ATT’s Annual Teachers Conference Day Inspires Educators and Presenters Alike

Once again ATT adjusted its mirror, pivoted, and surpassed today’s many challenges to hold its usual annual in-person Teachers Conference Day (TCD) for 600+ teachers. With Rabbi Avrohom Shimon Moller and Mrs. Chani Friedman at the helm and a dedicated committee of school representatives, this year’s hybrid or virtual and in-person TCD exceeded everyone’s expectations.

With 32 sessions and 29 noted national and local presenters, there was something for every grade level, pre-nursery – high school. Sessions focused on a range of topics relevant to today’s educational environment.

This year’s program offered schools virtual session options as well as in-person sessions for those schools who preferred the in-person option. This allowed for presenter-participant engagement and both small group and large group discussion in a safe environment.

ATT’s Teachers Conference Day is an opportunity for teachers to access new ideas and methodologies in teaching, both in Jewish and general studies. Teachers are also able to collaborate with colleagues throughout the ATT system in workshops and teacher-facilitated discussions. While this program is just one of many professional development (PD) opportunities for educators that the ATT offers throughout the year, the sheer number of attendees and speakers makes it the most exciting.

Chicago is the only city in North America with a system-wide umbrella organization like the ATT for all the local Jewish day schools, which makes this PD Day an exciting program that is unique to our city.

Speakers and partners had this to say:

It was a true pleasure learning with the amazing educators of the Chicago area. Kol Hakavod on putting this successful program together. Looking forward to further collaboration in the future.

Rabbi Yaakov Sadigh, Head of School Katz Hillel Day School, Boca Raton, Florida

Thank you so much. The participants were very engaged and participated fully. You seem to have run a fabulous program! Thank you for making me a part of it.

Ashley Charnoff, Consortium of Jewish Day Schools presenter, New York

Thank you so much for the opportunity. From the quality of the questions, I can see that this was a really committed and professional group of teachers.

Dr. Tzipora Koslowitz, Licensed school and clinical psychologist, New Jersey

Thanks so much for the opportunity to speak this morning. I so enjoyed the ideas and interaction of the participants.

Beverley Johns, Learning and Behavior Consultant, Illinois

It was a pleasure being able to speak with you today at the ATT professional development day. I hope that the information presented was helpful for you and I look forward to working with many of you in the future.

Meir Hauser, Psy.D, Clinical Psychologist, Assistant Professor, Rush University Medical Center

Thanks again for inviting me to present. Based on the conversation during the workshop, the participants definitely took out new mindsets and skills to use with their students.

Marc Fein, Mental health advocate, New York

Thank you to the ATT and Mrs. Friedman for all their hard work putting together this wonderful education conference.

Daniel Alkhovsky, Director Walder Science

Participants had this to say:

Thank you for this and congrats on this great conference!

Rabbi Dr. Gavriel Brown, Assistant Dean, ICJA

I have heard VERY positive feedback on yesterday’s in-services. THANK YOU!!!!!

Rabbi Menachem Kirshner, Principal, Limudei Kodesh, Arie Crown Hebrew Day School

Today was great!! Thank you so much for putting it together.

Tobie Teller, Principal, Hanna Sacks Bais Yaakov

Thank you for the many great presentations today. Many teachers asked if they will be able to view the recordings of classes that they didn’t choose but heard were amazing?

Rana Wechsler, General Studies Principal, Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov

I know you spend a huge amount of time preparing for the yearly conference days. While I am not usually a big fan of Zoom classes, they did make it possible for classes of 70-80-90 participants. All three of my classes were excellent and well attended. Thank you for all your efforts.

Miriam Schiller, Walder Education

Thank you! Yesterday was wonderful. I truly appreciate your efforts.

Shelley Stopek, ICJA

Thank you so much for excellent sessions that were presented today by phenomenal speakers. Each one was tremendous!! I miss being together with all the teachers, but there were some nice benefits this way.

Sarah Leah Grinblatt, Arie Crown Hebrew Day School

I just wanted to let you know that the conferences I attended were informative and I enjoyed. All your coordination of in person and on zoom was tremendous. Kol hakavod!

Naama Goldstein, JDBY-YTT

I thoroughly enjoyed Beverley Johns presentation and will use much of what she taught. I especially like the dominoes game for teaching punctuation and the tic tac toe game for getting students to own their own essays. I also loved Ariela Robinson’s Art in Literature presentation. She gave me so many new ideas to use art to get students to loosen up and get into text and connect to it and feel proud of themselves—so many benefits! This was terrific! (It)was very valuable for me!

Marsha Arons, ICJA

Beyond excellent, enjoyable, worthwhile, etc. I could go on and on, but I don’t have my Thesaurus in front of me! Thank you, again, for allowing me to sign up for the Holocaust Resistance presentation. As much as I think I’m well-educated on the subject (I keep forcing myself to learn more), there was some material which I hadn’t heard/read before

Ahuvah Klein, Arie Crown Hebrew Day School

Thank you so much for all of your hard work, attention to detail and creativity. I really enjoyed and learned from each of the sessions that I chose. I heard the same sentiments from many of my colleagues too. The ” treat” was well received. The remote choice that was offered was really appreciated and preferred. Thank you for all that you do.

Miriam Prero, Arie Crown Hebrew Day School

Yasher Koach to you! The three lectures that I attended with Rabbi Sadigh, Rabbi Kamin, and Dr. Hauser were all very useful and informative. Each one of them could have gone longer and no one would have minded! I hope everything went well today. I’m sure with all your planning it was a major success.

Margaret Matanky, Arie Crown Hebrew Day School

I really enjoyed the sessions I signed up for today. However, Dr. Nachi Felt’s presentation was over the top valuable and informative. To hear feedback from a frum person who himself is coping with ADHD and to hear the “sad” story of his challenging young life, to learn how he overcame his obstacles, how he grew up to be an advocate for something that affects so many of our children, and how we can help these children is beyond words.

Hedy Wechsler, JDBY