Our Voices

An Interview with Karen Neinstein

Although Karen Neinstein has been a PTS member since 2016, she only recently took on a new role at our temple, teaching first-grade Youth Education! I had the great pleasure of sitting down with Karen recently to reflect on her time teaching thus far and to hear the advice she would give to other congregants who are considering taking on the role of teacher.

If you are interested in teaching Youth Education next year, please reach out to me and join us for our upcoming series, The Who, What, & Why of Teaching Youth Education on May 17th and 24th.

Karen, tell me about yourself. How long have you been a member at PTS and what has that experience been like? 
In the beginning of 2016, we moved back from Chicago. At that time our daughter was two and a half years old and we were looking for a temple to start getting our family involved in a preschool. Peninsula Temple Sholom, after touring many different places, stood out far and above all the rest as a good fit for our daughter, and also for our family…It was just a very warm and welcoming community. I could tell right away that we were going to make our forever friends, find our chavura (which we did very quickly), and start making memories. Later that fall, we were able to get into the preschool and then just started getting more involved. I immediately joined the board of the preschool and got super involved there, working with Allison Steckley, Kim Gotthardt, and all of the teachers. I would describe PTS as our second family. We don't have any local family so that was something we were really looking for…and to become a part of Jewish community. That is what we have found at PTS. 

We are so happy to have you. Why were you interested in teaching Youth Education? 
I was a trial attorney for about a decade, a district attorney in both Marin County and then San Francisco. After years of being an attorney, I knew it wasn't the right fit. Way back when I was in college, I used to volunteer at an elementary school and I always kind of knew I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Somewhere along the way, I got off that path, started pre-law, and then went to law school and became a lawyer. Then, when I had my daughter, it re-sparked that passion not just raising my own kids, but helping to participate in shaping other kids…I had always thought about teaching Youth Education because it was a good way of combining not only my desire to teach, but also my wish to get more involved in the temple community…When I saw your email [advertising a need for Youth Education teachers], it was one of those moments where it was just like, “click, click, click, click, click.” Everything just kind of meshed. It all came full circle and seemed like what I was meant to do. 

I'm so glad everything clicked. Thank you for reading all the temple emails! What has been the most rewarding aspect of teaching and what has been the most challenging aspect of teaching? 
The most rewarding has hands down been the light in the kids' eyes when they're learning and interested in asking questions and intrigued…Actually, this is probably going to make me cry, but one of them raised their hand and said to me that our class is her favorite part of the week. She likes it even more than regular school. She always looks forward to Sundays and she's sad when we don't have it. I was like, “Oh my goodness!” That was super rewarding. 

The range of personalities at six-years-old can be very challenging because we have a very limited amount of time together. We need to stay on task at times. Some of the kids are super into it. Some of them say, “I don't want to do this. I just want to run around and move my body.” Trying to balance the kids that want to sit still with the kids that don’t want to sit still and who want to talk a lot, it’s a challenge. We've found a very good balance, I think, in this class. It's going really well. 

What is a piece of advice that you would give to congregants like yourself who are interested in teaching, but are not quite sure that they're ready? 
I would say it is not scary at all. I think it seems overwhelming and it's really not. As someone who is interested in doing this, that means you're already likely an involved member of our Jewish community and a caring member of our temple. That, honestly, is the biggest thing. If you have that and you have the love for PTS and the love for Jewish education, the rest comes naturally. Yes, you might need to refresh on a few facts from the Torah. Google's a really good place for that. I will be the first to admit that I do not remember every detail of every holiday and every little intricate detail of various lessons that I am now teaching. In this day and age with all the wonderful resources that we have out there, it's really not overwhelming at all. You can do it. All you need is the passion to do it…The kids are happy no matter what you're teaching them. They're happy to be there and they're happy to learn. 

The other advice I would give is that you have a lot of support. You, Rabbi Alban, are always available for helping with lesson plans or ideas. Then also, all the other teachers and the whole group are wonderful. The madrichim (teen helpers) are amazing. That makes it so smooth. My advice would be if you have the passion to do it, just rip off the bandaid and do it because there's really nothing but positives that come out of it! 

Karen, I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. We are lucky to have you not only as a member of our community but also now as a teacher too! I hope your story will inspire others to take on the important role of Youth Education teacher.