Hebrew College Today - Within and Without the Classroom

MASTERING THE ART OF THE TEACHABLE MOMENT

BY DEBORAH SOSIN
Photograph by Jeff Weener

Stretched out on the ground or perched at tables, over 300 Camp Yavneh kids pored over lists of the nearly 3,000 Americans who died on September 11 and those Israelis killed by terrorists in the previous year. Scissors, glue and craypas in hand, they created a mosaic of victims' names, affixing each name to puzzle pieces that formed a huge drawing of the Twin Towers.

It was Tisha b'Av at Camp Yavneh—a day of commemoration and reflection on the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other tragedies in Jewish history. One of dozens of community projects the campers shared last summer, the final mural was donated to Jewish firefighters in New York City. "We took the project seriously," says Mindi Harris, a 14-year-old Levi'im camper. "Different bunks did their sections in different ways—it was very meaningful to see it all put together."

Some of the most inspiring Jewish learning occurs outside the formal classroom setting—on a bus tour through Israel, around a campfire or during havdalah on a synagogue retreat.

Learning experiences such as Yavneh's mural project illuminate the core concept behind the emerging profession of Jewish youth and informal education, the focus of a new certificate program offered at Hebrew College's Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education: Some of the most challenging and inspiring Jewish learning occurs outside the formal classroom setting—on a bus tour through Israel, around a campfire or during havdalah on a synagogue retreat. By using the setting and social groups as a natural starting point, educators introduce learners, in a very personal way, to Jewish concepts. For adolescents, in particular, informal education is one of the most effective means to build identity and understanding of Jewish living.

"At camp, if we want to walk together, we go to the store," says Rabbi Dov Lerea, Camp Yavneh's Head of Education and Director of Jewish Education at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City. "On a trip, we cook, eat, pray and sleep together. We hold each other and laugh with each other in ways that reflect the rhythms of the day. These contextual features of building relationships in informal settings are rarely matched within a school building, because school settings have unstated, clear goals, such as a grading system."

While a Jewish camp provides an ideal environment for experiential learning, informal education can take place anywhere. The Certificate in Jewish Informal Education, Youth Leadership and Camping focuses on the content, methodology and leadership skills that Jewish educators need to master the art of the "teachable moment," whenever it occurs. Designed for youth directors, synagogue program directors, Jewish camp leaders, Israel program leaders and trip leaders, the 21-credit program covers five major areas: community and identity in informal youth education, human development, best practices in informal education, contemporary Jewish life and Israel, and interpreting Jewish tradition.

"It's about how all of us in our educational settings can teach in integrative ways—exploring the past and present, text and reader, verbal and musical, visual and kinesthetic, intellect and imagination."

Youth professionals from throughout the Greater Boston area are enrolled in the program, with support from the YESOD Initiative of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies' Commission on Jewish Continuity. "We are developing a new paradigm of standards for youth professionals," says David Goldstein, YESOD's coordinator and a Hebrew College student. In collaboration with the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Boston (BJE), yesod consults to congregations on youth education and, since 1994, has developed a network of youth professionals, many of whom will participate in BJE's Summer 2003 Israel Education Seminar. Although Hebrew College's certificate program places significant emphasis on informal education for adolescents, the curriculum applies to experiential programming for learners of all ages and complements the field of Jewish family education.

"Most informal Jewish educators are developing lifelong career paths that transcend even their present position or stage of life," says Dr. Harvey Shapiro, Dean of the Shoolman Graduate School and one of the program's designers. "Some will expand and deepen their work as youth educators, others will become family educators, educational directors or academic Jewish scholars. Our goal is to encourage students to see the Jewish education profession broadly, acquiring specialized skills to serve multiple constituencies in diverse settings."

How informal education can redefine and invigorate even the most traditional educational setting is well illustrated in Dr. Steve Copeland's classroom at Hebrew College, where teaching the "teachable moment" is both simple and complex, obvious and subtle. Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought and Education at Hebrew College and creator of the Madrichim-Morim program at Camp Ramah in Palmer, Mass., Copeland says his course, Informal Education in a Jewish Perspective, invites educators to consider integrative and holistic approaches to learning and teaching. On a given day, his classroom might be filled with collages, video images and the strains of a Brahms violin sonata, expanding the definition of what constitutes a classroom.

"This course isn't about summer camp or informal education in a narrow, conventional sense," says Copeland. "It's about how all of us in all of our educational settings, whether in camp or a formal classroom, can teach in integrative ways—exploring the past and present, text and reader, verbal and musical, visual and kinesthetic, intellect and imagination."

Learning inside and outside the classroom occurs throughout the lifecycle and deepening Jewish knowledge is the goal. "These trained professionals will be leaders in informal and formal Jewish settings—bringing to their work advanced knowledge of curriculum design, program development, strategic planning and the skills of interpreting and teaching Jewish texts," says Shapiro. "Our program provides the building blocks for further professional growth, strengthening the foundation of lifelong Jewish learning."