Educational Consulting
Professional Development
For schools and teachers looking to address today's challenges in Jewish education, I've developed strategies, structures and techniques over the past 20 years to effectively engage a diverse range of students in Jewish learning. Of course, everything I've developed has been in response to the particular challenges I've faced and the learning outcomes or goals I established, which is why I would never pretend to have one-size-fits-all solutions in my back pocket.
This is also why as a consultant and professional-development resource, my first step is always to learn and listen. What are your challenges? Your strengths? Your developmental goals and ideals? Your institutional and communal structures?
Only after listening and reflecting would I want to partner with you to address teachers' specific challenges or goals.
Below are some examples of areas I help teachers address:
- How to make rigorous learning fun and adventurous
- How to effectively balance the integration of technology and texts
- How to develop a growth mindset in students via Jewish learning
- How to engage students from complex and varied backgrounds
- How to strengthen classroom management through curricular design
Curricular Design
A central challenge Jewish Studies teachers face is how to motivate students intrinsically -- how to create a contemporary Torah Lishmah environment within the normative, test-centric educational world within which our schools reside.
One answer is to renovate your curricula so that they present Jewish learning within problem-based structures. This might sound complex, but it's as simple as placing traditional Jewish learning in contemporary structural models that engage today's kids. How does one accomplish this? After reviewing your learning-outcome goals, the population of students you teach, and the curriculum or texts you currently use, I can help guide you in the creation of a problem-based learning model.
I can also present in detail the
FBI Agency Simulation models I've used to successfully engage students from every background imaginable. "Jewish Studies is my child's favorite subject" is a surprised refrain I've heard from parents for 20 years, and the simulated learning model I've created is responsible to a great degree. Experiencing the FBI Agency Simulation model may be the spark needed to create your own, unique classroom structure.
School Leadership Training
Many school and institutional leaders feel as though they are struggling to find successful Jewish educators, particularly in smaller markets. However, this isn't primarily a scarcity issue. There are two major reasons which are often overlooked:
- Jewish educators often lack the curricular and development support teachers across core subjects like Math and Language Arts routinely receive. In truth, many Jewish Studies teachers create their own curricula from scratch and reinvent the wheel with no support.
- Jewish education is not the same as other academic subjects, and treating it as such often shackles teachers and runs counter to the outcomes parent communities want from their children's Jewish education.
As a master educator and curricular specialist who intimately understands the day-school landscape, I can review your current practices and help identify the strategies and plans needed to increase student engagement and teacher success.
Fee Structure
Professional development and consulting fees are project-based, and are presented after an initial consultation discussing needs and goals.