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Overflow Crowd Attends Educational Session!

In an unprecedented show of unity and a strong commitment to better the education in our community; several hundred Melamdim, teachers and educators from all the local mosdos and yeshivos joined together this afternoon for a session of motivation, presented by Nechama’s Closet.

For more than 2 hours the overflowing crowd remained glued to the charismatic and motivated featured speaker Mr. Rick Lavoie.

Mr. Lavoie was introduced by Rabbi Shea Hecht who was also later called on stage as part of the presentation.

Mr. Lavoie spoke on the topic of motivating our students. As a teacher in a local yeshiva, i don’t believe there is a more important topic today, than to discuss motivating our students and I don’t believe anyone could have done it as well as Mr. Lavoie.

“I feel that after today’s session, I have what to take back to the classroom, something that will definitely benefit every one of my students” said one of the teachers who attended the lecture.

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24 Comments

  • Loved it loved it

    speech was great!!!

    too short
    no food
    and i didnt hear anything that i didnt see already on youtube!
    but i did have a chance to talk to him and tell him how big a fan I am of his. That was special. The man is a legend!!

  • st

    based on the turnout i think it is safe to say “the people have spoken”.BH the community has shown the future of our children is important. kol hakavod

  • Read my comment - o teacher!

    Was my son’s ex teacher from elementary school there – the one who sucked out my son’s motivation with his exaggerated (unfair) punishments – so that his reputation was ruined – even in the eyes of the PREVIOUSLY sympathetic hanhala – so they lost all hope of him?? (

    Was he there? When I read the speaker’s book on motivation – I cringed when he gave an example of DEmotivating a kid… because I realized that my son underwent that in his classroom – and it had repercussions which we are still trying to remedy.
    Don’t underestimate the robbing of a kid’s motivation and don’t underestimate how a hanhala can loose faith in a child as a result – and the result of THAT does not help….

    And no one will ever know and understand when “mistreatment” of a situation in a classroom that can be very subtle. The children in the class feel something is not right/fair in treatment of the child by the teacher – but cannot put their finger on the problem – as the teacher is very nice – but has an interpersonal issue. And the MAIN negative part over here – is that the teacher is self centered and cannot hear your suggestions how to try and deal with the child… except to try and fool you – the parent – with the suggestion that he has no potential. Like they say – “you can build a person UP, or you can pull them DOWN” – exactly the point of the speaker.

    So – hope you read this, my son’s ex teacher – but, unless forced to attend forums like this – just…. forget it!
    By the way I woujld have tried to move my child out of your class – for even the social stigma of your unfair punishments – bit I didn’t – because foolishly, I knew you were nice and clear in your actual teaching.

  • Chutzpa Yasgi

    What a Chutzpa, you guys went to the lecture against the prohibition of the one and only Mara D’Asra “Anonymous-Pashkvil-writer”? how incredible that you think that you will improve the education of our children when the holy Pashkvil said you shouldn’t!

  • LET US NOW SEE CHANGE

    Glad to see that my son’s Rebbi’s were there as well as the Hanhala. Now Let’s hope and pray that the hanhala wiil realize that punishements DON’T work or help to motivate. Let us now see change, in the classroom and make sure our children come home with many poker chips.

  • Shulamit

    Thank You Nechama’s Closet for having the courage to bring Rick
    to C.H., and not succumbing to the pressure from the status quo
    gang.

  • yungerman

    i heard there was a protest from the kollel members
    they are going to make their own educational lecture, taking place next year and yoel kahn is speaking. (sarcasm intended)

    they have no right to speak out when they do nothing except look down on members of the community.

  • A G

    Communication is education. I don’t care how many fancy lectures take place. Ikar, Toful…Nothing will be accomplished until it is understood that we need to teach our children from first grade how to both read and write in the language they think in – English. Without this basic, vital tool they are spending those first frustrating years being mis-educated, which leads to a sense of failure and a whole host of other problems. As the Rebbe write in Igros Kodesh Vol 15 p84,

    “Since it is necessary to inform them of G-dā€™s Mitzvos and prohibitions on a practical level, it is understood that there is no time to wait in these studies until the students will understand a language other than the one to which they are accustomed. Therefore it is necessary for you to teach them in the language that they currently understand and to utilize all the time at your disposal to mentor them; not to teach them a language but rather to imbue them with a spirit of Yiras Shamayim, love of Hashem and love of Torah…”

  • Chani Vogel

    Firstly, let me say that I am a staunch supporter of Nechama’s Closet. (Together with Natural & Kosher’s Brigitte Mizrahi, we donated a cheese package to be auctioned off.)

    With all due respect to the websites that featured anything at all as a response to the pathetic pashkevil, I feel that giving the pashkevil any credence whatsoever was doing Nechama’s closet an injustice.

    Inasmuch as we need to be aware of our surroundings in all aspects, most of my friends had not even heard about the pashkevil until they read about it on one of the websites.

