A theme at the 20th annual Kinus haMechanchim will be “The Mechanech and his Personal Requirements for success.”
One of the focuses at the 20th annual Kinus HaMechanchim will be on a mechanech’s executive functioning. Clearly, for a mechanech to maximize his potential he needs to be able to run his classroom or school efficiently and not be distracted by personal concerns. He needs מנוחת הנפש. An exemplary mechanech is totally devoted to his talmidim and their chinuch needs and his personal needs בגשמיות וברוחניות should be a matter of course. He must develop strong executive functioning skills.
Of course, he must have the chinuch skills and the knowledge, the temperament and the desire and have an innate love for children but as a person and a professional he must have the support and the resources to be able to maximize his effectiveness. The Kinus will deal with a number of these issues.
Every Mechanech must have the basic knowledge and wherewithal to maintain financial stability. No one enters the field of Chinuch expecting to become financially wealthy (his wealth is רוחניות ) but he must have the security of knowing that he is financially solvent and be able to take care of his family’s needs. Mr. Asher Leiblich, a renowned Lubavitcher financial planner will help him understand what steps he needs to take to move in that direction.
Additionally, every educator must have well-tuned personal executive skills, regardless of whether he is a classroom teacher or administrator. One of the most important of these skills is effective time management. Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, Director of the Merkos Chinuch Office will make a presentation on the 10 Effective Strategies for better Time management. His presentation will direct mechanchim to focus on the important and not be distracted by trivia and how to budget time to maximize effectiveness.
Finally, a successful mechanech must be skilled at classroom organization. Every teacher is also a classroom executive. He is organizing himself, his students and sometimes even their parents. Rabbi Yaakov Sebbag, principal of the Lubavitcher yeshiva on Ocean Parkway, will present on developing good executive functioning. Developing routines makes for a more efficient classroom. Included in his presentation will also be ideas about how to professionally relate to administration, colleagues and parents.
When do we realize that we review yearly the definition of chinuch and how one helps create keilom out precious students, regardless of student’s parents’ pockets and student temperament?
Whenever people realize that solving the financial issues and creating customized supports (often hours of unpaid work) is not on the backs of teachers who are already struggling. In the meantime, maybe appreciate teachers’ efforts outside of school time to improve what is in their control.