With Rabbi Shmuel Schwarzmer May 20, 2009

1. “How Do They Do That?!” Exploring Learning in the Jewish Studies Curriculum -Part 2- With Rabbi Shmuel Schwarzmer May 20, 2009

2. Welcome & Conference Etiquette Below are some tips that will help make this conference call successful.  • Use the right phone. - Cell phones can be included in conference calls, but some can also cause static on the lines. Try to use a landline phone if possible. Speakerphones pick up a lot of background noise. If you use one, mute it whenever possible. • Participate in a quiet, undisturbed room.  – Background noise can be heard through the phone and will disturb others in the conference. If you can’t find a quiet room, use your phone’s mute button until you want to speak – and avoid distracting noises such as humming, scraping chairs, tapping a pencil, etc. • Never Put a Conference Call on Hold! - Participants will be forced to listen to your on-hold music or they will not know that you have stepped away and may continue to address you while you're gone. • Call Waiting - The sound of your call-waiting beep can be disruptive and confusing to conference call participants. Quite often the Call Waiting function can be temporarily suspended by touching *70 prior to the call. • Identify Yourself - When you first enter the call and when you ask a question please identify yourself by name and school or state on-line. • Chat Room & Question/Answer Box – Those participating on line may use the chat room and question/answer box on the lower right of their screen to enter questions and comments at any time.  We will offer regular opportunities for those joining by phone only to participate as well.

3. Our Guest: Rabbi Shmuel Schwarzmer Rabbi Shmuel Schwarzmer, MEd, has worked as a school psychologist in the Los Angeles Unified School District for the past 20 years. He currently provides consultative services to teachers, parents and administrators of the Yeshivas and Day Schools in the Los Angeles area, focusing on improving the performance of struggling students. Prior to that he was a Rebbe in Yeshiva of Los Angeles for six years, and has been a facilitator for the Schools Attuned program of the All Kinds of Minds Institute for the past ten years. Currently, Rabbi Schwarzmer is also working with the faculty of California State University - Northridge to adapt the work of other education innovators to meet the needs of Yeshiva and Day School Faculty.

4. In Our Last Episode… We introduced a method of analyzing how students learn and work, in a way that leads to uncovering and developing practical interventions for helping students who struggle in their Limudei Kodesh subjects. After demonstrating this method by analyzing the underlying skills involved in “Following Along as Someone Reads”, we applied this method to exploring how children learn to read Hebrew Each skill uncovered led to a specific strategy that could be applied more accurately, to improve a struggling student’s success

5. Goals of This Session • To review the main points of last week’s session and share this week’s successes • To apply the NeuroDevelopmental analysis process to the learning of Chumash • Focus on the impact of underlying Memory and Language skills to Chumash success • To use this analysis to develop targeted accommodations for struggling students

6. Sharing Success Please indicate in the Chat section of your screen, or by speaking up, if you would like to share your experience applying what we learned last week in your classroom. You may want to tell us about: • A student with reading difficulties that you were able to observe and what you noticed • A change you may have made in how you were remediating a known reading challenge • A new approach to Kriah that you tried to implement in your classroom • An “Ah – Ha” you may have experienced, either during last week’s session or later on as you processed what you heard

7. The Neurodevelopmental Analysis Process Last week, we described a 4 step process to look at what is going on through a Neurodevelopmental Lens See: What am I Noticing? • Be honest / Be objective / Be descriptive Think: What Might be the Reason? • Theoretical framework / hypothesis, not diagnosis Do: What Can I Do to Help? • target specific behavior / interventions and accommodations Reflect: How Well Did it Work? • be honest / if not successful, revisit previous steps We can use the same process to examine how we teach • This allows us to be proactive, not just reactive • Discussed previously in sessions by Karen Kruger

8. Goals of Learning Chumash Grades 1 – 3 • Familiarity with “Geography” of page • Reading Decoding Fluency • Development of basic Chumash translation skills • Basic vocabulary • “Teitch” recitation skills • Prefixes and Suffixes • Roots • Content Knowledge • Rashi • Reading Rashi script • Understanding Rashi’s comment

9. Goals of Learning Chumash Grades 4 – 6 • Continuation of all goals described above, but with an increase in volume and rate of Chumash acquisition • Use of primary sources (Rashi, Onkelos) to better understand text • Understanding textual basis for Rashi’s question • Greater independence of Chumash learning What other goals do you focus on in developing your Chumash lessons?

10. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 1 Teacher first recites Passuk several times, accompanied by sheets with translations written out. Class recites together, then individual students called on to recite. Time allotted to answer student questions about P’sukkim, review root words and affixes and to discuss underlying lessons of the Chumash. Students are tested on recall of translations and content. What Learning Systems are in highest demand, and in what proportion?

11. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 1 Teacher first recites Passuk several times, accompanied by sheets with translations written out. Class recites together, then individual students called on to recite. Time allotted to answer student questions about P’sukkim, review root words and affixes and to discuss underlying lessons of the Chumash. Students are tested on recall of translations and content.

12. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 1 Teacher first recites Passuk several times, accompanied by sheets with translations written out. Class recites together, then individual students called on to recite. Time allotted to answer student questions about P’sukkim, review root words and affixes and to discuss underlying lessons of the Chumash. Students are tested on recall of translations and content.

13. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 2 Using prepared translation sheets, students learn the p’sukkim on their own, either by themselves or with a Chavrusa (learning partner). Teacher comes around monitoring student progress, occasionally stopping to instruct class in new vocabulary, to highlight grammar structures, roots and affixes, and to emphasize lessons of the Chumash or questions from the commentaries. Students assessed for knowledge of content and increased vocabulary What Learning Systems are in highest demand, and in what proportion?

14. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 2 Using prepared translation sheets, students learn the p’sukkim on their own, either by themselves or with a Chavrusa (learning partner). Teacher comes around monitoring student progress, occasionally stopping to instruct class in new vocabulary, to highlight grammar structures, roots and affixes, and to emphasize lessons of the Chumash or questions from the commentaries. Students assessed for knowledge of content and increased vocabulary

15. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 3 Teachers writes out P’sukkim on the board vertically, (chunk size dependent on grade level). Class works together to figure out translation, based on context and prior exposure to roots and affixes; brand new words are introduced by the teacher. Students assessed for knowledge of vocabulary and content, and ability to understand unseen text. What Learning Systems are in highest demand, and in what proportion?

16. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 3 Teachers writes out P’sukkim on the board vertically, (chunk size dependent on grade level). Class works together to figure out translation, based on context and prior exposure to roots and affixes; brand new words are introduced by the teacher. Students assessed for knowledge of vocabulary and content, and ability to understand unseen text.

17. Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans Plan 4 Teacher tells the story of the Chumash, says the P’sukkim with their translation 2 or 3 times. Students are asked to work together to write a skit that depicts what is happening in the p’sukkim, or draw a picture that illustrates what was learned. Students are assessed for knowledge of content and quality of the project What Learning Systems are in highest demand, and in what proportion?

18. Plan 4 Teacher tells the story of the Chumash, says the P’sukkim with their translation 2 or 3 times. Students are asked to work together to write a skit that depicts what is happening in the p’sukkim, or draw a picture that illustrates what was learned. Students are assessed for knowledge of content and quality of the project Comparing Neurodevelopmental Demands of Chumash Lesson Plans

20. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

21. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

22. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

23. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

24. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

25. Accommodations Last week we discussed two ways that we can manage our students’ learning:  Interventions  Accommodations Interventions are aimed at strengthening a weakness Accommodations function to bypass a weakness • Often temporary, but not always • Can be implemented while skills are being worked on • Can themselves become interventions when scaffold as needed • Where appropriate, use accommodations with payback

26. Accommodations

27. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

28. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

29. The Active Working Memory Assistance Card Based on a concept by Ms. Esti Cohen, Emek Hebrew Academy, Sherman Oaks, CA

30. Additional Memory Accommodations Reducing the number of words or P’sukkim that the student is responsible to translate on a test, while still having him responsible for the content Pre-planning which p’sukkim the student will recite in class the next day, to enable him to prepare for classroom recitation

31. Additional Memory Accommodations Allowing the student to use a word bank at his desk, which can contain the key Chumash vocabulary for a given Perek If the class has small group work, assigning the student to test other students while he looks in a translation sheet NOTE: All these temporary accommodations should accompany additional interventions, which would focus on increasing recall of high-frequency words and affixes

32. Neurodevelopmental Analysis of Chumash Learning Which learning systems are involved in the task of Learning Chumash?

33. Language Skill–based Chumash Worksheet Created by Suri Nowosiolski, Yavneh Hebrew Academy, Los Angeles, CA

34. Additional Language Accommodations • Allow student to have charts on their desk with cues, • to help them understand key words and affixes, such as: • Provide opportunities for the student to draw their understanding of the Passuk or Perek. • When teaching a Rashi that illustrates a language-based concept, give MANY examples in English first • (e.g., Bereishis 37:4 – “would not” vs. “could not”). • Allow student only to be responsible for one type of grammatical structure at a time (e.g., 3rd person past, Vav HaHipuch) until it is mastered.

36. What We have Done So Far • We reviewed the process of thinking deeply about what learning skills students use when they do what we ask them to do • We explored the Neurodevelopmental demands of Chumash, by examining different kinds of Chumash lessons and by looking at how the different learning systems impact Chumash Learning • We considered different ways to accommodate the needs of students who struggle in their learning • We introduced some tools that can help targeted students or whole classes

37. For Next Week Apply what we have learned tonight in your classroom and report back to the group. For example: • Look at your Chumash lesson and determine what the highest Neurodevelopmental demands you are asking from your students • Consider a struggling student in your Chumash class and what accommodations you might make to help them.

38. Please contact me with questions, and I will try to answer as best as time will allow. My e-mail is: torahpsych@sbcglobal.net I look forward to your comments and questions

39. Upcoming Hidden Sparks Without Walls Sessions For more details visit www.HiddenSparks.org

40. Contacting Hidden Sparks www.hiddensparks.org Paula@hiddensparks.org (212) 767-7707/ (646) 688-5252