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Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 7:00 AM
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The Jim Joseph Foundation
Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project
Newsletter March 2012 / Nissan 5772
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Dear Hevre,
It is very exciting to be
sending off this, our latest newsletter, having just completed our
annual retreat with fifty-eight of our alumni in attendance. The theme
of the retreat was"The Next Decade: Moving the Vision Forward". We spent
time reflecting on the past decade, the developments for PEASP and the
new Pardes Center for Jewish Educators (PCJE). We want to thank everyone
who gave their time to help make the experience as successful as it
was. We will be posting a video of Zvi's plenary address on our website after Passover.
We were so pleased that Josh
Miller, our program officer from the Jim Joseph Foundation, was able to
spend two days with us at the retreat, and share greetings from the
Foundation. Click here
to read the dvar Torah sent in by Michael Berger from AVI CHAI, who was
unable to attend. We hope those of you who could not join us at the
retreat will be able to contribute to the ongoing work we began.
Enjoy reading through the
newsletter. We wish you a meaningful Passover holiday - and for some of
you, a restful vacation as well.
Hag kasher v'sameach,
Susan, Amanda, Debra
Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project staff:
Dr. Susan Wall, Amanda Pogany, 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 - Andy Shapiro Katz (Cohort 2)
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Andy taught at the
Weber School for two years and then taught and served as Assistant Head
of School for Student Life and Jewish Learning for five years at the
Jewish Community High School of the Bay, San Francisco.
Musings on Ki Tisa, Israel, and the Chagim
 I
write this Dvar Torah as Purim concludes and our collective attention
turns toward Pesach. The Torah reading for the Shabbat following Purim
is well-timed, as the sixth aliya of Ki Tisa instructs us regarding Chag
HaMatzot, the Korban Pesach, Isur Chametz as well as the Bikkurim. It
is at this time of year when the vital Jewish juxtapositions become most
potent - past and present, nature and history, linear and circular
time. It challenges me to reflect about where I am, now that I am back
in Israel.
Following completion of the Pardes Educators Program in 2003, my wife Emily and I spent two years in Atlanta and then five years in San Francisco. We returned to Israel in August 2010
to be part of a new community in Beer Sheva. We found a chevre and
found work, and we continue to acclimate. We purchased a house in
November, 2011 and moved into it this past February.
We purchased the home from Ya'akov Shmueli, the 70-year-old original owner. Like the man with the
almond
tree in the famous Honi HaMe'agel story, he planted fruit trees in the
garden - apple, pear, orange, peach, pomelo, grapefruit, clementine,
pomegranate, olive, and fig. He planted the trees, but we
will enjoy their fruit.
Click here to read Andy's Dvar Torah.
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Education Corner
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School-wide Learning Centers for Community Celebrations
Why use these centers?1
Grade or school-wide learning centers allow schools to mark a holiday
in an enjoyable way while still promoting student learning.They provide a
change of pace for both students and teachers and an opportunity to
introduce more "off the beaten track" learning.
These centers can get
elementary or middle school parents involved, either in helping out at a
center where more hands are needed, or by accompanying younger students
from center to center.
We thought it
appropriate to share this now, with all the "spring holidays" -
Passover, Israel Independence Day, Lag ba-Omer, Shavuot - coming up. All
work well as the basis for learning centers.
Click here to read the entire article. 
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| From the Field |
Studying HaTikvah - Kelly Cohen (Cohort 10)
I
was interested in using the study of HaTikvah to explore the many
different voices and opinions that exist, and have existed, in Israeli
society. This was a part of a larger learning unit about Israel for
which
the enduring understanding was "Israel is the story of its people".
The
students in my 5th grade class were broken down into 5 groups and we
had a mock "Choosing the National Anthem of Israel" competition. Each of
the 5 groups was given a different "character" from Israeli history.
Some of the characters were real (Rav Kook, Naftali Herz Imber)
and some were composite characters (David Darom - A South African Oleh,
Moshe Nachman - An Orthodox Jew, and Christina Sahoury - an
Arab-Israeli). Each character had their own ideas about what the
National Anthem should and should not contain, and how they could best
be represented in the anthem of their country.
Each group had to prepare a presentation to the class. There was a
process of Q & A to help us understand all of the positions and
finally there was a vote.This process aligned with a unit they were
doing in Language Arts on "persuasive speech", which helped us have a
common language to frame the presentations.
Each
class ended up choosing a different National Anthem and they
represented a wide spectrum of thoughts. In one of the assessments for
this unit I asked the students to tell me what this activity had taught
them about Israel. I got a lot of great answers but the two that have
stuck with me are, "there are a lot of people in Israel that think a lot
of different things", and "people in Israel must really love their
country if they have so many thoughts on what the NationalAnthem should
be." I am happy to share any or all the materials and lesson plans
around this project.
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Focus on Donna Rudolph (Cohort 6)
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taught at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital. She
has worked as the Head of Drama at Camp Ramah-Wisconsin. Donna lives in
Jerusalem with her husband and 15 month old son.
