Elisa Marcus teaches Kindergarten at the Solomon Schechter of Manhattan. In this conversation with Jewish Educational Leadership she describes the culture in her school and articulates a vision of parent involvement in education alongside the relationship between parent and school/teacher.
SAR Academy in Riverdale, NY was the first Jewish day school in North America to shut down because of COVID-19. Almost immediately, a parent group partnered with the school to help coordinate what the distance learning would look like, and parents were heavily involved in planning the reopening of the school, with all the contingency plans, in Fall 2020. The parent group included a number of medical professionals, including Dr. Gita Lisker. Jewish Educational Leadership spoke with Dr. Lisker just prior to the opening of the Fall 2020 semester. Below is an edited and abridged transcript of that conversation.
The linchpin for Holocaust remembrance is Holocaust survivor testimony. The direct meeting with the survivors creates an emotional experience for the student and the pairing of the remembrance with this emotion ensures its retention.
One of the most popular films on Netflix at the moment is a documentary that was released in September 2020 called “The Social Dilemma.” It is a dystopian film that describes the pernicious impact of social media on our lives and argues for governmental regulation of social media.
As teachers and students attempt to navigate the ever-changing world of education in 2020, the only thing that seems certain is that distance or virtual learning will remain essential.
JEWISHEDUCATIONALEADERSHIP Jewish Educational Leadership is a publication of The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education of Bar Ilan University. Chana German, Executive Director Journal Staff Zvi Grumet | Editor-in-Chief Hyim Brandes | Editor Chevi Rubin | Editor...
The following domains describe a framework for parent engagement and represent a context for ongoing engagement, participation, and collaboration. It contextualizes the variety of potential applications and opportunities for parent-school partnerships, and creates a series of challenges and opportunities which deepen engagement, involvement, and collaboration.
I lived in Canada for four and a half years. One cultural difference between Canadians and Americans is that Canadians apologize for everything. Canadians sneeze, and they say, “sorry.”
No one knows how the new academic year of 2020-2021 will start off. Most administrators have designed a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. One thing is for sure, most of our students will have been on summer vacation during the protests that emerged around the country after George Floyd’s tragic death. Many may well have missed an opportunity to discuss racial discrimination with their teachers. Whatever form school takes this fall, we should not pass up the opportunity to engage our students in a discussion of racial and economic injustice.
No one knows exactly how long COVID-19 will be with us. One thing is clear though, its impact on our lives is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.
