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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

What is Attribute Listing and How Can it Be Used in a Judaic Studies Blended Learning Classroom? Part Two

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training, The combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss how the creative thinking tool, attribute listing, can be used in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom. This is the first part of a two- part post. The second part of this lesson plan idea follows.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has a interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: Any of these collaborative writing web 2.0 tools can be used with this lesson plan idea.

Step Four: The students/mentees work in small groups online in the physical or the virtual classroom to work on the attribute-listing challenge. See the sample of suggested learning activities at the top of this post.


Note: This activity can also be used as a face to face classroom learning activity without adding the online component.

Step Five: When the task is completed each group emails its finished product to the teacher/mentor and the members of the class, or posts it on the school’s website.

On the next post we will explore another creative problem solving tool, SCAMPER.


Monday, August 30, 2010

What is Attribute Listing and How Can it Be Used in a Judaic StudiesBlended Learning Classroom? Part One


When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training, The combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss how the creative thinking tool, attribute listing, can be used in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom. This is the first part of a two- part post.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has a interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: Any of these collaborative writing web 2.0 tools can be used with this lesson plan idea.

What is Attribute-Listing?

Attribute-Listing is applying the core elements or attributes of a task or challenge as a springboard for generating novel directions or improvements. See the example in this slideshare presentation.

For elaboration on Attribute Listing and other creative and critical thinking tools read the books of Dr. Treffinger and his associates.

How can attribute-listing be used in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom?

As a reminder, a blended learning classroom is one that combines the face-to face physical and the online or virtual classroom.

Here are some suggested steps a teacher or mentor can implement to show Jewish students/mentees how to use attribute-listing for creative problem solving.

Step One: The teacher/mentor explains attribute-listing.

Step Two: The teacher/mentor places students into learning pairs, triads or quads.

In the next post we will share the second part of this lesson plan idea on how to empower students/mentees to use attribute in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom.

Friday, August 27, 2010

What is Force-Fitting and How Can it Be Used in a Judaic Studies Blended Learning Classroom? Part Two



When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training, The combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss how the creative thinking tool, force-fitting, can be used in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom. This is the first part of a two-part post. Part two of this lesson plan idea follow.


Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has a interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: Any of these collaborative writing web 2.0 tools can be used with this lesson plan idea.

Step Three: The teacher/mentor presents his or students/mentees with an interesting challenge related to the course content of a Judaic Studies class. See the examples listed at the top of this post.


Step Four: The students/mentees work in small groups online in the physical or the virtual classroom to work on the force-fitting challenge.

Note: This activity can also be used as a face to face classroom learning activity without adding the online component.

Step Five: When the task is completed each group emails its finished product to the teacher and the members of the class, or posts it on the school's website.

On the next post we will explore another creative problem solving tool, attribute listing.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

What is Force-Fitting and How Can it Be Used in a Judaic Studies Blended Learning Classroom? Part One


When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training, The combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss how the creative thinking tool, force-fitting, can be used in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom. This is the first part of a two-part post.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has a interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: Any of these collaborative writing web 2.0 tools can be used with this lesson plan idea.


How can force-fitting be used in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom?

As a reminder, a blended learning classroom is one that combines the face-to face physical and the online or virtual classroom.

Here are some suggested steps a teacher or mentor can implement to show Jewish students/mentees how to use force-fitting for creative problem solving.

Step One: The teacher/mentor explains force-fitting.

Step Two: The teacher/mentor places students into learning pairs, triads or quads.

In the next post we will share the second part of this lesson plan idea on how to empower students/mentees to use force-fitting in a Judaic Studies blended learning classroom.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Who is Dr. Donald J. Treffinger?




Dr. Donald J. Treffinger is the President and Director of the Center for Creative Learning, Sarasota, Florida,
http://www.creativelearning.com/ and he and his colleagues have created a set of teacher-friendly creative and critical thinking tools that can be used for instruction and teacher training. You can see those creative and critical thinking tools at the top of this post. Dr. Treffinger has granted us permission to share these thinking tools in our blog. These thinking tools can be used in both face to face and virtual classrooms. When you combine face to face and virtual (online) learning it is called blended or hybrid learning.

