In this episode Mark talks with educational consultant Michelle Berkowitz about teaching kids how to summarize. We expect our students to summarize all the time, but we rarely think about all the skills they need to do it, nor do we consider the possibility that many kids don't know how. This interview sheds new light on an important but often ignored topic.

With engaging lessons and good classroom management skills, a teacher can take care of nearly all behavior problems. But then there's the occasional student who persists in disruptive behavior no matter what preventative measures a teacher takes. This episode explores guidelines for giving out the kinds of consequences that are most likely to have a positive impact on future student behavior.

Mark interviews Semadar Goldstein, a veteran teacher who researched and developed ways to use Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory in the Judaic Studies classroom. Semadar describes the intelligences and explains how teachers can use them to maximize the learning of each child. You can download one of Semadar's MI lesson ideas . To visit our MI site, go .

This episode explores the Understanding By Design approach to planning lessons and its relevance to the specific needs of the Judaic studies teacher, based on years of experimentation with the UbD system.This podcast explores the Understanding By Design approach to planning lessons and its relevance to the specific needs of the Judaic studies teacher, based on years of experimentation with the UbD system.

In this episode Mark talks with Israel's Teacher of the Year Rabbi Aytan Kadden about empowering students. Rabbi Kadden received the prize for his work in an experimental school that seeks to bridge the gaps between secular and religious students.

This episode considers what to do when you and your students discover a weakness in an idea you are teaching that you don't know how to answer. Instead of offering inadequate defenses, a teacher can seize this teachable moment to show kids how a mature thinker handles intellectual challenges.

Mark talks to Rabbi Fuld, past principal of SAR Academy in New York for 25 years, about experiential learning, and how it can nurture real connection and commitment to Judaism in ways beyond those of conventional classroom teaching.

What's more important - covering a lot of ground at the expense of depth, or developing thinking and discussion at the expense of breadth? Does it really have to be a choice? This episode shows why both breadth and depth are indispensible, and in fact reinforce one another, along with suggestions of how to combine them. Includes some examples for teaching about the holiday of Sukkot.

Mark Smilowitz interviews educator Dr Chaim Feuerman about the four innately pleasurable learning activities that teachers should be using regularly in their classes.

What is the best way to start the school year? Should I get serious right away to set the tone? Or should I have fun with the students in order to get to know each other? Is there a way to combine both? Here's a suggestion for an integrated approach that smoothly merges two seemingly conflicting attitudes toward the first days of school.