NPFH@DKJA Club Intra-School Peer Training

This year, the NPFH@DKJA Club Members, along with their advisor, Amanda Brooke, have built upon and expanded the inter-school and intra-school collaboration projects. In November 2014, our high school Certified Peer Trainers led hugely successful “Becoming an Ally” workshops with ALL of our school’s 5th and 7th grade students. On December 8, 2014 nine of our certified No Place for Hate Club Peer Trainings conducted trainings with adult ADL Certified Co- Facilitators at Waters Edge and Spady Elementary schools.  This training benefitted more than 100 public school students.

Joseph Zeuner, Daniella Wirtschafter, Sydney Altschul, Mikaela Mesch, Sydney Moed, Paris Reise, Yarden Shai, Sarah Fleishman, and Lielle Elisha were the FIRST EVER Anti-Defamation League Certified Peer Trainers to lead intra-school trainings.   The program content and curriculum was all originally planned and organized by the Club’s Advisor, Amanda Brooke with the approval of Lily Medina.  The NPFH Peer Trainers have been preparing on Sundays, during lunch and after school meetings for a couple of months now.  This is a remarkable accomplishment achieved through hard work and two years of dedication to our school club.

Marianne Altschul and Craig Zeuner generously gave their time and assistance driving students to Water’s Edge and Spady Elementary Schools to be peer trainers as part of the program:

Becoming An Ally: Interrupting Name Calling and Bullying – An interactive program for elementary and middle school students or teachers which provides practical opportunities to address name-calling and bullying.

In November 2014, our high school Certified Peer Trainers led hugely successful “Becoming an Ally” workshops with ALL of our school’s 5th and 7th grade students.

Welcome to the Claire and Emanuel G. Rosenblatt HS Blog!

Here you will find updates about the happenings and highlights of life at Rosenblatt HS. There is so much to tell...

We are off to a wonderful start in DKJA’s Law and Mock Trial course, one of the various offerings in our New Legal Studies Program. The students have been studying Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Evidence. To supplement classroom learning, the students are enjoying great guest speakers. To date, the guest speakers have included Broward County Circuit Criminal Judge Jeffrey Levenson, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, Florida State Representative Irving Slosberg, Florida State Representative Bill Hager, Sheriff Raphael Duran, Jr., Broward County State Attorney Justin Berlin, and Jonathan Louis, Esq., a transactional attorney. The Law Club meets during the lunch period. 

Students also took a trip to the Delray Courthouse, where they were able to watch courtroom proceedings and listen to Judge Jeffrey Gillen, Judge Howard Harrison and State Attorney Aronberg. Next semester, Business Law will be offered, which will cover a multitude of fields of law including Corporate Law and Intellectual Property. This course will be beneficial for students considering careers as entrepreneurs, business owners, corporate or transactional lawyers and litigators. This will guide students from the inception of a business with a brief look at financial accounting. This class will also offer a wide range of guest speakers in the field.

— Special thanks to DKJA Board Member, attorney and Law teacher Caryn Siperstein-Klein.

Partnership Schools Practice What They Teach

By Amanda Brooke  M.TechnologyEd

Claire and Emanuel G. Rosenblatt High School at DKJA

Rosenblatt High School was fortunate to find a helping hand and partner in another private South Florida school, Archbishop McCarthy High School in Pembroke Pines, when the 1:1 iPad Program was recently introduced.

When DKJA decided to implement iPad program for selected grades, specifically the 9^th and 10^th grades at Rosenblatt High School, we looked to other technology infused academic programs for inspiration. Archbishop McCarthy High School is an Apple certified school. Its principal, Richard Jean, implemented a precedent setting iPad program four years ago and set the standard for a successful implementation experience.  

A key component of his success was the McCarthy Tech Mentor team members: Irene Rodriguez, Monica Arango, and Melissa Criswisser.  They are both knowledgeable and generous with their technology-focused pedagogical practices.  McCarthy High School hosts teachers and administrators from other schools, providing them with the opportunity to attend training sessions and school visitations. These shared experiences facilitate the understanding of educational technology opportunities and programs. This year, DKJA sent two administrators and two teachers to experience this day of immersion in a successful iPad program at McCarthy.  DKJA sought the guidance and assistance of the successful McCarthy program.  

We were excited and impressed by what we saw happening at McCarthy. Students shared, with pride, their digital portfolios using the Notability app on their iPads.  The level of professionalism and willingness to collaborate was both touching and exciting.

In a generous act of kindness, McCarthy Principal Jean loaned the entire faculty at Rosenblatt HS iPads in order for them to begin their digital experience prior to and during the summer months.  The Rosenblatt HS faculty was invited to McCarthy for a fabulous Technology Professional Development “fieldtrip,” which provided members a personal experience with the McCarthy program.  The McCarthy Tech Mentors ran the training and followed up the training with a session hosted at DKJA. The Tech Mentors meet each faculty member at their current technology level, then expertly raise their skills, and inspire the person to do more. It’s gratifying to see educators from both schools working together with such dedication to their craft.

Amanda Brooke is the Technology Integrator at Claire and Emanuel G. Rosenblatt High School at DKJA and teachesAP Psychology/ World History I & II.

She is the DKJA Program Director for the ADL and was instrumental in initiatives that enabled DKJA to earn the designation as a NO PLACE FOR HATE school.

Message from Director of College Counseling Jackie Rockman

Dear Rosenblatt High School Juniors and Parents,

It was a pleasure meeting with many of you at the “College Orientation” at the end of September. We have continued that session with a number of family meetings and conversations but of course, there is more to come. I am excited to share with you some of the upcoming plans we are implementing in order to assure that our students are well-prepared for their college process.

On Wednesday, November 26^th (a “no letter” day) during the school day (beginning promptly 7:45 a.m.) all eleventh grade students will sit for a full-length practice exam called the PRA (Princeton Review Assessment), a hybrid SAT/ACT. This exam serves as an outstanding tool for students to determine which standardized test is likely to be a better fit for each individual. The PRA will mimic the ‘real’ testing conditions of the SAT or ACT and includes multiple timed sections of both exams. Even better, there is no downside to this exam. It is NOT seen by the colleges so there is no need to worry about the results, yet it does provide valuable practice, exposure and information to our students. Please note that November 26^th is a half-day and dismissal will be 12:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, December 10^th at 7:30 p.m. in Rosenblatt HS, Rm. 130, we invite all juniors and parents to the Junior College Night. At this program we will cover the recent PSAT results, the score-back “strategy session” regarding the PRA as well as an overview and update of the college process timeline and planning for students and parents.

I look forward to seeing all of you soon and working together through this exciting time! Please feel free to contact me at rockmanj@dkja.net or 561-558-2530 if you have any questions.

Warmly,

Jackie Rockman

Director of College Counseling