Epstein Gets Down With High Tech
Epstein School transition kindergarten teacher Susan Londe and her class use a giant touch-screen TV as part of a healthy kinesthetic group activity: dancing to the video “Let’s Get Fit Counting to 100 With Jack Hartmann!” Such touch screens, providing children the opportunity to interface with technology placed at their level, are part of Epstein’s effort to integrate state-of-the-art technology into classroom learning even for the youngest pupils.
Applications Open for Tax Credit
The ALEF Fund and other student scholarship organizations in Georgia are accepting applications for 2017 state tax credits to provide scholarships for Jewish education.
Taxpayers can designate a portion of their state income taxes ($1,000 for an individual or $2,500 for a couple) to go to the ALEF Fund, and the contribution doesn’t cost the taxpayer anything.
The ALEF Fund, which works with 16 day and synagogue schools, is accepting taxpayer forms through mid-December so it can submit them on the first business day of 2017. The state has a $58 million cap on the program, and the Department of Revenue received requests exceeding that amount on the first eligible day in 2015 and 2016.
For applications and more information, visit www.aleffund.org.
Flax Dental Taking Scholarship Applications
Flax Dental, an Atlanta cosmetic and restorative dental practice that specializes in full-mouth restorations, implants and advanced laser dentistry, is accepting applications until Sept. 25 for its Knowledge Matters Flax Dental Scholarship Program.
Every year Flax Dental awards $1,000 to a local student pursuing a dental assistant program or dental hygiene program at a Georgia college or university. Last year’s award went to Georgia State University student Autumn Dipietro.
The scholarship is open to a college student, prospective college student or graduating high school senior in Georgia with a cumulative minimum GPA of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Applicants must submit a 400-to-600-word essay that will be judged on its effectiveness in presenting a personal point of view, clear communication and originality.
Flax Dental will announce the winner in October.
“At Flax Dental, we believe that knowledge matters when it comes to dentistry. It takes extensive knowledge and skill to provide patients with the highest standard of dental care,” said Hugh Flax, a past president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and co-founder of the Georgia Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. “We want the next generation of dental professionals to be able to not only share in that knowledge, but also build upon it to take the dental profession even further in the future.”
Apply for the scholarship at www.flaxdental.com/about-us/scholarships.
10-Day Fellowship Connects Faculty, Israel
Applications will be due in January for the 2017 Faculty Fellowship Summer Institute in Israel, which provides 24 full-time college faculty members with a 10-day trip through and a chance to develop lifelong academic relations.
This year’s program, in late May and early June, included lectures about Israel and its history, the Holocaust, women’s rights, and research and development. Their academic exchanges included meetings with doctors trying to cure Alzheimer’s and a discussion of video game designs with a Nobel laureate in mathematics.
“I have long believed that Israel is a special place. The people, places and experiences on our trip confirmed that belief with overflow,” U.S. Naval Academy math professor David Ruth said. “Thank you to everyone, hosts and participants, for making this a journey of a lifetime.”
The program is sponsored by Jewish National Fund and Media Watch International.
Sharon Tzour, the founder and executive director of Media Watch International, said, “The beauty of Faculty Fellowship is that the relationships made during the two-week program are transformational as they become lifelong partnerships between professors in both the U.S. and Israel who are truly trying to help — inside and outside the classroom — make the world a better place and pass that information on to their students.”
Emory epidemiologist Michael Goodman is among the alumni of the program, although no Georgia universities were represented this year. The closest participants were Tuskegee University historian Lisa Bratton, Davidson College physicist Wolfgang Christian, University of Florida musicologists Jennifer Thomas and Florida Atlantic University art historian Linda Johnson.
To learn more about the program, visit www.ff2israel.org, or call Rene Reinhard at 212-879-9305, ext. 235.
$36K Prize for Day School Teachers
The Kohelet Foundation is offering the Kohelet Prize, a $36,000 award for an educator or teams of educators working in Jewish day schools. Prize winners’ work must demonstrate a progressive approach to education in the following six categories:
- Interdisciplinary integration.
- Real-world learning.
- Learning environment.
- Differentiated instruction.
- Development of critical and/or creative thinking.
- Risk taking and failure.
“We know there are incredible, creative and highly effective teachers doing this work in the field right now. We want to inspire them to share what they know about developing the minds and hearts of their students,” said Holly Cohen, the Kohelet Foundation’s executive director.
“The first five categories are critical to excellent education. By honing in on these, we hope to surface work that demonstrates the elements that matter most in the classroom,” said Rabbi Gil Perl, the foundation’s chief academic officer.
In explaining the sixth category, Rabbi Perl said: “In schools, failures are too often seen as an endpoint, not as a crucial step toward success. To foster a growth mind-set in students, we have to begin by fostering it in our teachers.”
To submit an entry, educators will upload their work at www.koheletprize.org between Sept. 29 and Nov. 29. A panel of judges in the fields of education, psychology and neuroscience will select the winning entries.
The Kohelet Foundation plans to create a searchable database of all entries, accessible after the close of submissions. The prizes will be awarded in early 2017.
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