This month Terry Kaye, Shirly Benatar, Education Director, and twenty of her teachers at Congregation Tifereth Israel, Columbus, OH met by webinar to review Behrman House Hebrew materials. The Tifereth Israel teachers had a variety of texts in front of them:
Hineni, Hineni Prayer Booklets, Kol Yisrael and a couple of primers. Terry also demo’d the Online Learning Center and reviewed the upcoming Digital Hineni.
We were struck by Shirly’s highly collaborative—and rigorous—approach to curriculum assessment. She’d ordered samples of all the materials in advance, had discussed them with her teachers and explored their needs, and ensured that the technology worked flawlessly with a test run the day before.
Shirly explains her approach: “Our school transitioned from three days a week to two, and after a year and a half with the new schedule we see more challenges with teaching modern Hebrew language. As we consider introducing a prayer program, our team of teachers is looking together at the issues, and reviewing possible curricula and materials so that everyone is involved in selecting a series that works from kindergarten to seventh grade.”
“Language instruction should be seamless from grade to grade because what students learn in one grade influences what they will learn in the next. Therefore it is essential that we view Hebrew curriculum as a whole-school program, and not as an isolated grade level curriculum.”
“Processing issues as a team makes our school better, because all the best ideas are highlighted and implemented collaboratively. For example, I lead team meetings to tackle large projects such as transitioning the school from three week days to two to smaller projects like creating family programs. Buy-in from the entire team leads to better instruction in the classroom or any learning space.”
Rabbi Michael Ungar, Senior Rabbi at Tifereth Israel, says of his education team: “Our religious school is in many ways the ‘crown jewel’ of our congregation. Shirly has assembled an outstanding, experienced, passionate staff and they have always contributed beyond their classroom hours; some of the best ideas bubble up from our teachers.”
Contact us if you too would like a whole-staff curriculum consultation by webinar.