    The readership of these said websites, are mostly forward thinking people, and like I surmised from anyone I spoke to about it, the reaction to the pashkevil was a roll of the eyes,, (some eye rolls went so far back as to cause the rollers to feel dizzy,) and a Puh-leeze.

    When people are so close minded, even mentioning their opinions is an injustice to an organization as wonderful as Nechama’s closet.

    Had the pashkevil writer even done a little bit of research, they would have seen that Rick LaVoie works with many Jewish organizations, and his foundation to everything he says, is RESPECT!

    All this being said, I hope all the readers here will join me in wishing Elky Ezagui and Esther Berkowitz, lots of hatzlocha in all the hard work they do, and may they always stay on the giving side of tzedaka.

    Here is to continued support of the community in the right places, and may the giving, and generosity of the wonderful kehillah of Crown Heights, culminate with the coming of Moshiach NOW!!!

  • STOP MISEDUCATING OUR CHILDREN

    Can anyone tell me why our children have to learn Yiddish when:
    1, Virtually no one speaks in Yddish with their children at home.
    2. Overwhelming amount of Sefarim are NOT written in Yddish
    3. You have to spent more than 1/2 of your time teaching a language our children can not relate to
    4. There is barely time to to cover the basic issues in Nigle and Chassidus
    5. Yydish is not taught in Chabad schoold in Eretz Ysroel
    6. It increases the level of frustration for both children and parents, it makes homework painful and probably raises the incidence of failure
    7. it will not make you a better person

  • Thank you Nechama-s closet!

    Now each of our mosdos need to bring Mr. Lavoie in to speak to the teachers, who should be mandated to attend – too many of those that REALLY need to hear him most likely did not attend the event.

    How many of our children need to be pushed off the derech before our incompetent teachers and principals sit up and realize that they are the ones largely to blame???

    Kol Hakavod to Nechama’s closet for getting the ball rolling – let’s not stop here. One lecture from an expert is really not enough. Our mechanchim/mechanchos need to hear this advice again and again and again until they can actually step up and follow it. (I’m obviously not speaking about the small percentage of incredible teachers that are fully committed to their students and really genuinely care to educate in the right way – thank you, thank you and thank you again. I wish there were more of you!)

  • Clarifying the Rebbe-s words

    To #11: In that letter, the Rebbe is not advocating teaching to read and write the vernacular, but rather that the instruction of Torah should be in the spoken language. In fact, the Rebbe was against teaching children secular studies until as late as possible.

  • To # 19

    If ‘instruction of Torah should be in the spoken language’, it follows that reading and writing in that language will serve to improve said ‘instruction’. As for the Rebbe being against secular studies; As another commenter put it – ‘try not to confuse ‘chol’ with learning English’. Learning a language (hopefully the language you think and speak in) will serve only to enhance a kids Limudei Kodesh studies. Some common sense, folks.

  • A mom

    #16, U dont have to send your kids to a school that teaches Yiddish. But this is the way it is done in Lubavitch. Mir, Chaim Berlin, and most of lakewood, dont teach Yiddish,, feel free to go elsewhere.
    I am sick and tired, of parents who come into our community as Newcomers, and then dont want to learn our way, but want us to conform to their way,,, WE DONT HAVE TO BE MISEDUCATED. (btw is miseducated a real word?)
    PS according to ur warped thinking, perhaps u know better than our Rebbe, and you should go take it up with Him at the Ohel.

  • Appalled Special Ed Teacher

    I read the article on this event on ‘that other site’, and being opposed to this event, I submitted a comment which apparently was rejected, because it never appeared. So I hope crownheights.info will be different, and respect freedom of speech. Anyway, here goes:
    This event, I believe, was a big abomination for our community. Why in the world do we need some over-rated, pompous non-Jew like Rick Lavoie to be lecturing us on education, when there are hundreds of amazing frum Jewish special-ed experts out there? And why does there need to be bittul Torah by ending schools early? Clearly, the yetzer harah was involved here big time. Furthermore, why was this event scheduled on the same day as the 30th annual Tzivos Hashem rally?
    Rick Lavoie has got to be the biggest snake since the one in Gan Eden, poisoning parents and educators’ minds with his radical, liberal, anti-scientific anti-Torah viewpoints on education. I cannot believe this shameful event took place right here in Crown Heights, but it just goes to show the darkness of the galus we’re in. Ad mosai!?!

  • to 21

    iF YOU CAN READ Yiddish, go and see the Igros were the Rebbe writes about this and you will see that it is not as you say. Can you expalin perhaps why no Yddish is taughts in the Yeshivas of Kfar Chabad. Based on the tome of you comment, you probably know better taht them and better than Rabbi Ashkenazi

  • agree with # 21

    Mom, you are right omn the money. There are definetely too many outsiders in Lubavitch. Personally, I think they should keep to their colleges and universities were they came from