Pre-Conference Intensives @ CAJE 32

CAJE Pre-Conference Intensives (August 2-5)

10–12 hour learning opportunities

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“Being able to bring two of my college age teachers to CAJE as part of the Schusterman College Program was HUGE for my community. Our school has grown … and we need teachers who can add knowledge to their passion. CAJE and the Schusterman program allowed me to ensure that would happen.”
–Roland Roth, congregational school director, Wilmington, DE

Defining Excellence in Early Childhood Jewish Education Q. What makes an early childhood Jewish education great?? A. Find out at our pre-conference intensive What does it take for your early childhood Jewish school to become excellent? How do you integrate Jewish values with early childhood best practice? As stakeholders in the success of early childhood Jewish education, join us for an intensive track focusing on the future of Early Childhood Jewish education. Academicians, national early childhood representatives, EC professionals and community and religious leaders will gather to take a comprehensive look at the breadth, depth and variety of early childhood Jewish education in the 21st Century. Your early childhood team of administrators, lay leaders and parents will be inspired with a: Clearer Jewish vision for your program Better understanding of the innovations and strategies practiced in EC Jewish programs across the country Network of national EC Jewish resources and organizations to support your school Moderator: ILENE VOGELSTEIN is the Chair of the CAJE Early Childhood National Advisory Board 4MAT: A Model for Diverse Instruction for Diverse Learners 4MAT is a model for instructional design that addresses learner diversity and can be used by any teacher at any level to make learning more effective and meaningful. 4MAT honors diversity of learning styles and lends itself to differentiating instruction, particularly in spiritual and religious settings. Because 4MAT fits so neatly with the belief that every person is wholly unique and created B’Tzelem Elohim, it has been gaining attention for its applicability in Jewish education. 4MAT takes intuitive concepts of teaching and learning that have long been the hallmark of excellent education, and structures them in an accessible way. Great for all educators; novice and experienced alike. Presenters: CINDY DOLGIN and MARCEY WAGNER are co-authors and co-directors of Curriculum Development for “Project Etgar: A New Middle School Curriculum for Conservative Congregational Schools,” a joint project of United Synagogue and the Melton Research Center at JTS. They are certified 4MAT trainers and have co-taught and coached children, parents and educators in both public and Jewish education for the past 16 years.	Teaching the Holocaust: A Multimedia Approach In this interactive workshop, you will be introduced to Echoes and Reflections — A Multimedia Curriculum on the Holocaust developed by the Anti-Defamation League, USC Shoah Foundation Institute, and Yad Vashem. Experiencing the curriculum for themselves, participants will examine how primary source material, including government documents, poetry, diary entries, and visual history testimony of survivors and other witnesses, has been carefully integrated into each of the ten multi-part lessons, helping to both contextualize and individualize the history of the Holocaust. You also will learn about the online materials that have been developed to accompany the curriculum guide and DVD of visual history testimony. Time will be allotted for participants to share ways that they might use this curriculum with their students, paying particular attention to how the material can be applied to relevant contemporary issues, thereby building connections between the lessons and students’ lives. The curriculum is designed for high school students, but can be adapted to accommodate other grade levels. Each participant will receive a copy of the curriculum, including the accompanying DVD with over two-and-a-half-hours of testimony from survivors and other witnesses to the Holocaust. Presenter: Stephanie McMahon-Kaye is currently Coordinator of the Desk for International Seminars in English. She also contributes a monthly column about life in Israel for a website in Wales (Hidden Treasures) and has taught numerous workshops for Holocaust education programs, seminars and conferences run by the International School for Holocaust Studies of Yad Vashem. Stephanie is originally from Washington, DC and has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Holocaust Studies and Rhetoric from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. Her areas of interest include literature of the Holocaust, diaries and testimonies, issues