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Implementation of FIE
Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills

Thanks to a new program grant, Hillel Torah students have joined the ranks of corporate executives worldwide, members of Mensa, as well as the Israel Defense Forces and its elite units.

It’s true.  Our students are receiving the same kind of training as these organizations after Hillel Torah was selected as the first Jewish day school in North America to be the recipient of the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment Grant.  The program has been implemented this school year in kindergarten and fourth grade.  It’s designed for students on a variety of learning levels- from those who require remediation to mainstream and gifted learners- enabling each child to reach his or her true potential.

“It is a really impressive program and we’re one of the only ones piloting the program,” said Mara Shanes, early childhood coordinator.” Teachers have come from other Jewish day schools to observe, because this is a much sought after, new wave program.

The FIE Method is based on the premise that a student can be taught to be a good thinker and increase his or her learning capacities, challenging the belief that intelligence is fixed and cannot be changed.  Feuerstein’s method of learning does so by sharpening students’ critical thinking skills and helping them organize their thoughts.  “It trains the child’s eye to be able to look at pictures and organize their thoughts to compare, classify, formulate and test hypotheses and learn to be really god observers of details and make hypotheses based on what they observe,”Shanes said.

As part of the grant, which was funded in part by the Jewish Federation and the Associated Talmud Torahs, Hillel Torah Staff members are being trained in these methods once a month.  The professionals from FIE come in and instruct teachers on how to move forward to the next stage of the program.  They also conduct demonstrations with students where the teachers can observe and then work together from there.

The 4th graders are also using the program as part of their Judaic studies curriculum and even conduct it in Hebrew.