A Jew Grows in Noho

Showing our Schechter pride...

2012-01-30T11:32:00.000-08:00

Recently, an article was published in the Jewish Daily Forward (http://www.forward.com/articles/149983/?p=all) about the decline of Solomon Schechter schools in North America. LGA was singled out as a school of growth. Our own, Morah Devorah Bromberg Seltzer quoted accolades about what we are doing right and for a little while I basked in the glow of our position in an otherwise gloom and doom piece about Jewish day schools and dwindling enrollment.

I know that many parents in the LGA community read this article with much excitement. When word spread that LGA made the national press, everyone was elated but as I and others further examined the article we definitely saw it as a double edged sword. A few of you commented to me that the article really didn't paint an accurate picture of Jewish day school life and were a bit astonished by the tenor of the negative article questioning why was it so negative. Is LGA such a unique Schechter school?

While, yes, LGA has a unique place on the Schechter landscape. Our video that we submitted to the Avichai Foundation captures our essence and spirit. (You still have time to vote and encourage your friends and family as well.) http://www.dayschoolvideoacademy.org/VideoView.aspx?MovieId=172. We are not unique because LGA as all other Schechter schools are guided by a set of expectations that help all of us frame for our students ways to live a Jewishly rich life all the while teaching about being concerned global citizens. All Schechter schools hold very tightly to the ideal of academic excellence at the core of their mission. I don't think there is a school in the network that doesn't believe that this is central to our success. Our constituencies wouldn't have it any other way.

I have had the privilege of walking into many different Schechter schools and working closely with other heads of schools at Solomon Schechter day schools throughout North America. We each "do" Schechter differently. 43 different ways. This is what I have learned to love about our movement of schools. Whether it is Solomon Schechter of Greater Boston, Gross Schechter in Cleveland, or Community Day School in Pittsburgh, or any of the other schools in the movement, many of our schools are the pride of our greater communities because of our focus on the whole-child, the diversity of our community is astounding and who our graduates become.

Schechter schools get a bad rap. Being a movement affiliated school, we are guided by principles yet are given enough leeway to understand and support local cultural mores and standards making us true community schools. LGA is a fine example of that and something that the entire Pioneer Valley is very proud of. With pride, we hold our head up proudly as a Schechter school.

Collegial relationships that make LGA stronger...

2012-01-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

I am in Atlanta at the North American Jewish Day School Conference and enjoying my time here immensely. I have family in Atlanta so the fact that I get to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law is an extra bonus. Morah Devorah is here with me plus a few other educators from our area. We hardly get to see each other because there are closer to 700 people here. The beauty of this conference is that it is completely cross-denominational. Jewish schools from across the spectrum are here. We all share one thing in common - educating the future leaders of the Jewish community.

The landscape in Jewish day school education is becoming so diverse. Some schools look very similar to LGA while others have a distinctly different feel because of cultural differences. Yet, we all strive for excellence, which of course is subjective.

I spent a good part of yesterday in a PEJE workshop dedicated to Development professionals. We had a session called "Speed Dating." There were close to fifty of us in this session. With a partner, we sat across from one another and had three minutes to get to know each other and our schools. We had to talk about a success and a challenge at our school. We also had to hand our partner our business card. We did this for an hour or so and I networked like a champion. Making connections and taking away some ideas that were really thought provoking to see how we could fit them into our valley community. I walked away intrigued by the creativity of the Jewish day school community. Again, some of these ideas may not be so desirable to implement in our school or community.

Throughout the conference, one major aspect is networking not only yourself but your school. Leveraging air time with important people and there were a lot there. Here's the good and exciting news...LGA is on the national scene as a school that embraces academic excellence, rigorous learning, creativity at every corner and is doing things right. We won a national award for creativity. School administrators are asking me how we are doing it. Really exciting stuff.

We are growing! I wish I could say this about every Jewish day school but it isn't happening. Demographics aren't in our favor but you know what is - our faculty and our innovative approach to learning. I appreciate these two factors even more than I did before I left.

Let's keep growing and thinking. See you soon.

You make me blush when you say that, but GO ON!

2012-01-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

With much anticipation and almost 100 percent certainty, students at LGA look forward to recess. It's a lot of fun at LGA! There are a myriad of activities for students to take part in. We are fortunate because there is a lot of green space for students to explore, and the playground built a few years ago still gets a lot of attention from both small and big kids. As I blogged before, Four Square is a major part of the landscape of recess. At our weekly all-school meeting, 5th and 6th graders announce "all-school" recess games, while younger students look forward to hearing the choices with much excitement. Some games are popular, garnering close to thirty students of all different ages playing, while others draw a smaller crowd. What makes them all similar is that everyone, no matter the age or skill level, is not only invited but encouraged to play. My office window looks out at this game, and I often peer through my window with pride, because it is times like this when our small school really works well. Some might say it is out of necessity, but I don't agree.

At almost three years of age, my own son, Raviv, can hold his own with the big kids of kindergarten, and yet also enjoys parallel play with his younger sister, Danya, as she toddles about in our family room. I see how much Raviv appreciates learning from the older kids he interacts with. I wouldn't change a thing about how he is learning negotiation, seeing and imitating behaviors in other children (that Rebecca and I might not always want to have emulated) and picking up new vocabulary words every day. Many of these experiences aren't with his age cohort. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what he learns from his peers, but these multiage interactions have developed his skills even greater than I thought possible. He goes to preschool and is with ten other 2-3 year olds all day. In the afternoon, he joins with his friends from the middle classroom. He is in love with every single child in that classroom. We have to tear him out of there when we pick him up at the end of the day. It is this appreciation that makes my reaction to recess standards at LGA even stronger.

Navigating an elementary school playground can sometimes be a daunting task. Luckily, recess at LGA is, for the most part, a joyous experience. It's pleasant. When the whistle blows signaling everyone to line up, it goes to a whole other level. The 6th graders help corral everyone else into lines. A hush falls over the assembled. The leaders ask four or five different students for something we call "compliments," which are exactly what it sounds like. "I want to thank Mara for playing soccer with me. She showed me how to kick the ball the proper way." "I want to thank Yoav for including me in the game of Four Square." "I want to thank the 5th graders for letting me join in on the game of tag." Et cetera.

It's the kind of moment that makes you do a double take and blush. The younger students are seeing and hearing the older students being nice to each other. Before students walk into class, they are taking a collective deep breath and appreciating others. Not a bad habit to teach our kids.

When the big guys do it right

2011-12-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was a great day for the entire Jewish community. PEJE (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) awarded twenty-five $25,000 awards for ideas of innovation around three different discreet yet closely linked areas of school governance: endowment building, student recruitment and annual fund. They were looking to motivate the greater community to think of creative new ways to innovate the entire Jewish day school field.

I am proud to say that Lander~Grinspoon Academy was one of the winners. We submitted a proposal for our "Double Chai campaign" from the summer. Double Chai was a combination of social networking, rallying a community and finding the right amount to "ask" for from our community all focused around bolstering our annual campaign. The momentum that we built from that project was stunning. And now being acknowledged by a national organization for the work that we did is so gratifying.

The original intention of my blog was to talk about being Jewish in a small community. The Pioneer Valley is a little bit of everything. It is rural. It is urban. It is suburban. It is exurban. It is really whatever you want it to be. The people you meet here are unique individuals, many of them choosing to move here because it is this valley life they are seeking. One thing that holds true (for me at least) is that it is sometimes challenging to have a "big" Jewish life with all of the trappings that come with being in a bigger community. Please don't mishear me, I appreciate my friends and colleagues here and in the almost four years that we have been here, we have made incredible friends and met amazing individuals who are unique and interesting each in their own right.

But what this blog has turned into showcasing what a fine school LGA is and how we as a community continue to reflect on educating young people on a daily basis. LGA has been able to find the right balance of progressive education all the while seeking out multiples perspectives to traditional timeless lessons in both Judaic and general studies. This school and this community has the right vibe - hip, young, progressive yet academically challenging, high standards for all students (no matter where they are) and yet nurturing intellectual curiosity. Many schools do all of those well but one thing that makes us stand out is the COMMUNITY. The community that has been built here is unbelievably unique. Children are given examples of how community works on a daily basis.

