Schoolsand Community - Essay Example

?The reform congregation at TBE Synagogue is a vibrant, welcoming community and a place where Jews gather to share in worship, learning, serving, andactively engage in the sacred traditions of our shared heritage. Through its mission of sharing inspiration from the teachings of Jewish history and the wisdom of sacred texts, the tenets of Reform Judaism is expressed, understood and obtained. Members of the congregation use the congregation and synagogue to nurture their souls and connection to God, to educate our children as well as themselves, to cultivate leadership among all congregants, to celebrate our joys, to comfort those among us who are suffering, to serve the community and the world at large, and to promote peace and understanding in everyday actions and overall personnel and professional lives. The great traditions of Judaism are preserved, responding to the current concerns of our community and the world with a plan for a future of sacred engagement for generations to come. Any community needs education in order to provide conformity in belief systems and practices. Socialization provides for a part of the development of focus and meaning within the members of the community on what values are treasured and what is in violation of those values. Specific education also provides an opportunity for the congregation to develop a set of beliefs that supports the overall well-being of each of the members as they function within the society as productive and supportive members. The mission of the intended program will be to meet some of the needs in the congregation through keeping up on advancement of skills for educators so that the efforts to draw in community members to the congregation can be supported. Two specific and critical areas that are currently in need of solutions to fill the observable gaps in the current structure have been identified. These critical areas are: 1. Enhancing each teacher’s ability and resources for critical thinking, self-reflection and improving teaching methods. 2. Discovering ways to engage new families and new members to join and engage in religious school and synagogue involvement in order to keep the synagogue’s mission of a vibrant community which is based on sharing the lessons from Jewish history. These two concepts have been used to frame the mission of this program so that specific objectives and goals could be identified. The following objectives and goals will help to define the process of designing the program towards an overall successful outcome. Objectives 1. To determine the best possible structure through which to educate teachers and mentors within the synagogue so that they can then use that knowledge in the teaching opportunities within the synagogue’s community 2. Determining the factors that need to be assessed on a regular basis in order to define how an assessment program can be developed to support the needs within the educational program. 3. Developing a budget for the educational programs. Goals 1. Keeping teachers educated in current trends in early childhood development and using this knowledge to enhance the education offered at the synagogue to parents and the wider congregation in support of developing Jewish Life educational opportunities. 2. Creating an assessment program in order to determine the success or gaps in the educational programs, maximizing the reflective process in order to fully understand if the programs are on course or need adjustment. 3. Optimize appropriate fund raising opportunities to support the budget. In order to develop a foundation from which to design this program, the following values will help to guide the development of the program. These are the six pillars of faith that support the development of all of the functions within the community, defining the members as a people and supporting their values and belief systems. These are the core values and they represent what the synagogue holds sacred. •Torah (“Teaching”): We nurture meaningful connection to God and to the core ethics and values of Judaism, illuminating modern times through the study of Torah and our sacred texts. •Limud (“Study”): We encourage continual Jewish learning and intellectual growth for people of all ages, from our young children to our senior members. •Avodah (“Worship”): We worship together as a community with spirit, joy, and song, encouraging members to fully participate in the cherished rituals and practices of our faith. •Kehillah (“Community”): We join together as a diverse congregation, bound by a common desire to belong to and support our Jewish community in times of joy and sorrow, need and plenty. •Tikkun Olam (“World healing”): We share a commitment to advance the welfare of the members of our congregation and our local community, the People of Israel and of the world. •Kedushah (“Sanctity”): We sanctify life’s sacred moments, from birth to death, through tradition and ceremonies that unite the hearts of loving companions, celebrate the bond between parents and children, and welcome people into the covenant of our faith, honoring our heritage while reflecting with sensitivity and creativity the insights of our time. In order to develop a program for continuing education for teachers within the synagogue and for using that knowledge in order to support an educational system that supports the attraction of new members into the synagogue’s community, these values will frame the decisions and structures that are a part of the process. To address the first objective, it is necessary to define what resources are available that can be used to enhance and continue the education of teachers so that they can spread that knowledge into the congregation. Defining available programs for how they fit into the values that are the core of the synagogue’s mission is the first step in creating a plan for defining the program for educators within the temple. Defining the program of continuing education will only have value if a reflective practice is put into place through which teachers and administrators can define the successes and gaps within the program. It is critical that the program be assessed so that it can be adjusted where there are incongruities with the core values, gaps in the educational process, and a lack of needed services that are not being addressed through the continuing education program. Finally, it is essential that the program be fully funded so that teachers are not burdened by the costs that will go into the education that is meant to serve their community through expanding the knowledge that exists between the members by their service. To successfully fund the program, a system of fund raising opportunities must be defined that are targeted towards the budget that will support continuing education of teachers and the process through which reflection and assessment takes place. In developing a plan that will support the continuing education of teachers so that the education program within the TBE Synagogue is optimized and new members are attracted to the active and progressive community of the synagogue, objectives lead towards the attainment of goals. The objectives to develop a structure for continuing education, determining the factors for assessment and developing a budget will support the goals of defining programs through which education of teachers is continued, an assessment program is put into place, and appropriate fund raising activities can be defined to meet the needs of the budget. It is essential that core values of teaching, study worship, community, world healing, and sanctity be utilized to support the development of the plan and to support the integrity of the community within the synagogue. Read More