JDS+Conference-Blog+Entry

DeLeT Alumni, Leadership Group I was asked only a couple of weeks ago to be on a panel at a presentation about Professional Learning Communities, by Naava Frank. I was one of three panelists. I sat alongside Jared Matas (Brandeis, Cohort 2) and Maureen Mintz, the director of professional development at South Area Solomon Schechter, a DeLeT site school from its inception. When preparing for this presentation, we all shared our stories over the phone. Maureen spoke about how the PLC at her school really began when a DeLeT alum approached her with a new idea. You see, she had just returned from a conference and attended a presentation about the values of PLC and how to get started. I was curious about who this alum was and which conference she was referring to. Unbeknownst to Maureen, as we uncovered minutes later, it was actually my presentation, entitled “Enacting the ‘L’, ” at last spring’s DeLeT alum conference that this teacher had attended. From there she returned to her school inspired, and with a proposal. SASSDS has since institutionalized this work in a very impressive way. While it is certainly significant to inspire change on any level, the ripple effects, particularly at an event such as this conference, are what I’m feeling most hopeful about at this moment in time. I want to convey to you how Jared and my presence at this session reflected the quality of the DeLeT program. Early on a participant chimed in to say how she didn’t find it coincidental at all that the beginnings of this movement (in day schools) came out of a DeLeT alum conference. She spoke highly of DeLeT’s reputation in regards to preparing teachers to be reflective practitioners and to make their work public. While DeLeT’s reputation preceded us, our work supported her assumptions. Administrators who attended the session looked to us to help guide them in making a formal PLC work at their schools. They listened as we spoke earnestly about how to listen to their teachers. As part of the Ravsak organizational meetings, each table was asked to discuss what Ravsak’s Annual Report book might look like in ten years, focusing on a radical idea. We were asked to decide on certain roles and I had jumped at the chance to facilitate this discussion. Alongside school founders, heads of schools, department heads, and foundation leaders, Jared, Yechiel and I held our own. We must have made an impression on Chair of Ravsak Board of Directors, who, upon running into her later, asked me how the professional learning communities panel went. When I responded with my signature enthusiasm, thrilled really that we might have inspired heads of school, she replied that with our energy, she’s not the least bit worried about the future of Jewish Education. And that is really the message I most want to convey to you: our presence was more than a testament to the success of DeLeT; I truly believe we helped showcase DeLeT leadership as being at the forefront of positive changes in day schools today.
 * Jamie Faith-Woods (Brandeis, Cohort 1):**

Much of our time at the North American Day School Conference was occupied networking and meeting with key educational figures exploring our DeLeT work and vision. We did spend time learning from key speakers and in breakout sessions. Here are some key learnings I took away:
 * Yechiel Hoffman (HUC, Cohort 4):**

1) It's All About Control Alan November, senior partner and found of November Learning, opened the conference with a stirring exploration of leadership and technology usage and the critical intersection between the two. He charged the community to rethink learning environments and the roles of children, families and leadership within schools. He outlines the necessary core values of leadership: openness and adaptability, knowledge driven vision, collaborative organizational system, direct communication, reflective growth and shared ownership. As a DeLeT Alumnus, I realized how much my fellowship and induction through DeLeT had prepared for this model of leadership, and how naturally I ascribed to these values. His talk largely emphasized how the ever expanding role of technology must force us to reevaluate how information is being processed and provided for more efficient decision making. New technologies are changing the leadership paradigm by sharing control amongst stakeholders. This raises the key questions of who owns the learning? How do students control the assessment of their work? How can students and parents measure the progress, growth and mastery through learning? Does our job as teachers become less focused on introducing technology tools we barely know, or facilitating the effective usage of tools students are aware of before we are. Check out Alan's great resource page for useful handouts (podcasting, custom google search, etc.) and tools addressing information literacy and other resources (articles and podcasts ). Alan urged us to focus educational efforts 1) Information, 2) Research, 3) Collaboration and 4) Self-Directed Learning. It got me thinking, that for all the talk of how to educate or lead, there is no discussion of WHY. For what purpose are we educating Jews in a Jewish/community day school? What are we aspiring to build? Are we just an institution, and by default, we do what we do to keep institutions alive through fundraising and development? Or are we aspiring to create a more accomplished, empower and aspirational class of Jews?

2) Collaboration is King At this conference, for the first time ever, the four key school organizational groups, PaRDeS, [|SSDSA], RAVSAK and the Institute for University-School Partnership at Yeshiva University joined forces to create a conference that would not only reduce financial burdens, but brings key constituents from all four corners of Jewish Day School education together. This unity enriched every session discussion, meal time conversation and plenary reflection. With the increased focus on technology, and the evident benefits of breaking down age old barriers, the focus was on how to create more collaboration locally, globally and even "glocally ". This opens up great opportunities for teachers to work together to create communities of practice to network and learn with educators beyond their school walls. This should inspire us to great projects that will connect our students through inter-school collaboration. We have the responsibility to enrich our communities through our advanced knowledge and practice in technology. The time is now to create a network of like minded young leaders in teaching and education to create a national conversation about issues and concerns that will be key to the future of our field within the coming years. We can do this through wikis, a ning site, twitter, etc.

3) Time to Tweet I will be the first to admit that I did not get twitter. That is until I was sitting at the opening session at the conference and watched how through a simple twitter feed, one could manipulate their tweet to be part of a conversation through the wise usage of # and @ signs (check out this article for best twitter practices ). Soon enough, I was tweeting every minute, adding my voice to the conversation. We have now created a twitter account "delet2thefuture " to make our DeLeT Alumni Leadership Group part of the Jewish educational tweeting community. If you are tweeting, follow us, or you can follow my twitter account for my explorations and inquiries into education, film and Judaism. Twitter even has a place in the classroom.

Yechiel and I had the honor of representing DeLeT on a panel titled 'Mentoring New Teachers.' We joined teachers from the PARDES Educator's Program and the YU Institute for University School Partnership Fellowships programs, sharing our experience as teaching interns, beginning teachers and mentors. I spoke about the impact of my experience as a Delet mentor on my understanding of teaching. Asking a teacher to talk about his teaching, I shared, can be like asking a fish to describe water. We are so immersed in it, that describing and desconstructing it can be very challenging. My experience as a mentor has forced me to learn to better describe my teaching, giving not just my intern but me as well a deeper understanding of my thinking when I'm teaching. As these new and innovative teacher training programs continue to produce more teachers, there is a growing number of reflective teachers staffing day school across the country. As we develop our practice, begin to practice teacher-leadership in our schools, and network to support each other, we have potential to make a real impact on the field of day school education.
 * Jared Matas (Brandeis, Cohort 2):**