I have been attempting to illustrate them with this blog and hopefully will continue to do so. Double Chai reached out to the greater community and it responded. And now, PEJE has said what we did here at LGA was worthy of winning an award so that we could showcase for others that with a little ingenuity and creativity (and maybe a little people power!), we could find new ways to fundraise for the school.

PEJE is in the business of helping day schools thrive and this challenge award was the best example of that. I maintain that we need more of these types of challenges to motivate our community. I cannot wait to read all about the other entries. PEJE got it right. For me delving into these other ideas is like eating a bag full of Jelly Bellys. Once you rip open that bag, there will be 140 other flavors to salivate over. Some you'll really enjoy exploring and want more of and others won't be your taste but you can understand why someone else might find it tasty.

Would I feel differently if LGA hadn't won a Challenge Award? I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be as easy to jump on the bandwagon but I'd still be very intrigued and motivated to see what had worked for other communities and where we could improve.

So, Todah Rabbah, PEJE! Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley thanks you for this gift. We hope you'll enjoy a few words from our community.

Could that be challah that I smell?

2011-12-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

I have always been someone who enjoys routine and schedules. Knowing where I need to be when or anticipating something in the future has always been quite satisfying to me. As a father, I have completely come to appreciate Shabbat in a completely different way. One day "off" every week means recharging my proverbial battery. Celebrating Shabbat is the ultimate "recharger." In our house, Raviv enthusiastically waits for Shabbat to arrive. The rituals for Shabbat have become second nature to him. He describes it as "our at home" day. We rest, eat great food, read, play, walk. It's great!

With that being said, there is a rhythm to the LGA week that I (and many students and faculty members) have so come to appreciate. Like everything we do here at LGA, our students straddle two distinct worlds, both the secular and Jewish. Children get much needed free time and exploration of activities that the week just doesn't allow for. Every Friday, this building comes alive with getting ready to celebrate Shabbat and the weekend.

There are a number of rituals here at LGA that makes our celebration homey and lovely. Around 11 AM, every Friday morning, I find a group of Gan (Kindergarten) students making homemade challah. In small groups, they work with one of their teachers to create these doughy and light masterpieces. The smell gently and deliciously fills the main hallway of our building. The Gan often makes more than the requisite two needed for their classroom and delivers them to members of our greater community who are either elderly, sick, or just in need of a delicious Gan challah.

Morah Amy helps Mira braid the challah.

Mira and Madeline coat the challah with an egg wash for extra shininess.

Every Friday afternoon, we end our learning early so that we can either gather as a whole school or in small clusters to celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat. We find this time essential to our week. This transition from formal learning to a celebration and reflection of our week behind and ahead of us is an important goal we are teaching for our school. We are teaching our children to be thoughtful reflectors and to think to themselves about the big (and not so big) questions that often adults have a hard time contemplating. Our Kabbalat Shabbat time is a favorite of our students both current and past. It is the place where many school traditions are formed.

One such tradition is when members of our 6th grade class write a song for Rosh Chodesh (the new month) about the month that just happened in Torah and holidays to come. Our students study the Bible as both a text that offers a seminal connection to the Jewish people and a rich piece of literature that is beautifully written and allows students to question many aspects of life. Our 6th graders take their responsibility very seriously when it comes to writing these often very funny verses. Students are integrating so much when they write these songs. Enjoy last month's ditty... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaDSt-WjJCc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Morah Devorah, Moreh Aharon and Moreh Dov have worked hard to create a fun, raucous, song filled Kabbalat Shabbat with both new and old tunes. Child friendly yet truly enjoyed by adults alike, LGA has created a bridge to Shabbat and the weekend that is made of memories and connectedness to the Jewish people in really unique ways. Join us for our next all-school Kabbalat Shabbat! You won't be disappointed.

We do it because we love it...

2011-12-05T09:13:00.001-08:00

I am going to start with threestatements that I hold as true in my mind about the relationship that layleaders play in the vitality of the independent school world and that areespecially true in the case of Lander~Grinspoon Academy.

1) LGAis a dynamic and complicated organization with many people invested in makingit a school of excellence every day. We are not a school with a large overheadof administrative resources.
2) Mostindependent schools and LGA included depend on the greater community to supportit in a variety of ways including both human and financial resources.
3) Itcurrently takes and will continue to take both lay leaders and paidprofessionals to make LGA a place that maintains to be on the forefront forboth the Jewish people and the educational world.

LGA, like many small schools in itsshoes, has relatively few administrative positions. As a matter of fact andclarification, our school administrator (Ashley) and myself are the only fulltime administrators (all of the others have some teaching responsibilities or are not paid to be here every day) outside of the faculty. The school from its roots has dependedand continues depend on a strong and robust lay and volunteer leadership toaccomplish our mission and vision of being a strong Jewish day school.

On Saturday night, we gathered at the National Yiddish Book Center to put thespotlight on one such lay leader whom from the moment she stepped onto thescene at 257 Prospect Street was an active and fully committed member of ourLGA community.

You see finding lay leaders likeKaren Kuhr are rare. Karen’s combination of fierce loyalty, getting down tobrass tacks; working hard for the organization that you care so much (in thiscase her children’s school) about; taking on projects that no one else will doand most importantly rallying the troops for support. This is all Karen and yet this is and has been so manypeople at LGA Schechter. This school was built with that in mind. It is withmuch pride that I could probably look at many people in this room andthoughtfully think about what you have done. This school will always remainthat type of community. When it comes to building community, ours is the envyof other schools. Why is that? Because of the genuine compassion of the parentcommunity towards this school, which in turn gets filtered down to ourchildren. For that I thank each and everyone of you.

As many of you know, Karen and Saul love to throw a party. One ofmy first introductions to this community was their infamous summer party heldright before the start of school. They love to host and love to make it big!They fulfill the ultimate mitzvah of HachnastOrchim, welcoming the stranger. If the school (or I) ever needed to host asmall affair, if we are ever short a host for Night Around the Table, Karen,graciously and enthusiastically offered up her home. Saul, with his easy goingvibe, always comes along for the ride.

A few weeks ago, we read Parashat Vayera. In this Torah portion,three angels come to the tent of Avraham and Sarah. They do not know theseangels, yet Avraham and Sarah open their home widely and with much gusto to maketheir guests feel welcomed in their home. They prepared a feast for people that they didn’t really know. Karen andSaul imbue the virtues of welcoming the strangers becoming unbelievable rolemodels for our community.

Karen, Saturday night was our night to saythank you for all that you have done. But it also represented all that everyonehas done for this community to make Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon SchechterSchool of the Pioneer Valley, the fine community school that it is.

So here I go again, using that ever so important word community that gets so overused but is really the essence of our school - one community working together to create a powerful and relevant education for our children. To all those people who spend countless hours at meetings, volunteering, shuttling back and forth, sharing your passion, or giving your dollars, THANK YOU! Know that you are appreciated and how much of an impact it has on the everyday of the school. Karen is one example of someone who leads by doing but she has many who follow her shining example.

What! Another day off...

2011-11-29T16:54:00.001-08:00

Yesterday there were, perhaps, many an LGA parent mumbling expletives about the fact that there was no school. After a long holiday weekend, I appreciate bringing Raviv and Danya to their appointed places, relishing the fact that they are in good hands and we are all back to our routine. So why, then, was there another day off yesterday? It was probably the most important day off that students have taken in a long time. While they were enjoying another day of rest and relaxation, our faculty was deeply immersed in the work of creating a document for a "Vision of Good Teaching" at LGA. This isn't just a one-day, months-long, or even year-long project. This is a multifaceted, ongoing collaboration that is taking our school on a journey to even higher places. Our main question of focus has been, and remains, "How do we make schools a place for teacher learning?"

Yesterday, we focused on two additional questions with four ancillary objectives: "How do we observe to improve learning and teaching?" and "How can standards affect teacher performance?" In the above picture, you will see the four goals of the day. I want to focus a bit on the word niceness. We also used the word politeness a lot. Many elementary schools (and especially LGA) are places that are generally pleasant, polite places to work. For the most part, faculty members treat each other with the utmost respect. When it comes to their work, they have interacted with each other in rather perfunctory ways - exchanging niceties, never observing each other's classrooms, and assuming that every lesson, from every teacher, every day, is adequate.