of theology and faith, and the righteous community of Le Chambon. She has been affiliated with Yad Vashem since 1999. A Taste of “The Leadership Institute for Congregational School Principals” The Institute is guided by the vision of the New York School of Education at HUC-JIR and the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS and is fully funded by the UJA-Federation of New York. This has enabled HUC-JIR and JTS to join together to further the leadership capacity, pedagogic skills and Judaic knowledge of congregational school principals in the field. Please join leading scholars and the staff and participants of the Institute as we model the learning community we have created over the past two years. Presenters: JO KAY is the Director of the New York School of Education of HUC-JIR. EVIE ROTSTEIN, Leadership Institute Project Director, has been a congregational educator for 26 years. She is a consultant for the ECE RE-Imagine project and the Camp Jewish Discovery Program.	Multi-Dimensional Dance Intensive CAJE Dance Network The dance intensive will include meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi in collaboration with the Spirituality Network, and Sensory Integration of Movement for All Children’s Needs in collaboration with the Special Needs Network. It will also include “Dancing Your Way into Shabbat” and, in collaboration with the Israel Education Network, “Dancing Your Way Through the Holidays with Israel’s Dances.” Also included is a workshop presented by Sheila Firestone of her modern fable entitled “The Peace Patch,” which helps participants develop skills in group problem-solving, conflict resolution and friendship-building through dance, pantomime, character development, recognition of musical themes, discussion, role playing and art. Presenters: ALIYA CHESKIS-COTEL is the Director of Congregational Living for East End Temple in New York City and the co-author of Open It Up! Integrating the Arts Into Jewish Education. CHARLIE FOXMAN, holder of two Black Belts, is an experienced martial artist who teaches Tae Kwon Do to adults and children. ESTHER SCHARF, Certified Teacher of Jewish Meditation, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, has been practicing meditation for over 30 years and has been teaching Jewish Meditation for 20 years. STEVE WEISSMAN, Co-Chair of the CAJE Jewish Dance and Movement Network, is the Assistant Principal of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Palm Beach County, FL. Illness as a Spiritual Path CAJE Healing and Spirituality Network The Intensive will begin with Meditation, Tai Chi and Yoga in collaboration with the Dance Network. Illness is more than a physical experience. It affects not only our body but also our heart and our spirit. We are most familiar with the physical aspects of this journey: symptoms, treatments, doctors, hospitals. We tend to ignore the spiritual aspects of the journey: how illness affects our relationships with those around us, our identity and our connection with the Divine. We often forget that healing is different than curing. In this workshop, we will explore the spiritual aspects of illness and healing from a Jewish perspective. We will draw lessons from Torah and other Jewish sources, and we will work with diverse modalities including art, music, and meditation as ways to foster our own spiritual healing. The workshop will end with a healing service.
Beit Midrash Imagine having the time to sit patiently with classical Jewish sources and a learning partner to consider the text’s words and their deep meaning. If you would like to taste the world of the yeshiva, or miss it, you will have the opportunity to experience it under the guidance of a master teacher from the United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. In our session on Thursday, we will explore the meaning of the 4 fast days in Judaism connected with the destruction of Jerusalem – the Fast of Gedaliah, the 10th of Tevet, the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av. Now that the Jewish people have returned to Zion, to what extent is it still necessary to mourn on these days? On Friday, we will examine in detail the recent positions taken on homosexuality by the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. On Sunday, our topic of study shall be, "Is it a Mitzvah to Live in the Land of Israel?" Presenter: SHLOMO ZACHAROW, a faculty member of the United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, received his MA and Rabbinic ordination from the Schechter Institute of Jewish studies in Jerusalem. During the "Second Intifada", he served as the Rabbi of the Masorti Congregation, Shevet Achim in Gilo. Since making aliya to Israel in 1991, he has served in the standing army and reserves of the