Source: Jewish Educational Leadership. Spring, 2020
Six months ago, when we first began planning this issue, we were focused on resilience of individuals, particularly in educational setting. The original introduction included a story about a thirteen- year-old who had a bad morning and didn’t want to go to school, who ultimately pulled herself together and had a fabulous day. The articles we looked for included personal stories about resilience, educational strategies for building resilience, and whether resilience can be taught. Little did we, or anyone, understand then just how critical this topic would become in such a short period of time.
To a large extent, the basic of questions about resilience which we posed six months ago are just as relevant today, and perhaps even more so. How do we cultivate resilience? How do we help students develop and focus that internal drive to grow, to bounce back, to push forward in a world filled with uncertainty?
We decided to release this issue of the journal now, precisely because the issues are magnified, and we invited the authors, each one experiencing their own challenges adjusting to an unforeseen reality, to submit a brief video in which they address the current situation. We are grateful to those who managed to find the time, under short notice and with myriad other things to do. We encourage you to share as well – thoughts, strategies, reactions, tips – so that we can best learn from each other and pool our best ideas for helping our students to thrive in trying times and work toward building a better future.
Contents:
Are Safe Spaces Dangerous? - Jordan Soffer
The Roots of Resilience - Sharon Freundel
Modeling Risk-Taking and Adaptability in the Classroom - Sarah Levy & Mark Parmet
Resilience in Holocaust Education: A Museum Based Approach - Julie Golding
Excerpt from: The Road to Resilience - Sherri Mandell
Learning to Flourish and Flourishing to Learn - Yudith Furman
Building Resilience through Judaic Studies Curriculum - Amira Soleimani
Can Resilience Be Learned? (Spoiler Alert: Yes.) - Aviva Goldstein
Rising Voices Fellowship: Teaching History Teaches Resilience - Larisa Klebe
Building Self-Efficacy in the Classroom - Davita Rosenbloom & Ilana Turetsky
Methods of Teaching Grit in Judaic Studies - Tal Segel