Upon graduating from the Pardes Educators Program I was
fortunate to have gotten a wonderful job. I was a 4th, 5th and 6th
grade Judaic studies teacher in a small school in Washington, DC. I
remember saying to my husband at some point that I actually looked
forward to getting up in the morning and going to work every day. How
many people can say that? I think part of what made the job so enjoyable
was that I had a majority of motivated students, parents whom I felt
were my partners in their children's education, and most importantly, a
supportive staff and principal. The faculty and parent body appreciated
me as a teacher and as a person.
We moved back to Israel two
years ago and understandably, my greatest fear was not having job
satisfaction. My first job here was as a sort of liaison between the
children of new olim or people who were in Israel on Sabbatical, at a
public religious school. I would go into class with these kids and give
support as needed- mostly in their Judaic studies/Hebrew classes. I had a
very difficult experience in doing this- primarily in being an
observer. I was used to kids behaving and being excited about school, I
was used to kids having enough food for lunch, I was used to working at a
school with a no bullying policy, not one that didn't notice bullying
going on. I was so used to the 'luxury' of making as many photocopies as
I wanted (there wasn't a laminating machine so we won't even go
there☺). All of the privileges were part of working in a private Jewish
school in the US, and clearly I was 'not in Kansas anymore'. If I am
being honest with myself the two parts that bothered me the most were
the idea that my own children would eventually be exposed to and part of
this system, and that I still can't for sure say that the kids were not
learning anything. I think they actually were!
Click here to read Donna's profile.
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PEP News
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It is that time
of year again - and that means that our 18 current PEP students can now
be found working hard in student teaching placements across the United
States. We wish them much success and great learning and teaching
moments.
So, mah nishtanah hashanah hazot mikol hashanim?
For the first time, nearly
half of our student teaching mentors are PEP alumni themselves! The
following are serving as mentors this year:
- Elisha Stein, Cohort 4 at Barrack Hebrew Academy in Philadelphia
- Three Cohort 5 graduates - Michal Cahlon of Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, KS: Hayley DeLugach of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco, and Etan Weiss of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD
- Reuven Margrett, Cohort 6, of the Frankel Jewish Academy in Detroit
- Yonatan Rosner, Cohort 7, of New Community Jewish High School in Los Angeles
- Stef Jadd Susnow, Cohort 8, of Chicagoland Jewish High School
In previous years, another six of our alumni served as mentors, including: Tamar Rabinowitz and Evan Wolkenstein, Cohort 1; Seth Goldsweig and Amanda Pogany, Cohort 2; Jessica Lissy Trey, Cohrt 3 and Eliana Seltzer, Cohort 5.
For Pardes, PEP, and the Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project, this
trend is a real achievement and source of pride. Congratulations and
thanks go out to all of our 18 mentors, with a special shout-out of
nachas to our PEP alumni mentors.
With blessings for a very happy and meaningful Pesach to you all - a Pesach of learning and teaching moments,
Judy, Gail, and the entire PEP team
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Educational Publications, Resources and Opportunities
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The Fall, 2011 edition of the Jewish Educational Leadership Journal focuses on Assessment. The journal can be accessed here. Assessments written by a number of our alumni can be found in "A Gallery of Assessments". Click here to read them. Please contact Debra for the log in information to access the Lookstein Journal (if you haven't done so already).
Mordechai Rackover (Cohort 3) recommended the article: Top 5 Websites for Teachers to Use in Their Classrooms.
If you do not have Hebrew on your keyboard, there are a few ways you can get it:
- This site offers a virtual Hebrew keyboard. The one limitation is that there are no vowels.
- You can download the Hebrew keyboard. Click here
- TeqNikud offers a free modified Hebrew keyboard with vowels.
The Mifgashim Listserv featured an article entitled "The Value of Laughter in the Classroom". Click here to read it.
The Ivrion Hebrew Immersion Program will be held from June 27-July 22, 2012 at JTS, in Manhattan. The application deadline is April 15, 2012. Click here for more information.The
On-Line Social Media Bootcamp for Educators sponsored by Darim is now
accepting applications for its professional development program. The
program is funded by the Covenant Foundation. Click here for details and an application. Deadline to apply is April 1, 2012.
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| Alumni Update | |
Professional news:
Etan
Weiss (Cohort 5), Eliana Seltzer (Cohort 5), Tamar Rabinowitz (Cohort
1), Matthew Lipman (Cohort 6) and Hayley DeLugach (Cohort 5) have their assessments published in the Jewish Educational Leadership Journal.
Zvi Grumet (PEP faculty)
successfully defended his dissertation at the Azrieli Graduate School
of Yeshiva University. Zvi's dissertation is entitled "Moses as a Model
for Educational Leadership Development".
Personal News
Mazal Tov to:
Gail Kirschner gets 2 mazal tovs: on the birth of a granddaughter, Gaja Sarah and on the marriage of her daughter, Elana to David Ihilevich.
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Sophie Rapoport (Cohort 8) on her engagement to Joshua David Barton (Pardes Summer '05, Year '06-'07).
Matthew Lipman (Cohort 6) on completing the Jerusalem Half Marathon.
We are sorry if we missed something. Please help us by sending in your news!
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