Throughout the grades at Rashi, our students learn about their obligation to mend the world (tikkun olam). Each student at Rashi understands his/her obligations for tikkun olam. In second and sixth grades they specifically learn about being shomrei adamah – guardians of the earth itself. How we partner with God in caring for the earth is being a partner in creation.

Tu B’Shevat is a wonderful opportunity for Jewish families to celebrate nature and to begin thinking about spring. It is an invitation to think about the environment, and about our obligation to care for the physical world around us.

Considered the new year for trees, Tu B’Shevat is celebrated this year on February 8. On the Hebrew calendar, it is the 15^th of the month Shevat. (“Tu” comes from the ninth and sixth letters of the Hebrew alphabet: tet and vav. Nine + six = fifteen.) According to the Torah, fruits cannot be consumed from trees less than three years old. Tu B’Shvat was used as the starting date for determining the age of the trees.

Today Tu B’Shevat is a significant way to celebrate our connection with the Land of Israel. We use this holiday to familiarize ourselves with the agricultural side of Israel. Israel is an important element of a Rashi education. We place a strong value on caring for the land, state and people of Israel. Tu B’Shevat is a time to specifically eat the foods of Israel. Are dates and pomegranites and olives a part of your daily diet? This is an opportunity to do some online research with your children about the produce of Israel. What is exported? What are the biblical foods that are still part of agriculture today? At school your children will plant parsley to be used for Pesach as well as eating a healthy fruit snack.

There are many wonderful ways to celebrate Tu B’Shevat with your families.  They include everything from making fruit salad to planting trees in your gardens and in Israel. It is an opportunity to think about our Judaism and how it connects with nature, the environment and healthy fruit!

Hag Sameach!

By Lynda Bussgang

Multigenerational Program Coordinator for the partnership between The Rashi School and Hebrew Senior Life’s NewBridge on the Charles

“A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old…. The affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.”

This quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel was included by Rashi student Danny Shleifer in his eighth-grade graduation speech last spring. Danny and his classmates took part in a new program that brings together Rashi students and the senior residents of NewBridge on the Charles, the Hebrew SeniorLife community with which The Rashi School shares a campus. As the program’s coordinator, I have seen how the program has touched young and old alike and I have witnessed Heschel’s words come to life. I would like to share some stories.

While visiting his great-grandmother at NewBridge, fourth grader Jacob F. became friends with another resident, David Goldberg. At least once a week after school Jacob and his mother, Rebecca, walked across the street to visit Mr. Goldberg. “He became Jacob’s real-life textbook,” Rebecca said. “Jacob would read something about World War II, and Mr. Goldberg would say, ‘Let me tell you how it really was’.”

Over several months, they shared conversation, games and many hugs. In the spring, Mr. Goldberg died at the age of 98. As Rebecca cried with me and sought comfort for her grieving child, she celebrated the relationship and how it had made Jacob a better person.

Rebecca has since joined the Rashi/NewBridge Multigenerational Committee that oversees the partnership. Jacob still visits Mrs. Goldberg and sees her when he comes to NewBridge for “Get Fit Stay Fit” – a shared fitness program for Rashi fifth and sixth graders and NewBridge residents. And when Jacob sleeps outdoors, he looks for Mr. Goldberg among the stars.

* * *
Roz Holt, a NewBridge resident, has been a devoted reading tutor at Rashi. Last year Roz had a wonderful experience working with Kayla, a Rashi fifth grader. She recalled that when she first met Kayla: “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do and what I was supposed to say to her. We were working on reading skills, comprehension and speed reading, and I just kept telling her how well she was doing and how good it made me feel to be with her.”

Roz felt that the breakthrough came when she told Kayla that her son had had a learning disability that held him back, but he worked hard and eventually achieved great success as the president of their family business. Over time, trust grew between the two. They felt comfortable enough together that Roz could correct Kayla’s pronunciation and help her become a better reader. But more than words brought them together. I could see that every time they parted, it was with a hug.

This year, Roz comes weekly to Rashi to support the learning needs of students in the Lower School.

* * *
Finally, there’s my daughter’s story. Jackie, who graduated from Rashi in 2011, has had many wonderful opportunities to be with seniors. She regularly visits her grandparents, who are residents in the independent living community at NewBridge. She participated in the Rashi Middle School program that connects students with residents who struggle with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She helped to support my father throughout his battle with ALS, which robbed him of the ability to speak and walk, and which, last December, took his life. These experiences all transformed my once reticent girl.

One Sunday afternoon last spring, my children and several other Rashi families volunteered to help out at a community building event at NewBridge. To my surprise, Jackie approached an elderly man who was sitting in a wheelchair. He was barely able to speak, but she sat down with him and chatted for more than 20 minutes. When she was finished, I asked her what they talked about all that time. “I don’t know, Mom,” she replied. “I couldn’t really understand him. But I just talked about myself and asked him questions. I think he liked that.” He did. When I spoke with him later that day and he learned that Jackie was my daughter, he told me that she had made his day.

