Yachad and the International Jewish Resource Center for Inclusion and Special Education will present a five-session webinar series, “Including Special Needs Students into a Limudei Kodesh (Jewish Studies) Classroom and Curricula,” beginning Wednesday January 8, from 12-2 p.m., EST, with its first session, “Edible Torah Projects: A Webinar on Experiential Learning.” The intended audience is day school and yeshiva teachers who include diverse students in their classrooms.
Registration is now in progress. Those who register will be given the password for the webinar. There will be a charge of $40 per webinar, $35 each for three or more. Register online at yachad.org/webinar, or call 212-613-8127.
The International Jewish Resource Center for Inclusion and Special Education is affiliated with Yachad/The National Council for Disabilities, an agency of the Orthodox Union. Yachad’s emphasis is on Inclusion of those with disabilities into the mainstream Jewish community.
“Professional development is an essential part of educating our students,” explained Batya Jacob, program director of Yachad and director of the Resource Center. “Teachers need to learn the newest techniques to teach all students and to learn creativity at the same time. With this webinar series, educators from across the North America have the opportunity to grow in their teaching skills and creativity.”
Mrs. Jacob will be the presenter in the first video which will deal with “using food to create fun and easy projects that have to do with each week’s Torah portion.” For the webinar, Mrs. Jacob has chosen Parshat Terumah, which concerns the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). For the webinar, participants should have available, besides three different colors of construction paper, cookie wafers, Fig Newtons, jelly beans, red licorice, gummie bears, coconut or chocolate shavings, a Rolo or Peanut Butter Cup, pretzel sticks, caramel cubes and chocolate, each in a specified amount.
Future sessions, all of them on Wednesdays, include: February 5, “Using Tech to Teach Diverse Learners Limudei Koshesh” (register by January 27); March 5, “Using Technology to Teach Diverse Learners” (February 24); April 2, “Experiential Learning for the Seder” (March 24); May 7, “Making Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) Come Alive” (April 30).