My name is David Steiner. For what it’s worth, I am a doctor of education and an aspiring rabbi studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Here’s a copy of my curriculum vitae.
I started two blogs in an effort to build a community around the idea that through critical literacy and a will to make the world a better place, we become empowered to control our destiny. Paolo Freire calls this process, Conscientizacao. It is a first step in the praxis of “becoming fully human,” according to Freire.
If you are interested in this pursuit and want to join me in these efforts, please feel free to contact me, submit an article or comment on existing contributions.
Peace,
David
Statement of Educational Philosophy
Giving a statement of educational philosophy reminds me of the story of the two great Jewish sages, Rabbi’s Hillel and Shamai. They were once asked to explain Judaism while standing on one foot. Shammai protested that he couldn’t possibly explain Judaism in the short time a person could remain standing this way. Hillel responded by saying not to do onto others as you would not want done onto you. “The rest is interpretation.”
A statement implies brevity and I understand Shammai’s discomfort with the impossible mission, but I agree with Hillel that the meaning is in the interpretation. Hermeneutics is an essential part of my philosophy because at the core of my beliefs is an anti-positivist agenda that is fueled by my belief in pluralism. I believe that most of the world is open to multiple interpretations. Even in Judaism, we say that the Torah has seventy faces. I teach because I want to fight determinism and promote active participation of students and teachers in all facets of their social and civic engagement. I believe, like Paolo Freire, that we read and write the world we know. It is through this literacy that we can take charge in the discourse of power.
My influences include my Labor Zionist upbringing, my immersion in residential educational systems in summer camps, my Israeli agricultural high school, the Israeli army, my secular inquiry into my Jewish roots and my academic studies of fine arts and film and curriculum at the doctoral level. My heroes include Maxine Greene, Janusz Korczak and Myles Horton, all of who have addressed the world with creativity and a love of humanity.
As a professional educator, I have taught Internet business and marketing at Columbia College since 2000, and I taught teacher research and technology in education at National Louis University. My research has focused on peace education for the intractable conflict between Palestinians and Israelis and residential education. My praxis has three fronts. I founded and ran the Middle East Youth Association which creates and implements media focused peace education for high school students and teachers from the Middle East and the Diaspora communities. I was working with a school in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center teaching multimedia and I ran a weekly book club for homeless men and women in the East Village neighborhood where I own some buildings.
I am also an activist and was chair person of Chicago Peace Now and a member of Ameinu; two progressive Zionist organizations. I was on the board of Camp Tavor and I was a member of numerous special interest groups and Brit Tzedek, the Jewish Aliiance for Peace and Justice. Now in Israel, as a rabbinic student at the Shalom Hartman Institute, I am a supporter of the New Israel Fund, Ir Amim, Encounter and Peace Now, but I have not found a home in any of Israel’s political parties. Much of my work now is independent and you can read about some of it at my blog, The Radish or my new blog, The White Spaces.
Standing on one foot, I would summarize my work as the promotion and implementation of discourse literacy, the subject of my dissertation, which is the nexus of epistemic beliefs about practical knowledge, a broadened understanding of literacy for the electronic age and a non-dichotomistic approach to discourse that is both dialectical and holistic.