May. 16, 2012
Dear subscriber, 


MOFET JTEC Portal Newsletter

Dear Subscriber,

We are delighted to send you the latest issue of The MOFET JTEC Portal resource listing.

The current bulletin contains research findings, educational resources, conference information, etc. selected from journals and other Jewish education publications.

During these days between Passover & Shavuot, we mark some very special days that have been added to the Cycle of the Jewish Year in our generation: Yom Hashoah V'Hagvura, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim. We have included a number of items that will help us reflect on the educational meaning of these days and provide us with some useful tools to use in educating about the Holocaust and the meaning of the State of Israel to the Jewish People.

Wishing you, your families & your students a happy and meaningful Chag Shavuot, Z''man Matan Torateinu!

Reuven Werber

The MOFET JTEC Portal Team

May 16, 2012 Jewish Portal of Teacher Education
Please note: a complete list of recent additions to the portal follows the Featured Items.
May 2012
Featured Items
SJED News IV, 7 - Lag B'Omer, Shavuot, and Lots of Lessons!
The latest SJED News Bulletin (IV, 7) has just been released with great technological learning and teaching resources for Jewish Schools, including teaching resources for Lag BaOmer and Shavuot especially for use on the SmartBoard.
For This I Am Thankful
Rabbi Donniel Hartman writes about Yom Ha’atzmaut which at its core is a day in which we must learn the art of celebration and giving thanks. A day in which we put aside our self-criticism and aspirations, and connect to the gift that we have, and declare, dayenu. He shares at Israel's 64th birthday for what he is thankful.
Planning for the Unexpected: Maximizing the Potential of Holocaust Educational Travel
Preparing his students emotionally and educationally for this journeyto Holocaust sites in Poland provided Jason Feld with an opportunity to design a multi-disciplinary Holocaust education program that seriously addressed the students’ concerns and provided them with a renewed sense of engagement with this chapter of our history. The curriculum that resulted incorporated classroom learning, field study and intensive experiential education.
Young Families Bringing New Life to Budapest Synagogues
Ruth Ellen Gruber writes about a handful of Budapest synagogues that have seen an upsurge of membership and communal engagement in recent years thanks to active young rabbis and a family-friendly focus. With an estimated 80,000 Jews, Budapest has the largest Jewish population of any central European city. It is home to about 20 Jewish congregations, ranging from the dominant Neolog (moderate Conservative) stream to traditional Orthodox and Chabad, to American-style Reform, to informal minyanim such as Dor Hadash, an independent egalitarian congregation that is associated with the Masorti (Conservative) movement.
A Jewish Educator’s Guide to Facebook Interaction
Jonathan Burg examines the advantages, disadvantages and challenges involved in the use of Facebook as a media of contact between teachers and students in Modern Orthodox schools. He then proceeds to formulate a guide for educators to help them determine if they should use Facebook as a medium of communication with their students and how to do so constructively and carefully.
Can the Arts Foster Serious Jewish Learning?
Bradley Solmsen and Rachel Happel describe how BIMA: the Brandeis Institute for Music and Art creates an environment where artistic exploration and Jewish exploration can and should be one and the same. They suggest a number of directions which day schools could adopt to move in this direction.
May 2012
All Recent Items
Trends in Jewish Education
Can the Arts Foster Serious Jewish Learning?

Formal Education

Rethinking the “School” in Day School
Deepening the Conversation About What Schools Can Learn From Camps
Balancing Skills and Knowledge with Meaningful Experiences

Informal Education

Young Families Bringing New Life to Budapest Synagogues

Teacher Education

Not Just Fun and Games: Preparing Teachers for Meaningful, Constructivist, Experiential Education
A New One Year MA Program in Jewish Education

In-Service Training

Rabbinic Torah Study Summer 2012 Program

Education & Administration

Some Hebrew Schools Decide to Go the Free Route

Israel Education

Birthright Israel for Boomers
Israel Study, the Aardvark Way
Naale - Elite Academy Program
Fifth Graders from L.A. & Shaarei Tikva Hold Unique Skype Meeting on Yom Haatzmaut
For This I Am Thankful

Technology & Computers

Technology Leading the Way to Lower-cost Day School Education
Chabad Linking Students From Caracas To Beijing
A Jewish Educator’s Guide to Facebook Interaction
Using Facebook to Build a Jewish Dialogue
A Comparative Study of Online and Face-to-Face Friendship among Israeli School Students

Conferences & Events

Paideia European Project Incubator - 2012
Learning from Taglit-Birthright Israel: An Academic Symposium
YouthCon 2012 – Informal and Experiential Jewish Educators Convention
Jewish Version of TED Talks Launched

Learning Resources

Panim. Yom. Zikaron – A Special Project for Israel Memorial Day
Dah Bear, Online Hebrew Language Tool, Significantly Enhanced
The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls
Planning for the Unexpected: Maximizing the Potential of Holocaust Educational Travel
Free Hebrew-language Children’s Books Program Expands Across U.S.
SJED News IV, 7 - Lag B'Omer, Shavuot, and Lots of Lessons!
An App That’ll Chant Your Haftarah Portion
May 2012
 
The newsletter contains references to all the new items added to the JTEC Portal.

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All recent items