Sunday, March 27, 2011

To Facebook or Not to Facebook?

We use Facebook and love it!  I find that it is an easy way to share the values of the school.  I rarely use it to advertise events, and try to focus more on giving families gifts- items that they will find useful at that moment.  I think of it as a way to reach out to them.  So every day for the past two weeks I've done a Purim countdown, sharing a recipe, costume idea, book recommendation, or anything else they might be able to use at home.  I might take a 20 second video of the music teacher teaching a new song, or the rabbi leading the Shabbat blessings, or a photo of an inspiring set up in a classroom. 





My experience is that Facebook really allows you to get into the home and reach people in an accessible, easy way.  A parent told me that after reading some of the articles I posted she renewed her interest in education and has decided to go back to school to become a teacher.  It's that powerful.  In my opinion, Facebook inspires more face to face conversation.  For example, parents come in already knowing about the song their child sang in music class that morning and mention to the teacher that it was their favorite song as a child, or ask for a copy to use at home.  I think it depends on your community and how you use it, but I would expect it to deepen connections, not minimize them.

We have an open group, so I don't post photos of children's faces.  I find it to be a creative challenge to take photos that avoid faces.  It is amazing how much action you can capture in hands, feet, backs, and materials. 

If you decide to use Facebook,  I think it would be a shame to disable the comments (and I don't think you even can).  The goal of doing this by Facebook and not by email is to encourage the building of community through the comments.  That's the fun of it.  The comments are what makes Facebook a unique way to communicate and what helps bring people together to make connections with each other.  You start the conversation with a post, which you hope will draw people in and keep them coming back.  One of the markers of a good post is that it gets comments (both on Facebook and face to face at pick up.)  Facebook will even measure the percentage of people that comment so you can track their engagement.

There is a particular technique to a good Facebook page, and my recommendation is to start by noticing the things going on around the school that you want others to notice as well, and highlighting them.  Today a class visited a nursing home to deliver shalach manot and I snapped a photo and noted that they were doing a Purim mitzvah.  It really helps families notice all the work we do to foster their children's learning.

If you want to check out our page, you can see it here.



D'Var Torah: Shemini

This week’s Torah portion is Shemini. Many important teachings happen in this portion, but the one that stands out for me are the laws of Kashrut. A detailed description of the laws of ritual defilement regarding animal carcasses is given. An instruction of how we should eat and a list of forbidden foods are recorded. God set out a specific way and a path for the Jewish people by commanding a dietary regimen that an entire culture would follow. Following these dietary laws would solidify the survival of the Jewish people. Kashrut kept Jews separate and the regimen was intense. It took a person a lot of discipline to follow. An entire community of people was needed to follow this commandment. Jews would have to band together and help each other to be successful at it. Keeping Kosher is a commandment from God. Kashrut teaches us respect for life. Kashrut teaches us that we can’t always have everything we want. Keeping Kosher has helped keep Jews as a unique people and is a tradition observed by our recent ancestors. It links us to them.

Keeping and holding to rules impacts our lives each day as Directors of early childhood programs. After reading the explicit description of Kashrut, it made me think about the boundaries and rules we set forth for the children, parents and teachers in our schools. It made me reflect about what kind of community we should create for our young Jewish people. Rules are important and help us keep our values and mission in line. Questions to think about are: What do we think are the most important rules in our schools? What rules are we not willing to bend? What rules are there to protect the children in our programs and the teachers who work for us? What traditions and customs in our schools makes us Jewish? Having a clear set of rules is extremely important and how we communicate them even more important. Our rules, and there can be many of them, can seem overwhelming to some….but extremely important to running an effective and professional Jewish early childhood program. We should be mindful of these rules when we interact with parents. From the parents who we have the easiest and loving interactions with and the parents who we have difficult interactions with. As long as we are clear, consistent and communicate effectively and lovingly, our programs will grow strong – just as the laws of Kahsrut made our early Jewish people.

Dale Laing
Director
Zipporah S. Abramson Center For Early Childhood Education at Congregation Beth Or
ECE-RJ, Ritual Chair