Helping CITs navigate a new setting
Moving Traditions’ Curricular Program for Rising 8th-12th Grade CITs is designed for Jewish camp settings, this program guides CITs in essential conversations about what it means to care for campers and foster emotionally healthy, inclusive camp communities. It offers up to 13 hands-on, experiential sessions, in which CITs engage in meaningful professional development tailored to the camp environment. Supervisors receive an easy-to-use curriculum that works within 45–60 minute time blocks, making it simple to integrate into pre-camp training or ongoing summer staff development.
Topics include empathic listening, clear communication, setting boundaries, consent, giving and receiving feedback. CITs also explore emotional wellbeing at camp, inclusion of campers with diverse learning and social needs (including disabilities), and how to be “in charge” as a fair and assertive authority figure. The role of mentorship is front and center, encouraging teens to see themselves not just as helpers, but as leaders who shape campers’ sense of belonging.
Each session combines guided conversation, interactive activities, and personal reflection, alongside meaningful connections to Jewish values that ground their leadership in purpose. CITs leave with real skills they can use immediately to truly own their role in creating a brave, joyful, and values-driven community where every camper can thrive.
Objectives for the Curricular Program for Rising 8th-12th Grade CITs
By the end of the session, Counselors in Training participants will:
- Feel better prepared to provide guidance, care and mentorship in their role as CIT
- Develop communication skills including how to speak up, actively listen, and give feedback
- Increase and practice skills in de-escalating conflict and boundary-setting
- Understand when to handle a situation and when to ask for help
- Actively participate and share their thoughts with the group
- Better understand the social emotional lives of the children with whom they will be working
Curriculum Outline
Managing Responsibilities: Counselors In Training (CITs) and Counselors Together
This session holds much of the same content as the Managing Responsibilities session below but is crafted to be facilitated with both the CITs and their Counselors together. We recommend this session be used as an opening for the track.
| Session Title | Purpose | Summary | Objectives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Communication 101 | Help CITs to define their role and develop communication skills * An important first session to introduce the module and manage expectations | Participants begin to explore the expectations of the job, affirm their instincts, and think through how to respond in various scenarios. | — Understand their responsibilities and expectations as a CIT — Develop hopes and goals for their work — Feel assured and prepared to serve as a CIT |
| Managing Responsibilities | Help CITs to know what their role is and when to ask for help | Participants reflect on their own experiences as campers delineating how that is different from being a CIT, and evaluate what falls within the scope of their new responsibilities. | — Understand their responsibilities and expectations as a CIT — Recognize as a CIT when to seek support from a counselor staff member or senior staff member |
| Identifying Stressors | Help CITs to understand the social and emotional lives of campers | Participants turn their focus to the children with whom they work and the possible motivations for their behavior. | — Understand different factors influencing their own behavior and children’s behaviors — Use strategies for managing their reactions to children’s behaviors through increased self-awareness and self-regulation — Apply a deeper sense of responsibility for children’s well-being |
| Noticing Yourself and Others | Help CITs understand group dynamics and think through interventions | Participants learn to pay attention to the situation around them as well as what is going on inside themselves, and then take action. | — Notice group dynamics more effectively — Implement ways to redirect group dynamics as needed — Understand their role as a CIT to lead a group |
| Personal Boundaries, Communication, and Consent | Help CITs to take steps to set boundaries and be supportive | Through a series of games, participants experience and reflect on three types of physical interactions: Positive, negative and supportive. They practice boundary setting and appropriate physical interactions. | — Explore the concept of personal space and reflect on what happens to personal space in a group setting — Practice navigating the basic elements of positive, physical connection — Role model clear communication and boundary setting — Learn ways to facilitate positive physical connection and boundary setting for others |
| Feedback and Accountability | Help CITs to speak up and take initiative | Participants learn to distinguish between complaining and feedback, and practice how to anticipate problematic situations. | — Develop skills on how and when to offer feedback — Understand their role in proactively addressing issues before they become problems — Explore the new level of accountability that comes with their role |
| De-Escalating Conflict | Help CITs to intervene in conflict | Participants learn how to disrupt behavior and redirect energy. | — Understand the different kinds of conflict that may arise in a group of children — Practice when and how to de-escalate conflict between children — Consider their own intervention style as they explore ways to respond to a child’s behavior |
| Inclusion and Belonging | Help CITs foster an inclusive camp environment by recognizing and responding to campers’ diverse needs | Participants explore how small, intentional interventions can create a more supportive and accessible space for all campers. | — Identify strategies for fostering an inclusive environment for all campers — Understand how language shapes inclusion and belonging, and practice using language that encourages a sense of community — Learn a few common accommodations they can offer campers with disabilities or any camper needing support |
| Emotional Well-Being | Help CITs understand the factors that promote emotional well-being in themselves and their campers | Participants explore strategies to support campers’ emotional well-being and create a positive, supportive environment. | — Learn how one’s well-being impacts the camp experience — Reflect on emotional “baggage” that campers may be bringing with them — Gain tools to promote a culture of well-being in their camp communities |
| Building Jewish Identity in Kids | Help CITs understand their power as Jewish role models for their campers | Participants learn how children absorb values through observation, set goals for themselves as role models, and affirm their own Jewish identity, whatever that might look like. | — Explore aspects of their own complex identities, Jewish and otherwise, including key role models who have shaped or strengthened it — Recognize the influential role they play as Jewish role models for the children they work with — Set intentions for expressing and embodying their Jewish identity and values when working with younger children |
| You’re in Charge! | Help CITs feel confident stepping into a role of authority | Participants learn strategies for supporting positive and productive camper behaviors. | — Feel more comfortable stepping into the role of an authority figure — Understand what behaviors they are expected to manage and/or discipline — Gain practical tools for being a fair, effective leader at camp |
| Zones of Learning: Comfort, Stretch, and Panic | Help CITs build their skills as educators by exploring what it means to grow, stretch, and challenge both themselves and their campers. | Participants explore to what extent learning and growing should feel challenging, and why. | — Understand the concept of comfort, stretch, and panic zones as they relate to growth and learning — Be able to recognize what these zones might look or feel like for themselves and their campers — Explore Jewish wisdom on balancing between the zones — Set stretch goals for themselves as a CIT |
| Siyyum Celebration | Help CITs to reflect on all they have learned and celebrate | This session celebrates successes so far and makes plans for ongoing learning. | — Name some of the skills they have acquired in the CIT program — Discuss ways to continue growing and learning — Mark the moment of stepping into leadership |
Donate
Your gift to Moving Traditions helps Jewish youth discover who they are through the pursuit of personal wellbeing (shleimut), caring relationships (hesed), and a Jewish and feminist vision of equity and justice (tzedek).