by Mic Lieberman-Burak,
Mishkan Shalom
The TAP Teen program has given me the opportunity to become a more effective classroom assistant, providing me with new skills and new perspectives. It has made me better able to help the kids to have the most fulfilling and memorable Hebrew School experience possible. While there has been an important emphasis on accessibility, this program has far surpassed the basic definition of this concept. Accessibility is not only adapting a space to meet the needs of a person and their abilities; it is about ensuring that the community, and the space occupied by the community, is fully inclusive and inviting, celebrating every individual for what they bring to the group. It has been a pleasure to work with the children in the classroom, seeing them embrace their strengths and excell in their areas of interest. I also learned to look for the strengths in each individual, and to work on building children up and gauge their growth based on their areas of strength, rather than in their areas of difficulty.