Also take a look at our Photos from Israel Trips.

For more information, please call Dr. Deborah Miller (212) 678-8031.

Click here for information on costs, schedule and registration

I’m not a news junkie, but it would be hard to miss what happened right in our backyard in South Hadley. Bullying is by no means a new phenomenon; unfortunately, many of us can recall it from our childhoods. While I am proud to say that at LGA we have no extreme bullying cases, our students are not immune to the temptations of name-calling or taunting. All schools struggle with bullying. It is easy to be Monday-morning quarterbacks and say what we would do differently from South Hadley. While that case was extreme, we as a school community must behave proactively when it comes to how our students treat one and another. More important than the bullying is how we as educators and as a Jewish day school handle it.

I recently met with a prospective kindergarten parent who said one of the reasons she’s looking at LGA is “We want our child to learn what it means to be a mensch, and we see how Schechter grads carry themselves in our greater community.” This speaks volumes about the perception of our school community and the lessons we teach our children. Still, we must strive to educate our kids in all the nuances of the social landscape that they face, not only in school but also on the sports field, during an extracurricular swim or art class, and increasingly, on our computers.

Some students at Lander~Grinspoon Academy are working with the Second Step program. In Second Step, students are asked to look at situations where the children may or may not be doing the “right thing.”  Suzy Klein, our school psychologist intern, has created different social skills groups for students in our school.

Lucky for us, we have a resource unmatched by most schools. Our faculty members know every single student in our school, a real rarity! It’s not just that they know the student’s names; they are in tune with so much more, and it shows. Students are fully aware that faculty eyes and ears are everywhere. This is a powerful commitment to what we believe is integral to the success of our school. When an incident arises, we take it seriously, and are on top of it right away. I hope that our parent and student community realize how unique this is. Letting children know they are safe in their school environment is a paramount goal, one that we don’t take for granted. Continue the conversation at home with your children. Talk to them about Internet safety, playground rules, and expectations about how to treat others. Let the communication be consistent at both school and home.

We all have students who comprehend better when they hear and not just read.

We all have students who could engage effectively with Torah study, but find the Hebrew instructions too great a challenge.

Now, with the wonders of technology, we can make it possible for those students to learn more independently.

Try it yourself! Download the Sample Differentiated Instruction pdf. On the first page (page 55), put your cursor on the blue “ear” icon and double-click, to hear the text read aloud. On the second page (page 56), put your cursor on the blue “loudspeaker” icon, and double-click, to hear the instructions translated into English.

Now picture your students receiving this help in your classroom.

If you would like to learn how to acquire “talking PDFs” of MaToK materials, please send an e-mail to Dr. Deborah D. Miller at demiller@jtsa.edu.

Stan J. Beiner

I don’t recall coming across a graduate program that quite prepares you for being the CEO of a Jewish school which is always built with ceiling to floor glass windows. One of my non-Jewish employees was confused by some of the lines that sometimes are crossed. I explained to her that unlike many other school communities, Jews tend to live, shop, pray, and socialize together. We wear different hats all the time and have to learn to live with the confusion that sometimes can result.

I am not complaining. I think I have a great job and love being the head of The Epstein School. And if I am ever feeling a little down, I just have to walk along the hallway and let the three year olds all talk at me at once or listen to the enthusiasm that accompanies students at work and play.

What is becoming more of a concern to me is the changing role of the teacher. Teachers are a different breed. They teach because they love their craft and adore their children. They do not take classes in budget, parent relations, and ambassadorship. Yet, in the world of private school education, we are expecting them to produce at levels they may never be able to master.

We now are expecting that in addition to being excellent educators, our teachers are to be superior communicators, web designers and facilitators. Technology, differentiated instruction, formative assessment, brain based learning, curriculum integration, Understanding by Design, and bilingual education are all areas in which faculty must demonstrate proficiency. I worry that we are expecting so much of our staff and are not necessarily providing the support and time needed for them to master these new demands.

My leadership and I are grappling with how we raise the level of expectations for both administrators and teachers while not overwhelming the already overwhelmed staff. And at the same time, we struggle with the increasing demands of our own rapidly changing jobs. A few years ago, I would have thought social media was a group of friendly reporters. Who knew?

In struggling with this issue of changing expectations, I find it helpful to stay focused on one essential question: What is right for the kids? We need to figure out how to best educate each child and demonstrate to their families that we know what they need, who they are, how they best learn and that we love them. And each teacher is going to carry around his/her own personalized toolbox.

