Becoming a Soulful Educator

Book excerpt: Wake up, educators! Move beyond conveying information, beyond the classroom, to transforming the soul. Long description: The time has come for a new GPS in education. The goal is no longer to teach a good class, to convey information or even to have the students enjoy the learning. Soulful education is about enabling another—child, adolescent, adult—to discover how to become his or her best self through learning. In this bold revisioning of effective education, renowned educator Rabbi Aryeh Ben David recalibrates the focus of teaching from the acquisition of knowledge to the transformation of the soul. He presents six steps to help educators of all kinds teach to the heart, engage students in knowledge gathering without preaching or controlling, and enable students to authentically and personally integrate Jewish wisdom into their lives. He offers guidance for how teachers can share their own vulnerabilities and yearnings to become a better force of harmony to help students gain new clarity on their own infinite potential for positive change. This is the essential guidebook for everyone from educators and rabbis to parents and grandparents—anyone working in formal or informal education, whether for children, teens, emerging adults, adults or seniors.