What happens when you put 30 educators from across the country in a classroom at MIT for a week? Great ideas are born! Through the generosity of the Legacy Heritage Foundation and The MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program, MDS faculty members Alli Sobel, Shalhevet Robinson and Aliza Rubin immersed themselves in a week of exploring and developing Project Based Learning curriculum.

They spent the week collaborating with other educators, gaining meaningful experiences at the MIT makerspace and testing out education exhibits at the MIT museum. The goal of the summer institute was to develop a school community project based learning experience to be developed over the course of the year. Sobel, Robinson and Rubin developed Project Kehillah—a deep dive into who makes up the MDS community as a result of their learning.

On Wednesday, the program kicked off with the entire middle school gathering in the beit midrash. After discussing what makes a community, students were divided up into smaller “communities” and tasked with identifying a strength they bring to their community and something they need from others. Students also came up with a name for their communities. Each community was then challenged with creating a chesed project to implement in MDS. The buzz of excitement and creativity was felt from every corner of the room. Students brainstormed and talked with one another to come up with creative ways to give back to their school community. Throughout the year students will gather together and reflect on projects that were implemented and have the opportunity to develop new initiatives. It’s exciting to give students space to create with each other and give back to their school.