Teaching from Home: A Human Interest Story

In the Beginning…
All female Israeli teachers are known to their students as Morah. Teaching the Hebrew language is called Safah.

Aliza Picard, Morah Aliza, came to The USA from Israel in August 2005 with her husband, Avi, who had received a Fulbright Scholarship, and their five children.   While in the US, she began teaching Hebrew to 5th grade students at the Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey.  In Safah it is very important for students to be immersed in the Israeli Culture.  Moriah administrators soon realized that they had a teacher who not only spoke Hebrew as her native language and could share the culture and her love for Israel, but who also had amazing teaching skills and a good understanding of American culture, needs and language!

As the time neared for Morah Aliza and family to return to Israel, she approached the Moriah School with her desire to continue to teach, but from her home in Israel. She realized that to make this a reality, it would take strong and professional leaders who were not afraid of change.  She found such leadership in Dr. Elliot Prager, Principal, and Mrs. Odelia Danishefsky, Associate Principal for Jewish Studies, who were willing to adopt such a creative and future oriented initiative.

Initial Challenges
Setting up and implementing the technology provided some interesting challenges and required  the cooperation of a number of people, both at the Moriah School and in Israel, to make it happen. Mrs. Lisa Fusco, Director of Technology, and Mr. Kenny Harris, Network Administrator, have been very devoted to the project from its inception.  They are able to solve problems as they arise and continue to provide on-going technical support.

It soon became apparent that the initiative would also require the collaboration of other staff members at Moriah School. Teachers and teaching assistants stepped up to the challenge by contributing to logistical and pedagogical needs along the way.

In addition, Morah Aliza wasn’t prepared to use all the technology. She shared that when she began, she was not very computer savvy, but this experience has rapidly increased her proficiency!  While these challenges are a tale unto themselves, this article focuses on the human side of the story.
 
About Morah Aliza
Morah Aliza’s identity is woven from her love of God, her family and her nation. An outside of the box, creative thinker, she is an extremely vivacious and social woman whose love of people radiates through the videoconferencing screen.  Vital to her success and that of her students is her willingness and even the need, to embrace challenges and projects.  

Prior to her visit to the United States, Morah Aliza monitored fifteen social workers who helped abused children.  Working with them and these children was so important to her that she said, ‘I would have worked even if I didn’t get paid.” Yet, after a while her “soul became tired” and she suffered emotional exhaustion.  For the present, she has found that teaching is providing a “rest for her soul” and gives her life a “another interesting aspect.” She has also discovered that her social work background enriches her teaching.  She is able to draw on her strength in reading people and situations, to better understand her students and their parents and to more easily handle complicated circumstances.
 
Home in Israel
The Studio
Homes in Israel tend to be much smaller than American homes.  Thus, Morah Aliza’s teaching studio shares the space that is also her son’s bedroom. Since he is away at school during the week and is a generous young man, this arrangement is working well. Her studio consists of a Polycom Viewstation, a Visual Concert and a laptop. These technologies allow her to ‘see her students’ and her students to see her and her powerpoint slides, many of which  show pictures representing vocabulary words to provide the visual stimulation necessary to embed concepts in the students’ memories.  A Bamboo Tablet enables her to mark/correct papers and saving them to PDF facilitates their being returned to the students. Assistants at Moriah School also contribute by correcting some student papers.

Creating a Human Connection
What Morah Aliza feared the most was that teaching via videoconferencing would inhibit the relationships she has always built with her students and thus, they would quickly become bored. She found she could use the camera presets, both at her site and in the Moriah classroom to her benefit. She learned to keep her physical movements to a minimum and to “take the minus of being far away and make it a plus” by focusing the camera in on her students and making comments on their smiles and dimples!  She showed her students how she could hear their whispers and see and hear everything in their classroom.  She told them, “Though I’m 6,000 miles away, I can hear all your secrets!” As a result, any behavior issues simply disappeared.  One boy commented to his mom that he could not disturb anyone in the class (as he had done in other classes) because Morah Aliza could see and hear everything. He said, “I’m perfect in this class and I’m learning!” In addition, Morah Aliza students get to take turns moving the microphone and turning the second monitor on and off.  They have become the modern day children who are chosen to erase the chalkboard for the teacher! 

Another interesting aspect of her classes is that Morah Aliza has allowed the camera into her personal life.  She says that, for the students, it’s somewhat like watching a reality show!  The students have met her family members.  By exposing the students to daily events, noises and images, Moriah Aliza is bringing Israel into their classroom, especially the Negev Desert environment in Southern Israel where Morah Aliza lives.  They have seen pictures of signs warning drivers about camel crossings, have heard Israeli birds singing outside her window, and have learned about heavy rains that flood the desert!  These activities have created more of a connection not only to Morah Aliza, but also to her homeland and culture.  The students have learned that they can be better Jews if they know more Hebrew and understand more of the culture. Now they have nearly first hand experience.

Preparation is the Key
When teaching face to face, Morah Aliza depended a lot on her personality.  Now she plans each moment of her 45 minute classes and focuses on creating a ‘stage presence’ to engage her students. She uses her keen sense of humor to ‘grab them’ and has added more games and creative strategies, such as songs, hand motions set to music, plays and competitions.  These activities help the information ‘stick’ in the students’ brains.  Since the students are required to be so active, they tend to be more engaged and committed. When asked where she looked for resources to help her, she shared that she asked teachers, both at Moriah School and in Israel, friends, and family for their ideas as well as leaning on her own creativity. As a result, she has discovered that she is more prepared to teach than ever!

Other Personal Sacrifices Made
Morah Aliza and her family have also made some personal sacrifices for her new career.  The seven (7) hour time difference means that when her teaching begins at 10:15 am in New Jersey, her husband is just arriving home from work at 5:15 pm.  He willingly steps into the parenting role, providing her freedom to totally focus on her New Jersey students.  Weddings, parties, and festival activities are a big part of the Jewish community in Israel, and many times occur in the evenings.  Morah Aliza has given up many such invitations in order for her to teach.

Summary
Morah Aliza shares that she has discovered three big advantages to teaching through videoconferencing:

1. The camera allows her to introduce her students to her personal life and homeland, creating deeper student engagement.
2. Teaching via videoconference requires interactivity and hands-on activities to create back and forth feedback every minute of the class; perhaps even more than on-site teaching. Such strategies force students to be more engaged and speak the language more often.
3. While the content is extremely important, teaching strategies have become vital. Concentration on the ‘how to’ has exceeded her concentration on the content.

Final comments
We realize that we have only touched the surface of what makes this amazing partnership work so well.  For more information on the technology aspects, please contact
Lisa Fusco
Moriah School
53 South Woodland Street
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-567-0208 ext, 325

Thank You
CILC wishes to thank the Moriah School, especially Lisa Fusco, for setting up an interview with Morah Aliza, via videoconference, in her most recent visit to the United States.  We also thank Morah Aliza for her willingness to share her challenges and secrets for success in teaching via videoconferencing.   
Aliza Picard  
Israel