best" of our 7th and 8th grade boys team turned out to be some of the very best times in the entire competition.  5 of our runners finished in the top 25 and as a team they placed second only to perennial powerhouse, St. Louis School.

Two of our 5th and 6th grade boys also had top 25 finishes which means that, thanks to Coach Nokes, the MHA Cross Country program looks to become a powerhouse of its own in the coming years.

Click here for pictures of our students from the meet.  Congratulations to everyone who competed and gave it all they had!

Student Art on Display at the Dixon

Congratulations to Ruthie Kaplowitz, Rafael Blotner, Yisroel Weiner, Tamar Serman and Eliana Schlesinger, whose art work will be displayed in the Made in The Dixon Show at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens from September 15th through October 20th. 

Congratulations as well to our art teacher, Mrs. Chany Fleischhacker for continuing to teach and inspire our children to tap into their inner selves and express themselves artistically.

Peek Inside Our Classrooms Through Class Blogs

Every year many of our teachers offer parents, colleagues, and the public at large an in-depth look inside their classrooms by creating class blogs.  I wanted to call your attention to two new ones for this year:  Mrs. Bluma Finkelstein's Shivat Zion Blog which she uses to post assignments for her Girls High School Navi class which focuses on those sections of Nevi'im Achronim that speak of redemption (a corollary to last year's class which focused on sections relating to destruction or churban) and Mrs. Cathleen Triplett's Science Room Blog in which she shares some of the innovative and creative things she is doing in our Lower School science program.

Permanent links to both blogs can be found in the MHA Blog List on the lower right hand side of this blog.  I'll be posting more class blogs to the list as the school year progresses so be sure to check from time to time.

Alum Awarded for Religious Service

Ariav Schlesinger (CYHSB '10), who currently serves as a מש"ק דת (a non-combat officer responsible for Jewish affairs and religious issues on the base) for the IDF's Duvdevan counter terrorism unit, was recently honored him with an award called מצטיין מפקדת יחידת דובדבן תשע״ג.  It is an annual award given to a single member of the combat support staff to recognize excellence in service for non-combatants. 

As a religious soldier tending to the spiritual needs of religious and non-religious soldiers and officers alike, we are most proud of Ariav's accomplishment and his dedication to using the Torah values which his family and our school have instilled within him to make the world a better place.

8th Grade to Control Mars Satellite

In just a few months from now, our 8th graders will be controlling the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey Orbiter.

Thanks to the efforts of Ms. Nicole Kolenic, our 8th grade science teacher, our students will be participating in the Mars Student Imaging Project run by Arizona State University.  Students will first learn about the physics and chemistry involved in studying planetary surfaces and then will work with Ms. Kolenic to construct a research project that will utilize the THEMIS instrument aboard the Odyssey to collect the relevant data. Their projects then will be vetted by a team of Arizona State scientists and, when given the green light, they will be given the opportunity, through NASA, to operate the Thermal Emission Imaging System and gather the information they are seeking.  When their projects are complete, students will then have to present their conclusions to the ASU team for feedback.

In February, the journal Science awarded the Mars Student Imaging Project its prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction.  As Inquiry-Based Instruction (or its close cousin, Project Based Learning) has been a focus of our professional development initiatives over the past year, Ms. Kolenic decided it would be a great fit for this year's 8th grade.  Through the project, students will not only learn about science, but they'll get to do science in the most dramatic and exciting of ways.  We can't wait to see the results!

Dr. Novick and IKaRR

In both our Upper and Lower School Back to School Nights, I had a chance to talk to parents about what we're calling "stage two" of our IKaRR Initiative.  In doing so, I noted that last year the IKaRR Initiative was largely an awareness campaign.  Through signs and stickers and magnets it shed light throughout our community that the Torah values of Integrity, Kindness, Respect, and Responsibility were at the heart of what we hoped to impart to all of our children.

For this year, however, our administration and faculty will focus our efforts not merely on awareness, but on education. That is, we are not going to take it for granted that our children know what we mean when we say we want them to act with "integrity" and we're not going to assume that they understand our expectations when we say "be kind to others."  So our signs throughout the school this year have changed from inspiring quotes from famous thinkers and writers to clear statements of expectation: "To act with Responsibility is to come to class ready to learn," "To act with Kindness is to notice when someone is hurt," "To act with Integrity is to keep your eyes on your own paper at all times," "To act with Respect is to make room for the opinions of others," etc.

