Teen Program for Grades 8-12

 

Temple Israel Teen Education Program

Temple Israel's Teen Education Program serves our 8th-12th graders and their families. Teens can participate in any or all of our offerings: Monday Night School, the Madrichim (student teaching) Program, and RYFTI, our teen youth group.

Overarching Goals

Temple Israel's Teen Education Program seeks to:

  • Engage teens as participants in Jewish educational experiences that are relevant to their day-to-day lives and that is lived as well as studied.
  • Create a curriculum and environment that encourages students to advocate for themselves and their needs and to grapple with the full set of human and individual concerns.
  • Develop teens as leaders who have ownership and agency over their education and what their Judaism means to them.

Monday Night School Program

As students continue their Jewish education in the Teen Education Program, they are challenged to clarify their own ideas about Judaism and their Jewish identities. Monday Night School meets weekly on Monday evenings for dinner and classes (5:45pm-8:30pm) throughout the school year.

Students participate in a mix of grade-specific and mixed grade classes that cover topics in four key identity areas: Critical Readers, Reflective Ritual Practitioners, Social Justice Activists, and American Partners with Israel. These identity areas are a continuation of the focus areas now in place in our K-7 program, but in Monday Night School teens will have opportunities to explore the topics in new ways related to their lives and communities. 8th graders entering Monday Night School will begin the year in a semester-long 8th Grade Orientation designed to introduce the teens to each of the identity areas as well as build community in this new stage of their Jewish lives.

It is expected that students and parents who seek the privilege of Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebration in the Temple Israel community will also make the commitment to continue their Jewish education at Temple Israel through Confirmation (Grade 10) and graduation from the High School.

Madrichim Program - Student Teachers

We strongly encourage our 8th-12th graders to serve as Madrichim, student teachers, for our younger students, during our Sunday Religious School hours.  The Madrichim are incomparable role models for our children as they develop their Jewish identities.  Those teens that choose to participate in the Madrichim program begin the year by joining one session of the Religious School Teacher Orientation, to begin their endeavors for the year along side the teachers they will be working with in the class rooms.

This year, Madrichim will have regular meetings to review skills that are useful in the classroom as well as receiving guidance in lesson planning (as they are expected to lead at least one lesson during the course of the year).Those Madrichim who are either in 8th grade, or who are new to the Madrichim program, will work with Naomi Sobel, Teen Educator, and other specialists for the first 6 weeks of the year help generate an understanding of what is expected of  Temple Israel Madrichim and how to work with students in the class room. Student teachers receive a modest monetary stipend for their work.

RYFTI (TI's Senior Youth Group)

Temple Israel provides a broad array of informal, fun Jewish experiences for our teens outside of the classroom. In RYFTI (Reform Youth Federation of Temple Israel), Temple Israel's teen population has the opportunity to experience Judaism within a very specific community. RYFTI holds monthly informal activities that range from scavenger hunts in Harvard Square to apple picking.

Along with the monthly informal activities there are two weekend Kallot held each year: RYFTI Fall Kallah (November) and RFYTI Clergy Weekend (May). These weekend getaways are a time for the teens to bond, have fun, and do a little learning (even if they don’t know it!). Every other year the 10th through 12th graders of Temple Israel also have the opportunity to attend the RAC L'Taken High School Seminar in Washington, D.C. This opportunity is for Reform Jewish teen to come together in our nation's capital to lobby to our Massachusetts elected officials on topics that they feel are important.