Program opens door for educators

Fourteen months of intensive training came to an end Friday when a group of aspiring Jewish day school teachers closed one door and opened another.

"This is something we call a celebration of completion," said DeLeT’s program director Judy Elkin. "This is the culmination of 14 months of study."

The training at the Day School Leadership through Teaching program (DeLeT, which in Hebrew means, "door"), a fellowship program at Brandeis’ Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education meant to "open the door" to careers in Jewish day school teaching. The program focuses on both general education and Jewish education training.

Friday marked the graduation from the program for the seven students, one of whom was absent from the ceremony.

During the training, Elkin said, the students engaged in two summers of intensive training with mentors in the classroom at many Jewish day schools across the region.

The mentors, who are trained at Brandeis, taught the classes while the program’s students observed firsthand for four days each week. The fifth day was spent back at Brandeis, where students return to coursework for the program.

"This marks a major achievement," Elkin said. "This is an incredibly rigorous program. These guys have worked very hard on a lot of different fronts."

During the ceremony, the students, known as Cohort 5 to mark the program’s fifth group of teachers to finish the internship, faced a crowd of friends, family, mentors and teachers, as they sang several Jewish hymns and delivered speeches reflecting on their time with DeLeT.

"Over the past 14 months, reflection has hugely been responsible for us as teachers, and as members of the Jewish community," Chavah Levine said.

Another student, Rebekah Skirball, said she noticed in her studies that many teachers tend to feel they aren’t really teachers by title.

"They harbor a secret fear that they haven’t yet achieved this status," she said, attributing the fear to the fact that teachers are constant learners, and in essence find it hard to separate from the feeling of being a student.

Elkin and Sharon Feiman-Nemser, director of the Mandel Center and academic director of DeLeT, presented the students with their certificates at the end of the ceremony, as well as a special gift: a hamsa amulet, which symbolizes good luck in several religions and cultures.

Artwork the students had made to express themselves throughout their internships with Brandeis art teacher Ellen Alt was also displayed at the celebration, such as clay sculptures, quilts, wire-made picture frame trees, and posters and other forms of art made to contribute to the classroom.

But Friday marked not only the end of the program for seven students, it marked the end of the program as being organized nationally.

"It really represents the conclusion of our formal involvement," Richard Marker, chairman of the DeLeT National Advisory Committee who helped conceive the program nearly five years ago, said to the crowd.
The program, entering its sixth year, is the only one of its kind in North America, with a second branch ongoing at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. But by next year, the program at Brandeis will become part of the school’s master of arts in teaching curriculum, allowing students to earn a master’s in Jewish day school teaching.

The current students, and their predecessors, have only received certificates, but have been encouraged to enroll in the master’s of arts in teaching program after they complete DeLeT to further their education.
While some of the celebrating students are planning to earn their master’s all of them said they were grateful to have come this far in their educational training, and are looking forward to stepping into the classroom as teachers.

"Obviously, I have a very strong bond with these girls, but I’m glad to be done," said Dolan, a Waltham resident who will be enrolling in the master’s of arts in teaching program at Brandeis while teaching first grade a the Jewish Community Day School in Watertown.

Likewise, Mindy Elins of Burlington, who fought back tears of joy during her speech, said the ceremony was heartfelt, and was happy that her colleagues have become such dear friends.

"This is a joyous occasion, and the culmination of a difficult year, but with such fabulous friends ... I’m thrilled," Elins said. "I love my cohort."
Matt Perkins can be reached at 781-398-8009 or at mperkins@cnc.com.