Welcome to the home of The Lookstein Center’s LookJED discussions. Initiated in 1998 with just 25 people, The LookJED has evolved into a growing community of over 3000 educational professionals and lay people of all levels—academics, principals, teachers, etc. who are looking to learn,
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Recent Conversations
Query – Positive Psychology Curriculum
It is the beginning of the year but we are already thinking about next year. We are considering using a positive psychology curriculum and if it works, would like to integrate it with the study of Jewish values or holidays. Have other schools done this successfully? What is the feedback from students and parents? Have the faculty/administration been able to see a difference in the students?
Schools Policies Regarding Nose Piercings
Hi
I am interested to know what policy, if any, schools have established regarding nose piercings for girls. On what basis was the policy established? If it’s a halachic issue, what is the issue and whose “psak” was followed, either to permit or to forbid? If it’s not a halachic issue, what other issues were considered when making the policy?
Revitalizing the Tekkes
The yamim (or modern Jewish holidays, from Yom HaShoah, to Yom HaZikaron to Yom HaAtzmaut), are often meaningful and powerful moments in modern Jewish history.
Spring Season Achdut
Throughout the year, and in this season in particular, the lives of our students are so different from the lives of their peers in Israel. The Israeli kids just participated in 1 seder, they will have entirely different experiences throughout the “yamim” (try as we might to mirror the awesomeness of the “yamim” in Israel) and as of this week we will even be reading a different Parsha on Shabbat.
What can we do with our students that doesn’t contribute to an “us” and “them” reality, but fosters a real sense of Achdut and sameness with our fellow Jew living in Israel – and everywhere else in the world – despite our often differing experiences?
Creating Mutually Beneficial Dialogue Between Different Groups of Educators
I recall that in my early teaching years, as a high school teacher I yearned to be able to learn from a variety of pedagogical techniques from elementary and middle school teachers. At the same time, in conversations with some elementary and middle school teachers, I repeatedly heard them seeking high school teachers who could enrich and deepen their content. Since making Aliyah, part of my work has taken me to visit many schools, from elementary to high schools. Although there have been exceptions, it seems like the generalizations I experienced years ago are, for the most part, still valid.And I wonder how we can create the kind of mutually beneficial dialogue between different groups of educators – those who have strong pedagogy and those who have deep and broad content knowledge – to create more meaningful, substantive, and pedagogically sound educational encounters for our students.