Are you looking for interesting, innovative, and inexpensive ways to improve your skill set as a teacher or educator? Do you use (or are you thinking about using) Torah Aura materials in your school? Are you bummed because you’re missing the professional development opportunities that used to be offered by CAJE?
If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then we’ve got a great solution for you:
Torah Aura Professional Development Webinars.
Using the latest and greatest technology, the team at Torah Aura Productions is excited to bring you a series of six online workshops designed to help you become a more skilled professional who makes the most of the materials you use in your school. These webinars are absolutely free and are available to you while you sit at your computer in the privacy of your home or office.
Here are the first six Torah Aura Professional Development Webinars that we’re offering in the coming weeks:
Teacher’s Clinic for Using the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program
Tuesday, July 21 at 10:30 am Pacific / 1:30 pm Eastern
Missed the webinar? Click here to watch a video.
Do you use Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer materials in your school? In this webinar, we’ll first examine the philosophy behind Torah Aura’s Hebrew/prayer materials (S’fatai Tiftah, Journeys Through the Siddur, and/or Pirkei T’fillah). Then, we’ll transition into a practical discussion of how to make the materials work in the classroom. By the end of the webinar, participants will have a firm grasp on…
- the philosophy behind the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program
- the goals of teaching Hebrew and prayer
- the pieces that make up a chapter of the Torah Aura Hebrew/Prayer Program
- how to use the accompanying teacher’s guides and home resources
- how to plan a lesson
- how to make Hebrew/prayer learning experiential and exciting, and
- how to pace the curriculum over the course of a semester or year.
Real Siddur Teaching: A Guide for Educators
Tuesday, August 4 at 11 am Pacific / 2 pm Eastern
Click here to sign up.
This is a session about the philosophy of teaching Hebrew and Prayer in the supplementary school. We’ll examine goals, objectives, and some ideas for successful implementation of a Hebrew/Prayer curriculum. By the end of the webinar, participants will have a firm grasp on how to make a Hebrew/Prayer curriculum work in their schools, including the five elements that build towards the goal of enabling students to be meaningful pray-ers.
Everything You Need to Know About Using Teacher’s Guides
Wednesday, August 12 at 4 pm Pacific / 7 pm Eastern
Click here to sign up.
Lots of principals buy teacher’s guides for their teachers, but these hefty volumes often end up (at best) being quickly skimmed in the few minutes before class or (at worst) a permanent fixture in the teacher’s car trunk. In this webinar, we’ll talk about how Torah Aura teacher’s guides are designed, and help teachers make the most out of them. Attendees should have a teacher’s guide handy as they participate in the webinar.
Making Israel Come Alive: Using Artzeinu in the Classroom
Thursday, August 13 at 11 am Pacific / 2 pm Eastern
Click here to sign up.
Teaching Israel in a supplementary school setting presents a number of challenges. How can we teach appreciation and love of Israel to students who haven’t visited? How can we present the real Israel while at the same time trying to inculcate the values of Zionism? How do we address all the richness and diversity of Israel given our limited time and resources?
This webinar will address all these challenges and more, and will introduce teachers to using Artzeinu: An Israel Encounter to teach Israel from an historical, cultural, Biblical, religious, and reality-based perspective.
The Magical Lifecycle Curriculum: Using The Circle of Jewish Life
Tuesday, August 25 at 10:30 am Pacific / 1:30 pm Eastern
Click here to sign up.
What happens when you want to talk about brit milah (or brit bat!) or death? How can we teach about the Jewish lifecycle in a way that’s engaging, sensitive, and empowering?
In this webinar we’ll discuss why the Jewish lifecycle can be a challenging part of your curriculum, and we’ll explore ways to use The Circle of Jewish Life to turn lifecycle learning into a series of magical experiences for your students.
This webinar will be useful to teachers and educators currently using The Circle of Jewish Life, as well as to anyone interested in “jazzing up” their lifecycle curriculum.
All About Eizehu Gibor: An Introduction to a New Way to Teach Jewish Heroes
Thursday, August 27 at 11 am Pacific / 2 pm Eastern
Click here to sign up.
Eizehu Gibor: Living Jewish Values is a new heroes book for fifth and sixth graders. It’s revolutionary in the way it integrates the traditional pantheon of Jewish heroes with a set of new heroes for a new generation. It’s also unique in the diversity of it’s heroes, and in the way it integrates living a life of Jewish values with the lives of heroes. This webinar will introduce you to Eizehu Gibor, and will highlight some of the elements that make it a unique curricular tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of computer equipment do I need to attend a Torah Aura Professional Development Webinar?
Basically, you just need any Mac or PC that is connected to a high-speed (not dial-up) internet connection. In order to hear the presentation, you’ll also need computer speakers (or you can listen to the audio over a plain-old phone connection, like dialing into a conference call). You can ask questions by simply typing them in (kind of like typing in a chat room or instant message), or you can ask via audio using a microphone connected to your computer or your phone handset. In a nutshell: as long as your computer isn’t totally ancient, and as long as you have an internet connection that’s faster than dial-up, you’re good to go.
Do I have to attend the webinar at the scheduled time?
A webinar is an interactive experience, like attending a real-live workshop. So, yes, to fully participate, you need to attend the webinar at the scheduled time. However, if you’re unavailable during the scheduled time, we’ll be uploading video of the webinars as soon as they’re completed. That means you’ll be able to watch a “rerun” on your own time (but you won’t be able to ask questions or participate in the real-time discussion).
How long are the webinars?
For each of our Torah Aura Professional Development Webinars, we’ve planned 50-60 minutes for the presentation itself, plus 20-30 minutes for discussion and questions. If you can’t make it for the whole webinar, you’re free to log-in and log-off at any time, as you please.
How do I sign up for Torah Aura Professional Development Webinars?
Just click on any of the “Click here to sign up” links above. Once you sign up, you’ll receive an email with a special link that you’ll use to log into the webinar.
Will you be offering more Torah Aura Professional Development Webinars at another time
Yes! These webinars are just the beginning. We’ll be offering more of them in the future. If you have suggestions about possible topics, dates, and times, please drop us a line.
Who should I contact if I have more questions?
If you want to learn more about Torah Aura Professional Development Webinars, please be in touch with Josh Mason-Barkin, director of school services. You can email him at josh@torahaura.com or call him at (800) BE-TORAH (238-6724) x122.