It has been a decade since Yeshiva Atlanta and Greenfield Hebrew Academy merged to create Atlanta Jewish Academy. Since this milestone, AJA High School has undergone significant growth. Some veteran faculty members have been a part of it all, supporting the high school as it grew. Having seen so much change, they have a unique perspective on AJA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlthough AJA has made great strides to improve, teachers still see aspects of the school that they believe can be ameliorated.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Over the years, the High School\u2019s many traditions have evolved. One of these traditions is Shabbat Dancing\u2014a time during school on Friday when students and teachers sing and dance to Jewish songs. High School Principal Mr. Joel Rojek, who has worked at AJA for 21 years, commented on this tradition, saying that now is a \u201cgolden age of Shabbat Dancing\u201d which is likely influenced by the incredible \u201cbuy-in\u201d among students and teachers. In addition, High School Science Teacher Mrs. Catherine Brand, who has worked at AJA for 11 years, revels in the fact that Shabbat Dancing is much more organized now, so she knows when it will happen, and it doesn\u2019t interrupt her planned lesson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shabbat Dancing, Onegs, Shabbatons, Mishmor, and Mishmeret are all long-lasting traditions in the High School. All of them date back to when AJA High School was Yeshiva Atlanta (YA), and according to Judaic Studies Teacher Rabbi Daniel Estreicher, who has worked at AJA for 47 years, \u201cwe even have more Shabbatons now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Traditions aren\u2019t the only aspect of the high school that has undergone change; policies have evolved too. One such policy, the dress code, has undergone a plethora of adjustments. Mr. Rojek recounted that \u201cwe haven\u2019t always had a dress code.\u201d Before that, we had uniforms. Though he thinks \u201cstudents like having the dress code better. . .with uniforms, it\u2019s easier to hold students in compliance with the rules. \u201d Having seen uniform versus dress code policies first hand, it can be difficult for him to hear students\u2019 complaints about the current dress code. When he hears students complain, he often thinks \u201cperhaps you\u2019re taking what’s good for granted\u201d and not appreciating \u201chow much more leeway you have in terms of what you can dress in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent years, on top of the extra freedom acquired with the institution of a dress code, changes in the time allotted for lunch have also given students more freedom. According to Mr. Rojek, compared to previous years, \u201cright now in the school\u2019s history, [we] have a pretty long lunch,\u201d which \u201ccan be a valuable time for students\u201d to participate in extracurricular activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although there is more leeway now, discipline has improved to match the increase in freedom. Mrs. Brand noticed these \u201cstrides\u201d and noted that discipline has become more consistent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the more recent changes that Mrs. Brand is very passionate about is a change in grading requirements. This year, guidelines surrounding dedicating a portion of a student\u2019s grade to investment in learning ceased to be mandatory, so teachers can now choose whether to grade investment in learning. While Mrs. Brand thinks investment in learning is valuable, she approves of the decision to allow her to choose to include investment in learning, as her \u201cpersonal philosophy\u201d is not to include it as a part of a student\u2019s academic grade. Still, she respects the fact that many teachers think otherwise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On a different note, Mr. Rojek noticed a vast change in the faculty\u2019s partnership. Upon entering Yeshiva Atlanta, he understood that there was a division between the faculty members, with the Judaic and general studies teachers on either side of a fence and \u201cthe two sides. . . [not having] much to do with each other..\u201d Since the AJA merger, however, there has been \u201cmore emphasis on treating the faculty as one,\u201d and more overall unity, which he attributes to the fact that \u201c. . . we look for certain personality traits\u201d when hiring teachers. These cohesive traits allow the faculty members to work well with one another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although AJA has made great strides to improve, teachers still see aspects of the school that they believe can be ameliorated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For one, Rabbi Estreicher thinks the school should be putting more emphasis on sending students to colleges that will help them further their Jewish life and observance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Rojek, striving for perfection, thinks that \u201ceverybody has a top two or three [electives] that are really appealing to\u201d them and he would like to \u201ckick that up just one more notch\u201d by expanding the elective opportunities. Another thing he\u2019d like to have more of is opportunities to \u201ccompete in contests or competitions or to engage with other schools in shared events.\u201d Lastly, he would love to build a culture where students approach the administration with ideas \u201cthat would address an issue.\u201d At the moment, he thinks this process stops at students describing issues within the school and doesn\u2019t extend to students and faculty working together to explore solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout all the changes the high school has sustained, our most committed faculty members have remained. Many agreed that the students and their relationship with them is a large factor in keeping them at the school for such an extensive period of time. Mr. Rojek and Mrs. Brand both highlighted how rewarding it is to watch their students \u201cgrow and develop,\u201d in Mr Rojek\u2019s words. Rabbi Estreicher especially loves the opportunity he has “to inspire\u201d and watch his students grow in their connection to Judaism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, Mrs. Brand passionately highlighted the \u201cvalue placed on teachers and students having relationships with each other.\u201d Instead of it being a forced relationship, she can get to know her \u201cstudents as people,\u201d who are, \u201cgeneralistically speaking, kind, compassionate, empathetic, intelligent, hardworking people that are going to improve the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, support from both faculty and families have made significant impacts on AJA\u2019s faculty members. Mr. Rojek credits some of his devotion to the school to the \u201csupportive families. . . that really value education and want their kids to grow and to learn and to really get a lot out of their high school years.\u201d Mrs. Brand celebrates the \u201coverriding emphasis, regardless of who’s been in charge of the school, on giving the teachers the freedom to do what they want to do in their own classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our veteran teachers all have varying opinions about the AJA high school, but many feel strongly that it has changed for the better in their time at AJA. They are passionate about continuing this streak of positive growth\u2014growth that all community members will experience together as \u201cwe\u2019re all part of a larger network,\u201d in the words of Mr. Rojek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seasoned Teachers Reflect on AJA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","entry","rows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2299,"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291\/revisions\/2299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}