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respectful, and the parents side with the
teacher in most instances.
One day, the boys were talking about
Jonah and the whale after Hebrew class,
and looked at their English teacher as if to
say, "You wouldn't know about that."
"Oh, but I do," said Mewhort. They -
were surprised that she knew something
about their beliefs. "I try very hard to learn
from them," says Mewhort, 48.
Sallie Fogarty teaches fourth grade at
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. This is her 12th
year.
Fogarty's teaching curriculum includes
current events, like the Middle East, and
even some sports news. "That's how you
appeal to boys," she says.
When Fogarty first started at Beth
Gym teacher Bill Andrade, with student Yitzhak Applebaum, is one of two
Yehudah, she invoked an award system to
non-Jewish educational professionals on staff at Yeshivat Akiva.
reinforce appropriate behavior. For Fogarty,
it all boils down to respect. "I treat them
The required reading was out of sync with the boys' lives.
with respect and I expect respect back." A
Albarelli's decision to create his own stories with Jewish charac- sense of humor is also key, she says.
ters they could relate to as a means of teaching English was the
There are 16 boys in Fogarty's classroom. That's "like 32
turning point. The boys grew to love English, and their
girls," she jokes. "I adore them. They're just more rambunc-
teacher.
tious.
Albarelli also asked his students to teach him Yiddish. It put
Fogarty is amazed how well her students do on year-end
them in the position of teacher and they gave Albarelli a week-
tests, considering the length of time they have for English.
ly Yiddish quiz.
Covering all the material in the time allotted is Fogarty's great-
Albarelli believes secular teachers at yeshivot should not try
est challenge.
to bring Mars to Earth. They should accept Mars and enjoy it.
Her greatest reward is when a student says, "That's schmintz
(easy)." Says Fogarty, "Then I know I've gotten through."
Kathy Mewhort
Kathy Mewhort is a sixth-grade teacher at Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah's boys school in Southfield. She.teaches spelling, read-
ing, English, math, science and social studies. This is her sixth
consecutive year at the school, though she has taught there
intermittently for 12 years. English is the primary language in
the home for almost everybody, says Mewhort.
There are 10 boys ranging in age from 10-12 in Mewhort's
class. While newspapers are permitted, textbooks are carefully
scrutinized by the administration. Mewhort is not restricted,
for the most part, in what she teaches, but must be sensitive to
the material.
If she shows a video for geography, she watches for how peO-
ple are dressed or if beaches are shown with people in
swimwear. Images of women in bathing suits are not allowed,
but pictures of girls in general are permissible.
Mewhort demands respect from her students and gets it,
most of the time. Her worst discipline problem, she says, is
protecting children from classmate harassment.
Sixth-grade boys attend school from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
and they do have recess, where they have a chance to unwind.
Mewhort is Lutheran. Though her religion is rarely referred
to, some students have asked her what she got for Christmas.
That is a sea change from 12 years ago when the holiday
would never have been mentioned. Exposure to television, she
says, has widened the students' horizons.
Another change has been greater rapport between the
English studies staff and Judaic studies and rabbinical staffs.
Mewhort says her relationship with the boys' parents is
Fran Heller is a Cleveland-based freelance writer.
Holly MacFarland
In her first year at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, one of her first-grade
boys asked Holly MacFarland if she was Jewish. When she
said, "no,' he wanted to know why she was there.
"Mrs. [Sue] Colbert (the English studies principal) hired me
and I'm here to teach you reading, writing and arithmetic, and
Rabbi Kaplan is here to teach you Hebrew," she answered. He
accepted it, says MacFarland.
MacFarland admires her students' family traditions and their
love of siblings. After three years of teaching at Beth Yehudah,
she feels accepted.
The biggest change was in her wardrobe. Teachers have to
dress with appropriate modesty: a long skirt to the knee or
below and sleeves to the elbow Pants are not allowed.
MacFarland, 52, is a practicing Roman Catholic and attend-
ed parochial school through high school. Observing how the
Jewish boys are drilled in Torah reminds her of her own reli-
gious training and gives her a window into her students'
world.
Carolyn MacPherson
Carolyn MacPherson taught at the Lubavitch Institute of
Advanced Studies (now the Michigan Jewish Institute) and
Beis Chaya Mushka Girls High School for two years before
serious illness forced her to step down.
But MacPherson impacted her students and they her in
ways that continue to resonate after her departure in 1996.
In 1994 when she started at the Lubavitch Institute,
MacPherson was the first English teacher and the only non-
Jewish teacher. In 1995, she became the first dean at the