JewishGPS BJELA Categories Schmattegories Nov 2012

Arrival Activity

• As you come in … notice the five posters on the wall.

• Grab a marker. Please write examples or characteristics of the category labeled on each poster.

JewishGPS, LLC • www.jewishgps.com


Categories Schmategories: What Makes it So?

BJELA Religious School Educators’ ConferenceNovember 11, 2012

Methods vs. Settings

• Setting – the location in which the learning takes place

• Method – the pedagogy used to impart the knowledge; the technique the learner encounters


Informal Settings

infed: the Encyclopedia of Informal Education: informal education is “the education of daily living,” one can conclude that informal settings are all the places you live your daily life: home, community, grocery store, library, shopping mall, restaurant, etc. They write, “This contrasts with formal education which tends to take place in special settings such as schools.” http://www.infed.org/i-intro.htm


http://www.infed.org/i-intro.htm

http://www.infed.org/i-intro.htm

Jewish Informal Education Settings

(according to Robyn)

• Summer Camp• Youth Lounge• Hotels• Retreat Centers• Geographic Location

(i.e. DC, NY, NOLA, Israel)• Park• Volunteer Site


Informal & Non-Formal Education Methods

Tony Jeffs and Mark K. Smith

“…informal education is the lifelong process in which people learn from everyday experience … and non-formal education is organized education activity outside of formal systems.”


Informal, Non-formal or Voluntary?Setting or Method?

Jewish social scientist Bethamie Horowitz

Makes a distinction when she titles activities typically called “informal” as “voluntary” such as youth group, Israel trips, and Jewish college programming.

(2000, June; rev. 2003). Connections and journeys: Assessing critical opportunities for enhancing Jewish identity. Retrieved from http://www.ujafedny.org/assets/documents/PDF/who-we-are/Connections-And-Journeys-Opportunities-for-Enhancing-Jewish-Identity.pdf


Experiential Education Theory Overview:It all starts with Dewey


“…the principle of continuity of experience means that every experience both takes up something from those which have gone before and modifies in some way the quality of those which come after,” (p. 35).

“In a certain sense ever experience should do something to prepare a person for later experiences of a deeper and more expansive quality. That is the very meaning of growth, continuity, reconstruction of experience,” (p. 47).

“What he [the learner] has learned in the way of knowledge and skill in one situation becomes an instrument of understanding and dealing effectively with the situations which follow,” (p. 44).

Theory Overview: Kolb


EBLS company was founded in 1981 with the goal to provide ongoing quality research and practice on experiential learning

Experiential Learning

JewishGPS, LLC • www.jewishgps.com David Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984)

Example


Experiential Element Application

Activity Put toast in oven, set dial, and toast

Reflection/Observation Toast is burnt; Toast tastes badI am not happy; I’m hungryI made a mistake

Abstract Conceptualization Because I set the dial too high, this was the result I got

Planning for Next Time Plan another meal that I need toast, determine how much to lower the dial, buy more bread, clean out the toast

Activity Make another piece of toast, this time with the determined lower setting

Going DEEP

In 1999, the Experiential Training and Development Alliance published The DEEP Document: The Definition, Ethics, and Exemplary Practices of Experiential Training and Development.

What the DEEP document asserts in comparison to the others is the difference between experiential education and experience-based learning. “Experience-based learning (action alone) becomes experiential when the elements of reflection (reflection optimizes learning), transfer (transfer applies learning), and support (support maintains transfer) are present.

(ETDA, p. 6, 1999). http://www.etdalliance.com/Resources/Documents/DEEP.pdf


Categories Schmattegories!A Re-View

• Let’s look at the answers on the wall – anything you want to disagree with or challenge?

• Mis-use of “experiential” education for experience-based education.


EXPERIENCING the DifferenceFour-Corners Game: Jewish, Zionist/Zionism, Education/Educator, American

•This word describes my core personal identity– Share one memory from your teen years that shaped your

core identity•This word describes my core professional identity

– If a reporter were to describe your professional achievements in Jewish education, what are three words they would use.

•If my immediate family had to choose one of these words to describe me, they would choose ….

– What is the moment you became a Jewish family? or What is your first Jewish family memory?

•This is the most important aspect of my work– If you were king/queen for a day, what would you decree

about Israel Education in your organization?


Simon Says/Follow the Leader• Exodus 18:21'But you must [also] seek out from among all the people

capable, God-fearing men - men of truth, who hate injustice. You must then appoint them over [the people] as leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens.

• Isaiah 54:4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.

• Genesis 33:13-14 [to Esau] 'My lord,' replied Jacob, 'you know that the children are weak, and I have responsibility for the nursing sheep and cattle. If they are driven hard for even one day, all the sheep will die. Please go ahead of me, my lord. I will lead my group slowly, following the pace of the work that I have ahead of me, and the pace of the children

• Exodus 22:27 Do not curse the judges. Do not curse a leader of your people.

•


Compare and Contrast

• How are the two experiences similar?

• How are the two experiences different?


Reflection & Wrap Up• START, STOP, CONTINUE• A-Ha Moment• Rate Today– 1, wasted my time– 5, learned a lot & walking away a

better understanding of Experiential Education


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JewishGPS BJELA Categories Schmattegories Nov 2012

Education

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