In the next post we will share how the creative thinking tool, Force-Fitting, can be used by students and mentees in a blended learning classroom.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Combining Solomon’s Six Types of Information Framework for Student-Generated Questions and Meeting Words: Part Two


When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. This is a two-part post in which we will share how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees to brainstorm questions by using Solomon’s Six Types of Information framework and recording those ideas on the Meeting Words platform.
Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has a interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.
Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Meeting Words can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.
Step One: The teacher places students/mentees into learning pairs and gives each pair a Judaic topic (i.e. from the Tanach, the hagim, Israel, Hebrew, Jewish history, the middot, Jewish culture, etc.) for which they are to generate questions.
At the top of this post are some sample questions related to Solomon’s Six Types of Information.
Step Two: Students/mentees in learning pairs generate their questions and record them using the Meeting Words collaborative writing web tool;
Step Three: At a point determined by the teacher or mentor the student generated questions generated are placed on the interactive white board and these questions drive the lesson, the unit, the semester or the year’s curriculum focus.
On the next post we will pause for a moment and discuss the work on creative and critical thinking of Dr. Donald J, Treffinger President and Director of the Center for Creative Learning in Sarasota, Florida.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Combining Solomon’s Six Types of Information Framework for Student-Generated Questions and Meeting Words: Part One

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. This is the first part of a two-part post in which we will share how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees to brainstorm questions by using Solomon’s Six Types of Information framework and recording those ideas on the Meeting Words platform.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Meeting Words collaborative writing tool can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

First let’s review Solomon’s Six Types of Information Framework.

At the top of this post you will see a graphic organizer of Solomon’s Six Types of Information.

You will note that the six types of information or data are factual, conceptual, experiential, emotional, preferential and informed opinions. Moreover, examples of each type of data or information are given within the graphic organizer. For elaboration on the this questioning framework see this previous post.

On the next post we will share the second part of this two-part lesson plan idea on how to empower students/mentees to generate their own questions by using Solomon’s Six Types of Information framework and recording those questions on the collaborative writing tool, Meeting Words.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Combining the Q-Matrix for Student-Generated Questions and Meeting Words, Another Simple Collaborative Writing Web Tool: Part Two

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will share a two-part lesson plan idea on how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees to brainstorm questions by using Dr. Chuck Wiederhold's Q-Matrix framework and recording those ideas on the Meeting Words platform. Here is part one. The second part of this lesson plan idea follows.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their ownlaptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Titanpad can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Step One: The teacher places students/mentees into learning pairs and gives each pair a Judaic topic (i.e. from the Tanach, the hagim, Israel, Hebrew, Jewish history, the middot, Jewish culture, etc.) for which they are to generate questions.

At the top of this post are some sample questions related to Wiederhold's Q-Matrix categories.


Step Two: Students/mentees in learning pairs generate their questions and record them using the Meeting Words collaborative writing web tool.

Step Three: At a point determined by the teacher or mentor the student generated questions generated are placed on the interactive white board and these questions drive the lesson, the unit, the semester or the year’s curriculum focus.

On the next post we will discuss how to use Solomon’s Six Types of Questions framework to empower students to generate their own questions and then record them on the collaborative writing web tool, Meeting Words.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Combining the Q-Matrix for Student-Generated Questions and Meeting Words, Another Simple Collaborative Writing Web Tool: Part One



When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will share a two-part lesson plan idea on how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees to brainstorm questions by using Dr. Chuck Wiederhold's Q-Matrix framework and recording those ideas on the Meeting Words platform. Here is part one.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Meeting Words can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.


First let’s review the Q-Matrix of Dr. Chuck Wiederhold.

Like Dr. Frank Lyman’s Think-Trix, the Q-Matrix of Dr. Chuck Wiederhold is a construct for student generated questions. At the top of this post you can find the Q-Matrix. You will note that the matrix provides a list of question starters that relate to different horizontal (i.e. event, situation, choice, person, reason, and means), and vertical (i.e. present, past, possibility, probability, prediction, and imagination) categories. Let’s explain how the matrix works. Assume that the teacher intends to conduct a classroom discussion on the state of Israel, and wants her students to select the questions for discussion. After explaining the Q-Matrix, the teacher invites the students to pose any question on the matrix. For example, a student might say, “I want to ask a Present/Event question. I want to know, what is the capital of Israel?”

For additional elaboration of the Q-Matrix see this previous post.

