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The MTEI group was in Israel at the Mandel Leadership Institute for a ten-day seminar, open to current members of the program as well as its alumni. MTEI is a two-year course of study that prepares educators to be "the teachers of teachers" within their own institutions and communities across the United States and Canada.
Participants of the MTEI Seminar met with Israeli teachers, facilitators and instructors connected to the Ovnayim Institute, a non-profit organization for educational knowledge and practice founded and directed by Mandel Graduate Shevi Govrin. This group meets regularly to write and discuss cases that present dilemmas related to teaching and learning.
The afternoon of mutual learning took place at MLI and featured the examination and discussion of cases from the classroom.
“Investigating cases is a strategy to engage teachers in discussion of some of the practical and difficult challenges of teaching,” said Dr. Gail Dorph, Director of MTEI. “Because case writing invites teachers to reflect on real dilemmas they face, studying cases can provide a rich opportunity for conversation and exploration of enduring dilemmas that relate not only to subject matter and pedagogy, but also to moral and ethical values.”
Participants formed small mixed discussion groups to examine the cases which addressed issues of the complexity inherent in educating students in Israel and in the US. The US Case “Eighth Graders Talk about Israel” described a class discussion about the students’ connection to Israel, while the Israeli case “With Joy and an Open Heart” described a bible teacher’s conversation with a 16-year old student who resented being obligated to learn Bible at school.
“Conversations such as these, which are rooted in our practice, beliefs and passions, are likely to create transformation of practice and attitudes because different readers make different readings, thus challenging each reader to reexamine his or her own values,” said Shevi Govrin.
“We hope that this conversation will be fruitful for all of us – echoing the themes and dilemma of our own lives,” she continued.
Both MTEI and Ovnayim are projects designed to engage educators in reflection on classroom practice, albeit with slightly different focuses. Using case discussions is one such strategy, and in this case, not only succeeded in creating an interesting conversation about adolescents' Jewish identity, but also shed light on some of the differences and similarities faced by Israeli and American educators. | 