Kedma - For Social and Educational Equality in Israel
April, 2017
Dear all, we would like to wish you a happy Passover This is also an opportunity to apprise you of recent developments in the NGO and its schools. May we always celebrate our freedom! Ilana Yona, Director, and the Kedma staff
Kedma News
Including social justice in the curriculum! The 6th Annual Kedma Conference… preparations are underway
We are working full steam on our upcoming annual conference on Including Social Justice in the Curriculum.
July 4, 5, 10 and 11 – four days full of information and inspiration.
Click herefor a short Hebrew clip about the conference.
*(all links are to materials in Hebrew)
Bridge to the University
Our Bridge to the University program is back in full swing. In February, an additional course preparing for the psychometric examination (the Israeli equivalent of the SAT) using E.Z. Way instruction platform. The highly subsidized course is held twice a week at Kedma School. Several of the graduates of the first course have already enrolled in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The program is funded by Kedma through donations. Soon, it will be offered also in Dora neighborhood, Netanya.
Graduates… and Volunteers
Yarden Adika, Kedma graduate and law student, together with Dr. Yossi Rahamim, labor law lecturer at Ono Academic College, have visited Kedma to talk with the students about the importance of higher education and legal issues relevant to the high-school students’ lives. The meeting was held as part of a project led by Yaniv Danino, 12th Grade Group Coordinator and math teacher at Kedma, designed to provide knowledge, tools and role models for students about to graduate. It was fascinating!
Kedma in the Community
Moments before Passover, ten women from the neighborhood met in the school library for a creative writing workshop facilitated by Yifat Steinmatz, a bibliotherapy student from the Katamona team. Another workshop is planned in the summer, for the mothers participating in Kedma’s Kedmiya program. Katamona is a public library and gallery in Jerusalem’s Katamonim neighborhood, and the Kedma School is happy to take part in its activities.
Teacher with an Agenda Newsletter: Lesson Plans Sent to Thousands of Teachers
Throughout the year, we email fascinating lesson plans on a variety of subjects to thousands of teachers. The lessons are age-adapted and include references to a broad range of resources and learning materials. We receive excellent feedback from teachers who apply the plans in their lessons.
Voluntary consent – Lesson plan distributed on the Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
Great job!
First-rate, accessible and intelligent!
The plan is written in a straightforward, open and sensitive approach.
Thank you, Orit Shor.
Historical erasure – Lesson plan distributed towards the Day Marking the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran.
Super!
The right combination of content and form, meets a critical need in filling a knowledge and awareness gap.
Simply Wonderful! Yosef Ben Basan
Kedma School News
Visit of the Jerusalem Education District Director
Mr. Meir Shimony, who heads the Ministry of Education’s Jerusalem District, visited Kedma School. In addition to the staff and students, several Kedma graduates attended and shared their personal perspectives on the school’s tremendous contribution to their personal development.
As one graduate put it: “Here they see the good in you, contain your entire being, provide support, and never give up. Something here cultivates your spirit. Somebody here believes in you”.
Mr. Shimoni was highly impressed with the school activities and said: “I see motivation and passion here; it’s a thinking place that sets an example; I expect more schools to follow the model described here”.
Principal Michal Haddad talked about Kedma’s pivotal role in the neighborhood’s community fabric: “I want the lights at school to remain on ‘till late at night”.
Inspirational: Shimrit Amir
A WhatsApp chatbetween a Kedma graduate and teacher Shimrit Amir provides a reminder to all of us, of the magic a teacher can work in a student’s life, and how the spell remains long after she is no longer physically present. Inspirational!
SAHI wins Education Award
The won the Education Award for this year, in a ceremony attended by Minister of Education Naftali Bennett. Kedma graduate Ori Zadok is the SAHI Chief in the Jerusalem area. Kedma School is the NGO’s center in Jerusalem, and many of its volunteers are Kedma students and graduates, who distribute food packages for the needy throughout the year. We wish them many more years of contribution to the community.
Aliyah Panel
As part of Aliyah Week, Kedma held a panel of student family members who immigrated to Israel from different countries. The entire school took part in the panel moderated by one of our 11th grade students. It was a moving day where students experienced their families’ immigration stories first hand – a fascinating opportunity to connect the collective story we read about in the textbooks with the personal story of students’ families.
