Research
Moving Toward a Utopian Future One Step at a Time: Taking Our Future Creating Workshop Online
As most of our planet contends with the harsh reality and fallout from the current pandemic, it can be difficult to imagine a future that is not simply going “back to normal” but is one in which we are able to work together to address challenges in significant and creative …
Bringing Practitioner Inquiry Jewish Education to Life: A Special Issue of Journal of Jewish Education
As “discussants” of this journal issue, we are impressed and inspired by these authors’ energy, dedication, and commitment to improving their practice as teacher educators by studying their practice. When we teach action research to preservice and practicing educators in our respective universities, we situate it as a form of …
The Story of the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute: From Problem to Idea to Practice
In response to anxieties concerning the future of Jewish life, in August of 1988, Mort Mandel convened a Commission on Jewish Education in North America to initiate a process that could bring about systemic improvement in the quality of Jewish education in the United States and Canada…
Beyond Prepared Materials: Fostering Teacher Learning in the Service of Children’s Learning.
This paper illuminates the beginning steps in learning to teach – gaining new knowledge and transforming it for purposes of teaching. The authors, while working with people who were not experts in Jewish content or pedagogy, tried to foster substantive understandings and a stance toward teaching that favors engagement of …
Studying Curriculum Materials: A Strategy for Improving Teaching
Curriculum materials are used by teachers on a daily basis; they are the ‘stuff’ of lessons and units, activities and worksheets. This paper will suggest ways of helping teachers investigate curriculum materials as a vehicle for increasing their subject matter knowledge and improving the quality of teaching and learning in …
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professor of Jewish Education“From the start we at MTEI adopted an inquiry stance toward our work. We studied our practice and invited others to study us as well. Through self study and through outside research and evaluation, we learned about our work and its impact in the field. We also modeled what it means to be a student of your own practice.”
Brandeis University