Professional Development Bonim Beyechad Spotlight: Connections, Collaboration & Community
We recently spoke to Alisha Sawyer, Religious School Director at Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul Minnesota, about her experience supervising Hebrew College Bonim Beyechad Fellows. Hebrew College’s Bonim Beyachad program is an online, 10-month national cohort-based fellowship to support adults new to teaching in part-time and supplemental Jewish educational settings. The fellowship provides professional development in pedagogy, Jewish content knowledge, and classroom management for new teachers. Fellows attend a three-day subsidized in-person, fall retreat at Hebrew College. The program is now accepting applications for the next cohort. Learn more and apply here.
Bonim Beyechad is one of many professional development programs for Jewish educators offered by MaTaRoT: Hebrew College’s Center for Jewish Professional Learning & Leadership.
Q. How has your Bonim Beyachad fellows’ teaching changed?
They are more creative as teachers this year. They are able to implement a variety of techniques and activities in their classrooms to better meet the different needs of students and deepen learning.
Q. What have your Bonim Beyachad fellows told you about the program that makes you smile?
Last fall, our Fellows loved the opportunity to visit a Hebrew school in Boston and see how another religious school is run. What made me smile was their excitement upon returning to our school to share with us what they saw and learned and how they thought it could help us grow.
Q. How is your Bonim Beyachad’s fellows’ participation in the program impacting teaching and learning in your school?
I find the Fellows are more collaborative and open to learning and sharing with others. I observe that new teachers can often be hesitant to share what they are doing because they don’t think it is good enough or to ask for help because they don’t want to seem like they don’t know what they are doing. After participating in the Bonim Beyachad program, I have seen my teachers more willing to reach out to one another both to ask for advice and to share what is working well. They have done this with other teachers in our community as well so I see how they are more confident and spreading that feeling amongst our staff.
Q. Why are you grateful for the Bonim Beyachad program?
The program is opening up points of view for my teachers and giving them access to more and different resources. I think this training program provides a level of professionalism and connections that will continue to serve these teachers and that we may not be able to give them within our community.
Q. Why would you recommend Bonim Beyachad to another new(ish) Jewish educator?
It offers a way to learn new ways of teaching, organizing and being in relationship with students. I think by continuing to learn yourself you are demonstrating to students and your community that you take Jewish education seriously and see it as a process that never comes to an end point.
If possible, I would highly recommend sending multiple teachers from one school to this program. The camaraderie between our three teachers who are in this program is visible and beneficial to our program. They are also better able to share what they are doing and know that others understand what they are talking about in connection to the program.
Learn more about Hebrew College’s Bonim Beyechad program, now recruiting for our 2025-2026 cohort.
