Administrators and educators get creative while learning about hallways and other spaces as tools for student learning, parent engagement, retention and admission of new families, branding and more! 

Israel’s conflict with Hamas since the atrocities of October 7th has become a turning point for Diaspora Jews and for their understanding of modern antisemitism.  As events and narratives spill over into our daily lives they may challenge the way we view our friends, community and national and religious identities.  Maintaining a meaningful relationship with Israel can be difficult for the Diaspora even in the best of days, and together, we will explore why Israel should, can and will remain a cornerstone of American Jewish life for generations to come.  In this session, parents and community members will engage in thoughtful discussion and exploration of texts that will ultimately help us raise resilient young Jews together, while drawing from experts in fields of child psychology and development, education, and identity.  Participants will gain useful tools and resources for family conversations, for navigating difficult conversations with our Jewish and non-Jewish counterparts at school and at work, and for framing Israel in our lives today and for the future, even when we feel at odds with its policies or actions. 

Were you taught the myth that Hebrew was revived in the 1800s by one man? As it turns out, the truth is far more fascinating! Primary sources build strong foundations of Israel literacy.  Together, we will explore memoirs, journals, excerpts from novels, and government policies to bust the mythology that Hebrew was revived solely by Eliezer Ben Yehuda.  You will have the opportunity to discuss as a group the implications of Hebrew language learning for raising resilient young Jews and the importance of knowing our own national history.  find new ways to help your students engage in informed conversations about what the school policy regarding Hebrew should be and why, based on Hebrew’s role in Jewish national identity and society.

Get a glimpse into how Rashi, with CIE’s guidance, uses primary sources to build strong foundations of Israel literacy.  Together, we will explore maps of land purchase that CIE developed directly from the “Tabu” (the land registry), confidential minutes from a Zionist meeting about strategic land purchase, and excerpts from Arab newspapers in translation to investigate whether claims from today’s conflict hold water.  You will have the opportunity to discuss as a group the implications for raising resilient young Jews and the importance of knowing our own national history.

Given historical context and primary sources, participants will explore the processes of a young state that is still evolving.  We will explore questions such as: How has the state grappled with finding a balance between democratic norms and Jewish identity?  What are the checks and balances that keep its entities and leaders held accountable to the public they serve?  How can the state strategically move forward with normalizing relationships in the region and around the world?  Why do borders change?

Through multiple hands on activities, explore how to engage with students of all ages in meaningful ways (K-12th grades).  This session includes examples of unique assessments, essential questions to guide units, and how to address universal values with the benefits of belonging to a minority community.  The session ends with an inspirational call to action for all students.

Capitalizing on Israel’s “start-up nation” character, educators will design experiences to bolster science, math, technology, art and engineering in a “Shark Tank” style exploration of Israel’s impact in the world. 

Leaders and Educators experience moments in history to discern the guiding principles that informed Israeli leaders’ decisions given the tremendous responsibility of securing the future of the nation and the challenges of given moments, in order to better reflect on the decisions we make to further our mission and goals and the opportunities to foster the next generation of future leaders of our Jewish communities.  Are leaders born or made?  What kind of leader are you?

While exploring Israel’s history of elections and what they have meant, educators will have opportunities to learn about the upcoming elections, the relevant parties, their platforms, the challenges of forming a coalition government, and how to make these relevant to students today through exciting simulations.

Educators will experience how to bring Israeli newspapers to the classroom in ways that highlight unresolved matters, including military service exemptions, LGBTQ rights, women in society, freedom of speech, religious and civil matters, and more.  We try to deduce how the State of Israel maintains a Jewish character while living the inherent freedoms that democracies provide, and where these two values might clash. 

Educators will explore the drawbacks of news and social media, understand how to foster critical thinking and critical consumption of sources, learn how to design rich questions around historical context, gain practical tools on how to embed historical primary sources into modern day conversations, and inspire a healthy dose of humility in students exploring current events, by understanding that we may not have crucial information due to confidential and classified artifacts that only become public decades later.

Using hands-on experiential learning activities, teachers explore how to work with stations and portfolios. Best practices include how to differentiate instruction, provide alternative formative assessments, and integrate learning across multiple subject areas. 

How did the Zionist platform first emerge, how did differing Jewish views coalesce and how did an ideology become a political movement?  Engage in hot-topic debate and represent your community while envisioning the future.  Was Zionism ever monolithic?  Is today’s Zionism?  What can we learn from this about how to teach the State of Israel?  Which other moments in history can be taught in this way?

