Biographical Info

Areas We Address

A day school would engage with us if they are looking to:

• Articulate a vision for the teaching and learning of sacred texts
• Enrich the teaching and learning of sacred texts
• Develop practices for designing standards-based curriculum for engaging students in meaningful text study
• Enhance the instructional leadership skills of Judaic Studies (JS) leaders
• Create a Jewish Studies scope and sequence for Tanakh and/or Rabbinics based on standards aligned with the school’s vision

Expected Outcomes

Depending on the services selected, a school could expect to accomplish from among these a selection of the following outcomes:

• Developing a vision of excellence for the teaching and learning of Judaic studies
• Adopting a standards-based approach with explicit outcomes for teaching sacred texts
• Developing standards-based units of study aligned with the school’s vision
• Deepening the teaching and learning of sacred Jewish texts
• Advancing student engagement, critical thinking and meaning making
• Developing a curriculum framework (scope and sequence) based on standards and benchmarks
• Learning practices that foster faculty collaboration and professional growth
• Creating and sustaining systematic professional learning to foster dynamic faculty collaboration

Key Activities

We help schools achieve their goals by implementing the following:

• Online professional development workshops for teachers and Judaic studies leaders
• Onsite professional development workshops for teachers
• Zoom coaching for Jewish studies leaders
• The number of sessions (workshops, coaching) and the location (online, onsite) depend on the goals of the school and the services selected. These decisions are made by school leaders in consultation with project leadership.

Setting Expectations

To ensure the impact of our support, we expect schools to:

• Establish clear goals for the work in consultation with project leaders
• Cover costs for substitute teachers for teachers and Judaic studies leaders participating in workshops

To ensure the impact of our support, we expect administrators to:

• Ensure that JS leaders and teachers are available for and participate in all online and onsite workshops and coaching sessions.
• Communicate the rationale and goals to teachers and leaders participating in the program and to and all relevant constituents
• Participate in workshops and coaching calls
• Hold follow-up meetings with teachers between PD sessions
• Support teachers in doing follow-up work between PD sessions
• Guide and support teachers in implementation of learning from workshops on unit development and classroom teaching

To ensure the impact of our support, we expect classroom teachers to:

• Understand the rationale and goals for the program
• Participate in scheduled workshops
• Participate in follow-up sessions with colleagues
• Implement learning from PD sessions in classrooms