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Presentations: 2005-06

June 27-29, 2006: "Reframing Jewish Day School Education Worldwide" conference at the Melton Centre at the Hebrew University
Mandel Center presenters included Jon A. Levisohn, Joe Reimer, and Susan Shevitz. The conference was co-sponsored by the Joint Distribution Committee, the Education Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE).

June 6 & 8, 2006: Bridging Initiative Consultations on the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature, in New York City and Boston
Jon A. Levisohn, Director of the Mandel Center's Initiative on Bridging Scholarship and Pedagogy in Jewish Studies, and Rabbi Susan P. Fendrick, Senior Research Associate for the project, convened two groups of scholars and educators; one group in New York City, one group in Boston. Participants explored a series of questions related to the teaching of rabbinic literature, the focus of upcoming work in the Bridging Initiative. The Boston group included Mark Brettler of Brandeis University, David Ehrenkranz of Maimonides High School and Prozdor, David Gordis and Judith Kates of Hebrew College, and Yehuda Kurtzer of Harvard University. The New York group included Tammy Jacobowitz of the University of Pennsylvania, David Kraemer of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Aaron Panken of Hebrew Union College, Karen Reiss-Medwed of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Lisa Schlaff of SAR High School, and Barry Wimpfheimer of Northwestern University.

June 4 - 6, 2006: Network for Research in Jewish Education (NRJE) Annual Conference
Mandel Center presenters included Jon A. Levisohn, Jonathan Krasner, and Joe Reimer, Susan Shevitz and Rahel Wasserfall. One Spotlight Session focused on research from the Mandel Center's "Choosing to Teach" study, with presentations by Bethamie Horowitz, Sharon Feiman-Nemser and Susan M. Kardos. Visit the conference website.

May 15 & 16, 2006: International Conference on "French Jewry: Past, Present and Future" at Bar Ilan University
Elie Holzer, leader with Orit Kent of the Mandel Center's Beit Midrash Research Project, presented a paper at an international conference, "French Jewry: Past, Present and Future," at Bar Ilan University in Israel. Holzer's paper discussed "Educational implications of Levinas and Ricoeur's ethical attitudes towards texts."

April 7 - 11, 2006: American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting: "Education Research in the Public Interest"
Susan M. Kardos was discussant for a session titled "Why Teach? The Role of Teachers' Personal Motivations, Visions, and Ideals in Recruitment and Retention."

April 2, 2006: International Conference of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, at University of Oxford (New College), England
Jon A. Levisohn, Ph.D., Assistant Academic Director of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, and Assistant Professor of Jewish Education in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, presented "What's So Hard About Being an Historian? On the Alleged Unnaturalness of Historical Thinking."

March 30, 2006: Tanchel Dissertation Defense: "Honoring Voices: Listening to the Texts and the Teacher, the Scholars and the Students"
Susie Tanchel, teacher and administrator at Gann Academy - The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston, instructor in the DeLeT program, and inaugural Mandel Center Dissertation Fellow (2004-2005), successfully defended her doctoral dissertation in the Brandeis University Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies before Professors Marc Brettler, David Wright, and Sharon Feiman-Nemser. Her project, entitled "Honoring Voices: Listening to the Texts and the Teacher, the Scholars and the Students, A Study in the Uses of Subject Matter Knowledge of Tanakh in the Contexts of Research and Teaching," combined original scholarship on Bible and innovative research on the teaching of Bible.

March 19-21, 2006: Mandel Center faculty and staff a substantial presence at PEJE (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) Assembly, Boston
Several Mandel Center faculty and staff presented or moderated panels at the annual PEJE (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) Assembly in Boston. They shared the research of the Mandel Center, and the programs the Center is creating and building, often in partnership with Jewish day schools.

Sessions with Mandel Center faculty and staff:

Glenda Speyer, Vivian Troen, Sarah Birkeland, & Susan M. Kardos: “Helping New Teachers Thrive, Not Just Survive”

Nili Pearlmutter, “Linking Teacher Assessment and Teacher Development”

Vivian Troen, “Making Teaching Public: Changing the Culture of Teaching”

Sharon Feiman-Nemser, “Principles of High Quality Professional Development”

March 17-19, 2006: Sharon Feiman-Nemser a featured presenter at Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools and Yeshiva High Schools (AMODS) Leadership Shabbaton, Boston
Sharon Feiman-Nemser was a featured presenter on a panel titled "Promoting Teacher Growth as the Key to Effective Schools." Designed for lay and professional day school leaders, the session was the kick-off for a year-long focus by AMODS on "Promoting Professional Growth." The panel was moderated by Rabbi David Israel and included Sharon Feiman-Nemser; Dr. Gerald Kirschenbaum, Headmaster, Bi-Cultural Day School; and Dr. David J. Schnall, Dean, Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education.

February 27, 2006: Lee S. Shulman, “Professing the Liberal Arts: The Essential Tension Between Liberal and Professional Studies in American Higher Education”
Lee S. Shulman, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, spoke about “Professing the Liberal Arts: The Essential Tension Between Liberal and Professional Studies in American Higher Education,” in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall of the Goldfarb Library at Brandeis University. The public talk was sponsored by the Spencer Program in Educational Research, the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, and the Brandeis Education Program.

Spring Semester, 2006: "Learning for Meaning in Text Study and in Hevruta Learning" course for ATID fellows in Jerusalem
Elie Holzer, leader with Orit Kent of the Mandel Center's Beit Midrash Research Project, is currently teaching a course titled "Learning for Meaning in Text Study and in Hevruta Learning" to the ATID (Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions) fellows in Jerusalem. The course draws significantly on Holzer's work and research in the context of the Beit Midrash Research Project.ATID (Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions) is an independent, privately funded foundation which aims to foster new and significant thought on the crucial issues facing Jewish education among future leaders in the field-students, young educators, and other professionals who will serve as lay leadership - and to develop effective and implementable pedagogies and strategies for improving Torah education in the modern world.

January 11, 2006: An Evening with Sharon Feiman-Nemser: "Using Observation, Conversation and Writing as tools in Professional Development,” Mandel Leadership Institute, Jerusalem
In this workshop, Mandel Center Director Sharon Feiman-Nemser linked a vision of "educative mentoring” with a broad definition of professional development using video cases of individualized and group learning amongst teachers.

December 5, 2005: Mandel Center leads day of workshops at National Solomon Schechter Principals Conference
In December, the Center hosted a full-day session for the leaders of the Solomon Schechter Day School movement, on new ways of thinking about professional development, led by Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Susan Kardos, and Vivian Troen and using video footage of Mandel Center work at a Schechter day school.