Bet Shemesh—Jim Henson, television puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets, once wrote “[Kids] don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.” One of the biggest challenges of teachers in the 21st century is to try to make an impression on our super-stimulated children—to try to help them learn by making the process unique and interesting, many times through the use of modern technology. While the advent of Smartboards and online interactive curricula have become very widespread, one of the newest and biggest teaching methods in Jewish day schools is remote teaching; instructors teach their lessons over the Internet from around the world, very often from Israel.
This trend began about five years ago with the opening of The Lookstein Center’s Remote Teacher program. The Ramat Gan-based organization trains American-Israeli teachers to teach, via Skype, students who are sitting in classrooms over 5,000 miles away. The Lookstein Center now provides over 17 different day schools with remote teachers from Israel. This exposes students to a wider variety of educators and a more varied firsthand learning experience than would be available to them closer to home.
This arrangement also provides a unique opportunity for teachers, many of whom are olim from the very communities in which they are now remotely teaching, to reconnect with their original Diaspora community. These teachers also have the pleasure of sharing with their former neighbors the very experiences that their children missed out on when they lived Chutz La Aretz. The JLBC interviewed Deena Kahane, an olah from Teaneck, who moved with her family to Israel five years ago, about her experiences as a remote instructor for The Lookstein Center.
Prior to moving to Israel, Deena taught at the Moriah School and the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey. Once she heard about The Lookstein Center from Nefesh B’Nefesh, she was very interested in remotely teaching to students in Bergen County.She now teaches, over the Internet, at RYNJ, Yavneh Academy, and Yeshivat Noam. One of the biggest difficulties in remote teaching is connecting with students without actually being in a classroom with them. When asked about how this has affected her teaching, Deena answered; “[While] I can’t walk around the classroom, point inside someone’s book or say ‘hi’ to a student in the playground or in the hall, I teach small groups, and all of my classes are for highly motivated enrichment students, so I am able to get to know my students and really bond with them… I’ve [even] had several students visit me in my home in BeitShemesh when visiting Israel with their families.”
On the other hand, teaching from Israel does have its advantages. Deena often teaches her remote lessons onsite at historical sites in Israel, adding a special element to her lessons in Chumash, Navi and Jewish History. “I love to bring Israel into my lessons. I recently taught a lesson from Jerusalem at the annual Yom Yerushalayim Rikud Degalim. You can’t do that in a regular classroom in New Jersey. I’ve taught several times from the Kotel at a tekes hashbaa (swearing-in ceremony) for IDF soldiers. I don’t feel hypocritical anymore when teaching my students the importance of Aliyah.”
Teaching in more Bergen County schools now than she did before she made Aliyah has also given Deena an opportunity to connect with more students and see how special each of our schools are. “I always felt that one of the best things about Bergen County is the amount of incredible schools catering to the modern orthodox community. Now that I’m teaching in three incredible schools, I can see firsthand how true this is. Each school is special. Every single administrator who I’ve dealt with is amazing and talented.”
Deena plans to continue to distance teach as long as there are willing Jewish students in the Diaspora, noting that “I always felt it was important to connect Jewish children to Israel, our heritage, our past and our future.”
By Tzvi Silver