* * *
Danny Shleifer helped me figure out how to describe the magic I see each day between the Rashi kids and the NewBridge seniors. Yes, Heschel captures some of it. But Danny’s own words from his graduation speech tell it all: “What brought us together, and gave us so much joy this year, was our neighbors.”

While attending the North American Jewish Day School Conference in Atlanta over MLK weekend I had a powerful experience that I want to share with you. When I think of MLK my first thought is his urging us to judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. While I would like to think that I have learned to do just that, what happened last Monday evening gave me a lesson I will not forget.

While returning to our hotel after a late dinner with my wife and our son Dan who lives in Atlanta, Dan drove over several unusually large raised reflectors on the side of a highway. As soon as I felt the impact I sensed we had a problem and sure enough we very soon heard that stomach-churning sound of a tire going flat. After several nerve-racking minutes on a very dark road in the middle of nowhere the sight of a gas station brought some relief. Limping into the station, which was deserted and seemed closed, I saw an “open” sign which raised my spirits. I entered and saw a young black man in a secured, caged office area that broadcast “this is not a safe neighborhood.”

“We have a flat. Can you help us?” I asked. The young man hesitated for a moment, but then said in what was clearly an African accent, that yes he could but he needed a minute. I watched him carefully leave the secure office, lock the door, and come outside. After seeing what needed to be done he said, “Wait a minute,” and went inside to get a jack.

The young man quickly got the tire changed, pointed out that Dan’s spare was flat, and sent us to get air. Dan and I then returned to the office to express our appreciation. This is where it got interesting. When Dan offered him twenty dollars for helping us he reflexively said, “No, I do not want your money.” His response puzzled us and I then said, “But we really appreciate your helping us and we want to give you something.” He then said very firmly while pointing to me, “When I saw you, I saw my father and I was thinking that I would hope if he were in a jam like this someone would help him. I cannot take your money.” Dan and I thanked him and quietly got in the car and left.

Dan and I were both stunned by this young man’s response to us, by his generosity, by his capacity to empathize, by his moral code. Thinking back to the moment our eyes first met his, we acknowledged that being at that station late at night and feeling vulnerable stirred up thoughts and fears that we did not want to have. We assumed that if we could get any help–which seemed doubtful when we saw the young man in the locked, caged area–we would pay a premium. How wrong we were!

It is block 5 on Monday; it is block 4 on Friday and something is “shaking up” with the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in the Rashi Middle School. Students are following their passions, their fascination, and their interests.They re-arrange themselves in different and unusual combinations and eagerly and excitedly head off in these newly-formed, mixed grades, mixed gender groups to a variety of locations across and beyond the school. This “shake-up”’ is all because it is time for electives in the Rashi middle school!

Ask Rashi sixth, seventh, or eighth graders what they love about Middle School, and many will tell you about their electives. Electives provide a change of pace from a day of academic classes by giving students the opportunity to participate in a diverse array of activities – including Israeli dance troupe, rock band, math and word games, animation, set design, sewing pajama pants, listening to the blues and more. Electives enhance kehillah (community) by mixing students across grades, and they encourage students to explore new interests while having fun.

Not all electives take place in the Rashi building. Many students choose to be reading buddies as part of the JCL (Jewish Community Literacy) elective. They travel each Monday to the Curran Early Childhood Education Center in Dedham to help kindergarten students with their reading skills. Our students take their roles as mentors very seriously. Watching them with their buddies at their side, or in their lap, one sees how this close, warm moment of reading together has been modeled for our children at home and is now being shared so naturally with their buddies. It is particularly heartwarming to see Rashi students who struggled with reading in the past share the strategies they have learned with their young buddies.

Another fabulous elective, begun last year, is the multigenerational gardening initiative. Our students work with NewBridge seniors at the campus Community Garden, made possible by Rashi alumni parents Jamie and Harold Kotler. The generations join forces to plant seeds and bulbs, trim and transplant flowers, and learn about fertilizing, mulching, and composting. Our students demonstrate their compassion by working on the plants of NewBridge residents who are unable to come to the garden. When the elective began this fall, it was wonderful to see the expressions on our students’ faces when one of the residents pulled out carrots that they had planted as seeds last spring and gave a carrot to each student for a snack!

These elective offerings reach students of all levels and interests. They enable students to interact with teachers in different ways – playing instruments with your math teacher, or discussing how to work with a five year old with your Hebrew teacher. So, whether it’s The Stock Market Game, examining physics in action with Harvard students, or writing plays and poetry, the shake-up has taken form. The shape is one of rich and valuable experiences and a relaxed environment for the Rashi Middle School students.

