The

Way.

We

Learn

A Fair Wage Would Help

Attracting young teachers is vital

and it will take more than good wishes.

by parents. In the
1970s, most parents
thought of nursery
schools as a nice place
C was the best of
for children to play for
times. It was the
a few hours a .week.
In the 1980s and
worst of times."
Charles Dickens
'905, all this changed.
description of Europe on
Many women went
the eve of the French
back to work or contin-
Revolution could well
ued working once they
had children. They
apply.ro the current state
of nursery school educa-
needed full-day day-care
tion.
options. The concept of
Never has there been
the team approach to
Michaelyn Silverman
child rearing between
more compelling evi-
dence of how crucial the
parents and preschool
professionals emerged.
.preschool years are to every area of
Teachers, now working with chil-
learning. Yet throughout the field,
dren 30, 40 or more hours a week,
early childhood personnel barely make
created strategies to enhance behavior
a living wage, and few young people
and value development along with tra-
are attracted to our profession.
ditional learning projects.
I have been the director of a Jewish
In the last two years, new brain
nursery school for 22 years. During
research has initiated another revolu-
that time, there have been tremendous
tion in early childhood education.
changes in the way ; childcare is used
Scientists have shown that the human
brain grows more in the first five years
Michaelyn Silverman is director of
than at any other time in a person's
Temple Emanu-El Nursery School in
life. Further, and more amazing, a
Oak Park.

brain that does not receive adequate
learning stimulation in the first three
years loses much of its growth poten-
tial as it continues to mature.
For example, children are born
with the potential to learn any lan-
guage on the planet, to replicate per-
fectly the unique sounds and inflec-
tions of any language.
However, after three or four years,
that ability sharply declines: By the
teen years, when public school typical-
ly introduces foreign language study,
the human brain has long since
peaked in its ability to learn lan-
guages. Indeed, people who learn sec-
ond languages as teens or adults can
never learn to sound
like a native.
Looking ahead to
the next five years, the
new research under-
scores the crucial
impact that nursery
school professionals
will continue to have
on young children. It
is also likely that full-

Teaching Tradition

stronger as our children become more
interested in attending religious school
and learning about our religion.
Today, more than ever, middle and
high school students are given the
opportunity to travel to Israel. To
enhance the experience of being in
Israel, conversational Hebrew should
be in the religious school curriculum.
Further, in our society there is an
increasing diversity between the differ-
ent forms of Judaism. The students in
a Reform religious school need to
understand the beliefs of Conservative
and Orthodox Jews. Although we may
practice and observe Jewish holidays
and rituals differently, we all make up
one Jewish community. Once the
Reform students have been taught the
various backgrounds and practices of.
all segments of our people, they have
the ability and information needed to .
choose how they wish to celebrate the

MICHAELYN
SILVERMAN
Special to the Jewish News

I

Make the courses both
complete and involving.

KATIE S. FELDMAN
Special to the Jewish News

IN

any Jewish rituals and
traditions go unexplained
to our children. It is the
job of a religious school .
to teach the rituals, traditions and back-
ground of our people to facilitate our

Katie S. Feldman, 17, will be a senior
at North Farmington High School in
the fill. She's a member of the Temple
Israel Youth Group.

children's understanding of the practices
of the Jewish people. It is critical that
our students have the knowledge and
spiritual basis to create a lifelong con 7
nection to and pride in Judaism.
It is imperative that every school
have a good curriculum and well-qual-
ified staff. It is equally important that
students have a desire to learn and to
attend religious school on a regular
basis.
Therefore, our religious schools
must incorporate hands-on learning
activities. Students who observe the
process of writing a Torah become
connected to prayer and study. These
interesting hands-on activities.will
allow our Jewish community to grow

FAIR WAGE on page 72

TEACHING TRADITION on page 72

My Worst
Nightmare

MOLLY ROTH
Special to the Jewish News

0

ne summer day, while
relaxing on my ham-
mock and sipping icy
lemonade, I thought
about Sunday school.
I lay my glass down and began
to drift off into a dreamy daze. It
was a wonderful dream. I was in
charge of the Sunday school. I was
sitting at my desk listing all the
wonderful conveniences I could
provide all of the kids. How was I
supposed to know what I faced?
My thoughts were interrupted
by a knock on the door. It was an
angry teacher, complaining that he
had spent his
time making
worksheets for
his class but
someone had
taken them. My
smile turned
upside down. I
hadn't expected
any problems .
I thought fast
and looked
Molly Roth
through all the
papers stacked
on my desk, trying to find some-
thing. I had no idea of what to do,
. so I reassured him that we would
find them sooner or later. His face
went from red to redder and he told
me that he needed them now I was
upset. All I could say was that he
would have to find an alternative.
I went back to my desk, ripped
up my list and threw it away No
use trying if the day was going to
be this chaotic. I would have to try
to find his papers. How? With all
of these things going through my
mind, I had a big case of stress.
. I felt something hit me. I darted
up to see my little sister trying to
take her Frisbee away without wak-
ing me. She told me she didn't
mean to hit me. I told her that it
was okay. I was in over my head,
trying to decide if it was a dream.
I'm glad that I'm just a kid. I'm too
young to deal with stress-inducing
teachers. I will give it a few years.

Molly Roth, 11, is a student at

Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park.

8/6
1999

Detroit Jewish News

71