These past three years, we at LGA have started to break down this rather blind vision, and have said our doors are open to learning for everyone in the building. But we haven't been doing this work alone. It is through our time spent with the Mandel Center at Brandeis University that we have really shaped this vision for good teaching. We owe a huge amount of gratitude to Mandel for politely pushing an agenda forward that is in groove with our's as a school. LGA does an excellent job of teaching our students. We must commit to doing the same thing with our teachers. It can't be a one-sided proposition. We are now focusing on the differences between "niceness," "judgement," and "inquiry." As a faculty, we are moving toward "inquiry." In small groups, we started by challenging ourselves to look at a text entitled "Developing Practitioners, Developing Practice." In this article, the authors talk about having "to un-learn the politeness norm that dominates most current teacher discourse." There is a lot to ponder when it comes to this point, largely because of what I mentioned in the previous paragraphs. By nature, we want to be collegial. It's the "nice thing to do." It's part of our school culture.

So how do we become a faculty that takes "inquiry"seriously? We are attempting to hone our skills by splitting into small groups who do "rounds" of observation of each other. We acknowledge that it will be a complicated scheduling task, but it will be worth it. Faculty is being split into groups of five, with a mix of general studies and Judaics teachers.

Just as when doctors practice rounds, our teachers will explore deeply why certain teacher moves are used. There will be exacting protocols for discussion, and time set aside for teachers to inquire about the lesson that allows for risks to be taken. The teacher will have an opportunity to reflect on what he/she thought went well, and what didn't go as anticipated. It's this commitment to teacher learning that sets LGA apart. When we seek medical attention, we appreciate how doctors are consistently self-improving and staying on top of the latest findings even after years of practicing medicine. Shouldn't we hope for the same for our teachers?

The word "thanks" can be so complex

2011-11-21T10:29:00.001-08:00

I'll admit something right up front. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering to say "thank you." Don't get me wrong -- I am usually so appreciative of any type of gratitude that people show me or the school. It's not that I don't have a good memory. As you may or may not know, I have a freak-like capacity for remembering names and faces. When living in Boston, Rebecca and I went out to dinner with a work colleague and her boyfriend. They invited another person to join us, someone we didn't know. Within minutes, I told him that we had met once before at a random party several years earlier. Rebecca and our new friend sat there astonished by the fact that I remembered this very casual encounter at a crowded house party. I went on to tell him that he had a twin brother and was friends with an old roommate of mine. In short: I have no excuse for not remembering to say "thank you."

Fortunately for me, I am part of a community that takes saying thank you very seriously. Students and faculty members prove this every day. It is more than the simple yet meaningful task of saying thank you that we, as a school, consider such an essential part of a child's education. It isn't negotiable for us. Many of our students come from homes that share these values -- put that thank you into action. We ask our students questions like, "How do you want to change the world?" and "What are you grateful for?" We we don't expect trite responses; we want students to contemplate these questions during their time here.

When beginning to think about this topic, I did some research. I stumbled upon an article by Melinda Beck from The Wall Street Journal entitled, "Thank You. No, Thank You." In the article, Beck writes, "Kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches, and feel more satisfied with their friends, families, and schools than those who don't, studies show." When I was reading it, I thought of students at LGA and the overall gestalt of our community. It is a nice one. This article is talking about LGA. Students here genuinely care about each other. We don't expect all of them to love each other, but we do expect respect for differences. We are teaching our students how to be grateful for their strengths and "not-yet strengths" that they have been blessed with. When faced with opposition from a student, often you'll hear a classroom teacher say "every single student in our class is working on something." This time of the year often makes us reflect on what we are thankful for. But it can't be the only time of the year that we think of saying thank you, because if so, then we have failed as educators. Throughout the year, students have the opportunity to ask deeper questions about themselves and why being thankful is such a complex idea.

This Wednesday, as we prepare for Thanksgiving, the whole school will spend the day involved in different service-learning projects. For some of them it will be a culmination of a unit learned, while for others it will be the first time they are learning about terms like homelessness, poverty, and injustice. Still others will be challenged to think past themselves. For all of them, it is just a brief snapshot of being grateful and giving thanks -- and another compelling reason why this school is just that special. Thanks! (See I remembered...)

Four Square...it's sweeping LGA nation!

2011-11-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

Getting ready to serve and showing these kids how it is really done.

About three weeks ago, I was walking down the hall during an all-school recess and witnessed something that brought back many fond and vivid memories of my childhood. A very large group of 5th grade students playing an old-fashioned, not so newfangled game of Four Square. All they needed was a ball and their hands and occasionally some fancy foot work. (Can anyone tell me what a Black cherry bomb really means?) I walked out there and said "Ladies and gentlemen, step aside. Now you are going to see some real playing." What ensued was a twenty minute round of Four Square where I found myself becoming a kid again. The 5th graders were seemingly having a blast and were slowly getting the attention of other students both younger and older who were curious as to what this game was that they were playing.

The next day, when the school was about to be dismissed for recess, I found myself standing in the office with a ball. I thought to myself, was I really slipping back into 5th grade mode and jumping up and down with excitement for a game of Four Square? (Yes, I was!) And then I thought there must be other things that I should be doing with my time (No, there wasn't) and I was sure that the students were going to have moved on from Four Square to wanting to play or do something else (No, they most definitely didn't). Much to my surprise, the 5th graders came piling out of the school and lined up to play another round of this really fun game. They were excitedly explaining to me new rules and different moves that the "king" (that's the server) might bestow onto the queen, jack and the fourth square (can't remember the name of that one...) What I've learned in researching for this blog post is that Four Square is quite a popular sport and has garnered many a website dedicated to it (http://www.squarefour.org/rules)

Look at my form. These 5th graders don't know how much of a formidable opponent I really am.

So there I was thoroughly enjoying myself when I noticed behind me that a group of 3rd grade girls had started their own game, mimicking what the older students were doing but making it manageable for them. Across the lawn, I witnessed another set of boys also playing. One day, my wife, Rebecca, was walking in our neighborhood and walked passed an LGA families home at dusk and noticed three LGA students intensively practicing Four Square. I asked a parent to paint Four Square boards on the black top on the playground. You would have thought it was painted with gold the way the students were giddy with excitement this morning when they saw these freshly painted boards just waiting for the first game to play. What has come over us? Were we a community obsessed? Yes. Was this necessarily a bad thing? No way!

Tali, Isaac and Ezra team up to get me out.

I am walking away from this experience with two thoughts. They aren't necessarily profound, but they made me take pause for a few moments and reflect, since they speak volumes about the students at LGA and the values we promote. First, four square is a perfect game to break the ice. You don't always need to have the best coordination, be the fastest, or remember a lot of rules other than to hit the ball into another square. This game is meant to be totally inclusive. LGA students enjoy watching each other compete as much as they do playing. I marveled at how these games, while taking on a life of their own, have stayed quite dignified and remain open to all who want to play.

Secondly, it is fascinating to me that with all of the electronics and technology that come our students' way, all they need is a ball to entertain themselves. I put a lot of value on this. With four sqaure, there is a simple joy of kids being kids. It is a timeless game that will be around for generations to come. We often don't give our students enough credit. I honestly don't know how the four square obsession started at LGA, but I am sure glad that it did. It has shown me yet another unique characteristic about a school that is just that special!

I thought you said this wouldn't be hilly...

2011-10-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Some of the LGA contingent at the Ride to Provide

Last Sunday, along with over fifty other members of the LGA community, I participated in the Ride to Provide, a bike ride that helps support the very beneficial work at the Hillel of University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Why did so many of us get involved with helping Hillel when most of us don't have a direct connection to the organization? It helped that they were willing to split whatever money we raised, through entrance fees and coaxing friends and family to sponsor us. But two more reasons come to mind that I'd like to explore: 1) As members of the Jewish community, it is important that we support the organizations that make our community a vibrant and viable place to want to live; and 2) attending community events like the Ride to Provide send a strong message to our children -- namely, that being part of a school community happens for all members of the family, all during the week, not just between 8:15 and 3:15 on weekdays.

