Dr. Hana Bor is an Associate Professor of Jewish Education and Director of Master of Arts in Jewish Education and Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service at Towson University (Baltimore, Maryland).
Hana Bor examines Emergent Curriculum as a model for empowering students in congregational schools.
“Moses received Torah from Sinai and handed it down to Joshua; and Joshua to the Elders; and the Elders to the Prophets; and the Prophets handed it down to the members of the Great Assembly (Pirke Avot 1:1).” From the early beginnings of our religion, Judaism has relied on its members to pass down its teachings and empower its people to exhibit Jewish values.
Jewish education is at a crossroads. As American Jews, we are living in a time in which personal interests are competing with Jewish values. In a society in which individual success is measured by educational achievements, accomplishments, and personal wealth, religious education has taken the back-burner. Children are encouraged to work hard and succeed in sports, musical instruments and secular academics; yet, how often do we measure our children’s success by their involvement in Jewish learning and their ability to exhibit Jewish morals? Young American Jews are in danger of living in a culture, in which Judaism no longer informs them of how to live their everyday lives.
This struggle is universal, not only affecting Jewish institutions, but religious congregations across America. In their book, Empowering Congregations: Successful Strategies for 21st Century Leadership, Denton Roberts and Robert Hill suggest that religious congregations and institutions all across America are experiencing “increasing stress and road blocks to success.” They suggest that clergy and religious educators search for practical ways to empower their members.
What concrete steps can we take to empower Jewish students to choose Judaism as a priority? What must we do in all of our learning environments, starting in infant care and preschool through adult education to ensure that Judaism remains an important part of our lives? This article presents a case study of one congregation which empowers its students to become Jewish adults and pass along these values to future generations through a student-centered approach and integrated experiential learning.
Dr. Richard Solomon defines Jewish Integrated Experiential Education and states that Jewish Integrated Experiential Education comes from a “student’s imagination, innate curiosity, and the need to create order and make Jewish meaning of his or her life.” Meaning for these students can be found in many places and situations which create personal attachments to Judaism. Such attachments may be formed by personal prayer, service learning projects, relationship with Jewish mentors, or trips to Israel. Dr. Solomon suggests that in order “to deepen [students] understanding of what it means to be Jewish and to lead a fulfilling Torah-based life, educators, leaders, and parents must empower them to encounter personal Jewish experiences in and out of the classroom” (Solomon, 2011). Successful Jewish Integrated Experiential Education begins with students who are empowered to learn, and continues the process of empowerment.
Beth El Congregation of Baltimore, Maryland has undertaken a self-reflective process in which all educational departments are looking at the ways it approaches empowering its learners and their families. This year, the focus in Beth El congregational schools is to “teach each child according to his or her own way” (Proverbs 6:6). By examining the ways that our students learn, Beth El creates an empowered atmosphere of learning that is directed by the learner, and guided by their teachers, administrators, and the clergy.
Emergent pre-school curriculum
Jewish educator and author, Miriam Heller Stern asks the question “should we plan around the individual needs and interests of the learner, or should teachers guide their learners toward a set of ultimate truths?” (Heller Stern, 2011). It was a simpler articulation of this question that energized Beth El’s commitment to switching from a classical preschool curriculum to an emergent curriculum.
Emergent curriculum is a constantly evolving learning process which builds on the experiences of the learner. It assumes that learning should be an active process and that teachers should continuously evaluate and create their lessons based on the constantly changing learning environment and their student’s interests. Emergent curriculum is a dynamic process in which the “teachers, students, teaching materials and environment interact in the context of dialogue” (Yu-le, 2004). Emergent curriculum is a perfect complement to Richard Solomon’s Jewish Integrated Experiential Education. It is learner driven, and the teacher acts as a guide.
Early childhood Jewish educator, Maxine Handleman, author of What’s Jewish About Butterflies, states in her introduction, “one of the most important ways to ensure that children are excited and invested in their own learning is by eliciting areas of learning from children and from what’s going on in children’s lives. Learning is engaging and lasting when it is relevant and vibrant and when children can be leaders and partners in their own learning” (Handleman & Schein, 2004).
