Supporting Each Other Judgement Free
School is beginning and this year, more than ever, educators in early childhood centers and religious schools need support. A year and a half of changing plans that we worked so hard on, learning entirely new ways of teaching, comforting others while feeling uncertain ourselves, and doing our best to create a sense of community while students are separated into pods or logging into class from their homes has left educators running on fumes.
As we all dig deep to ensure that the start of this school year is as special and exciting as we can make it, our Jewish tradition offers answers as to where we might look for support. Hinei ma tov u’ma naim, shevet achim gam yachad: how good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to sit together (Psalm 133:1). We are in this together and we understand one another’s struggles and achievements, as educators, better than anyone else. While early childhood centers and religious schools welcome children to campus at different times and for different programs, the educational leaders of these departments can find time to sit with one another on a regular basis, without a formal agenda. Having this time set aside to speak with someone who inherently understands what we do and the intricacies of the organizations in which we work, can become the extra emotional sustenance that we need to propel us into this new school year.
This year we can make an extra effort to support our fellow educators by sitting together without judgment through:
- Joy: sharing our successes with students and watching their growth, watching our teachers develop professionally, celebrating lifecycle events, enjoy the moments when we get to feel a sense of “normalcy”, and laugh at the silly things that we see and hear when our students are with us.
- Hardship: the personal and professional challenges that Covid creates for educators, the shortage of teachers and money to pay them what they deserve, and the fear of our students, staff, families, or ourselves becoming ill.
- Change: the ways that we have had to learn to adapt to teaching our students in new ways, the ever-changing guidelines and mandates placed on schools, and the ways that many aspects of our jobs have dramatically changed since Covid began.
Rose Orlovich, MAEd, MAEd ECE
Director of Education
Lee and Frank Goldberg Family Religious School
Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego, CA