Let me focus on the second point first. The community at LGA is truly a special one, as I've mentioned many times. When prospective families come to tour our school, one of the first "concerns" centers around what type of community LGA is. Our school has done a really good job at getting families from across the Jewish spectrum to feel comfortable walking through our doors. More often than not, parents are sitting on the bench outside the main office questioning the fact that they are considering a Jewish day school for their child. As they walk around the building and peek into classrooms, their fears slowly melt, and their interest is piqued enough to want to continue in the process. But what often seals the deal is talking to other families whose children are in the school. It quickly becomes apparent that, among our many outstanding qualities, this community embraces diversity, and is a warm, loving environment for children to spend their formative years. There is no comparison.

Now, why is it so important to support other Jewish agencies? I could probably compile a list of reasons a mile long and still come up with more. I always think about one essential question, something that one of my mentors taught me to ask. It's pretty simple in theory, yet it can be answered in many ways: "What is good for the Jewish people?" When faced with a dilemma, asking this question helps crystallize my thoughts for me. When we as a community say that we support the important work of Hillel (or the Jewish Federation or the local synagogues, etc.), we are sending the message that it takes the entire community to support one another, not just those who are directly affected by the results. That's what I mean by asking "what is good for the Jewish people." When our LGA students see cool, hip college kids who are active in their community, that has a lasting effect on them. I clearly can remember when a group of teens came into my Hebrew school class to talk about youth group and all the cool things that they did. I was sold on getting involved. That was good for the Jewish people.

Last Sunday, as I was riding my bicycle with my 30-pound son in the seat behind, climbing the eighteenth "mountain"in Amherst and rueing the day that I signed up for the ride, I chuckled to myself: This is what I meant by "what is good for the Jewish people"? Stepping outside our own organizational bubbles to help other organizations strengthens all organizations.

Living under one roof...

2011-10-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

I am going to let you in on a secret: My wife, Rebecca, and I (and this is going to be hard to believe!) don't see eye-to-eye on everything. Don't get me wrong, I love Rebecca unequivocally. When it comes to parenting we wholeheartedly agree on many, many things, but there are also times that we have to compromise before we come up with a decision that feels right.

When reaching such a decision, we often weigh the pros and cons. Sometimes the conversations are more spirited and one of us has to capitulate. But in the end we form a united front, and we support each other even when the decision didn't go our way. This is what it means to live under one roof.

LGA shares a similar ethos when we approach decision-making. The difference is that there are so many voices to take into account. Multiple voices can result in a refreshingly open process at best, but at worst the results can be alienating, leaving people feeling bad or left out.

Many times it is all about compromise. This being a small Jewish community, some voices can seem like solo opinions because there aren't many others aligning with them. In these cases, the school makes decisions that will make our entire community comfortable. One area that comes to mind is not holding birthday parties on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

For an important segment of our community, there is no compromising on this issue. Shabbat is the center of the home. These families send their children to a Jewish day school in part so that they won't have to choose between Shabbat and a birthday party. Students at LGA genuinely like each other -- you will often see an entire class invited to a birthday celebration. When we decide to celebrate a birthday on Shabbat, however, we are asking some families to make concessions on their belief systems, and we are excluding students from participating in important rites of passage.

It is natural to want to hold a birthday party on a day off from school, but remember that some families in our school will be alienated. Birthday parties are important times in the lives of children. Fond memories are made of these moments. As a school community, we need to reprogram ourselves to abstain from throwing birthday parties on Shabbat or Jewish holidays where work is prohibited. I am happy to have a conversation with anyone who might have a question.

When we make this choice, we send a strong message to our children about living under one roof as a community, so to speak, and presenting a united front.

You mean you don't know who iCarly is?!?

2011-09-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, I am not blogging about this very popular Nickelodeon show. I am painfully aware that I know nothing about iCarly other than that it is a mega-hit in the tween world. But I do know that navigating the social scene in elementary school these days is quite different from when I was in school, both for better and for worse. I'll get back to iCarly in a moment. In 24 short hours, we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, a time of reflection and introspection for the Jewish community. Today at LGA, I witnessed something that spoke volumes about the moral compass that my uber-sweet school seeks to instill, in both the students and the faculty.

Parts of the story were retold to me; other parts I witnessed myself. The story involves three students at LGA, one of whom is new, and a veteran educator who holds an acute sense of the importance of the social-emotional curriculum of our school. At some point during the day, these three students got into an altercation that left everyone feeling bad. The students walked into the classroom of this teacher, who immediately sensed that something was not right. She could just feel it in the air. The students were not shy about hiding their feelings about what had just happened. This teacher told the three students to stay back while the rest of the class was dismissed for lunch.

LGA teachers have packed schedules. We expect a lot from them. In addition to teaching, every teacher at LGA is committed to serious professional development that involves multiple periods of meetings. When teachers aren't on lunch duty, they are often in a team meeting discussing students. This particular teacher had an actual lunch break today, and could have easily said, "I'll deal with this later." But she knew that the issue needed to be solved immediately. This teacher sat with the three students, asked them to talk about their feelings, and more importantly, made them each take ownership for miscommunicating and/or causing hurt feelings Some were more open to that concept than others, but all began to reflect on what could be different in their relationship. The teacher thoughtfully explored with them what it meant to be in a classroom community, and more crucially, the concept of what it means to be in a new environment.

Meanwhile, I was walking around the lunch rooms shmoozing with students when I noticed that these three students were missing. I asked another student if they knew where so-and-so was? I was told they were eating lunch in the classroom. I bumped into the above-mentioned teacher in the hallway, who told me what was going on and asked if I could follow them, as she had to get ready to teach. As the faculty member explained the story to me, suddenly we turned and looked into the classroom. The three students were dancing to a pop song they all knew. There was genuine laughter, and they looked like they were best of friends. At that point, I couldn't have been prouder of everyone involved.

In the end, was it their like (or dislike) of iCarly that brought these students together? Who knows? But what I do know is that this is what a strong social-emotional curriculum looks like at its finest moment. As an educator, I maintain that using the instances like these as teachable moments is just as important as when a student grasps a mathematical concept or learns a new Hebrew word. We are teaching our children what it means to be a mensch.

Shanah Tovah u'Metukah! May you all have a sweet new year.

The intracacies of school communication...

2011-09-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

Communicating with a school community can be like walking a tight rope. We may wobble. We may stumble. We hopefully get to the other side with the satisfaction of a job well done. The way educators approach delicate discussions is probably the single-most important facet of communication. When it is good news, corresponding with parents can be the most satisfying part of a teacher's job -- that proverbial pat on the back, so to speak, can always be a pick-me-up. Yet often parent-teacher conversations have the potential for being complicated, and fraught with emotions on all sides. Will I offend this person? What if they get upset with me? We are not always telling parents exactly what they want to hear. Teachers are sometimes confirming a suspicion that a parent hasn't quite come to terms with.

Teachers at LGA pride themselves on being receptive and open to feedback from parents. But we also hope for the same in return. The faculty does an exceptional job communicating one-on-one with parents. However, we at times have fallen short on getting the message out about what our students are doing in the classrooms on a weekly basis. Over the summer, the administration decided that this was an important topic to tackle with our faculty. During work week, faculty spent an entire session talking about and developing a plan for parent communication. Some plans are creative (e.g., a blog from the kindergarten team). Many plans are traditional by today's standards

(e.g., weekly email journals exploring topics from the week). Teams discussed how and when completed student work should go home. There were a lot of really good conversations happening during that session.

Parents at LGA have a job to do, too, and many of you already do it really well. Keep us informed when something doesn't feel right to you -- contact a teacher or an administrator. Don't let things fester. Be constructive, not just critical. Be concerned, yet optimistic. Be patient, and have realistic expectations.

Most importantly, find the right time to communicate. Arrival and dismissal are usually not the right times. While this may feel like good air time for teachers and administrators, as they aren't teaching, these times are designed for transitioning our students from one situation to the next, and our focus has to be on them. I know this can be confusing, because a faculty member may approach you during one of these times to discuss something they need to connect with you about. Please take their lead at these transition times, and understand that just because they approached you about something at that time, that may not always work.

Our faculty is always happy to meet with you at a time that makes sense. I am struck when I hear a story about a teacher who spent their free evening talking to a parent over the phone, or when I walk around the building at 5 PM and there are parent meetings going on well after teachers are contractually obligated to be here. It’s because of this dedication, on both the parents’ and teachers’ parts, that our school is the special place it is.

The night before school and all through the house...