Purim at 'Swiss House'
In one of the activities related to the annual theme of Senior Citizens’ Rights, 8th-grade students together with the Garin Reim scouts prepared and distributed Purim pastries to the residents of Swiss House – a retirement home in the Katamonim neighborhood. The residents were happy to meet the students, spoke to them and showed them their apartments. One of the residents, a former member in a Jewish paramilitary organization, visited Kedma to tell the story of his life.
HOTAM in Kedma
Teaching staffs, academics, college and university students and many other delegations visit Kedma School during the year to find out what is so special about our educational practice.
HOTAM (Hebrew acronym for Education, Communication and Leadership) is a program designed to attract outstanding BA graduates to educational work. In a visit of teachers from the program held last November, the HOTAM instructor asked the students: “What advice can you give teachers on working with students?” Their answers were: Look the student in the eye Know the student beyond the school context Not to give up on the student Love the student Principal Michal Haddad summed it up by stating that these are really the four main pillars of Kedma. It was exciting!
Foreign Ministry Delegation
Every year, many educators from all over the world visit Kedma. This year, we had a delegation from MASHAV – Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation. The delegates wanted to learn about our uniquely successful model, educational concept and instruction methods.
They were met by School Counselor Prof. Yehuda Bar Shalom and Shavit, a 7th grade student, who supported the theoretical presentation with insights from her daily life as a Kedma student.
Teaching as a Calling
Hani Yaakov, a teacher supervisor working in Kedma, wrote the following post about the Kedma teachers and about teaching as a vocation:
Listen everybody: not a day goes by that I don’t meet teachers. I hang out in teachers’ lounges, I meet homeroom teachers, I talk to principals, give lectures and courses – I see them at work, I chat with them on WhatsApp and follow their progress. You know what I see?? Too many pure souls!! That teacher you see in the picture? Her name is Yael. Yesterday, she finished working at three, and by five she was already hosting eight students to prepare them for the grammar matriculation exam. Did anybody pay her for it? Did anybody applaud her on Facebook? You gotta be kidding. She and everybody else are doing it all without expecting anything in return – and they’re doing it with a smile: every morning they arrive prepared to meet another challenge.
Art Major Exhibition – Spring 2017
A candy doll – part of a project on food in our lives.
Project following the death of Yosef Salamsa due to police violence against member of the Ethiopian community.
Project following Picasso’s Guernica showing how the student perceives war today.
Neve Hof School News
Children’s Rights Day At Neve Hof School
Children’s Rights Day at Neve Hof was the culmination of six weeks of learning about the subject. In the morning hours, the students experienced activities in several “stations”, each focused on a specific right. Examples included: blind soccer, drawings about rights, “right or privilege?” questionnaire, and kickboxing – the right for self-defense. The stations were operated by 6th-grade students. At noon, a panel was held where three panelists talked about their experiences of violation of rights as children. Rotem, who is currently a social worker with girls at risk, described how she was forced to leave her home as an adolescent due to violence by her parents and had to live on the street. Ido, who had graduated from Neve Hof last year, talked about his coping with bullying as an overweight child. Arbel, who had graduated some ten years ago, talked about her coping with a physical disability as a girl. It was an exciting day full of rich experiences. Obviously, the children had undergone a profound learning process, and together with the teachers, developed tools for coping with conflicts they are already experiencing in their everyday lives or may experience in the future due to violations of their rights. And that day continues to reverberate in the lessons: everything said on the panel was transcribed and printed, and Natalie Gindes uses these texts as raw material for language lessons.
Roy Hasan & Dr. Itzik Saporta
Neve Hof students visited the Tel Aviv University for a meeting with social activists. They met poet and teacher Roy Hasan and social activist Dr. Itzik Saporta. The meeting was very moving, and as Hasan put it, “it blew my mind”.
I stood in front of them and before I could say a word, 500 fingers were raised. I told the teacher there’s no need for me to speak, it’s better for the students to ask questions, and I will tell them what they want to know. They asked amazing questions... At the end of the meeting, I couldn’t leave the classroom – they gave me so much love, they were so sweet and fun and hugging. I never thought anything like this could happen – it was one of the most unexpected, joyful and powerful experiences I have ever had.
