Bystanders and Upstanders

Today in class we read the book "Terrible Things; An Allegory of the Holocaust".  The story talks about the different creatures in the forest who live together in harmony.  One day, the "terrible things" appear and take one group of creatures away.  And so it goes.  The animals live in peace and harmony until the "terrible things" appear again and again until there are no animals left in the forest, except for one small rabbit who decides to find other groups of animals and tell them about the "terrible things". 
We talked about the role of the bystander.  Why did the animals sit and watch other groups of animals being taken away and not do anything about it?  Students' responses were thoughtful and meaningful.  They realized that just one voice can make someone sit up and listen.  They understood that if just one person becomes an "upstander" and makes other people see injustices happening then their voice can potentially change the outcome. 

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

Holocaust and Human Behavior: The (Double) Lunch Date!

On Tuesday at Gesher L'Noar, we watched the short film "The Lunch Date" (you can watch it again on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epuTZigxUY8). Some members of our class had a double viewing of "The Lunch Date," having just watched it in school the same day! Nonetheless, the whole class enjoyed viewing the film and discussing it. The film deals with themes of human nature, identity, perceptions, and prejudice.