Subscribe

Pedagogy Chaburah

Bring the magic of SVARA to your teaching

SVARA’s Pedagogy Chaburah is a rigorous seven-month learning opportunity for queer and trans rabbis and educators working in Jewish communities. This space nurtures those who are seeking to expand their pedagogical toolkits to include SVARA’s empowering (and traditionally radical) approach to teaching Talmud.

Want to learn more? Schedule some time to chat with Bronwen!
Ready to Apply? Submit this form by May 20, 2024!

This learning space will help you integrate elements of SVARA’s method into your classroom, bet midrash, or other teaching setting, and will include sessions on pedagogy and practical skill-building.

This learning space is for folks who:

  • have previously learned Talmud with SVARA 
  • have experience learning rabbinic texts in the original beyond the intermediate level (can study texts in SVARA’s method in chevruta without the use of Hint Sheets, can recognize and identify binyanim, have the ability to decode Rashi script)
  • are experienced educators/facilitators (have 3+ experience as teachers/facilitators – not necessarily in teaching Talmud)
  • lead with self-awareness, groundedness, humility, and mentschiness
  • are committed to acknowledging and interrogating mechanisms of power and inequality in the world and the bet midrash
  • are currently serving in a regular teaching role (in professional and/or community settings) where they will have the opportunity to explore incorporating elements of SVARA’s pedagogy & practice into their learning spaces

Calendar & Curriculum

This seven-month program has includes a weekly commitment of approximately three hours of learning (synchronous shiur, readings, independently scheduled chevruta, and practice teaching). Elements of the Pedagogy Chaburah year include:

    • November-December| Educators will be enrolled in a weekly bet midrash with SVARA’s learning community, and additionally will participate in reflection sessions as a cohort every other week.
    • January-February | Engage in weekly sessions focused on pedagogy, grounding in SVARA’s methodology, and scaffolding to support the implementation of practice-teaching
    • March-May | Implement & teach a self-directed practicum with observation and mentorship (no synchronous shiurim)
    • May-June | Engage in weekly reflection sessions, exploring the impact of practice-teaching and the means to integrate the experience into an ongoing teaching practice

Tuition

The tuition scale for the Pedagogy Chaburah is $950-3,000. If this sliding scale is prohibitive, you can contribute any amount to tuition that is meaningful to you, and you will be given an opportunity to do so in the registration process after the application process is complete. Here is a resource that informs our approach to sliding scale tuition. As part of SVARA’s commitment to leveraging our work in support of reparations, all tuition is waived for Black and Indigenous participants of teacher training programs.