Quickie Hanukkah Project Ideas

by Laurie Bellet

The approach of Hanukkah sends even the least crafty of teachers to the drawing board. In addition to regular class projects, there are “make and takes,” special Hanukkah “workshops,” family programs, bring-a-friend activities and lots of minutes to soak up with sponge time fun. Here, in no particular order, are art activities you can implement with any age students, simply, inexpensively and successfully:

Jewish Classroom Management

by Joel Lurie Grishaver

The following e-mail came in:

Many of us in small schools end up teaching our own children. It is a joke in my faculty that one should never teach one’s own kid — but despite unbelievable juggling — every year one of us gets one of our own kids in class. This year, in the eleven-twelve group is my son. When he studies — the Earth moves — but when he goofs off — oy vey — it feels like the class is taking bets on who will come out on top, him or me… I try avoiding power struggles but… What to do?

- Your fan in the Hamptons of New York,
Leah Openheimer

The first thing I did was talk to Carol Starin who put this question out to her “five things crew.” Here are some of the wisdom they shared:

Let Me Count the Ways: Being A Jewish Professional — 5 Things You Need to Know

by Carol Oseran Starin

Sometimes things come together in interesting ways.

Last week I was invited to talk with a group of new Jewish professionals. Gloria, a new education director, asked me: Must I always be a professional? Will I always be associated with my job? Will I always be introduced as “Ms. Goldstein, the principal of Temple Sinai?”

Last week my colleague Rivy Kletenik gave a drash about Ya’akov. Jacob tricked Esau to get what he wanted. He sold a bowl of soup for his father’s birthright — the right to be the oldest — to receive his father’s blessing and all that comes with being the oldest. Something he got with that birthright was the obligation to marry Leah — the girl he didn’t want. And the trickery that began with Jacob was carried through to Jacob’s family that ended up in Egypt and 400 years of slavery. What I learned from Rivy is that sometimes personal decisions are national decisions. Sometimes the weight of the Jewish people rests on our personal actions.

Are you the principal of a school? Are you a teacher of Jewish children? The answer to Gloria’s question is ‘yes.’ We made decisions to take certain kinds of jobs — and with our jobs comes responsibility to our constituency and to the Jewish people.

Here are 5 things Jewish professionals need to know: