Exceptional & One-of-a-Kind
Professional Learning Community+Limmud
Limmud Community of Educators Program
SouthEast Initiative Launching Labor Day Weekend

Dear Education Leader:

Finding quality professional development for your staff isn't always easy. We often are able to plug into one-shot workshops or conferences, but rarely find year-long (and beyond) learning opportunities. I am writing to you to share information about a new intitiative that will provide Jewish educators with a blended learning opportunity - combining immersive face-to-face living & learning with on-line education encounters.

Limmud Atlanta+SouthEast is pleased to be a part of a national pilot collaborative between four Limmud programs (NY, LA, Colorado & ATL+SE) which is funded by The Covenant Foundation. The Limmud Community of Educators SouthEast (geared for educators living in the SouthEast) will launch Labor Day Weekend 2012 at the annual LimmudFest program held at Tumbling Waters Retreat & Conference Center in the North Georgia Mountains. Twenty-five educators representing the broad spectrum of Jewish belief and learning environments will come together to learn with internationally known scholars; will work together to explore the praxis of Limmud learning and the application for teaching in their individual environments; will network with Jewish education leaders from around the country; and will begin to build a powerful cohort network for further learning and professional development. Throughout the year, these 25 educators will participate in a minimum of four webinars - also delivered by master educators/scholars - and will be active co-creators in a national on-line community with the 75 educators from the three other communities.

We are reaching out to you, the educational leaders in the region, to help us identify quality participants and to support their involvement. The ideal candidate will have between two and ten years of experience in any Jewish education field (i.e. camping, Israel programs, day school, synagogues, Hillel, central agencies, youth initiatives, JCCs, etc). Specific consideration will be given to those candidates working at least 3/4 time. Community of Educators participants are financially responsible for their LimmudFest registration and transportation. We encourage their employers to help subsidize this experience from professional development budgets. The remainder of the learning year is provided at no charge. Some scholarship is available via LimmudSE for qualifying applicants.

An additional unique aspect of this program is the ability for educators to participate in LimmudFest with their families - combining personal family enrichment with professional development. LimmudFest is a multi-generational event which provides quality children's programming via Camp Limmud. We encourage participants to consider coming in family units or with friends.

While the full application is not yet available, interested candidates should visit  www.limmudse.org/educators and fill out an interest form. For more specific information, please feel free to contact me at jewishgps@yahoo.com.

Thank you in advance for your support.
L'Shalom,
Robyn Faintich
Limmud ATL+SE Community of Educators Coordinator
JewishGPS, LLC

jewishgps@yahoo.com

p.s. If you know of candidates ideal for one of the other three cohorts (LA, Colorado or NY), please contact David Wolkin, project director, at wolkin@limmudny.org for the individual launch schedules