Teaching Jewish Values Using BabagaNewz
| Units |
Topics |
| Orientation |
How to Use JSkyway |
| Meeting BabagaNewz |
The Elements of BabagaNewz:
the magazine, the teachers' guide, the Web site and the book club |
| BabagaNewz and Jewish Values |
BabagaNewz as a Values-based
Response to the Real Needs of Kids
Seeing the World Through Jewish Eyes |
| Babaganewz.com |
Leveraging BabagaNewz magazine
with the teachers' Web site, the kids' Web site and BabaBookz |
| Models of Teaching |
Different Models of Lesson Plans
Learning Styles and Brain-Based Learning |
| Teaching Jewish Texts |
The BabagaNewz Torah Page
Using Traditional Texts in Class |
| BabagaNewz and Your Curriculum |
How to Use BabagaNewz to
Extend Learning Time
Using Literature with BabagaNewz
Integrating BabagaNewz into
Your Curriculum |
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Marketing as a Mitzvah:
Authentic Communications, Deepened Relationships
| Modules |
Topics |
| Orientation |
How to Use JSkyway |
| High-quality marketing, low-budget environment |
Synagogues are under budgetary pressures at the same time that they need
to enhance their marketing efforts. Understanding the role of marketing
in a synagogue, identifying and using volunteer talent, and careful prioritization
will help a synagogue achieve its goals without breaking the bank. |
| Components of a Marketing Plan |
Successful marketing plans start with strategy, then move to tactics.
Understanding of method, medium, message and desired outcome is critical,
as is careful planning of workflow and authority. |
| Understanding Audiences |
Synagogue marketing must reach out to and connect with audiences (internal
and external) at a very emotional, personal level. Use of simple research
to understand audiences, along with careful targeting of communications,
can help move audiences into closer relationship with a synagogue. |
| Synagogue Re-Orientation |
Synagogue marketing requires more than new skills; it requires the ability
to shift the way a synagogue operates so that marketing becomes part of
everything everyone does |
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Organizational Leadership: The Rabbi as Executive
| Modules |
Topics |
| Advance Assignment |
Organizational Assessment
Go to www.innonet.org,
register as a user, and complete the Point K Organizational Assessment
Tool. |
| Prep Week |
How to Use JSkyway |
| Assignment: Post a personal introduction, goals for the course,
and reflection on your Innonet Organizational Assessment. |
| Week 1 & 2
From Activity to Impact |
Impact means contributing to lasting positive changes
in people's lives. The focus on impact helps organizations adapt and succeed
by redirecting basic thinking about their programs and activities. To
have impact, synagogues must be effective in engaging congregants as volunteers. |
| Discussion on impact thinking. |
| Vocabulary Quiz |
| Assignment: Create a Logic Model and identify volunteer roles
for your LDP. |
| Discussion on Jewish viewpoints. |
| Week 3 & 4
Governance |
Self-assessment and board development are regular
practices of healthy boards.
Eliciting board effectiveness is also a responsibility of a nonprofit
chief executive. |
| It is important for synagogue boards to reflect on their strengths,
questions, and concerns; and take action to address the Five Yesodot (Foundations)
of Board Performance: strategy, policy, accountability, functioning,
and relationships |
| Discussion on application of governance concepts for synagogue
boards and Journal Assignment on aspects of your LDP that may involve
the board. |
| Assignment: interview two board members and complete a summary
of findings. |
| Assignment: board action plan. |
| Discussion on insights about synagogue governance. |
| Week 5 & 6
Marketing |
Marketing is a process that helps you create exchanges
of value. When infused with Jewish values, marketing helps synagogues
promote their vision and values, advance the mission, and develop increased
membership, resources and response. |
| Discussion on contemporary Jewish marketing. |
| Assignment: Set a marketing goal, identify priority target
audiences, conduct marketing research and complete a summary of findings.
