Frisch LEADs Continues to Inspire

The student-designed learning taking place for the Frisch LEADs project this year continues to inspire me. To become familiar with what Mrs. Ruth Wang-Birnbaum, Rabbi Dan Rosen and I are asking our AP English Literature seniors at The Frisch School to do, click on the following links:

Welcome to Frisch LEADs

Introduction to Format of Frisch LEADs

A Set of Blog Prompts and Blog Requirements

I've blogged before about stellar examples of the student projects, and I continue to be impressed with the students' work. Here are some highlights from Frisch LEADs:

1) Of Fathers and the Godfathers
R. Freilich is writing about mafia families, combining her and her family's, particularly her and her father's, love of watching mafia movies. It's so appropriate that R. Freilich has chosen to do a project on the mafia because of a bond she shares with her father. All irony aside, I love the fact that R. Freilich's project is based on good times she has shared with her own family, so that school can be a place not only to deepen learning about a topic the family has introduced into a student's life, but also a space to validate and grow an emotional bond a student feels with her parents and siblings.

R. Freilich's Blog

For the latest blog post assignments, I had students use their new knowledge of poetic techniques, learned while we studied Hamlet, to write a poem on their Frisch LEADs topic. R. Freilich distinguished herself as a poet by using imagery and allusion to great effect in her poem, Creation. Check out her blog post, Mafia Poetry, a genre I don't think is explored enough in the canon. All that may soon change; check this out:

Mafia Poetry

2) Interdisciplinary Project on Charity
E. Levine is another student doing a great job on her Frisch LEADs assignment, particularly because of her interdisciplinary analysis of charity. I especially liked how E. Levine was able to use a work she had read in her sophomore year, The Canterbury Tales, in order to create a literary tie to charity. I didn't suggest the connection to Chaucer; all I asked the student to do was include a work of literature in the project. It was E. Levine who drew on her own knowledge, came up with The Canterbury Tales, and then applied it in a sophisticated way to her project. Check out E. Levine's layered look at doing good:

A Multi-Disciplinary Look at Charity

3) From Beauty to Anti-Bullying

Reading about how A. Rubin's project evolved from the beginning of the year until now is fascinating, as you can find out how her idea develops from being about myth in different cultures to perspectives on beauty. A. Rubin's project is also notable for the way she wants to make what she has learned relevant and meaningful for The Frisch School community by planning an event for the freshmen that the seniors run. Creating purpose to deepen the learning experience is one of the goals of Frisch LEADs. Check out A. Rubin's thoughtful blog here:

A. Rubin's Blog on Beauty

4) Jaws Year

I wanted to share C. Zucker's blog in order to show you the range of the Frisch LEADs' projects. So far, you've seen projects on mafia families, charity and differing ideals of beauty. Let's now add sharks to that list, and let me share C. Zucker's engaging and visually exciting blog, which makes great use of the medium and its ability to hold text, images and film easily. What I love about this blog is that this topic is so obviously an interest of the student's, and I don't know when else in high school she would have had the chance to explore it.

C. Zucker's Shark Blog

5) Myth Unplugged

E. Rosen continues to impress her classmates by the depth and breadth of her research. She's also happy to share her work with the world and allow anyone to gain from the information she has accumulated. See also on E. Rosen's blog her thoughts on student use of her work and whether she's encouraging laziness in peers studying myth by gathering so many stories for them to use in their work. Another thought-provoking blog post by this student blog shows her meta-cognition, as she muses about the demographics of the people reading her posts.

E. Rosen's Blog on Comparative Myth

I hope you enjoyed this latest sampling of student blogs. Feel free to post your responses to them on this one!

About My Work

About my work:

Interdisciplinary Studies

I began my work in interdisciplinary studies at Frisch by meeting with Torah and Nakh teachers to see where in their syllabi students would benefit from and appreciate a look into the cultures that form the backdrop of the Biblical books. The interdisciplinary units that resulted from that planning and which AVICHAI funded include:

• Paganism vs. Monotheism: A comparison of the ancient Near Eastern pagan worldview with Abraham’s monotheistic one
• Fertility and Wells: Wells as fertility symbols and Isaac’s well digging
• Jacob on the DL (disabled list): Achilles, Oedipus and the significance of leg injuries (one of my personal favorites)
• Joseph in Egypt: A comparison of Mesopotamian and Egyptian lifestyles (adapted for elementary school as well)
• God attacks Egypt: The might of the Egyptian empire and God’s response (a 2-part series)
• The Hammurabi Code and Biblical Law
• The Mishkan and Art in the Ancient World
• Ancient Military Encampments vs. the Israelite Encampment in Numbers
• Purity in the Camp: A look at Sotah and ancient adultery law
• Prophecy and Divination in the Torah and the Ancient World: Balaam and his powers
• The Power of Shema: Deuteronomy’s Message
• Solomon’s Temple vs. Temples in the Ancient Near East
• Assyrian Might in the Books of the Prophets
• Jonah, Pinocchio and the Meaning of the Foray into the Fish’s Stomach
• Palaces and Parties: The Achaemenid Court and Esther
• What Ruth Corrects in Levirate Law: A comparison of levirate law in the ancient world and its significance in the Ruth story
• Co-taught with a Nakh teacher: a three-part series on literature, art and music in Judaism; I prepared the art and most of the literature part of the sessions

Here is a link to many of my integration units: http://www.slideboom.com/my_presentations

As Chairman of the English Department, I've overseen the establishment of set standards in grammar and research in my school's four-year program; combined Honors American Literature with AP English Language in the junior year, making the course both literary and media-based; and planned, taught and continue to teach an integrated senior elective called Hot Topics, which uses literature, art, film and Judaic sources to look at medical ethics and racism today. Here is a link to the wiki page that best features the interdisciplinary and multi-media nature of the Hot Topics course:

[If you want access to any of the links to the Frisch wiki, please contact me at tikvah.wiener@gmail.com. The wiki is password-protected, but I have a guest password for educators.]

http://frisch12.wikispaces.com/Civic+Responsibility

As Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Studies, I’ve worked with each department in the school to learn how the topics in each course might fit into a theme I selected for each grade. I co-created and wrote the content for a school wiki, where each grade can interact with different topics pertaining to that grade’s theme. The grades' themes:

Freshmen: Identity
Sophomores: Exploration
Juniors: Conflict
Seniors: Integration

The wiki pages aren't divided by course, but rather by topics common to myriad classes. Freshmen, for example, under the theme of identity, can learn about the topic of leadership by studying it through the lens of their literature, history, and Tanakh classes. I co-wrote an article with Rabbi Tzvi Pittinsky about the school-wide wiki in the Lookstein Journal, Jewish Educational Leadership:  http://www.lookstein.org/online_journal.php?id=250

I also created, organized and now oversee interdisciplinary days of learning for grades 9-11, ones that pertain to each grade’s themes. The ninth grade integration day is fate and free will, the tenth grade day is censorship and book burning, and the eleventh grade day is the Holocaust. We planned the eleventh grade integration day with a school in Israel, enabling us to have a global classroom.

http://frisch.wikispaces.com/home

I grew a week-long integrated study of the Greeks into Frisch Greek week, where ninth graders focus on what the Greeks contributed to the world and learn where to draw the line between what secular cultures can give Judaism and ways in which secular environments harm our religion.

http://frisch9.wikispaces.com/Classification

In the tenth grade, I developed the Frisch Africa Encounter, a month-long study of the African continent that culminates in an evening for parents, students and teachers. As part of the month-long program, students read either The Posionwood Bible or Little Bee and complete a research project in history that they then convert into digital media for the presentation night. Students also learn about the integration of Ethiopian Jewry into Israeli society; debate what Israel should do about African refugees; repurpose discarded materials into works of art; and raise money for Innovation: Africa, an organization that uses sustainable Israeli technologies to improve life in African countries. At the evening for the Frisch community, sophomores share their exploration of African art, culture, economies, and social entrepreneurs with the school community.

http://teachingwellandgood.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-frisch-africa-encounter-december-18.html

RealSchool

The modern world needs people with a complex identity who are intellectually autonomous and prepared to cope with uncertainty; who are able to draw inferences and can control their behavior in the light of foreseen consequences, who are altruistic and enjoy doing for others, and who understand social forces and trends."

-- Robert Havighurst, 20th-century American psychologist

Last year I began RealSchool (RS), a program that advocates for and models education reform by having students engage in self-designed, collaborative, inquiry-based learning. The teams in the club are formed based on students’ interests and generally include subjects not taught in the traditional classroom. RS teams include App Making, The Arts, Fashion, Finance, Graphic Design, Health and Environment, Marketing, Religious Identity, Social Action and Entrepreneurship, Video Production and Web Design.

The club has organized events such as a student-run Yom Iyun; a pre-Shavuot program called Detox for the Decalogue; a student-run discussion series on prayer; and a day devoted to doing 26 Acts of Kindness for the 26 victims of Newtown. Club members are now involved in 

*  creating a green cookbook that will be made into an app
*  a fashion and dance show that raises awareness about ethical food and fashion, the oppression of women worldwide and female entrepreneurs
*  an education reform movement
*  a video series based on the prayer discussions the Religious Identity team is having.

RealSchool’s student-designed website: http://frischrealschool.org 
RS's FaceBook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RealSchool/234355426650263?ref=hl.

An article about RealSchool appears in the Spring 2012 volume of The Lookstein Center’s Jewish Educational Leadership Journal and can be found here: http://www.lookstein.org/online_journal.php?id=425

Frisch LEADs

This year I decided to imbue the academic curriculum with more of RealSchool’s values. I worked with my fellow AP English Literature teachers and developed Frisch LEADs (Learning. Exploring. Analyzing. Designing.), a project that has students choose their own topic for study and research. Students blog about the discovery and planning process of this year-long undertaking and must complete a 25-page paper or a multi-media project by March. For more information, see http://frischlead.blogspot.com. 

