Educational Innovation

Fall 2019
סתיו תש״ף

Educational Innovation

Prizmah Columns

From the CEO: "What If?" The Jewish Tradition of Educational Innovation

Paul Bernstein

Educational Innovation in Special Education: Turning It Around

Esther Jakobovits

Jewish Literature Reimagined in the High School English Classroom

Na'amit Sturm Nagel
In This Issue

From the Editor: Educational Innovation

Elliott Rabin, Editor

The old will be renewed, and the new will be sanctified. - Avraham Kook, Igrot HaRa’ayah 164


This famous expression of Harav Kook, cited in this issue, would make a perfect mission statement for the field of Jewish day schools. It captures the magnificent, heroic efforts the teachers in our schools make every day. They expertly choose from our ancient writings and traditions, endowing students with the skills they need to read, understand and interpret them, giving students a platform to...

About This Issue
HaYidion Educational Innovation Fall 2019

The articles in this issue represent the balance between the old and the new, sacred and profane embodied in Jewish history. The issue tells the story of the drive for innovation in modern education that has gained strength in recent decades. It features efforts to learn from, adopt and adapt innovative programs and pedagogies from the larger educational universe, even as authors advise caution, patience and planning around such changes.

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Articles From This Issue

  • The Power of Creation
    George Couros, Katie Novak
  • Educational Innovation in Special Education: Turning It Around
    Esther Jakobovits
  • Taking a Week to Solve Real-World Problems
    Jared Matas
  • On My Nightstand: Brief reviews of books that Prizmah staff are reading
    Ilisa Cappell, Odelia Epstein, Daniel Infeld, Sara Loffman
  • Gaming the Bible: Supporting Tanakh Study with a Digital Game-Based Learning App
    Shuki Reiss, Yonit Sadan Westman
  • Research Corner: Assessing Our Workplaces
    Ilisa Cappell
  • Jewish Literature Reimagined in the High School English Classroom
    Na'amit Sturm Nagel
  • Commentary: Innovating in Depth
    Casey Suter, Bracha Rutner, Rabbi Jonathan Berger
  • Multiple Subject Areas, Multiple Life Skills: Integrated Project Based Learning (IPBL)
    Leah Spector, Orry Jacobs
  • The Advice Booth: Faculty Meetings to Look Forward to
    Rachel Levitt Klein Dratch
  • The Gifts of Seeing: Making Excellence Visible in Arts Education
    Sharon Marson
  • From the CEO: "What If?" The Jewish Tradition of Educational Innovation
    Paul Bernstein
  • From Report Cards to Portfolios
    Rachel Arcus-Goldberg
  • From the Editor: Educational Innovation
    Elliott Rabin, Editor
  • A Curricular Audit: The Bridge Between Challenge and Innovation
    Amira Soleimani
  • Telling Your Innovation Story
    Chuck English
  • Lessons from Public School: The Need for Socially Driven Innovation
    Jennifer Unis Truboff
  • Beware the Aisle of Abandoned Innovations
    Jeffrey Kress
  • Tefillah: An Inner Exploration
    Rabbi Michael Ribalt, Assistant Principal, Judaic Studies, Elementary Division
  • Kvod Habriyot: How Multiculturalism can Transform Jewish Day Schools
    Roberta Louis Goodman, Ed Frim
  • Making Spirituality Concrete for Children
    Julie J. Schimmel, Third Grade Judaic and Hebrew Teacher
  • Creating a New School
    Dan Mendelsohn Aviv
  • Assessing Prayer: Integrating Tefillah Experiences into Talmudic Learning
    Tamara Frankel, Jewish Studies Teacher
  • Designing the Space to Cultivate Creative Capacity
    Michael Cohen, The Tech Rabbi
  • Choosing Tefillah
    Rabbi David Teller, Stark High School Dean of Students
  • How a University and Jewish Day School Can Collaborate on Curricular Innovation
    Mitchel Malkus, Tiffany-Rose Sikorski
  • Listening to Day School Dreams
    Sharon Freundel
  • A Learning Ethos That Fosters Deep Thinking
    Jeremy Stowe-Lindner