2011-08-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again - school! Right now, all over the valley, LGA students old and many new are getting ready for a wonderful and inspirational year of learning, searching, stretching, laughing and most importantly challenging themselves to be the best they possibly can be.

So as I recommit to blogging again for the 2011-2012 school year and as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah tomorrow with Rosh Chodesh Elul, I wish all of my LGA students the following blessing for the school year:

May you (students of LGA Schechter) find the strength to have much success in the coming school year. The journey you are about to take is an exciting one filled with very special people and moments. There will be some unexpected challenges and some wonderful accomplishments that each of you are going to strive for.

Tomorrow morning as you walk in that door, take a moment to take in the pleasure of starting a new school year. Your teachers have prepared hard for your arrival and are ready to work even harder to see you succeed. You will reconnect with old friends and meet many new peers as well.

May it be your will to seek guidance when you are struggling and to find happiness from the many morsels of learning that you will do this year. Please know that in me you will find an ally that wants to ensure your success as a student.

Happy First Day of School! No matter what grade you are going into - the first day is always JUST that special. AMEN

See you in a few short hours.

Is there a leader in me?

2011-01-25T17:21:00.000-08:00

I am on an airplane flying back to the valley from South Florida. (Wifi on airplanes is a pretty cool feature.) I just spent 36 hours with two teachers from LGA and Heritage. We had the most amazing experiences at three South Florida Jewish day schools. The hospitality shown to us, the time our fellow educators took to show us what was special about their schools, and the way each school takes great pride in educating Jewish children is exhilarating. The main purpose for our trip was to visit schools that are using Stephen Covey's "The Leader in Me." Other than speed reading through the book, I didn't really know much about what it all really entailed. I knew that it involved introducing the concept of integrating "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" but couldn't really explain much past that.

Now you may be asking yourself that my blog is usually about life as a head of school at a small Jewish day school in the Pioneer Valley, why is he sharing his experience about South Florida's schools. but I feel compelled with everyone to share the experience that we witnessed at one of the Jewish day schools that we visited - Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton. I left DKJA in one word - awe.

Like LGA and Heritage, DKJA takes the job of academic excellence and a child-centered approach to learning incredibly seriously. On a daily basis, our schools take their jobs genuinely when it comes to a thoughtful social-emotional curriculum that teaches our children how to approach lifes many challenges in appropriate and respectful ways. It works! At DKJA, it is thoughtfully weaved in ways that figuratively "rocked our educational core" showing us new ways to exhibit leadership in our students. We took an extensive tour of the school. Walking into classroom after classroom, we were not casually greeted by students, but we would have students walk up to us, put out their hand and welcome us in their learning environment. Time after time, without prompting, a student would tell us what was going on. I thought to myself this has to be planned but it wasn't. It's embedded into the culture of the school.

Every morning at LGA, an administrator greets and shakes hands with every student that walked into the building. I've talked many times the importance of this norm in our school culture. Our students are taught to make eye contact and learn how to communicate with an adult that is not their parent. They begin to build self-confidence in a really unique way from a young age. That's imbedded in the school culture of LGA.

The difference between the two schools (and this is not to downplay LGA) is that Donna Klein owns it and has given it a common language that the whole school community can wrap its head around. The administration and faculty embrace this model of student leadership development and see it as a cohesive way to do what they already do best - creating menschen. The 7 Habits are all over the building in prominent places. We read a 1st grade display that took the 7 Habits and explained why George Washington was a hero. We watched two 6th graders who passionately made their case for one of the ten commandments being the most important one while integrating 7 Habits speak. It was impressive to say the least.

Now our team that went has a lot to do, think about, and propose to our community. What sets us apart from all the other choices that parents can select for their children? First and foremost, we are a Jewish day school. We are proud of that fact! It stands for a lot. And second and I would say as equally important - we are creating students who will be THE leaders in their communities. It takes leadership to create leaders. Donna Klein gets it. LGA & Heritage get it. I look forward to blogging more about this as I ponder this concept of leadership.

Debbie Friedman, MLK, Kabbalat Shabbat, so much to celebrate in a week at LGA...

2011-01-18T12:26:00.001-08:00

Today, our second snow day in a week, I have the rare opportunity to reflect on our past week at LGA. It was a really meaningful one and has given me a lot of pause as to why LGA is just one of those special schools.

Remembering Debbie Friedman

Long time ago when I was in Kitah Gimel (3rd grade), my classmates and I stood up on the bimah and belted out the alef-bet to what was back then (the 1980's) a new fangled rendition of an old classic. We all sang with glee as our Romanian-born Israeli teacher, Channah, sang out the letters to the alef-bet by a relative newcomer to the Jewish music scene, Debbie Friedman. This is just one story of many that I can recant about enjoying a Debbie Friedman tune or song. I am sure that many of you don't even realize when you are hearing some piece of Jewish text that Debbie put her great musical prowess to.

Last Monday morning, after receiving the news that she had passed away. Our LGA community gathered together for a tribute and sing-along of some of Debbie's classics. Every Monday morning, students at LGA gather for the first thirty minutes of the day just to sing. Some weeks it is just the lower school, other times it is the whole school. We sing a combination of both English and Hebrew songs. We sing lots of fun songs and we sing folk songs that you rarely hear anymore. Our students look forward to that half-hour. Sixth graders often get nostalgic at their last all-school sing session. Debbie has been a part of our sessions from the beginning. Thanks to her for everything that she did for modern music! May her memory be a blessing...

Celebrating the life and legacy of MLK

At LGA, there is an inherent attribute that infuses every aspect of our daily life. There are deliberate and thoughtful initiatives that we as a community take very seriously. This is our social curriculum. Our students at all ages are taught meaningful life lessons not only about themselves as a Jewish people but also as a member of a large global community that is diverse and cherished for its many gifts. The study of Martin Luther King is one of those times. The weeks leading up to the annual MLK assembly is my favorite time. Students return from December vacation and learn about the rich history of the African-American culture. They read poetry, listen to songs, hear speeches and monologues and dive deeply into a culture that for many (not all) is unfamiliar.

On Friday, the culmination of this time is a celebration of MLK's life and legacy. The Kindergarten started the presentation by slowly and quietly singing "We Shall Overcome," then grade after grade and the assembled adults all joined in. It was quite powerful. Our 5th graders reenacted a scene from the Little Rock 9, the 4th graders stood up on the stage and took turns reciting MLK's "I Have A Dream." Our 2nd and 3rd graders sang a medley of songs that were sung in churches, 1st graders recited a beautiful poem and together our Kindergarten and 6th graders sang "If you miss me from the back of the bus". Many walked out feeling invigorated.

Our normal Kabbalat Shabbat routine

LGA is about community. We find times to work on building community. By Friday afternoon, everyone is ready to move into Shabbat and the weekend. Every week, our school celebrates Kabbalat Shabbat at the end of the day on Friday. Some weeks we do it as a whole school, others in different grade configurations and yet others sometimes just by class. I usually bounce between all the different ones. This week, I walked into where the 2nd-4th grades were gathering and witnessed just a lovely moment. Moreh Aharon was leading the students in a rousing celebration of Shabbat. It was joyous! Kids were laughing, dancing, singing, enjoying each other's company. The 4th graders were sitting around the circle each drumming. Aharon was teaching them a new song. The feeling was electric.

That's what I love about LGA. It's electric. The teachers love this school. The students love this school. I love this school. We all love it because it is electric. After a long week of intense meetings, decisions, strategizing, and planning, this is what it all comes down. I have attached a video that one mother (Thanks, Shana!) quickly took on her iPhone. The feeling here exemplifies an LGA education. Thanks for ending my week that way!

Now I am at the end of my snow day (lots of breaks to finish this blog post) but I feel satisfied and lucky for what I have.

A thoughtful approach to student behavior...Part 1

2010-12-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

As a community school, we take many important steps to make every student at our school feel valued and cherished. One such step is creating a detailed policy to serve as a guideline for student behavior.

