Section archive - Formal Education

The following study describes the experiences of parents with a child with a disability in Jewish day schools. The findings suggest marked differences in the experiences of parents whose child was able to remain in the day school and those who left as a result of their child’s disability. In the latter group, the themes of loneliness and marginalization were common. Although parents hoped to feel included in the Jewish community—with Jewish day school an important expression of this desire and commitment—many found few appropriate programs and services and a general lack of awareness of and sensitivity to disability issues in the Jewish community.

The use of ethical dilemmas is a wonderful way to engage students with the rich nature of Jewish texts but of equal importance is the way they can be used to challenge them to develop critical thinking and the ability to defend a position which is reflective of their own values. There are many creative ways to present the dilemmas, many of them are presented in popular culture and then used as a platform to develop arguments for and against. Some of the potential topics that could be taught in the context of an ethical dilemmas class include: abortion, capital punishment, organ donation, allocation of scarce resources, etc. – the list is almost inexhaustible. Below I describe some sample core questions, issues and sources related to the topic of triage.

At the Jewish Enrichment Center, children involve their whole selves in Jewish learning: they dive into a Jewish text with peers, and wrestle, refine, and recreate their own personalized meaning through creative, in-depth projects which unfold over several months. The teaching modality we use is called integrated learning, in which children grapple with a complex question or idea for an extended period. As they work, children explore text and their relationship with text, wrestle with peers’ varied responses and our tradition, while practicing essential life skills, such as cooperation, engagement with diverse perspectives, and resilience. The projects are not supplemental to the learning, but the projects are the path through which children learn. This article will describe our third through fifth children’s exploration of the driving question, “What is berakhah?,” with insight into how the project process builds children’s Jewish knowledge as well as social-emotional skills.

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study conducted in a large Reform Jewish Sunday school in the UK. It focuses on learners’ experiences and perceptions of learning to read Hebrew in the school as well as in the other sites in which they were learning to read. These experiences and perceptions are neglected in other research accounts. The findings reveal important insights into learners’ experiences, enjoyments, frustrations and expectations regarding both the purposes and the processes of learning to read in Hebrew and raise issues about learning and teaching. The findings contribute to wider debates about literacy and learning to read and address questions raised in the literature concerning what children do with, and make of, the language learning they experience in their community school setting.