Why Not You?!?
Posted on 07/07/2023 @ 05:00 AM
Photo by No Revisions on Unsplash
Chances are, if you’re reading this edition of CAJE’s Shabbat Shalom Friday newsletter, you receive it and read it regularly.
And chances are great that if you are receiving this email regularly, then Jewish education is important to you and you understand its role in nurturing the Jewish expression of children, teens and adults.
And since you’ve been reading this publication regularly, you are well aware of the teacher shortage in all arenas of Jewish education- from day schools and early childhood centers to supplementary school programs.
The way we at CAJE see it, our entire community has a responsibility to address this teacher shortage crises!
All of us must be thinking about both the immediate needs of our schools and the long-term strategies necessary to cultivate a new generation of Jewish educators.
Exactly a year ago, after hearing from our congregational education directors about their dire need to fill vacancies on their faculty rosters, Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar, CAJE’s Executive Director, and Joy Schandler, Director of Early Childhood and Congregational Education (at that time), set about exploring ways to generate a pipeline of new teachers specifically for supplementary school (aka Religious School, Hebrew School, Sunday School) programs.
Today these programs usually take place on Sunday mornings as well as mid-week afternoons and evenings, though there are programs that have classes on Shabbat evenings and/or mornings. And the teachers are a mix of professional and avocational educators, who all work part-time.
We invited our colleagues in Broward and Palm Beach Counties to join us in this effort and after months of planning and preparing, we developed an initiative called The Learning Collective (TLC) – a Jewish Teacher Residency.
Jewish TLC is designed to recruit and engage cohorts of new, part-time teachers, who will be matched with South Florida supplementary school programs that need more educators.
Who are we looking for?
- People who love children and are looking for creative ways to interact with them
- People who love being Jewish and want to share this passion with children of all ages
- People who have some downtime and want to turn it into meaningful work
- People who are looking to earn some extra money and at the same time make a huge difference
- Experienced and/or retired teachers
- People who are curious about teaching and want to give it a try
By becoming part of TLC, candidates will be grouped into a cohort.
In this cohort, they will engage in a series of online learning sessions suited to their needs (Judaic studies or foundational principles of teaching and learning or both).
They will receive mentoring and coaching as they observe and then work in a supplementary school setting that best fits their skills and the school’s needs.
AND to thank them for the time they took in completing the learning sessions, candidates will receive a stipend for committing themselves to this important endeavor.
Are you ready to take your commitment to supporting Jewish education to the next level?
You may be the perfect candidate to join TLC and become a Jewish educator!
Or you may know someone for whom this is a perfect fit, and we thank you in advance for sending this info to them.
- Check out all the details at Jewish TLC
Either way, Todah Rabbah- Thank You for supporting CAJE’s dynamic work and for prioritizing Jewish learning within our Miami Dade community!
And thank you to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the Broward Federation and the North Palm Beach Federation for funding the creation of the Jewish TLC website and collateral materials!!!
