No-Stress Teacher Training

Last Sunday, Joel and Josh spent the day at Congregation Beth Emek in Pleasanton, Calif. They worked with education director Judith Radousky and a bunch of teachers, discussing lesson planning, classroom management, and how to best utilize all kinds of curricular materials in their teaching.

It was a lot of fun, a lot of learning, and it cost Congregation Beth Emek… nothing.

Here’s the deal: If you use Torah Aura materials, we’ll come to your school to work with educators, rabbis, teachers, and even parents. You pay us nothing. Nada. Zilch. Every Torah Aura book or instant lesson comes with free teacher training. (All you have to do is arrange to cover the cost of our coach-class travel from Los Angeles.)

Interested in doing some awesome teacher education? Email Josh: josh@torahaura.com, or call him at (800) BE-TORAH, x122.

Hanukkah already?

Hanukkah is fast approaching. December 3rd will be here before you know it.

For a super-cool Hanukkah art project, check out our “Decorate Your Own Dreidles.” These wood dreidles are 2.75″ tall, and they come with blank sides that your students can decorate.

While you’re at it, you should check out our bulk wooden dreidles (the ones that come with the letters already on them). You get 25 for just $6.99.

Of course, don’t forget the excellent Hanukkah materials from Torah Aura, especially The True Story of Hanukkah. The lesson goes way beyond the oil story, presenting Hanukkah as the evolution of a social struggle between two different groups of Jews using historical documents and primary sources.

As Easy as Comparing Apples to… Apples?!?!

Have you seen the awesome Jewish edition of Apples to Apples®? Well, we got it!

Apples to Apples® is the wild, award-winning card and party game that provides instant fun for four to ten players!

It’s as easy as “comparing apples to apples”…just open the box, deal the cards, and you’re ready to play! Select the card from your hand that you think is best described by a card played by the judge. If the judge picks your card, you win that round. And everyone gets a chance to be the judge!

Torah Aura is proud to carry the Jewish edition and the Junior Jewish edition of Apples to Apples®. Each round is filled with surprising and outrageous comparisons from a wide range of Jewish people, places, things, and events. Fast moving and refreshing, Apples to Apples® is a great way to add pizzazz and fun to your Jewish classroom.

Candlestick Magic & Hiddur Mitzvah

by Laurie Bellet

Yesterday, I ordered 100 wood candlesticks. I suppose that it isn’t so surprising. After all, I do teach a lot of students and, candlesticks for Shabbat are a staple on everybody’s art experience agenda. I guess I ought to add that this is the second order of 100 wood candlesticks that I have placed since the current school year began.

So, here’s the deal and (and what a deal it is):

Using Cell Phones for Teaching and Learning

Following is a piece written by an educator in the field about using technology in the Jewish classroom. For Joel Lurie Grishaver’s take on technology and Jewish education, check out his article, “The Jewish Message as Medium: Jewish Education in the Information Age,” from the Summer ‘07 issue of Jewish Education News. You can read it by clicking here.

by Andrew Pass

Last year I taught an eighth grade Hebrew High School class at my Conservative synagogue. Class met for a total of two hours a week. Each week it seemed as if I was competing against my students’ cell phones. They rang at the most inopportune times. Can you relate?

Finally, towards the end of the school year, I had an idea. One Monday evening, I asked my students if they all had their cell phones. Of course, they did. I said, “Good! We are going to use them in class today.” After a short discussion on the nature of God, I asked students to take five pictures of objects that they believed supported the existence of God and five objects that they believed deterred from such a belief. The students were intrigued that I was asking them to use their cell phones instead of telling them to put them away. They engaged in this out-door activity. We had a wonderful discussion about the pictures, and more importantly about God, after we returned to the classroom.

Ten years ago who would have thought that eighth graders would bring cell phones with them to Hebrew high school? Who would have thought that nearly all cell phones would have built-in cameras? We live in an age of incredibly advanced technology. For most adults this technology is fantastically innovative. Most teenagers don’t see technology this way. Instead they see it as a normal part of life. Mark Prensky, a well known educational technologist, refers to children as “digital natives” and adults as “digital immigrants.”

So what does this mean to Jewish educators who work in community high schools?

Introducing the Newest Member of Our Staff

We want to introduce you to the newest (old) member of our family here at Torah Aura. Josh Barkin, who worked for us before going off to grad school, is back to fill a new position here in our office.

Josh’s job title here at Torah Aura is Director of School Services. His job is to be there for our customers.

Wondering how to train your teachers to use our new lifecycle book? Drop Josh a line. Need to spice up your Hebrew/prayer curriculum? Get in touch with Josh. Have a question about whether S’fatai Tiftah or Journeys? Josh is your man. Want to run the best teacher training session ever? Call… Josh. Josh is also especially interested in the curricular challenges of teaching Jewish history, and he’s putting the finishing touches on our newest book, God: Jewish Choices for Struggling With the Ultimate.

He is a recent graduate of HUC-JIR in Los Angeles, where he received masters degrees in Jewish education and Jewish communal service. As an undergrad, he was the only Jew at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, where he double-majored in politics and religion. Josh has been a page designer and sports reporter for the Oshkosh Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wis.) and has worked at the World Union of Progressive Judaism in Jerusalem, the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles, and a number of Los Angeles-area congregations, including Congregation Or Ami (Calabasas), and Temple Judea (Tarzana), Temple Beth El (San Pedro), Leo Baeck Temple (Los Angeles) and Temple Isaiah (Beverly Hills).

Josh is a graduate of a Solomon Schechter day school, attended Hebrew school at a Reform synagogue, and was a member of a labor-Zionist youth movement. He’s a recovering Dr. Pepper addict who finds solace in etymology, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his Powerbook. Also, he’s engaged to Sara Mason, an HUC-JIR rabbinic/education student who is currently the co-coordinator of the Mishpacha program at Congregation Or Ami.

If you need more information, check out Josh’s facebook page or his personal blog.

Or… you could just email or call. josh@torahaura.com • (800) BE-TORAH, x122.

Let Me Count the Ways: 5 Ways to Engage Students the First 5 Minutes of Class

by Carol Oseran Starin

You know where you’ll be – standing at the door to greet and warmly welcome each student.

But, after Sean is welcomed and hangs up his coat, what will he do until class formally begins? We establish routines and plans for other aspects of the class. It’s important to establish a routine for those first five minutes immediately after Sarah, David and Madison walk into the classroom.

Those first five minutes, prior to the formal opening (circle time, class meetings, etc.) when carefully planned can:

• Set the tone and class climate for the day
• Take students right inside an important idea or lesson
• Focus students immediately
• Provide a meaningful transition from carpool/playground to classroom demeanor
• Motivate/encourage students to arrive on time. (Be cautious about this because most students are at the mercy of a driver.)
• Minimize wasted time/maximize learning time
• Give students some structured social time – our students live all over the city and many of them don’t know each other

Here are 5 ways – and many examples – to support the learning and build relationships in the first 5 minutes of class.