A Summer of Growth for the Academy

One of my first blog posts a little over a year ago (it's hard to believe that I've been blogging for over a year already!) referred readers to a post by a Mississippi teacher who noted that the quality of a school can often be judged by the manner in which its faculty and leadership spend their summers.

While downtime and pure relaxation is of the utmost importance, the summer also provides invaluable opportunities for teachers and administrators to pursue avenues of professional growth so that they return in the fall not only refreshed and re-energized, but equipped with new tools and excited by new knowledge with which they have been empowered through their summer learning experiences.

I noted then that a summer filled with faculty pursuing professional development opportunities as described by that educational blogger provided "portrait of educational excellence to which we can all aspire." I am proud to say that a year later we are well on our way. Here's just a taste of the growth opportunities our faculty and administration have been and will be pursuing this summer:

• Our entire administrative team spent a day and half with Professor Scott Goldberg learning how to lead our faculty through our multi-year school-wide Differentiated Instruction initiative.


• Rabbi Greenblatt and I attended the ASCD National Summer Conference to learn even more about the principles of Differentiated Instruction and currliculum building.


• Erica Stoltz, my new assistant, attended ISM's Summer Workshop entitled "The Vital Role of the Head's Administrative Assistant."


• Mrs. Gersten will soon be heading up to Cambridge, MA for the Harvard Principal Center's Summer Institute.


• While Mrs. Gersten is in Cambridge, Rabbi Gersten will be in New York recieving training in the important work of the David Project, which equips students with the knowledge and skills to become active advocates for Israel on college campuses and beyond.


• Mrs. Ashly Hood, our newly hired high school English and Spanish teacher, will be attending a workshop in the TPRS method of foreign language instruction (better known in our school, as the Mrs. Mansberg Method of Spanish instruction).


• Mrs. Rachel Goldberg, our new 2nd Grade Judaic Studies will be attending training in the Tal Am curriculum and methodology in Jerusalem, taught by none other than our own Mrs. Yehudit Soleman, our new 3rd Grade Judaic Studies teacher and our faculty mentor for the Tal Am program.


• Mrs. Charna Schubert, our new Early Childhood Director, will be attending classes on Early Childhood Directorship, through the Ready, Set, Grow Program at the University of Memphis.


• Melissa and I, along with representatives of our lay leadership, will be attending Yeshiva University's ChampionsGate National Leadership Conference later this month.

And all of this is in addition to all of the work our administrators, and many of our teachers, are putting in on a daily basis to ensure that this coming school year represents an exciting and exhilarating step forward on our journey toward excellence.

I, for one, can't wait...