Take five, relax, let yourself think about who you want to be….. Before you read further, you need to know this. I am not a college advisor, consultant, or guru. But I am a mother of two who gave her kids and their friends some advice in how to best present themselves on a college application. My experience as a career consultant, evaluating and helping others write thousands of resumes helped prepare me for the task. Whether due to my editorial help or not, thankfully, my ki

Where’s the good news? When it comes to teens, it seems that “Headlines” are usually “Dead Lines”….yes….news about deaths, teenage thugs, bullying, and more. I’m tired of reading all this bad news about teens. You might ask: “So, just look for the good news, what are you complaining about?” It’s not that easy. I get news alerts from Google and Yahoo sent to my Inbox, and generally what comes up, almost on a daily basis, is what you see below. News Tired teenagers may need a n

No digital devices in sight The Los Angeles Times reported that California is coping, almost feverishly it seems, with new measures that require students to turn in digital devices before taking standardized tests. “The proliferation of cellphones and their potential use for cheating has prompted heightened security measures on this year’s administration of standardized tests in California schools.” In the previous year, students posted 36 questions from standardized exams on

Negotiating with teens when they say “been there, done that!” The entire school was taking a trip to the relatively new National Museum of American Jewish History, located in Philadelphia. The museum, with thousands of historic treasures, interactive exhibits, and multi-media presentations, has caused many people to say that they could spend days there and not see everything. Yet, we heard that one student, when he learned about the trip, went home and confidently told his mo

Teachers and Classroom Behavior Photo credit: tim ellis I read an eighth grader’s blog (!) today that resonated with me, and it triggered a memory of what Jewish teens shared with me in a discussion about bullying. Back to the blog. This young teen wrote about derogatory and mean comments that kids said in hushed tones to others in her class. What they said was either whispered, written, or mouthed out—-all while the teacher’s back was turned. Can you imagine the effect on th

Mention “Current Events” to a group of teens and just watch what happens.  Their eyes seem to glaze over. As if talking about something that isn’t in a textbook is a violation of protocol. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but to some students, reading a newspaper might seem like reading information in a foreign language. I’m not sure how much today’s teens are grappling with the issues of the day. How can this be? Easy. It’s not in the curriculum. Sure, when something really b

Image via Wikipedia Getting a bad grade, especially when you expected something else entirely, pretty much stinks. It’s hard enough being in high school when so much of your life seems to be defined by grades. When the grades don’t match up with your expectations or your output, it must feel lousy. Though I have issues with the idea of being defined by grades, we’re not going there now. So, you can either sulk or use this life event to get some feedback. Think of this as an o

My blog posts rarely ever make the ideal 250 word count mark. I read somewhere that the perfect blog contains just that amount for readability and the average attention span. I try, really I do, but my posts seem to hover around 320 words no matter how I shave and trim.  When editing, I habitually wince before checking out the word count total at the end of the page.  I slowly drag the scroller thing and catch a glimpse at just how off the mark I am.  Oops, failed again. So,

You would think it would be easy to market a product that has intrinsic long-term value, is priced well, offers tremendous flexibility, is an intellectual challenge, offers social experiences and networking opportunities, and even looks good for college. You’d be wrong. Welcome to my world where marketing a great product  is a struggle. Here are just a few reasons why, with more to come in future posts: 1. The ‘point of sale’ is often at a synagogue Hebrew school, where we pr

credit to uglydoggy.com We live in a visual world. I get it. I’m the first to admit that I love looking at logos and the idea that the essence of a company, drink, food, car —almost anything— can be captured in a visual.  Come on, aren’t you tempted to name the brands pictured here? Hashtags? Great. If only our program could attract thousands of Jewish teens by using  #Jteens. The idea of “branding” has been in my airspace for a few weeks.  It started when I read a blog about

Freeflyer09. Use does not imply endorsement I read the article “Employees are faster and more creative when solving other people’s problems” by Daniel Pink with fascination. It turns out that we think more creatively and abstractly for others than for ourselves. The solutions are more concrete when working on things that affect us personally. What does this have to do with Jewish education? Plenty,  it turns out. I’d like to share just two experiences with you: 1. Recently, a

Finding your path This year, thousands of high schoolers will be entering college. Sometimes I think they have things way too figured out, and am not sure whether that’s good or bad in the grand scheme of things. For example, I was interviewing an internship candidate who just completed her junior year in high school. I asked her what she thought she’d enjoy taking in college. Her response was not a version of: “I’m not sure yet” or “I haven’t given that much thought” or “I h