SOURCE: JUF News
By Steven Chaitman
Jewish educators from around the country became full-fledged Jewish Israel educators at iCamp, a three-day conference in Oakbrook, Ill., intended to stimulate new approaches to Israel education and connect Israel-minded professionals from around the country.
Host organization the iCenter, a nonprofit based in Northbrook devoted to improving Israel education nationwide, brought in a range of speakers and presenters including former Israeli basketball star Tamir Goodman and Eliezra Ben-Yehuda Kassutto, granddaughter of the father of modern Hebrew, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. Sessions focused on everything from the value of digital games-based learning to using examples of Israeli arts and culture to reframe the discussion of Israel.
"What makes (iCamp) unique is the iCenter's willingness to jump into uncharted territory, the openness to new ideas and also the creation of space for new ideas in education to merge," said participant Ilan Vitemberg, director of the Center for Israel Education at the Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco.
The conference took place at the Hyatt Lodge in Oakbrook from Aug. 14-16. The 138 participants ranged from synagogue and day school educators to representatives from Israel trip providers. It was the second ever iCamp; the first came in 2009 and largely consisted of Chicago-based professionals.
The centerpiece of this year's conference was Parker Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach and senior partner at the Center for Courage & Renewal, a national organization that engages people in various teaching and helping professions through retreats aimed at reconnecting who they are with what they do.
iCamp coordinator Lori Sagarin said Palmer was a big draw for the conference as many participants were familiar with his work.
"He was helpful in that those of us who teach about Israel bring our own passion to the subject and he's about harnessing that passion in a way that's engaging and exciting for our students," Sagarin said.
Palmer and his colleague Marcy Jackson have only recently begun working closely with the Jewish community. For the purposes of iCamp, Palmer said their role was two fold: to offer a philosophical framework for the big picture of Israel education and also provide individual participants with a deeper connection to their own personal narratives.
"It is the personal story of the educator that (Jackson and I) try to evoke," Palmer said, "helping people track their own journey toward what they're now doing as educators and as Israel Educators on the grounds that the more ownership you have of your own story, the more it is accessible as part of your teaching and the more you can bring students into abstractions by embodying them and making them personal in your own life."
Jaclyn Mishal, director of recruitment for MASA in New York, which helps send adults ages 18-30 to Israel through a wide range of programs, said Palmer and Jackson's sessions were "extraordinary." She said she learned that "it's not how and what [you teach] but who [you are,] and that's so strikingly different from anything I've ever experienced in a conference across the board for Israel education."
Mishal also said that more than the content, the community-building at the event had the most value for her. Participants were able to make meaningful connections with other educators from different parts of the country and world.
"I find myself very isolated as an Israel educator in formal education," said Mashie Kopelowitz, Israel Educator for Solomon Schecter Days Schools in Bergen County, New Jersey. "I've met people who do different things in Israel education, which was very helpful to me to making me feel like I'm part of a bigger picture."
Because Israel education spans various types of institutions, participants were also able to meet people of different backgrounds.
"Most conferences are for reform Jewish educators or day school educators or supplemental school educators," said Rabbi Amy Ross, director of youth learning at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. "What's neat about this being the conference for Israel educators is there are educators here from all different parts of the country and world but also different movements with different philosophies from different types of institutions."
Participants engaged in meaningful conversations not only during sessions, but also during meal times, break times, and throughout the three days.
"The stuff that happens in between, the unplanned moments, that's where the real magic happens in this kind of an event," Sagarin said. "What is going to keep people nurtured and fed as far as this profession are the conversations."
The iCenter also used the conference to unveil its Aleph-Bet of Israel Education, a collection of 11 principles it hopes will serve as a foundation for a field of Israel Education.
"They are a significant lens with which we will continue to do our work and share our mission of the value of Israel education and the profession of Israel educators," Sagarin said.
For more information on the iCenter, iCamp or the Aleph-Bet of Israel Education, visit www.theicenter.org.
Steven Chaitman is a freelance writer living in Chicago.
