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Berman Award Winner
Special educator Maiseloff truly opens doors for students.
Vivian Henoch I Special to the Jewish News
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Next month, she will be named the 25th
recipient of the prestigious Berman Award
for Outstanding Professional Leadership.
Among her colleagues, her students and
the many families whose lives she's gently
touched and changed, Maiseloff is well rec-
ognized as a mentor and leader.
In 1988, Mandell L. and Madeleine H.
Berman established this award to recognize
the career achievement of an outstand-
ing professional employed by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, its family
of agencies and other Detroit-area Jewish
social service organizations. According to
their time-honored tradition, the Bermans
will present the award to Maiseloff at the
Federation board meeting on Nov. 13.
A graduate of Michigan State University,
with a bachelor's degree in cognitive impair-
ment and a master's degree in learning dis-
abilities, Maiseloff started her teaching career
at Troy Athens High School. Working as a
special education consultant, then promoted
to department head, she honed her skills
in building trust with parents and teachers,
advocating for her students and managing
the myriad details of customized lesson plans
for children with diverse learning styles.
"I had 25 students to track, each with
their own classes and daily assignments:' she
recalls. "My individualized curricula could
fill 11 file cabinets a year, but I loved it:'
Ever analytical and thorough, to this day
she describes teaching as the joy of positive
feedback.
"What intrigued me were all the different
ways children could look at things:' she says.
"I would study how each student related and
reacted, then tweak the material, look for a
different tool or adapt an assignment to help
the student break through and succeed:'
Move To Jewish Education
As her family grew with three children,
Maiseloff, who now lives in West Bloomfield
with her husband, David, left high school
special education to work for a brief time as a
tutor and college adviser to student teachers.
In 1996, she was recruited by Anita Naftaly
to join Federation's Alliance for Jewish
Education as a special educator consultant
for the newly established OTD program and
later as program assistant.
Founded in 1995 by Naftaly, Opening the
Doors has a long history of setting the bar
for inclusion in the classroom and in the
community at large. With the expansion and
12
October 16 • 2014
Jh
Reinforcing lessons in Hebrew on the iPad: Opening the Doors at Hillel Day School. (For details on the annual Anita Naftaly
Family Circle Conference presented by Opening the Doors on Oct. 26, see page 29.)
innovation of its services in recent years, the
program has won national recognition and
accolades, including the prestigious endorse-
ment of Slingshot, a leading resource guide
and a prominent funding source for Jewish
communal life supported by the Ruderman
Family Foundation in Boston.
Asked how special education has changed
since she first entered the field, she says,
"Honestly, it's always been a field where you
have to advocate for your students and work
hard to adapt to the needs of the schools as
well. Today, anything that impacts learning
is identified as a special need. And the spec-
trum of need has rapidly grown and diversi-
fied. As a special educator, you have to be
patient. You have to be positive. You have to
build relationships. Take small steps, one at a
time with each child:'
New Challenges, Needs
Since its inception, OTD has been a highly
collaborative initiative in the Jewish com-
munity, coordinating with ongoing ser-
vices to families as well as professional
development and educational programs
in partnership with JVS, Jewish Family
Service, Kadima, JARC, Friendship Circle,
the Jewish Community Center and com-
munity mental health professionals.
As Maiseloff sees it, special education is
a holistic process.
"In my book, 'inclusion' means every-
body is in:' she says. "Beyond the class-
room, our goal is to open doors to the
community through outreach, profes-
sional development seminars, community
programs and initiatives, such as our
Madrichim Leadership Institute where we
empower teens with knowledge and skills
as 'shadows' and special assistants in the
classroom to help children fully participate
in a Jewish education with their peers:'
Opening the Doors continues to gain a
following as well as funding. With a grant
from the Jewish Fund, OTD now partners
with JARC to enhance professional train-
ing and provide a broader spectrum of
services and full-time classroom assistance
to students with diverse needs and abilities
in Jewish day schools. The recent $1 mil-
lion endowment from the Vera and Joseph
Dresner Foundation has opened new
opportunities for OTD to increase vital
programs and services. A new pilot pro-
gram — B'Yadenu (In Our Hands) funded
by the Jim Joseph Foundation out of
Boston — will soon launch here to enrich
programs for professional development in
day schools.
"Jewish education is a gift for life, and
it is a joy to work with families to raise
awareness, advocate for their children and
turn their dream of a Jewish education
into a reality:' she says.
"My motivation comes from each
unique child. Our students inspire us to
embrace their challenges, promote their
talents, celebrate their achievements and
take pride in their full engagement —
along with their peers — in our commu-
nity:'
❑
Vivian Henoch is editor of myjewishdetroit.org,
where this story first appeared.