Moving Is Learning

Teaching learners with language-based disabilities has enabled Eva Bogomolny Kaufman to employ research-based multisensory curricula in her classroom. Making sure learners are “available to learn” means recognizing the need for movement and creatively designing lesson plans that incorporate physical activity.

“Everyone who is wearing blue, come up and grab a worksheet,” is just one of the ways that Eva Kaufman makes sure that students in her classroom participate actively. “The expectation to sit still and listen is impossible,” said Kaufman, who is in her fifth year teaching at the Shefa School in Manhattan. She has taught from second to fourth grade.

“In my teacher brain, this kind of approach will get everyone moving,” said Kaufman who believes that moving your body physically can trigger your mind to move as well, in other words, to learn. Creating an environment where students can be “available to learn” is one of the core principles that drew Kaufman to education and specifically to the Shefa School, a Jewish community day school in Manhattan that offers students with language-based learning disabilities a place to grow, thrive, and reach their full potential.

Kaufman herself was primed to learn when she entered the masters program at The William Davidson School for Jewish Education in the fall of 2019 after graduating from Ohio State University. Born and raised in Cleveland in a Reform Jewish family, she spent a semester of college in Israel through the Nachshon program which prepared her for being in a diverse Jewish environment. Participating in Nachshon also enabled Kaufman to apply for and receive a fellowship for graduate school that provided funding, additional conferences, and supplemental cohort-based distance learning. 

It was during her first year at Davidson that Kaufman visited Shefa on a field trip and felt that the school was “the” place where she could learn and grow. “They didn’t really have student teachers at Shefa, but I was persistent and knew that my second-year placement had to be there,” Kaufman recalled. Alongside her practicum, Kaufman supplemented her Davidson coursework with classes in special education at Teachers College.

As Covid took hold in the spring of 2020 and Davidson went fully remote, Kaufman accepted that her graduate school experience would be not exactly what she expected. “Ohio State is one of the largest universities in the country,” said Kaufman, “and my Davidson cohort—even before Covid sent us all remote—had all of four people.” Fortunately, Davidson had amassed considerable experience in online learning and so was able to make the switch with relative ease. 

Determined to experience her practicum in person at Shefa, Kaufman signed a lease for an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. “I just knew I had to be there,” she said. After graduation, Kaufman was hired through the Shefa residency program and subsequently became a lead and now mentor teacher at the school.

“One of the things that I learned very early on at Shefa is that while ‘special education’ is required for some, it is beneficial for all,” said Kaufman. Many of the techniques that she uses daily in her classroom are about making sure students are in a place to learn, which is a necessity for all teachers.

Like many progressive schools, Shefa embraces the Responsive Classroom approach, an evidence-based approach to teaching and discipline that creates safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities. Kaufman is continuously reading the temperature of her classroom. “I want to know what happened at recess,” she said, “are they available to learn? What does our class need at this moment—a mindfulness moment, breathing exercise, watching a calm.com video, turning the lights down or maybe do I need to bring in an energizer?”

Movement in Kaufman’s classroom is intentional and takes place throughout the general flow of the day. “We don’t just ask students to raise their hand in response to a question. First of all, some of them just won’t do that. Instead we use kinesthetic tactics: thumbs up/thumbs down, moving to a side or corner of the room,” she said. One method her students love is passing a ball around so everyone has a turn to respond.

Shefa uses research-based multisensory curricula that invite students to move their bodies as they learn, Kaufman explained. The PAF program uses skywriting as a kinesthetic approach, forming muscle memory while reviewing letter sounds, spelling of non-phonetic words, and suffixes. In math, Shefa teachers use a combination of Jump Math which is a multisensory, hands-on, visually supported, step-by-step approach that adheres to the US common core standards, alongside Marilyn Zecher’s Multisensory Math, which is an Orton Gillingham type instruction that uses manipulatives and a hands-on approach to introduce, teach and reinforce each concept.

Visitors to Kaufman’s Shefa classroom will see different strategies at work all the time. “Every class is different, and we are always modifying and differentiating,” she said. “This is ultimately less frustrating for teachers than drilling in on one approach and then having to pivot.” One day you may see students completing a math worksheet by walking around a classroom with clipboards, another day they may be doing a “gallery walk” with a checklist and sticky notes as they observe their classmates’ writing assignments hanging on the walls. If Kaufman sees that a student could use a break, she might send them on an “errand” which teaches independence and strengthens multi-step chunking for the many Shefa students with executive functioning needs.

As a child growing up in Cleveland, Kaufman inherited a love of being physically active from her parents who both have a strong commitment to staying healthy by moving and strengthening their bodies. “We usually start the day at Shefa with a movement-based activity like a community building game or even dancing and music, just being silly,” she said. “It’s good for the kids and good for me.” In morning meeting after a weekend, she will often share about her runs in Central Park or the tennis she played, modeling to her students the value of keeping her body healthy. 

For Kaufman, the lessons of healthy body, healthy mind work in both directions. Last year, some of her sporty students taught her more than she ever thought she’d need to know about ice hockey. “Teachers can’t help but get engaged in things that their students are interested in,” she said. “When there is a shared ‘playing field’ in the classroom, the possibilities for learning grow exponentially.”

Full-bodied Learning and Teaching

In Sammie Brenner’s preK classroom, learners practice moving their bodies and cultivate a rich educational ground from which to grow. Unlike her completely online experience in the Hitlamdut Fellowship at The William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, Brenner is on the move all day.

It wasn’t a hard decision for Sammie Brenner to become a teacher. She grew up in Bergen Country, NJ, in what she calls a “Jewish bubble,” and is a graduate of Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County. At Muhlenberg College, she studied English and Jewish studies and in her senior year decided to pursue a career in education. Brenner loved Jewish day school and was thrilled to accept a position teaching preK at Ramaz in New York City, following in the footsteps of her grandmother who taught preK at the Moriah School in Englewood, NJ for 20 years.

“Having gone through the ‘system,’ of Jewish education, I know that I have been shaped by the Jewish educators in my life,” said Brenner. Becoming a teacher would enable Brenner to make a similar impact going forward.

Brenner spent most of her childhood summers at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, and she has remained on staff for the past 10 years. It was director Rabbi Ami Hersh (see profile in this issue) who connected her to the William Davidson School of Jewish Education the summer before she started working at Ramaz. “Ami introduced me to then-dean Shira Epstein who suggested I apply to for the Hitlamdut Fellowship.” Brenner graduated from Muhlenberg in May 2021, started working at Ramaz in August and entered Davidson in September.

The Hitlamdut Fellowship is designed for novice Judaic studies teachers. Participants are enrolled in Davidson’s online, part-time, asynchronous MA program while they are teaching in a day school full-time. The name Hitlamdut reflects the Mussar-based value of mindfulness through learning. A key feature of the fellowship—in addition to coursework with Davidson and JTS faculty–is individualized and cohort-based coaching and feedback.

For Brenner, whose 2020 semester abroad in Israel as a Nachshon fellow was cut short by Covid, online learning had become second nature by that point. “Davidson had been offering asynchronous classes for some time already, and I was fortunate that Hitlamdut was a perfect match for my schedule.” While Brenner acknowledged that the isolation of sitting and studying alone was challenging and even lonely at times, she gained much from the intensity of the program and camaraderie with the other Hitlamdut fellows.

“Being part of a small cohort of other novice teachers created a community in which I could learn and grow, whether it was in person or not,” said Brenner. “I had only been to the JTS campus a few times throughout my years in the fellowship, and the other fellows were the only students I knew. Hitlamdut was really a savior,” she said, adding that she still has yet to meet one of her cohort members in “real life.”

By teaching at the same time as she was herself learning, Brenner found an ideal combination. “We would unpack case studies on ways to strengthen teaching, and I could then bring these ideas into my classes right away,” she said. “My professors were right there for me, helping me work on lesson plans and then reviewing my self-recorded teaching.”

As a preK teacher, Brenner has no choice but to keep things moving, a welcome change from the solitary and stationary part of her graduate studies. “Our schedule is built for a lot of active learning,” she said. When learning the letter C, for instance, Brenner’s class practices moving like cats. Brenner knows that children at this age learn through play, and creativity is a powerful teaching tool.

“I have learned a lot about movement,” said Brenner, confirming that some of the basic modalities that work for young learners establish patterns that lead to lifelong social and emotional health, as well as good habits for learning. “We are attentive to the physical needs of the children in our classroom; we know that their bodies have to be ready to learn just as much as their minds.”

In Brenner’s classroom, for example, she encourages her students to relax their bodies. “We want to be loose like cooked spaghetti,” she tells them. “We don’t want to be like raw pasta that has trouble going with the flow.”