On the next post we will share the second part of a two-part lesson plan idea on how to help empower students to generate their own questions through using the Q-Matrix and then recording those questions on the collaborative writing web tool, Meeting Words.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Combining Think-Trix for Student-Generated Questions and Titanpad, Another Simple Collaborative Writing Web Tool: Part Two


When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. This is the second part of a two-part post in which we will share a lesson plan idea on how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees to brainstorm questions by using Lyman’s Think-Trix framework and recording those ideas on the Titanpad platform. Here is part one. Part two follows.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Titanpad can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Step One: The teacher places students/mentees into learning pairs and gives each pair a Judaic topic (i.e. from the Tanach, the hagim, Israel, Hebrew, Jewish history, the middot, Jewish culture, etc.) for which they are to generate questions.

· Here are some examples of general questions related to the seven Think-Trix categories.

· Remember or recall question: Can you recall a time when you were most proud of being Jewish?

· Similarity question: What beliefs do all Jewish people share?

· Difference question: How is life different as a Jew living in the United States as compared to living in Israel?

· Idea to example question: As Jews we value shalom bayit (the idea) ? What examples can you give of shalom bayit that you have witnessed?

· Example to idea question: Can you give examples showing that Israel is a light to the nations?

· A cause question: Why is there evil in the world? Why do some people hate the Jewish people?

· An effect question: What are the effects of assimilation or acculturation on the Jewish people? In particular, has living in the United States promoted or undermined Jewish culture and religious practice?

· An evaluation question: As a Jewish person, if you have the chance to live anywhere in the world, where would you reside and why?

Step Two: Students/mentees in learning pairs generate their questions and record them using the Titanpad collaborative writing web tool.

Step Three: At a point determined by the teacher or mentor the student generated questions generated are placed on the interactive white board and these questions drive the lesson, the unit, the semester or the year’s curriculum focus.

On the next post we will begin to discuss how Wiederhold’s Q-Matrix can be used in combination with another basis collaborative writing tool, Meeting Words.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Combining Think-Trix for Student-Generated Questions and Titanpad, Another Simple Collaborative Writing Web Tool: Part One

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. This is the first of a two-part post in which we will share how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees to brainstorm questions by using Dr. Frank Lyman’s Think-Trix framework and recording those ideas on the Titanpad platform.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Titanpad can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Note: We will use the word teacher and student in this lesson plan idea. For purposes of staff development training replace the word (a) teacher with mentor teacher, staff developer, teacher trainer or college professor, (b) and student with mentee, client, pre-service or in-service teacher, undergraduate or graduate student.

First let’s review what is F. Lyman’s Think-Trix.

Frank Lyman created the Think-Trix visual cues as a device to prompt students to create their own questions for classroom discussion and inquiry. Each visual cue is designed to empower students to ask seven different types of questions. At the top of this post is a chart depicting the seven visual Think-Trix cues representing seven different types of student-generated questions. For elaboration on the Think-Trix refer to this previous post.


On the next post we will share a lesson plan idea on how to help empower students to generate their own questions through using the Think-Trix and then recording those questions on the collaborative writing web tool, Titanpad.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Primary Pad as a Vehicle for Collaborative Brainstorming: Part Two


When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. Accordingly in this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. This is the first part of a two-part post demonstrating how the teacher/mentor can engage his or class students/mentees to engage in collaborative brainstorming by using the web 2.0 tool Primary Pad. The second part follows.

Here is a tutorial in using Primary Pad: http://vimeo.com/8454210

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers as well.

Note: Although this lesson plan idea is designed for the Judaic Studies classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. For example, the Primary Pad can be used to co-create a lesson plan, a unit, a professional development or staff development plan, or a curriculum project. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators.

Step One: The teacher/mentor places students/mentees into small cooperative groups (i.e. two to four members).

Step Two: The teacher/mentor gives each group a a topic or problem appropriate for brainstorming. Here are some suggested topics or problems for group brainstorming:

· What would you like to study about Israel? (a topic or problem for students in a day or supplemental school class)

· What would you do with a student you were assigned to tutor to build a positive relationship with him or her? (i.e. topic or problem for a madrich/a, or student teacher)?

· What things can a teacher do to motivate his or her students? (i.e. topic or problem for a pre—service or in-service teacher)

In the next post we will examine another collaborative writing tool similar to the Primary Pad, Titanpad.

Jewish Education News Blog

Richard D. Solomon's Blog on Mentoring Jewish Students and Teachers

http://nextleveljewisheducation.blogspot.com/