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In March of 2010, our congregation was approached by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (Greater Boston’s Jewish Federation) and invited to begin a process of transforming our synagogue’s learning programs for children in grades K-5. We eagerly accepted the offer and began our work with two consultants they provided us from Brandeis University – Rachel Happel (now our Director of K-12 Learning) and Dvora Goodman – who were local experts in experiential Jewish learning. Together we engaged in a process of reflection, visioning, best practices research, and dreaming of what could be. The result was our decision to close down our old religious school (which we deemed to be beyond repair) and to launch our new learning and engagement model, Mayim, in the fall of 2012.
Along the way we encountered many successes and exciting developments, and, of course, many setbacks and disappointments. In reflecting on our process, we can identify a few lessons we learned that may be helpful to you if you are considering your own education or engagement transformation at your synagogue:
- Assess your institution’s readiness for change, and match the scope of your change process to that readiness. When we began in 2010 we had just completed a congregation-wide survey, and we understood that there was widespread support for making substantive changes to our K-5 learning programs. This gave us the freedom to put everything on the table as potentially changeable.
- Establish your vision. At the outset of our process, we realized that we couldn’t reimagine elementary learning without better understanding how those years fit into the bigger picture of learning for all children ages 2-18 in our congregation. Once we were able to articulate the values and principles of all our learning programs, we able to set about transforming the K-5 experience for children and families.
- Be sure to include key stakeholders at appropriate times in the change process. We knew that our core team of trained educators would be driving our change effort and that we also had a wellspring of talented people in the congregation (e.g. teachers of children with special needs, school administrators, change management consultants, etc.) who could share their gifts with us in meaningful and fruitful ways. So too, there were many who cared deeply about our learning programs – faculty, parents, and lay leaders to name a few – and would want to be involved in supporting the change. Important tip: not all of these people should be involved at every stage of the process. Plan carefully who should be plugged in and when.
- Break down your own assumptions about what your learning programs need to look like. We have a ton of assumptions in our heads, even if we’re often not aware of it, including set ideas about when and where learning “should” happen, what topics need to be covered, and who should be teaching them. Do everything possible to dispel those assumptions, and hold one another accountable for doing so. Offer incentives for being the person who frequently asks, “Why do we have to do it that way?” We explored what may have seemed like outlandish ideas (e.g. let’s do all of our K-5 learning during school vacation weeks) and gave them serious consideration. This helped to reinforce the notion that everything was up for consideration and that there were no previous assumptions that couldn’t be challenged.
- Don’t rush the process. Once people get excited that change is coming, there will be many who want it to happen immediately. There will be people who just want you to pick a new “product” without having arrived at it through a thoughtful and deliberate process. Avoid the temptation to placate those people. One person suggested that we pick the title of the new program first and then shape it around the title. We thoughtfully disregarded that suggestion.
- Pilot, test, and experiment. Once you have a vision of the types of changes you’d like to effect, find ways to test those in small groups or for short periods of time. See how these new models play out in real time, and leave room in the process to adjust your end goal based on what you learn from these experiments. We ran a project-based learning pilot with our 4th graders during which they created an entirely new siddur to use in our K-5 programs. We learned immensely from that experience and had something concrete to point to when rolling out the new model, which often utilizes project-based learning.
- Be flexible and adaptable. Few things ever work as smoothly in reality as they look when drawn up on paper or envisioned in our minds. Set expectations that changes will continue after implementation because, of course, there will be facets that need tweaking. If possible, set aside time and financial resources to support needs that you can’t yet imagine but will surely crop up when you attempt to implement your changes. We ended up having to hire a new position just two months into our new program, a role we had never imagined until we saw the need in real time.
- Change enough for real transformation to occur. To paraphrase the teaching of educational theorist, Joseph Schwab, if your change is focused on only one or two elements of education – the teachers, or the students, or the context, or the curriculum – then your change effort will not likely take hold in a thoroughly transformational way. All of the facets of the learning experience must be considered and changed in harmony with one another for real change to occur.
Also, remember that during their 40 years of wilderness wandering our ancestors longed to return to Egypt. Make your change substantial enough that it will be less painful to keep moving forward towards your Promised Land than it will be to return to the old way of doing business. Otherwise, in a matter of time, you may find yourself running a program that is almost identical to what you have in place right now.
Most importantly…have fun!
Rachel Happel is the Director of K-12 Learning at Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, MA. Prior to that she was the Director of BIMA and Genesis – two residential summer programs for teens at Brandeis University.
Todd Markley has been one of the rabbis of Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, MA for eight years, previously serving at Westchester Reform Temple and the URJ’s Youth Division.
Read more about Mayim, the reimagined K-5 program, on Temple Beth Shalom’s Mayim website.
