by Ari Yares | Apr 15, 2013 | School Leadership, School Psychology
It has been five years since I last touched a WISC kit or any other testing kit. No, this is not my introduction to a school psychologists’ anonymous meeting, but rather a reflection on the biggest change that I have undergone since handing in my testing kits...
by Ari Yares | Apr 12, 2013 | Design Thinking, Jewish Day School, Schechter School of Long Island
A colleague of mine once referred to tefillah as the third rail of Jewish education. As irreverent as this may sound, it stemmed from a deep-seated concern that as Jewish educators we struggle with this area of the day school experience, not because it is not...
by Ari Yares | Mar 21, 2013 | 21st Century Learning
Making the switch to a blended learning format for a course is intimidating. Frequently, it is referred to as a fundamental switch in the way that we conduct education. Having looked at Kahn Academy and a variety of online courses, I can see exactly why we feel...
by Ari Yares | Feb 22, 2013 | Schechter School of Long Island
I am a firm believer in the power of food. It is an almost elemental force that reaches deep into us and has the power to change our lives. Other ideals, kindness, love, world peace, and repairing the world, are intricately related to the power of food and can be...
by Ari Yares | Feb 19, 2013 | Jewish Day School
The largest challenge facing the North American Jewish community may be summed up by the most challenging question that my almost five year old has ever asked, “Why?” This question is difficult because she is not satisfied by the stock answer of “because I said so” or...
by Ari Yares | Jan 23, 2013 | The Innovative Dad Blog
I had an interesting internal debate in my head the other day.My wife and I have been very careful with how much “screen” time that we give our girls (ages 2 and 4 1/2) as we don’t want it to become an electronic babysitter for us. Television viewing...
by Ari Yares | Jan 16, 2013 | Jewish Day School
I haven’t been keeping a formal count, but I think that over the last several months, I have read at least a hundred blog posts or articles about day school sustainability. Please don’t construe this as a critique. I’m pleased that figuring out how...
by Ari Yares | Dec 31, 2012 | School Psychology
In moving to Long Island this past summer, traffic (and trying to avoid being stuck in it) became an integral part of my life. in Baltimore, I had been blessed with a commute that could be measured in feet, not miles, and walking to work was an option, that in...
by Ari Yares | Dec 19, 2012 | Design Thinking, Jewish Day School
I just watched a Ted Talk by Ben Saunders which concluded with his plans for an upcoming Antarctic expedition on foot. He detailed his experiences doing things that most of us probably wouldn’t even dream about.Watching this talk was inspiring. Now let’s...
by Ari Yares | Dec 19, 2012 | Jewish Day School
In getting ready for my trip to London to attend World ORT’s Wingate Seminar on instructional technology, I thought about a number of things to make sure that I was prepared for the trip. I checked the weather to ensure that I had packed the right kind of...
