Hebrew School Can Be Fun!

Even as someone very involved in many aspects of my Jewish community, my participation in the TAP program helped me realize how important it was to learn about individuals’ differences. Learning doesn’t involve discriminating and education teaches people how they can best help others. I chose to participate in TAP because I thought it would be beneficial to learn better ways to help the kids I teach with at Hebrew school. I learned new ways to keep the students engaged and to make learning fun.

One of the main education components that I learned from the TAP program was how to keep students engaged and how to notice kids’ current moods.. Instead of having students sit still and expect them to read pages of Hebrew, I found ways to make learning fun and exciting. Some ideas I used included brain breaks after finishing a page and giving students choices as well. Some students even wanted to know the meaning of the words they read; I told them and they were happy, told their friends, and sometimes it even made them laugh.

This program primarily taught me that kids can (and want to) have fun at Hebrew School too! Finding fun ways to educate, such as giving challenges and races make kids want to learn more. I learned to take into consideration not only what needed to be accomplished but the importance of meeting students where they were (mentally, physically, and academically) each day of class.

Overall, my involvement in the TAP program taught me that being a good Hebrew School teacher not only means teaching kids Hebrew, but listening to kids’ feelings, interests, and motivations. Giving options for students to thrive in an environment where sometimes they don’t always want to be. TAP was an excellent experience over the past year, especially for providing resources to become a better teacher for future generations!