2021 Summer Sandbox Network

Tikvah Wiener is Founder and Co-Director of The Idea Institute, which, since 2014, has trained close to 2000  educators in project-based learning and innovative pedagogies. From 2018-2023, she was also Head of School of The Idea School, a Jewish, project-based learning high school in Tenafly, NJ. Tikvah was an Upstart Fellow, 2014-16, and was one of ten educators in JEIC’s 2016-17 HaKaveret Design Team, a group that innovated new models of learning for Jewish education. She also presented an ELI Talk on why we need more passion-based learning in the field. Tikvah started her educational career as an English and art history teacher and has been in Jewish education for 27 years.

Judith Talesnick, Managing Director, Professional Learning and Growth, has been collaborating with Jewish educators since helping her mother teach Israeli dancing in her early teens. As an adult, her focus shifted to leadership, educational visioning and learner-centered instruction in day schools and yeshivot. She partners with educators to listen carefully; notice patterns, and create engaging learning experiences that spark learners’ curiosity.