IDF, both in the educational unit and as a combat soldier. In available summers and for the High Holidays, he has worked as an emissary in Jewish synagogues, camps and communities in America, Europe, Australia and South Africa. The Hebrew Prophets Who were the prophets? What were their core teachings and values? What was the nature of the times in which they lived? This intensive will take you on a journey into the lives and issues of the prophets and survey the best ways to bring their prophetic voice into the classroom. The course will include the characteristics of the Hebrew prophets, their religious, social and ethical beliefs. It will then turn to exploring goals, activities and resources available for teaching the prophets. We will look especially at the prophet Jonah to illustrate contemporary relevance of the prophets to 21st Century learners. Presenter: ELLIOT LEFKOVITZ is a professor at Spertus Institute teaching courses in Holocaust Studies, Jewish Education and Modern Jewish History. Program Evaluation: Documenting and Planning for Success *Co-sponsored by CAJE and JESNA* You design a program. You execute it. But was it good? Did it satisfy your goals? How do you know? This intensive will provide you with ways for thinking through the nuts and bolts of conducting program evaluations. The aim of program evaluation is to provide useful evaluation reports for you, your funders, program participants, and community members. It is also documented that a well-designed evaluation process planned along with your programming will lead to major improvements in the design and execution of your programs. (one undergraduate or graduate credit hour is available from Siegal College of Jewish Studies for $150.) This intensive will be of value to program managers, education directors, teachers, educational specialists, lay leaders, evaluators, funders and other parties who are concerned about a program’s impact and accountability. The learners will: Gain the skills and knowledge to design a program evaluation Explore concepts and best practices used to articulate a program’s theory of change Create or refine program evaluation approaches Explore texts that create a Judaic frame-work for the assessment of a program’s impact and its change processes (i.e., ancient Israel welcomed change, in contrast to other cultures that either feared or denied change). Presenters: ROBERTA LOUIS GOODMAN is the Director of Research and Standards for Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI). PATRICIA BIDOL PADVA has over twenty-five years experience in providing strategic planning, organization change and collaborative conflict management services. WENDY ROSOV is the Director of the Berman Center for Research and Evaluation at the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA).	Thoroughly Modern Midrash: Making a Jewish Music Video A Collaboration of the CAJE Storytelling Networks, Music Media Networks The story line is ancient. The characters are flawed. Our story and songs inspired. Audiences will be awed! Engaging the 21st Century Learner means exciting, fast-paced, creative endeavors, current technology and quick results. Our assignment: create a mini-musical out of a piece of text. Join us as we take an old text, study it and play with it until we’re ready to write new Midrash as story and song. We will focus on the art of performing, with coaching and direction, as we progress toward a final product. Joining the Storytelling & Music Networks are the Technology and Media folks, who will be recording this in process and helping us shape the take-home DVD! Presenters: WENDY DELSON, a master cellist, is Music Director at Congregation Beth El in Norwalk, CT, and is a religious school educator at Beth El and at Temple Israel in Westport, CT. MARGE EISEMAN is a singer/songwriter, teacher, mother, friend and inspiring speaker on such topics as Rosh Chodesh and women’s spirituality. DAN “DANTE” GORDON, a storyteller and educator, serves as Rabbinic Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Torah, Humble, TX and is the director of Houston’s Melton Adult Mini-School. Reaching the Soul of Every 21st Century Jewish Learner 21st Century Jewish Learner A collaboration of the CAJE Congregational Principals, Special Needs and Dance Networks As Jewish educators, it’s our responsibility to make sure that each child receives the Jewish education to which that child is entitled, in the way that child learns best. We will seek to identify challenges, explore best practices and learn specific strategies designed for the various contexts where we work. Why do we have to deal with these kids? Our tradition’s perspective What teachers need to know to teach children with LD Best Practices in Religious Education regarding the multi-talents