The Mandel Center at Brandeis Uni. publishes article about Kesher

Beit Midrash Research Project, Piloting a School-Based Research Initiative

The Mandel Center for Jewish education at Brandeis University publishes an article about the work our tzevet (staff) does on the Havruta project, as part of our teacher development, here it is:

This year, the Beit Midrash Research Project has partnered with the Kesher Community Hebrew School in Cambridge, MA, an innovative afternoon school, to establish a Beit Midrash for Teachers.

The Kesher Beit Midrash serves both as a professional development program for the Kesher staff as well as a research site for exploring and expanding the use of havruta learning tools in the classroom. These tools are based on Orit Kent’s work identifying key practices of havruta learning (Download her dissertation abstract). The hope is to enhance the teaching of Jewish texts and student learning in havruta at Kesher, as well as to better understand how teachers translate this experience into their classroom teaching.

An onlooker to the Kesher Beit Midrash for Teachers would observe teachers, paired in lively havrutot, deliberating over Jewish text. While exploring and sometimes disagreeing over the text’s meaning, teachers are also keeping track of the nature of their discussion.

To the read whole article click: www.brandeis.edu/mandel/projects/beitmidrashresearch/beitmidrash_kesher