Peter Eckstein

About Peter Eckstein

Peter Eckstein began his career a Jewish educator in 1982 on Kibbutz Ketura, working with children of all ages and serving as the kibbutz Education Coordinator. In 1993 upon returning to the U.S. he became the Director of Education and Programming at Temple Israel in West Palm Beach. Currently he is the Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Beth David in Palm Beach Gardens. In addition, serves as the Technology Integration Educator for the Friedman Commission for Jewish Education.He was very active with the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education as programming co-chair, Shabbat chair and conference chair for several conferences. He has taught professional development for educators, Judaic adult education classes, and the Palm Beach County’s “Introduction to Judaism” course for those seeking to become part of the community. He is specializing in teaching educators how to integrate Education Technology into the Jewish classroom. He has also served on the faculty at URJ Camp Coleman as an informal Jewish educator.Peter is fascinated by how technology and experiential education will aid in the transmission of Jewish awareness to the next generations

July 22, 2013

Bringing the Sand Home – Take Aways From the RealSchool Summer Sandox

Three days of hardfun and rewarding work. Three days of creation. Three days of collaboration. That’s how I’d describe the recently concluded RealSchool Summer Sandbox conference. As I wrote here, prior to travelling to this event in Teaneck, NJ I had no idea what to expect, or if it would be worthwhile at all. As I look […]

July 7, 2013

Playing in the Sand: Getting Ready for the RealSchool Summer Sandbox

Why am I going to a Jewish Education conference called the RealSchool Summer Sandbox? I’m not a Day School educator. I work in Congregational Jewish Education. I’m a religious school director. My focus has been mainly in part time Jewish educational frameworks. What is it about The Sandbox that has intrigued me so much that […]

March 4, 2013

Swimming Lessons

(This originally appeared on the Jewish Futures blog site, in advance of the February 27th Jewish Futures conference “The role of Bar and Bat Mitzvah in America today”) He was terrified. I mean really scared. As I stood next to him on the bimah, in front of his family and the rest of the congregation, […]

October 15, 2012

Blended Learning in a Part Time Space

(A litle context: I’m part of a certificate program in Online and Blended Learning Design, through Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School. This post originally appeared on the Open Day School site, which is devoted to Online and Blended learning, and is affiliated with the Yeshiva University School Partnership program.) As I explore the universe of […]

September 4, 2012

The Wisdom of Technology

In the past few weeks two articles were posted in the Jewish Daily Forward about how technology will not usher in the messianic age, at least when it comes to Jewish education. In”Digital Learners Can’t Do It On Their Own”, Barry Joseph explains how the human factor – the role of the teacher – is […]

July 26, 2012

Just Do It – Getting Over the Integration Hurdle

As a newly minted “Technology Integration Educator” in my community, I’m struggling with the definition of my job title. What does the phrase “technology integration” really mean? How do we integrate technology? I can’t help but wonder if, when the overhead projector, or the radio, or even the blackboard for that matter, were introduced into […]

June 25, 2012

The Connected Educator – A Summer Book Report

The summer is that glorious time when I get to catch up on all those books I didn’t have time to read during the course of the school year. Along with my beloved escapist novels (at the moment I’m reading Robopocalypse: A Novel, by Daniel H. Wilson) I’ve also started The Connected Educator: Learning and […]

June 1, 2012

Of Ships, Fiber Optics and The Jewish Futures Conference

I was listening to NPR’s “Fresh Air” yesterday. It featured Andrew Blum, the author of the just-released “Tubes – A Journey to the Center of the Internet”. The interview (you can access it here), and the book focus on how the virtual space we call “The Cloud” doesn’t exist outside of physical spaces like data […]

May 24, 2012

The Teacher as Network Weaver

The other day, during my morning-drive-to-work ritual, I was listening to NPR’s “The Take Away”. The topic was: “College Students Either Studying as Hard as Ever, or Not Hard Enough.” It was based on a series of studies that seem to have found that college students today study 40% less than their counterparts in 1961. […]

April 2, 2012

Dancing into the Future: Teens and Israel

Spending a weekend with teens who are excited to learn about engaging with Israel is an exhilarating, and for me at least, almost a spiritual experience. I’ve just returned from The iCenter’s MZ Teen iConnect with Israel conference. Eighty teens from all over North America explored how they could make Israel more a part of […]