When I attended my first Torah Umesorah convention I was not sure what to expect. Prior to that Shabbos seven years ago I had limited exposure to Torah Umesorah. Although I like to fancy myself as being open minded and non-judgmental, living way out-of- town made me a bit skeptical of the “New Yorkish” crowd found at the convention.
We packed the car and drove the 700 miles to Baltimore to drop off our children and then continued on to the Friar Tuck Inn in the mountains. All told, we had put the first thousand of the eventual eight thousand “to and from convention” driving miles our van has accumulated.
It was no time before I was overwhelmed by the scene. The combination of available Roshei Yeshivos and sincere mechanchim was awe inspiring. I found myself talking to every person I could. I listened to the workshops and presentations with rapped attention. Somehow, Friday flew by and before I knew it, there was an hour left to shabbos. I had not made it back to my room (or to my shame, checked in with my wife) since leaving for shacharis many hours ago!
Kabbolas Shabbos was no less spectacular. The kol of a thousand people singing together and listening to the Roshei Yeshiva was so powerful. I suspect I am especially susceptible to being wowed by this gathering because I live in Atlanta where any one of the participants would be a respected guest.
My departure on Sunday morning was quite emotional. Here I was leaving this environment of chizuk and growth and going back to the hubbub of daily teaching. The feeling reminded me of the inevitable down I felt in the old days after an NCSY shabbaton. As I was leaving, I was trying to think how I could capture the energy this experience had generated in me. I had a deep passion to become a more committed and skilled Rebbe and was faced with the age old challenge of channeling that inspiration into meaningful action.
After my last goodbye in the dining room, I saw a Tallis bag that caught my eye.
It was the bag of Rabbi Yoel Kramer. Although I had never met him, I had heard that he was a teacher trainer with vast experience and expertise in helping teachers develop. Was this the opportunity I was looking for? As a result of my feeling slightly intoxicated by shabbos, I took the bold move of leaving him a brief note in his bag. In it, I asked for advice on teacher development for a Rebbe “out- of- town” and left my cell phone number.
Just as I had forgotten about the note, he was kind enough to call and he offered a piece of advice that has helped me significantly. He suggested that I ask fellow teachers to come and observe me and give me advice. He explained that every experienced teacher has some unique expertise in the classroom and would provide valuable feedback from his perspective.
He pointed out that Atlanta had a number of experienced Rebbiem and suggested that I ask them to observe me. He was confident that these rebbiam would be happy to help a new Rebbe. An additional advantage to having peers observe is that it takes away the feeling of judgment that one would feel with a supervisor. The fact that I have asked them to observe makes me feel less vulnerable to their criticism.
Since that conversation I have invited over ten mechanchim sit in on my shiur. I can honestly say that I have grown from each experience. Each person saw a different aspect of my teaching and gave me solid advice on improvement. It surprises me how often I think of that advice on a regular basis. Here is a sampling of the points made. I am sharing them as an example of the kind of feedback this process can generate.
Rabbi Yechezcal Freundlech – pointed out the impact my using of the first name of each child made. He noticed that within the first ten minutes of shiur I had used each child name at least once. It shows respect, care and personal interest. I may have happened to use that practice that day but he highlighted the power that exists in using the name of a person.
Mr. Richard Kaplan – after observing a class he encouraged me to walk around the room more. I had done most of the lesson from the front of the room and he reminded me of the value of walking around and teaching from different parts of the room.
Rabbi Zev Schwartz – took careful notes of how many interactions I had with each child in the class. After class ended was done he shared with me the statistics on my classroom interactions. I talked with some children five times more than others and encouraged me to think about why that may be. Although there are times when such a practice in appropriate, it should be done by design and not habit.
Rabbi Shalom Yosef Horowitz - observed a lesson and asked me about my use of the white board. He explained that by writing neater and using color to my advantage I could add an untapped dimension to my presentation.
Rabbi Eliyahu Tendler – observed a lesson that I put much work into many aspects of the presentation. He gently reminded me that the most important part of the lesson is the explanation of the text and although the pre- and post- learning was well prepared, the main part could have been thought about a bit more.
These examples represent a sampling of the advice and feedback I received over the years. I am now more aware of my use of names, place of teaching, interaction with a broad number of children, use of the board and careful preparation as a result of the advice of Rabbi Kramer and these wonderful friends.
Unfortunately, I do not anticipate making it to the convention every year but the spirit of growth continues to burn within and I plan on continuing this practice of professional development.
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