My educational practice is learner-centered, encouraging opportunities for students to take on leadership roles. I emphasize positive Jewish identity formation and hands-on activities to allow students of all learning styles to internalize Jewish values, practices, and text.
Sample Curricula
Fifth Grade Jewish Arts Lab
Utilizing movement, visual arts, and music, students explored the concept of Jewish heritage. Guest lyricist Adam Feder.
Seventh Grade Curriculum: positive identity formation and the Holocaust.
Teaching the Holocaust with age-appropriate materials and discussion in a safe space. Utilizing the themes of the Holocaust and intergenerational Jewish experience to interrogate our own Jewish identity. Pictured: students recording reactions to Kristallnacht lesson.
Original research based on the results of the first year of the seventh grade Holocaust curriculum presented in Master’s Practicum: The Power of Positivity.
Pictured: seventh graders teach the positive value of friendship and community to the next generation (the preschoolers!) with an original game they designed.
Bringing Israel into the Classroom
I foster deep connections with Israel by bringing Israeli life into the Hebrew school classroom. Students can participate in ulpan (immersive Hebrew instruction), visit the shuk (market place) on a virtual trip to Israel, learn about Israeli history, and experience diverse Israeli families through traditional recipes such as Ethiopian Berbere.
Pictured: Rabbi Chaya Bender plays music of Tzfat dressed in costume as local artisan.
Marks Jewish Community House: Jewish Values Summer Program
Experiential curriculum for 400+ campers ages preschool through high school emphasizing Jewish morals and values.
Pictured: campers build a mensch (upstanding Jewish citizen) from recycled materials.
Rabbi Chaya Bender 