A small three-person committee, made up of an administrator, faculty member, and lay leader, have been hard at work at creating this detailed, intricate, and thorough behavioral statement. There are many directions this policy can take, and when I talk to the committee members who are working on it, I am reassured that we will have a course of action that will embody the LGA mantra of “learning while learning to care.” I want to share with you the first four guiding principles on which this policy is based.

melyShalom (Peace) Students behave in a manner that maintains harmony and harmonious relations throughout the school. We all strive for this basic principle. At LGA, we show our students on a daily basis, in a myriad of places and events, what this means -- whether it is on the playground, when students negotiate play, or in the classroom, when classmates have differing opinions. We teach our students the concept of living, studying, and playing peacefully every day. Students start their day by greeting an administrator, working on the ability to interact in the adult social realm.

cqg Hesed (Kindness) Students are friendly, generous, and considerate of others. Often when prospective families tour our school, they tell us how friendly and warm our students are. This is something our faculty take many planned steps to embody. Our students are taught starting in the Gan the importance of others –- be it through community service, our buddies program, or baking challot on Fridays. They carry the concept of Hesed throughout their career at LGA when they see our community take social action, both locally and globally.

ceak Kavod (Respect) Students show regard for others and for the physical environment of the school. Earlier this year, the entire student body worked with Jonathan Kohrman on a mural that now adorns the side of our building facing the yard. It is beautiful! Students took pride in their work. When our current fourth- and fifth-graders helped come up with the concepts that Jonathan integrated into the design, they wanted to emulate the “learning while learning to care” slogan of LGA. They get what LGA is all about! In first grade, Morah Rana teaches explicitly to her students that everybody has something that they can work on about themselves, and that we must work together as a team. Our first-graders understand what respect means, and you can even sometimes hear students remind one another to be respectful. This policy focuses on this important concept.

zegiha B’tichut (Safety) Students behave to keep everyone in the school free from harm, danger, risk, or injury. This is an important one! If a student doesn’t feel safe in school, then we aren’t doing our job well. The committee will probably spend the most time on this concept. Children are impulsive. While I can appreciate that impulsiveness in many ways, it is also something that I struggle with when working with kids of all ages. We embrace it when children use their energy to think analytically and creatively, and sometimes an impulsive feeling creates really good work. We can all think of times in our own lives when we may have made an impulsive decision that turned out for the best. But impulsive behavior can become problematic when children are playing together, negotiating with one another, or when they aren’t getting what they want at that moment. It is the school’s job to teach children how to handle difficult or tense peer situations effectively. We have great (I daresay amazing) kids at our school who still need to be taught the many ways to interact with one another civilly.

I look forward to sharing with you the last four concepts in my next posting. Have a wonderful vacation.

You've got a friend...

2010-11-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

There are many wonderful parts to an LGA education - the high standard of academics in both general and Judaic studies, the powerful ethics-based education and the strong sense of community that a student walks away with. One of the most powerful and meaningful parts of the LGA experience is our BUDDIES PROGRAM. Our youngest students in Kitot Gan and Alef (Kindergarten & Grade 1) are matched up with our oldest students in Kitot Hey and Vav (Grades 5 & 6).

The value of the BUDDIES program can not be underestimated. There are teachable moments at all levels. The faculty create purposeful moments for our students to participate in. Students in 6th grade take their leadership roles incredibly seriously. On Wednesday afternoons, students gather together for an hour to not only get to know each other but to learn together. There is always an aspect of learning that takes place. One afternoon, I witnessed pairs of students spread out all over the classroom and hallway working on creating a giant Noah's Ark. The Gan students were completely engrossed with their older buddy. More than just doing an art activity the students are studying together the story of Noah. They grapple with different concepts and have conversations that are quite inspiring. You wouldn't think that a 5 year old boy and a pre-teen young woman would have a lot to share with one another but they do.

These students eat together multiple times a week. They sit with each other at Kabbalat Shabbat. They read and learn together. They genuinely care about each other. In the morning, as I greet students, our Kindergartners and 1st graders will often be so excited to see their buddies. They are jumping out of their skin. They recant some episode with a lot of pride about how special their relationship is with this older student.

This is another aspect of making a small school seem just a bit bigger. The multi-age aspect of the curriculum really takes that "Learning while learning to care" and makes it real for all involved. Kol Hakavod to all of our students who take their jobs so seriously.

If the walls could talk, they would say...

2010-10-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

If you are so lucky to be able to visit LGA, park your car and walk around the side of the building by the playground. You will be pleasantly surprised to notice the beginning of the most beautiful mural our fair city of Northampton has seen in a long time. Thank you to LGA parent and professional muralist Jonathan Kohrman, for our school is soon to be the site of a magnificent piece of giant, colorful art. The most impressive part of the project is that it’s been completely collaborative, involving just about every member of our school -- students and faculty.

This past spring, Jonathan met with members of our admin team and our arts educator, Morah Kitty Marshall to discuss the mural. He envisioned a piece of art that would be not only eye-pleasing but also meaningful, conveying who LGA is and what we stand for. We all agreed that student participation would be a central focus. Moreh Aharon’s third- and fourth-grade (‘09-10) Judaics classes met with Jonathan to discuss which themes to include in the mural. Even after Jonathan’s initial conversation with the classes, the students were still highly engaged, thinking about what would make sense.

Jonathan took the students’ ideas and ran with them. I want to walk through just a few of the highlights of the mural. If you have a moment to check it out, I am sure that you will find other features that spark something within you.

First, a prominent feature is all the Hebrew letters scattered throughout the mural. A sofer (scribe) in the bottom right is creating letters that float in midair, symbolizing that Hebrew is a central part of our school and permeates much of what we do.

Also, notice the sailboat carrying children. Strikingly, one child is lifting another up into the boat, emulating the school’s mantra, “Learning While Learning to Care.” He is giving a helping hand to a friend in need.

And throughout, you’ll see that Jonathan and the students weaved a nature theme into the mural, paying homage to how fortunate we are to live in the beautiful Pioneer Valley.

Does something different stand out to you? I have attached a partial picture for you to take a look at. What stands out to you? I am sure it will spark great conversations.

Every student in the school has been involved in creating the mural; Morah Kitty has dedicated some of her art class time to work with Jonathan. As you walk into the LGA Oolam (Multi-Purpose Room), you’ll see a bulletin board detailing the many steps in the process: First, Jonathan and Kitty divided the entire mural into tiny boxes called a grid system. Students then learned how to trace a specific part of the mural as practice. From there they took it to the mural and finally painted their portion. It is our hope to complete the mural before our long winter sets in.

Thank you to Jonathan and Kitty for all your hard work on this project, and thanks to our students for taking it so seriously. The process that happened here emulates what makes LGA such a special learning environment.

Whispers with chickens...

2010-09-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, I received the most unbelievable joy in accompanying the LGA Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) over to one of the student's houses to witness a young person's version of kapporot. For those of you who don't know what kapporot is. It is the ancient tradition at Yom Kippur where a person seeks atonement for their sins via a chicken. The chicken from what I understand is waved above a person's head and the following blessing is recited: "This is in exchange for me, this is instead of me, this is my atonement. This Rooster (or Hen) shall go to its death, and I shall enter in and go to a good, long life and to peace."

Now, I am sure some people are thinking how could we teach a class of 5 and 6 year olds about killing another living thing and rest assured nothing was killed last Wednesday. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite happened. We spent the afternoon really respecting animal life!

The Gan faculty taught the kids an age-appropriate version of kapporot. Their lead teacher, Amy approached me about doing this and explained that Rabbi Susan Schnur explained to her a modern-day approach to kapporot which involves whispering things you want to atone for from the past year into a chicken's ear therefore confiding all of your "sins" in a chicken, who the last time I knew would keep your secrets quite safe.

On a beautiful and cloudless day, the entire class caravanned over to their classmate's house in the center of Northampton. Now while I have explained that the valley is more or less a rural place, there are many parts that are quite built up especially nearer to the town center. Houses are close together and you are in the middle of a densely populated neighborhood (for where we live). So there we were traipsing through the back yard to a chicken coop where our confidantes lived.

Mr. W explained to the class about the chickens and allowed the class to pet them. Rabbi Riqi came and helped the kids contextualize what they were about to do. And then one by one, each student (and the adults!) whispered in the chicken's ears. After the confessional was complete, there was a tzedekah box for us to put a few pennies in the pushke. Our youngest students most definitely had an experience they won't forget any time soon. For them, Judaism was brought alive in a completely different way. They interacted with an ancient ritual in a completely age-appropriate yet significant and creative way. Thank you Rabbi Schnur for sharing your ritual with our LGA kindergartners!

