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Debra Weiner
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Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project August/Elul Newsletter
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Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 1:10 PM
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The Jim Joseph Foundation
Pardes
Educators Alumni Support Project Newsletter
August 2010 Elul 5770 |
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Dear Hevre, It is hard to believe that the summer has gone by so
quickly
and that our colleagues teaching in the South are already back at work.
We wish all
of our teachers a good beginning as you return to your classrooms and a
special b'hatzlaha rabba to
those starting their first year of
teaching. We also welcome Amanda Pogany, cohort 2, as she assumes the
responsibility of associate
director of the Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project. We are pleased
that Abby Rosen Finkel has agreed to remain on staff part-time through
November to facillate the logistical arrangements for the retreat. Please
take the time to read through the newsletter as it
contains important professional and personal updates, registration
information
for the fall retreat, some new initiatives, and educational food for
thought. We look forward to working with you, to offer whatever
support we can. L'shana tova, Susan,
Amanda, Abby and Debra 
Pardes
Educators Alumni Support Project staff:
Dr. Susan Wall, Amanda
Pogany,M.Ed, Abby Rosen Finkel, MA, Debra Weiner-Solomont, MSW
The Pardes Educators
Alumni Support Project is funded by a generous grant from the Jim Joseph
Foundation.
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| Dvar Torah -Miriam
Simma Walfish (Cohort 6) |
Upon
completing the Pardes Educators Program, Miriam-Simma taught at the
A.J. Heschel School in New York City from 2007-2010. She is currently
studying and teaching at Mechon Hadar and looks forward to
returning to the classroom.
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The holiday we commonly refer to as Rosh Hashanah is in
fact known by many names. In addition to Rosh
Hashanah, we find it called in
various places Yom HaDin, Y om Teruah, and Yom HaZikaron. Each
of these names
reflects a different facet of the holiday and attests to the many themes
that
have been layered onto these days. These themes are also found in the Musaf Amidah of Rosh Hashanah; we
blow the shofar and
recite verses regarding
the trumpeting that we do (shofarot), and
we recite verses imploring God to remember the merits of our ancestors
and take them into account when judging us (zikhronot).
One
central element of Rosh Hashanah
davening is not reflected in
its names.
The first section of musaf on Rosh Hashanah is the malkhuyot
section, the core
of which contains ten verses recounting God's sovereignty. In
masekhet Rosh
Hashanah, God is described as telling the Jewish people why we
should perform
certain rituals. Regarding malkhuyot,
God says, "אמרו
לפני מלכויות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם"- "Say before me malkhuyot
so that you will make me
sovereign over you". Rav Yitzhak Hutner, author of the collection of
philosophical essays Pahad Yitzhak
regards this statement as
redundant-of
course saying verses of malkhuyot
is a sign that we are
acknowledging
God's monarchy.
Click here to read the entire dvar torah.
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PEP Alumni Fall Retreat October 28-October 31 2010/5771 | 
Hazak Hazak v'nithazek: Exploring our Identity, Strengthening our
Teaching, is the theme of this
year's conference to be held jointly with DeLeT at the Pearlstone
Conference Retreat Center, Reisterstown, MD.
For
those who are either currently working in day schools or on temporary
leave,
you should have received your invitation and all the needed links for
registration
earlier this week. If not, you may go to the website to access all the
needed documents. We do urge you to
speak to your administrators as soon as possible, as there may be DeLeT
teachers in your school who will also be attending the conference, and
we want
to make sure your school has adequate time to make arrangements for
coverage.
There is also limited space, so early registration is important. If you
have any questions, feel free to be in
touch with Abby
regarding logistics and Amanda for the educational program.
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Remembering Pardes
Students
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Each
year, on Tisha B'av, the Pardes day of study is dedicated to the
memory of the four Pardes students (Marla Bennett, Ben Blutstein, Sara
Duker,
Matt Eisenfeld) killed in terrorist
bombings. At the time of their deaths,
Marla was entering the second year of the Pardes Educators Program, and
Ben was
about to begin. This year Rabbi  Landes spoke about Marla
(cohort 2) and Yoni Shear (cohort 10) spoke about Ben
Blutstein (cohort 3). Ben and Marla had so much to give. Had they lived,
each of them, by now, would
have affected the lives of hundreds of students. We can best remember
them, by trying to bring
some of their attributes into our own classrooms. Click here to read this
year's memorial remarks.
