News, Publications, and Presentations from Core Education Faculty
January 25, 2024
Lauren Applebaum, Ed.D. is a recipient, along with Sivan Zakai, Ph.D., of a research grant from the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education at George Washington University. Their project is entitled, “Learning and Teaching about What Matters,” and explores what issues in the contemporary world matter most to Jewish children, and how children make sense of these issues. The study also considers how educators make sense of children’s ideas about the same issues. Drawing from interviews, storytelling exercises, and think-alouds with children, as well as interviews and collaborative investigations with educators as they examine the data from children, the study situates the ideas of both children and their educators in both day schools and supplementary schools as central to the work of Jewish education. Applebaum and Zakai are conducting the study as affiliated scholars of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University.
Lesley Litman, Ed.D. advised and oversaw the design of the first year of an Israel curriculum framework for Grades 4-6 through ARZA Canada. She led a 2.5-day workshop for teachers from across Canada on Israel education in general and implementing the new curricular framework in particular.
Litman has been an active consultant, facilitator and advisor in the professional learning response to October 7th, including in the iCenter’s Conflicts of Interest Certification program. She has led four workshops for Jewish educators and her blog post for the iCenter, “The Questions of Today,” outlines the key questions Jewish educators have been facing in the new reality post October 7th.
Rabbi Laura Novak Winer, Ed.D. is being awarded the Distinguished Educator Honor at the Association of Reform Jewish Educators Annual Gathering, where she is presenting, along with Rabbi Dr. Ellie Steinman, a session titled, “Leading with a Diversity Mindset and the Challenges of Teaching Others to Do So.”
Novak Winer was also chosen to participate in the Senior Fellows Program of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University, a two year fellowship focused on research and scholarship. Her research project is an examination and reframing of the concept of Ahavat Yisrael as an aim for Israel Education.
Miriam Heller Stern, Ph.D. will be on sabbatical during the Spring semester. She will be a visiting scholar at Stanford University Graduate School of Education and a scholar-in-residence at the Covenant Foundation. In October, Dr. Stern taught at the URJ North American Board Meeting in October on the topic, “The Power of Jewish Education: Toward a Future of Resilience, Wisdom, Creativity and Hope.”
Sivan Zakai, Ph.D. has been an indispensable advisor, teacher, and guide to Jewish educators, leaders, and parents since October 7th, giving numerous workshops and talks to a wide range of audiences.
Her publications have included:
Her public talks and workshops have included: