More than 30 faculty members from local congregations’ religious schools recently participated in a day of professional Jewish learning and networking.
The interactive workshop provided opportunities for educators to brainstorm, collaborate and create with the goal of enhancing their personal classroom toolkits and expanding their professional networks as they prepare for the upcoming school year.
The session was facilitated by Ethan Helfand, a Jewish community professional and current executive director of KU Hillel. With his experience in Jewish community programming and organizational leadership development, Helfand guided participants through a series of activities designed to empower teachers with practical strategies and resources.
The workshop centered around the essential tools educators rely on to streamline their work, as well as identifying resources and support systems for when those tools are lacking. Key topics included social-emotional learning, leveraging technology in teaching, fostering leadership skills in students, utilizing community and relationship-building techniques, experiential learning and engaging parents and guardians as partners in education.
The program was coordinated by education directors from area religious schools, including Sara Glass (Congregation Beth Torah), Dayna Gershon (The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah), Shelley Hedrick (New Reform Temple), Shelley Rissien (Kehilath Israel Synagogue), Civia White (Congregation Beth Shalom) and Annette Fish (Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City).
This workshop is an annual initiative of the Rabbinical Association and area congregation religious schools, funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.
Paula Fremerman, Rhonda Karol, Rabbi Kleinman, Ariel Silverman and Denise Ellenberg at the professional development workshop.
