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Featured Resource
2009 Consultation on Jewish Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Featured
Jumpstart, JESNA's Lippman Kanfer Institute, and The Jewish Federations of North America have partnered to create a think tank on Jewish innovation and social entrepreneurship. The goal is to create a forum to address the key issues that will affect the success of the Jewish innovation sector. The think tank partners held a consultation in Toronto on December 15-16, 2009 hosted and co-sponsored by the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, and co-sponsored by the Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. Dr. Caryn Aviv was engaged to attend the conference and write a report on the gathering. Follow the link above to download the report, view resources, and learn more about the convenors and participants.
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- Research Reports and Studies - Lippman Kanfer Institute Publications
31 Days of Jewish Women in Education: Full 2010 List for Download Featured
In March 2010, JESNA began a new annual tradition in honor of Women's History month: 31 days of Jewish women in education. Each of the 31 women (or women's organizations) selected this year reflect some aspect of the wide range of contributions Jewish women have made to the world of education, both Judaic and secular, throughout American history.You may download the PDF of the full 2010 list here, for use in classrooms, trainings, home discussion with children, and more. 31 Days of Jewish Women in Education (1.6 MB)
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Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Featured
This seminal article by author Marc Prensky assesses the new (at the time) 21st century student culture of "digital natives," the first generation of young people who are "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, video games & the internet (more boradly referred to as social media). How does this transition from digital immigrants to digital natives affect the classroom, and the very nature of our educational system? Though there have been many more advances in the field of social media since this article was first published, it remains a relevant reference when assessing the broad transition of student culture to the digital world of the 21st century. Digital_Natives_and_Imigrants (43.61 kB)
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Early Jewish Engagement in New York: A Summary Report Featured
Becoming a parent can be the most thrilling and the most challenging of times. And in the months and early years following that pivotal moment of new parenthood, mothers and fathers often discover a new openness to bringing Jewish experiences into their lives. That's why UJA-Federation's Beginning Jewish Families Task Force, founded in 2008, commissioned a study to learn how to best reach out to young Jewish families. Now the task force, part of the Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal (COJIR), has published the summary report, Jewish Early Engagement in New York. The study researched five communities as potential pilot sites for enhanced Jewish programming for new parents: Downtown Manhattan, Brownstone Brooklyn, Southern Brooklyn, Northern Westchester, and Staten Island. The report found that Jewish institutions could benefit from more viral marketing and publicity for their programs, and that there was a need for a Jewish parenting website. The study also recommended the need to better use social media and listservs that parents already subscribe to. The report found that for parents taking their first steps into Jewish life, the main reason for going to a Jewish program is to make new friends. And, according to the study, programs that are competitively priced or free, where possible, are important in reaching new parents. Other findings included recommendations for how organizations can reach out to families with young children: • Become more technologi ...
- Research Reports and Studies
Educator learning keeps evolving Featured
This article from NSDC's monthly publication, "Teachers Teaching Teachers," reviews and explores the history of teacher professional development over the last half century. While detailing the history of professional development, Killion explores not only how the terminology has changed, but more importantly, how assumptions about the purposes and outcomes of such learning have evolved. The column also describes five levels of learning with examples of each. Teachers Teaching Teachers (158.8 kB)
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Growing Jewish Education in Challenging Times: A Roundtable Series with JESNA's Lippman-Kanfer Institute & eJewishPhilanthropy Featured
Quality Jewish education is our most powerful tool for ensuring a vibrant Jewish future. But, it can't have an impact on those who don't participate. What can we do to make Jewish education more attractive, accessible and affordable, even under current conditions of economic pressure on both "providers" and "consumers"? How do the challenges of expanding educational participation play out today in specific arenas - day school, "complementary" education, camp, Israel education - and for specific critical populations - families with young children, teens, young adults, etc.? What new approaches are being tried and where are there signs of success? What has yet to be tried, but ought to be? Leaders from a wide range of settings and representing a variety of perspectives were invited to address these questions in a Roundtable series of essays that appeared over several weeks on eJewishPhilanthropy and on the JESNA website. We've now gathered their analyses and proposals together in this publication, along with the comments of readers to several of the essays who add their own opinions to the mix. We encourage you to use this publication to stimulate further discussion on the critical issues the essays address. Please note: The views expressed in the essays and in the comments published here reflect the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the thinking of the Lippman Kanfer Institute, JESNA or eJewishPhilanthropy.com. Growing Jewish Education in Challeng ...
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Hidden Sparks Featured
Founded in February 2005, Hidden Sparks’ goal is to increase the capacity of Jewish day schools to address the varied needs of children with learning difficulties. Hidden Sparks develops and supports professional development programs for Jewish day schools to help increase understanding and support for teaching to diverse learners. In addition to traditional professional development resources available on the website, Hidden Sparks Without Walls (WOW) brings audio and online classes, at no cost, to educators nation-wide. View online recordings of previous WOW classes and lectures, or register for upcoming online classes, at the Hidden Sparks homepage.
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Innovation in Jewish Education Blog Featured
Innovation in Jewish Education (IJE) is the blog of the Office of High School Programs at Brandeis University. The IJE draws upon BIMA and Genesis, Brandeis University’s two summer programs for high school students, that service as living laboratories. Experiential Jewish education is at the heart of IJE's work; blog posts from a plethora of Jewish Educational leaders cover topics relating to all aspects of informal/experiential education and Jewish youth.
- Interactive Resources - Blogs
Jewish Special Education International Consortium Featured
The Jewish Special Education International Consortium is a professional network of Directors, Coordinators and Administrators of Jewish special education services in Central Agencies for Jewish Education.The mission of the Consortium is to provide a structured forum that will enable professionals in special education to access and disseminate information and ideas on:--Program models and development --Specialized curriculum and technology --Inclusion --Professional development and support --Advocacy and Legislation --Community relations and awareness
- Organizations - National and International Organizations
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Jewish Women's Archive: 2010 Institute for Educators Featured
Jewish Women's ArchiveInstitute for EducatorsJuly 25-29, 2010Newton, MAJoin the Jewish Women's Archive for four days of intensive professional development designed to enrich your teaching with the compelling stories of American Jewish lives, past and present. The 2010 Institute will focus on the role of Jews in the Civil Rights Movement in America. The Institute is open to educators who work with students in grades 8–12 in formal and/or informal settings. Participants' expenses, including travel and hotel accommodations, will be covered by a generous grant from the Dorot Foundation. All food will be kosher. Progam Includes: seminars experiential education workshops hands on computer sessions time for developing individualized curriculum materials Presenters Include: Dr. Joyce Antler, Professor of American Jewish History and Culture, Brandeis University, author of The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America, and JWA Board member; Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Rabbi-in-Residence, Jewish Funds for Justice and author of There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law and Tradition; Barbara Rosenblit, Humanities and Judaics teacher at the Weber Jewish High School in Atlanta, 2004 recipient of the Covenant Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators, and JWA Board member; Dr. Debra Schultz, author of Going South: Jewish Women in the Civil Rights Movement. Online Application Deadline: March 1, 2010
- Organizations - National and International Organizations
- Events - Conference Websites
Keeping Quality Teachers Teaching Featured
For many years schools in the United States have faced a teacher shortage, especially in areas such as special education, bilingual education, math, and science. This shortage has been exacerbated by an alarming failure on the part of school districts to retain teachers — up to 50 percent of new teachers leave after five years. Moreover, studies have shown an inequitable distribution of veteran and newer teachers across districts, often reinforcing other institutional inequities based on race and class. The impacts of the above problems are profound and unequal. Addressing this situation is complicated and requires us to confront fundamental problems that face our public schools: inadequate and unequal funding, lack of planning and collaboration time for teachers, large class size and difficult working conditions, faulty mentoring and evaluation systems, archaic salary systems, inadequate preservice and in-service professional development, and so on. With the financial assistance of the Ford Foundation, Rethinking Schools presents here a collection of articles that address these difficult issues.
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- Research Reports and Studies
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Partnerships for Learning: Promising Practices in Integrating School and Out-of-School Time Program Supports Featured
Across the country many schools and communities are trying to create and support efforts to institutionalize partnerships for learning, including those that rethink the use of time across the school day and year, and across the developmental continuum. These partnerships are not merely transactional in nature but rather transformative: partnering entities work together to integrate and complement their services with the shared goal of supporting children’s learning. Partnerships for learning can be structured differently according to local community needs, can be housed in a variety of school and community-based settings, and can involve a range of partners, including schools, afterschool and summer programs, physical and mental health services, and other community resources. This new report from the Harvard Family Research Project is aimed to help school and OST program leaders, decision-makers, and funders, to understand and implement effective OST–school partnerships for learning. Specifically, it Describes the benefits of OST–school partnerships for children, schools, and OST programs. Presents five research-derived principles of promising OST–school partnerships, offering specific strategies and examples for each. Profiles three “on-the-ground” partnership efforts based on the in-depth interviews conducted at the three selected sites. Discusses conditions for optimal success in developing sustainable OST–school partnerships. Download the re ...
- Research Reports and Studies
Snapshots & Insights: Continuing Rabbinic Education Featured
During their years in rabbinical school, Rabbis acquire a tremendous amount of knowledge in certain areas (e.g., Jewish texts and law), and less, if any, in others (e.g., pastoral care and synagogue management). Like other professions, rabbis benefit from opportunities to engage in professional development and study opportunities throughout their careers. As their careers advance, they need training and mentoring around issues of self-care, and the care of their families, their congregations and the greater Jewish community, emergent issues, new responsibilities, changing field demands, non-profit management, and other such topics. Snapshots and Insights: Continuing Rabbinic Education (330.13 kB)
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- Research Reports and Studies - Publications and Dissemination Project
Technology & Jewish Education: a Revolution in the Making? Featured
In May 2010, JESNA's Lippman Kanfer Institute and The Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner co-sponsored the convening, "Technology and Jewish Education: a Revolution in the Making." This convening built upon JESNA's Jewish Education 3.0 project, and featured two panels on the current state of technology in the world of Jewish education and possibilities & challenges for the future, as well as post-panel discussions & a special talk by Professor Jeffrey Shandler. The convening included live participants as well as another virtual group who were brought into the room via online conferencing.The entire convening was recorded through JESNA's online conferencing platform, and can be viewed here in its entirety. You may select the clips you wish to view from the menu below. You may also download the bios of all the evening's speakers here: Panelist Bios (39 kB)Video clips:Welcome from Jon Woocher, JESNA Chief Ideas OfficerPanel 1 1) Intro & Lisa Colton 2) Lisa Colton 3) Meredith Lewis 4) Dan Sieradski 5) Dan Sieradski 6) Dan SieradskiDiscussion 1 Clip 1 Clip 2 Clip 3 Clip 4Dinner speaker Jeffrey Shandler Clip 1 Clip 2 Clip 3 Clip 4 Clip 5 Panel 2 1) Intro & Russel Neiss 2) Russell Neiss 3) David Bryfman 4) David Bryfman 5) Lilit MarcusDiscussion 2 Clip 1 Clip 2 Clip 3Final Words from Jon Woocher
- Interactive Resources - Webinars
- Video
Teva Seminar on Jewish Environmental Education Featured
Teva's 15th annual summer seminar on Jewish environmental education will take place June 7-10, 2010, at beautiful Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring, NY. Participants can choose from four different tracks: Congregational Education, Ethics and Texts, Camp and Wilderness, or Organic Agriculture and Educational Gardening. Sponsored by the Jewish National Fund, the Teva Learning Center's mission is to renew the ecological wisdom inherent in Judaism. By immersing participants in the natural world and providing structured activities which sensitize them to nature's rhythms, participants develop a more meaningful relationship with nature and their own Jewish practices.
- Organizations - National and International Organizations
- Events - Conference Websites
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Featured
Every child in America needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders in the 21st century.There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces.To successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by infusing 21st century skills.This skills set includes: Information and communication skills (information and media literacy skills; communication skills) Thinking and problem-solving (critical thinking and systems thinking; problem identification, formulation and solution; creativity and intellectual curiosity) Interpersonal and self-direction skills (interpersonal and collaborative skills; self-direction; accountability and adaptability; social responsibility) Global awareness Financial, economic and business literacy, and developing entrepreneurial skills to enhance workplace productivity and career options Civic literacy The P21 website provides a plethora of tools and resources for educators, administrators and lay leaders in these areas.
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The Rationale for Using Educational Technology [in Jewish Education] Featured
Watch the video archive of this presentation on The Rationale for Using Educational Technology given on September 9, 2009 for Yeshiva University's Institute for University-School Partnership's Online Continuing Education Program. Presentation is given by Rabbi Tzvi Pittinsky, Director of Educational Technology at Frisch Yeshiva High School. Ancillary materials accompanying this presentation, including a listing of works cited, can be found at Rabbi Pittinsky's blog, Tech Rav.
- Interactive Resources - Webinars
Webinar-- "Teaching Mishna: Problems and Creative Solutions" Featured
Join MOFET JTEC on Wednesday, February 17th for this free webinar on challenges and solutions in teaching Mishna, presented by Rabbi Dr. Avraham Walfish. Instructions for registering for this live online encounter can be found at the MOFET JTEC website listed above.
- Interactive Resources - Webinars