Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education & Administration
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Educator Resources

WHERE TEACHING IS SACRED, WHERE LEARNING TRANSFORMS

Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration

Resources to Help Educators Throughout the School Year

Teaching Tips from the Spotlight

Thoughts from Dr. Ilana Turetsky

 

During the Chagim season, the rhythm of school is often choppy and disrupted. Planning lessons can be challenging, as students frequently return from days off having forgotten material taught just before the break. To adapt, I like to design modular lessons. Instead of building content that depends heavily on continuity— where the ideas build on one another, whether within the lesson or leading from one lesson to the next next—I prepare a set of smaller, self-contained “lesson nuggets.” These mini-lessons stand on their own, allowing for greater flexibility when learning is interrupted.

 

For example, if I structure a class around three 15-minute segments instead of a single 45-minute lesson, I can adjust in real time. If a period is shortened by a late start or a school-wide assembly, I simply teach one or two segments. If I find myself with more time than expected, I can progress through additional mini-topics.

 

It’s also helpful to prepare lessons on themes that are broadly relevant throughout this season. While Tekiyat Shofar is specific to Rosh Hashana, the theme of Teshuva spans from Elul through Aseret Yemei Teshuva and Yom Kippur. Similarly, the concept of Universalism and Am Hanivchar is relevant across multiple holidays: Rosh Hashana (“Meloch al kol ha’olam kulo”), Yom Kippur (Maftir Yonah), and Sukkot (Parei HaChag). In this way, lessons remain meaningful and timely, even when the calendar is in flux.

 

Wishing everyone a strong, positive start to the new school year and a year of success and growth!

Midyear Student Feedback: advice from Dr. Laya Salomon

As we approach the middle of the school year, giving a brief anonymous mid-year feedback survey is a simple practice that shows your students you care and equips you with meaningful insights to support their learning. Whether on paper or online, invite students to share what’s working well for them in your class and what could improve their learning experience. Open-ended prompts such as -- 

  • “What’s working for you?” “What’s not?”
  • “What can I do to make this a better learning experience for you?”
  • “What can you do differently to support your own learning?” 

-- ‎yield valuable - and often surprising - information that can rejuvenate your teaching, help you adapt it to better serve your students and help you individualize instruction if appropriate. (Feel free to prompt AI for some other helping questions tailored to your context!)

Remember to follow up and share with students what you’ve planned in response to their feedback; this builds trust and reinforces your shared partnership in the learning process!

Check out this helpful article to learn more mid-year feedback strategies!

 
As we approach the "Yoms", it's worth pausing to consider the deeper vision we bring to these days — especially now. There is a meaningful difference between standing with Israel and being part of Israel. The first expresses support; the second expresses identity. At this existential moment for the Jewish people, our goal as Jewish educators should be to close the gap of distance — to help our students feel not like observers of Israel from afar, but as members of Am Yisrael for who live and breathe Israel as something of their own. 
 
Practically, this means three things. First, give students genuine agency in the planning of these days — not just performative leadership roles, but real ownership, because producers develop a sense of purpose and meaning far more deeply than consumers. Second, ground the content of your programming in the living, dynamic material coming out of Israel right now — texts, music, art, news — so that Israel is present as a living people and land, not a distant subject of our support. Make the Yoms _Yom-Yomi_ . And third, make the experience emotional and embodied. Let's empower students to experiences what it means to be meaningfully part of this historic moment for our people.
 
To hear more, take five minutes to listen to or watch a short recording by Dr. Benji Davis expanding on this vision — or better yet, reach out directly at benjamin.davis@yu.edu to brainstorm how to put these ideas into practice in your school. We'd love to think through this together.
 
Dr. Davis also published a video of this discussion on YouTube, which can be seen here.

Faculty, Student, and Alumni Publications

"Signature Pedagogy and Constituent Authenticity: A New Model of Authentic Activity in Jewish Day School Classrooms" by Dr. Moshe Krakowski, Azrieli Professor

"Four Approaches to the Instruction of Halakha, Jewish Law" by Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Jaffe, Azrieli Alumnus

"Liberal Jewish identity and the pedagogy of Israel education" by Dr. Benji Davis, Azrieli Professor

"A Celebration of Possibilities: Between Tradition & Innovation in Parshanut Hamikra" video of the lecture given by Dr. Moshe Sokolow, Azrieli Professor

"The Teacher as First Responder" video of the lecture given by Dr. Deena Rabinovich, Associate Dean of Azrieli Graduate School

"Jewish Teen Anxiety and the Protective Power of Gratitude" by Dr. Orly Danino, Azrieli Alumna

"Foundational Story Pedagogy in Israel Education" by Dr. Benji Davis (Azrieli professor), Dr. Ezra Kopelwitz, and Dr. Matt Reingold

"Measuring What Matters: It’s Time to Rethink Traditional Grades" by Azrieli student Tziri Lamm

Brown, Erica: "What Kind of Parent Do You Want to Be?"