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Focus on Moshe Fisch (Cohort 7)
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 Moshe will be starting his
third year of teaching at the Westchester Solomon Schechter High School,
Hartsdale, NY. He lives in New York with his wife Caitlin and son,
Ben.
Written by
Caitlin Fisch
When I met Moshe he was
finishing a degree
in fine arts,
and talking about moving to Vancouver to teach art at the National
Geographic
museum. An exploratory trip to B.C. yielded little hope for employment,
but a seed had been planted by the principal of a school where he had
interviewed. While there were no job opportunities, the principal had
told Moshe that he should investigate a program in Israel at a school
called
Pardes. Six months later, we were both living in Jerusalem and Moshe was
delving into sacred texts, exploring Israel, and studying with inspiring
teachers.
Click here to
read more.... |
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Education Corner by Amanda Pogany
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| Creating
Classroom Community
The bottom line in your classroom is your
relationship with
your students. Do they feel cared for
and supported? Do you really know who
they are, how they learn, and what is important to them? Do they feel
challenged to be their best
selves? Are their needs being met?
The
systems and structures you set up in your classroom will
make all the difference. Remember, you
are responsible for your student's behavior with the environment and
expectations you set up.
The information below comes from my own
experience in the
classroom as well as an excellent new book Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov. Chapters 5, 6,and 7 are particularly useful for the
classroom culture
conversation. Below are some helpful tips from these chapters, listed by
topic. You will find some more useful than others, and may need to make
adjustments for different grade levels. Feel free to jump around to
topics you find
most helpful. I truly believe that the values
underlying these suggestions are essential to building a successful
classroom
community.
I. Building Relationship and Trust
1. You and them
2. Communal Responsibility
3. Positive Framing
4. Precise Praise
5. Warm/Strict
6. Create a classroom that is joyful
7. Emotional Constancy
8. Normalize Error
II. Classroom Culture
1. Entry Routine
2. Do Now
3.
Transitions
4. Organization
5. On Your Mark
6. Seat Signals
III. Setting and Maintaining High Behavioral Standards
1. 100%
2. What TO Do
3. Strong Voice
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Summer Curriculum
Workshop 2010
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This past month, thirty-one
novice teachers attended the summer
curriculum workshop,thanks to generous grants from The Mandell L. and
Madeleine H. Berman and the
Jim Joseph Foundation. Each participant produced a UbD unit outline for
the coming
year. We plan to post many of the units on our website in the next few weeks, as well as some
success sharing ideas so that other alumni can learn from the  wonderful work that
was
done.
Twenty
of the
participants were our own PEP alumni. Any graduates who were unable to
take advantage of the summer curriculum workshop in either of their
first two
years, should check with us if they want to participate at a later date
(within
the first five years of teaching, space permitting.)
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Revisiting our Tefillah Project
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Last year at our retreat in
Philadelphia (thanks in large
measure to Yonatan Yussman, cohort 1), we took the
first steps towards creating a
tefillah think-tank with our graduates. For
a number of reasons we put the project on hold. It became
clear to us over the summer, that many alumni are involved with and very
interested in tefillah in their
schools, so we are moving forward.
There will be two
groups, one for middle school
(grades 6-8) and one for high school (grades 9-12). Anyone who works
with tefillahand has been in
his/her school for at least one full year is welcome
to be part of the project. In joining the group, each person makes a
commitment to participate in a number of conference/video calls during
the
course of the year, and to do some action research with students. 
A similar
group for elementary school
teachers could take place in the future; in the meantime, elementary
school teachers can learn a good deal from Saul Wach's monograph on tefilah, which we distributed at the
retreat last fall and can also be found on our website under Tefillah Links. (Please note that it is a
monograph and takes several minutes to download).
We plan to convene the two groups separately during the
retreat in order to take the next steps. We are extremely excited about
this project and hope you will join us. If you are interested in
learning more
about the project, please fill in this very short form, so we can plan accordingly.
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PEP
News
| Graduates
of
Cohort 9 are beginning their first year of teaching in Community Day
or High Schools in Atlanta, Detroit, Fairfax (VA), Greenwich (CT), New
Orleans, New York, San Antonio, and Rockville, MD. We wish them a smooth
transition to their new positions, as well as to all continuing
teachers. 
