Online Teacher Training for your Kodesh Staff
Imagine if you could offer all of your Judaic Studies teachers practical courses in pedagogy that would enhance their teaching skills in just 11 weeks? We invite you to choose one of our four Schools Pedagogy Courses, scheduled to suit your school calendar. Each course includes three live or Zoom meetings, and eight units for private or group study.
Choose one of these four Schools Pedagogy Courses:
Pedagogy in the Kodesh Classroom
This course covers key principles of effective teaching, learning theories, lesson planning, curriculum development, diverse learning styles and needs, engaging teaching methods and strategies, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, assessment and feedback strategies, classroom management in a Jewish context, effective communication and parent involvement, and organizing extra-curricular events.
Units:
- Objectives and Taxonomies
- Backward Planning
- Lesson Openers
- Basic Methodologies
- Instructional Models
- Classroom Management
- Gamification and Fun Theory
- Extra-Curricular Events
“I have signed up my entire Judaic Studies faculty for the Herzog Global online course in pedagogy. I believe that it will give them different perspectives on how to teach and better lesson planning skills, which will lead to more engagement in the classroom and less behavioral problems”.
Active Learning Lab for the Kodesh Classroom
This course will explore student-centered active learning strategies, with explanations and discussion of techniques, plus practical examples for how they can be used in teaching Judaic Studies subjects. Participants will have the opportunity to implement these strategies in the classroom and share them with fellow teachers.
Units:
- What is Student-Centered Active Learning and Why is it Important?
- Activating Prior Knowledge and Formative Assessments
- Chavruta – Teacher-Guided Partner Study
- Jigsaw – Empowering your Students to Teach Others
- Debate, Storytelling, and Drama
- Project-Based Learning and Game-Based Learning
- Learning Centers and Choice Boards
- Sparks to Brighten Your Lessons
“Sarah’s course was well structured and clear. I particularly appreciated that we put what we learnt into practice as part of the course, preparing our own lessons and presenting to class members. The hands-on help and constructive criticism we received from Sarah and the other class participants gave us the confidence to present more engaging lessons in the future”.
Purposeful Pedagogy: Making Tanakh Our Students’ Story
This course places personal connection at the forefront of the learning experience, alongside content acquisition and skills development, and explores practical teaching tools to encourage students to experience the Tanakh as “Our Story”.
Units:
- Why we teach Tanakh
- Zooming Out and Zooming In
- Storytelling as a way of Building Jewish Identity
- Big Ideas and the Judaic Studies Classroom
- The Unique Challenge of Teaching Tanakh
- Identifying the CORE of a Lesson
- Creating a Lesson using the CORE
- Meaningful Engagement with the Text
“The course has been great so far – we have really been enjoying it. We’ve had great conversations with teachers after each lesson, and we already have a laundry list of takeaways for when we re-examine our Tanach curriculum following the course”.
Encouraging Student Engagement
We will learn how to design lessons to incorporate principles of autonomy, belonging, competence, purpose, fun, and curiosity in order to engage all your students, plus techniques to hold their attention.
Units:
- Self-Determination Theory
- The Engagement Challenge
- Measuring Student Engagement
- Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation
- Attention and the Brain
- Attention Retention
- Momentum Every Moment
- Prepare and Share
“I am making lessons plans with the template from the course. I am making an effort to focus on fun in a meaningful way, and the students are excited to show their knowledge and their work. I learned how to break lessons up better, and how to find a balance between structure and changing things up. I will use these plans to change the way I teach, and to help the students learn in the best way for them”.
Course Structure
All of our courses are structured for the convenience of busy teachers. Most of the lessons are asynchronous units that each participant can study in their own time. Each course includes:
- Initial Live Meeting (in-person or on Zoom) with Course Instructor (75 minutes)
- Four units of study to be completed over four weeks (each involving about 40 minutes of study)
- A virtual joint meeting with Team Leader for consolidation and discussion
- Four additional units of study over four weeks
- Final Live Meeting with Course Instructor (75 minutes)
Course Duration: 11 weeks
We are happy to work with you to create a schedule that suits your teachers.
Course Costs:
Each course costs US$4,000 for up to 30 participating teachers, with options to team up with other schools to share cost. Funding is available in some countries through the Pincus Fund and UnitEd.
For more information and to arrange a conversation about booking a Pedagogy Course for your school, please complete the form: