A Summit On Excellence

Excellence Playgrounds

"The world...lacks nothing": A Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming and Environmental Education Laboratory

Presenters: Sue Salinger, Hazon
Location: Vail

In this session, Hazon and Ekar Farm (Denver's Jewish Urban Farm), together with local outdoor educators, will provide everything you need to create and support garden-based Torah education. No matter how much or how little space you have, you can bring Torah and holidays to life through nature-based outdoor experiential education!  We'll dip into the Torah, Jewish ritual, and Hasidic stories that will firmly ground lessons on the environment within the Jewish tradition. We'll explore a successful classroom-tested template to help you create formal and informal lesson plans for teaching Jewish earth-based content, showing you how to incorporate doing, feeling, thinking and be-ing into participatory, experiential, chevruta-style lesson and contemplative components. 

Focus on Facilitation: Finding Your Voice

Presenters: Rabbi Jennifer Goldsmith, The Jewish Education Project
Location: Beverly

As educators we often present or facilitate. Join me for an interactive workshop where you will have a chance to explore and try out new facilitation techniques. Add to your toolkit so you can effectively and creatively help your learners uncover new ways of thinking, allow them the space to think critically or make decisions for themselves, and make sure each participant is contributing to the conversation and sharing valuable knowledge.

Creating a Sensory Break Path and Other Sensory-Friendly Spaces

Presenters: Lisa Friedman
Location: Columbine

Using examples of a sensory break path I created for my own school, we will explore the tachlis/"how-to" of creating sensory-friendly spaces in schools, youth programs, camps, etc. We will discuss why such spaces are critical for the success of all learners/participants. We will also extend the conversation to creating sensory-friendly spaces for large programs, holiday celebrations, and in worship experiences.

Hebrew Education in Part-Time Jewish Schools in the United States: A View of the Landscape

Presenters: Rabbi Nicki Greninger
Location: Terrace

As many of us strive to improve Hebrew learning in our programs, it would be helpful to understand the landscape of Hebrew education and base our decisions on data.  How is Hebrew currently taught in part-time education programs around the country? What are school directors’ and other constituencies’ goals for Hebrew education? What are the factors that help or hinder Hebrew education? Rabbi Nicki Greninger worked with researchers Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor and Dr. Netta Avineiri on a study designed to answer these questions and more, collecting data from over 500 schools in the United States.  Come to this presentation to learn about the results from this study!

URJ-Telling Our Stories; Changing the Narrative Around Jewish Education

Presenters: Rachel Margolis, RJE and Lisa Langer, RJE
Location: Biltmore

Personal stories can provide inspiration to shift the cultural bias against our field. This session will explore why personal storytelling is powerful, how stories can bring people together and offer bright spots that amplify our work.

On Time: Making the Most of Your 24 Hours

Presenters: Sonia Dobinsky
Location: Capitol

Learn how the science of timing, the process of supercharging your existing habits, and the use of an impact strategy for meetings combine to allow you to amplify your effectiveness on any given day. Participants in this interactive workshop will leave with a personalized strategic time management plan and tactical tools they will be able to use immediately.

Learn, Design and Play: Bridging Jewish Identity with Today's Connected World One Game at a Time

Presenters: Yechiel Hoffman and Carina Rock, Jewish Interactive
Location: Spruce (mezzanine level)

Playing to learn is natural  for a human being. Using play or games in the classroom is the challenge that we meet as educators.  Jewish Interactive works to give Jewish Educators the tools for a gamified, J-STEAM approach to teaching Jewish and Hebrew Studies.  In this session you will be given the freedom to explore the Ji Tap plattform and learn how to bring your teaching needs to life for your students.  Together we will uncover the new push for J-STEAM and the practical realities of an integrated, cross-curricular approach to Jewish Studies and Hebrew.

Teacher Observation: A Collective Inquiry

Presenter: Sue Bodjak, Mandel Teacher Education Institute
Location: Century (mezzanine level)

How can you build a culture of collaborative inquiry at your site through teacher observation?   Come and see. Participants will practice observation skills by studying together a video of actual Jewish teachers working in real classrooms with real kids.  Distinguish between observation and interpretation, expand your observational field of vision, and consider how quality teacher observation can help you build relationships with teachers and cultivate in them an inquiry stance to teaching.