Professional Development Programs
From on-site programs, to two-day seminars, to week-long institutes, the Center offers in-depth, transformative professional development opportunities for teachers from across the nation.
We invite you to explore the unique ways that the study of Jewish culture can both inform and transform learning for teachers, their students, and schools.
Current opportunities for professional growth and renewal are listed below.
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In cooperation with the Posen Foundation, the Center for Studies in Jewish Education is proud to co-host three professional development seminars for America’s educators in 2012. Interested educators can apply here.
Not Quite Kosher: Secular Jewish Writers from Kafka to Chabon
February 26-27, 2012, Miami FL: A two-day seminar on the subject of contemporary Jewish Writers.
Before Night: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe at the Dawn of the 20th Century
May 13-14, 2012, New York, NY: A two-day seminar on the subject of Eastern European Jewish life and history. (application deadline: March 26, 2012)
“To Bigotry No Sanction”: American Society and Jewish Culture
July 8-13, Santa Barbara, CA: A six-day seminar on the subject of Jewish culture and American society. (Application deadline: May 7, 2012)
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WINTER 2012 On-Line Course!
Imagine a conversation between Rambam and Cleopatra.
What does this have to do with Classroom Action Research?
Join an action packed on-line
Classroom/Practitioner Action Research course
this winter at the University of Cincinnati!
(18EDST 750)
This on-line course serves as an introduction to the theory and practice of classroom/practitioner action research (CPAR). We will examine key aspects of classroom action research including: developing researchable questions, investigating prior research in the field, collecting data, analyzing data, and sharing findings with the field. As a course in action research, we will make consistent efforts to connect our research to practice. Rooted in the idea that learning from experience is key to constructing knowledge, we will participate in the Place Out of Time (POOT) simulation game – an on-line social studies/language arts curriculum for middle school students across the country. In addition to graduate students at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor who serve as mentors to the game, our class will participate in mentoring/researching roles. For more information about this project, see http://ics.soe.umich.edu/main/section/5
This course is sponsored by
The Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture, University of Cincinnati.
For more information about the course, contact Miriam Raider-Roth at raidermm@uc.edu
• For matriculated UC students, please register via One Stop.
• For non-matriculated UC students (professional development participants) please contact Shelby Ellis at ellissy@ucmail.uc.edu for registration information
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Previous Posen Foundation Professional Development Seminars:
Summer 2011 CSJEC Course Offerings:
CI 801:How to Use Archives, Field Trips, & Project-Based
Learning in Social Studies Teaching: America’s Responses to the Nazi Holocaust and African-American Slavery
This course has three main objectives:
- to give students practical experience learning how to use archives and
primary sources; - to model how such research can serve as a hub for project-based learning in
Social Studies classrooms; - to bring the projects and learning to full realization in the context of a field
trip experience designed and guided by the students.
This course will focus on using archives, field trips, and project-based learning as
a platform for exploring American society in cultural and historical perspective.
By investigating discrete historical topics in comparative context, together with
the notion of “place as text,” we will generate useful and accessible narratives
that throw light on American society in cultural and historical perspective.
Students will also develop the tools and skills required to be historians, think
critically about the world, and make connections between their lives and the
study of the past.Of course, the process of research and discovery in the archives is itself an
important educational experience — and this experience resonates with a variety
of high school needs, including AP exams.
Working in small groups and closely supervised by the instructor, students will
select and research specific historic topics and sites in depth, make decisions
about focusing on key documents and texts, and design on-site model activities
that put their knowledge to practical use — all with an eye toward creating an
overarching narrative about American society’s development over time.
2011 Posen Foundation Professional Development Seminars:
The Origins and Development of Jewish Secularism
May 15-16, 2011
New York, NY
Highlights include:
• Location: New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memoral to the Holocaust
• The Posen Foundation covers seminar and travel expenses for those selected
• Application deadline: Monday, April 4, 2011, or until filled
About the Seminar
What is Jewish secularism? What does it mean for a religious group to secularize? How does this come to bear on modern Jewish identity? The Posen Foundation Professional Development Seminar provides teachers with an opportunity to study the rise and development of secular Jewish history and culture in the West. Through lectures, activities, and group study sessions, the two-day intensive seminar will explore the emergence of Jewish secularism in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. How did the European Enlightenment affect minority cultures? We will examine this question through the twin processes of Jewish Emancipation and Jewish Enlightenment, the impact of Baruch Spinoza, Moses Mendelssohn, and other significant thinkers, and the decline of traditionalism in European Jewish society. The seminar will draw on two new important books, Shmuel Feiner’s The Origins of Jewish Secularization in Eighteenth-Century Europe and David Biale’s Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought, as well as key historical documents.
For those selected to attend, all expenses will be covered by the Posen Foundation, including tuition, airfare, lodging, and options for graduate credit. Posen Seminar attendees return to the classroom with new curricular materials and models designed for use in both existing and newly developed courses. Following the conclusion of the seminar, teachers have the opportunity for ongoing support, consultation, and collaboration with scholars and the growing community of seminar participants. Participants are encouraged to share the lessons, units, and new courses they have implemented in their own schools and to return to later seminars for continued learning and professional development.
Please follow this link to access application materials
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Teaching the Secular Jewish Experience in Multicultural Schools:
The Latin American Jewish Experience
February 6-7, 2011
Miami, Florida
Location: The Jewish Museum of Florida, University of Miami, & Florida International University
Culture and Identity, Past & Present: Exploring the Jewish Experience Through Texts, Films, & Literature
July 25-30, 2010
Cincinnati, OH
Location: The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
Designed for middle school and high school teachers interested in questions of culture, identity, and multiculturalism, this Posen Foundation Professional Development Seminar emphasizes the history, cultures, and literature of the Jewish people. The seminar was held in Cincinnati, Sunday evening, July 25 through Friday, July 30, 2010. Participants could take the seminar for graduate credit and/or CEUs.
Please click on the following links for a program brochure and the program application.
Professional Development Seminar Brochure