The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco has announced the winners of its first Jewish Education and Technology Awards.
The JET Awards were initiated by Fraidy Aber, the museum’s director of education, to honor innovative Jewish day school teachers who use educational technology in their classrooms. The awards are part of the museum’s Jewish Education and Technology Project, which includes an annual weeklong institute for teachers.
Nominations came in from across the nation, and winners were selected in three categories: elementary school, middle school and high school. The judges were from several partner organizations: PARDeS: Progressive Association of Reform Day Schools, Ravsak: the Jewish Community Day School Network, the Schechter Day School Network and Yeshiva University School Partnership.
The winners: Anat Keren, fourth- and fifth-grade Hebrew and Judaic studies (Hochberg Preparatory, Aventura, Florida); Idit Bendavid, sixth-to-eighth-grade Jewish texts (Epstein School, Atlanta); and Etan Kelman, 10th-grade World Civilization and Jewish Experience (New Community Jewish High School, Los Angeles).
Keren’s approach provides a good example of the type of teaching being done. Her fourth-graders create and videotape a daily “morning show” called “Boker Tov Israel” (Good Morning, Israel). They research, write scripts and interview in Hebrew and share the talk show with other students (for a sample, visit www.bit.ly/jet-video).
Several Bay Area Jewish day schools submitted nominations but did not win.
The JET Award winners receive $1,000 and other gifts. The CJM has received support from the S.F.-based Jim Joseph Foundation and the Covenant Found-ation.