| Israel Research Trip - Report #1 |
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Hello!
For those who don't know about our project, I'm writing for myself and four other young educators who are currently visiting the democratic schools in Israel. We met Yaacov Hecht during the conference last summer and now, after a crash course in the joys of fundraising, have made it to Israel to see the education work going on here. We're working with the Institute for Democratic Education in Tel Aviv, which networks Israel's 25 democratic schools and a variety of other educational projects. To share our experiences and lessons, we've created a website with notes and pictures of the schools we see, both traditional and democratic. http://www.ideamap.org/israel.htm We arrived in Israel last Monday at the ripe hour of 4 am. Yaacov began our experience in characteristic Israeli fashion, with an extraordinary breakfast of fresh vegetables and breads. We ate on the beach as the sun rose over Tel Aviv, walked 6 km to the Institute, and our work began. The focus of our one-month workshop is a large whiteboard, divided into three panels. The center is "Ideas." To the left, "Growth Areas" and "Dangers." To the right, "Strength Areas" and "Opportunities." As we visit schools, meet people and discuss throughout the month, we'll return to the board with post-it notes. The last week of the trip will be dedicated to making sense out of what we've absorbed, crafting it into a project for our return to the US. The following week was a whirlwind, driving to a different town each night and seeing a new school each day. Everywhere we went, the hospitality has been extraordinary. So far we've seen four democratic schools, from a young startup with 94 students to Hadera, the first democratic school in Israel and still a vibrant community of 370 children. For the details of each visit, take a look at our website. We're now enjoying our first day off, digesting our notes, video clips and thoughts from the past week. As we proceed we'll send out occasional updates. We're trying to look at a few key questions: How did democratic education become a common word in Israel? How is it that a new democratic school can open with over a hundred students, or even a waiting list? Are the schools all they seem to be? Why have they acquired a reputation here of serving the wealthy, and how can that be changed? Many questions, and without a doubt we'll produce many more in the coming weeks, and possibly an answer or two. Please feel free to contact us anytime, especially with any thoughts on how to make our research more useful for you. yours, Dana Bennis, Shetal Dandage, Julie Hill, Andrew Chen, and Chris Balme |
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