MaTaRoT: Hebrew College Center for Jewish Professional Learning & Leadership
Your Goals. Your Growth.
MaTaRoT: Hebrew College’s Center for Professional Learning and Leadership is your hub for professional development in Jewish Education. MaTaRoT, meaning “goals,” describes our work together: Mentoring, Teaching, Reaching Together.
Hebrew College’s menu of professional development offerings is guided by a belief that teaching is a complex and dynamic process that demands continual improvement.We believe that supporting teachers and educational leaders in congregational schools serves to deepen and broaden theexperiences of the professionals, and thus the students and the families in their programs. By focusing on the intellectual and pedagogical growth of all of the professionals who interact with the students week in and week out, we are investing in improving the teaching and learning in these institutions.
Choose your Path
We offer three paths for your professional growth:
Jewish Educators partner with an experienced coach to develop and deepen skills in areas such as change management, interpersonal communication, supervision, leadership, etc. to achieve professional goals. (Up to 16 sessions)
Building on the success of our current coaching we are pleased to offer several choices for Leadership Coaching in the coming year, including limited spaces for those coachees that would like to continue for an additional year.
For Senior Educational Leaders: Are you looking to review your curriculum needs? Have you been considering making a change to your curricular goals, scope and sequence? MaTaRoT coaches are available to work with you as you investigate your curricular needs (10 sessions).
Directors of Education in the Greater Boston Area are invited to join a weekly conversation guided by the interest of the group. In this group we share, explore, and critically respond to the opportunities and demands of our important work. This group is open to all schools in the CJP catchment area.
Transform your school program through Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a dynamic, student-centered, approach to learning in which participants acquire knowledge and skills by actively exploring a complex question and working on an authentic community need. Experienced consultants are paired with selected teachers and educational directors from schools to introduce PBL into their school curriculum and structure.
PBL is a tried and true method for engaging students in projects that have
application and validity in the real world.
Students are able to have voice and choice and teachers are guided in preparing lessons that have clear learning targets, tap into their passions as well as the students’, can be differentiated and worked on collaboratively.
Supported by MaTaRoT Consultants, school teams experiment with PBL
concepts in their setting.
Hebrew College has pioneered adapting PBL to the Supplementary School setting and has 10 years of experience implementing successful PBL expeditions in this venue. Our PBL workshops and consultations are structured to account for the unique setting of supplementary Jewish Education.
(Pictured: In October 2022, Hebrew College’s MaTaRoT Center hosted colleagues from the liberal Amsterdam Jewish community for a week of project-based learning. The group celebrated Simchat Torah with Hebrew College 2015 alumna Rabbi Susie Schwartz at her shul Temple Israel of Boston.)
Hebrew College partners with national and local organizations, as well as individuals both within and outside of the College, to offer nine stand-alone seminars on a variety of current topics. These may include topics such as, Equity and Justice in Jewish education; inclusion & equality in Jewish life; Jewish arts; book discussions, etc. Organizations will likely include JArts, Gateways, Facing History and Ourselves, Keshet, and more.These subsidized seminars are available to all schools in the CJP catchment area.
For Our Teachers and Their Learners: A series of virtual professional sessions in the time of isolation (2020-2021)
This online series served as a resource and a venue for Jewish educators to be in a community. Sessions explored various virtual educational modalities and Jewish textual learning and the bridge between theory and practice. Watch this archived series.
Marion Gribetz, Director of Hebrew College Educational Initiatives
Our newly redesigned MaTaRoT MJED and professional development offerings provide educators with flexible, applicable, course work that closely connects theory and practice. Our new incoming cohort will study together in community and support each other as they grow and develop new knowledge and skills. The focus on the soulfulness of education and the skills needed to be instructional leaders is the perfect combination to help these individuals gain knowledge, skills and their individual habits of heart, mind and hands.
Certificate in Jewish Spiritual Education (4 credits)
Certificate in Learning & Leading (4 credits)
All four modules within a certificate program must be completed to earn the graduate level certification. (Individual modules may not be taken for graduate credit.) Upon completion, students earn 4 graduate credits and an official transcript from Hebrew College.
Using Certificate Credit Toward a Master in Jewish Education Degree
If you enroll in a certificate program and decide to apply to our Master of Jewish Education program before the end of the course, you are eligible to apply up to an additional 4 credits (for a total of 8 credits for the certificate) toward your degree.
Hebrew College’s Master of Jewish Education (MJED) Program offers a comprehensive curriculum that combines leadership for learning, pedagogic application, and social and spiritual learning; supervised field experience; and an opportunity to become an iCenter Fellow for the teaching of Israel.
MJED Fast Facts
A flexible three year, part-time program designed for Jewish educators working in Jewish settings who want to transform their practice. Complete your degree in the comfort of your home through our award-winning online courses—without sacrificing the personal attention you’ve come to expect from Hebrew College. Note: Hebrew College also offers the MJEd in conjunction with rabbinical or cantorial ordination.
Courses are online, combining synchronous meetings with asynchronous work and assignments. Join a dynamic community of students from across the country and around the world in an interactive virtual classroom with Hebrew College faculty. Use our Schoology online learning platform to learn with ease and comfort and build a personal relationship with your faculty adviser who will serve as your mentor and guide. Hebrew College has been recognized nationally for its online learning programs, and our faculty have been teaching in the online environment for more than a decade.
A specialized focus on Jewish Spiritual Education, Jewish Educational Leadership, and Emerging Trends in Jewish Education.
A program designed for Jewish leadership and learning for a pluralistic world.
Year-long field experience in your home community. Current teaching may count toward your field experience.
Year-long field experience in your home community. Current teaching may count toward your field experience.
Faculty advisor to guide you throughout the program.
No Hebrew language prerequisite for admission. Hebrew courses may be taken before or during the program. Students are expected to pass a Hebrew assessment by the time they graduate, and those who wish to be exempt may request to take a Hebrew assessment upon entering the program.
Earn a Graduate Level Certificate in one of the following areas (each certificate is 8 graduate credits): Certificate in Learning & Leading or Certificate in Jewish Spiritual Education.
We offer the opportunity to combine a Master of Jewish Education from Hebrew College with traditional text study at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem to prepare for a career in Jewish Day School Education. This is a two-year, pluralistic graduate degree program.
If accepted into the Pardes Teacher Fellowship, you will receive generous living stipends to spend an academic year in Israel, and a first-year teaching salary while working as a Jewish Studies Teacher in a Jewish Day School in North America.