Lamm, Tziri: "Yes, And: Building Bridges in Jewish Education"

Levitt, Aaron; Levitt, Elisheva: "One Child, Two Classrooms: Home and School in Jewish Education"

Schiffman, Mordechai: 

 

AI Tools

As AI technology evolves and more and more AI Tools become available, Azrieli would like to share as much information as possible to help educators find the right tools and uses for AI. Below we will be sharing information for anyone who needs it on the best ways to use AI in classrooms.

Here is a short write up about our AI Playground on July 31, 2025. 

 "AI made the rhetorical triangle click by letting students remix rhetoric on the spot" by Shoshana Schultz:

For an English lesson on the rhetorical triangle, I used ChatGPT as a pedagogical tool to help students see how ethos, pathos, and logos operate across personal communication, political rhetoric, and social media messaging. After showing students clips of influencers and public figures, I used AI to generate a “rhetorical remix” of the same influencer-style message, rewritten three different ways to model each appeal. This allowed students to compare versions side by side and analyze how a speaker can shift meaning, tone, and impact simply by adjusting rhetorical strategies. Instead of remaining an abstract concept, the generative AI allowed students to watch rhetorical tweaks happen in real time, and they enthusiastically suggested new sentences for the AI to transform. This supported our Tic-Tac-Triangle game, where students applied their understanding by identifying the rhetorical mode in real examples. In this way, AI enhanced the lesson by making rhetorical choices visible, concrete, and immediately engaging for students. See the slides Shoshana uses for this lesson on Canva.

"Discover how AI is transforming my classroom—and my students’ success—one lesson at a time" by Rabbi Elie Schwartz:

For my students in an honors Gemara class- AI has allowed me to design far more individualized and supportive materials. Using platforms like Claude and ChatGPT, I create customized scaffolded worksheets based on anonymized Learning Center descriptions. These worksheets incorporate a variety of pedagogical modalities, such as fill-in-the-blank exercises, comprehension checks, multiple-choice questions, opportunities to draw connections, and repeated practice where needed. I use this approach especially in my Halacha curriculum, and the impact has been striking: students who once struggled to access the material are now demonstrating a clear, confident understanding of topics like Shabbat and the holidays. By reducing barriers and providing structured support, AI helps me keep these students engaged and successful.

Mike Kentz - The Butler-Thinking-Sparring Framework: A Practical Guide to Working with AI

Dalia Appel - Using AI as a Partner, not a Shortcut

Rabbi Tzvi Pitinsky - Reclaiming the Seder for the "Fourth Son"

Rabbi Elie Schwartz - Gemara Tools for Student Instruction

Rabbi Noah Marlowe - Better Classroom AI than ChatGPT an example of the work he did is here.

 

Other Resources

Starting in 2025, Azrieli and the Jewish New Teacher Project (JNTP) partnered to create the Certificate in  Effective Teaching Strategies. For more information on the certificate, click here. If you wish to discuss future opportunities with getting the certificate, contact the Azrieli office.

Tradition and Azrieli Partner for Summit on Educating today’s students

On Sunday November 9, 75 Jewish educators from across North America gathered in Teaneck, NJ to discuss “Educating our Children to be Ovdei Hashem in the Modern World.” The Summit, co-sponsored by Azrieli and Tradition, was generously funded by Azrieli’s Board of Overseers’ chair Henry and his wife Gold Reena Rothman. Six papers on various aspects of this challenge were prepared by educators and scholars, circulated in advance, and then discussed by all present.  Azrieli’s own Dr. Ilana Turetsky and her husband Rabbi Yehuda, presented a paper on the evolving relationship of the year in Israel and the prior years of Jewish day school education. The day culminated with a keynote lecture offered by Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter on “Historical Realities and Educational Methodologies.” The talk was open to the public and was followed by responses from practitioners. The lecture and responses are available here as a podcast.

The papers, edited based on the feedback at the Summit, as well as several other essays, will be published in the Fall 2026 issue of Tradition.  Stay tuned!

MafTEACH Information and Events

MafTEACH: Opening the Door for New Jewish Educators 

A teacher shortage is plaguing American, and day schools are sadly not immune.  Hearing from many school and community leaders how few teachers are out there, especially for schools outside the major Jewish centers, Azrieli wanted to do something about it. A few years ago, we launched “MafTEACH,” a program that invites Yeshiva and Stern college students to visit communities around the country four weekends a year, during which they teach in the local day school on Fridays and then teach and interact with the community over Shabbat.  College students considering chinukh have an opportunity to see a school from the inside, experience classroom teaching, and receive constructive feedback from seasoned professionals, which they then apply to future lessons. Learning about vibrant Jewish communities outside NY/NJ is another big plus. 

