June 3, 2020

Communication: Better Leadership

By Paul S. Oberman, PhD At my school in Houston, Texas, we shifted immediately from classes on campus to online classes in the middle of March. Teachers used their weekends to familiarize themselves with video conferencing […]
June 3, 2020

The Benefits of Daring to Lead in Times of Uncertainty

By Mrs. Rivkie Gottlieb Assuming the role of principal comes with a host of challenges, including among others the very common “imposter syndrome.” This feeling of being an imposter feels like a constant, though it occasionally […]
June 3, 2020

What Will Our Children Remember From the Spring of 2020?

By Rabbi Yaakov Sadigh It was a beautiful spring day in 1979 when I boarded the bus to return home from my school in Tehran, Iran. As always, my mom had some cookies and milk ready […]
June 3, 2020

Wonder in the Age of COVID-19

By Rabbi Jordan D. Soffer COVID-19 and the resulting period of extended school-building closures have popularized debates vis-a-vis the purpose of schooling that had previously been limited to pedagogues and academics. The sudden prominence of this […]
June 3, 2020

Summer Programming: A Modest Proposal

By Rabbi Avrohom S. Moller These past months have been challenging to us as individuals and as a community. One of the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic has been our ability to plan ahead with any […]
June 3, 2020

Social Skills and Social Challenges in Jewish Education: Pandemic and Beyond

By Rona Milch Novick, PhD When the coronavirus crisis forced school buildings to close, remarkable flexibility and innovation allowed for a proliferation of models and methods to keep students’ academic knowledge and skills growing. As it […]
June 3, 2020

Technology in Jewish Education: Values and Accessibility

By Dr. Henry Abramson Jewish colleges and universities and departments of Jewish studies may be guided by the core values of traditional religious texts, but their specific tools for survival in the post-COVID-19 era will probably […]
June 3, 2020

The Rebellious Son and the Fundamentals of Education

By Rabbi Zev Leff Editor’s Note: During these past few months, parents have been thrust into a constant chinuch role, managing their children’s education and growth more closely than they usually do when children are in […]
June 3, 2020

Jewish Day Schools Must Be the Most Appealing Option by Leaps and Bounds

Rabbi Elchanan Poupko If there is anything I have learned working as a teacher in New York City during COVID-19, it is how vital Jewish education is. The school I teach in, the Rabbi Arthur Schneier […]
June 3, 2020

In Search of the Silver Lining

By Cyrel Brudny On the morning of Thursday, March 12, after a rollicking, fun-filled  Shushan Purim spent in school, I gathered my teachers for a quick briefing on the possibility of either radical measures designed to […]
June 3, 2020

Returning to The New (Ab)normal

by RABBI DR. DAVID FOX Ba’boker tomar mi yiten erev (Devarim 28:67) A challenge of these last months has been adaptation – limited access to other persons, quarantine, economic realities, discontinuation of synagogue and community life […]
June 3, 2020

Community Projects during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Yeshiva University Beren Campus Haggadah by students for students By Bella Adler As a Yeshiva University college senior, graduating with a degree in Jewish Education, I certainly didn’t foresee my final semester of student teaching to […]
June 3, 2020

Balance as the Elusive State of Equilibrium

By Mrs. Miriam Gettinger Balance as the elusive state of equilibrium has challenged us all during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finding the sweet spot in managing our home life and work demands when conflated into a boundaryless […]
June 3, 2020

Searching During COVID – Lessons Learned About Recruiting and Hiring

By Rabbi Maury Grebenau The panic set in just before we ended school for Pesach break. While in the process of hiring a teacher, we made the decision to close school and move to the Zoom […]
June 3, 2020

Why Finals? Why Now? A Critical Look

by Rabbi Eliezer Y. Lehrer, M.Ed. Students feel that they should be commended for attending their online classes each day.  They profess that they are too stressed to think about finals.  Others bring up the fact […]
June 3, 2020

COVID-19 and the Important Role Our Community Day Schools Play

By Tania Levenstein When one hears the term community day school, one often thinks about the campus, the buildings, and the classrooms. One may wonder what AP classes are offered, what the early childhood philosophy is, […]
June 3, 2020

Confronting the Assessments Challenge

Rabbi Baruch Noy, MEd, CETL While leading professional development for schools taking on a new virtual reality, there are certain recurring themes that were expressed. These expressions came from such a varied crowd – new teachers […]