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S outh area  H olistic  A pproach to (Jewish)  L earning,  E ngagement and  M eaning

S outh area  H olistic  A pproach to (Jewish)  L earning,  E ngagement and  M eaning. A WORK IN PROGRESS…. What Brought Us Here. A desire to strengthen Jewish education in the South Area. A recognition that there is the potential to work collaboratively across South Area communities.

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S outh area  H olistic  A pproach to (Jewish)  L earning,  E ngagement and  M eaning

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  1. South area Holistic Approach to (Jewish) Learning, Engagement and Meaning A WORK IN PROGRESS…

  2. What Brought Us Here • A desire to strengthen Jewish education in the South Area. • A recognition that there is the potential to work collaboratively across South Area communities. • A vision of reinvigorated Jewish life and learning in the South Area.

  3. What We Hope to Accomplish • Communication • Sharing and listening • Exploring potential for collaboration • Broadening conversation to the entire community • Reaching a point where we may be ready to concretely move forward on a South Area education initiative • “The goal is to create a program that a synagogue cannot do on its own and is qualitatively different from what people can get from the secular world.” (Comments shared by Rabbi Meszler)

  4. Partnership with CJP • CJP has not entered this process with any forgone plans or ideas. We want to support the interests of the South Area community in a process initiated by leadership in the South Area. • CJP has played a role of listener and synthesizer of ideas throughout the planning process in the South Area over the past year. • There are multiple synergies between the ideas being generated in the South Area and CJP’s Jewish Learning Connections (JLC) Initiative and CJP’s Teen Agenda as well as the work of the CJP South Area Task Force. • CJP looks forward to continuing to be a partner in this exciting new South Area learning initiative in the years ahead.

  5. Process to Date

  6. Challenges Identified in Research • APATHY: Teachers identify issues of apathy among families and students: perhaps programming that is tailored or honed in some way, will be more compelling. • SOCIAL CONNECTIONS: Parents indicate that they would like their children to connect to other Jewish children: collaboration can create more of a critical mass socially. • INTELLECTUAL CHALLENGE: Some parents indicate their children are not being intellectually challenged: collaboration may be a way to add breadth of intellectual experiences for students. • FLEXIBILITY: Some parents are seeking more flexibility in the school options, scheduling options and/or differentiated instruction: collaboration may allow for a reconfiguration and increase in the educational choices, given larger numbers. • TEEN PROGRAMMING: Teachers indicate a lack of teen programming: collaboration may provide more programming that is attractive due to the higher number of teens involved.

  7. Compiled Community Input • Target Populations of Interest • High School (73%) • Middle School (64%) • Elementary (45%) • Commitment Level • Majority interested in blending collaborative initiative with current programming on regular basis (82%) • Some congregations expressed interest in only periodic additive programming to enrich current program (36%) • Core Interests/Values • Engaging students through passions (82%) • Bringing together large numbers of youth from various communities (73%) • High quality teachers & accessible role models (56%)

  8. SHALEM / שָׁלֵם(a work in progress…) • The name says it all – שָׁלֵם means whole and the English acronym captures our objectives - South area Holistic Approach to (Jewish) Learning, Engagement, and Meaning! • The mission of SHALEM is to enrich Jewish learning in the South Area and work with participating communities to inspire deeper learning, lasting engagement, and meaningful Jewish relationships between learners, their family, and the Jewish community.

  9. What Makes SHALEM Whole

  10. Whole-Learner Approach • What does it mean to take a whole-learner approach to Jewish Education?  It means starting with the learner and recognizing the learner as: • An individual with his/her own talents • A member of a family • A member of the community.  

  11. Meaningful Engagement • Learning that is filled with deep, rich content leads to meaning-making and identity development. • The depth of SHALEM comes from: • Deep exploration of Jewish topics • A breadth of different experiences and areas of knowledge attainment • Immersive learning • Long-term involvement

  12. Wide Peer Social Network • Connecting to peers is a key element in developing a strong Jewish identity. • By creating opportunities for Jewish learning and engagement across the community, SHALEM broadens the Jewish social network of youth in the South Area.

  13. Flexibility • SHALEM is designed in a comprehensive yet flexible manner. • There is flexibility on 2 main levels: • Individual learner • Congregational involvement • Individual learners have flexibility to choose among different learning options. • Congregations can choose to be involved in SHALEM at varying levels and their involvement can evolve over time.