I can only imagine the stories those three chickens told each other later that day. I sure hope my secret is safe with them!

The great pumpkin!

2010-09-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

When I first moved to the Pioneer Valley, I was living in Amherst which is across the Connecticut River from Northampton. I had a commute of about twenty minutes and would take back roads to avoid the traffic on the main through fare connecting Amherst to Northampton. One late summer morning, I was looking out over the Holyoke Range to one side of me and driving through an arch of corn fields and thought to myself it is awesome to see, smell, and feel the nature surroundings all around me and that we were quite fortunate to have this beauty so close at our finger tips.

Students at LGA interact with nature all during the year. It is just a part of the milieu of what makes this Jewish day school so unique. Two summers ago, a master gardener approached me about having a small garden in the back yard of the school. I jumped on the idea and imagined Kindergarten students frolicking in the garden as they learned about all the different vegetables, fruits and flowers that were planted. I envisioned 5th and 6th graders studying about plant life and having the garden as a real-time laboratory where they would experiment in different ways. I dreamt of art classes designing placards for the garden and spending time just thinking about art amongst the flowers. I imagined 2nd and 3rd graders classifying species of insects and bugs that they witnessed in the garden and finally I could see a 4th grade Judaics class harvesting and picking all the vegetables and making a big pot of soup to walk over to our next door neighbors at the Northampton Survival Center. Well much to my joy and chagrin, some of this happened and some just became a dream!

This year, Amy, our new Kindergarten teacher, approached me about having Margaret, the master gardener come back and help her create a pumpkin patch for her students. This spring, Amy put a call out to our community to help get the garden done. On a beautiful Sunday morning, a whole lot of families arrived ready to dig, till, plow, and plant all with the goal of having a beautiful pumpkin patch for our students. Over the summer, I would walk into school and have the privilege of watching the pumpkins grow and grow.

Last week, right before Rosh Hashanah, our Gan students got the lucky privilege of picking the pumpkins. Pumpkins and gourds of all different shapes and sizes are now sitting in the classroom. Science lessons abound and the eventual cooking and eating the seeds is holding everyones excitement.

Less you think the garden will lay dormant, Morah Caitlin, our Kindergarten teaching fellow and an avid farmer, took our students out and planted a whole bunch of veggies that can grow in the autumn. Who knows we could have quite a nice bounty for Thanksgiving!

Gmar Chatima Tovah! May you be inscribed for a good year!

Nothing like the first day of school...

2010-09-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

I start the school year with a renewed interest in blogging. I will attempt to post something once a week.

As a child I remember very clearly the night before the first day of school. There wasn't a lot of sleep happening those evenings. Thoughts would run through my head about all of the exciting things I was going to be doing over the next year. Having a vivid imagination, I would concoct elaborate scenarios about my new teachers, new and old classmates, and the overall blast I was going to have with the routine of being a student again.

Now as the person who leads the charge, I still get that incredible jolt on the first of August when I think about our students coming back to fill the classrooms in not such a long time. The first day of school brings fresh new clothes and supplies, a twinkle in many a students eye, and refreshed and rejuvenated educators ready for another fantastic year of learning.

Most mornings at LGA, I get the opportunity to greet students with a handshake and a Boker Tov (good morning). We look at each other in the eye and get to acknowledge each other in a real way. This past Wednesday morning, our first day of school at LGA, I again walked out and greeted every student. But on that day, I took my time with each student finishing up my duty well beyond the 8:15 start of school, because I wanted to hear every single story that our students had to share with me.

Returning students to LGA are comfortable sharing a quick line and know that it is a unique trait of LGA that I (or another administrator) stand out there no matter what the weather is and focus on them even if just for thirty seconds. New students quickly get into the habit and often by week two no longer need to be cajoled to shake my hand. These kind of one-on-one moments is what make Jewish day schools so special. This personal interaction carries throughout the day for students at LGA because they know that every adult working in the building cares about them on all levels from the top down.

The first days of school signify change in routine. We go from the lazy days of summer back to many planned and plan-full moments. This transition can be hard for everyone. There are new expectations put on us that weren't there when we ended school last year and there are some different routines that we have to get used to. Keeping those thoughts in our mind should help us navigate transitions back to a new school year.

Shanah Tovah u'Metukah. Here's to a sweet and good new year!

The hardest thing about riding is the ground...

2010-06-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago, LGA held its graduation. It was a magical evening and one that none of the 6th graders will forget any time soon. I was moved by all of the speeches but one of them by one of the girls, Dvora P., really stood out. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did listening to it. Made all the hard work feel really good!

The hardest thing about riding is the ground

Anonymous

This quote means you can’t give up when times get hard. Bumps in the road are like falls from a horse. No matter how much it hurts, you have to pick yourself up, make yourself get going and trek on. Sometimes I have trouble getting back up, but somehow I always manage to do it.

The beginning of my first year at LGA was not my favorite. I was the new kid in 5^th grade. I had never been in that situation before and nobody seemed to like me. I didn’t know many people and the people I did know didn’t seem too excited to be my friend. I was alone at recess and people gossiped about me. Then one day I accepted the fact I was going to school here and if no one was going to reach out to me, I was going to reach out to them. I started hanging out with the two other girls in my class, Becca and Abby, outside of school, and from that point on things got better, a lot better.

And now I have a confession to make. I don’t want to leave. I love the way our class has bonded to each other. We may not always get along, but in the end it’s like we’re one big family. In fact that’s how the whole school is.

I feel like LGA has given me a place to really discover who I am and to grow as a person. A lot of people have told me the school’s not the same when I’m not here. Every time I hear this it makes me feel really good. Many people have also told me they’re gonna miss me; I am going to miss everybody here too.

I am going to JFK next year. I will be going from a school with less than 100 students to one with over 400. I feel ready because of all the social and study skills I have learned here at LGA.

They say you’re not a real cowgirl until you’ve fallen off your horse three times. Believe me, I’m a real cowgirl! Falling lets you know you’ve taken on harder and harder challenges with your horse. It teaches you to roll so you don’t get hurt and trust your horse to protect you. In my two years at LGA I’ve done a lot of rolling and learning to trust the people here to protect me and help me get ready to take on bigger challenges.

Fizz, Slime, Goo, and a hypothesis...

2010-05-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

A week ago I had the pleasure of taking part in LGA's first ever science fair. It was enriching on so many levels! Every student in grades 3-6 was required to participate and students in k-2 were given the option and many of them took us up on the offer to show off their scientific prowess.

For the most part this was a home-based science fair but many of our general studies teachers put in hours of time to make sure that their students were ready for scientific success. Earlier in the spring when we introduced the science fair to the students, I didn't know what their response was going to be. Would it be met with disdain? Would teachers get a lot of eye rolling from their students because there was an expectation of outside work over and beyond homework? Would parents buy into this home based project learning? I am glad to say the answers were no, no, and YES!

Science is an important part of the week at LGA and many other Jewish day schools throughout the country. Cramming many subjects into a seven hour school day can often lead to making tough curricular choices and too often science loses out. As head of this school, I want to see all of our subject areas get equal billing but realize that sometimes that just isn't possible.

This is where supplementing the curriculum with home based learning can be key. Parent after parent came up to me and told me that they appreciated the chance and opportunity to work with their child for the science fair. And what work it was!

Students charted, they graphed progress, they hypothesized about potential outcomes, they exprimented with new products and tested their scientific selves to create a fair that was both enlightening for all that attended and a lot of FUN for kids and adults.

Some of the creative science projects included (but definitely not limited to.):

Can people read mixed up words?
Magnetic soccer
How different flowers are related?
Endothermic reaction
A dutch rabbi experiment
The chemistry of slime
Color changing carnations

We really gave our students an opportunity to explore their passion! Yasher Koach to all of our LGA students. The pictures above are from the science fair. One of the most creative projects came from a 6th grade student who created a hovercraft. It really worked as he lifted his sister up off the ground. The crowd cheered...

We are so GLEEful...

2010-05-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

They call Northampton, "Paradise City" for many different reasons. It is quite a unique place to live. The richness of living in an area where there is a plethora of academia has its' privileges. The arts and culture that pervades many different parts of this valley is prevalent everywhere. We get many performers that much larger metropolitan areas don't because of the intimacy of our space.