Using the emergent curriculum model, no longer do teachers have a rigid curriculum which is planned weeks and months ahead of time for their classrooms. There is no Judaic “special” twice a week where children are exposed to administration chosen mitzvot and values. The Beth El teachers have undergone training in Creative Curriculum so that their students from the very beginning are empowered to understand that Jewish learning and living is fully integrated into every aspect of their lives. For example, it is not uncommon that as students explore bugs outside, they learn the mitzvah of avoiding tza-ar ba-alei hayyim, (=causing animals to suffer) and later in the day discuss 10 Grouchy Ladybugs during circle time. When teachers capitalize on the interests of their students, the students ask questions, experience empowerment to explore their surroundings, and become aware of how interconnected their Jewish identity is with the rest of their lives.
Ilene Vogelstein, Beth El’s Director of Early Childhood Education, uses a camera to capture moments when preschoolers are organically living Torah values. She then labels the values, and provides her teachers with training on how to incorporate the values into the everyday curriculum goals.
The primary years
As Beth El students get older, there is more going on in their lives that competes with Jewish education. There is also a tension between the skills that professionals (i.e. educators, administrators, and clergy) desire to be mastered along with the desire to have students at all ages guide their learning in order to make it relevant and meaningful in their lives.
Recently at a focus group discussion at Beth El, a parent of two children, one who has celebrated her Bat Mitzvah and another who is just beginning his studies, expressed the idea that religious education should be process, not product, driven. The concern expressed by the father was that schools spend so much time preparing children to become benai mitzvah, that one single milestone becomes the driving reason to take part in Jewish education. The goal, he suggested, should be that we create Jewish adults who take their Judaism seriously at every stage in their lives, and that becoming benai mitzvah is just another marker along the way.
In Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things, Kelly Curtis discusses the challenges that teachers face when teaching in a non-traditional manner. “The truth is that society feels less chaotic, less volatile, and less controversial when young people assume the role of silent sponges. Kids who sit at their desks, take notes, and don’t ask for clarification make it easier for the traditional teacher to complete the lesson…Children who follow the rules without questioning them cause less stress.” Despite these challenges, Curtis emphasizes the importance of actively engaging students and encouraging them to ask question and participate in their learning. She suggests that there are three necessary steps of empowering students; “opportunity, skill, and trust” (Curtis, 2008).
While all young people have the potential to be empowered, they need the opportunity provided to them. Young people need the chance to learn new skills. If they are not provided with the opportunity to master skills, they will become frustrated and disillusioned. Finally, students need to know that their educators trust them. There needs to be a gradual process where parents, teachers, administrators, and clergy begin to let go, and that students feel prepared to pursue their own paths and continue on a lifelong journey of Jewish learning.
In order to balance the need for specific skills and the need to continue empowering students to make meaning from their Jewish studies, Beth El has created a spiral electives curriculum for fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. Each year, students choose three electives from six broad categories; Tanakh, History, Israel, Tikkun Olam, Tarbut V’Torah, and Jewish Ethics. By the time they reach the milestone of becoming benai mitzvah they have already spent three full years exploring areas of their own Jewish interests while still being guided in their studies by the choices made available to them.
If congregations are successful in providing opportunities and skills while their students are young, they will be able to trust that their students will complete the benai mitzvah milestone, and continue their Jewish learning in ways that is meaningful for them. The opportunity to explore a wide variety of Jewish topics as primary school students, and the confidence they feel celebrating their Bar/Bat Mitzvah creates empowered teens who continue their journey towards Jewish adulthood.
Confirmation: A choose your own adventure
Beth El’s high school students are a challenging demographic to recruit and retain. They are also the greatest investment for the future of the congregation as they are filled with enthusiasm and are looking to feel connected to one another and the greater community.
Beth El’s approach to Confirmation is a Youth-Adult Partnership. They have created a side by side approach where “adults recognize youth strengths and encourage them in that direction.” (Curtis, p. 21). The congregation’s teenagers are being empowered to become change agents, and as their confidence grows, their adult teachers and mentors slip further from the front of the room and towards a side-by side partnership.
