In this blog post, Rabbi Feld discusses how at the induction stage of teaching, teachers often struggle with an issue called cognitive entrenchment: a state of mind in which you believe you have gained so much knowledge in an area that you begin to take for granted norms that should be questioned. On one hand, this helps the new teacher build comfort, stability, efficiency, and a sense of expertise. But on the other hand, he explains, the “cozy status quo which reinforces its own truths deters the teacher from notions of innovation by challenging assumptions that would benefit the student.”
Many Jewish educators struggle to use Tanakh for its greatest gift — the fashioning of committed Jews. Teachers could guide their students to go down a joyful and fruitful path by inviting students to a world of wonder and belief.
Read about a different strategy for teaching Tanakh in Rabbi Shmuel Feld’s recent blog post, originally published in Prizmah.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and with the rapid flip from in-school to on-line learning, I have heard countless statements that school as we know it, will change forever. I certainly understand why some would make these claims: broadly speaking, and with notable exceptions, Jewish day schools were able to pivot and provide a re-imagined balance to the 2019-2020 school year, and as of this moment, most of these same schools have pivoted again to provide Covid-conscious in-building education this fall.
Yes, many changes were made, but will this mean that the institution known as school will be forever changed? Despite extraordinary advances in technology, social upheaval, economic growth, and new understandings of the human mind, history has shown only limited lasting change in schools since the catalyzing events of the 1950s, namely Brown vs the Board of Education and the launch of Sputnik and the ensuing space-race. I add to this a concern that the desire for change is frequently counterweighted by a deep desire to return to the familiar and “normal.”
I would like to posit here that while I am skeptical that schooling has changed forever, I do think that there may be an enduring change in our feelings about school and the parental understanding of what school is and can be.
Here is what I think may have really shifted for good:
Jewish education is the most important gift we give our children and our communities. This is not because Jewish education supports continuity. Judaism, a religion of growth, of personal evolution, forward movement, Tikun Olam, must grow students, not so they can mirror the present, but so that they can shape the future. We should not be satisfied with an educational system that merely holds the line or allows continuation of Judaism as we know it. Jewish education is the key to fulfilled Jewish learning and living that builds beyond where we are now. It is the most powerful guarantee of a generation that will advance Jewish life and help advance the world in important ways.