The need for this type of explicit approach toward character education was powerfully and eloquently presented by Dr. Rona Novick, professor of psychology and Director of the doctoral program at YU's Azrieli Graduate School of Education, as one the ELI Talks at YU's Champsionsgate Leadership Conference this summer.  I urge you to watch it and consider how important her message is for us all.

We're Back!

All systems were firing today as our Early Childhood, Lower School and Upper School all successfully launched the new school year.  Excitement was everywhere and smiles of teachers and students filled the classrooms and the hallways as everyone embarked together on a new journey of learning and growth.

Here are some pictures from our fabulous first day:

AP Scores: MHA vs. The Nation

*National averages are from 2012, the most recent available

Each year at this time, I find myself facing the same dilemma.  On the one hand, over the past few years we have not been quiet about voicing our concern over the use of standardized testing as the sole barometer for measuring student and teacher success.  So much of what we believe to be important in education, and many of the elements which we believe are vital in preparing our students for success in the world that lays ahead of them, have little or no place in the standard set of nationally administered exams.

On the other hand, we still have to work within a system, particularly a system of higher education, that continues to look at standardized test scores for the purposes of admissions and scholarship awards.  As such, we at the MHA continue to offer a wide array of college level Advanced Placement courses every year which culminate in a standardized test each May.  And, though the underlying educational approach may not be our ideal, our students continue to amaze us with their outstanding results.

Impressive as our scores were when compared to the national averages, the most eye-opening numbers may not have been the scores at all.  Rather, they may have been the number of students who took at least one exam - 33 - and the number of exams taken - 65 - given that we only had 60 students in total between both high schools in grades 10-12.  That means over half of our students did college level work while still in high school this year, whereas in most other schools APs are limited to a far smaller percentage of the most academically gifted students.  And yet, of the 33 students who did such work in our high schools this year, 19 of them were recognized by the College Board for their achievement: 6 as AP Scholars, 5 as AP Scholars with Honors, 7 as AP Scholars with Distinction, and 1 as a National AP Scholar.

While ultimate credit goes to our students for their performance, our faculty deserve almost as much praise for having prepared them so well.  What's more, as the scores indicate, this year's success was across the board and in all subject areas, which attests to the strength of the faculty which Rabbi Lubetski has assembled and leads in our Upper School Division.

Congratulations to all on a job superbly done.

Faculty Color War

As we head into our opening in-service for the 2013-2014 school year, I wanted to share the rather extraordinary way in which our faculty capped off the 2012-2013 school year last June.  As our admin team was discussing how best to close what was a truly special year, we decided we wanted to do something out of the ordinary: something that would bring our faculty even closer together, something that they'd enjoy, and something that would help them celebrate the past year's accomplishments.

After throwing around a few ideas, we finally hit upon it:  Faculty Color War.  We'd divide our faculty into two teams - red and blue - and then instead of just another professional development session on campus, we'd head over to the Putt Putt amusement park where we'd spend the afternoon in lighthearted competition.  However, since mini-golf, batting cages, video games, and driving ranges don't speak to everyone, we included an art competition and a video competition as well.  Each team had to draw a mural, with the supplies we provided, that captured the themes of our character education program known as IKaRR (Integrity, Kindness, Respect, and Responsibility) and using the school's ipod touches, both teams had to create a video that captured the afternoon's excitement.

Other than a few thunderstorms, it couldn't have worked out better.  The competition was spirited, the murals were stunning, and the videos were downright hysterical.  Here are some of the sights and sounds from that memorable afternoon.









Blue Team Video:





Red Team Video

Graduations

It has been quite a week.  With Kindergarten Graduation on Sunday, 8th Grade Advancement on Monday, and High School Graduation last night, it's been one celebration after the next.  As always, all three were incredibly moving and did a wonderful job of demonstrating just how far our kids have come.  Special thank you to Morah Michelle, Morah Hanielle, and Miss Charna for putting together the Kindergarten Graduation, to Mrs. Kutliroff for taking the lead on the 8th Grade Advancement, and to Rabbi Lubetski and Mrs. Plotitsa for all of their hard work for the High School's event.  Thank you, as well, to all of the other faculty members and volunteers who worked hard to ensure that all three graduations were as beautiful as they were.

Pictures of each of the graduations are now available online.  Click here for Kindergarten, here for 8th Grade, and here for High School.

It seems like each of the past few years, our High School Graduation has had one moment that reflected the special emphasis we place on developing the passions and interests of each individual students in particularly poignant fashion.  This year it was 12th grader Sammy Mayime who decided that instead of the traditional 2 minute speech we ask every student to prepare, he'd offer the following performance instead...

Mazal tov to all of the graduates!  You've made us very proud.

One Last Act of IKaRR

One of many new programs we introduced this year was our IKaRR Initiative, aimed at raising awareness and understanding of the values of Integrity, Kindness, Respect, and Responsibility throughout our school.  As today was our final Friday assembly of the year, we began the program by noting that sometimes a very meaningful act of IKaRR can be as simple as saying two words: thank you.  To demonstrate such, we decided to say thank you to someone who is completing his thirtieth year of serving our school with remarkable consistency and devotion, yet due to his quiet and unassuming nature probably has not had "thank you" said to him nearly enough.    All of our students rose for a standing ovation as I handed a plaque to Mr. Marvin Tharnish, our trusted school handyman, and gave him the "thank you" that was long overdue.

The assembly continued with a dvar Torah from Mrs. Gersten about chilul Hashem and a presentation from 1st Grade demonstrating what they have learned about the beginning of Sefer Bereishit.  You'll find a short clip of the end of their presentation below.

Thank you to Mrs. Gersten and to our Lower School faculty for all their help in putting together this year's new Friday assembly program.  And thanks again to Marvin for keep our beloved old building going for all of these years.

Teaching Science and Torah: A Survey of Approaches

While 11th grader Jamie Epstein chose to tackle an issue that poses personal challenges to many in the Orthodox world, 12th grade Zahava Gersten chose an issue that poses serious challenges to the theological side of Orthodox Judaism for her submission to the Kol Ha-Mevaser Magazine: the conflict between science and Torah.

Specifically, Zahava set out to compare how teachers in yeshiva high schools throughout the country approach this issue when they teach the first few perakim of Sefer Bereshit.  In doing so she also lays out a rather comprehensive overview of the position her father and our Mashgiach Ruchani, Rabbi Yonason Gersten, takes in a class that has long been a student favorite here in our high schools.  Rather than cower in the face of a serious challenge to Torah belief, Zahava responds with a thoughtful and comprehensive look at ways in which this issue can be successfully navigated.

Approaching Bereshit
By Zahava Gersten | Published: May 22, 2013 | Comment (1) 

It is a common scene in many Jewish elementary schools. A boy is learningHumash, and his rebbe tells him that dinosaurs never existed. Perplexed, the boy asks how this could be true if archeologists had actually found evidence of dinosaurs’ existence by digging up their bones. “Those are elephant bones,” hisrebbe replies. The student is unconvinced. “Wouldn’t the paleontologists know if the bones were elephant bones?” he asks himself.

Many Jewish children all over the world learn Bereshit in a simple and clear-cut manner in the early years of their education. They are taught that God created the world in six days, Adam and Eve were tricked by a snake, and the flood covered the entire planet. While it may be necessary to teach young children Bereshit in a very basic manner, once students reach high school, new questions arise. Teachers will be challenged with questions such as, “How can we believe that God created the world in six days if we learned in science class that it actually took billions of years for the world to form?” and “How is it possible for Adam to have been the first person if we learned that many Homo sapiens existed at the same time?” And explaining that dinosaur bones are really elephant bones will not answer those thirsting for a convincing explanation. If this method does not satisfy a student’s curiosity, then what method does? How should a teacher present Bereshit to inquisitive high school students?

Read the rest of the article here.

Kenyan Orphans Get Supplies from 6th Grade

Back in November I posted about our 6th grade's initiative to send school supplies to the Cheery Children Education Centre, an orphanage for AIDS victims in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya.  For two years now, our fantastic 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Cindy Massey, has made Social Studies come alive for our students by harnessing technology to connect our children in a small Orthodox Jewish Day School in Memphis, TN with students all over the globe.

