Boy,+am+I+hungry!

Did you ever have one of those days where things seemed to be making sense (at least academically) all day long? Today was one of those days for me. As part of YU’s EdTech certificate program that I am participating in, I was assigned the task of staying current with the ISTE conference either by being there live, or by watching the conference via video on demand. For those who are not yet familiar with ISTE, it stands for International Society for Technology in Education and is designed for educators and education leaders engaged in advancing excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology. They have a yearly conference with this year’s attendance roughly at 17,850. After going through the list of 55 sessions, I chose a session presented by Catherine Laguna on the topic “**Serve an All-You-Can-Learn Buffet: Digital Age Differentiation”. **The tag read //Stop controlling portion size! Let your students learn all they want when you serve up differentiated lessons integrating technology that engages, elevates, and inspires learners//. Needless to say, it was hooked.

Ms. Laguna, started the session by asking us to view the students as guests coming to your home for dinner. When you are having guests, you have to prepare. Not everyone likes the same food, not everyone knows how to make small talk, and not everyone gets full at the same time. Any good host wants his guests to leave happy and full, why shouldn’t we want the same for our students.

Ms. Laguna went on to break up the meal analogy into seven parts:

1. **Get to know your guests** - List ways to learn more about your students before you prepare the lessons you will be serving them. 2. **Plan the menu** - Research the learning targets or standards, then decide what level of achievement will be acceptable and what would constitute the ideal level of achievement. 3. **Set the table** - With your unique guests in mind choose a variety of activities that would meet the needs of a diverse group. 4. **Whet their appetites for learning** - Determine ways to provide a learning environment that makes students feel comfortable, safe, and free to create and explore. 5. **Be prepared for second helpings** - Develop a system for reflecting on the success of different activities with different students. 6. **Did everyone get enough to eat?** - Compare different methods of assessing student understanding and determining their level of achievement. 7. **Save room for dessert** - Consider ways to include an element of fun in each lesson since students will remember best what they most enjoyed learning.

Throughout the session great tips and tools were given and they were great, but what my mind was focused on was how can I incorporate this into my JH Judaic classes? I was sold on the concept, but how to transfer this entire concept is going to take me some time to figure out.

What I do already own after just watching this session, is that I need to find ways to engage and challenge every student to grow, and to get closer towards their potential. For that I need to thank Ms. Laguna, the ISTE team, and of course YU 2.0.

Here is the link to this incredible session. If you have any ideas on how to incorporate this in the Judaic Studies classes, I am looking forward to hearing them.

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