Eye of the Storm

Seventh graders spent yesterday's Holocaust and Human Behavior class watching "Eye of the Storm," a fascinating documentary about one teacher's classroom experiment. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. one elementary school teacher decided to teach her students about discrimination by separating them based on their eye color and giving preferential treatment first to "the brown eyes" and later to "the blue eyes." These children showed how influential discrimination can be, especially when it comes from authorities and peers. After the movie, we discussed the experiment's relevance to our own lives. We'll continue learning more about discrimination as we study the Holocaust.

On the Outside

Seventh Graders spent yesterday's class learning through games. We played Follow the Leader, Find the Ring, and a funny game I like to call Round Red Rover! Through this series of games, the seventh graders started to understand what it's like to form a group where some people are "in the know" and others are left out.

Afterwards, we discussed what it felt like to be both on the inside and the outside of the group. Students noted that when they were a part of the group, they felt powerful, like they were a part of something, like they had a secret. They also recognized that it was funny, in this situation, when someone was left out.

But when we started to connect these games to what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, we realized it isn't so funny to leave people out. The seventh graders had some great questions, like how come the Jews didn't leave Germany when they began to be treated differently? Why didn't anyone stand up for their Jewish neighbors? Throughout the rest of the year, we'll be discussing these issues in greater depth.

Ask your child what it felt like to be on the inside!

Samantha's Holocaust and Human Behavior Learns through Games

Learning through games and seeing how things feel

Dear Families,

We had a wonderful lesson in my Holocaust and Human Behavior class yesterday.  We started off with a discussion about inclusion and exclusion, to frame the games we were about to play to demonstrate these ideas.  The students have obviously learned a lot in other classes in school and at TBS about bullying, exclusion, and inclusion, yet in our H and HB class we wanted to show them what it actually felt like to be in these different situations.

We played 3 games, all of which some people were excluded and left out of the circle.  They didn't know the secret, or who was in charge, or who the leaders were who were running the games.

We then had two small group discussions about how it felt in each game to be a part of the circle, or to be the one who was excluded.

Ask your students these questions:
1.  What did it feel like to be a part of the circle?
2.  What did it feel like to be excluded during the games?
3.  Is being a part of the circle the same thing as being "in" the circle?  What are the similarities and differences.
4.  What does it feel like to be included or excluded in real life, in school or with friends?

I was very impressed by this group's answers, and look forward to more classes!  

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, and see you all when we return to Gesher L'Noar!

Samantha

Identity & 7th Grade

Last week, 7th graders talked about the concept of identity. Together, we brainstormed labels that we ascribe to each other, put them on actual labels, and created a human poster.

Then we created identity charts and found similarities among the group. Lots of us have siblings, like the same sports, and listed "Jewish" as an important defining characteristic!

These activities will help prepare us for further study of identity, community, and peer pressure.

Maus: A Survivor's Tale

Yesterday in 7th grade we began our in-class reading of Maus: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman. The story is a graphic novel documenting the relationship between an aging Holocaust survivor and his son, Artie. Told in two time periods, Artie is finally starting to hear of his father's breath-taking experience of the Holocaust. In the present, Artie periodically visits his fathers Rego Park, Brooklyn, NY home. During each visit, Vladek recalls his life as a Polish Jew, soldier, businessman, father and husband in gripping detail.

While we will not have class next week, our reading will continue after Thanksgiving as we dive deeper into this portrait of one family, and their experience surviving and remembering the Shoah.

7th Graders & Inclusion

This week, the ladies of Leah's 7th grade Holocaust and Human Behavior class heard Eve Shalen's story about inclusion/exclusion, and discussed what it means to create an "other" for the sake of feeling included. Then we had a "silent" conversation, a la the Talmud, about how we treat other. For a great break down of this activity and the Eve Shalen clip, see Max's blog post here.

Class discussion about the quote "It is easy to make an enemy; it is harder to make a friend."

Talmud activity

Eve Shalen, Talmud and Middle School

This talmudic proverb was the backdrop for some very interesting conversations on Tuesday. We started class by hearing Eve Shalen tell of an experience she had in 8th grade:

Eve's experience is one that we discussed, and particularly turned our thoughts to whether we have ever felt as if "often being accepted by others is far more satisfying than being accepted by oneself."

We continued our learning about human behavior by turning our thoughts to several talmudic quotes about treating others. First, we shared on butcher paper whether we agreed or disagreed, and then continued class with a discussion about our thoughts. Of course, we also paused for a picture!

We spent a good amount of time discussing the talmudic quote, "It is easy to make an enemy; harder to make a friend." Students shared that being mean, or not being an upstander, can sometimes be easier than standing up for a friend, or reaching out to make a new one.

We finished with a quick "check-in," going around and sharing something happening in our life, and said shavua tov—until next week!