Two particularly good examples of student blogs from the project can be found here:

http://ehlevine.blogspot.com

http://peninafrischleads.blogspot.com

The Global Classroom

As a proponent of global learning, I’ve also connected entire grades, my classes and particular students to students across the globe. I mentioned the junior integration day, which Frisch conducts with a school in Israel. I’ve also had my sophomore classes interact and converse on wikis with a school in Gush Etzion, Neveh Channah.

In addition, as a result of last year’s Frisch Africa Encounter, six sophomore girls became interested in building relationships with Ethiopian children in Israel. My sister Smadar Goldstein of JETS, an online learning provider based in Israel, presented the Frisch program on Ethiopian Jewry as a webinar. Smadar arranged for my sophomore girls to Skype with Ethiopian students, and one of my students, who is going to Israel in February 2013, is arranging a meeting with her Ethiopian friend.

Additional Resources

I’m a lover of social media, blogging, tweeting and posting on Facebook about my work and RealSchool’s. In addition to RealSchool’s blog, I also have an AP Art History blog and one on which I post about education, interdisciplinary studies and English.

For AP Art History:

http://aparthistorybytikvah.blogspot.com

For my education blog:

http://teachingwellandgood.blogspot.com

Here are three blog posts I particularly like:

The Greeks, Qohelet and the Importance of Beginning Again

http://teachingwellandgood.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-greeks-qohelet-and-importance-of.html

A Jewish Response to Hedonism and Narcissism

http://teachingwellandgood.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-jewish-response-to-hedonism-and.html

Sacred Space: Contemplating Colorado, Diablo III and the Destruction of the Temple

http://teachingwellandgood.blogspot.com/2012/07/sacred-space-contemplating-colorado.html

(You can discern my Sacksian and Heschelian worldview in those posts.)

Student-Designed Learning: The Frisch LEADs Project

One of my goals this year was to introduce more student-designed learning into my curriculum. I discussed the possibility of doing so with my principal and fellow English teachers at The Frisch School, and we decided the best place for a student-designed learning project was in AP English Literature. That's because the course doesn't demand that a particular body of knowledge be taught, but rather it requires students to learn skills that can be applied to all works of poetry and prose.

I sat down with my fellow AP English Literature teachers, Rabbi Daniel Rosen and Mrs. Ruth Wang-Birnbaum, over the course of the summer and at the beginning of the school year, and we hammered out the requirements of the assignment. We also decided on a name for the project: Frisch LEADs -- Learning. Exploring. Analyzing. Designing:

Frisch LEADs Project Requirements

Rabbi Rosen, Mrs. Wang-Birnbaum and I decided that in order to chart the progress and increase the digital literacy of each student, we would have the students blog about their Frisch LEADs project. We therefore put together a set of blog requirements and deadlines for the students:

Blog Requirements and Deadlines

Because students weren't familiar with blogging, we created an Introduction to Blogging post:

What Makes a Good Blog Post

Most students had severe allergic reactions ;) to the assignment when we gave it to them, but they have since calmed down and are progressing well with their projects. Here are some really good blogs students have created for the project:

Sample Student Blog #1:

R. Freilich has a fun and meaningful Frisch LEADs project. She's going to take her family's passion for gangster movies and research society’s perception of the mafia/organized crime. The investigation will include an in depth analysis of the psychology of crime and family. What I like about R.'s project is that she took her own family's interest in mob films and made it into an investigation of a dysfunctional and violent family system. Check out R.'s blog and see her thoughtful posts:

R. Freilich's Blog

Sample Student Blog #2:

Eddie is not only doing a great job blogging about his actual project; he is also making use of the blog medium to express his funny, whimsical and sophisticated views of the world. Find Eddie's very amusing blog here:

Eddie Maza's Blog

Sample Student Blog #3:

Finally, Penina's blog: I have to warn you that Penina is the type of student who does %200 of the work, so be prepared when you read her blog to be dumbfounded by the amount of information in it.

Another fact you should be aware of is that Penina is working with Eddie on the Frisch LEADs project, and in deference to the policy of full disclosure, I must reveal that I've been working with these two students since last year on their topic of education reform, as they founded RealSchool with me. RealSchool is an academic program that advocates and models education reform by having students engage in self-directed, whole-person learning.

Penina's Blog

In subsequent blog posts, I'll address some of the issues the Frisch LEADs assignment has raised, but I want to end by stating that when I was figuring out my grades for the quarter, I found that I had a much fuller picture of what each senior in my AP English Literature was like than I had of students in other classes. The Frisch LEADs project has given me a window into the personality, interests and passions of the students, enabling me to see them not as English students but as whole people. It's also fascinating and enlightening to gain a sense of the unique voices that are emerging in the students' blog posts. I'm excited about what the Frisch LEADs project is eliciting in my seniors and look forward to what my students and I will continue to learn!