All Behavior is Communication

As someone who is very involved and cares about kids and teaching, I was excited to start the TAP program. That first day at Or Hadash completely changed my view of what the program was, originally I thought we were going to be learning how to be the teacher but really we were learning how to help all kids enjoy their time at Hebrew school.

My big takeaway from the whole program is that all behavior is communication. Once we went over this lesson I quickly applied it to my class. I changed how I talked to the kids. I was never mean but now I show my class that the teacher is the teacher and I am here for support and anything you need to have a nice day. While doing this I had to shift my attitude from friend/teacher/assistant to just madricha. This helped me realize that I am there for support and that if I put in a good effort then I will see a good effort.

I have been with the same class 2 years in a row, I would like to say I know the students pretty well by now. After making changes I noticed one student needed extra encouragement and they felt like they couldn’t be heard in our class. This was a communication that came out as sassy and annoyed but really they were just feeling overwhelmed by the situation. Once we came up with a strategy that worked for both me and the student I noticed drastic changes within this student’s behavior towards learning.

Overall, the TAP program is a great program that has wonderful intentions. I know that it has helped me and others be a better person and madricha.