Orit Kent
Affiliated Scholar
Orit Kent is an affiliated scholar at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. Orit co-designed the DeLeT Beit Midrash for Teachers at Brandeis and taught in it since 2003, where she has developed an approach to the teaching of havruta and the close study of student learning. Orit's interest in havruta stems from the years she worked as a community organizer, helping diverse groups of people to successfully and respectfully work and study together.
At the Mandel Center, Orit directed the Beit Midrash research project and studied pedagogical approaches to havruta text study and student learning. She drew on her research to help teachers create learning environments that foster high quality study of Jewish texts and values. Her related research interests include the teaching and learning of Jewish texts, learning across the lifespan, teacher professional development and alternative leadership paradigms. In her research, teaching and professional development work, Orit seeks to help Jewish education develop into a field that not only fosters strong knowledge of content and skills but also the creation of self-aware, values-based, action-oriented Jewish leaders. Orit has taught in a wide variety of educational contexts and works as an educational consultant in the Boston area.
Orit is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and holds a doctorate in Judaic Studies and Education from Brandeis University and an MEd in Learning and Teaching from Harvard University. Orit has also studied in the Batai Midrash at Midreshet Lindenbaum, the Hartman Institute and Drisha Institute.