Jewish Portal of
Teacher Education
The online resource of pedagogical and academic content on teaching and Jewish education
Section archive - Israel Education
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421 items
151
Birthright is an amazing, eye-opening adventure. What is also true, is that a well-designed extension program which gives participants time to reflect on their initial tour, deepening their connection to Jewish spirituality and community, will result in an even greater impact. After all the effort and resources invested in bringing the participants to Israel, it is worth our while to ensure that the experience is maximized. After being one of the original Birthright trip providers for the first nine years, Livnot U’Lehibanot began offering extension programs instead. These programs have run for the past six years, without a major sponsor, due to the determination of a team of dedicated educators and staff, with support from alumni and long-time friends of Livnot. We are grateful that the Jim Joseph Foundation has now awarded a grant to help support our one-week Northern Exposure extension, which enriches the Birthright experience.
Published: 2015
Updated: Jan. 06, 2016
152
Out of baseball after four years playing in the minor leagues, Brent Powers, a Christian from Texas, took a tour of Israel last year with his wife. He was smitten with the country and considered how to return. The Masa Israel Journey will provide his path. Powers and about a dozen American college players will be part of the group’s five-month, baseball-themed program launching in January. Israel’s baseball czar figures their expertise will do wonders for a sport that is growing in popularity, but remains a niche sport in a country where soccer and basketball reign.
Published: 2015
Updated: Dec. 30, 2015
153
When the two of us from Prozdor of Hebrew College and the Eli and Bessie Cohen Camps got together in the fall of 2013 to brainstorm a new collaboration to help teach the Cohen Camps’ Dor L’Dor Leadership program participants about leadership and Israel, we immediately arrived at a proposal to try something that had never been done before – a blended learning course on those very topics. Combining online learning with the experiential components of Israel and the Counselor-In-Training program at camp, our idea would also feature in-person sessions at the camps in late summer. We believed that by offering this course, and a Hebrew College credential to the students who completed it, we would motivate the participants to enroll in the class to get an extra leg up in their applications to college. This partnership enhances the already transformative experiences of camp and Israel by extending the learning and impact beyond the two months of camp and validating the experience through Hebrew College’s certification.
Published: 2015
Updated: Dec. 20, 2015
154
We apply semi-structured interviews to conceptualise perceptions of global citizenship among teachers at an international school and teachers at a local public school in Israel, revealing discrepancies between theory and practice in global citizenship education (GCE). We find that teachers perceive global citizenship differently along three major axes: boundaries of global citizenship, practical aspects of GCE, and through the effect of Israel’s context.
Published: 2015
Updated: Dec. 15, 2015
155
Applications are being accepted for the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, taking place at Brandeis University June 14 - 26 and in Israel June 27-July 6, 2016. Faculty in the Humanities and Social Sciences who plan to teach a course on modern Israel are eligible to apply. The Summer Institute for Israel Studies has trained 250 college and university faculty members to develop courses in Israel Studies. Recent participants teach history, international relations, film, Jewish studies, religion, law, anthropology, linguistics, and security studies. Competitive fellowships are open to faculty members in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are due January 20, 2016.
Published: 2016
Updated: Dec. 02, 2015
156
A new Brandeis University study finds that among surveyed Birthright candidates, over 50% couldn’t correctly answer even half of the basic questions requiring minimal knowledge of the Jewish state. In a continuing multi-year project, researchers from Brandeis University’s Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies are working together with a broad team of experts to understand and assess Israel literacy. According to the authors, Israel literacy is “the requisite knowledge to participate in productive conversations about Israel.” Dismally, the team found that regardless of their Jewish background and the ranking of their universities, relatively few students are Israel literate.
Published: 2015
Updated: Dec. 02, 2015
157
The aim of this qualitative research is to investigate the attitude of adolescents to Israel in Australian Jewish day schools. Using a grounded theory approach according to the constant comparative, data from three sources (interviews, observations and documents) were analyzed, thus enabling triangulation. One key finding is that place attachment, exploration and criticism are not contradictory, but reflect the concern and involvement of the younger generation and serve as a form of reclaiming their connection to Israel through critical engagement.
Published: 2015
Updated: Nov. 25, 2015
158
Educators wanting to teach students and children about contemporary life in Israel have been turning to ISRAEL21c for source information for years. Now we’re going to make life much easier with the launch of a brand new monthly e-newsletter, EDUCATORS21c, aimed specifically at all educators who want to make Israel relevant and interesting to their students. Our new newsletter, EDUCATORS21c launches next Monday, November 9, 2015.
Published: 2015
Updated: Nov. 12, 2015
159
A privately funded organization has taken on the challenge of preventing Jewish identity from eroding among assimilated US Jews, by providing subsidized trips for interfaith couples to explore their Jewish roots in Israel. The Honeymoon Israel organization brings married couples in which at least one spouse is Jewish to Israel, for a tour during which participants get to sample everything from local food to ancient Jewish religious sites. During the nine-day tours the couples are taken to Jewish religious sites, given presentations on Jewish and Zionist history, and encouraged to sample the local cuisine, for an experience reminiscent of those provided by the popular Birthright visit to Israel for those 18-26 years of age.
Published: 2015
Updated: Nov. 11, 2015
160
Two years ago, our team at Rosov Consulting had an opportunity to evaluate the impact of Israel trips of 8th grade day school students. While working with Jack Wertheimer on behalf of the AVI CHAI Foundation on the Hearts and Minds: Israel in North American Jewish Day School project, we were approached by the Jewish Agency for Israel. The Agency recognized that many of the two thousand 8th grade students who were participating in the AVI CHAI study, and had already completed a student survey, would soon participate in school trips to Israel. They proposed a follow-up study with a sample of students after their return. This study would make it possible to explore a question that until then had not been researched: if and how middle-school students’ self-understanding and their connections to Israel are changed by participating in short-term educational programs in Israel. What we learned from the study of the participating schools can be useful to all schools that run such programs. Indeed, the study models what learning can be set in motion by evaluation work in general.
Published: 2015
Updated: Nov. 11, 2015