Great Job!

I really needed this session. Thanks for all of this incredibly useful information and your suggestions for creating multiple and meaningful connections!!! Tami Elliott Goodman

Taking the technology plunge in Seattle!

MY HEAD IS EXPLODING

The preconference at the NATE conference has provided me with the skills to create Facebook profiles, pages, groups, blogs, and other forms of communication thru social media. My head is exploding from all of this knowledge but I am enjoying every minute of learning, questioning, and discussing the issues related to creating these sorts of connections with our communities.
Elisa Juros (okay to post)

Been a great morning and learning environment for those of us who are immigrants to technology. There is a need to upgrade skills regularly, and NATE has facilitated a way to do this. It would be great if we could have a session on creating the blog, page etc. in which we can actually do an entire layout.

A new way of thinking

I hear a cacophony of expressions about learning and technology... Wow! I didn't know that! I'm so overwhelmed! My brain is going to explode!

How we can translate our emotions, here, to the learning that goes on in our classrooms? We now have some tools to use technology to reach our kids and families. Our kids are already wired in this way--now it is up to us to reach them! Let's go!

Whom am I going to call when I have forgotten a lot that I have learned today?

What a fine ride!

Harriet and I are almost smarter than our 5th graders. Thank you for showing us we are facebook savvy- almost (LOL)! Diane

Using technology for special class

I've been asked to teach an interfaith class "on line" and this introduction-to-blogging has given me a bit of insight into how this might be done. While I think an "on line" course would be quite difficult for me, I now see opportunities for the students to use blogging to speak to each other after class about their own thoughts not expressed in class.

Going Tech!

At the NATE Preconference, Technology Boot Camp, the day is going well albeit a bit fast for me. I hope that all of this valuable information is still intact come tomorrow and the day after... Yes, ml, I have created a facebook account.

Education and Technology

"Education is risky, for it fuels the sense of possibility."
-Jerome Burner

This is one of my favorite texts about Jewish education. However, after today's technology boot camp at NATE Seattle, I would create a new text:

"Technology is risky, for it fuels the sense of possibility."

I am ready to take the risk and bring Jewish education to the next level. To reach our students and parents on the level with which they are most connecting.

As Jewish educators, we must be willing to take the risk!

Most of us are somewhere between confused or overwhelmed as we dip our toes into the world of social networking and its impact on the world of Jewish education. Its clear that facebook and blogging and twitter each have a great deal to offer us, if we can just get past our fear and anxiety: smart people like to feel smart - technology sometimes feels smarter than we are and harder to navigate. I've gotten over the worry that I might break the computer if I hit the wrong tab or key, but my level of frustration rises quickly when I can't easily understand (let alone master!) something that is so intuitive for others.
Still, I'm readying myself to plunge in: I recognize a need to start to become fluent in this world where so many of the families I work with live.
Among the many things that are still unclear to me - which of these social networking tools should I prioritize? How to choose where I should start?

Learning from Learning

PELIE is here at NATE Seattle to learn about the way in which technology tools can be integrated into Jewish education. We are interested in observing the questions people have, their process of interfacing with technology, and their challenges. We're using these insights to inform our design of regional technology training for Jewish educators. We've learned that there are questions about control, policy issues and how even negative posts can become teachable moments about Jewish values and ethics. --Adena Raub, Information Manager, PELIE Twitter: @PELIE_org

Agghhhh

The information is amazing, but I am still confused and bewildered
The train is moving fast!

To think about...

How does a professional staff of middle age and older members understand how to communicate with the 20's and30's?

NATE Preconference

• Eureka! I am actually blogging! I am learning all about tweeting, blogging, Wordpress and Facebook at the NATE preconference

To think about...

Technology bootcamp in action

My first blog!!! Wow, in the last 4 hours I have facebooked, blogged and tweeted, Way to go me!!! This a great start to a conference devoted to the Religious School Education of the 21st century. My students will be so proud. If only I could relay the information and it's value gained here to my synagogue leadership. Lisa Colton is such a fabulous teacher, I have already learned so much about how to keep up with the next generation of learners in Jewish Education.

NATE technology Boot Camp

Technology Boot Camp - learning how to bring myself and Temple Emanu-el Livingston into the technology age! Only in the 1st day of the Conference and already have so much to process and bring back! What would we do without NATE and all the learning. Looking forward to setting up a Facebook page for the Religious School and a blog!

NATE Pre-confference

Recently, our school was fortunate to receive a grant to add five AV Systems into five of our classroom. Therefore, NATE's "Technology in the Classroom" came just in time!!

Learning about the various aspects of Facebook, Blogging, Tagging, Tweeting (tweet, tweet . . .), etc., will be a great addition to our school-parents (community); teachers-parents; teachers-students; school-students; students-students; parents-parents channels of communication.

Pre-Conference Boot Camp

OMG at the NATE pre-conference Boot Camp...AMAZING!!! So much information. Learning great terrific information about Facebook, Twitter, Blogging. It is a technological smorgasbord. It is so exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. I love new technology but never had someone show me how to really use all of it, and now I am looking forward to taking all that I am learning back to my Temple and Religious School. I have so many ideas going through my head it is spinning. Look out Main Line Reform Temple - Beth Elohim I am going to take you places you have never been before. Hope you are ready to take this wild and amazing journey with me.

-Stephanie Schartz

Pre-Conference Thoughts...

to the tune of My Favorite Things:

Facebook and twitter and blogging online,
Trying new things for the very first time,
Thoughts moving quickly as my head rings,
These are a few of our NATE tech things.

We've just begun, once we get done,
we'll be full of pride,
We will be grateful for all that we learned,
And glad to be on this ride.

Thank you Lisa!

how fast can you listen?

NATE Boot Camp moves fast -- and you have to keep your ears open to keep up!

NATE Seattle PreConference Boot Camp

Today has been a very busy day. I have tweeted for the very first time in over a year. I learned about hash-marks and all about facebook, beyond what I already knew. Now, I am blogging for the first time. And the conference has not even begun yet!! I am anxious to see how I can integrate this information into my own work. I am also hopeful I will find some true partners in my setting who will be able to help with this very daunting task of integrating these tools in the work we do! Looking forward to the rest of the week.
-Cory Hermann

Pre-Conference Boot Camp

While I am not dressed for boot camp and not in shape to finish a boot camp, I am thoroughly enjoying this day. I have already added a new facebook page for our religious school, separate from our synagogue's page and youth group page. I have learned how to send specific groups a post without sending it to everyone so I can inform my friends without informing my students. Now I have the pleasure of writing my first blog post. Question, why do I need a blog if I update our religious school website daily? Most excited to learn about tweeting.