Schoolsand Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Schoolsand Community - Essay Example Members of the congregation use the congregation and synagogue to nurture their souls and connection to God, to educate our children as well as themselves, to cultivate leadership among all congregants, to celebrate our joys, to comfort those among us who are suffering, to serve the community and the world at large, and to promote peace and understanding in everyday actions and overall personnel and professional lives. The great traditions of Judaism are preserved, responding to the current concerns of our community and the world with a plan for a future of sacred engagement for generations to come. Any community needs education in order to provide conformity in belief systems and practices. Socialization provides for a part of the development of focus and meaning within the members of the community on what values are treasured and what is in violation of those values. Specific education also provides an opportunity for the congregation to develop a set of beliefs that supports the o verall well-being of each of the members as they function within the society as productive and supportive members. The mission of the intended program will be to meet some of the needs in the congregation through keeping up on advancement of skills for educators so that the efforts to draw in community members to the congregation can be supported. Two specific and critical areas that are currently in need of solutions to fill the observable gaps in the current structure have been identified. These critical areas are: 1. Enhancing each teacher’s ability and resources for critical thinking, self-reflection and improving teaching methods. 2. Discovering ways to engage new families and new members to join and engage in religious school and synagogue involvement in order to keep the synagogue’s mission of a vibrant community which is based on sharing the lessons from Jewish history. These two concepts have been used to frame the mission of this program so that specific obje ctives and goals could be identified. The following objectives and goals will help to define the process of designing the program towards an overall successful outcome. Objectives 1. To determine the best possible structure through which to educate teachers and mentors within the synagogue so that they can then use that knowledge in the teaching opportunities within the synagogue’s community 2. Determining the factors that need to be assessed on a regular basis in order to define how an assessment program can be developed to support the needs within the educational program. 3. Developing a budget for the educational programs. Goals 1. Keeping teachers educated in current trends in early childhood development and using this knowledge to enhance the education offered at the synagogue to parents and the wider congregation in support of developing Jewish Life educational opportunities. 2. Creating an assessment program in order to determine the success or gaps in the educational programs, maximizing the reflective process in order to fully understand if the programs are on course or need adjustment. 3. Optimize appropriate fund raising opportunities to support the budget. In order to develop a foundation from which to design this program, the following values will help to guide the development of the program. These are the six pillars of faith that support the development of all of the functions within the community, defining the members as a people and supporting their values and belief systems. These are the core values and they represent what the synagogue holds sacred. †¢Torah (â€Å"Teaching†): We nurture meaningful connection to God and to the core ethics and values