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 Mission Overview of DeLeT The Fellows The Learning Fellowship Stipend After DeLeT The Mentor Teachers DeLeT and the Teaching Profession About Jewish Day Schools For More Information Mission DeLeT, a program of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education (RHSOE), is dedicated to fostering teaching excellence in Jewish day schools in North America. DeLeT at HUC is conducted in consultation with its partner DeLeT program at Brandeis University. DeLeT carries out its mission by recruiting energetic, reflective people with Jewish commitments and a passion for learning, providing them with a 13-month fellowship program, preparing mentors to be reflective practitioners who can support a novice learning to teach, and encouraging schools to support ongoing teacher learning. Overview of DeLeT The heart of the DeLeT program is the 13-month fellowship which includes:
The Fellows DeLeT seeks to identify candidates who exhibit commitment to serving the Jewish people through Jewish education in the context of the Jewish day school. Successful candidates demonstrate a reflective capacity, an ability to pursue graduate-level coursework, and the self-understanding necessary for personal and professional growth. They have experience working with children and the stamina and resiliency needed by day school teachers. The Learning DeLeT is a full-time pre-service teacher education fellowship comprising two summers and the intervening year. Fellows study with faculty of distinction at the RHSOE and work with experienced mentor teachers and administrators at their schools. Fellows participate in a weekly Teaching and Learning Seminar, study in courses that serve as the first steps towards a California State Teaching Credential, conduct field investigations into teaching and learning in Jewish day schools, outline plans for their future professional development and/or graduate education, and work directly with children in classrooms under the guidance of mentor teachers. During the 13-month fellowship, fellows teach in both general studies and Jewish studies classrooms in order to:
Fellowship Stipend During the fellowship year, fellows receive a $25,000 stipend. They also receive 9-12 months of coverage under the health insurance plan at the day school in which they are placed. (Fellows are required to carry health insurance for the entire 13-month period of the fellowship.) After DeLeT Fellows are expected to teach in Jewish day schools and/or continue their graduate education once they become DeLeT alumni. While alumni are responsible for securing their own post-DeLeT employment, DeLeT provides support and guidance during the placement process. DeLeT also provides advisement regarding graduate school options. Some alumni pursue the California State Teaching Credential at an institution with which HUC has an agreement for the transfer of credits; other enter the Rhea Hirsch School of Education's Master of Arts in Jewish Education program. When alumni begin their teaching careers, DeLeT provides induction support by conducting an ongoing support group, training mentors at the schools at which they teach, and providing Clinical Educators to each alumnus/a for consultation and guidance. DeLeT also works with schools in which alumni are employed to encourage these schools to develop an environment which supports new teacher learning. The Mentor Teachers There are two DeLeT Mentor Teachers assigned to each DeLeT fellow, a primary mentor in whose class the fellow spends the greatest number of hours per week, and a supporting mentor with whom the fellow also enjoys a very important professional relationship for a lesser number of hours per week. Since fellow is engaged in the teaching of general and Judaic studies, it these mentors reflect both aspects of the school program. Mentors are experienced teachers who have agreed to work with DeLeT fellows in their classrooms throughout the school year. They coordinate their primary responsibility for coordinating student learning with the additional responsibilities of guiding, supporting, and assessing the DeLeT fellows' learning. Working closely with Clinical Educators and other program staff, Mentors play a vital and indispensable role in helping fellows learn to teach and develop the tools to study and improve their teaching. Mentors have already demonstrated success in their classrooms and welcome the opportunity to continue to learn and share their knowledge. Mentors are able to talk about their practice and about the goals that affect the decisions they make. They are role models for novice teachers because of their expertise, communications skills, flexibility, patience, and commitment to Jewish knowledge and values. They continue to learn with the DeLeT faculty throughout the year. DeLeT and the Teaching Profession The DeLeT program envisions schools as places that support teacher learning as well as student learning. Our goal is to prepare Jewish day school teachers who consider active leadership and rigorous exchange among colleagues as normal instruments of continuous improvement in teaching and learning. This requires a fundamental commitment to the proposition that teacher learning is part of the ongoing work of teachers. Toward that end, DeLeT seeks to build new norms of teaching - to ensure a cultural shift in which isolation and privacy are replaced by openness, collegiality, and experimentation. As a result, Jewish day school students will receive the benefits of maximum contact with and influence from experienced, highly effective teachers who are continuing to study and improve their practice. About Jewish Day Schools A Jewish day school education is universally acknowledged to be one of the most effective ways to ensure the identification, affiliation, and participation of the next generation of Jews in Jewish religious, communal and philanthropic life. This conclusion has been confirmed over and over again by studies reaching as far back as the 1970s and was confirmed most dramatically by the data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Study. According to a census of day schools in the 2001-2002 academic year, the fastest growth in Jewish day schools over the last decades has been in the non-Orthodox sector: Reform, Conservative, and non-denominational community day schools. For the past twenty years, since the Reform Movement sanctioned day school education, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, through its Rhea Hirsch School of Education located on the Los Angeles campus, has been in the forefront of day school education, working to support and enrich liberal and pluralistic day schools throughout North America. Most recently, the RHSOE has focused on teacher leadership because of our belief that day school education can have its greatest impact when every teacher is prepared to be a Jewish educator and serve as a Jewish role model. The DeLeT strategy for strengthening the field of day school education is to recruit, prepare and induct new day school teachers, to enhance the pedagogic capacities of current day school teachers through advanced professional development., and to encourage schools to support teachers' continuous growth. For More Information Contact Rivka Ben Daniel, DeLeT Educational Director at rbendaniel@huc.edu or 213-765-2190. |