Not every teacher can be proficient in every area just as every head of school can’t be an expert in each aspect of their job. However, in a rapidly changing environment there is one clear expectation: every educator has to continue learning and exploring. Every educator should be networking and reading blogs, journals, and feeds to stay on top of what is new in the field of education. Every educator has to find a way to reach each child which means pulling from many strategies and approaches that they continue to be exposed to and put it in that ever changing toolbox.. As schools, we can not expect our teachers to do things in “one way-our way.” We must allow them to differentiate their approaches and styles within the philosophical parameters that Schechter schools allow.

The assumption that every teacher and administrator must be a superstar who can excel in every area is a recipe for failure. Rather, we must look at how the school, as a whole, can excel utilizing the skills that each staff person brings to the program.

Above all, we must be flexible in how we approach the education of a child and recognize that change is forever a part of being a good teacher, educator, and administrator. We have no choice. A year from now, I may read this blog and totally disagree with myself based on some new dynamic at work. Like I said, it’s complicated.

Building on the momentum begun in January at the first North American Jewish Day School Conference, the “quartet” of PARDeS, Solomon Schechter Day School Association, the University-School Partnership at Yeshiva University, and RAVSAK will again convene Jewish day school leaders from across North America and across the spectrum of Jewish life for an extraordinary 3-day conference on education and school leadership.

Slated for February 6-8, 2011 in Los Angeles, CA, this convening promises to be a professional development opportunity like no other, with intensive focus on the unique value proposition of day schools: ensuring a vibrant Jewish future through Jewish literacy, commitments, and values.

Hotel information and a timeline for registration will be available at the end of the summer. For more information and regular updates, please go to: www.jewishdayschoolconference.org

Building on the momentum begun in January 2010 at the first North American Jewish Day School Conference, the “quartet” of PARDeS, Solomon Schechter Day School Association, the University-School Partnership at Yeshiva University, and RAVSAK will again convene Jewish day school leaders from across North America and across the spectrum of Jewish life for an extraordinary 3-day conference on education and school leadership.

This convening promises to be a professional development opportunity like no other, with intensive focus on the unique value proposition of day schools: ensuring a vibrant Jewish future through Jewish literacy, commitments, and values.

Hotel information and a timeline for registration will be available at the end of the summer. For more information and regular updates, please go to: www.jewishdayschoolconference.org

Also, see the Save-the-Date Flyer.

This survey is for Teaching Rabbinic Literature II, which is a program the SSDSA will be holding on August 9th and 10th. Your feedback will help us plan the program in a way that will meet the needs of your school, so please respond to all the questions in this survey.

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Rabbi Shira Leibowitz, Ph.D.

This only hints at the exciting happenings at Schechter Westchester, and at Schechter schools throughout the country … all in just one day.  Add the bustle of our hard-working maintenance crew keeping our generator up and running after a storm left public schools in our district closed, and you’ll see images of the meaningful life lessons that a Schechter education provides. It wasn’t an exceptionally busy day, just a sampling of the exploration, nurturing, joy, commitment to Jewish values, and critical and creative thinking that happens everyday at Schechter schools.
So, what is the connection between these different activities? Each is important in the way it connects what our children learn in school to real life experiences.

During the science fair, students posed original questions, investigated answers, and presented their findings. While speaking conversational Hebrew in an authentic setting, fifth-graders had “aha” moments when they realized they are ready to make the language come alive during visits to Israel. Our students welcomed children of different cultures and faiths to our school, learning about their guests’ traditions and sharing their own. Throughout the school, our children anticipated adding meaning and substance to our model Passover sedarim and bringing this home to their family sedarim. They also learned from watching the maintenance staff’s hard work to keep the classrooms warm and bright amidst a widespread power outage in our area, gaining a greater appreciation for the creature comforts we often take for granted and the behind-the-scenes efforts that create the backdrop for our school days.

Of course, this is just a snapshot of what happened on a particular day. Life at Schechter Westchester and at Schechter schools throughout the country is vibrant, creative, and energetic everyday. Yet behind the flurry of activity is deliberate thought and planning. Each of these experiences is infused with Jewish values and carefully designed to meet our high educational standards. For me, that is the essence of what Schechter Westchester provides that other exemplary schools, both independent and public, cannot. Within a caring and nurturing community, we impart a potent and sensitive blend of sophisticated contemporary approaches to curriculum and instruction with the enduring values of our Jewish tradition.

Please visit my new blog, Perspectives from the Principal

For more information, contact education@uscj.org