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Regina Miller comes out of retirement to assist at Hebrew Academy
Miller is now using all of that experience to help mold the preschool at the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy in Bloomfield. She serves as preschool consultant and works with the children, observes, and meets with the educators. You can even see Miller getting down on the floor with the small children who call her "MorRegina" - a combination of her name and the Hebrew word for teacher. "I am delighted to be back in the classroom having relationships with little kids. I love that," she said. "And I also love building relationships with the teachers. It is close to the kind of teaching that I have always done, but what is different and special is that I am in the classroom seeing how what we talk about gets implemented, and if you teach at the university, you don't often have that opportunity. So that has been very nice for me." Miller began working with the Hebrew Academy at the beginning of this school year, after people in the community heard of her retirement. "I heard of the tremendous experience that Regina had and her vast knowledge of preschool education, and I felt it was our school's responsibility to somehow get her involved," said Rabbi Mordechai Weiss, principal of the Hebrew Academy. "I consider her to be the best resource for preschool in our entire area." "I float from one early-childhood classroom to another and I've gotten to know the children and the curriculum and the professional development needs of the teachers. We have been having regular meetings and workshops. "My major focus in the beginning was to create a team and not to have separate pockets of teachers, but to really create family - where people work together to build a continuum and a curriculum. Three of the six teachers were new this year, and that always needs attention, and I was new to them...so there was a fair amount of getting to know each other." The Hebrew Academy has three separate preschool classes: one for two-year olds, one for three-year-olds and another dedicated just to four-year-olds. "We wanted our preschool to grow and we felt that her expertise would provide the excellence that would be needed to achieve that goal," Rabbi Weiss explained. "Already we have had inquiries from new parents and we are seriously considering opening up new classes. Regina brings with her a vast knowledge of how to achieve excellence in the preschool area. She has already implemented exciting programs in our school." "The goal was to take something that has always been good and to update it and make it better," Miller said. "What the parents who were involved last year have been saying is that it is an amazingly different place." Some of the changes include implementing "centers" and thematic planning, Miller said. "The children rotate to different centers. There has also been a real focus on documenting the progress the children are making, identifying areas of need, and making sure that there is something for everybody at their level in each classroom." Miller has updated the preschool department's professional library, and brings in articles and other resources for the teachers. "We are already making plans for next year - maybe some enhancement to the Hebrew curriculum," she said. The fact that she is now working in Jewish education makes the whole situation even more appealing to Miller. A long-time member of the Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, Miller's work in the Jewish community includes running workshops at Jewish educator conferences of the Commission on Jewish Education (CJE), and teaching mini-classes at Hebrew College. She has served on the CJE Board and as a La'atid coordinator, helping to facilitate that Jewish initiative at synagogues around the Greater Hartford area. "It is very nice for me because in one place it is bringing together everything I love to do," Miller said. "There is a wonderful resource book that was written years ago called 'Jewish Everyday' and that is what it is like - Jewish everyday!" |
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