Tikvah Wiener

Head of School of The Idea School, the first project-based learning Jewish high school in America

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Sep 27, 2020, 6:03 PM

Fearing Death, Choosing Life

“It is fitting for every person who has fear of Heaven to be anguished and concerned regarding the destruction of the Temple.” So goes the Shulchan Aruch — the most widely accepted compilation of Jewish law, written in Safed, Israel,...

Sep 25, 2020, 7:54 AM

Fearing Death, Choosing Life

“It is fitting for every person who has fear of Heaven to be anguished and concerned regarding the destruction of the Temple.” So goes the Shulchan Aruch -- the most widely accepted compilation of Jewish law, written in Safed,...

Jul 17, 2020, 10:08 PM

Living in a VUCA World

This past Monday, on July 13, I had the opportunity to be on a panel for the Israeli American Council (IAC) and Tel Aviv University’s Zoom Out Summit, whose purpose was to reimagine education. Sharon Freundel, Managing Director of...

Feb 20, 2020, 6:19 PM

Making very sure the kids are all right

Pop quiz: what group of students in America is at higher risk for experiencing mental and behavioral problems than the national average? If you answered students in high poverty or immigrant households, or in households in which one or both...

Dec 5, 2019, 9:56 PM

There is no frigate like a book . . . .

The year’s Best Of lists are coming out, and I’ve barely gotten through the New York Times and Wall Street Journal’s best books ones. The prospect of doing so made me realize I feel envious of those lucky folks...

Jul 25, 2019, 8:28 PM

Building a More Just World

“The battle for existence is hard and unforgiving, but is the only way to maintain life. This struggle eliminates everything that is unfit for life, and selects everything that is able to survive…. These natural laws are incontrovertible; living...

May 17, 2019, 6:43 AM

Unplug, Look Up, Stay Centered

There’s lots of talk among educators today about the role that social media is playing in our students’ lives, but whether you’re a parent, child, educator, student, or just any human being on this planet with a reasonable WiFi...

Mar 1, 2019, 11:17 AM

Gender Equity… Continued

My first article for the Jewish Standard was about equity, showing different pathways to it in education and focusing specifically on gender inequity in Orthodox Jewish education. Since then, the field has taken some encouraging steps to address the issue,...

Dec 28, 2018, 4:39 AM

Connecting PBL and its parts

Now that The Idea School, the new project-based learning, interdisciplinary high school my colleagues and I started this fall, has completed its first trimester and is in the middle of its second one, aspects of our educational model touted...

Nov 9, 2018, 3:18 PM

On Data and Deep Learning

A recent cartoon circulated among educators caught my eye. It satirizes a shift in parental attitude about who is responsible for poor grades, students or teachers. In 1969, the cartoon contends, parents shamed children when they received low grades;...

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About Me

Tikvah Wiener is Head of School of The Idea School, a project-based learning Orthodox high school located at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ. www.theideaschool.org. She lives in Teaneck, NJ, with her husband and children.