by Fayge Safran Two recent articles posted on eJewish Philanthropy caught my attention, as they focused on the pressing issue of nurturing and retaining talented and committed educators in our Jewish day schools. In her article, Deborah Fishman asked the question, “How do we instill autonomy, mastery and purpose into day school educators’ jobs,” in order to drive job satisfaction and increase retention? Fishman suggests that networks are the answer, as they can allow educators to achieve mastery, develop autonomy and be endowed with purpose. In his response to Fishman’s article, Dr. Ezra Kopelowitz shares research from the Pardes Educators Alumni Support Program on the role of workplace and a teacher’s network in the retention of day school educators. Of particular interest to me was … Continue Reading
What We’ve Learned – And What Do You Think?
This week on the AVI CHAI blog, the AVI CHAI and Steinhardt Foundations posed the question: What would make day schools more attractive to non-Orthodox parents? In addition to the discussion on this forum, the question was also explored on: Mixed Multitudes, eJewishPhilanthropy, Metroimma, InterfaithFamily as well as via Facebook and Twitter. We have been excited to read the numerous comments from parents, educators, and others interested in this question. We have learned how passionate and thoughtful many are about the decisions they and/or their parents have made regarding day schools. It is clear that this issue touches on a wide range of questions many hold dear: about instilling in the next generation a strong Jewish identity, excellent academics, a nurturing environment, and so much … Continue Reading
What Would Make Day Schools More Attractive to Non-Orthodox Parents?
Among the many decisions involved in raising children, how to educate them is one of the crucial ones. It will influence their growth - intellectually as well as socially and morally. It will also orient them toward a certain set of values, identity, skills, and sense of community. For Jewish parents, there is an additional layer of consideration in educational decisions: how to ensure your children grow up with a Jewish sense of values, identity, skills, and sense of community. Jewish day schools of all types - Orthodox as well as Reform, Conservative, and community day schools - provide one answer to this conundrum of how to raise kids Jewishly. Non-Orthodox parents have a wide array of choices and factors in choosing schools for their children. They consider geography, finances, culture, … Continue Reading
New Group Moving Jewish Family Education to the Forefront
by H. Glenn Rosenkrantz Fourth-grade students at Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY recently gathered for one of a series of Havdalah programs, splitting into groups and discussing the blessings and ritual objects and even making some of their own. Not particularly unusual on its face. But what made it more notable was the fact that it occurred beyond the synagogue walls, in someone’s home, and most importantly, that parents participated as well. “We try to give parents the knowledge too, so that they can be educated,” said Lisa Schwartz, Principal of the religious school at Temple Israel Center. “We are making Jewish education intergenerational, reinforcing it beyond the classroom, and strengthening the family Jewishly. This is very empowering, and critical for Jewish … Continue Reading
Day School Numbers Not So Bad
from AviChai.org: Day School Numbers Not So Bad by Jack Wertheimer The Avi Chai Foundation’s newly released data on current day school enrollments has drawn attention from many ... The mere existence of the data is worthy of comment, as is the identity of the data compiler. Thanks to Marvin Schick’s yeoman’s efforts over the past 13 years, we possess detailed information on trends in day school enrollment. The same cannot be said about participation rates in any other form of Jewish activity, except summer camps, for which we have only partial information. We lack regularly published data on national trends in synagogue and organizational membership, supplementary schooling, trips to Israel and other forms of Jewish engagement. Why, one wonders, does a Jewish community that prides … Continue Reading
Heard Around NAJDS: Today’s Inspired Jewish Ideas
by Deborah Fishman I’m here at the North American Jewish Day School Conference, where shared experiences and new ideas are flying amidst over 600 participants. Here are just a few of those ideas I picked up today: in sessions, in the hallways, and of course from the inspired Jewish ideas at the ELI talks: Give a block (yes, a physical block) to a group of students, faculty, or your board. Let them write down and/or visually represent their memories around a given topic (Pesach or Tu B’shevat, for instance). This activity gives and lets everyone explore their personal voice and creativity - no two blocks will be the same. (Nessa Rapoport and Tobi Kahn) Use cool technology in the classroom. These are free! Use Google apps for schools for google docs and other integrated tools. Use … Continue Reading
Jewish Education for a Time of Wandering
by Daniel J. Libenson I am a Jewish educator, not a philosopher or an academic, but this is an article about the philosophy of Jewish education. That is, this is an article about the Big Picture. My work with college students over the past decade has led me to believe that if we are not guided by a philosophy of Jewish education - a big picture idea of the aims of education and the best strategies to achieve those aims - much of our day-to-day work is wasted (at best) or counterproductive (at worst). Education should be driven by a vision that answers these questions: Who are the people we wish to see at the end of the educational process? What is our understanding of the world that they will inhabit (as opposed to the world as it is today)? What effect do we hope they will have on that … Continue Reading
Yadaim, the Academy of Applied Academics – A 2011 Jewish Futures Competition Winner
by Andrea Rose Cheatham Kasper In response to last year’s Jewish Futures Conference competition on “prosumerism”, the idea of Yadaim, the Academy of Applied Academics was born. To be clear it was an idea that was in the making for well over a year which crystallized in a competitive context. The competition asked the public to critically think about how co-creation of Judaism and Jewish education can manifest itself in innovative and dynamic ways which will capture the imagination of the public. The trend of prosumerism is only one major trend we face today, another is a trend grounded in resourcefulness and utility, the ability to do things on our own. Prosumerism is the idea that people have evolved from simply being consumers to actively creating the world and experiences they seek. … Continue Reading
Inaugural Prize Recognizes Promising Jewish Educators
Five promising Jewish educators from across the country are the first-ever recipients of The Pomegranate Prize, established by The Covenant Foundation to honor and nurture exceptional, emerging professionals. Recipients, representing a range of educational settings and approaches, are: Rabbi Marc Baker, Head of School at Gann Academy - The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston; Robert Beiser, Campus/JConnect Repair the World Director at Hillel at the University of Washington in Seattle; Anna Hartman, Director of Early Childhood Education at Greenfield Hebrew Academy in Atlanta; Gilah Kletenik, Congregational Scholar at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York; and, Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, Associate Rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, NY. The Foundation announced the … Continue Reading
Technology in Jewish Schools
by Rabbi Jason A. Miller I still remember the time in 1st grade when my father brought our Apple II Plus into the classroom in an effort to show my classmates the wonders of Turtle Graphics. It was 1982 and each little 1st grader waited in line to get a chance to touch the odd looking keyboard and try to make the little turtle move. My father beamed with pride as he watched each child get their three-minute opportunity to try to program the blinking green turtle cursor to move across the black screen. That day was the only day that entire school year that we students would touch a computer at Hillel Day School in Metropolitan Detroit. Today, thirty years later my own children attend Hillel and the Head of School, Steve Freedman, has just announced a new technology plan he hopes to implement … Continue Reading
English