To meet a growing demand, the Menachem Education Foundation has recently restructured its acclaimed Teacher Induction Program for Women into four separate online courses and, for the first time ever, is opening up registration to all Chabad mechanchos regardless of experience.
For years, MEF has been at the forefront of bringing mechanchim and mechanchos the best in professional development and learning resources. With bigger and more widespread demand than ever, the organization is now looking to online learning as the new frontier for reaching educators around the world.
“We designed the new program to best accommodate the busy mechanchos in our communities by transitioning to a modular, incremental program,” says program director Mrs. Chana Rose, explaining that four separate six-week courses highlighting specific themes in Chinuch will be offered over the course of the academic year. “In this way, we can allow mechanchos to choose whether to participate in the full year program that we’ve offered until now, or to brush up on specific skill sets without having to commit to a full year,” she continues.
Developed by leading educational specialists, the TIP curriculum covers a wide range of innovative teaching methods for teachers to reach every student, rooted in the overarching theme of how to become a Chassidishe Mechaneches. In addition to the mini-courses, teachers can also choose to be connected with an experienced, highly trained coach to work with throughout the year.
Principal of Chabad Girls Academy, Mrs. Devora Leah Angyalfi, says she saw how the program made a significant impact on three of her teachers who participated in TIP training last year. “Through the training the teachers became much more comfortable managing their classes,” she explains. “One teacher had the opportunity to present our school to the parent body, and she was really able to shine in that role. It was obvious that she had a depth of understanding in education because of MEF’s program.”
Mrs. Nami Friedman, assistant Principal of Yeshiva Girls School of Pittsburgh, agrees that the program was very beneficial in that she could see direct results in the classroom. “The participating teacher learned many teaching techniques and knowledge of educational concepts and she was guided as to how to put it into practice,” Friedman explains.
While in the past, TIP courses were only available to teachers in their first years of training, the new expanded model will open the women’s program to any Chabad mechaneches regardless of background or experience. The four six-week courses beginning in September will each focus on one the four TIP standards: Classroom Management, Lesson Planning and Delivery, Chassidishe Mechaneches, and Standards and Assessments. The classes will be taught live by a lineup of expert mechanchos in a virtual classroom hosted on a web-based platform.
Rose explains that “it’s no surprise that many Chabad women, who have to juggle so many responsibilities, like online learning” since the digital format offers flexibility in location, access to classes that may not be available at their local school, and, with a newly shortened time frame, a more manageable workload.
In fact, the use of online learning and open educational technologies have been proven to increase educational productivity by accelerating the rate of learning, better utilizing teacher’s time and reducing costs, making the program more affordable for all.
“Most of all, we are excited to offer mechanchos at any level a variety of tools, strategies and learning opportunities to help them achieve success with their students,” Rose concludes.
The four six-week courses will focus on:
Classroom Management with Ms. Chani Kramer. Begins September 14th
Lesson Planning and Delivery with Mrs. Henny Bartfield begins mid-November.
Standards and Assessments with Mrs. Sara Rosenfeld, begins mid-February.
The Chassidishe Mechaneches Presenter TBA begins May.
The registration deadline for each course is two weeks prior to any course start date. The cost of each 6 week course is $200.
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: Register for any of the courses by September 1st, 2016 for the price of $175 per course!
Yearlong coaching is also available as a standalone service or as an optional add-on to any of our courses.
Courses are offered a la carte, and participants can choose to take all four in a package deal, or individual courses based on interest. Yearlong coaching is also available to any participant as an optional add-on to any or all of the courses. New teachers are encouraged to take advantage of all the program offerings as in the past, taking all four courses and coaching, at a discounted rate, to earn a diploma of program completion.
Accreditation is also available.
Find out more here. To sign up: Please call Rivka at (718) 819-6175 or email tip@mymef.org.
