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Teens 9th-12th Grades

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THE JCC MONTHLY
TEEN DANCE CLUB

presents

A

TOTALLY ROCKIN'
FEATURING

TEEN BAND

"The Originals"

with Mark Leuchter,
Scott Glickman and
Justin Feldman

ALSO FEATURING
THE HOT SOUNDS OF

"The Class Act DJ's"

with Paul Niser
and Eric Golden

MARCH 4

9-12 Midnight
JCC/JPM Building

15100 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park
(JCC Members $4.00/Non-Center Members $5.00.
You must bring your JCC membership cards with you.)

r

-coupon

This entitles you to 50% Off
of the admission price
to the

Students in Shir Tikvah's high school class watch an instructional video.

9 P.M.-Midnight

Teen Students Are Retained
Through Creative Programming

MARCH 4

HEIDI PRESS

JCC MONTHLY TEEN DANCE CLUB

JCC Ten Mile/JPM Building

L

News Editor

I

GET READY TO ROCK!

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TUES. THRU SUNDAY 11-5 THURS. AND FRI. 11-9

48

FRIDAY, MARCH_3, 1989 ,__

t's Sunday morning and a
parent is trying to wake
her son for Hebrew
school. Since her son has
already been bar mitzvah, he
feels he doesn't have to attend
anymore. His mother has
other ideas.
"Honey. Get up. You've got
Hebrew school this morning."
"Aw, Mom. It's Sunday. Do
I have to go?"
"Yes. You have to go. Let's
get moving?'
For parents of teens in Con-
gregation Shir Tikvah of
Troy's high school program,
the scenario takes a different
look.
"Mom, Dad, get up. I have
to go to Hebrew school."
"Rmph, mumble, grumble!"
"Come on, Mom. Come on,
Dad. I really want to go. We
have a field trip today."
What makes Shir Tikvah's
high school program so at-
tractive that the kids want to
go? Perhaps the answer lies in
the fact that its approach is a
little offbeat.
Meeting every two or three
weeks, depending on the
availability of Rabbi Arnold
Sleutelberg — he splits his
time between the Troy con-
gregation and Temple Beth El
in Traverse City — the high
school program strays from
the traditional classroom set-
ting and ventures into field
trips and meetings in
classmates' homes. However,
when there is no field trip
planned the class may meet
at the Hamilton School in
Troy, where the younger

children attend the United
Hebrew Schools branch.
Shir Tikvah's Sunday-only
program, which lasts about
two hours, could be in the
form of a discussion led by the
rabbi or a field trip to a local
Jewish communal institu-
tion. Prior to the discussion
and field trip the teens have
a bagel breakfast. Where the
traditional classroom situa-
tion shuns socializing, the
Shir Tikvah program en-
courages it.
"They (the students) really
enjoy each other and they are
very lively and enthusiastic,"
explained Phyllis Wenig, one
of the three coordinators who
also has a teen enrolled in the
high school. "When they're
on the field trips they ask
very good questions and are
very intent on what they're
doing?'
Wenig, a psychiatric social
worker, created the cur-
riculum with Shir Tikvah
members Ruth Zendel and
Ruth Kranitz. Rather than
textbooks, the program
created by the women and the
rabbi makes use of packets of
materials comprised of
newspaper and magazine ar-
ticles and items from Reform
Jewish resources, particular-
ly from the Union of
American Hebrew
Congregations.
The creation of these
packets as opposed to the use
of textbooks was deliberate,
Wenig said. "We're being
realistic about the fact that
these kids aren't going to read
and they aren't going to do too
much homework preparation.
We're having class sessions,
audio-visual stuff and ex-

,

periential stuff. We're hoping
by building on those different
types of experiences this will
make some sort of indelible
impression!'
For Kenny Zendel, son of
one of the program coor-
dinators, having non-
traditional Hebrew school
class "isn't boring; it's fun."
The 16-year-old Rochester
Adams High School junior
said he attended- a regular
Jewish Sunday school but
found it "pretty boring. You
didn't want to wake up to go
to it. None of the kids wanted
to participate in the regular
class. Here, everyone wants
to."
The attraction for 15-year-
old Michael Grad is the infor-
mality. "I like the way it's
run," Grad said, "how it's so
informal." It's not unusual to
see the teens sprawled out on
a floor in one of their living
rooms watching an educa-
tional videotape.
"You don't have to read
anything," said 14-year-old
Tamar Galed, "but you want
to. You don't only learn in
class." Chad Witkow, 13,
reads beyond the basic class
materials. "Sometimes it's in-
teresting to look up and see if
there's more!'
Rabbi Sleutelberg credits
the relaxed atmosphere for in-
spiring the students to in-
vestigate the topics beyond
the class time. "Our kids are
learning a tremendous
amount in -a relaxed, informal
environment. A traditional
classroom wouldn't go over on
a Sunday morning. They're
too sophisticated?'
Sleutelberg sees the Shir
Tikvah program as a last

.

