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Curriculum Model Essay
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Community Alumnus on TEDx Stage
Juda and Maria Diener Lower School | Samuel and Henrietta Scheck Middle School | Ben Lipson Upper School
LION’S SHARE Welcome to Lion’s Share: Scheck Hillel Community School’s Grade 6-12 bulletin covering news about curriculum, college counseling and our community. Connect with the names, faces and initiatives that make Scheck Hillel a college preparatory school that develops global citizens with enduring Jewish identity and values. For more school information, please visit eHillel.org.
Curriculum
Student Essay Selected as Model of Excellence
Last year, along with nearly half a million students across the nation, Ilana Seidl (Grade 12) sat for the 2014 AP English Language and Composition test. She had prepared for the exam all year in her AP class taught by Upper School English teacher Gerry Cirulnick, and earned an outstanding 5 out of 5 possible points and college credit. Adding to this achievement, the College Board selected one of Ilana’s essays as a model of effective writing, which means that Ilana’s work has been consulted nationwide by students, teachers and evaluators as the standard for superior performance and a marker of excellence in the essay portion of the exam. Ilana attributes her success to the intensive practice done in class and to reading 16th and 17th century English authors and their modern counterparts. “Every day in class, I learned more and more of what was expected of me to do well on the test,” Ilana added. Scheck Hillel is proud of Ilana’s high level of attainment and the effort invested to become “one in a half-million!”
Rigor, Relevance & Relationships: The Three R’s of the Judaic Studies Program
Academic rigor, contemporary relevance and relationships of trust are the hallmarks of Scheck Hillel’s Judaic Studies Program. According to program head Rabbi Joshua Spodek, the “Three R’s” link Judaic content, development of higher-order thinking skills and experiential learning with caring relationships between teachers and students. Indeed, learning takes place in an environment that invites expression of diverse views, stimulates critical thinking and encourages selfexamination.
Ilana’s full essay, along with the glowing College Board analysis, is available at eHillel.org/ModelEssay.
Two cases in point: In his Grade 10 Jewish Thought class, Rabbi Dovid Kirzner ties together rabbinic literature, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the 1999 film The Matrix to spark analysis regarding historical interpretations of Hashem’s primacy. Our students are better able to analyze and apply complex ancient ideas using references that are familiar and contemporary.
AP Courses Offered at Scheck Hillel: American Government, Biology, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Comparative Government, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, European History, Human Geography, Physics B, Psychology, US History, 2-D Art. New For Next Year: Computer Science, Drawing, World History.
In Rabbi Elie Ganz’s Grade 11 Jewish Ethics class, students find meaning in an environment where comments are welcomed, respected and often challenged with humor, textual evidence and warmth. All students are assessed through exams, projects and class engagement. The “Three R’s” of Judaic teaching promote intellectual and spiritual habits that become enduring gifts for our youth.