It was recently Teacher Appreciation Week. I’m not a huge believer in these kinds of celebrations (are there any days when we shouldn’t appreciate teachers?), but I took advantage of the timing anyway to send the following thank you to the faculty and staff at North Shore Hebrew Academy for the work they did this year with technology.
This isn’t going to surprise you, but I believe in the power of technology to increase student success in schools. Online tools — in the hands of caring, expert teachers — are the strongest lever we can pull to help students meet their potential. And we’ve done quite a bit with technology this year. For example…
- Early Childhood teachers are now using a blended learning platform to supplement their literacy curriculum.
- Elementary School faculty are building more advanced SMART notebook lesson materials; using blended learning software for enrichment and whole-class instruction in both literacy and math; doing innovative, project-based learning using Google Maps; helping students create augmented-reality presentationsabout Yerushalayim; and using Google Classroom and FlipGrid so students can generate audio responses to Ivrit assignments.
- In the Middle School, several teachers are using online tools to create project rubrics with improved clarity; others have adopted screenshot and screencasting tools to generate videos for flipped lessons; many are now more comfortable using Google Slides to create class presentations; and there is widespread adoption of Sefaria and similar online Judaics resources for sourcesheet creation.
We grew this year in other ways, too. For the first time, we now deliver reliable high-speed internet access in every NSHA classroom. We tripled the size of our mobile fleet: students now have access to over 250 mobile devices (40 iPads and 215 Chromebooks). Our entire elementary faculty now has access to state-of-the-art laser printing and scanning services and we have implemented our second administration of the NWEA MAP assessment, giving actionable student growth and achievement data directly to our teachers in hours rather than weeks.
Change of this magnitude is never easy. It takes hard work to adopt new tools and methods and we were able to do so only thanks to the efforts of our faculty and staff. Their goodwill, resourcefulness and willingness to try new things have led NSHA to enormous growth in finding new ways to help every student achieve.
I’m thankful for that effort… and I am going to miss it.
I have enjoyed my year here on Long Island, but the commute has been difficult and another opportunity has become available closer to home. I will be here through the summer transition before heading south to serve as Director of Technology at the Hillel Yeshiva in Deal, NJ.
Thanks again to my colleagues at North Shore Hebrew Academy. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together and I think you should be, too.
