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.