Published:
5 May, 2010
Source: The Jewish Week
A number of afternoon synagogue community schools are making a serious attempt to improve their way of teaching. They have hired full-time teachers, paying them salaries and benefits comparable to starting day school teachers. These young college grads say having more time to plan and evaluate their teaching and to work collaboratively makes for more rewarding and effective classroom experiences.
The added expense of hiring full time teachers cannot be met by all community schools, only the larger ones usually being able to meet them. Some school's full-time teachers not only serve in the Hebrew school, where they collaboratively plan and review all lessons with each other and update parents with weekly e-mails, but they also teach adult education courses, assist with other synagogue programming and function as Jewish resources for families allowing for greater connections with the congregation's families.