The response has been overwhelmingly positive!  From a relatively small cohort just 4 years ago, this year 46(!) undergraduates are going to 9 different communities, and another 4 will be visiting Seattle in a slightly different model – an intensive week over YU’s Winter break. These statistics speak for themselves, and are so encouraging. 

It’s critical that we enable our students to feel firsthand the incredible impact of being a teacher, a role upon which our Jewish future literally depends. If you are either a student or a school interested in participating in this program, contact MafTEACH coordinator Rabbi Yehuda Chanales at ychanales@yu.edu.

MafTEACH Spring 2026 Update
by Rabbi Yehuda Chanales, Director

Over 60 undergraduate men, current MafTeach fellows and others thinking about a career in Jewish education, spent shabbat together in Woodmere. Their shared sense of mission was reinforced by veteran educators in the community on Friday night and continued Shabbat day with meals at teachers and school leaders' homes. Shabbat ended with a powerful seudah shelishit at the home of Rabbi Yisroel and Mrs. Elisheva Kaminsteky, Menahel of DRS and Principal of SKA. Beyond the singing and words of encouragement, participants demonstrated their engagement during a deeply thoughtful Q and A.

All MafTeach fellows continued visits to their community. By this point in the year, many fellows have begun teaching formal lessons during their visit with feedback from veteran teachers observing them. Whether a Friday night oneg, full shabbaton or meals at community members home, fellows began to feel the warm relationships they have developed through their visits. Benjamin Lando, a fellow at Netivot HaTorah in Toronto, remarked: "The ability to watch teachers from 1st to 8th grade, manage classes, teach information, and build relationships with students was such a great insight on what a career in Jewish education looks like." Rabbi Aaron Horn, High School Principal at Kohelet Yeshiva in Philadelphia, praised his group: " They have been responsive, curious, taking initiative, and receptive to feedback. They were consistently engaging with students, and students that needed the boost. If these fellows become our next generation of teachers, the field has much to look forward to!"

Kohelet (Philadelphia) - 
Rabbi Aaron Horn (HS principal): They have been responsive, curious, taking initiative, and receptive to feedback. They were consistently engaging with students, and students that needed the boost. They are awesome. 

Tali Novick (fellow): This past Shabbaton was so special as there were so many learning and teaching opportunities. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to teach classes and chaburot while also learning so much from the teachers and faculty at Kohelet as well as the students. 

Mizrachi (Cleveland) -
Noah Spear (fellow): We had the opportunity to step in front of the classroom to teach, which was fantastic. We also got to hear from the administration about the intentionality that goes into every element of running a school. Friday night we had an Oneg, which was a great way to bond with the students and appreciate Shabbos in the Cleveland community.

Maya August (fellow): Giving a chabura on dveikut to the senior girls and bringing ruach to the school’s annual Shabbaton have been the highlights. I’m especially grateful for the meaningful connections I’ve formed with the students and the administration.

Netivot (Toronto) - 
Benjamin Lando (fellow): It was such an incredible experience to go to Netivot for a Mafteach Shabbaton, and the highlight was definitely visiting classes on Friday. The ability to watch teachers from 1st to 8th grade, manage classes, teach information, and build relationships with students was such a great insight on what a career in Jewish education looks like.

Ori Bach (fellow): Seeing a classroom in action was an eye-opening experience. On that particular day, the class was especially challenging. The teacher had to balance giving focused attention to one student who was struggling while still managing the needs of the rest of the class. Observing the different strategies he used to navigate this situation was highly insightful.
 

Advice for Dealing with Tragedy

Dr. Erica Brown wrote a blogpost in the Times of Israel about resilience: Globalize the Light

Dr. Mordechai Schiffman reminded everyone of our response to October 7th:

Best practices for schools
When discussing a violent antisemitic event, educators should lead with calm, factual, developmentally appropriate information and avoid graphic detail or speculation. Begin by assessing what students already know and correcting misinformation, then focus on safety, emotional validation, and continuity (“what is unchanged”). Normalize a wide range of reactions - sadness, fear, anger, or numbness - and offer choice in how (or whether) students engage. Limit media exposure in school, reinforce respectful norms, and ensure clear pathways for private support, especially for students with prior anxiety, trauma, or personal connections to the event.

Frame the conversation around belonging, resilience, and agency rather than politics or debate. Name antisemitism clearly while emphasizing that students are safe and supported in school, and channel feelings into constructive outlets (chesed, reflection, community support). Attend to educator self-care so adults can model regulation. For concise, evidence-based guidance educators can share with families and use in classrooms, see the National Association of School Psychologists’ resources on talking with children about violence and crisis can be found here

 

 

Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education & Administration