Today, we wrote our This I Believe essays. The students have all chosen things they believe in--ranging from friendship to creativity to music, and they have put their ideas into words, using examples from their own lives to prove the importance of their beliefs. Today, everyone finished rough drafts of their essays and updated them onto their blogs, so you can check out your kid's work on their blog page. I need to update the link to Auggie's page, but everyone else's should be visible.
We have 3 weeks off and don't have class again until Jan 13. Enjoy the break! Please make sure your child has completely their Wisdom of the Guides interviews by the 13th so we can edit the audio clips together. If you are having trouble with the audio, please let me know and I'll help and if you need help with how to get the audio from your device to me, just bring the device (iphone or whatnot) in and I'll help with the technology side. I would really like it if we can make the final ceremony multi-media, and one way I think this would work well is with the interviews, so that during the ceremony, we can actually hear the advice right from the mouths of those who gave it. And the kids will talk about why that advice is important to them. Anyway, lots of rambling. The key is to get the interviews finished by the 13th.
When we come back in January, we'll be focusing on our last 3 projects: Bible story analysis, research paper and the social action project. I am also working to plan a day sometime in January or February where parents could join us for class and we could make challah and discuss what we've been doing and what we'll be doing coming up. I'll get more details to you about that soon.
Questions, comments can come my way, as always.
Becca
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Class on 12/02
Hi, everybody!
We had such a fun class today preparing for our Hanukkah presentation for the service next week. I don't want to give away too many details, but expect to see a great show next week. Today during class, I realized how great all the students are going to do with the final ceremony in June. Everyone was confident, they were using presenter voices and they were excited about what they were doing. I'm confident you'll see all that next Sunday.
Almost everyone still has at least something left to do with Wisdom of our Guides--some more than others. Please make sure your child gets that finished and gets me the digital recordings.
Have a great week and I'll see you next Sunday.
Before then, I'll be sending out the script for our presentation because the students wanted it to look over before next week and a list of what each student said they could bring for props (things like pink shirt and funny glasses. Nothing they should have to buy. Everything should be things students said they already had.)
Becca
We had such a fun class today preparing for our Hanukkah presentation for the service next week. I don't want to give away too many details, but expect to see a great show next week. Today during class, I realized how great all the students are going to do with the final ceremony in June. Everyone was confident, they were using presenter voices and they were excited about what they were doing. I'm confident you'll see all that next Sunday.
Almost everyone still has at least something left to do with Wisdom of our Guides--some more than others. Please make sure your child gets that finished and gets me the digital recordings.
Have a great week and I'll see you next Sunday.
Before then, I'll be sending out the script for our presentation because the students wanted it to look over before next week and a list of what each student said they could bring for props (things like pink shirt and funny glasses. Nothing they should have to buy. Everything should be things students said they already had.)
Becca
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Turning Points: The Dreyfus Affair
We talked about the famous Dreyfus Affair today, beginning with the single piece of evidence that set off that infamous event and the vast Affair it spawned in France. The evidence involved is the so-called bordereau (literally a note), a single piece of paper with a list of military items, especially the then secret 120 mm gun. It was found in a waste basket in the German Embassy in Paris and delivered to the Statistical Section (the French CIA of the day) by a cleaning woman who spied on the Germans for the French. The Statistical Section made a couple of false assumptions (that it had to have been written by a member of the General Staff and that he was an artillery officer). They then arrested Alfred Dreyfus, a model soldier and the only Jewish member of the General Staff. The army at the time was aggressively Catholic and antisemitic. From this document, worthless in a court of law (it was undated, unsigned, and its recipient was not mentioned) followed by an illegal arrest and interrogation, came the famous Affair.
Dreyfus was convicted by a secret military court who received a secret envelope containing the bordereau and a few other pieces of equally dubious evidence, none of it demonstrably connected to Dreyfus. Dreyfus was never shown this evidence and the military court accepted its authenticity on the word of General Mercier, the senior French general of the day. Dreyfus was then publicly degraded, having been already tried and convicted in the antisemitic press, and sent to Devil's Island.
I tried to impress on the kids the difference between civilian and military courts (Mark Sigunick was in class and explained this) and how the subsequent cover-up by the military, the virulence of the press, and the pusillanimity of the government perpetuated the injustice. I also stressed that when the case finally got into a civilian court the military was curbed and Dreyfus was ultimately pardoned. The rule of law prevailed. I mentioned in passing -- and will return to this in a future lesson -- that Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, was a reporter sent to cover the famous case. He witnessed Dreyfus's degradation and this served as the seed for his insistence that Jews must have a homeland. If a Secular Jew (and so was Herzl) could be condemned and illegally convicted in France, the home of the Rights of Man, then no Jew, however assimilated, was safe from persecution.
We also talked about howthe utterly unexpected interventions in the course of the Affair not only kept it alive but eventually brought about Dreyfus's exoneration. Colonel Piquart, himself an ardent Catholic and professed antisemite, was the first to discover that the handwriting on the bordereau was not Dreyfus's. When he blew the whistle his army superiors sent him on a tour of North African army outposts. When the greatest novelist of the day, Emile Zola, published his J'Accuse in the daily paper L'Aurore, excoriating the generals, it caused a sensation.
We also talked about the lessons of the Dreyfus Case: the inherent balance of military courts in favor of the army, the virulence of the mass press (especially the antisemitic press), the fact that a weak government let the army run amok, that the rule of law eventually prevailed, and how Dreyfus himself chose to play down the antisemitic aspects of his ordeal, putting his faith in the laws of the land and the essentially honorability of the army.
Our next lesson will be on the origins of Zionism and the early years of a then hoped-for Jewish state.
