Our Jewish Innovation:
Storytelling Training for 3 Jewish Educators!
“Stories beget stories. Storytellers beget storytellers.”
-Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff, Founder/Director, JennifersStories
Imagine the joy on students’ faces as they listen to their teachers tell them Jewish stories! We are providing individual storytelling training to three Jewish educators based in any Jewish day school or supplementary school (K-12th) in the United States. At least one of the three selected Jewish educators will be a Maryland resident. These educators and their schools may have roots in any denomination. Professional Jewish storyteller and storytelling coach Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff (www.jenniferstories.com) will provide 6 hours of storytelling training to each of the three selected educators. Educators will be chosen after the funds are raised.
What do teachers say about Jennifer’s coaching?
“Jennifer is an excellent storyteller and coach. But she will not train you to tell wonderful stories like hers — she will guide you to tell the stories that only you can tell….Storytelling in the classroom boosts my students’ intellectual and emotional engagement with the material.”
-Deborah Steinig, Middle School Teacher, Krieger Schechter Day School in Baltimore, MD
“Jennifer’s coaching has given me the skills not only to tell stories but also to create storytelling experiences that directly strengthen my students’ connections to Judaism and their curriculum. After training in storytelling with Jennifer, I was able to offer my high-schoolers a whole course devoted to Midrash as storytelling, engaging the students as story-listeners and story-tellers every lesson.”
-Rudy Stoler, Jewish educator in Baltimore, MD
How Will Teachers Gain?
Jennifer will coach these three teachers by giving them tools to create and prepare to tell Jewish stories in their classrooms. Jennifer will also coach the teachers to prepare a storytelling project where their students will perform their own Jewish stories. The 6 hours of training will provide the skills and experience necessary for each teacher to continue to build a repertoire of stories and storytelling projects. Each teacher’s future classes will continue to benefit from the 2016-2017 storytelling training.
The Impact
Jewish people are not only the “People of the Book”; we are also the “People of the Story”. It is our story that connects us to our history, our religion, and our culture. This campaign’s individually focused storytelling training will directly and positively influence, teach, and inspire some of the most important people in the Jewish community: our educators. Educators influence scores, hundreds, and even thousands of students throughout their careers. Those students grow to be the adult members of our Jewish community. Jewish teachers study the stories of Torah, Midrash, folklore, and contemporary Jewish life. They want to share these stories but are not always certain how to best creatively tell them in the classroom. Storytelling coach Jennifer Zunikoff will teach the educators selected for this project. She will coach them as they develop their own storytelling styles. As their very fortunate students listen, they will step inside our history, knowing that they have a place in the ongoing story of the Jewish people. Young people knowing that they are living within our Jewish story? What could be better for the Jewish people than that?
What Will We Do with the Money?
We will use the donations to employ storytelling coach Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff for 18 hours of one-on-one storytelling training with the three teachers selected to participate. At least one of the three educators will be a Maryland resident. While several sessions with the Maryland resident will occur in person, the other sessions will take place by Skype or phone, as will all the sessions for the educators who live outside of Maryland. The funds will also ensure that Jennifer will stay in regular email and phone contact with the educators throughout the 2015-2016 school year. Your donation ensures that three teachers and their many students know that they have an important place in the Jewish story. Sorry, donations are NOT tax deductible.
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