Supporting student-centered Jewish education

For more than 8 years, BetterLesson Instructional Coaches have embarked on a transformative journey with educators specializing in Hebrew and Jewish Studies for grades K-5 Jewish Day Schools in the Miami area. Remarkable success stories emerge from this collaboration every year, and we are delighted to share a few today that highlight the facilitation of highly effective differentiation in a widely diverse student body.

Blowing Differentiation Out of the Water
A Hebrew language teacher who struggled with vast levels of heterogeneousness in Hebrew language classes is now exploding with differentiation ideas. When BL coach Shelley Kniaz began working with her participant, the teacher shared that she ‘teaches to the middle,’ so that every student receives a bit of attention. However, some students were bored, and others were lost. By leveraging BetterLesson coaching resources such as Differentiation with Grouping, Mild, Medium & Spicy, and Micro-grouping to Provide Feedback, the teacher witnessed a significant shift in Hebrew acquisition for all levels, now even reaching students at much younger ages. Station Rotations were implemented in every class, with clear goals and outcomes in skill, content and value in each class, along with reading, writing, listening and speaking activities on different levels. Protocols and smooth transitions were implemented moving through each station, with clear and measurable check-in’s. Students began looking forward to their various group activities, making suggestions of their own to tweak them, which the teacher incorporated to even further success. 

Students on different levels of fluency in Hebrew began improving at their own level and at their own pace, leading to feelings of accomplishment and joy through creative group activities. 

The teacher shared her growth reflection in her own words:
“When we started, I was in limbo -- I have a very heterogeneous group by levels, so nobody was getting the level they needed.  Now they are.  We actually changed the room to accommodate our separate groups by level.  I have a co-teacher so we can "divide and conquer".  We use our respective talents & gifts -- she is great at teaching through song, for example.  We switch groups so all students benefit from having two teachers.  We also have incorporated new teaching materials (books, app and media) recommended by my coach that are level-appropriate.  They are using some of the same materials, but are moving at very different speeds.”  

Enhanced Parent Communication and Program Development
Shelley's dedication to coaching extended beyond the teacher's classroom.  She guided the teacher to expand parent communication. The teacher was supported in her work on the EdJEWcation entrepreneurial program, a collaboration with CAJE, MindCET (Israel) and The Hebrew University, to develop tools to integrate Jewish Studies into the General Studies curriculum with resources such as an integrated lesson plan database and a crowd-sourced Q & A platform.  These resources not only benefit the teacher's school, but have the potential to impact Jewish schools worldwide.

Strategy Used: Communicating with Families

Transformative Teaching Approaches and Support
Imagine a young Rebbi in a Yeshivish lower school, eager to make a positive impact but lacking formal training in pedagogy, particularly in lesson planning. Determined to be more proactive in structuring his lessons, he embarks on a journey of growth with the guidance of a supportive mentor, Instructional Coach Rebecca Coen. Together, they utilize the JDS Lesson Plan Template to systematically navigate the process of lesson planning.

By embracing this organized approach, the Rebbi gained clarity in articulating goals for each lesson, including specific outcomes and ‘I CAN’ statements, and implementing student -centered activities that got students up and out of their seats to create storyboards, play vocabulary games, strategies outlined in the template. Success is measured not only by the completion of lesson plans but by the tangible impact on student learning. As his lessons became more structured and purposeful, students were more engaged, and learning outcomes were elevated.

Coach Yaakov Shafferman shared a similar story in that he encouraged music as a learning tool, and though the teacher didn’t view himself as being particularly very musical, agreed to implement the activity to include music. The activity was hugely successful and students began making their own requests, which the Rebbi tried to incorporate as much as possible. Students were engaged, learning outcomes were elevated, and the Rebbi reflected to Yaakov that going slightly out of his comfort zone made him a stronger educator.  

Strategies Used: Movement Makes Memories, Classroom Management Reconsidered

Do teachers and students clearly understand what individual students know and what they need to know?  What can students already do and what do they need to learn how to do?  Which concepts do they understand and which do they have yet to understand?  And most importantly, can teachers and students document and monitor student growth?

A limmudei kodesh (Jewish Studies) teacher realized that instead of knowing what his students knew and how they were progressing in their learning, he was making assumptions.  Working with BetterLesson Coach Nathan Fein to develop a system of assessment to allow him to track students’ growth over time.  He created spreadsheets that tracked learning growth and quickly identified students whose progress did not meet expectations toward desired outcomes.  Two amazing changes resulted: - He provided targeted interventions which supported students to achieve mastery of topics they had not yet mastered, and he was proactively prepared to use his documentation of growth over time to provide specific, meaningful and individualized learning progress information to parents during Parent / Teacher Conferences.  Two wins resulting from one significant change in instructional practice!!

Strategies Used: Analyzing Student Data to Inform Instruction 

Leading Leaders
How to provide support to new teachers when you have never been a coach or mentor before? BetterLesson Instructional Coaches provided strategic support for a new supervisor, motivating this menahel (principal) was tasked with coaching one teacher, and the supervisor did not feel comfortable with this role. His reluctance stemmed from feeling uncomfortable “making the teacher feel like a failure” if the menahel shared comments about improving student engagement, which the teacher sorely needed support for. The menahel shared with his coach that he preferred that the teacher come to him with questions to improve his teaching practice. The coach set up a series of steps and protocols to create a communicative and transparent relationship: setting up regular times to meet, with a clear agenda and goals of their meetings. The menahel and mentee have developed a positive working relationship already showing progress: they established goals and protocols to gather data from his class, taking attendance & marking tardiness (a big problem in his school), clear outcomes towards academic success, how to increase and measure participation & engaged students, and qualitative data from teacher and from surveys of students/exit tickets. Their relationship has grown closer, students are more engaged, and more importantly, there is now a system with which they can communicate to address issues. Both are empowered and excited to continue working together to improve student engagement. 

Strategies: Going Macro: Developing a Vision

Empowering Educators for Collective Growth
These stories exemplify the power of deliberate, proactive, and innovative change strategies in promoting successful learning experiences. By embracing structured lesson planning, differentiated instruction, and data-driven decision-making, educators can create vibrant learning communities where every student has the opportunity to thrive.

These transformative stories reinforce our belief that 1:1 coaching provides a unique safe space for teachers and leaders to step outside of their comfort zone with guidance and innovate with their practices. See Dr. Atul Gawande’s view of coaching here. 

As we continue on this journey of educational excellence, let us empower educators to explore new approaches, collaborate with peers, and prioritize the needs of their students. Through sustained, collective effort and a commitment to growth, we can cultivate vibrant learning communities where success is not just a goal but a shared reality for all.

A special thanks to BetterLesson Instructional Coaches facilitating Florida Jewish Day School coaching: Shelley Kniaz, Sarah Golubchik, Leah Herzog, Joan Vander Walde, Rebecca Coen, David Saltzman, and Yaakov Shafferman. Thank you to the participating Miami Jewish Day Schools: RASG, Scheck Hillel, The Gordon School, Yeshiva Elementary School, Toras Emes Toras Chaim, The Innovative School. 

Special thanks to CAJE and the Mayberg Foundation for their generous support of Professional Development to these Jewish Day Schools. 

• More details about the BetterLesson Coaching Cohort here.
• More details about a subsidized Learning Walk here.
• Check out the BetterLesson Toolkits here.