Update 84 - Gmar Hatima Tova

Howie Gordon
Sep 30, 2022
3 min read

Sounds of Silence sung by two brothers

Aryeh and Gil Gat are two brothers from Jerusalem.

Such a beautiful cover of the famous song by Simon and Garfunkel.

I didn’t write last week so I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you that celebrated a Happy New Year. We tend to eat too much over these events. I know that I am not the only one.

DJ Raphi brought out a new video which could certainly assist with exercising and even better, teach our pupils new English at the same time.

Mondly

Did you know that the Ministry of Education has purchased 1000000 licenses for Mondly for all the 5th and 6th graders. What is Mondly? An app that can be played on any device and Utilizes a combination between the bilingual and grammar-translation method, whereby students embark on a journey to become functional bilinguals, with a strong emphasis on verbal proficiency. MOE will grant access to all grade 5-6 pupils for the duration of the year. The aim is to enrich pupils' language learning experience with Mondly. The children achieve this by immersing themselves in the game and learning new vocabulary, speaking and reading.

If you are a 5th or 6th grade teacher and have not registered - please do here https://bit.ly/MondlyIL

Here is some more information about the project - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQJ5nv0qI5pG4uKhD40N5dHro123YzsXLYCPdQSmLgLU4Wq65ZfT6p1WLujjH8CzpWMdsG8uu_FY0a1/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Join the hundreds of teachers and thousands of pupils that are already playing with Mondly

Thank you Jadyn Rylee for this beautiful rendition of Sounds of Silence

TikTok

So I joined TikTok to see what the hype is all about. Here is my first ever TikTok video.

In my opinion there is a lot of good out there mixed with a lot of inappropriate content for our students. However many students are on TikTok and I believe we should be guiding them to the good stuff.

As teachers I think we should at least know what is out there. According to “Bored Teachers” these are the top 25 teachers we should be following.

https://www.boredteachers.com/post/25-teachers-you-should-be-following-on-tiktok

I am not suggesting that you run out and join TikTok, yet it is important to appreciate that social media is not just a fad and if we ignore it it will go away.

“When you focus on the good, the good get’s better” Abraham Hicks. Hicks is an American author and speaker on the subject of the Law of Attraction. Let’s find the good out there and bring it to our students in any way possible.

With all this social media talk it brings me to another topic. Staying focused. Picture this scenario - I am creating a lesson plan and my whatsapp dings, my Facebook sends an alert and my watch buzzes. What should I do? My mind is on my lesson plan, yet I am distracted.

Enter “Focusable”. I signed up for this app and the results are astounding. I set a timer for work with no distractions and this is what I do. Definitely something to look into .

Bonus Music Clip

Digital Tool of the Week

Focusable - Focusable is a tool to find focus and develop optimal learning experiences Progress your, focus, A new tool for students, teachers and those seeking to improve their ability to focus.

https://getfocusable.com

Musical Joke of the Week

We all know “Annie” as a cute redhead. Picture Annie as a mother.

Tim’s friends came to his house to ask him out to play.

Tim’s mother Annie opened the door.

“Sorry boys, my son is grounded, he can’t play with you guys. Fear not, my son will come out tomorrow”