Creating a Jewish Environment

Follow EC director Jamie Klein and her staff at The Conservative Synagogue in Westport, CT, as they use The Vision to examine, reflect on and improve the Jewish environment of their school!

January 3, 2011 - What’s Jewish about the environment?

The preschool at The Conservative Synagogue has X classrooms, X teachers and X children. Jamie Klein is in her first year as director at this school, although she has X years in Jewish early childhood education under her belt. Some of the teachers at The Conservative Synagogue have been teaching there for many years, some are brand new to the program.  Some of the teachers come to the program with a strong Jewish background and a vibrant enthusiasm for infusing their classroom with Judaism. Other teachers have stronger enthusiasm for other things.  Some teachers are not Jewish.  The classrooms reflect the backgrounds and foci of the teachers.

In my reflections about my visit to the school in 2008, I wrote, “You might be a little hard pressed to know you are in a Jewish place.” Jamie comes to the school with a passion for excellence and for igniting the Jewish life of the school.

Jamie’s reflections: Since I first got here just a few short months ago my initial priority was to focus on the physical environment.  While the preschool is housed in the lower level of the Synagogue, we are fortunate to have large rooms with big windows, lots of sunlight and immediate access to the playground.  The classrooms share space with the Hebrew school which created some challenges.  The rooms have to be completely turned over 3 times each week. The rooms looked tired, cluttered and each classroom had 2 large metal, industrial looking cabinets that definitely did not enhance a child-friendly environment.  There were primary color plastic chairs that had seen better days, the bulletin boards were framed with store bought borders and posters interspersed with children’s work.  In general the classrooms had a few centers (blocks, dramatic play, art, manipulatives,) but the tables were all located in the center of the rooms.  There were no get-away-spaces, plants or animals.  The “Jewish environment” lacked intentional planning, with the exception of some Hebrew/English labeling of objects, Jewish books, mezuzot, and stuffed Torahs.

During Teacher Orientation in September, the focus was room arrangement and environment.  We viewed the DVD Room Arrangement as a Teaching Strategy (Diane Trister-Dodge,) A Study of Early Childhood Environments (Harvest Resources,  Giving Children More Languages (Harvest Resources), Respectful Displays of Children’s Work (School for Young Children, St. Josephs College) and got to work.  We started from the beginning by emptying closets and donated toys that needed batteries and toys that were not gender-neutral (lots of pink and blue).  Fortunately the classrooms were originally outfitted with good quality wood furniture so we had a starting point to work with.  We were able to purchase all new wooden chairs from Community Playthings and replaced the large metal cabinets with small unobtrusive cabinets.  The rooms were then arranged in centers. 

Initially the teachers were excited about the changes we were making although we were very pressed for time in terms of getting the classrooms ready for the first day or school.  One of the most challenging changes for the staff was what goes on the walls. For example:  no store bought borders (children’s work only), no posters unless very specific like the alphabet in the writing center, or posters with brachot listed.  This continues to be a challenge i.e. no cartoon character Pilgrims and Native Americans during Thanksgiving, etc. [Max: Even from the teachers who have gone along with Jamie’s requests about how they create their bulletin boards, I heard “joking” comments: “Jamie told us we can’t do that any more.”]   In the beginning of the year we had families bring in framed family pictures.  Some teachers more than others have embraced this.  It is a process and we have had very little training time since school began.  I think I have not done a good enough job explaining the theory behind all the changes.

I’m excited about combing this journey to make our program an outstanding Jewish early childhood program.  The process of looking at all aspects of the curriculum with a Jewish lens is a bit daunting for me and for the staff but a journey worth taking.

Jamie’s enthusiasm about the opportunities for change at The Conservative Synagogue made this school an ideal candidate for the Vision Documentation Project. Their focus on the Jewish environment is a concrete way to approach the change process.

On December 14, 2010 I spent the day at the school.  Jamie and I met and talked about our goals for this project.  Officially, the goals of the Vision Documentation Project are:

§   Using the Vision to meet the goals for the school, as set by the director, staff, and USCJ ECE consultant

§   Documenting the learning, and change process

§   Making the learning, and change process, visible and usable to all USCJ schools

I spent the morning visiting the classrooms, snapping lots of pictures.  Some of my reflections and thoughts:

• Jamie’s enthusiasm for Jewish life is evident in the school. Things like a poster introducing all the teachers, titled Our Preschool Mishpacha (family)  and her support for the teachers as they embrace Jewish life in their classrooms.  And still there is always for change and improvement – I suggested that wherever they have Hebrew words transliterated, they should also have the words in Hebrew letters also.  This led Jamie to talk with the rabbi about getting Hebrew fonts on her computer.
• The difference between the classrooms in which the teacher(s) has a strong knowledge base and/or passion for Judaism and the classrooms where the teachers have other strengths is striking.  How to work with this reality will be an interesting challenge. 
• Right now, the school certainly makes evident the Jewish life that happens there more than when I visited two years ago.  Could it be more, or different, or better? Certainly.  The moment we stop striving toward “better” we should just close the doors and send everyone home.
• So what is Jewish about a Jewish environment? In the Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs, we read, “Excellence in a Conservative early childhood program begins when the physical environment of the school and classroom make visible the Jewish life that is happening in the school.” One of the suggested exercises in the Director’s Manual of the Vision involves taking a look at the environment as the third teacher in the classroom. The environment can act as a facilitator or support of the Jewish life happening in the classroom. Things like
• having Shabbat items available in the dramatic pay area all week long so children can play Shabbat any time,
• placing a mezuzah on the door of the classroom and at the entrance to the dramatic play area,
• always having Jewish books on the children’s book shelf
• putting real Jewish art at the children’s eye level, instead of posters from a teacher’s store
• integrating Jewish and Hebrew songs into the regular life of the classroom.
• Right now the classrooms, for the most part, have a warm atmosphere that resists being visually overstimulating. Infusing the classrooms with more evidence of Jewish life needs to happen without just adding more stuff, more visuals on the walls. How can Jewish life both happen authentically, and be made visible authentically?




Sign reads: A collaborative art process: One by one the children joined
their friends and started to bang on the paper with the dot paints.

 



Hallway bulletin board describes how several 4 year olds spent a long, concentrated time sketching burning Chanuka candles.  Below is Laila's picture, which she spent over 20 minutes working on.





• Making Jewish life visible is a balance of so many things.  With Jamie’s guidance, the teachers have already begun documenting life in the classroom.  Part of improving the Jewish environment is reflecting on how to make the Jewish life visible. Some of this is already happening in the school.

I met with the teachers and Jamie.  We talked about this whole process of documenting their journey, and we looked at examples of Jewish environments from many schools, including their own. The process ahead of being very reflective about their own environment, and the messages they are communicating through the environment, is I think a little daunting for the teachers.  Not to mention the prospect of blogging about this process. All the teachers at Conservative Synagogue should be commended for their willingness to take part in this process, to both take the time to be reflective and make changes in how they approach their environment, and also for their willingness to make this process so transparent, and be open to comments from others both near and far.

I also met with Rabbi Jeremy Weiderhorn, and lay leaders Ilene Frost, Monique X and X. Their support of this project is critical to its success.

In the next many months, Jamie and her staff will work together, using the Vision as a guide, to reflect on, rethink and improve the Jewish environment of the school.  As they work, they will post their thoughts and pictures of the process.  Please join their journey with comments and questions! What can you learn from their process about your own journey?