Brings multiple synagogue supplementary schools together in a shared digital learning space for a community building, Israel educational experience.
Program Description
This series of 5 monthly, 50-minute sessions based on our IsraelLINKClassroom content will create new learning communities while engaging students through videos, padlet activities, KAHOOT games and more. Classes will be led by one of our professional IsraelLINK educators. Teachers from each participating institution will be provided topics for breakout discussions.
With IsraelLINKConnect you can:
- Provide students with opportunities to discover Israel through an identity-building process based on their values.
- Create larger learning communities where a variety of opinions are heard in a supportive environment.
- Alleviate some of the stresses of online teaching for your educators, while providing an engaging educational learning space for the students.
Scroll over images to see units included in IsraelLINKConnect
Identity
In this unit take a moment to think about you. Who are you historically? Who are you right now? What matters to you? What do you value? What are some of the things that influence your identity? What are the adjectives or nouns you would use to describe yourself? What is your moral center? All journeys of discovery begin with YOU.
Jewish Continuity
In The Land Of Israel
In this unit you are going to explore Israel as the Jewish Homeland. Through a series of activities, you will fast-forward through Israel’s recorded history from ancient times to today and discover for yourself if there is evidence of the Jewish People’s continuous connection to Israel.
Israel By The Numbers
In this unit, you will have the opportunity to navigate Israel. Through a series of activities, you will become familiar with Israel’s size and surrounding region. You will end the lesson by meeting some individuals who despite the challenges, have chosen to “come home” to Israel.
Diversity In Israel
In this unit you will be introduced to the richness of Israel’s society and the unique and amazing people who add to its culture. This will challenge some of the things you may have heard about what life in Israel is like for some of the people who live there. It may also challenge some of your ideas of who makes up Israel’s population.
Humanitarian Aid
What do values say about a country? In the United States we value, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as promised in our Declaration of Independence. Actions, more than words, say much more about a person or nation and what they value. In this unit, you will learn about some of the actions taken by Israel to assist those in need, and this will help you draw your own conclusion about the role of Jewish values in Israeli society.
Innovation & Technology
In this unit, you will become an expert in one of the areas of cutting-edge technology that Israel is known for. You and your assigned group will become an “advertising team” and create and produce your own commercial to educate your peers on your made-in-Israel innovation or technological breakthrough.
Israel & You
You began your IsraelLINK journey with a self-identifying activity. The goal was that once you determined your core values, you would have had an opportunity to get to know Israel through the lens of what matters to YOU. How does this Israel make you feel? Was there something special and unique you learned that helped you to forge a stronger connection? Is there a value that is important to you that you have seen exemplified through the actions that Israel takes? Is this something that you are still working out? In this unit, you will have the opportunity to explore these questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is IsraelLINKConnect?
IsraelLINKConnect is a new program which creates community by combining multiple Synagogue Religious School classes together in a shared online learning space.
Why was IsraelLINKConnect created?
Given the climate following the COVID-19 outbreak, our IsraelLINK team spent time meeting with IsraelLINK educators world-wide. After discussing their challenges and concerns, IsraelLINKConnect was created.
The goals of IsraelLINKConnect are to support Jewish educational institutions by:
- Eliminating the stress of converting curriculum into engaging online content.
- Community-building by creating a cohort of learners from several synagogue supplementary schools.
- Offering engaging, informative and inspiring Israel content.
We are here to take one academic item off your to-do lists for the 2020-2021 school year!
Who teaches IsraelLINKConnect?
The IsraelLINKConnect classes will be led by an IsraelLINK team member or a trained IsraelLINK affiliated educator. Schools will provide their own instructors to manage classroom attendance and behavior as well as lead guided breakout discussions throughout the sessions.
How many IsraelLINKConnect Sessions will there be?
The IsraelLINKConnect program consists of 5 monthly, 50 minute sessions.
Will IsraelLINKConnect use similar content to IsraelLINKClassroom?
IsraelLINKConnect will feature much of the same content from our IsraelLINKClassroom curriculum. The main difference is that IsraelLINKConnect will integrate online interactive classroom tools such as Kahoot, Padlet, Word Clouds and more.
What if my school wants to run sessions for five straight weeks instead of monthly?
We are doing our best to schedule as many schools as possible for our monthly sessions. Please contact the IsraelLINK team if you have a special request. We will try our best to accommodate you, but cannot guarantee that it will be possible.
How much does IsraelLINKConnect cost?
The cost for all five IsraelLINKConnect sessions is $500 ($100/session).
How are IsraelLINKConnect session times and dates determined?
Once you sign up for our program (see registration button on page), an IsraelLINK professional will reach out to discuss dates and timing for your sessions, as well as potential school groupings based on timing and grades-levels involved.
How are lessons delivered?
All sessions will take place via ZOOM. Once you sign up for our program, we will follow up with the information you will need to forward to your students regarding the program.
What are the tech requirements?
IsraelLINKConnect works best when students log in using a tablet or laptop. Throughout the five sessions, students will require a second device for Kahoot games. Additionally, students will need to be able to open new tabs for some of our interactive activities.
If my students have already studied the IsraelLINKClassroom curriculum, will IsraelLINKConnect be an appropriate program for them?
IsraelLINKConnect utilizes the content from the IsraelLINKClassroom curriculum so students who already studied those topics will find much of the content to be a review. If you are looking for new content, please contact the IsraelLINK team to learn more about our exciting new IsraelLINKClassroom content!
If we have a school we would like to partner with, can we create our own IsraelLINKConnect session?
If you have a specific school that you would like to partner with, be sure to specify which school in an email to our IsraelLINK team at info@IsraelLINK.org and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
With IsraelLINKClassroom my students received their own logins, will they need the same for IsraelLINKConnect?
Because all the IsraelLINKConnect content is being shared in an online ZOOM room, students will not need a log-in for this program.
If my school returns to an in person/hybrid model, will IsraelLINKConnect still be happening?
Please be in touch with our team if any of your classroom plans have changed. While IsraelLINKConnect is designed for students learning virtually, we can work out ways to make the sessions work in-person as well.