|
| Assignment: Complete a marketing plan for your LDP. |
| Discussion on marketing ideas you can implement in your synagogue. |
| Week 7
Wrap-Up |
The effective rabbi of today pauses to reflect on
the many dimensions of his or her role in the synagogue's development
and continually identifies areas for ongoing learning and growth. |
| Assignment: Write a brief reflection on organizational leadership
and management that incorporates Torah learning and values. As part of
your process, look back to the Innonet Organizational Assessment and include
one or two steps that you will take to further your synagogue's organizational
development. |
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The Art of Teaching Hineni
| Modules |
Topics |
| Orientation |
How to Use JSkyway |
| Philosophy of Hineni Program |
Understanding the goals of Hineni, The New Hebrew Through Prayer |
| Lesson Planning |
Pacing your year; Preparing unit and individual lesson plans |
| Set Inductions |
Understanding and designing effective Set Inductions |
| Differentiated Instruction |
Adapting your lessons to fit the learning styles of your students |
| Active Learning |
Incorporating Active Learning into the teaching of Prayer Hebrew |
| Technology and Family Education |
Including Family Education as part of teaching Prayer Hebrew |
| Games and Engaging Activities |
Reinforcing learning as you enliven your classroom with games and engaging
activities |
| Assessment, Evaluation and Remediation |
Enhancing learning through Assessment, Evaluation and Remediation |
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Moving Toward Excellence: Becoming a Strategic Teacher
| Units |
Topics |
| Orientation |
How to Use JSkyway |
Unit 1
Content, Challenges & the Classroom: How Can They Work Together? |
What makes the congregational school setting unique? What are the challenges?
This module will help you look at this learning experience in a new way.
|
Unit 2
Where Am I Going? How Will I Get There? |
The importance of creating a lesson plan that is complete and addresses
the needs of its setting. |
Unit 3
Different is OK: Teaching to be Different |
A successful classroom experience includes differentiated instruction
to address multiples intelligences. |
Unit 4
A Bell is Neither an Opening Nor a Closing |
A well-planned and structured lesson can be a significant factor in both
classroom management and successful outcomes. |
Unit 5
Beyond the Worksheet |
Answers the most commonly asked question: "What should I do?"
You'll learn a number of ideas for the supplementary classroom that require
different skills and address multiple modalitites. |
Unit 6
Beyond Yes/No Questions & Answers |
One of the challenges of congregational education is creating lessons
that are intellectually challenging. This module helps you "raise the
bar" to require higher-level thinking. |
Unit 7
Technology: Yes, You Can Do It! |
Technology has changed the way we learn, communicate and teach. This module
addresses some basic questions and begins the process of integration of
technology into the classroom. |
Unit 8
Tricks of the Trade |
Effective planning and execution of lessons are the key to positive classroom
management. Discipline is the response but effective planning and management
are the foundation. |
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RAVSAK Project SuLaM
| Modules |
Topics |
| Orientation |
How to Use JSkyway. Meet your facilitator, Rabbi Zachary Heller |
Module 1
On Modernity and the Jewish Problem |
Is Emancipation good for the Jews? How does the promise of citizenship
change Jewish society on the eve of modernity? |
Module 2
On the Origins of Religious Denominations |
The origins of Reform and Neo-Orthodoxy in Germany and the redefinition
of Judaism as (only) a religion. |
Module 3
Judaism as Nationality: Three Kinds of Zionism |
Can Jews be defined as a nation? How should Jews respond to the apparent
failure of Emancipation? |
Module 4
Judaism in Eastern Europe: Torah, Community and Gender |
Jews in the East debated Hasidism, Haskalah and the role of women. How
did Jewish education shape Jewish identity? |
Module 5
Israeli Judaism |
Contrasts between Israeli and North American Jewry, the question of multiple
Jewish ethnicities and the significance of the Law of Return. |
Module 6
Thinking About Diversity Part I |
Contemporary Liberal and Orthodox Jewish theologies and questions about
the Jewish future. |
Module 7
Thinking About Diversity Part II |
Case Studies in Diversity, Tolerance and Pluralism from Community Day
School Settings. |
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