Creating Professional Development Opportunities for Staff

This section offers educators four samples of programs that can be used to effect changed "on the ground" in institutional culture and/or with educators. These examples demonstrate how to bring educators to a deeper awareness of evaded curricular issues and initial practical steps they can take to build skills into their practice.

The programs in this section were facilitated during 2006-2008 as training sessions for Jewish educators on addressing evaded curricular issues. Following are the guiding principles behind the sessions.

• Systemic change can occur in institutions as educators gain knowledge and expertise on evaded curricular issues.
• Educators need opportunities to ask questions and reflect on their practice, as well as articulate the obstacles and challenges that they foresaw in engaging in this work.
• As educators participate in these types of programs, they gain exposure to pedagogy that can be implemented in their own professional development settings.

Each sample includes a brief description of the training, ways in which the program is adaptable for different audiences, outside resources that complemented or were used in the training, "entry-points" used, lessons the facilitator learned and a program outline.