Judi Marcus is one busy teacher.
As in, busy for decades.
This year, she teaches aleph-bet and prayerbook Hebrew to fourth and fifth graders at HEA.
She also teaches Hebrew to adults at HEA and through the community’s Introduction to Judaism program.
Oh, did we mention that Marcus is retired?
“Retirement” for Judi Marcus did not mean walking away from her profession — make that the calling — that she loves. It meant pivoting from working full-time in Denver Public Schools to helping Jewish children and adults become comfortable with Hebrew, whether it’s in preparation for their Bar or Bat Mitzvahs or for participation in communal prayer.
For her entire career, which began in 1972, Marcus has been involved in education or Jewish engagement, and sometimes both at the same time, which is currently the case.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisc., Marcus’ parents wanted her to be a teacher, but she got a degree in social work because she wanted to work in Jewish community centers. Her parents persisted, and told her, “If you want to go back and get a teaching degree, it’s fine with us. We’ll pay for it.”
“I really liked what education was all about,” she recalls, and she went back for a master’s in education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s highly ranked School of Education.
After graduating in 1972, Marcus took a job at the JCC in Houston where she primarily worked with the camp but also with a group of young adults with learning disabilities.
The Houston JCC sent Marcus and six of her colleagues to Israel to gather ideas to bring back. Marcus ended up staying in Israel for nearly a year, where she honed her Hebrew skills from Hebrew school in Milwaukee.
Then Marcus came to Denver to work at the JCC here, where she led children’s programming, 1976 to 1978.
From the Denver JCC, it was on to Portland, Ore. and its JCC, back to Denver, where she taught fourth grade and sixth grade secular studies at Hillel Academy until 1989.
After a year at Herzl Jewish Day School (now Denver Jewish Day School), Marcus shifted to public school, teaching fourth and fifth grades and middle school math and literature in DPS for 18 years until she “retired” — on paper only!
During her DPS tenure, Marcus also taught Hebrew to adults and children in Denver Hebrew schools — and continues to do so to this day. She also taught adults at the once-active Denver Institute for Jewish Education (DIJS). Now at Introduction to Judaism program, Marcus teaches prayerbook Hebrew to adults.
In contrast to Marcus’ highly structured approach to classroom management that she employed in DPS, her classrooms at HEA’s Hebrew school are much more casual. She includes games and rewards.
“The classroom has to be student-friendly. Kids have to feel comfortable there,” Marcus explains. They shouldn’t have to sit in chairs. In my classroom, there’s a flow.”
“I work one-on-one with kids on their reading. If they’re not reading with me, they’ll have a folder containing things to reinforce what they have learned. The folder also has games such as ‘Four in a Row’ and ‘Tic-Tac-Toe’ to play with other kids at their level or with one of my aides.
“They don’t raise their hands to go to the bathroom. They wave to me. I look at the clock, and they go. They’re free to do that.”
Marcus also takes her cue from the students regarding how far they want to go with their reading in a sitting. “They control that completely, and I think that control is really important for them.”
Marcus uses positive reinforcement — a reward system of “shekels” for students who show exceptional kindness in the classroom or put in extra effort toward learning their Hebrew.
The students get to use their shekels at an annual auction in December to purchase prizes. “I get $30 a year to spend on prizes — the dollar store is my friend,” Marcus says.
Marcus also collects gifts she receives through the year in exchange for charitable donations that she makes, and adds them to the auction inventory.
Marcus also brings her little dog Hadley to class sometimes. This makes the children happy, reinforcing the notion that Hebrew class can be fun.
The students know, however, that, along with the fun and games, come expectations.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s structured like their public school classroom, but it’s very structured. The kids know that I expect them always to be doing something — and they do. Sometimes they say, ‘I’m not sure I’m going to do anything right now,’ and Isay, ‘No, you need to choose something. You have lots of choices here.”
Like all other teachers, Marcus had to pivot to remote teaching during the pandemic lockdown, but unlike most other teachers, she did not teach her Hebrew school kids and adult students over Zoom, but over the phone. She feels that the students of all ages are distracted with Zoom, and may not like reading in front of everybody.
Marcus is pleased with her students’ progress over the phone. “At least 30 to 35 students have gone from nothing all the way through the prayerbook with me over the phone. That’s been really cool, and I’m going to continue the program — both on the phone and in-person.”
She has even continued her shekels incentive during the pandemic: “If the kids call me to read between scheduled phone classes, or do extra reading at home, they get extra shekels for December.”
The phone learning also has advantages for adult students. “They can go on vacation and read with me when they come back.”
Marcus’ influence on her students does not end when they finish their Hebrew lesson for the day. She takes a personal interest in all of her students and does what she can to help them in their lives outside of the classroom, whether it’s organizing a meal train for the family of a student whose father had a serious surgery, seeking recognition for a child with special needs or writing letters to students while they are away at camp.
Judi Marcus and her husband David Feinman married later in life — 24 years ago. Although she does not have children of her own, Marcus’ warmth and maternal instincts enable her to reach her students with compassion.
“They feel comfortable with me, and that’s important. They sometimes share something with me, something that’s happened in school, and I’ll encourage them to share it with their parents, too.”
With all the classes that Marcus teaches, she finds time to help others. During the pandemic, she collected travel-size shampoos and other toiletries for hygiene bags for the homeless. She’s created and donated 2,000 hygiene bags!
She also works with people with dementia.
Her leisure pursuits include gardening, travel, screening films for the Denver Jewish Film Festival, mah jongg and nightly Scrabble games with her husband.
In just a few weeks, Marcus will start an additional job in Jewish education — working in staff development at Rodef Shalom, showing teachers classroom management techniques.
In short, Judi Marcus is the teacher’s teacher.
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