and styles of the students in our schools Programming for the gifted Creative uses of current technology to enhance learning for all Sensory integration of movement for all children’s needs: Weaving through Jewish prayers, bible stories, values, history, and holiday The film Last One Picked… First One Picked On A look at how a synagogue inclusion program works and its benefits to the Jewish community Presenters: JOAN HERSCH is a CAJE life member and Co-Chair of the Congregational Schools Principals Network. She has been the Education Director at Congregation Brothers of Israel, Trenton, NJ, for 25 years. JACKIE FLEEKOP, Co-Chair of the Congregational Schools Principals Network, has a Masters Degree in Special Education and has been a Jewish educator for 27 years. LINDA KIRSCH has been the Director of Education at Temple Beth El of South Orange County, Aliso Viejo, CA for 20 years. Her educational specialty is family education programming. IDIE BENJAMIN teaches 2nd grade secular and Judaica studies at the Jewish Community Day School of Atlantic County, NJ. She chairs CAJE’s Learning Differences Network. TAMAR STRAUSS-BENJAMIN attends American University where she is majoring in psychology and minoring in education. She has been a Jewish educator for the past three years. YONATAN KOCH was diagnosed with learning disabilities at the age of five. He is pursuing a doctorate in the Administration of Special Education Programs at Teachers College, Columbia University.	Presenters: KEN ALTER, Co-Chair of the CAJE Healing/Spirituality Network has been the Spiritual Leader of Congregation Ahavath Achim in Colchester, CT for 12 years. JENNIFER JUDELSOHN, MSW, JD, Co-Chair of the CAJE Healing/Spirituality Network, is an artist, psychotherapist, soulworker and author/illustrator of Songs of Creation: Meditations on the Sacred Hebrew Alphabet. Beyond the Glue Stick Evelyn Kawaler Judaic Crafts Network “Beyond the Glue Stick” will explore the role of the visual arts in enhancing the classroom curriculum. Participants will go home with a full portfolio. The focus will be on developmentally appropriate art activities that support all areas of Jewish curriculum. Theoretical foundations, cognitive development and strategies for adaptation will be discussed. This is a hands-on workshop. Participants will enjoy ample opportunity to exchange ideas, sharing their successes and challenges. No prior art experience is needed. Presenters: LAURIE BELLET is the Art Specialist at Oakland Hebrew Day School in Oakland CA. Laurie is the author of several books including The Reluctant Artist, and Co-Chairs the CAJE Judaic Crafts Network. DEBI MISHAEL received her MA in Education from the University of Judaism and a BA in Religious Studies from CSUN. She lives and teaches in Houston, TX, and lectures for the Houston BJE. B’nai Mitzvah in the 21st Century: Growing Up and All Grown Up CAJE B’nai Mitzvah Education Network As this intensive’s title suggests, the focus here will be on two distinctly different populations – baby boomers returning to Jewish learning and electronically plugged-in youngsters. More and more, adult learners are interested in acquiring the skills to read Torah, lead services, discuss ancient Jewish texts, explore mystical Judaism through Kabbalah, or just understand and participate in what we are teaching their children. Join us to learn about programming that lives, breathes and works to engage learners in both congregational and community adult education. Today’s kids often have a cell phone in one hand and an iPod in the other. So how do we connect with them? We will start by looking at strategies that really work – multiple intelligences, experiential vs. frontal teaching, active learning, family involvement, participatory tzedakah, and cutting-edge technology. We also will borrow liberally from what we have learned about teaching learning— differenced students to create classrooms, programs and experiences that help make Bar/Bat Mitzvah the beginning of Jewish education and not the end. Presenters: DEVORAH GARTNER is cantor at Congregation Tifereth Yehudah v’Yisrael of Kerhonkson, NY. She is also running a new B’nai Mitzvah program at Temple Emanuel of Kingston, NY. NEIL SCHWARTZ founded the Music Network and currently is the Co-Chair of the B’nai Mitzvah Education Network. After a 26-year career as a full-time pulpit Cantor, he is in a Chaplaincy Residency. GOLDIE MILGRAM, a 2007 Covenant Award Nominee, is Director of Innovative Jewish Programming at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, which includes her role spearheading the National Bar/Bat Mitzvah Institute Initiative. SHELDON LEVIN has been the cantor and educational director for congregations in Philadelphia and Metuchen, NJ, over the last 30 years.