LGA has taken advantage of this by hosting an evening called A Night Around the Table: Dinners and conversations with local luminaries. It is modeled after Boston's Jewish Community Day School's Matters of Taste. For this annual fundraiser, members and friends of the LGA community open their homes for an evening of delicious food and enlightening conversation in a more intimate gathering of usually 10-20 people depending on the size of the space. The hosts of the events went all out for their guests and provided unique menus.

Last Sunday, LGA hosted nine dinners. This list of acclaimed speakers captured guests minds and hearts in what can be classified as just a "great night out on behalf of LGA" was so impressive:

Lou Cove, executive director of Reboot

John Darnton, Pulitzer prize winning reporter for The New York Times

Rabbi Art Green, a preeminent scholar of Jewish spirituality and mysticism

Fraidy Katz, Performer of classic Yiddish songs

Patricia MacLachlan, award-winning author of picture books and novels for children (including Sarah, Plain and Tall)

Richard Michelson, Prizewinning poet and children's book author, and art gallery owner

Estela Olevsky, Internationally acclaimed pianist

Eugene Pogany, author of In My Brother's Image

Ilan Stavans, cultural critic, who has been dubbed "the czar of Latino culture in the U.S."

The highlight of the evening for me was the premiere of a new LGA pictorial that LGA board member and executive director of Avoda Arts (a national Jewish arts and culture educational organization), Debbie Krivoy and her partner, Jen Einhorn, who is director of marketing at the Clarke School for the Deaf. Shana Sureck who is a new parent in the school and a professional photographer really got the right shots to make this presentation pop! Marla Shelasky, who is LGA's admissions and marketing professional also got a lot of great shots and lent her advise and eye to the final production. It was a collaborative effort. This short 3 minute presentation captures the school so unbelievably well!

It captures the essence of what I am trying to do...build a community school that highlights educational excellence in a Jewish atmosphere.

Thank you Debbie, Jen, Shana and Marla for helping me memorialize the vision. I hope you enjoy the presentation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTtQzpQL-bE

Tree, tree, beautiful tree...

2010-04-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

This past Friday at our Mi dor la dor (Grandparents/special visitors day), I had the privilege of watching for a second year the 1st grade marionette show focusing on fables. Like last year, to say it was outstanding would be an understatement. The amount of effort and time that went into this grand production was clearly apparent. It is so much more than just your typical 1st grade play. Let's just say the kvell factor was high! The marionette show has become a tradition at LGA that is quite unique to our school. There has become a cult following (ok maybe I am exaggerating a bit and I am the only one obsessed with it...) amongst the students and faculty waiting to see what the show will be like.

Starting months ago, Rana, the 1st grade teacher sits down with her students and introduces the class to fables. They read different fables. They learn about what makes a good fable. And finally with much anticipation they hear which fables they will be reenacting for the LGA community.

It would be enough if that was the only part of the show but what happens next is even more special. Each student carefully and meticulously designs their own marionette character. Rana sits down with each child and helps them design and think through what their puppet should look like. It is quite fascinating to watch as each child comes to it with a bit of a different spin. The students discuss costume design. Many of the fable characters are animals and students study about that animal to make sure they depict it correctly.

Rana works with each individual student on their lines. She carefully helps each student analyze and really "get into character." Students learn about what it means to be articulate and to annunciate every line. She coaches each student on specific words to give them the right dramatic flair they need for that just perfect stage presence. One parent of a child with stage freight remarked to me that her daughter who wouldn't take part in last year's Kindergarten group performance easily and with grace was EXCITED to be performing. Her mom credits Rana for giving her child the confidence to succeed.

Kitty, our art teacher works with Rana to design a marionette curtain that is easy for the kids to use and that captures the essence of all of the fables.

On the day of the show, students line up in all black and assemble back stage after many a run through and a dress rehearsal just for preschool students (they are an easy crowd to perform for!) our students excitingly start the show for the large assembled crowd. We are not a school with a fancy sound system and we don't have enough microphones to go around so students need to really project. And project they do...one visitor remarks how impressed he was with the fact that every student spoke clearly and loudly. No small fete for 6 and 7 year olds.

A big factor in the success of this type of production is no doubt our teachers at LGA. Rana and all of the other teachers who create these type of shows with our students give so much effort and time outside of the classroom to make these events memorable for our students. This commitment to our students is another factor that makes our school so different and special. I thank all of them for sharing a vision of educational excellence and creating powerful learning moments.

So why is this posting named, "Tree, tree, beautiful tree...?" you'll have to wait until the end of the production to find out. It's about 20 minutes long but well worth it. You can skip over my introduction. I hope you enjoy the show as much as I do...

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/e41daee166f23efeb2df76583ed6c498/video/13144432

I met Gandhi and Cleopatra (and 17 other famous people yesterday)...

2010-03-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

That's right, yesterday I not only met them but I learned about the bravery of Ruby Bridges, I mingled with Eleanor Roosevelt. I heard about the daring life of Amelia Earhart. Met sports greats like Derek Jeter and Jackie Robinson. Learned what made John Lennon and Paul McCartney's music so good. Listened with much intent as Anne Frank, Helen Keller and Florence Nightingale told me their stories of bravery and wisdom. I asked Walt Disney how he became so famous and questioned Alexander Graham Bell about his inventions. I listened to Suzuki. Did some art with Georgia O'Keefe. And finally, King Tut and Homer dropped by to tell us about their famous lives.

Yesterday at LGA, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the 2nd annual 3rd grade Biography Fair. Words can't describe the excitement that was in the building yesterday morning for these 19 students. Our 3rd grade students led by their amazing teacher, Julie, prepared a world-class learning experience for our students integrating almost many different core curriculum areas for our students.

The most gratifying part for me as head of school was that it was so much more than this one brief morning for the students. This was truly a culmination of months of work for our students. Students each started by selecting a person that they wanted to learn about or admired, they then with the help of their teacher found an age-appropriate biography, wrote and rewrote their own biography, thought about how they wanted to present their "characters", researched and planned out their own costumes, rehearsed public speaking and reading out loud to one another, finally the big day came and they each transformed into their new persona.

Wow! That is all I have to say. Our students were lively, fun, engaging, engaged, and overall impressive with their knowledge. The fact that each student could research someone that meant something to them and piqued their interest somehow just shows the high level of engagement that our teachers have with our students. The creativity that our school shows with this type of project-based learning is what makes LGA such a special place.

Who knows who I'll meet next year?!?

Jews really do live there AKA what's this blog all about?

2010-03-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

So here goes...this is my first official blog entry. Don't know how often I am going to do this or how brilliant I will be but I thought that I would give it a shot.

What am I going to be blogging about you may ask? Who is this person?

The short answer to the first question is I am going to be blogging about what Jewish life is like in a relatively small yet growing and vibrant Jewish community and the second answer is a much more complicated one.

Yes, they really do exist. Jewish people live outside of urban centers and create vibrant Jewish life.

I hope that people will forward my entries around to others and see that living in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts can be a really great place to be Jewishly. Northampton and Amherst and the surrounding communities are like no place in the states. Really, really unique!

There are many aspects of Judaism that shape my being. I love being Jewish and part of this very dynamic global community. My wife, Rebecca and I moved to Northampton (aka Noho) a year and a half ago because I received the wonderful opportunity to become the head of school at Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley.

I have a hard job! But it is the most rewarding job in the Jewish world (in my opinion). Down to my core, I believe that Jewish day school education is one of the most important paths to Jewish continuity that we as a community have. Jewish day school graduates are articulate communicators of Jewish life and history. I am not saying that every single graduate has a positive attitude about the experience they had but they have a knowledge base that their Jewish peers who didn't go to day school don't have.

Before I came to LGA, I worked for many years as director of the high school of Prozdor Hebrew High School at Hebrew College in Newton, Mass. It was AMAZING for many reasons. I loved every minute of that school and experience. I helped shape a new generation of Jewish leaders and do believe that when supplementary education is done well, it can be unbelievably life-changing.

So, my blog is going to be about my experience of working in a small Jewish community, life in a small Jewish day school, and the charismatic and endearing characters and experiences that I come into contact with on a daily basis. I hope that I will inspire someone else to want to move to the Pioneer Valley and join our community.

Enjoy! Comment! Forward!