Program Bank

Pinat Chinuch (USY Educator’s Corner)

This site will be updated daily during Summer 2011- please come back and visit. If you are an educator and planning your school curriculum now, and there is a topic listed that you would like material for immediately, e-mail Amy Dorsch at dorsch@uscj.org.

Please visit the Resources section of our website to order educational sourcebooks at a variety of great topics. The brochure can be viewed by clicking on the link on the Resources page.

This material, although created for experiential/informal settings of USY and Kadima, can be used within a congregational school environment as well. To see additional ideas for Congregational school-youth group collaboration click here. Please note that some of this material may appear out of date and may need to be revised, however content is still useful and relevant.

These programs differ slightly from what you will find on the program bank page. Most sessions use experiential learning techniques and are best used for:

  • USY Sicha/Limud/Kitah
  • Hebrew High and Congregational School settings
  • Camp programs such as Encampment
  • Summer Programs education sessions

Scroll down to find sessions divided by topic.

Please feel free to request an educational session or submit one by emailing Amy Dorsch at dorsch@uscj.org.

Teaching Techniques and Resources

  • Active Learning Techniques- Ideas for making Jewish learning active
  • Lesson format for experiential/active learning- focuses on process over content- what you want learners to do in order to gain knowledge.
  • JESNA- Jewish Education Service of North America, offers fantastic online educational resources, offers e-newsletters on a variety of cutting edge Jewish educational topics through their Sosland Online Resource Center and QuickBytes e-newsletters. Email Jenny Aisenberg at jaisenberg@jesna.org to sign up for this free newsletter and access to webinars on related topics.
  • Have you checked out MediaMidrash, a site owned and operated by Jewish educational publishing company, Behrman House? Media Midrash offers Jewish and secular video and other media on a variety of Jewish topics. It’s a fantastic, creative way to transmit Jewish knowledge the ways youth today learn best. See Links to Jewish Resources on the USY homepage, for more great websites you can access to help you teach!

Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism through “Humor”

B’tzelem Elohim

Reccommended: please order a copy of USY’s “Love Your Neighbor, Love Yourself: Building Healthy Relationships,” for an entire chapter on B’tzelem Elohim, covering topics such as body image, self esteem, tzinut and sexuality. Sample pages can be viewed here.

Conservative Judaism

Derech Eretz

USY has published an enitre sourcebook on mitzvot relating to community responibility, including a chapter dedicated to Pidyon Shvuyim which includes activities on the topic. To order a copy of Tzarchei Tzibur: Community Repsonsibility, visit USCJ Book Service (look for a yellow coverd book). For sample pages, please email Amy Dorsch at dorsch@uscj.org

Disabilities

Environment

*Check out the 2011 USY publication “Mah Gadlu Ma’asekha: Judaism and the Environment” available through USCJ Book Service. Complimentary lesson plans are available with book purchase by contacting Amy Dorsch.

Holidays

Israel

Aliyah

The following 5 programs are a joint collaboration between MERCAZ, the Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement and USY. Programs were prepared by Naomi Freedman, Shlichat Aliyah for the Conservative Movement and Amy Dorsch, USY Education Coordinator.

For lessons on Pidyon Shvuyim or redeeming Israel’s captive soldiers, please see the Derech Eretz or ethics section above.

 

Jewish Identity

Kashrut

Misc.

Social Justice, Tzedakah and Tikun Olam

Tefillah

Please refer to the Creative Tefillah page for additional creative service ideas.

Theology