After running my last LIVE Webcast on STEM in Limdai Kodesh (Jewish Studies), I got a lot of email from school administrators saying the same thing... "How can we add STEM in a dual-curriculum school? We don't have an educator with the technical expertise like Rabbi Swigard and we don't have enough time to squeeze it into the curriculum!!"
While I understand their concern, the reality is that integrating STEM/STEAM into an existing curriculum doesn't necessarily take "a technology expert" but rather, it takes someone with a bit of initiative, a bit of creativity and a willingness to reach out to a support network (PLN - Professional Learning Network) for help. When done right, it is not a "squeeze it into the curriculum" but rather it enhances education!
Let me give you give you a real life example. Let's take a Cheder (a religious elementary school) that has a full time dual curriculum - Judaic/Hebrew and General Studies/English... oh, and let's throw in a third language - Yiddish - just to spice things up!! The school wants to add STEM/STEAM education but can only allow one hour EVERY THREE WEEKS to do it!
Yes, you read correctly. The only available time in the curriculum was one hour, per grade, every three weeks! Add to the equation that they don't have Technology Integration Specialist (like Rabbi Swigard) who can lead the charge!! Ah, but what they DO have is an amazing principal with a vision and a fantastic teacher who doesn't think that anything is impossible.
Enter: The Brain Space at Cheder Menachem Elementary School in Los Angeles. (The official title is: Katz Corner - Kids Artistic Technology Zone.)
Rabbi Aryeh Hoffman, with the support of his principal, Mrs. Yudi Blauner, has created something amazing! Rabbi Hoffman only gets to see every student in the school during a science class, once every three weeks. In that class he engages the students so much that - here is the cool part - the students want to continue learning ON THEIR OWN TIME (Lunch and the lunch recess) in The Brain Space. This is not "sit down" learning! This is active, participatory, student driven discovery in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics!
Here is a short video that shows what goes on in The Brain Space.
As an educator, this kind of excitement and participation by the students really gets me going! So much so that I told Rabbi Hoffman that he MUST share what he is doing with the rest of schools that read my blog and watch the Technology: In Plain English LIVE Webcast. So, save this date!!!
Next LIVE Webcast:
Special Guest: Rabbi Aryeh Hoffman - director of "The Brain Space" (KATZ Corner) at Cheder Menachem, LA
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
at 4PM Pacific Time
Be sure to log on LIVE to hear about this very creative way to do STEM/STEAM with almost no time in the curriculum schedule to pull it off. Since we are LIVE, you can ask questions and get insights from Rabbi Hoffman.
I will be sending out the link to register next week.
As always, I solicit your comments on the blog post.
Yossie
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