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Eye Spy
"You know your teacher is possessed by Beelzebub when his or her head rotates 360 degrees at the blackboard. But is this what it takes to effectively keep watch over a classroom while a teacher unveils a frontal lesson? All adults who work with kids instinctively understand that they love to deny their mischievous behavior when the teacher isn't looking. It's one of the hallmarks of adolescent classroom acuity. Lest you grow eyes in the back of your head, educators are in a significantly vulnerable position. So how does one fight back?
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Monkey See Monkey Do
"How many bars of soap would it take to wash out the mouths of our most vulgar students? I'm not advocating such an archaic punishment, but if I hear just one more Junior High school student offer greetings and salutations to his peers with a: wassup beeach? or how'z it mother f@cker?, I am going to lose my composure and thrash someone with a complete, unabridged Webster's dictionary.
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Cooperative Learning in School
"Can't we all just get along?" The popularized outcry by Rodney King captures the essence of cooperative learning with kids. Everyday children are put to the task of working together as a class, in groups or pairs, without systematic preparation or training. The result is often a breakdown in rank and file with dissention leading the attack. Here's an example:
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Ramblings of an ex-teacher
Kick 'em in the back, kick 'em in the knee, bring it on teachers, educate me! Oh come on educators, "let's give it the old college try!" Sorry, too much to ask? Well then, drag yourself to work and just get through the day without too much aggravation and insult.
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There's a Sucker Born Every Minute
"There's a sucker born every minute." In Israel it is sacrosanct to say: "just don't let it be me." The atmosphere in school today parallels this mantra.
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Lateral Thinking in the Classroom
Remember the old trash compactors? You shoved in as much garbage as possible, compressed it and added some more. Neat, tidy bundles of waste, prepared for dumping, dense and inert. Lot's of energy goes into packing, but once they are imbedded in the ground, how useful are they? Clearly some material can be recycled. But how do we begin the sorting process?
How much information that we impart to kids today will be useful to them and society in the future? Are we helping them sort the trash or just cramming in more?
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Wash the Dishes
"A Philistine giant measuring over nine feet tall and wearing full armor, came out each day for forty days, mocking and challenging the Israelites to fight. His name was Goliath." The problem with much of schooling today is that we have all too often been transformed into Goliath's.
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Broken Bell Education in Israel
In the current debate over the value of education in Israel, ask yourself one question: Could you handle even twenty minutes of teaching in a rowdy public classroom?
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Upcoming Events
- Mar 23 2010 (19:30 - 21:45)Poetry round-table: Voices Israel Group of Poets in English
- Apr 13 2010 - Apr 15 2010DITA Quick Start Workshop
- May 31 2010Call for Papers Deadline for 3nd Israeli Conference on Robotics (Herzelia)
- Jun 15 2010 - Jun 16 2010SwSTE 2010
Upcoming Courses
- Mar 18 2010Advanced FrameMaker for Skilled Users
- Mar 23 2010 (09:00 - 13:30)Building a Front-End Interface to Document Collections (web-based course)
- Mar 24 2010 (18:30 - 19:30)Webinar: Colors in FrameMaker
- Mar 24 2010 (20:00 - 21:00)Webinar: Cross-Reference Tips & Tricks,
Other Events
Summaries
Requires access rights Freelance Writer Rates (11 pp) Q4/09 Copy Editor Rates (9 pp) Each month, Mark L. Levinson presents one hard-to-translate Hebrew word at a time for discussion. Michael Cohen will teach us practical shortcuts that save us time and make our lives easier. Mark L. Levinson examines the big and little factors that make writing effective. David Siegel looks at the problems in education in Israel and discusses what can be done. Jonathan Plutchok identifies free or inexpensive utilities or plug-ins that save time, increase productivity, improve your computing environment, perform a task you otherwise couldn't do... or is just too much fun to ignore. This column has grown into its own blog at http://jonathanstoolbar.blogspot.com where you can find new issues every week. Paul Schnall teaches us about the power of FrameScript and how to use it. Did you ever wonder what was inside a PC, laptop, or other microcomputer system? Michael Cohen teaches us what's inside and how to configure and build our own. Dr. Tal discusses the principles of professional coaching, focusing on resiliency. Eric Gluch looks at modern marketing. Esther Shira Stepansky takes us on a humorous adventure in the modern day land of Chelm as we look at some of the challenges of making aliyah and finding work in Israel. Making aliyah is supposed to be the fulfillment of my of your Jewish identity, so why does Israel make it so difficult? By Mumpy Dr. Zaidel discusses another aspect of mediation within the framework of Israel's court-approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process. Hezy Asher teaches us how to improve our memory. Tom Johnson's podcast episodes, provide tips on recording presentations, and other podcasting related news and events. By multiple authors By Israel Ivri Summaries of events held by Elephant and other organizations throughout the Israeli technical/marcom community. Q1 2010 Survey Results
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