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"Believing is Succeeding": Richard Altabe on Reaching Diverse Learners
How do you teach a class where every child learns differently? In this episode, Rabbi Gil Student sits down with Mr. Richard Altabe, retired principal of the lower division of HALB (Hebrew Academy of Long Beach) and a 37-year veteran of yeshivah leadership, including Yeshivah Darchei Torah, Magen David Yeshivah High School and Yeshivat Sha'are Torah Boys High School. Today he serves as chief education officer at the JIEM Education Foundation, consulting for yeshivot across the country, and sits on the New York State Education Department's Blue Ribbon Commission on graduation standards. Drawing on the Fall 2026 cover story of Jewish Action, "When Smart Kids Struggle," they discuss: • A dyslexic student who couldn't read until third grade and went on to graduate physics research at Yale • Why reaching every student isn't a left- or right-wing issue, and why it starts with the teacher's belief that a key exists for every child • Whether focusing on diverse learners shortchanges the top students • How brain science, from neuroplasticity to our understanding of dyslexia and autism, has changed education over the past 30 years • Blended learning, small-group instruction and "pushing in" the resource room instead of pulling students out • Why chavruta learning shouldn't wait until yeshivah in Israel • Using visuals, video and AI in limudei kodesh, with the right guardrails • Why going into education means you "make people" Read the Fall 2026 issue of Jewish Action at jewishaction.com. To receive Jewish Action at home, become an OU member at ou.org/membership. Also mentioned: the special Jewish Action tribute edition honoring Rabbi Moshe Hauer, zt"l, on his first yahrtzeit. Copies are $20 at ou.org/tribute-issue. Music licensed through Soundstripe. License codes: KOPGJBOOEAALYBPE, FF4GSEAPSDFDETJ4
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