Recently, a teacher asked me for some guidance. What did I think would be both the best content and methodology not only for teaching skills but also for conveying fundamental values and fostering a love for and connection to Judaism?
My Journey to Fully Loving My Job
Many schools are facing a crisis due to the dearth of Jewish studies teachers. I therefore feel it is important for me to share my journey from wanting to leave teaching to fully loving my job. I hope that my personal experience and the process outlined in this article can serve as a model for other schools and encourage struggling teachers to find the support they need so they too can thrive in their classrooms.
Heed the Hyphen
We aren’t only teachers. We are teacher-dads or teacher-moms. Some of us are teacher-cyclists and others are teacher-runners. Some of us are teacher-gardeners and others are teacher-travelers. I suggest that summertime is a time to heed the “hyphen.”
Making Room for Wonder, Curiosity, and Mystery
If Judaism is a response to existential questions, then we must validate our students’ questions, interests, and curiosities and create a context to discuss them.
How Jewish Studies Teachers can Use ChatGPT, Part 2
Is ChatGPT a threat to Jewish studies teachers? Learn how to use ChatGPT to enhance your teaching!
How Jewish Studies Teachers Can Use ChatGPT, Part #1
Is ChatGPT a threat to Jewish studies teachers? Learn how to use ChatGPT to enhance your teaching!
Personalizing the Past Through Oral Histories
If you were to ask your students to describe the process of teshuvah, my hunch is that most would echo some version of Rambam’s Hilchot Teshuvah: regret and renounce the sin, resolve not to do it again, and when the opportunity to sin occurs again, take a pass…
Taking Our Schools L’ayla Ul’ayla
If you were to ask your students to describe the process of teshuvah, my hunch is that most would echo some version of Rambam’s Hilchot Teshuvah: regret and renounce the sin, resolve not to do it again, and when the opportunity to sin occurs again, take a pass…
Advice for Day 1 of School
I was always nervous the night before the first day of school. It didn’t matter if I was a student, a teacher, or a head of school. I slept very little the night before and was exhausted by the end of the first day…
Where Have All the Teachers Gone?
The indicators point to an intensifying shortage of Jewish educators in North America and beyond, and it looks like it will only get worse. This is not new and there are likely multiple causes, but COVID has brought about a wave of early retirement and teacher burnout so that the need has become more acute faster than anyone anticipated and the effects are being felt almost everywhere.