College Colleges Visit Campus
Curriculum Thinking About Thinking October 2016 | Elul-Tishrei 5777
Community Engineer & Researcher
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
Question like Socrates, Study Like Hillel
Making better thinkers takes expert guidance and ancient methods
Who is responsible for Owlet’s death? When Craig Michalski’s Grade 6 English students recently arrived for class, the desks had been rearranged and an odd question hung on the board: “Who is responsible for Owlet’s death?” A Socratic seminar was about to unfold: an experience designed to promote an open-minded approach to analytical thinking. Michalski staged the seminar methodically, first guiding students toward a common definition of the term “responsibility,” then reading Owlet’s story in the book Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples’ Ears: A West African Tale.
How often do students think about thinking? Reflecting on thinking is a common practice at Scheck Hillel. Lion’s Share visited two classrooms to find out how teachers cultivate this important skill and how students respond.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Talmud Rabbi Shlomo Sprung plays music of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young before his Beit Midrash Talmud class, perhaps to help his students transition into the right mindset. Talmud study requires accessing text on three levels: reading the Aramaic legal text, translating the words and understanding the ideasand contradictions-behind them. Students have embraced the intellectual challenge. Nathalie Assor (Grade 11) describes the thinking process as “logical reasoning from the Rabbis that can be applied in life.” Because Talmud study is a cumulative process, students must use past learning to generate explanations and grasp meaning. Saul Birmaher (Grade 9) describes the experience as “reading between the lines and going deeper into text.” Rabbi Sprung’s questions are incisive, but his students don’t shy away from testing hunches and interpretations. “Students know they need to be open-minded, but that all pieces have to fit together. It’s like playing legal Sudoku,” he concludes.
Students shared their responses to the Owlet question, struggling at first to adhere to the seminar’s strict discussion parameters, but later monitoring, and often revising, their own thinking.
Student Reflections: What worked and what didn’t in the Grade 6 Socratic seminar: “We got better answers and replaced the old ones. We had a shift in our thought.” –Samuel Attias “My opinion didn’t shift because I had very good reasons as to why the monkey was responsible for Owlet’s death. I think everyone is responsible for their own actions.” –Jamie Kurzer
In the end... Thinking about thinking is one of the most advanced forms of learning—it happens when students reflect not on what they know, but on how they’ve come to know it. The Socratic seminar and Talmud study help students become flexible, curious and disciplined thinkers, qualities that are critical for college and career success.
College Counseling Colleges Visit Scheck Hillel to Recruit
Scheck Hillel recently hosted representatives from Vanderbilt, University of Maryland, FIU, University of Miami, UCF, University of Florida, Brandeis and Cooper Union, among others.
College reps also can become key contacts during the application process, helping to navigate specific issues or questions that are bound to arise. Staying in touch also demonstrates ongoing interest. For example, if a student receives an award or commendation after submitting the application, the admission rep can make sure the achievement is noted during the review process.
Fall is the season when college representatives visit Scheck Hillel to recruit, seeking seniors who are prepared and ready for success. More than 40 colleges and gap year programs came in 2015, and this year has been equally busy.
Community
According to Dennis Eller, Scheck Hillel’s Associate Director of College Counseling, “College visits are a great opportunity for our students to show demonstrated interest in the colleges of their choice, meet the person who will most likely be reading their applications, and learn first-hand of the many advantages each college offers.”
Q&A With Yonathan Bonan ’12, Engineer
For example, Jennifer Gotlieb, who visited from Tel Aviv University, mapped out the scope and depth of TAU’s programs, as well as the distinct differences between college life in Israel and in the United States. Students also met with Jorge Delgado from Brandeis University. Such sessions are a chance to ask detailed questions and to receive custom guidance. Coming up: Visits from Hofstra, Tulane, University of Michigan, Syracuse and Bentley. Students are required to sign up through Naviance to attend college sessions.
Where do you live? I currently reside in Miami. What is your current profession and where do you work? I am currently working toward completing my degrees in electrical engineering as part of an accelerated BSMS (Bachelor’s/Master’s) program offered to students with a high GPA. This past summer I started working as a research assistant in the ElectroMagnetics Laboratory. The research I conduct pertains to Wireless Power Transfer and how magnetic fields from wireless power affect the body. This research is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. On a typical week in this position, what do you do? Each week is different. It takes a lot of time and effort to discover new data. Currently I am researching the impact of wireless power as a whole. Week to week, I ask myself, “How do I obtain maximum power without harming the human body?” With time I will be able to answer this question, but for the meantime, I am still discovering and pushing my knowledge to solve problems of the future.
Photo courtesy of Yoni Bonan
What is most rewarding about your work? What are the challenges?
What is one essential academic or life skill you honed at Scheck Hillel?
The most rewarding part is to know how great an impact my research will have in the years to come. The technology will benefit the medical and military fields. Imagine having a pacemaker without ever having to change a battery! Wireless power has many different applications and it is an honor to be able to work on technology for the future. Mahatma Ghandi once said, “The future depends on what you do today.” Since this is a relatively new field that is starting to pick up traction, there are many unknowns that I am discovering and exploring every day.
At Scheck Hillel I gained many valuable academic and life skills. As a two-time Raquel & Jaime Gilinski Hillel Ambassador, I learned that going above and beyond your comfort level leads you to great successes. Through the challenging Judaic and general studies dual curriculum, I became prepared to tackle the difficulty of studying engineering. The Scheck Hillel vision states the school “educates and inspires students to become exemplary global citizens with enduring Jewish identity and values.” Through the years, I have always kept Hillel’s vision with me; it is possible to be a global citizen while practicing a strong Jewish identity.
Read Yoni’s full interview at eHillel.org/alumni