Ruth… In Other Words: Last summer, when I joined Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel (ASBI), the local Modern Orthodox synagogue in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, I discovered a multi-denominational congregation that, if not unique, was most … Continue Reading →
Cramming Is Not a Competency: From Schooling to Learning in the Textbook-Free Classroom
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa, 1928 Cultural anthropologist and perennial educator, Margaret Mead, often employed the Ancient … Continue Reading →
Departing the Text: Storytelling and SELF Discovery
All men have the stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more … Continue Reading →
P4C and the Philosophical Community of Inquiry: Making Meaning by Learning to Question
. . . the only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder . . . Josten Gaarder, Sophie’s World INTRODUCTION Insofar as education is … Continue Reading →
The Student-Centered Pedagogical Playground
“The trouble with the future is that it usually arrives before we’re ready for it.” Arnold H. Glasow
On March 15th, the familiar confines of my classroom and whiteboard were supplanted with a virtual, digital, abstract and, hence, boundless space. I soon realized that the world had, indeed, become my pedagogical oyster. Continue Reading →
Consider the Source
I was a young teen when my mother a”h told me that, if I didn’t say Pitum ha’Ketoret, “the incense prayer,” I wouldn’t find a husband. I recognized the irony … Continue Reading →
Blot Me Out of Your Book
In loving memory of my mother, Judith Kaufman Hurwich a”h “Language most shows a man: speak that I may see thee. It springs out of the most retired and inmost … Continue Reading →
A Leap of Faith
One year ago, I sat down at my dining room table to write my first blog for JOFA. I was still reeling from the realization that, while we celebrated Shavu’ot … Continue Reading →
An Israeli Patch Adams
By Anat Tanner and Timna Hurwich This article was originally published in Hebrew by Anat Tanner, a reporter for Yediot Ahronot, who resides in Skokie, IL (“פאץ’ אדאמס בעברית“). The translation … Continue Reading →
What Would Maya Say?
Maya Angelou was convinced that words are things. “You must be careful about the words you use,” she cautioned, “or the words you allow to be used in your house.” … Continue Reading →
When Mercy Seasons Justice
A Daniel come to judgement! yea, a Daniel! The Merchant of Venice, IV.i.218 Shylock’s triumphant interjection is an overt, if ironic, reference to Belshazzar’s Feast in Daniel 5. Posing as … Continue Reading →