Ways to Improve Jewish Education 5 Proposals Yaakov Lasson

 I felt that Rabbi Feld was somewhat vague in his critique of Jewish Day Schools but I came up with a few creative ideas of my own which could improve our schools

2. Active Learning Imagine studying Hilchot Bishul B’Shabbat in a real kitchen! I have seen some schools that does do this, but let us see it used more often! This is a Halacha video from students at CTA. It is an example of students investing time to make a fun educational video about Hilchot Shabbos. Potential Issues: Is this only appropriate for a final project or could/should it be a more year-round endeavor ?

 Chessed Hours during school  Growing up, I never had Chesed Hours. But I fully support it – knowing it is out there as part of many schools’ missions. Why not have school trips bi-weekly for students to engage in Chesed?  Advantages: Schools can manage and “teach for” the chessed  Disadvantages: Is it possible to carve out (4?) hours of class time a month for this?

3. A real flipped classroom!  Imagine our students giving the lessons! Instead of filling out sheets and notes, why not have students research the topic and deliver the lessons themselves!? Possible Paradigms:  the-teacher   Potential Issues: assessment

4.Open Beit Midrash seminar (2 credits).  Imagine students having the freedom to pick what they would like to learn in the Beit Midrash.  Instead of written tests, students are administered oral exams by their teachers  Potential issues: lack of absolute structure

A word about Funding  The obvious truth is that schools that have adequate financial resources are able to offer quality extra-curricular activities – a key to high school student success - as well as support highly qualified educators. Conversely, the smaller the budget, the more challenging it is for a school to implement programming.  I do not know much about fundraising, but it is something schools should and – I am sure - do always think about.