Life is Messy: Embrace It! Part II

Life is Messy: Embrace It! Part II

Last month, we explored an aspect of the dilemma of how we can do the best for each and every one of our students. This month, we will look at a totally different manifestation of the same question. That is the amount of time it takes to develop passionate, trained teachers.

Life is Messy: Embrace It!

Life is Messy: Embrace It!

Educators aspire to do what's best for their students. But what if something that is good for one student is terrible for another student? What’s the solution to the dilemma in which we are not serving all of our children in the best way possible?

Livin’ On a Prayer: Prioritizing Support for Tefillah Coordinators

Livin’ On a Prayer: Prioritizing Support for Tefillah Coordinators

Reuven Margrett, Associate Director (North America), Pardes Center for Jewish Educators asks the question: How do we support new and emerging tefillah coordinators?

He explains that the tefillah coordinator role needs to be about more than just focusing on the product (minyanim, curriculum, logistics), and shares ideas on how schools can consciously support, build, and grow a cadre of tefillah coordinators who can lead and inspire.

When a Podcast Seems Familiar

When a Podcast Seems Familiar

Author Elena Aguilar identifies six core human needs in her most recent book, "Arise: The Art of Transformational Coaching." Her list closely parallel's JEIC's list of the six pillars of intrinsic motivation. Her focus is on educator training, making the classroom teacher her "end user." But is that the right focus... especially in the field of Jewish education?

Not All Heroes Wear Capes…

Not All Heroes Wear Capes…

Rabbi Jeremy Bruce, director of programming at The Rabbi Sacks Legacy and Rabbi David Stein, the dean of academic affairs at Shalhevet High School and co-founder and managing director of Lahav Learning, explain the Torah V’Chochmah program. This program, inspired by Rabbi Sacks' teachings in Bible, Parashat Hashavua, and Jewish thought trains Jewish educators in curriculum development.

Answering the "What Ifs" with Personal Connections

Answering the "What Ifs" with Personal Connections

About two weeks before schools starts, the “what ifs” take over every teacher's mind. Gesher Jewish Day School Principal of Teaching and Learning Melanie Eisen shares the lessons she's learned over her 33-year career that have helped her calm the what ifs so she can focus on having a great school year.

Back to School...in Elul?

Back to School...in Elul?

This year, the Jewish calendar creates an oddity in that the first month or so of school is the month of Elul rather than Tishrei. What educational message can we glean from this unusual turn of the calendar?

Starting with the End in Mind: Big Ideas and Essential Questions

Starting with the End in Mind: Big Ideas and Essential Questions

As educators prepare their yearly vision and units for the coming school year, JEIC Managing Director Sharon Freundel suggests that we use big ideas (BI) and essential questions (EQ) that focus on philosophical life statements and pertinent deep questions to frame the students’ learning.

The Secret Sauce in Jewish Education

The Secret Sauce in Jewish Education

Rabbi Shmuel Feld, founding director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge, discusses how the secret sauce in Jewish education is intrinsic motivation. He further examines this core concept in successful Jewish education that we delved into at this year’s Innovators Retreat.

How Jewish Day School Forges an Identity that Survives the Campus Culture

How Jewish Day School Forges an Identity that Survives the Campus Culture

Photo Credit: Copyright 2024. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

A study commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League found that, post-October 7, nearly 40% of Jewish college students feel uncomfortable with others knowing they are Jewish, due to the near-weekly college campus protests across North America. These protests have too often subjected Jewish, and especially Zionist, students to hate and vitriol, directed at their very identities.

Joshua J. Freundel, a research fellow at Harvard Law School, wants to know, How has Jewish day school prepared students to confront these tensions?

JEIC and Prizmah Partner to Build a Stronger Jewish Day School Teacher Pipeline

JEIC and Prizmah Partner to Build a Stronger Jewish Day School Teacher Pipeline

A teacher pipeline issue continues to grow, not only in the world at large, but in the yeshiva and Jewish day school field. School and field leaders are struggling with recruiting, training and retaining talented educators. As a response, Prizmah and the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) created the Jewish Day School Educator Pipeline Working Group to investigate current and previous initiatives, explore new ideas, and plan for the future.

Impossible but Necessary Questions around the Yamim

Impossible but Necessary Questions around the Yamim

Before Passover this year, many wondered how we should commemorate the ongoing imprisonment of 133 innocent Jewish lives and the unconscionable murder of 1,200+ Israelis. As the conflict continues, and day schools approach the season of “yamim”: Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut, and Yom Yerushalayim, do we expand the commemoration of Yom Hashoah to include more recent egregious examples of blatant Jew-hatred? JEIC Managing Director Sharon Freundel explores this topic and offers her insight.

Questioning the System

Questioning the System

American Jewish day school students face multiple challenges in their Hebrew reading and comprehension mastery journey. Rabbi Shmuel Feld explores these and offers several potential solutions in our latest blog post.

Remembering October 7th: Looking Backward…and Forward

Remembering October 7th: Looking Backward…and Forward

Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies Chief Education and Educational Training Officer Aviva Lauer offers educators meaningful ways to help their students – and themselves – keep alive the memory of those we lost on October 7th.