With preK being a transitional year for many, in Brenner’s classroom there is a deliberate “January shift” in an effort to prepare for the expectations of kindergarten. “We start to flip our model and have the children sit for longer times, practicing for kindergarten,” she said. Using timers and games, she still incorporates moving around but models and explicitly teaches ways for students to control their bodies more.

When she reflects back on what it was like to finish college during the pandemic and complete her MA sitting by herself in her apartment, Brenner finds further resonance in the term Hitlamdut, which is often translated as “self-learning” or “internalizing what you learn.” “Making your learning a part of you comes so naturally to young learners,” said Brenner. “The challenge is to continue that ‘full-body reflective experience’ throughout a lifetime of learning.”

News from the William Davidson School Alumni

Mazal Tov to 2024 graduates on their next chapter!

Justin David is the interim rabbi of Beacon Hebrew Alliance. 

Maya Ehrenreich is a Talmud teacher at the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School in New York City. 

Andrew Ergas is the chief executive officer at Hebrew at the Center. 

Stacey Glazer is program and conference director of NewCAJE. 

Grace Hack is continuing her JTS studies in the Kekst Graduate School.                                   

Hannah Isaacs-Arkin is the education director of Adath Israel in Merion, PA.

David Kessel is a senior vice president and director of the Mandel Center for Jewish Education at the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America. 

Luciana Pajecki Lederman is the director of The Beit Midrash and Nishma summer program at JTS. 

Alice Manning is the program manager of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. 

Lucy Marshall is the director of community services at the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis. 

Aimee Schwartz is the program and events manager at Shaarei Tikvah in Scarsdale, NY. 

Robert Shorr is the high school Jewish life chair at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD. 

Dov Smilovic is a Jewish studies teacher at the Shefa School in New York City. 

Hannah Stein is a kindergarten teacher at Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos, CA.              

We are very proud of our alumni who shared the following professional achievements and brought us up to date on their roles. If you have an update that you would like to share in the next issue, please reach out to Melissa Friedman, Director of Alumni Affairs at mefriedman@jtsa.edu. 

Mazal tov to WDS alumnae Anya Morgulis and Jessica Jobanek, two of the five Jewish educators who were recognized by and received the Jewish Education Project’s 2024 The Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Award. 

Adam Bender is the newly appointed director of engagement of Queens College Hillel. 

Stephanie Ben Simon recently became the director of education at Temple B’nai Shalom in Fairfax Station, VA. 

Rafi Cohen is the rabbi and assistant director of meaningful life/spiritual care of the New Jewish Home in New York City.

Lynn Anne Cutler recently became the director of education and youth of Beth El Synagogue in Durham, NC. 

Tehilah Eisenstadt is now the assistant director of congregational learning at East End Temple in New York City. 

Heather Rubin Fiedler was promoted to vice president for impact and strategy at the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford. 

Rachel L. Figurasmith is serving as the interim executive director of National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance.

 Annie Glickman is the new head of school of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, KS. 

Allison Gutman recently joined the William Davidson Foundation as its Jewish life program officer.

Saul Kaiserman is now the scholar-in-residence at Tamid: The Downtown Synagogue in New York City. 

Judd Kruger Levingston won the 2024 Covenant Award. 

Yoni Nadiv recently became the senior director of leadership development of JewishColumbus. 

Paulette Posner recently joined the Bronx Psychiatric Center as a rabbi and is providing spiritual care to residents. 

Yanira Quinones recently became the director of programs and membership engagement at Temple Beth El of Great Neck, NY. 

Adi Raz is co-director of the Middlebury School of Hebrew in Middlebury, VT.

Geza “Rafi” Roehrig is featured in the film “AFTER: Poetry Destroys Silence,” a deep dive into the creative responsibility of writers when faced with the Holocaust, catastrophe, and genocide.

Kim Rosenthal was recently appointed as senior Jewish educator of Hillel at the University of Oregon. 

Calle Schueler was recently appointed director of education and engagement at Temple Beth-El in Ithaca, NY.

Kathy Schwartz was recently promoted and now serves as the director of HUC-JIR’s executive MA in Jewish education program. 

Holly Seidenfeld was promoted to principal of Katz Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton, FL. 

Rachel Smith was recently appointed assistant professor in the department of history at University of California Irvine.

Sarah Ellen Zarrow received one of AJS’s Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Awards for her book, Displays of Belonging: Polish Jewish Collecting and Museums, 1891-1941.