COMING FULL CIRCLE
JDS alumni who rejoin the school as teachers experience the classroom in a new way Ari Kittrie Reporter When alumnus English teacher (V (SV] *S\ ·þć XSPH LIV JVMIRHW from CESJDS that she was returning as an English teacher, they asked two questions: whether Dean of Students Roslyn Landy was still there, and if it meant that she could become friends with math department chair Reuben Silberman. Since her time at JDS as a stuHIRX MR Āþþć XLI WGLSSP LEW GLERKIH WMKRMÁGERXP] 8LI GLERKI LEW FIIR both physical and social in how JDS works and how it has adapted to the modern day. Fox recently received a PhD from the University of Michigan with specialties in Jewish Literature and Yiddish, and started teaching English at JDS at the beginning of this school year. *S\¸W PSZI JSV XIEGLMRK LMKL school students stems from her time at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she spent four summers teaching students Yiddish. When a teaching job opened up at her alma mater, she applied. “I never thought that this would LETTIR FIGEYWI [LIR ]SY¸VI E WXYHIRX ]SY GER¸X MQEKMRI MX [SR¸X FI just you and your friends there as XLI WXYHIRXW ¶ *S\ WEMH When Fox returned to JDS, she noticed how much the school had changed. For example, JDS now holds weekly Kabbalat Shabbat and has stopped giving students “Lion 4PERRIVW ¶ ;LIR *S\ [EW E WXYHIRX these planners were used for doodling in. %W E XIEGLIV *S\¸W TIVWTIGXMZI has drastically changed on how much hard work teachers put in to help students and cater to their needs. Fox used to think that teachIVW HMHR¸X RIGIWWEVMP] GEVI SV RSXMGI what was going on. “Once I started teaching, I realized I was so nervous about whether Q] WXYHIRXW [IVI KSMRK XS HS [IPP ¶ she said. Like Fox, sixth grade humanMXMIW XIEGLIV 8EQEV +EWOS ·ÿĀ RIZIV MQEKMRIH WLI¸H FI FEGO EX .(7
transition into teachers. One of the “It never really crossed my “I realized funniest things from her perspective mind after I left JDS because I that all the is how hard it is for them to get used HMHR¸X XLMRO - [ERXIH XS FI E XIEGLdifferent XS EHHVIWWMRK LIV EW µ6S^ ¶ IV ¶ +EWOS WEMH “They forever called me Mrs. She graduated from the Uni- things I had Landy because that is what they versity of Maryland with a bacheenjoyed [IVI YWIH XS [LIR XLI] [IVI LIVI ¶ PSV¸W HIKVII MR XLIEXIV FYX ORI[ WLI Landy said. HMHR¸X [ERX XS FI E TVSJIWWMSREP EG- over the -X¸W LEVH XS TVIHMGX [LMGL WXYtor, so she started to look for other course of dents will come back to teach at jobs. my life JDS. There are some who express “After a lot of thinking and exa desire to teach while they are at ploring, I realized that all the differ- involved JDS, and others, are those Landy ent things I had enjoyed over the aspects of VIJIVW XS EW µPEXI FPSSQIVW ¶ 8LIVI course of my life involved aspects of teaching.” is nothing Landy loves more than XIEGLMRK ¶ +EWOS WEMH seeing alumni come back to JDS One of the many things she likes about teaching at a Jewish -Humanities because she believes “teaching is the KVIEXIWX TVSJIWWMSR XLIVI MW ¶ school is having the Jewish holidays teacher Alumni come back to JDS to off, unlike at a public school. She teach for different reasons, but there was excited to teach at her alma ma- Tamar does seem to be one unifying theme: ter because she knew she would be Gasko (‘12) JDS is an educational communiwelcomed there. Gasko also enjoys ty where the love of learning is a the close community at JDS. shared value. Teachers who are also µ8LIVI¸W E GYPXYVI SJ WXYHIRXW alumni are grateful for the collective and teachers being very friendly attitude towards the value of Lomed [MXL IEGL SXLIV ¶ +EWOS WEMH MiKol Adam, learn from everyone, 7SQI SJ +EWOS¸W GYVVIRX GSPand want to transmit that same love leagues are the same ones that of learning to the next generation of taught her almost a decade ago. For students. example, Assistant Dean and math µ-¸Q VIEPP] LETT] XS FI FEGO EX teacher Tori Ball was her teacher for JDS and to be the kind of teacher pre-calculus. XLEX XLSWI XIEGLIVW [IVI XS QI ¶ µ-X [EW [IMVH EX ÁVWX PIEVRMRK XS Gasko said. “It feels really rewardGEPP XLIQ F] XLIMV ÁVWX REQIW FYX ing to sort of come full circle and be now I feel very comfortable and like the kind of adult that I loved being ER IUYEP ¶+EWOS WEMH EVSYRH EW E OMH ¶ EVSYRH EW E OMH ¶ 0MOI *S\ +EWOS¸W TIVWTIGXMZI IGXMZI on teachers also changed regarding arding how much work teachers put in. n. She noticed that as a teacher, a lot of care goes into helping students and d each SJ XLIMV WTIGMÁG RIIHW “I had no idea as a studentt how much work teachers do behind nd the scenes to create a lesson plan n and EPWS WYTTSVX XLSWI WXYHIRXW ¶ +EWko said. “We are constantly asking each other about details about ut you guys in order to better support rt you or constantly emailing and making GEPPW ¶ Both Gasko and Fox found d that even though JDS changed physicalysically, its warm environment stayed ed the same from when they were a student udent to when they were a teacher. Dean of Students Roslyn Landy L d Fox is now best friends with her former teacher, Reuben has seen a number of graduates Silberman. Photo by Ivan Endelman, LT.
The Lion’s Tale Magazine 19