We talked about the famous Dreyfus Affair today, beginning with the single piece of evidence that set off that infamous event and the vast Affair it spawned in France. The evidence involved is the so-called bordereau (literally a note), a single piece of paper with a list of military items, especially the then secret 120 mm gun. It was found in a waste basket in the German Embassy in Paris and delivered to the Statistical Section (the French CIA of the day) by a cleaning woman who spied on the Germans for the French. The Statistical Section made a couple of false assumptions (that it had to have been written by a member of the General Staff and that he was an artillery officer). They then arrested Alfred Dreyfus, a model soldier and the only Jewish member of the General Staff. The army at the time was aggressively Catholic and antisemitic. From this document, worthless in a court of law (it was undated, unsigned, and its recipient was not mentioned) followed by an illegal arrest and interrogation, came the famous Affair.
Dreyfus was convicted by a secret military court who received a secret envelope containing the bordereau and a few other pieces of equally dubious evidence, none of it demonstrably connected to Dreyfus. Dreyfus was never shown this evidence and the military court accepted its authenticity on the word of General Mercier, the senior French general of the day. Dreyfus was then publicly degraded, having been already tried and convicted in the antisemitic press, and sent to Devil's Island.
I tried to impress on the kids the difference between civilian and military courts (Mark Sigunick was in class and explained this) and how the subsequent cover-up by the military, the virulence of the press, and the pusillanimity of the government perpetuated the injustice. I also stressed that when the case finally got into a civilian court the military was curbed and Dreyfus was ultimately pardoned. The rule of law prevailed. I mentioned in passing -- and will return to this in a future lesson -- that Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, was a reporter sent to cover the famous case. He witnessed Dreyfus's degradation and this served as the seed for his insistence that Jews must have a homeland. If a Secular Jew (and so was Herzl) could be condemned and illegally convicted in France, the home of the Rights of Man, then no Jew, however assimilated, was safe from persecution.
We also talked about howthe utterly unexpected interventions in the course of the Affair not only kept it alive but eventually brought about Dreyfus's exoneration. Colonel Piquart, himself an ardent Catholic and professed antisemite, was the first to discover that the handwriting on the bordereau was not Dreyfus's. When he blew the whistle his army superiors sent him on a tour of North African army outposts. When the greatest novelist of the day, Emile Zola, published his J'Accuse in the daily paper L'Aurore, excoriating the generals, it caused a sensation.
We also talked about the lessons of the Dreyfus Case: the inherent balance of military courts in favor of the army, the virulence of the mass press (especially the antisemitic press), the fact that a weak government let the army run amok, that the rule of law eventually prevailed, and how Dreyfus himself chose to play down the antisemitic aspects of his ordeal, putting his faith in the laws of the land and the essentially honorability of the army.
Our next lesson will be on the origins of Zionism and the early years of a then hoped-for Jewish state.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
November 11, 2012
November 11, 2012
First, announcements:
- We have gotten off track a little with the original due date sheet I sent out. I want to update some of those and I will have a new paper printed out for next week.
- Family Roots papers need to be finished (most students are done or almost done after class today) and posted onto the blog before next class, Nov. 18. Auggie and Lucas have already posted, so they don't need to do anything further with this.
- Wisdom of the Guides interviews are not due on Dec. 2 so that everyone has more time to meet with or get ahold of people who might not live close to you. Each student needs to write a paragraph after each interview summing up what guidance they got from the person they interviewed.
- This I Believe we started talking about today in class. We will explore it more next week and write them on Dec 2 and Dec 9. This isn't something the students have to do anything with until after they turn their family roots in next week.
- Bible study we are going to go over through December.
These updates with the schedule should keep us on schedule to spend as much time as we need/want to on each topic and project.
Today in class, we started with a discussion with David Jordan about historically, what made someone Jewish during different parts of history. We discussed how that distinction affected someone's life greatly and what choices they did and did not have in regards to what religion they were treated as. He will post with a much more articulate description than this short bit about his presentation.
For the second half of class, we worked on finishing our Family Roots projects. Most everyone is either done or on the very last parts. Callie found sound fascinating new information for hers. It is amazing when you find something that is over 100 years old that tells so much of your history and the thoughts that went into important decisions for your family.
Next week, we will share our Family Roots projects with each other and begin learning about This I Believe. Students started brainstorming things they believed in today during our bagel break. Ask your child what he/she decided he/she believes in.
See you all next week.
Becca
First, announcements:
- We have gotten off track a little with the original due date sheet I sent out. I want to update some of those and I will have a new paper printed out for next week.
- Family Roots papers need to be finished (most students are done or almost done after class today) and posted onto the blog before next class, Nov. 18. Auggie and Lucas have already posted, so they don't need to do anything further with this.
- Wisdom of the Guides interviews are not due on Dec. 2 so that everyone has more time to meet with or get ahold of people who might not live close to you. Each student needs to write a paragraph after each interview summing up what guidance they got from the person they interviewed.
- This I Believe we started talking about today in class. We will explore it more next week and write them on Dec 2 and Dec 9. This isn't something the students have to do anything with until after they turn their family roots in next week.
- Bible study we are going to go over through December.
These updates with the schedule should keep us on schedule to spend as much time as we need/want to on each topic and project.
Today in class, we started with a discussion with David Jordan about historically, what made someone Jewish during different parts of history. We discussed how that distinction affected someone's life greatly and what choices they did and did not have in regards to what religion they were treated as. He will post with a much more articulate description than this short bit about his presentation.
For the second half of class, we worked on finishing our Family Roots projects. Most everyone is either done or on the very last parts. