Cohort Learning Experiences
Jewish LearningWorks offers a variety of cohort learning experiences designed to share best practices, and deepen your professional knowledge by learning with and from colleagues.
Community is the heart of all Jewish learning. As Jewish educators know, when we engage in Jewish learning, we become part of a rich conversation, taking place over millennia. We know this intuitively, but we also know from research that both adults and children often learn best in groups. Studies show that effective professional development:
- Takes place within educators’ regular workday or work week
- Continues over time with sessions building on each other
- Models active learning
- Fosters a collegial, collaborative environment
- Focuses on building educators’ pedagogical content knowledge
- Includes learning in and from practice
Opportunities to learn with colleagues include:
Jewish Resilience Roundtable
For Bay Area professionals and lay leaders working with Jewish adolescents
The roundtable will again meet monthly during 2026-27 to strengthen our Bay Area network of professionals invested in Jewish educational and engagement opportunities for teens. Participating organizations are eligible to send their chosen team to online and in-person learning sessions focused on support for professionals working at the intersection of adolescent well-being and Jewish education. Membership for organizations and individuals is open year-round.
Spiritually Centered Judaism Community of Practice
For all Jewish educators seeking to deepen opportunities to integrate spirituality within their teaching
In the 2025 – 2026 school year, members of the SoulFULL Community of Practice met to share and explore educational pedagogies and practices that place spirituality at the center of Judaism. As we learned together, we began to articulate a framework for how spirituality is experienced and cultivated. Join us this year to continue this exploration, and the ways in which we can apply them at work. The SoulFULL Community of Practice meets from October 2026 to May 2027. Membership is open.
Ready, set, Include!
For congregational community members interested in deepening their knowledge of inclusion education
A new year-long, inclusion training program for volunteers in congregational education settings. This cohort-learning series will help congregational schools provide more consistent inclusion support by training community members to work with children who may need additional help in the classroom. Gathers monthly from October 2026 to March 2027. Registration is open.
Early Childhood Education Community of Practice
For Jewish preschool directors
The Bay Area is home to forty Jewish Early Childhood centers in a range of settings. Jewish LearningWorks convenes the directors of these schools monthly to connect and learn from each other. We also host an annual retreat.
For more information about this year-long opportunity, please contact Ellen Lefkowitz, Senior Educator, at ellen@jewishearning.works.
Voices for Good Fellowship
For women leaders in Jewish communal organizations in the Bay Area, Pacific Northwest and Mountain states
This two-year fellowship builds community for women leaders in Jewish communal organizations enabling them to deepen collegial relationships, explore Jewish values in leadership, and address challenges unique to women in Jewish professional life. Fellows learn together in monthly seminars with core and guest faculty through the duration of the experience. The last cohort concluded in May 2026. The Voices for Good Fellowship is not seeking applications at this time.