This year, though, her class took the initiative to a new level.  In one of their communications with the teachers in Nairobi, our students asked what it was they could do to meaningfully help their new e-pals.  In response they were told that even the most basic school supplies - pencils, paper, and other things our children take for granted - were rare commodities in their school.  Thus the challenge was posed.  Our 6th graders were going to figure out how they could purchase school supplies and ship them to Kenya in the most cost effective manner and then they were going to figure out how best to raise the funds necessary to do so.

Just this week, with the school year winding down, I got word that their mission was accomplished.  Below you'll find more pictures of the Kenyan children receiving, holding, and using the supplies sent to them by their Memphian friends here at the Margolin Hebrew Academy.

It's amazing what 6th graders can do.

Magazine Publishes Student Article on Tzniut

At the beginning of Rabbi Stein's Contemporary Jewish Issues course, our high school students are informed that the goal of the course is not only for them to acquire sophisticated knowledge about some of the major issues facing the Jewish community today, but to become so proficient in at least one area, that they have what to teach others.  To demonstrate that proficiency, rather than give them an exam or a project, Rabbi Stein challenges them to write an article on an issue which they find most compelling and, after sets of revisions and refinement, to submit it for publication and public consumption in an appropriate journal or literary forum.  It is what we would call authentic assessment at its best.

Recently, two students had their pieces accepted and published in Kol Ha-Mevaser, Yeshiva University's magazine of Jewish Thought.  Below is 11th grader Jamie Epstein's piece on tzniut, or the laws of modesty (I will post Zahava's article separately).  As anyone who has attended, taught, or sent their daughter to an Orthodox high school can attest, there are few issues that are thornier, more sensitive, and more difficult to grapple with than tzniut.  Yet, by weaving together interviews with others and her own personal tale of growth, Jamie manages to tackle the topic in a way that is delicate yet thought provoking, balanced yet inspiring.

Kol ha-kavod both to Jamie and to Rabbi Stein.

The Real Challenge of Tsniut
By Jamie Epstein | Published: May 22, 2013 | Comment (1) 

Many non-Jews are puzzled when they see a woman walking with long sleeves in the summer. I have experienced this myself multiple times. When walking around on a summer day, I always feel like people are looking at me strangely, almost as if to say, “Is she insane?” Although covering up more, even in such hot weather, may seem odd to those unfamiliar with the practice, after discovering the meaning behind modest dress many are fascinated by it. However, many Orthodox women are not as fascinated. Especially for young women, tsniut is a very restrictive and troubling rule. As Jews, we have many practices that are different from general society, but they are not all as troubling as the idea of tsniut. Tsniut is very different from other practices in that it is an immediate way to peg someone as a religious Jew. The idea of dressing in a way that obviously sets us apart from the rest of society is especially troubling to many young women. However, being different from the society around us is not the real challenge. The real challenge is taking the “restriction” and revealing its true meaning and benefit.

In the modern, secular world we look to the surrounding culture to define standards of dress and fashion. When you flip through a magazine, through channels on the TV, or even walk through a mall, it is very rare to see a model or celebrity wearing modest clothing. Despite the recent trend of maxi dresses, dresses that go to the floor, the majority of the fashion that is on display is not considered modest by the halakhic standard, and even by completely secular people.  Furthermore, it is difficult to take yourself out of popular culture and stray from the group. When religion is pitted against popular culture, it is very hard for many to choose religion. However, paradoxically, the same situation that creates the challenge of following the laws of tsniut becomes part of the importance of doing so. Tsniut is an opportunity to go against trends and live a life dedicated to a higher standard. When one differs from the popular culture, it will sometimes result in strange, puzzled looks, but ultimately it leads to more respect. People respect those who do what they believe is right instead of giving into the pressure of popular culture...

Read the rest of her article here.

5,000 Years of Jewish History in 2nd Grade

Our 2nd graders, under the direction of Morah Chaya Shochet, created this amazing visual and audio tour of 5,000 years of Jewish history.  Note not only the factual knowledge our children gained in the process of this work and the wonderful art they created to represent it, but the fantastic job they all did expressing their thoughts in Hebrew and the way in which their collaborative efforts came together to create a single magnificent timeline of Jewish History.  Well done Kitah Bet!!

Reflections from the Side of the Road

As many of you know, we owe much of our accomplishments over the past few years to the generous support of the AviChai Foundation.  The following article is an overview of all that we've done, and advice to other schools interested in embarking on a similar journey, that was posted today on AviChai's blog.  It's a real credit to AviChai for their belief in our vision, to our admin and faculty for their commitment to growth, and to our parents for their support, that we've come as far as we have.