Using excerpts from historical and current Zionist thinkers, we will have round table discussions about people who defy stereotypes, how to have fruitful and experiential text studies with consideration for differing points of view, and what diversity means for the future of Israel-Diaspora Jewry relations in the 21st century.  What are the issues that polarize us and that bring us together?

While learning about Israel’s national interests and those of state and non-state actors in the Middle East, experience how to design instructional units for all ages.   Learn how to shift conversations to the essential questions, create informed dialogue, and emerge with a framework for understanding Israel’s past, present and future.

Tired of hearing about projects that teach trivia knowledge easily found at the click of a button?  This session will help leaders and educators ensure deep and rigorous learning for Israel literacy while ensuring that students do not develop large gaps in knowledge.  Align your program with Israel standards and benchmarks to ensure success, while exploring examples of powerful units that are memorable and relevant for learners of all ages. 

This session explores Israeli identity in historical context, with a look at pre-state through modern era genres and hits that became part of the canon of collective memory.

Through the works and excerpts from Amichai to Amos Oz, and from Holocaust poetry to Sepharadic reflections, the session explores how different artists experienced living in the land of Israel over time.  A look at post-modernism works shows that today’s generation of authors grapple with similar themes in different ways, while providing social critique, deeper comprehension of shared values, and a look to the future. 

Communication with parents and the broader community is vital to the success of our in-class endeavors, and how we spotlight and celebrate student accomplishments elevates the value of this instruction.  Learn from our successes about innovative ways to tap the human resources in your community and to spotlight your students to further enhance Israel education in fun and exciting ways.  Make your organization the community’s hub for Israel engagement.

Teachers cover the research and best practices, as well as how to meet core competencies, standards and benchmarks in all subject areas through the study of Israel.  Possible topics to showcase the benefits of interdisciplinary work may include Israel’s wine, Israel’s water, Israel’s foreign relations and much more!

Leaders and educators often struggle with key issues such as: Will Israel education offend or draw in families and potential customers? Can educators be impartial with students and should they be?  To what extent should we be teaching multiple narratives and how do we bring difficult topics into our learning environments effectively?   Recognizing the many dispositions employees hold, can a common culture around Israel education be purposefully created and how inclusive of differing viewpoints should schools be while staying true to mission and values?  Research and data-driven decision-making for best practices will be shared and explored with sensitivity and strategic planning.   

All too often graduates of Jewish environments report feeling ill-prepared when they enter public schools or universities and are unsure about how to weigh new events and claims in the context of their beloved and protected experiences as joyful young Jewish students.  Learn about the best practices in preparing students through education vs. inculcation, and through primary sources vs. narratives, using tried and true frameworks of understanding.

While traditional advocacy taught Israel’s history through tit-for-tat rebukes to biased narratives, newer and more effective age-developmental strategies must be employed to help students comprehend complex and insidious scenarios, create safe environments for themselves and their peers, educate others who are open to learning, engage in mutual and reciprocal support of non-Jewish entities against bigotry, racism, and hatred, and represent their right to Jewish self-determination in avenues that will yield efficacious results.  Educators will explore what causes student dissonance, how to help them recognize it through role play of scenarios, and how to connect students to local and national organizations that will support them in times of need.    

Educating our students to be productive and influential democratic citizens requires a sophisticated understanding of how to employ the freedoms we enjoy.  We will explore Israel’s history of protests, what galvanized the Israel public, how individuals organized to shape the country’s future, and what we can learn from active participation to yield results.  Educators will gain resources and tools to work with students on designing protests of their own and to join or create organizations that will bring about their desired collective Jewish and democratic future.

Educators will become familiar with major waves of immigration, their push and pull factors, the sources that reflect people’s experiences, the challenges of the absorbing nations, and the harmful stereotypes that waves have had to overcome.   We will explore modern-day challenges of asylum seekers, national identity, economic capacity, and values and norms that we hold dear.  Examples of units and simulations will be shared to engage students as future policymakers. 

How often do educators teach students to identify locations on maps and why should it matter?  We will explore how geography and topography impact sovereignty, changing borders, society and economy, so that students can recognize bias in maps, understand correlations among locations and climate, and explore ways to better understand Israel’s challenges and successes in foreign relations based on information gleaned in maps.