The excitement that normally accompanies schools opening for a new year is tempered again for 2021 by the emergence of the COVID-19 Delta variant. While a few short months ago we expected schools to open in an “almost” regular fashion, each day now brings new cases and new challenges to overcome.
At AMIT, our teachers pour everything imaginable into the classroom experience, but it would be unfair to characterize the classroom as the “end all be all” of an AMIT education. This lesson was brought home to me recently in a short video the reshet sent earlier this month.
Last year, 2000 AMIT 7th and 8th graders participated in a TED Talks program and workshop with adults chosen as much for their personal stories in overcoming adversity as for their individual successes. Leaders from corporate businesses and non-profits, sports, Israel advocacy groups, medicine, and other fields, spoke to the students about their own journeys to becoming the people they are today. Many of these successful leaders came from similar backgrounds as our students and spoke about believing in themselves, not giving up, focus, hard work, the importance of respect…all the values and ideals AMIT strives to instill in our students. If that were the total project it would have been inspiring. But rather than end there, each student attended a workshop where they learned how to tell their own story. And then, that’s exactly what they did: The students prepared their own narrative just as if it were a TED Talk, describing their dreams and how they intended to achieve them. What I think makes AMIT unique is actioning that second step ̶ directing each student to visualize their future and seriously consider what’s necessary for them to actualize their dreams in a way that actively engages them after having been inspired by leaders they could relate to.
Here is a video showing some students and the leaders who most inspired them.
I really hope that on September 1, our students are in their classrooms ready to go. I also really hope our teachers are with them to perform their regular magic. But if they can’t, at least I know that learning and teaching will still be happening̶ because at AMIT the classroom is only one portal into a student’s heart and mind.
Shanah tovah and many happy beginnings,
