A Great Start: Exploring gender identity
By Anna Marx, Director, Jewish Education and Leadership Development The topic of gender identity has become common in recent discourse, in politics, in pop culture, in social media, and in our communities. Once a hushed conversation, it now feels front and center much of the time. And not only has the topic taken on a new public conversation, it feels to many of us like there is a different understanding of gender and identity among different age demographics. Youth today, I’ve heard educators say to me, have a whole new language around gender, sexuality, and relationships. But while the conversation might feel new [...]
Venture of the Month: Germantown Jewish Centre
Jewish Learning Venture’s mission is to inspire and empower people to make Jewish life, learning and community relevant and meaningful. Every month, we’re featuring a story from one of the synagogues whom we work with that are engaged in making systemic change. In May we are delighted to share about Germantown Jewish Centre’s participation in our Harold and Renee Berger Synagogue Network for Families with Young Children and what has changed at their congregation as a result. The Berger Network was developed to allow Jewish Learning Venture to encourage and support congregations to develop and implement significant, systemic approaches to attract and engage [...]
Creating Curriculum
By Gloria Becker, Director, Learning Initiatives in Jewish Education Jewish Learning Venture is taking on a bold, new program for our agency and for the educators in the greater Philadelphia area. On June 8 and 9, Education Directors and experienced teachers from Part-time Jewish schools will work together to learn to create curriculum. Most directors and teachers have "tweaked" an existing curriculum, but only a very few have had the opportunity to create curriculum from scratch. We will be applying the principles of "Backward Design" to prioritize goals, learning targets, content, and student assessments. We will also learn about "Universal Design for Learning" [...]