MICRO-BIO

• Born in Barnaul, USSR, in 1948, my parents made Alyia. After finishing high school in 1963 I served in the Israeli army in the intelligence. I pursued my university studies at the Tel-Aviv University. In 1969, I finished my studies (Bachelor of Arts...More

  Born in Barnaul, USSR, in 1948, my parents made Alyia. After finishing high school in 1963 I served in the Israeli army in the intelligence. I pursued my university studies at the Tel-Aviv University. In 1969, I finished my studies (Bachelor of Arts), in History and Literature and a teaching certificate for high school. I taught in high school in Tel-Aviv and married Greg in 1971. In 1973 my husband (who is an American citizen) had to return to the U.S.A. We moved to the USA and lived on the East cost (Virginia, Florida and Harrisburg Pennsylvania). I continued my studies in Education and graduated from Pennsylvania State university, Harrisburg, in 1980 (Masters of Arts) in Education, specializing in curriculum design and evaluation. I also did a teaching certificate for Pennsylvania State. In 1982, my husband was sent by his engineering company (McDermott) to Cape-Town, South-Africa. In Cape-town I pursued my PhD studies in education (curriculum planning and evaluation). My research thesis focused on the Jewish day-school network in Cape-Town. In 1987, my family and I made Alyia. We settled in Haifa. During 1987-1991 I worked with the Ministry of Education doing national evaluation projects such as: Building a model for the evaluation of effective schools, the absorption of the Russians Academic Alyia. In 1992, I started with Prof. Hertz-Lazarowitz, R. The Alash Project. We started as an experimental project. The Ministry of Education monitored our progress for the first two years. The results of our studies showed positive gains is student's achievements in reading and writing in the Jewish and Arab school. From then on, the project was implemented in Jewish and Arab schools (over 60). As director of the project my duties are: administrative-raising funds, training of the instructors. My academic duties includes: guidance and supervision of the instructors, conducting work-shops for: principals, teachers and parents. A great part of this job relates to research and evaluation of students progress in literacy development. In 2000, I started teaching at the West-Galilee College. My student at the college performs their research assignments and observations in schools that implement the Alas project. After the riots in the Galilee in 2000, Arab and Jewish principals expressed their concern that Jews and Arabs in the Galilee have to reach out towards each other and establish closer networks of communication. This concern brought me to start the project "Promoting Dialogue in a Multi-Cultural Community of Teachers". My husband in an engineer at Israel Electric Company. Our older son Oren studies Biology at the Technion. Our younger son Elan, is a helicopter combat pilot at the Israeli air force. All of us have dual citizenships Israeli and American. Projects: Together with professor Hertz-Lazarowitz we found in 1992 the following three projects: Since than I am the director of the three project. In 2001, I founded with Dr. Elbaz Freema and Dr. Kalekeen Devora the project of "Promoting Dialogue in a Multi-Cultural Community of teachers in Northern Israel". • Success for All in Jewish and Arab Schools. The program has been implemented in Jewish and Arab schools mainly in 1st and 2nd grads in northern Israel since 1993. The project is an Israeli adaptation of the Baltimore based project originated by Slavin and colleges. The project is research based in an experimental comparison design. Research showed that SFA children achieve higher scores in reading and writing. The research results of the program were presented in many conferences in Israel and Abroad. Conference presentations and publication are available. A video shows the implementation of the project in the Jewish and Arab schools in Acre (25 minutes- in Hebrew). • Alash in Three Language-Literacy Development in Jewish and Arab Schools ALASH the Hebrew initials for Literacy via Cooperative Learning is a school wide method for three languages: Arabic, Hebrew and English for 2nd to 6th grades at the elementary schools and for the 7th to the 9th grades in the middle schools. The ALASH methods are based on Group Investigation (Sharan & Hertz-Lazarowitz, 1980) and Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition-BCIRC (Hertz-Lazarowitz & Calderon 1994). Students' writing is emphasized individually and in cooperative groups. The aim of the program is to advance students' in reading and writing, thus creating a learning environment that encourages literacy growth and is sensitive to the cultural needs of the schools. ALASH implements school wide and even citywide principles of curriculum reform for which it was awarded recognition of excellence in 1997 by the President of Israel. Research in ALASH and non ALASH schools is conducted since 1992. Findings indicate a significant development in writing by Alash students in the Arab and Jewish schools. The project has been implemented in more than 60 Jewish and Arab Elementary and Middle schools in northern Israel. The book Literacy Development via Cooperative Learning (ALASH): Enhancement of Jewish and Jewish and Arab Schools, 2003, (In Hebrew) document and tells about the development, the implementation and the research of the program. • School-Family-Community Partnership for Jews and Arabs The project aims to develop a partnership between the school and the parents to enhance literacy development at the early years of schooling. The parents are invited to participate in workshops in which they learn how to play an active role at home developing a rich environment and activities with their children. The project is based on Joyce Epstein model (1995).The program has been implemented in many Jewish and Arab schools. In Acre the project brought together Jewish and Arab principals, teachers and parents to meet in workshops and build a community leadership for literacy development. A Ph.D thesis (2001), documents the project in Acre. • Promoting Dialogue in Multi-Cultural communities of Teachers and Pupils: Program of Encounters: Faculty of Education, the Jewish-Arabic Center the University of Haifa. With Dr. Freema Elbaz-Luwisch and Dr. Devorah Kalekin-Fishman. Grant of 300000 $ from the Zeit Foundation, Germany. The goal of this program is to enable communities of Jews, Arabs and Druze of the west Galilee to collaborate in outreach projects through meetings of pupils of different middle schools, in the form of social-cultural activities, joint learning, electronic discussion groups and other activities planned by the teachers. We expect that the participant teachers will begin to apply their conceptualizations of how to foster a discourse of literacy related to multi-culturalism in the community framework. This may enhance a deep understanding of the various religious groups towards each other and develop a dialogue among teachers, students and parents who live close by, yet never had a chance to know each other through close encounters. The participants numbered thirty-fiver teachers, from eight different middle schools: twenty-four women and eight men. All were experienced teachers: homeroom teachers, teachers of language, social studies (history, geography, ecology and computers). All participants joined the program of their own interest. We regard the teachers as educational leaders, thus we consider the collaborative decision-making process to be integral to every step of our program. Collaborative decision-making is the bases for what this program imparts as learning both in theoretical and practical domains of multi-cultural pedagogy. The activities took place in two days retreats during school holidays. This brought participants together socially during meals and outings. Activities were conducted in workshop forms. We identified organizing themes for our meetings to join up with teacher interests and needs: for example: "place", objects and their cultural meanings: communication: conflict resolution. We were responded to the interest and willingness of teachers to carry the project into their classrooms, supporting them in organizing and carrying out meetings of pupils between the various schools. Consultations with principals and Inspectors as well as the teachers themselves took place to ensure that the programs that evolve will have a place in each school. The teachers initiated contacts and meeting, to begin planning activities that would bring the pupils from the different schools together. Although our initial intention had been to reserve such activities for the third year of the project, we were glad to see the readiness on the part of many of the teaches to begin such activities this year, and we devoted time in meetings as well as material and financial support to this important work. This year, the third year of the project, the teachers teamed and planed programs for the year for bringing together the pupils, seeking our pedagogical guidance and financial support. We are pleased to see the forming of a community of teachers working together thus investing enthusiastically time and effort to bring together the students of their schools together. Less

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