The Kohelet Prize Database

Database Entries Tagged with: Honorable Mention 2017

Flipped Instruction

Differentiated instruction is crucial in education, because every student should be given the opportunity to maximize his/her potential. Integrating flipped instruction in my Chumash classes has helped me reach this goal. I prepare videos for my students to watch at home, and we then use class time to process and analyze the material.

By: Mrs. Zehava Greenwald from Bruriah Junior High

Grade(s): K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Elementary school, Middle school, High school

Subject(s) of entry: Tanach

Pedagogy: Blended Learning, IBL - inquiry based learning, Montessorri, PBL - project based learning, UBD - understanding by design, 21st Century Skills

View complete entry »

Tanakh Skills Lab

Differentiated instruction suffers from a lack of concrete expression in the high school Judaic Studies classroom. This entry describes an experiment I started in September to create an opportunity for differentiated learning for my Tanakh students at the Fuchs Mizrachi Stark High School. I dedicated one class a week to a skills lab and gave students an opportunity to work independently on a Tanakh skills project of their choice. Accompanying documents and links are numbered in order of suggested viewing.

By: Ms. Adina Blaustein from Fuchs Mizrachi Stark High School11

Grade(s): 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Middle school, High school

Subject(s) of entry: Tanach

Pedagogy: IBL - inquiry based learning, 21st Century Skills

View complete entry »

Torat Chayim: Real World Learning in Tanach and Gemara; Analysis and Integration through Real World Application

How do we engage students in the rigorous, text based learning of Tanach and Gemara while helping them learn how to apply their learning to their lives and the world around them? A portfolio of sample projects are provided that serve as different models in answering this question. These projects challenge student to extract values, apply and synthesize their learning in various "authentic" ways.

By: Rabbi Yehuda Chanales from Fuchs Mizrachi School

Grade(s): 9, 10, 11, 12, High school

Subject(s) of entry: Gemara, Halacha, Mishnah, Tanach

Pedagogy: PBL - project based learning, UBD - understanding by design, Constructivist, 21st Century Skills

View complete entry »

Schechter Westchester’s MakerSpace

Our Idea Incubator (The INC) is the first MakerSpace built in a Jewish institution in North America. It houses Schechter Westchester’s Engineering and Entrepreneurship (E2) program, in which students take advantage of an innovative, modular learning environment to develop crucial skills such as creativity, collaboration, mechanical and electrical engineering, computer programming, public speaking, confidence, and—most importantly—fearlessness.

By: Dr. Danny Aviv from Solomon Schechter School of Westchester

Grade(s): 9, 10, 11, 12, High school

Subject(s) of entry: Art, Computer Science, Math, Science

Pedagogy: PBL - project based learning, IBL - inquiry based learning, Constructivist, Blended Learning, 21st Century Skills

View complete entry »

Israeli Knesset Simulation

The Israeli Knesset Simulation is a combination of live role-playing and online virtual world interaction in which high school seniors immerse themselves in Israeli politics by becoming members of Knesset. By playing a specific character, learning the party platform, and drafting legislation through committee work, the seniors engage in Israel from the inside-out, breaking down the barriers between their education and the real world.

By: Rabbi Natan Kapustin from Abraham Joshua Heschel High School

Grade(s): 11, 12, High school

Subject(s) of entry: History, Social Studies

Pedagogy: Blended Learning, Constructivist, IBL - inquiry based learning, PBL - project based learning, 21st Century Skills

View complete entry »

A Slave’s Journey: From Brick Making to Matza Baking

This curriculum uses the Exodus story as the foundation for the students to research and execute the making of bricks. The Pesach narrative is then used to expose the students to child labor throughout history. The bricks are used to build a working oven upon which the students baked matza and then taught the rest of the school the matza-making process.

By: Rabbi Andrea Gouze from Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island

Grade(s): 5, 6, 7, 8, Elementary school, Middle school

Subject(s) of entry: Art, Halacha, History, Literature, Math, Science, Tanach

Pedagogy: PBL - project based learning, UBD - understanding by design

View complete entry »