In September, we welcomed an author-in-residence, Kathryn Otoshi, from Facing History and Ourselves. Ms. Otoshi has a vivid past that she shared with us through her stories, One and Zero, and through her brilliant words. She is the author of many books for children, but she chose to share with us two in particular. One and Zero weave counting and identification of color into a story about bullying and standing up for yourself.

As she stood before the middle school, she unraveled the meaning behind the seemingly playful words in her books. Ms. Otoshi read us her books with eloquence and dignity. One told us the story of an excluded and bullied color, Blue. Blue was always picked on by the harsh color of red. Although the other colors were nicer to Blue and agreed that Blue wasn’t being treated fairly, none of them stood up for Blue in the presence of Red. In the end, every color transformed into a number, signifying that they would stand up for themselves and others. All but Red. Red began to roll away but Blue asked if Blue and Red could be equal. After this, Red becomes a number, too.

This children’s story signifies many values: values to the world, and values in this com-munity. Rashi’s five core values – limud, tzedek, kehila, kavod and ruach – all play into this lively story. The value of limud was demonstrated through the colors’ abilities to adapt and learn from each other’s teachings. Tzedek was shown through One’s ability to make sure that everyone was feeling welcomed and that there was a sense of fairness in the environment. Kehila was revealed by the way the colors finally accepted everyone for their true selves. The value of kavod was evident when One stood up for Blue, for standing up for yourself is a true form of kavod. Lastly, ruach was uncovered in the energetic way that all of the colors responded to becoming numbers and welcoming each other.

Zero was a book about self-confidence. Surprisingly, Zero was written following One, and not the expected opposite. What happens when your community accepts you, but you don’t accept yourself? This is a question often asked, yet never really answered. In Zero, the main character, Zero, is eventually helped to see that if Zero accepted herself, Zero would see that she already had a true place.

One and Zero are important books for Rashi students to learn from because they tell im-portant stories about the truth of community. Additionally, the depth in the stories opens up entirely new learning opportunities for us as students. For instance, it teaches us the merit of standing up for ourselves and others along with simple learning skills such as counting and reading.
Overall, Kathryn Otoshi taught us much about core values and the importance of stand-ing up for yourself, themes present in our day-to-day Rashi lives.

Second grader Isabelle S. reports:

The book One by Kathryn Otoshi is an extraordinary book! You might know about bullying but One teaches you a lot moer you probably don’t know! When you open the book you are greeted with colors that teach you a lesson about bullying. In the book, One stands up for Blue. Another example I learned that friends can help solve any bullying problem. Read this book and you will know much more!

Everywhere you look in the media today, we read that schools are working on how to integrate technology in the classroom. Recently, there have been many articles in professional education journals that are focused on teaching “screenagers.”  We are now teaching the Igeneration. The I represents  digital technology (iphones, ipad, itouch) and the highly individualized activities and immediate response that these technologies make possible. The face of education as we know it is changing and at Rashi we are keeping pace with best practice by training our teachers to teach with twenty first century tools and skills.

What is important to understand is that we have not radically changed what we are teaching but rather how we are using technology to convey content more powerfully and efficiently. Teaching and learning at Rashi is still student centered. Technology cannot replace the relational nature of teaching. Rather, the Activboard technology that we have here at school enables teachers to create lessons that are more interactive. Teachers can present information through a variety of modalities which helps students to develop richer, more complex mental representations of content.

Last year, we set professional goals in technology for all our faculty, and within the first year, our teachers met the initial goals. Currently, teachers are working on the next set of challenges which are more complex and technical as they require a deeper understanding of how to create and modify content using ActivBoards.

This year we added a complimentary tool to the ActivBoards, the learning response systems (affectionately called LARRYs). With these devices, teachers are able to ask both planned and unplanned questions for in-the-moment assessment and receive instantaneous feedback – which we refer to as dip-sticking. It provides real time data for making moment-to-moment decisions about how to progress with a lesson.

Do I continue to more advanced content or do I need to review some more and provide additional guided practice? The ability to make these immediate decisions helps to differentiate instruction and wouldn’t be possible without this technology.

It is important to remember that technology isn’t changing what we teach, it is enhancing our ability to teach. Teaching is an art. No matter how innovative and flashy technology seems, teaching at Rashi will always be about learning through relationships with students. We believe that technology helps to enhance our instruction, engage students, provide us with new ways to gauge their learning, and connect with our students. However, it will never replace the bond created by teacher and student as they explore new concepts and tackle new skills. With this new technology and professional development, we have invested in out teachers, we have invested in our students, and are providing an outstanding education amidst an ever changing tide.

Last year, in my tenth year of teaching, I began using an ActivBoard, and now I don’t know how I was able to teach without it. Rashi is now in its second year of implementing “ActivClassrooms” with the use of Promethean’s ActivBoard and ActivInspire software.

