Bittersweet Goodbye
Posted on April 1, 2014 by Dita Ribner Cooper
Tags: inspiration, Jewish day school, Pardes Center for Jewish Educators (PCJE), student teaching
Today is the beginning of my last week student-teaching at the Heschel school in Manhattan. I have loved so many aspects of my time here from teaching students to meeting the faculty and even observing a few PEP alumni at work! It is inspiring to see how much these alumni appreciate their experiences at Pardes and are doing incredible things at Heschel.
As I near the end of this experience, I can’t help but feel incredibly bittersweet. On the one hand, I am truly sad to go. I have met incredible educators and students here and have been exposed to what excellent Jewish education looks like on the high school level. On the other, I feel so happy that I was able to have so many positive experiences, work very hard, learn from a great mentor, and form new ideas and questions about my role in this field. My experiences at Heschel have given new meaning to the words avodat qodesh, holy work, and I look forward to using these experiences as I continue to grow as a Jewish educator.
