New Article: Shagrir, Teacher Educators in Israel and in the USA

Shagrir, Leah. “Factors Affecting the Professional Characteristics of Teacher Educators in Israel and in the USA: A Comparison of Two Models.” Compare 45.2 (2015): 206-25.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2013.828395

 

Abstract

The objective of this research study was to identify the factors affecting the professional characteristics of teacher educators by comparing two models of teacher education. The research findings revealed four major focal points that have an impact on professional characteristics: the operational model adopted by the institution where teacher educators work; the breadth and depth of teacher educators’ research and scholarship and the degree to which such scholarship is required as part of the assessment criteria; the cooperation between the training institution and the practical field (i.e., the schools where the students do their practice teaching); and the informal relationships between teacher educators and their students. The novelty of the study resides in the fact that these points affect teacher educators’ professional characteristics and that focusing on these characteristics facilitates a comprehensive view of methods, tools and directions that may expedite the professional development of teacher educators.

ToC: Journal of Jewish Education 81.1 (2015); special issue: Israel Education

Journal of Jewish Education, Volume 81, Issue 1, January-March 2015 is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online.

Special Issue: Israel Education, Part I

This new issue contains the following articles:

Editor’s Note
Israel Education in Unsettled Times
Bethamie Horowitz
Pages: 1-3
DOI: 10.1080/15244113.2015.1010368

Articles
“Israel Is Meant for Me”: Kindergarteners’ Conceptions of Israel
Sivan Zakai
Pages: 4-34
DOI: 10.1080/15244113.2015.1007019

“Like a Distant Cousin”: Bi-Cultural Negotiation as Key Perspective in Understanding the Evolving Relationship of Future Reform Rabbis with Israel and the Jewish People
Michal Muszkat-Barkan & Lisa D. Grant
Pages: 35-63
DOI: 10.1080/15244113.2015.1007011

Lights, Cameras, Action Research!—Moviemaking as a Pedagogy for Constructivist Israel Education
Ofra Backenroth & Alex Sinclair
Pages: 64-84
DOI: 10.1080/15244113.2015.1003480

A Linguistic Analysis of the Role of Israel in American Jewish Schooling
Barry Chazan
Pages: 85-92
DOI: 10.1080/15244113.2015.1007016

Book Review
Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Eran Tamir, and Karen Hammerness, Editors, Inspiring Teaching: Preparing Teachers to Succeed in Mission-Driven Schools (Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, MA, 2014)
Laura Shefter
Pages: 93-96
DOI: 10.1080/15244113.2015.1003481

Opinions: Magid, Pluralism, Ethos, Creativity and Israel

Shaul Magid responds to Daniel Lehmann’s essay, “Beyond Continuity, Identity, and Literacy” on Jewish education, highlighting the role of Israel in Jewish Education in America today.

 

URL: http://www.ravsak.org/news/891/279/Pluralism-Ethos-Creativity-and-Israel/

 

 

Excerpt

The question of Israel is indeed a vexing one. Many of us who remember Israel before 1967 and who were raised on Leon Uris’ Exodus and Otto Preminger’s film version of that mythic novel must remember that our students only know a much complex Israel, more Western, economically stable, and also mired in managing a 45 year occupation. Many students may ask why Israel should be important at all, or why they should learn about Israel when Israelis learn almost nothing about the contemporary diaspora. Many will argue that Israel does not embody the democratic values they learned were sacred in America.

I think the question “why Israel?” should be an operative one in Jewish education today. We may take that for granted but they may not. Their experience is very different than ours. Assuming Israel is or should be a central part of American Jewish identity formation is more indoctrination than education, at least along the lines Lehmann suggests. Can Jewish education in American today have room for Jewish non-Zionism or even anti-Zionism? If not, why not? I think the Israel curriculum in American Jewish education is in dire need of reformation. It rests on a foundation that is simply outdated and does not speak to the reality of Israel today. The question “How do we teach Israel as a centerpiece of Jewish identity?” should include, in my view, the question “Why teach Israel as a centerpiece of Jewish identity?” allowing for contesting viewpoints and arguments.

Cite: Chertok et al, A Case Study of Educator Teams Within American-Israeli School Twinning

Chertok, Fern, David Mittelberg, Dinah Laron, and Annette Koren. “Identical, Fraternal, or Separated at Birth: A Case Study of Educator Teams Within American-Israeli School Twinning.” Journal of Jewish Education 79.4 (2013): 414-431.

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15244113.2013.844559

Abstract

School-to-school collaboration has emerged as a key paradigm for fostering personal and institutional connections between Israeli and Diaspora youth, educators, and schools. Using the findings of a multi-year case study of a high school level twinning initiative, this article describes the challenges to this form of transnational collaboration and takes the first steps to articulating a theory of intervention of Israeli-Diaspora school twinning at the organizational level. The article suggests two processes, collaborative capacity and cultural competence, critical to development of positive and productive relationships in school partnerships. Institutional twinning is suggested as the goal of these interventions at the organizational level.