Social Marathon for 5th Graders
Eti Binder and Adva Kafri, homeroom teachers of the 5th-grade classes, initiated a Social Marathon which included teamwork-based outdoor games, discussion circles, clips, a lecture for parents, and parent-student workshops on network bullying. The marathon brought the students from both classes closer together, and made them feel that the staff is present in their lives and helps them overcome social challenges. The marathon also had a distinct academic purpose, as it enabled the students to devote greater attention to their studies and improve their performance.
Imaye Taga at School
Professional soccer player and social activist Imaye Taga came to visit the students of Neve Hof, and these are his impressions:
I’ve been meeting children and youth throughout the country for almost ten years now… The many meetings I’ve had until now did not really prepare me for the last meeting I had the pleasure of experiencing in a school in central Israel. The teacher who invited me told me it would be no problem for met to talk about Abera [Mengistu] and the late Yosef [Salamsa], on the contrary – I really should, as many of the students already know the two stories. Suddenly, a little charming girl with amazing confidence stood up and started talking: “We have to treat people like people, and not treat them differently because of the color of their hair or skin”. I was delighted to hear this – it is not every day that you meet a little girl who makes such a statement with such confidence. I was deeply touched by the charming children, by their maturity, by their knowledge about Abera and Yosef and Israeli society in general. They are our future generation, and we must nourish them and educate them to love “people like people”.
'Together' – A Space for Learning
The 'Together' space for diversification in learning and teaching methods expands the learning resources and strategies, and truly meets the need for differential teaching. The center was created at the beginning of the year, and quickly became one of the most active and bustling places at Neve Hof School. The center is managed by Neta Zalmanson and operated by young teachers in national service. Beyond the continuous activity with students around academic contents, the students spend their free time there, playing table games together, drawing and hanging out on the adjacent terrace. In this space, students from all classes can take part in positive interactions and learn together.
In Hamitzer’s Neighborhood
As part of language classes, 4th-grade homeroom teachers Amit Butbul and Silvie Kolkin screen an episode from the series “Neighborhood”. Through the series, the students study contents related to social justice, the distribution of wealth, center-periphery relations, as well as the meaning of home and being evacuated. Giora Hamitzer who wrote the series visited the school and held a fascinating meeting with the students, who asked him about the series and its events.
It was amazing!
Gender Studies at School
Neve Hof School devotes considerable attention to gender issues. In 5th and 6th grades, we offer elective lessons on attitudes of boys and girls on gender (in)equality; ads that shape the feminine/masculine image; toys and games of girls and boys; the feminine ideal of beauty; “masculine” and “feminine” professions and what I want to do when I grow up; and women as heroes and female heroes in my family. In 3rd grade, the annual subject is gender, and the teachers develop learning units about it.
Gender is a language at Neve Hof, and it is used in all other lessons in grammar, math and geography.
'Savoring Gender' Lesson Plan
“Savoring Gender” is a lesson plan on gender written based on the Neve Hof lessons. We mailed it to our mailing list and received enthusiastic responses:
Dear staff,
I was excited to read the materials I received from the branch administrators (the Hebrew Reali School’s Hadar branch).
This year (it’s a first year, pilot) I led the subject of education for gender equality in the branch (together with a supervisor from the Ministry of Education) in the 9th grade age group.
I’d love to receive more materials.
I have no doubt that thanks to various materials that teachers from different disciplines could relate to, the staff’s cooperation could even increase. I would be grateful if you emailed me materials and I’d love to disseminate them.
Thank you and happy Hanukkah!
Ronit Yariv
We would like to thank you – our donors and supporters. Kedma’s activities throughout the years have been made possible by the generous donations of the following individuals and organizations: Wertheimer family, Glencore Foundation for Education and Welfare, Joseph and Christina Kasierer Foundation, Ms. Shulamit Bar Shani, PEF, Metanel Foundation, Bezeq, Sobell Foundation, Congregation Rodeph Sholom, New York, Beverly Foundation Legacy, Arkin Family Foundation, Bloch Foundation, JCD, Check Point, The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey, Freeman Family Foundation, Peretz Naftali Foundation, and Keren Simcha Letzdaka.