At the beginning of the year, students are asked to commit to participating in Tikkun Olam. During brainstorming sessions facilitated by their teachers, students generate ideas about the kinds of mitzvah projects they want to participate in during the school year. After much discussion the students reach consensus on these three Tikkun Olam projects:
- Spending time with and creating a social program for children with special needs
- Providing support for cancer patients
- Entertaining seniors who live in assisted living
The entire Confirmation program was then divided into three committees based on these Tikkum Olam projects. Each student chooses which committee he or she will dedicate time throughout the year. They research their own hesed opportunities; they market their own publicity, and recruit from amongst their friends so that their Jewish learning is transformed into action.
Beth El Confirmation students are provided some of the most meaningful and enduring experiences of their teenage lives. In addition to participating in the Tikkum Olam projects, in the summer of 2014 they will have the opportunity to travel to Israel as a community of learners, doers and friends. Already, religious school students, who have chosen to study Israel in detail, are discussing their 2014 summer plans with their peers and community. These students and their slightly older friends now have asked to study Modern Hebrew. They are coming to their administration with educational requests. Students being empowered to ask has made it easy for the administration to provide them with the learning opportunities they seek. The 2014 educational trip to Israel will come into being under the same model as a Youth-Adult partnership. Before the summer students will choose areas to be studied in depth. They will research Tikkun Olam projects available in Israel. They will work together to design an itinerary that reflects their interests and needs. As they continue to develop their skills, their mentors will trust that the trip they plan will be an expression of their Jewish identities, and a vehicle by which their connection to Judaism and their community will be strengthened for years to come.
Dr. Jonathan Woocher supports the importance of engaging students in active Jewish learning. “The hallmark of successful Jewish education today is the extent to which it can provide learners with resources drawn from the Jewish tradition and from the contemporary Jewish community that help them to live meaningful, purposeful, and fulfilling human lives. Jewishness is a means, not an end in itself, and we must adjust our educational thinking and practice to embrace this shift” (Woocher, 2011).
Following confirmation, Beth-El strives to maintain contact with its college students by inviting them to synagogue activities and sending them holiday care packages. It holds events for young Jewish singles to encourage them to meet. The congregation hosts a young adult group and holds family services in which congregants and their young children can embrace their Jewish identity together. These activities empower members to continue their involvement with Jewish learning and strengthen their Jewish identity way beyond the Bar/Bat Mitzvah years.
Looking ahead
Just as Moses handed down the Torah and empowered the prophets to spread the values of Judaism to the members of the assembly, so too is it our obligation to empower Jewish students to become active young Jewish adults. By encouraging student-centered learning, engaging curiosity and making Judaism a way of life, Beth El empowers its students. This case study serves as an example of how one congregation leads their students in a lifelong journey toward Judaism. In the last five years Beth El has seen many of their students continue with higher Jewish education and Jewish professional life, several of whom have become Rabbis and Jewish educators. Perhaps such a model, may be implemented to encourage Jewish living starting in infancy and leading to adulthood so that we may continue to pass on Jewish values and empower future generations.
References
Curtis, K. (2008). Empowering youth: How to encourage young leaders to do great things. Minneapolis: Search Institute Press.
Handelman, M. & Schein, D. (2004). What is Jewish about butterflies. Denver: ARE Publishing.
Heller-Stern, M. (2011). Jewish Philanthropy 100 Years of Innovation: How we can support teachers to make change last. E-Jewish Philanthropy, October 30, 2011.
Roberts, D. & Hill, R.(2003). Empowering congregations: Successful strategies for 21st Century leadership. Pasadena: Hope Publishing.
Solomon, R. (2011). Linking the Silos Between Jewish Formal and Informal Education: Jewish Integrated Experiential Education. Bar-Ilan University, The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education. www.lookstein.org/articles/link_jiee.pdf
Woocher, J. (2001). Reinventing Jewish education. RJ.org. http://blogs.rj.org/reform/2011/08/reinventing-jewish-education.html
Yu-le, Z. (2004). Some thoughts on emergent curriculum. Paper presented at the Forum for Integrated Education and Educational Reform sponsored by the Council for Global Integrative Education, Santa Cruz, CA, October 28-30. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/CGIE/yule.pdf.