I recently shared our story not to seek empathy, but with the hope that I can help other couples experiencing infertility feel less alone, embrace their emotions, and feel empowered to advocate for themselves. For this week’s ‘Jewish thought,’ I offer two suggestions for how you can be supportive to those in your circles who are trying to fulfill one of our most important mitzvot: to be fruitful and multiply.

My husband and I struggled with infertility for half a decade and learned lots of lessons along the way… One in eight couples battle infertility, so if you’re on this rocky road to parenthood, know that you’re not alone. My hope is that sharing my story can help others navigate this uncharted territory.

Buffalo Commons Charter School is an academically rigorous, creative, and collaborative K-8 learning community that uses research-based teaching practices and innovative programming to eliminate the opportunity gap and to prepare a diverse student body for successful lives that strengthen their communities. As the founding board chair I was instrumental in designing the school, securing a charter from the State University of New York, and recruiting and leading the founding board of trustees.

Through my work as a board member for the Bureau of Jewish Education, the vice chair and then chair of LiNK Jewish Buffalo (formally the Center for Jewish Engagement and Learning) I helped develop the plan to merge the two organizations. As the chair, I lead the team at LiNK to develop strategic goals and a robust annual survey.

For the last few decades in the education sector, innovative teachers have experimented with things like a flipped classroom and project- or problem-based learning that turn the traditional style of teaching and lecturing upside down. Here in the local Jewish community, we’ve seen a few examples of this type of innovation and learning, too.

In partnerships with Dallas Independent School District and Richardson Independent School District, I designed and facilitated 20+ hours of teacher training and professional development and provided technical assistance to the districts to prepare for curriculum rollout and conduct ongoing course evaluation and revision.

After the Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt we wandered the desert in search of the promised land. We walked, we camped, we ate manna, and — believe it or not — we kvetched and at times, longed for our days as slaves. Being tired of manna, we craved the foods of the land we escaped: “We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.”

In partnership with the Louisiana Department of Education, my team worked with 25 teachers and principals from across the state to develop a new, innovative career exploration course serving 30,000+ students. I provided technical assistance to the state to train teachers, prepare for curriculum rollout, and conduct ongoing course evaluation and revision.

I had a classroom with three walls when I first started teaching. A bookshelf separated my classroom from the neighboring one. My students ranged from 14- to 18-years-old—and I was 21. Things were interesting, to say the least.

Twenty years ago, I was a freshman in high school. I spent the next four years in my assigned seat among the rows of desks, trying to listen to the teacher at the front of the room, completing homework assignments from textbooks, and preparing for tests by making countless flashcards. I was a well-behaved student and earned As and Bs, so most of the adults in the building didn’t pay much attention to me.

To support the work of The Education Trust—New York, I conducted teacher interviews to learn about their educator preparation experiences in New York State. My research informed the writing of The First Frontier of Equity: Improving Data Transparency, Availability & Usefulness in Teacher Preparation to Support Future Teachers… and Their Students.

I designed, built, and facilitated in-person and virtual professional development. I cultivated dynamic, cohesive learning environments to help 1,000+ practicing educators build on their classroom expertise to understand the larger context and have a greater impact. Topics included: Publishing Your Message Through Opinion Writing and Social Media; Partnering with Business, Industry, and Community; and Crafting and Influencing Policy.

As part of the leadership team, I helped plan the first Buffalo Israel Experience helping 80+ adults between the ages of 20 and 90 have a meaningful and engaging visit to Israel.

I served on a task force to collective plan a community-wide conference about Jewish engagement — the cultivation of relationships to support people in building a relevant form of Jewish life that places the person—not an organization—at the center.

In partnership with other community leaders, I chaired and helped build Nickel City Jews, an organization that helps young adults in Buffalo (and their friends and life partners of other faiths) find ways to grow Jewishly in meaningful and relevant ways.

As the founding program manager for the New York Educator Voice Fellowship, I empowered over 100 teachers and principals to advocate for better policy. My leadership resulted in 1,000+ campaign activities including advising the New York State Education Department, launching Bring Your Legislator to School Day, and earned media in The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal.

Since the rollout of the Common Core across the state, opponents have criticized the state Education Department for, at least in their view, failing to provide teachers and parents with an appropriate number of released questions from the aligned grade 3-8 assessments, as well as the background to both understand the tests themselves and to help their children succeed.

New York State lawmakers recently approved a budget that gave the State Education Department until the end of June to redesign the teacher evaluation system. The bill requires the department to consult with “experts and practitioners in the field of education.” I am willing to bet there are hundreds of qualified educators across the state who would jump at the opportunity to help with this process, and frankly, in other professions, it’s practitioners themselves who decide how to hold their peers accountable.

I supported TNTP's city- and state-wide teaching fellows programs by screening, interviewing, and evaluating over 1,500 teacher candidates.

At Teach Plus in Washington, DC, I supported the development of teaching policy fellows, focused on impactful improvements to education policy, and teacher leader teams, focused on school improvement and turnaround. I also helped create the organization's national "core collaborative" program by leading an 8-person team of educators to facilitate professional learning for 120+ local teachers.