Chabad Schools Turn to MEF For Arranging Workshops

By COLlive reporter

“Planning a teacher’s in-service day is stressful, and I always wonder, ‘Will the presentation be engaging? Will it be worth the time of the staff who had to leave their kids at home with babysitters?’” says Mrs. Chani Posner, principal of New England Hebrew Academy in Boston, Massachusetts.

So she reached out to Mrs. Chanah Rose, Educational Director at the Menachem Education Foundation (MEF) and was given a presenter who met their needs, and followed up with Mrs. Posner “every step of the way.”

As part of MEF’s initiative to raise the quality of Chabad Chinuch, the organization connects schools with top educators who can share their knowledge and expertise with teachers and faculty members at Chabad schools worldwide.

“Many schools turn to us each year to help train their staff,” Mrs. Rose says. “Over the years we have facilitated dozens of workshops, live and online, for girls’ schools and Yeshivos throughout the U.S, Canada, South Africa and even Australia.”

Since the beginning of the academic year, MEF has organized six workshops across the globe to empower today’s teachers and educators in a variety of topics including classroom management, higher-order thinking and social-emotional learning.

Mrs. Posner thanked MEF after they connected the New England Hebrew Academy with Mrs. Henny Bartfield, veteran teacher, educational therapist and sought-after teacher trainer. Mrs. Bartfield gave a workshop on critical thinking and also guided the school throughout the process.

“When our teachers in-service day had to suddenly move onto Zoom, both Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Bartfield accommodated us,” Mrs. Posner said. “Mrs Bartfield adjusted her presentation to a different time frame and sent materials in advance. Although online, her presentation was engaging, pertinent to our diverse staff and gave us tools and enthusiasm to immediately implement.”

The successful workshop in Boston wasn’t the first one this year.

MEF began the academic year on a strong note, with an online presentation on classroom management led by Dr. Ilana Turetsky from Israel for Bais Rivkah High School in Crown Heights.

To continue providing to the Bais Rivkah community as the year progressed, MEF connected them with Dr. Debbie Ackerman, who presented a talk to parents on their teens’ social-emotional needs, and Dr. Laya Salomon, who is scheduled to provide further professional development to Bais Rivkah teachers next month.

After the positive feedback from Crown Heights and Boston, Mrs. Rose led a workshop tour in South Africa. She presented sessions on “Creativity in the Limudei Kodesh Classroom” to teachers at Torah Academy in Johannesburg, and Sinai Academy in Cape Town. A Torah Academy teacher shared, “I feel grateful to be exposed to that level of expertise.”

Mrs. Zeesy Deren, director of Sinai Academy, shared a message of appreciation on behalf of the staff:

“Our Sinai Academy teaching staff were incredibly privileged to have Chanah Rose from MEF run a training. Her incredibly dynamic approach and her sincere dedication to supporting Torah education and educators are unparalleled. While being enriched with inspiration and knowledge, we also gained multiple, practical tools to implement in our classrooms. We are so thankful for the opportunity.”

MEF’s workshop successes at schools this year relay a powerful message to the Chabad community. No matter the present or future needs of Chabad students, MEF can connect each school and staff member to the right professional educator to assist and guide their devoted Mechanchim and Mechanchos.

You can read MEF’s full workshop catalog here: https://mymef.org/administrations/workshops-for-your-school

Contact them at [email protected] to set up a professional development workshop at your school today