16 | MAY 28 • 2020 

Jews in the D

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tured projects to require one-
on-one video chats with stu-
dents to allow more individual 
attention. 
Bosmat Dovas, a Hebrew 
teacher at FJA, has trans-
formed her coursework due 
to the shift to virtual learn-
ing. Testing and assessments 
have been the most difficult 
and challenging obstacles for 
Dovas during this time. 
“The most difficult thing 
for me as a foreign language 
teacher is that we rely on 
conversations that are heavily 
based on interaction … I have 
been encouraging them and 
providing them with more 
homework and less assess-
ments because I fear that 
they will either use Google 
Translate or ask others for the 
answers,” Dovas said. “I now 
give them personal assign-
ments so they can’
t copy off 
one another and talk to them 
about the honor system.”
Dovas continues to remind 
her students that this is a 
learning experience for every-
one. While this may be a tough 
time, she remains positive 
for her students and brings a 
new sense of creativity to her 
classroom, especially through 
games.

FARBER HEBREW DAY SCHOOL
Teachers from Farber Hebrew 
Day School in Southfield have 

used Zoom and its features 
to reach their students. Zoom 
allows for the teachers to use 
the “shared screen” so stu-
dents can share their work, 
but also allows for small group 
work through their “breakout 
rooms.”
Nachshon Wyma, a robot-
ics teacher at Farber, had to 
completely redesign his class. 
Normally, the class involves 
electronics, microprocessors, 
3D printing and designing, 
and building robots. Since the 
transition to virtual, they have 
pivoted the focus to coding 
only.

The “share screen” option 
on Zoom allows for the stu-
dents to share their designs 
with Wyma and his volunteer 
robotics mentor, Ben Forta, 
and also enables the instruc-
tors to help students overcome 
difficulties by pointing out 
where something might be 
going wrong in their code.
“We are trying to maintain 
the normalcy of education in a 
sea of uncertainty and change 
— and this can be a positive 
point of familiarity,” Wyma 
said. “The basic structure of 
our culture has changed, and 
we need to acknowledge that, 
but we’
ll get through this 
together and be stronger for it 

when all is said and done.”

BERKLEY HIGH SCHOOL
Berkley High School teacher 
Natalie Ford currently teaches 
11th grade English and AP 
literature and composition. 
She has been using Google 
Classroom to communicate 
and post assignments and 
the screen recorder software 
Screencastify to record short, 
instructional videos and feed-
back on assignment. She has 
also begun making her own 
podcasts for longer discussions 
to talk her students through 
their reading assignments. 

Ford also uses Google Meet 
to host her office hours once 
a week.
“I think the biggest thing 
has been trying to maintain 
a connection with students,” 
Ford said. “This is new for all 
of us so my strategy has been 
to at least once a week post a 
journal assignment where stu-
dents can be themselves and 
write like a teenager. They can 
communicate with me what is 
going on in their world.”
Ford also takes the time to 
respond to all her students’
 
journal entries and mimic hav-
ing a conversation with them. 
Her goal is to take the time to 
make sure her students are not 

only understanding assign-
ments, but also doing OK in 
general. 
“What I have gathered from 
their journal entries is that this 
time away has allowed them 
to understand themselves as 
learners a little more,” Ford 
said. “No one is forcing them 
to do the work, so they have to 
truly figure out who they are. 
One student told me she used 
to feel rushed in class and now 
she has learned that she can do 
more work when she goes at 
her own pace.”
Ford’
s students have told her 
that they have noticed they 
have to place their phones 
in different rooms to ensure 
they are not distracted by 
them. Other students have 
also begun journaling, finding 
other routines that work for 
them.
In Ford’
s AP literature and 
composition class, her students 
were still able to take the AP 
exam online. The exams have 
all been adapted in some way 
— Ford’
s exam only had one 
essay question, and she gave 
students 45 minutes to answer 
the question. Students can also 
choose to receive a full refund 
on their money if they don’
t 
want to take the online AP 
exam.
“I have been telling my 
students since this began that 
every emotion is allowed. 
Early on, especially the seniors, 
many of them were writing 
about how disappointed they 
were surrounding everything,” 
Ford said. “I just remind them 
that whatever you’
re feeling is 
what everyone else is feeling. 
You have to move through all 
the emotions. We may all be 
apart from one another right 
now, but we are still doing this 
all together.”

Bosmat Dovas

“The basic structure of our 
culture has changed, and we
need to acknowledge that,
but we’ll get through this
together and be stronger for
it when all is said and done.”

— NACHSHON WYMA