Report on #NAJDS

By: Deborah Fishman
Ken Gordon of PEJE wrote in a NAJDS blog post on the importance of real-life networking – not just because it enables us to meet and socialize, but because on a deeper level it enables us “to recognize our interdependence.”
Reviewing the #NAJDS twitter feed, I was indeed struck by the desire for collaboration which pervaded many of the observations which both participants and those tuning in beyond the conference recorded in tweets. Amihai Bannett (@israelconnect) wrote in to suggest Jewish schools around the world partner with schools in Israel. At the conference itself, Leah Meir (@lmeir) and Seth Cohen (@sethacohen33) expressed their delight that The AVI CHAI Foundation (@AVICHAIFDN) and Schusterman Foundation (@SchustermanFoun) were able to collaborate on a joint session on networks – providing a model for the very subject they were looking to explore.
There seems to be a growing recognition that collaboration between organizations and between schools may help ameliorate some of the challenges facing the educational sphere. Daniel Perla (@danperla) and @SchechterTweets shared the observation from speaker Ian Symmonds that schools should seek to attract the students who are the best fit for them rather than being “all things [to] all people.” Such a policy would help each school’s recruitment efforts while also encouraging referrals and sharing of information when schools were presented with potential students that might be a better fit at another school in the community.
How do these cross-school relationships develop? They start with the development of connections between individual educators and administrators. That is precisely why a conference such as NAJDS is so impactful. As Rachel Abrahams (@Rachelmabrahams) put it: “Relationships create innovation. Relationships influence behavior. What relationships have [you] begun/ strengthened at #najds? [To] what end?” Debby Jacoby (@debbyj18), Yehuda Chanales (@chanales), and Akevy Greenblatt (@Akevy613) all urged colleagues to connect at NAJDS, suggesting that if everyone there connected with just two others, “the [success] will be mind-blowing.”
Connecting is not only important for the sake of developing relationships, which can help everyone do our work more effectively; the possibilities for information-sharing and learning from peers are also very powerful. As Meir Wexler (@RabbiWex) enthused, “Much [to] learn from [colleagues].”
The challenge, of course, is how to continue this collaboration and information-sharing not just at NAJDS but year-round. Chanales posited, “I think we have to find more ways for teachers [to be] exposed to a [conference] like #najds. [It’s] hard to bring that energy to school.”
While conferences are one possibility, initiatives like the weekly twitter conversation #jedchat, recently featured in The Washington Post, and other online opportunities could propel us forward. Regardless of the solution, as Micah Lapidus (@RabmLapidus) tweeted from the conference, “#pirkeavot- lo aleicha: it’s not up to any one person to complete the work, but we all [must] take an active role.”
What do you think are some strategies we could use to make us more connected during the year? How do you share learning and best practices with peers, in your own school and beyond?