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Presentations: 2006-07

June 3 - 5, 2007: Network for Research in Jewish Education (NRJE) Annual Conference
Mandel Center presenters included Jon A. Levisohn ("Understanding College Students' Encounter with Biblical Criticism"), Sharon Feiman-Nemser, and Orit Kent. Visit the NRJE website. The Mandel Center is a co-sponsor of the NRJE annual conference.

April 25-29, 2007: "Access Points" photo exhibit, Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis
"Access Points," a series of photographs of “the built landscape” – manhole covers in the U.S., U.K., and Japan, photographed by Mandel Center Communications Specialist David J. Weinstein, was exhibited in the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis. The photographs were displayed in the central lobby of the Slosberg Music Center Wednesday, April 25th, through Sunday, April 29th. "Access Points" was made possible in part by the Office of the Arts at Brandeis.

March 11 - 12, 2007: "Pushing the Boundaries: Abraham Joshua Heschel, A Centenary Conference," marking the 100th birthday of Heschel
Faithful to Jewish tradition, Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) pushed the boundaries of conventional approaches to scholarship and public life. He was a radical religious thinker, a masterful literary stylist, and bold activist recognized by Jews and Christians as the authoritative voice for biblical Judaism in the United States. This centenary conference explored major areas of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s life and works and recognized the publication of the first intellectual and cultural biography of Heschel by Edward Kaplan of Brandeis University. Sharon Feiman-Nemser moderated Concurrent Session 1: Education of the Spirit, on Monday, March 12. Panelists were Joseph Reimer, Brandeis University; Peter Geffen, Founder, Heschel School, New York; and Barry Shrage, President, CJP, Greater Boston.

March 5, 2007: "Discussing Religion in the Public Schools"
Presenter: Robert Kunzman (Indiana University)
Respondent: Dirck Roosevelt (Brandeis)
Moderator: Jon A. Levisohn (Brandeis)
Can public schools play a role in helping citizens learn to talk respectfully across deep ethical disagreement in the public square? Should they?

February 11-12, 2007: "The Blessing of Assimilation" Conference at Hebrew College, Newton, MA
Jon A. Levisohn, Assistant Academic Director of the Mandel Center, presented a paper titled "Jewish Education Towards Responsible Assimilation."

February 9-11, 2007: "Commitment, Character and Citizenship: Exploring Religious Schooling in Liberal Democracies" Conference at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge, England
Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Director of the Mandel Center, presented a paper titled "Identify Formation in Beginning Religious School Teachers: A Case of Two Teacher Education Programs."

February 7, 2007: Symposium and Town Meeting in honor of the 10th anniversary of Gann Academy - The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston: "Reimagining the Jewish Future: What Kind of Jewish Education Do Our Teenagers Deserve?" Gann Academy, Waltham, MA
Panel participants in this event, which was cosponsored by Gann Academy and the Mandel Center, included leaders of philanthropic foundations, community organizations, federation, Jewish education, and business.

January 28, 2007: A special event for day school teacher leaders: “What do we teach when we teach about Israel?” A conversation led by Rabbi Daniel Lehmann Headmaster, Gann Academy - The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston; with a panel of teachers from Mandel Center partner day schools.
Yes! Our students know about Israel...feel connected to Israel...understand the situation in Israel. But...What do we want them to know, to feel, and to understand? Mandel Center faculty & staff; DeLeT fellows and mentors; and heads of school gathered at the Mandel Center for a provocative conversation about the teaching of Israel.

December 17-19, 2006: 38th Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies, San Diego CA
Sharon Feiman-Nemser presented on "Identity Interplay: The Relationship Between Personal and Professional Identities Among Teachers Working in Jewish, Catholic, and Urban Public Schools."

November 30, 2006, 12:30 pm: Language of Pluralism in a Jewish Day High School presentation at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis
By looking in-depth at a school that is acknowledged as a leader in its work on pluralism, Rahel Wasserfall and Susan Shevitz examine how specific approaches influence the students' education and how issues related to pluralism play out in the school environment. This presentation unpacked the meanings of pluralism for the teachers and the administrators and what it conveys in terms of the school educational approach. For more information on this event, call the Women’s Studies Research Center at (781) 736-8100.
 
November 27, 2006: Board of Jewish Education of Greater Boston Conference on Day School and Early Childhood Education
Mandel Center presenters included Judy Elkin ("DeLeT: A Catalyst for Ongoing Professional Development"), Sharon Feiman-Nemser ("Educative Mentoring: More Than a Buddy System"), Elie Holzer ("Singing as a Mode of Meaning-Making in Prayer"), Nili Pearlmutter ("Linking Teacher Assessment and Teacher Development"), and Susie Tanchel ("Unpacking and Exploring a Tanakh Teaching Practice").

October 22-25, 2006: Mandel Teacher Educator Institute (MTEI) Alumni Seminar
Selected alumni of MTEI from across North America, all of whom are educators and educational leaders, met at Brandeis for a three-day alumni seminar on mentoring and hevruta learning, with presentations by Mandel Center faculty and researchers Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Vivian Troen, Pearl Mattenson, Elie Holzer, Orit Kent, and Gail Dorph (Director of MTEI).