Shoshanah Susie Meyersdorf, aka Morah Shoshanah, is a born teacher. Her goal is her students’ success and she uses all of her considerable talents to connect with them and ensure they meet their potential.
Meyersdorf has been teaching for over 30 years. She began her career in psychology but when a teaching opportunity came along, she “fell in love with it” and never looked back. Meyersdorf taught pre-1A at YBH in Passaic for 14 years and described it as a wonderful age because “they still have magical thinking but are also wading into academics.” She has also taught in Talmud Torah—including middle school—for 23 years. Meyersdorf’s strength is in her range—she has taught children as young as 18 months to adults 93 years old.
Meyersdorf praised YBH—and all area yeshivot—for their quick and competent response when COVID hit in March 2020. She was grateful to be able to continue teaching her pre-1A students on Zoom and was amazed by the “blessing of technology” that allowed her to keep learning and connecting with her students despite not being together in person.
For the 2021 school year, Meyersdorf decided to take a break from the classroom. Turning her focus to virtual learning, she founded Morah Shoshanah’s Online Learning Tree, a tutoring service designed to fill the gaps caused by the numerous restrictions and quarantines due to COVID, which unfortunately have left their mark on many students.
Mostly recommended by word of mouth, Meyersdorf has students from New York and New Jersey and all the way to Israel. She is skilled in teaching both Hebrew and English subjects for grades pre-K through eight, and has experience in enrichment as well. She creates a personalized, customized lesson plan for each student she tutors and believes that “any and every single thing that happens is a teachable moment. A dog appears—that can be a science lesson. “While I mostly stick to skill teaching, anything can be incorporated into the lesson while staying on target.” For instance, Meyersdorf explained, if a student is having a snack, she can turn that into a lesson on brachot or nutrition.
Despite not learning together in person, “there are plenty of tools that translate well over Zoom,” said Meyersdorf, like skill teaching, foundational math, kriya and Chumash. She uses humor to engage students and finds it an effective strategy for both the classroom and Zoom. “Even over the computer I’ve been able to make a kesher with my students … humor helps that along.” Meyersdorf is a huge animal lover and enjoys when sessions get an unexpected visitor. “I get to meet the family pets. I’ve had some dogs come to the sessions, so that’s always fun.”
Throughout her teaching career, Meyersorf has always invited parents into the classroom, and she continues that practice over Zoom and gets to know her students’ families. “It is wonderful that parents can listen in and hear what their child is learning.”
Meyersdorf’s motivation is for her students to always be able to learn—even through this hard time. “I’m really here to help those who have fallen behind because of this pandemic. Parents don’t have to worry that their children are missing anything because there’s help … we do have the technology to help.”
Her schedule is very flexible. She is available on Sundays and evenings and is always happy to work with students’ schedules.
For Meyersorf, this new chapter is a labor of love, as her chosen profession has always been. “Though the teaching and learning are virtual, my students and I develop positive relationships. The teacher-student relationship is an integral part of student success. I love my students as much as always whether in person or on a screen.”
For more information on Morah Shoshanah’s Online Learning Tree, contact [email protected] or at 908-247-5611. You can visit her website at https://www.theonlinelearningtree.com/
Morah Shoshanah
