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The Jim Joseph Foundation
Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project Newsletter
January/February 2010 Shvat
5770 | |
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Dear
Hevre,
I (Susan) just returned to Israel from the day school conference
co-sponsored by Ravsak, SSDS, PaRDeS,and Yeshiva University. It was a "nachus
moment" to see eight of our alumni attending and/or leading sessions. This
conference was the first time the four networks joined together, with the
understanding that many of the same issues challenge all of our schools. There
were multiple sessions offered, a number of which discussed aligning technology
to the goals of our schools and classrooms. We hope to add a new page to our
website in the next few weeks that will provide useful links to help you in
harnessing technology for your own teaching.
The staff is excited to see the extent to which many of you are using
the forum. You have proven to be a real support for your colleagues. We
encourage more of you to raise questions and ask for help as you need it.
 The winter rains have
finally arrived (thanks for your prayers. Keep them coming). The almond
trees are fully in bloom. We wish you all a tu bishvat sameach.
Kol
Tuv,
Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project staff:
Dr. Susan Wall,
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 - Stephen Belsky (Cohort
4) |
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Stephen Belsky is completing his final year in the Rabbinical
Ordination program at Chovevei Torah, in New York. He hopes to return to
classroom teaching in September, 2010. |
 A few years ago, one of my students
pointed out that the aima chashekha gedola - the fear and great darkness that fell upon
Avraham right before God revealed that his children would be "enslaved in a land
not their own" - may be a foreshadowing (pun intended) of the Plague of
Darkness. Generations later, as the predicted oppression and promised
redemption were approaching their climax, God instructed Moshe to stretch out
his hand towards the heavens, so that very darkness would descend on
Egypt...Vayimash choshekh..
But what was
this Darkness?
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Save the Date for the
PEP Alumni Fall Retreat 2010/5771 |
Plans are well underway for the PEP Alumni Fall Retreat, Thursday
October 28 through Sunday October 31, 2010 (20-23 Cheshvan, 5771). This year's
retreat will be held at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat
Center, Reisterstown, MD. The Conference
Center is under new management and we have heard only positive reports about the
lodging and food service.
We are delighted to announce that this year's retreat/conference will be
shared with graduates of DeLeT - The Day school
Leadership through Teaching graduate
fellowship. While our graduates sometimes teach different subjects or different
grade levels, both programs are committed to the value of professional and
visionary day school teaching. This joint venture will enable us to draw on the
staff resources of each program, as well as the expertise of our most veteran
graduates. We have a great deal to both share with and learn from one another.
At the same time, we will make sure that we meet separately as PEP alumni, and
as cohorts. There will be ample time to schedule individual meetings with PEP
staff and veteran alumni. We will be forming our planning committees shortly,
and welcome your input.
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| Online Learning Continues with Sefer
Shmot |
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 Levi Cooper 's
online learning on Parshat
Hashavuah using the
commentary of The NETZIV will continue through the end of Sefer
Shmot. You can find the weekly guide and sourcesheets on the
website. You can
receive them directly to your inbox; just send
Debra an email requesting
this. Click here to be a part of
the discussion forum.
The online learning has been an experiment as part of our Alumni
Project. We know that the content has been at a very high level. We would love
your feedback as to how useful it was for you. |
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| Tefilah Action
Research |
 At the retreat, Yonatan Yussman
(Cohort 1) led a session on tefilah in day schools. The goal of the workshop was to
lay the groundwork for an action research project on tefilah to
include some of the schools in which our graduates work. We hope to introduce
small experiments in at least ten different schools to document what impact
these changes might have on the prayer experience for our students in middle and
high school.
The data gathering phase of the project will begin shortly. If you
would like to be part of the research, please contact Susan or Yonatan. |
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Summer Curriculum Workshop
2010
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This year's Summer Curriculm
Workshop is scheduled for July 7 - 22, 2010 / 25 Tammuz - 11 Av, 5770. We
look forward to having graduates of Cohorts 7 and 8 join us, along with other
novice elementary, middle and high school teachers. We have an excellent staff
already in place and only a few more places available in the program.
Please forward the flyer to your colleagues and urge them
to apply as soon as possible. |
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Focus on Sean Herstein (Cohort
1)
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 Sean is
currently teaching Judaic Studies at the Amos and Celia Heilicher
Minneapolis Jewish Day School.
In high school I was inspired by my band director to go into
education. Four years later, my plan to become a music educator had turned into
something else. Still interested in teaching, I switched majors to Jewish
Studies and decided that I needed to do some learning in Israel if I was going
to have enough background knowledge. I was fortunate to meet some Pardes alumni
at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and, after some meaningful conversations, I
determined that a year of learning would help me to fill in my knowledge
gaps. One year of learning at Pardes quickly turned into three with the
announcement of the Pardes Educators Program.
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| Education Corner: Ali Feldman Gutfreund
(Cohort 1) |
Ali
Feldman Gutfreund is a marriage and family therapist in Miami, Fla. She
co-authored the book: "The JGirl Guide: The Young Jewish Woman's Handbook for
Coming of Age". Ali previously taught at the Heschel School in Toronto, SSDS of
Manhanttan and RASG Hebrew Academy in
Miami. |
Bullying: What
to be aware of in our classrooms
Bullying has become a buzzword in
many schools over the past ten years and although  there are tremendous
resources for tackling the problem, it still seems to be a pervasive concern in
schools throughout the nation. (Don't think day schools are immune.) This year,
the annual Association for School Counselors is devoting their entire week-long
conference to providing more resources for teachers, principals and parents on
how to effectively deal with bullying. Studies show that between 15-25% of U.S.
students are bullied with some frequency (Melton et al, 1988; Nansel et al,
2001). There are even some states that have adopted laws against bullying!
Bullying can have many
devastating effects, ranging from plummeting self-esteem to even suicide. Many
of you will remember the Missouri teenager who killed herself after being
bullied through cyberspace back in December 2007. Particularly at a
developmentally key age where children's and adolescents' sense of self is
evolving, it is vital that they feel safe, nurtured and supported in their
school environments. Further, bullying can also cause other problems later in
life. Children who bully are more likely to get into fights, vandalize property,
and drop out of school. And 60% of boys who were bullies in middle school had at
least one criminal conviction by the age of 24 (Olweus, 1993).
From an educator's perspective
there are some key characteristics to look out for in your classroom.
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PEP
News
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The newest
PEP cohort has several students who left teaching in order to return to school
and study in the Educators Program. We are proud to highlight Tamara Frankel,
Cohort 10, who received her BA/B.Ed in the Jewish Teacher Training Program at
York University in Toronto, then taught Jewish history at CHAT. Gail Kirschner
asked Tamara a few questions.
Gail: why didn't you go directly to
graduate school after completing your undergraduate studies?
Tamara: I was told that getting some
teaching experience first would make me appreciate school more and make the
degree more meaningful. I didn't believe it, but it was true! I have found that
my learning is more applicable paired with my experience; things aren't abstract
to me - I can really visualize them in the classroom.
Gail: What do you think would have been
different had you gone directly into a Masters program?
Tamara: I think that I might have burnt
out faster without that break between my first and second degrees. Now I really
appreciate being in school - not to mention the stipend!
Gail: What do you see as the best part of
going back to school and being part of PEP?
Tamara: I believe that being reflective is the
key to good teaching. I know that as a teacher, you get caught up in the routine
and demands and often can't think about the big picture. You just can't be as
reflective to the degree you would want. Now, as a Pardes Educator, I am
learning how to be reflective every step of the way, and I'll be a better
teacher because of this ability.
PEP Alumni... Is there a teacher in your school who might
consider PEP at this stage of his/her career? Please tell your colleague about
PEP, the enriching Pardes Beit Midrash, living in Israel, getting an MA and
re-connecting with the reflective element of being a teacher. Someone you know
could be another Tamara!
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| From the Field |
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Sarah
Hendel (cohort 7, Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy, Greenwich,
CT) had her 5th graders, who were studying Shmot, create pictures of
Moshe and the burning bush.  Every picture was
accompanied by an artist's statement explaining the student's choice of shapes,
colors, details, and the title of the picture. Sarah then showed them actual
artists' depictions of the bush and they discussed how to analyze art, and how
each piece of art was an individual interpretation of the text by the artist.
The students then did a gallery walk of one another's creations, with guided
questions that led them to investigate one another's art, learning about how
their classmates interpreted the text of
Shmot.
Gayle Adler (cohort 4,
Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy, Denver, CO) had her 4th graders each make a
fancy yad out of cardboard at the beginning of the year which she  laminated for them. The
students keep the yad in their Torah folder, and whenever they read
Torah text (individually or as a group) they use the yad. Of course,
singing with trope makes it feel even more like an authentic Torah reading
experience.
If you have a short description of something you did in
class that could be helpful to your colleagues, please write it up and send it
to Debra. We'll hopefully include one or two in each future newsletter and begin
to post them on the website under curricular materials.
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| The Website: A Work in
Progress |
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We continue to rework the Pardes Educators Alumni
Support Website with a greater  emphasis on sharing
materials in a way that you can easily access and
search.
At this time of the year we want
to call your attention to the Job Opportunities
page with
its many new job listings. There are separate pages for teaching, administration
and summer educational job opportunities. In addition, the positions indicate
the denominations of the institutions. We hope this will be more helpful and
user friendly.
Don't
forget that you can access the forum and blog through your gmail account.
Please contact Debra if you have any
questions. |
| Educational Resources and
Opportunities |
A
reminder that we have joined the Spertus College E-Library for our alumni.
The Feinberg
E-Collection contains the full-text of nearly 16,000 books and 25,000
articles in the area of Jewish studies. Please contact Debra for more
information. A reminder that we are also a member of the Lookstein Center
e-Community. You
need the username and password for both of these
resources.
Other
resources: |
The TALI
Education Fund just launched a website-Visual Midrash-a collection of
Fine and Folk Art on Biblical themes. The site was created by Dr. Jo Milgrom
and Dr. Joel Durman.
My Hebrew
Programs is a
new site which includes versions of two useful programs: Hebrew Sign Maker and
Selected Tehillim.
Jewish Ideas
Daily is a new
site featured in Lookjed, where you will discover a selection of Jewish opinion,
thought and analysis, pulled from sources around the globe.
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Alumni
Updates
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Mazal
Tovs:
Yael Krieger (Cohort
8) on her recent marriage to Joshua
Laden.
Professional
News:
PEP Alumni were in attendance at
the RAVSAK Conference along with Susan Wall and Abby Rosen
Finkel.
Marc
Baker (Cohort 1) presented a session at
the conference entitled: Pluralism in Action. Amanda Pogany
(Cohort 2) and Deborah
Anstandig (Cohort 8) spoke as part of a panel on
mentoring new teachers.
Jen
Truboff (Cohort 6), Adam Tilove (Cohort 6), Andy Shapiro Katz (Cohort 1) and
Jessica Lissy Trey (Cohort 3) were in
attendance as well.
Publications:
Zvi
Grumet's article entitled "Moses and Mentoring" now appears online in the RAVSAK
Journal Hayidion
Thanks to everyone for
sending us updated contact information. Please keep us posted about changes of
address (home, email) moving jobs, etc.
We
are sorry if we missed something. Please help us by sending in your news!
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