The Margolin Hebrew Academy’s Curriculum 21 Initiative: Reflections from the Side of the Road

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This article is cross-posted from the eJewish Philanthropy Blog.

This article is part of a series focusing on new ideas emerging from the day school field with relevance for Jewish professionals in Jewish education and beyond. The post contributes to the conversation on the topic of 21st Century Education.

by Rabbi Dr. Gil S. Perl

The odyssey now known to our parents and faculty as our C21 Initiative began almost four years ago. Like most journeys of this kind, the path from where we started to where we stand today was far from a straight one and it was in the dips and the bumps, the wrong turns and the unforeseen curves, that the most institutional learning happened. And while we are still quite some distance from our destination, and probably will be for some time, we’ve learned enough from our progress to date to step to the side of the road for a moment in order to share some insights and suggestions with other schools that may be embarking on similar journeys of their own.

The Cast

This story is not about the efforts of any individual. What we’ve done, we’ve done as a team. It’s critical to note, though, that the team is far leaner than some might imagine. Today our educational leadership team consists of an Early Childhood Director (Mrs. Charna Schubert), a Lower School Principal (Mrs. Sandy Gersten), an Upper School Principal (Rabbi Uriel Lubetski), an Assistant Principal for Student Support and Professional Development (Mrs. Melissa Perl), and me. We have no curriculum coordinators, no 21st Century Learning specialists, and until this year, we did not even have an educational technologist on staff. What we do have is a talented and dedicated faculty who have become learning partners with our admin team as we brave what are completely new waters for us all.

Read the rest of the article here...

Rabbi Stein to Present at National Conference

Rabbi Noam Stein, our Upper School Director of Student Life and the chair of our Torah She Ba'al Peh and Machshava departments, will be sharing some of the unique work he has been doing in our high schools with a national audience.

Though he has been teaching Jewish thought, or machshava, for many years now, Rabbi Stein led the way in creating and implementing a new curricula for our high schools that not only looks at classical questions and sources in Jewish thought, but also digs deeply into current pressing issues facing the contemporary Jewish community.  In a few weeks, Yeshiva University's YUHSChinuch Community of Practice will be running a Jewish Philosophy Yom Iyyun for Orthodox educators hosted by the Ramaz High School in Manhattan.  Rabbi Stein is one of only five high school educators nationally who, in addition to YU Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Mayer Twersky and YU Professor of Philosophy, Dr. David Shatz, will be giving a session at the conference.  His talk, which draws on the new curriculum he has developed for our students, is entitled "Addressing Ethically Challenging Topics such as Am HaNivchar in a Liberal Age."

Lapbooking Sefer Devarim

Traditionally, a siyyum marks the completion of a book of a Torah which one has studied.  In Mrs. Amy Stein's 7th and 8th grade Chumash class, however, the siyyum they made today marked both the completion of a book and the creation of one.

Borrowing from a concept that originated in the Home Schooling world, Mrs. Stein challenged her students to create "lapbooks" that creatively demonstrated their working knowledge of Sefer Devarim, which they completed this year.  The requirements for the assignment were that they each had to include a map, a timeline, "concept words" from the sefer, mitzvot found in Devarim, and a section on the shorashim (word roots) they had studied together.  How exactly to present each section was left up to the individual student with points given both for creativity and clarity.

The results were stunning.  Though the pictures don't quite do them justice, you can get some sense of the detail, sophistication, and ingenuity which our girls put into these projects from the slideshow below.  The initial intent of the "lapbook" was that students would not only have a creative way of demonstrating their learning, but that they'd have a product at the end which they could proudly keep and flip through from time to time to remind them of what they learned.  It's exciting to think that our girls now have a "Sefer Devarim" of their own creation that they can return to as they continue their journey through Jewish learning and growth.

Color War

The Lower School erupted in fun-filled, educational, and uplifting competition this week when Rabbi Joel Finkelstein's talk on Yom Yerushalayim turned into Color War Breakout.  Both team worked exceptionally hard while keeping the values of IKaRR front and center at all times.

Great job to all!

Video D'var Torah

Have a look at the 4th grade's video d'var Torah for this week.  It's Rashi and Rashbam like you've never heard them before...