  14. Programmatic Overview

  15. K-4thSHALEM Aleph /אשָׁלֵםFocus on Family Engagement • The focus of the family engagement will be to encourage families to connect to Jewish practice and community in new ways. • A South Area Family Educator will serve as a concierge to help families connect with various options for Jewish engagement through the entire Boston Jewish community. • Families will be encouraged to engage in holiday observance, ritual practices, home practices, tikkunolam, Jewish cultural events, etc. in their home synagogue and the larger Jewish community. • Family camp and other immersive learning experiences could be offered to families as part of the Family Engagement options.

  16. 5th-8thSHALEM Bet /בשָׁלֵםCongregational Curriculum & Jewish Discovery • As youth move into the period of b’nai mitzvah and beyond, it is crucial to find new ways to engage them in Jewish learning and build upon the basic skills they will have received in younger grades. • SHALEM ב aims to couple some of the menu of options offered in SHALEM ג with some of the core curricular components of congregational schools. • SHALEM ב also aims to engage learners by offering multiple modalities of learning and opportunities for youth to link their Jewish learning with other arenas of interest.

  17. Congregational Curriculum • Each learner in SHALEM will continue to engage in learning at his/her home congregation. • The congregational curricular elements include Tefillah, Ritual Practices, Theology, B’nai Mitzvah preparation, and potentially more.   • Each congregation decides how to engage learners with this content and the number of hours required for attendance.

  18. Jewish Discovery • In addition to the congregational curriculum, each learner will select from a variety of options for Jewish Discovery in which s/he will have the opportunity to pursue deeper Jewish learning and discovery by following his/her passions. • The Jewish Discovery options will involve learners from multiple congregations and will provide opportunities to build a broader sense of Jewish community. • The specifics of the curricular content of Jewish Discovery will be developed by the participating congregations with the support of consultation.

  19. Discovery Sessions • The Jewish Discovery may involve participating in a weekly Discovery Session in one of a variety of tracks: • Visual Arts • Music • History • Hebrew Immersion • Social Justice • Other? • These tracks could change each year or semester depending on staffing and curricular structure in order to enable learners to explore as many areas of interest as possible.

  20. Vacation Camps • The Jewish Discovery may involve attending a week-long vacation camp once or twice a year during school vacation.  These vacation camps will incorporate many of the elements of the Discovery Sessions in an intensive week-long, full-day format. • There is also a possibility of having the vacation camp culminate in a Shabbaton to deepen the immersive experience.

  21. Individual Projects • The Jewish Discovery may involve developing an individual project and having periodic check-ins with a teacher or tutor to track progress on the project.   • This option may be selected by a student on the Autism Spectrum who has a particular interest or by a student who works best independently for any number of reasons.

  22. 9th-12thSHALEM Gimmel /גשָׁלֵםMenu of Options • In the high school years the key to whole person learning is to engage teens through their interests and passions.  For that reason, SHALEM aims to offer a variety of community-based options for Jewish experiences to South Area teens.   • Congregations could choose to make any of these options available to their teens either as enrichment to or in lieu of congregation-based programming.

  23. Menu of Engagement Options

  24. Academic Engagement • Hebrew High Programs • Intensive, high quality learning offered either in partnership with Prozdor or through local Hebrew High Programs. • Academic-focused experiences such a College visit trips, for South Area teens. • Madrichim Programs • Opportunities for teens to engage and broaden Jewish knowledge by teaching and serving as classroom aides for younger students. • Building teens’ own sense of Jewish identity by serving as a Jewish role model for younger kids.

  25. Social Justice Focus • TELEM • Expanded TELEM program in the South Area that will be regionalized and offered on a trimester basis to ensure maximal access and participation. • TELEM Trips • Social justice trips to NY, DC, New Orleans and more that will be coordinated by TELEM and open to teens involved in SHALEM ג.

  26. Peer Connections • Moving Traditions • Gender-based programming open to South Area teens as part of the nationally acclaimed programming designed by Moving Traditions. • Youth Groups • Efforts to foster collaboration between youth groups in the South Area in order to build community and strengthen programming.

  27. Artistic Expression • Jewish Theater Troupe and/or Choir • Teens would have the opportunity to artistically express themselves by collaboratively working on dramatic or choral shows. • The performances would be attended by everyone in the community which would help promote a sense of unity and community in the South Area. • Teens could also do performances at NewBridge or other facilities as a tikkunolam aspect of their work. 

  28. Reflections & Conversation • Share your questions, concerns, reflections, and ideas…

  29. Next Steps • Congregations are asked to present elements of SHALEM to their communities. • Congregations report back their interest in SHALEM and the particular way in which they would like to be involved by the end of February. • CJP will convene congregational partners for SHALEM in early March to discuss priorities and next steps. • Plans will be developed for early piloting in 2012-2013 and broader implementation in 2013-2014.

  30. Looking Toward the Future… • For a copy of this presentation visit www.shaleminitiative.org.

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