Warriors' Week in Review
Dear Parents,
What a fantastic week it has been at MDYHS! It is an honor to share a glimpse of some of the events and programs of the past few days with you.
Over the course of the year, I have been writing about our exciting developments in the world of Educational Technology, under the wonderful guidance and leadership of our EdTech Director, Rabbi Michael Bitton. As part of our commitment to make MDYHS the shining star in the use of technology in the classroom and beyond, Rabbi Bitton - together with our new, incoming Chief Academic Officer of General Studies, Mrs. Jennifer Levy, designed a grant proposal for BOLD - Blended Online Learning Day schools - a pioneering program of innovative educational technology. (For information about BOLD, please check their website at http://www.bolddayschools.org/). This highly selective program, to which numerous schools across the country applied, announced that they would choose no more than 8 schools to explore a major funding opportunity - designed to infuse blended learning and differentiated instruction throughout the schools that would be selected. In the end, the BOLD program selected only 5 schools in the entire USA for this extremely prestigious honor. I am so proud to announce that MDYHS was the only high school in the entire country chosen for this coveted position, and the only school in the state of NY to be selected! We are extremely excited to be at the cutting edge of educational technology and to be recognized for the excellence of our programs. I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday with a representative of Education Elements, the organization with which we will be partnering to enhance our extensive program, and I look forward to being in touch with you every step of the way as we develop this further over the months ahead.
Educational technology took another form at MDYHS this week, as students who had expressed an interest in ourComputer Coding and Programming course for next year had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a seminar on robotics at our school. On Wednesday, the students saw a demonstration of NAO, the most widely used humanoid robot for academic purposes worldwide. The seminar focused on a fusion of the fields of computer science, engineering, and mathematics. As part of their workshop, our young engineers created and entered computer coding to the robot's database, getting NAO to perform tasks that ranged from simple to complex. The 22nd century has already arrived at MDYHS, and our students are at the forefront of its progress and design! (Please see the attached photos from this exciting program).
Rounding out the extraordinary EdTech accomplishments at MDYHS this week, a team of our administrators and department heads met to plan the details of our E-Portfolio program for the coming year. In this amazing program, students will be mentored in the design of an e-portfolio, starting in the 9th and 10th grades when specific teachers will give students special portfolio assignments, such as research and reflective essays, group video projects, artwork, etc. The student's faculty mentor will review these assignments on a regular basis, helping the student to find his or her unique "voice." In the 11th and 12th grades, the e-portfolio will shift focus, to center on the student's college and career resume. By the time the student is ready to apply to college, he or she will have a digital compilation that reflects his or her talents, creativity, accomplishments, skills, and personality. Each student will be armed with all of the elements necessary for success as the bright future and the wide world beckon.
And while on the subject of preparation for college, our 10th grade students experienced the wonderful talents ofMourad Kattan, ably assisted by Morris Kishk, as he led them in an extensive tutorial on SAT verbal skills preparation. Mourad and Morris distributed their latest vocabulary prep book, and worked with the students on building a strong and expanded vocabulary base. This alone would be of great note - but the really fantastic news is that our English department, under the supervision of Chairperson Mrs. Rachel Harari, is coordinating the curriculum with the SAT prep work, having Mourad and Morris work together with the department to help ensure the greatest results for our students. I spoke to a number of students after the program, and they were actually enthused about doing vocabulary work!
This preparation for success in and beyond MDYHS continues with the outstanding work of our dedicated Writing Center coordinator Ms. Katie Chabbott. Ms. Chabbott has completed a full round of work with the 11th grade classes for their college essays, and is working with individual students on their final drafts. In addition, she has started working with 9th graders on form, style, and structures of essay writing, so that when these students advance through the grades, they will be ready to give Ernest Hemingway a serious run for his money! From time to time Ms. Chabbott has shared some of the beautiful, poignant essays of our students, and their depth and eloquence is so moving. I can tell you that reading some of those essays opens a dimension of the student that is sometimes otherwise not revealed. Our students are indeed fortunate to have this guidance as they begin to think about what lies ahead in their future.
And speaking of good fortune and eloquence, I was privileged to receive an invitation from Mrs. Frieda Cattan's Jewish History class to attend a special presentation of their own creative design. The students in this class created a beautiful book - on 1,000 years of Jewish History: from 586 BCE to 600 CE. Each student had designed at least 2 sections of the book, focusing on a historical theme or figure, such as The Destruction of the Temple, The Career of Josephus, and The Seleucid Empire. These sections contained original text and stunning artwork. I sat amazed, watching and listening to each student presenting her own section of the book. When the presentations were complete, I had the joyous honor of accepting the book on behalf of the school - the class had donated it to our library. What a fantastic testament to our students' scholarly and artistic talents and their spirit of "giving back" to the community! (Please see the attached photo from this great presentation).
As our students know so well, the best learning is really not all that meaningful unless it is guided by Torah values andmiddot, touching the neshamah of the student. Toward that end, we had two powerful events this week that were designed to reinforce that message to our student body. During his weekly sihah to our boys, Rabbi Joey Haberspoke about using every opportunity one has to "build up" friends rather than intentionally or unintentionally "bringing them down." Rabbi Haber's vital message was complemented by a special video presentation - designed by our own students, under the leadership of Elliot Shrem. In this amusing, but meaningful video, students saw different scenarios how they - during the summer - can boost their friends' and their own spirits. This is a great way to cap off a year of strong learning and great accomplishments in Torah! And... while that was taking place, our 9th grade girls, under the direction of Mrs. Beth Goldberg, together with Mrs. Shara Netkin, Mrs. Laurie Michaels, and Mrs. Dahlia Dabah, conducted a spirited Minhah Celebration. Rachel Sardar and Marilyn Terzi had created a beautiful invitation to set this special program in motion. The entire grade was addressed by Mrs. Jackie Bitton - a much-in-demand speaker at schools and programs across the country, (and wife of our own Rabbi Elinatan Bitton). Her inspirational speech, containing moving stories and messages, mesmerized the students. The event was capped off with delicious ice cream desserts and with the distribution of Birkot HaShahar cards to each student. (Please see the attached photo from this joyous celebration). The students in both of these events left feeling the warmth and hizzukimparted to them by our caring and devoted faculty.
Finally, as today is the last day of regular classes for the school year, and next week, b'ezrat HaShem, begins the period of final exams and Regents, I know you join me in wishing all of our students the greatest success on their tests. We have full confidence that they will excel and shine! As we look to the days and weeks ahead, we have the privilege on Sunday of marching in the Celebrate Israel Parade - I hope you will be able to cheer the MDYHS contingent as we march pridefully up Fifth Avenue, showing solidarity and support for our beloved State of Israel. Thiscoming Tuesday evening we will honor our glorious seniors at the MDYHS Commencement Exercises at the Walt Whitman Auditorium in Brooklyn College. (Our 12th graders returned last night from their wonderful Senior Trip to Florida - please see the attached photo of our smiling students at Universal Studios). And the faculty and administration will be meeting over the weeks ahead to discuss exciting and important programs that will be put in place over the course of the summer and next year such as: plans for a Summer Institute in Deal, NJ for all students interested in taking next year's Behinah Yerushalmit given by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for college credit, and plans for our Middle States Association of Schools & Colleges' Accreditation Steering Committee. (More on these last two points in next week's letter...).
As always, please accept my warmest wishes for a Shabbat Shalom and for a great week ahead!
