Tomorrow's synagogue school can't look like today's synagogue school! The strength of our community's synagogue school education programs lies in our ability to work together to create exciting, innovative, and compelling programs. We are creating the synagogue school of tomorrow!
On Wednesday, October 28, 2009 the Friedman Commission for Jewish Education's Synagogue School Enhancement Initiative launched a community wide Think Tank about the future of Jewish Education in synagogues in the Greater Palm Beaches (GPB). THANK YOU to all the lay, clergy, and professional leaders of our community's synagogues who joined together at CJE to begin the conversation. As we continue our series in the Think Tank, I invite you here to brainstorm, comment, discuss, and blog your thoughts about how our community can best meet the needs of educating its children.
On Oct. 28th we reviewed the current state of synagogue education in the GPB. We took a hard look at our community's general demographics as well as the recent enrollment statistics, our teachers, and some program elements. After the presentation we began by asking ourselves some not-so-easy questions:
What did we think and how did we feel about the demographic information and enrollments stats? What works in our synagogue schools? What could be improved? What are our biggest challenges? How can we work together collectively to improve the quality of Jewish education?
And, we took notes about what everyone said:
On Wednesday, October 28, 2009 the Friedman Commission for Jewish Education's Synagogue School Enhancement Initiative launched a community wide Think Tank about the future of Jewish Education in synagogues in the Greater Palm Beaches (GPB). THANK YOU to all the lay, clergy, and professional leaders of our community's synagogues who joined together at CJE to begin the conversation. As we continue our series in the Think Tank, I invite you here to brainstorm, comment, discuss, and blog your thoughts about how our community can best meet the needs of educating its children.
On Oct. 28th we reviewed the current state of synagogue education in the GPB. We took a hard look at our community's general demographics as well as the recent enrollment statistics, our teachers, and some program elements. After the presentation we began by asking ourselves some not-so-easy questions:
What did we think and how did we feel about the demographic information and enrollments stats? What works in our synagogue schools? What could be improved? What are our biggest challenges? How can we work together collectively to improve the quality of Jewish education?
And, we took notes about what everyone said:
Our reactions were:
"Relief regarding the demographic numbers...Each of us is not alone...Reduction in enrollment related to global decrease in birthrate?...Many more kids on financial assistance now...Worry about the 58% who are not coming...Parents don’t care...Our area has always been seen/understood as 'under-engaged'"
We said this about what works:
"Aggressive outreach...One to one outreach...Quality programs, parents and kids together...Engaging...Invite parents into classrooms..Feeling, spirit, charisma"
We can work together on:
"Collaborate together with existing example of Temple Israel and Temple Beth El...Changing the 'mindset' about synagogue education in our community...To understand what parents want...Create cutting edge, community wide curriculum (with technology) to share...Make 'community' compelling...Make Jewish education a priority in the community...The quality of the teachers’ skill set...Create community investment in building Jewish education through synagogues and synagogue participation"
We also said we'd be willing to come back to continue the conversation! The second session is on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. at CJE when we will look at a radical and very innovative model for "school!"
Meanwhile, see Professor Jack Wertheimer's recent work on the state of supplemental Jewish education in North America by accessing these articles: "Recent Trends in Supplementary Jewish Education," "A Census of Jewish Supplementary Schools in the United States 2006-2007," and "Schools That Work."
So join me here in this blog by adding your thoughts, comments, ideas, and suggestions! And join us live at the Think Tank and Re-imagine NOW!
Create the change; don't react to the change!
Lynne
"Relief regarding the demographic numbers...Each of us is not alone...Reduction in enrollment related to global decrease in birthrate?...Many more kids on financial assistance now...Worry about the 58% who are not coming...Parents don’t care...Our area has always been seen/understood as 'under-engaged'"
We said this about what works:
"Aggressive outreach...One to one outreach...Quality programs, parents and kids together...Engaging...Invite parents into classrooms..Feeling, spirit, charisma"
We can work together on:
"Collaborate together with existing example of Temple Israel and Temple Beth El...Changing the 'mindset' about synagogue education in our community...To understand what parents want...Create cutting edge, community wide curriculum (with technology) to share...Make 'community' compelling...Make Jewish education a priority in the community...The quality of the teachers’ skill set...Create community investment in building Jewish education through synagogues and synagogue participation"
We also said we'd be willing to come back to continue the conversation! The second session is on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. at CJE when we will look at a radical and very innovative model for "school!"
Meanwhile, see Professor Jack Wertheimer's recent work on the state of supplemental Jewish education in North America by accessing these articles: "Recent Trends in Supplementary Jewish Education," "A Census of Jewish Supplementary Schools in the United States 2006-2007," and "Schools That Work."
So join me here in this blog by adding your thoughts, comments, ideas, and suggestions! And join us live at the Think Tank and Re-imagine NOW!
Create the change; don't react to the change!
Lynne
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