Teaching in a World Transformed

Teaching with Resilience, Resourcefulness, and Creativity

For Jewish Supplementary and Day School Educators
from across the Greater Chicago region

Two consecutive Wednesday mornings
August 5 and 12 from 9 am to 12 pm 

Starting with the onset of COVID-19, the summer of 2020 has unleashed more turbulence and change than any in recent memory. Addressing the need to respond and move forward in the months ahead, Spertus Institute has been presenting an acclaimed series of online offerings for those serving our community.

This two-session series is designed for you, to provide the skills and resources you need right now to reimagine and retool your teaching for a world transformed by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The sessions will be interactive, live streamed through Zoom.

Participation is free.
Pre-registration is required.

Register below 

Additional series are in the works for those outside Chicago. SIGN UP FOR INFORMATION AS CONFIRMED >

Taught by educational leaders uniquely skilled to address the current crises, the sessions will introduce ways for you to integrate pandemic-driven changes into your curriculum, extracting important lessons from Jewish history and assisting students grappling with the disorienting impact this crisis has had on us all.

Each of the three-hour sessions will include presentation of content and discussion as well as opportunities to workshop ideas for your classroom.

Participants are expected to attend both sessions. This series counts for 6 hours of professional continuing education.

Should you wish to continue into the Certificate in Jewish Leadership for Educators or Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Studies, you will receive a 10% discount for having participated in this professional education series.

Login information will be provided to registrants by email 24 hours in advance of the first session.

What You'll Learn

As a participant, you will come away having gained new understanding about human behavior during tenuous times and the ability to employ resilient responses and identify new opportunities. You will have learned to help students contextualize their personal and communal situations.

Session 1 
Pandemics and Crisis in Jewish History, Lessons for Today
Wednesday, August 5, 2020 from 9 am to 12 pm CDT

Dr. Dean P. Bell is President and CEO of Spertus Institute, where he holds a faculty appointment as Professor of Jewish History. A widely published historian, he is the author, most recently, of Plague in the Early Modern World: A Documentary History and has been serving as an expert on pandemic history for media during the current crisis.

Session 2
Teaching about Pandemics, Teaching about Crisis
Wednesday, August 12, 2020 from 9 am to 12 pm

Dr. Alicia Gejman is Director of Formal Education at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El where she directs the Jack and Mildred Cohen Religious School and Bernard H. Sokol Hebrew High School. Past Principal of West Suburban Temple Har Zion and Director of Makor Or, Special Needs Center of Chicago’s Board of Jewish Education, she is a member of Spertus Institute's Board of Trustees. 

We are able provide this important offering at no cost to participants because it is underwritten by generous programmatic donors. See how you can support Spertus programming >

Spertus Institute is a partner with the Jewish United Fund in serving our community. Spertus Institute’s Center for Jewish Leadership is supported by a generous grant from the Crown Family. We are grateful for their support.