ActivBoards are Promethean’s brand of interactive whiteboards. I am able to write on the board, using the ActivPen, as I would an ordinary whiteboard. However, I’m also able to use the pen to click through websites and open video clips and other multimedia. The true power of the ActivBoard is its interaction with the ActivInspire software. In this program, I am able to create “flipcharts” using text, pictures, embedded multimedia, and digitized worksheets and textbook pages from existing curriculum. It allows me to project and interact with copies any pages that students have in front of them, from the previous night’s math homework, to the weekly Torah portion.

Using an ActivBoard allows for more time spent on learning, and both teachers and students benefit. Whereas I used to have to spend valuable class time in Jewish Studies walking around to individually help students find a specific word or phrase from a page of Hebrew text, now I am able to project a digital copy of the text, the same page that the students are looking at in their Tanakh, and use the highlighter tool to point out the words. Rather than taking a few minutes to furiously copy down notes from the whiteboard before having to thoroughly erase it in preparation for my next class, I can save notes from the board and then clear it for the next subject in two clicks. The following day, the previous day’s notes can be projected for students instantly, as opposed to having to spend transition time reconstructing what had been on the board the day before. Notes can even be printed and given to students who were absent or to those who require copies of the notes as an accommodation for a learning disability.

This fall we implemented Promethean’s Learning Response Systems. In grades K-2, students are using ActiVotes, a handheld voting device that allows students to respond to prepared or spontaneous multiple choice, yes/no, or true false questions. In grades 3-8, students are using ActivExpressions, a more sophisticated handheld device that can sort items in order, respond to likert scales, or text in open responses, both written and numeric.

My students love using the devices.They add a gameshow like element to lessons and allow all students to participate simultaneously. This is especially helpful for those students who do not frequently raise their hands or who are uncomfortable sharing in front of the whole class.

The Learning Response Systems give me immediate feedback from all students and allow me to check frequently for understanding and follow up to assist children who may be having difficulty. For example, as I was using the ActivExpresssions as the introduction to a math concept, I was surprised to note that two of my students, who were new to Rashi this year, were consistently getting the questions wrong. The data let me know I needed to follow up with them individually. I learned that although the students understood the math, they were confused by the formatting of Everyday Math, which they hadn’t seen before. It allowed me to review the format with them so that they were better able to demonstrate their understanding of the mathematical concepts.

ActivExpressions also enable me and other teachers to create self-paced assessments where students answer a series of questions directly on the device. Teachers can track responses during the assessments and export the results to Excel. This technology provides hard data instantly available to help teachers plan and differentiate instruction on the fly.

The possibilities of what we can achieve are very exciting. I can’t wait to see what next year will bring!

Being a parent seems to get more complicated and challenging each year.  As a new grandfather observing the amount and complexity of equipment that parents now must have for babies, I was struck that the amount of new “stuff” seems to have doubled in a generation. And that’s the easy part, for the truly challenging work is guiding children through childhood and then adolescence.

A recent very powerful and provocative article in the Atlantic Monthly – “How to Land Your Kid in Therapy” by Lori Gottlieb – touched on many issues, tensions, and dilemmas that are a struggle for all parents. The article synthesized a great deal of material that is relevant to people who spend their lives working with children. I sent this article to all Rashi staff as well as to Rashi parents, whom I also believed would benefit from reading it.

I have long felt that the most important gift we can give our children is to help them become resilient. Inevitably, life will throw you curve balls. Both adults and children will face disappointment and failure in their lives and we need to know how to deal with those situations. An increasing number of parents seem to think that their job is to shield children from frustration and failure, but doing so may have the opposite effect and undermine their confidence and ability to  handle disappointments.

Since one of our goals this year at Rashi is to provide more learning and social opportunities for parents, I convened two discussion groups with parents to review the issues raised in this article. The overwhelming response was that this is exactly the type of thinking we should be doing in this area. But there was also the realization that it is one thing to read and agree with an article, and quite another to “act in the moment” or to stand back when your child is in emotional pain. As parents, we are unhappy when our kids are unhappy. But we have to understand that if we “rescue” our children they won’t develop coping strategies on their own.

This year we are committed to increasing the resilience of our Rashi students and making our faculty more aware of issues related to resiliency. We will also be providing additional opportunities for parents to talk to each other, to facilitate conversations and to provide resources.

In this as in so many areas, being in an Jewish independent school makes it easier to raise and discuss these issues because we all share the same values. The parents who choose to send their children to Rashi embrace those values. When we have a discussion on a topic such as resiliency – especially when we gather in our beautiful Beit Midrash – the conversation is automatically enriched. Putting the discussion in the context of Jewish values definitely makes a difference.