The 85 students in Orot’s Excellence Program are highly motivated, have an outstanding academic performance and are eager to learn.
A conference titled, “Meeting Education” was initiated by Dr. Chaim Oelbaum, Director of the Advancement of Teaching Department at Orot Israel College.
The various lectures focused primarily on the educational aspect of the teacher's role. Building on that theme, Odelia Alkoby, Director of Taazumot, opened the conference with a lecture on developing social skills in the classroom through play. She explained in great detail how teachers can get their pupils to develop social skills through play.
Orot invited various lecturers who spoke about widening horizons in education: Tali Nisan, student counselor from Ulpanat Elkana spoke about communication between teachers and parents; Tali Polack, principal of the Alei Zahav School lectured about fulfilling dreams-educational initiatives and a representative from the Paamonim organization came and spoke about smart financial conduct.
The conference concluded with "Coffee Dilemma" where 3 veteran teachers presented Orot's students with real life dilemmas that they had to cope with in their classrooms and discussed how Orot's students would have reacted to each dilemma.
Haya Gazit, a teacher at Ulpanat Ofra, presented the dilemma – what is the breaking point of keeping a problematic student in the school?
Itai Aharoni, principal of the Amit School in Ramla presented the dilemmas –how to deal with drugs and friendships with Arabs?
Yael Yitzchaki, Head of the Shoham Ulpana, presented the dilemma – what can you do when there is a gap between the values in school and the values in the home of the student?
Prior to the opening of the conference, the College's President, Prof. Yuval Sinai and Dr. Naama Bindiger, Coordinator of the Unit for the Advancement of Teaching at Orot Israel College, spoke about the great importance of attracting the best candidates for teaching and investing in programs of excellence.