We
are looking forward to greeting the ten
incoming students of Cohort 11. We welcome four new students in
addition to the six students that studied in the Pardes Year Program
last year.
Please recommend us to your friends and colleagues and
encourage them to visit the Pardes website to learn more about the
Pardes Educators Program. We are now beginning to recruit students for
Cohort 12, as well as for our Mechina
program.
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Educational
Publications, Resources and Opportunities
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Jeffrey Spitzer, Chair of the department of Rabbinic
Literature at Gann Academy, Waltham, MA. was a mentor at this year's
Pardes Summer Curriculum Workshop. He shared his 'Ganntools' with us.
Participants found this to be an invaluable resource. You can find these
tools and other education links on our website.
Yeshiva University-Institute for
University School Partnership is offering a series of webinars on school
year beginnings. Click here for more information
Call for papers in
the Jewish Educational Leadership Journal Winter 2011 issue focusing on Educating toward Commitment. Click here for information on the types of
articles and guidelines for writers. Abstracts will be accepted until
October 15, 2010.
Be in touch with Zvi Grumet
for more information.
The Global Day is a worldwide effort to
promote
Jewish learning and to celebrate the completion of Rabbi Adin
Steinsaltz's Talmud translation and commentary; the Rabbi's mission has
been to make the Talmud accessible to all. It is Rabbi Steinsaltz's hope
that, on November 7, 2010, world Jewry will share a day of Jewish
dialogue and study, celebrating the texts that unite us. Click here to learn more about this
initiative.
SMARTBoard lessons are available on the Legacy
Heritage
SMARTBoard Educational Database. Lessons are searchable by key word and
there are multiple lessons relating to the upcoming holidays for all
grade levels. The website features nearly 1,700 SMARTBoard
lessons in both Judaic and secular studies.
Many of you have been
enjoying the Spertus College E-Library and the Lookstein Center
e-Community. The Feinberg E-Collection contains the full-text of nearly 16,000 books
and 25,000 articles in the area of Jewish studies. Please be in touch
with Debra for the
user-name and password for both of these resources. Check the website for additional educational resources.
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Alumni
Updates
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Condolences:
Ris
Golden (Cohort 8) on the loss of her father, Robert Golden.May Ris and her family be comforted among
the mourners of
Zion and Jerusalem.
Professional
News: Tyson Herberger (Cohort
9) on receiving Smicha from Straus-Amiel
Institute,
Ohr Torah Stone, Jerusalem,
Israel.
Adam Tilove (Cohort 6)
completed the DSLTI Program (Day School Leadership
Training Institute).
Damian Zoppo (Cohort 5)
participated in the The Jewish Peoplehood Project for Teachers at Beit
Hatfusot Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel this summer.
Jory Stillman (Cohort 1)
spent 5 weeks at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, teaching
yoga, running mishpacha and
coaching workshops.
Personal News:
Mazal tov to:
Judy Markose (Director,
PEP) and Howard Markose (Pardes Faculty member) on the engagement
of their son, Noam.
Ris Golden (Cohort 8) on her recent marriage to Dan Sieradski.
Sarah Hendel (Cohort 8)
on her engagement to Avi Zilman.
Aleeza Paul (Cohort 9) and Andy Adelman
('08-'09, Fellows '09-'10,
Summer '10) on their engagement.
Sarah Levy (Cohort 8) and Benjamin Levy (Cohort 7)
on the birth of a son, Etai.
Anna Falk (Cohort 4) and Kobi Spektor on the
birth of a son, Elie. Mazal tov to big brother, David.
Ron Einhorn (Cohort 6)
and his wife Heidi on the birth of a daughter, Cela Francis.
We are sorry if we
missed something. Please help us by sending in your news!
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Pardes
Institute of Jewish Studies | POB 8575 | Jerusalem, Israel 91084 |
American Pardes Foundation | 5 West 37th Street, Suite 802, New York |
NY | 10018
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Debra Weiner
<debra@pardes.org.il>
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Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 1:20 PM
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To:
Sean Herstein <seanherstein@gmail.com>
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[Quoted text hidden] -- Debra
Weiner-Solomont, MSW Administrative Director, Pardes Educators Alumni
Support Project
Pardes Institute of Jewish
Studies
POB 8575, 29 Pierre Koenig St, Jerusalem 91084,
Israel
972-2-673-5210 debra@pardes.org.ilhttp://pepalumni.pardes.org.il
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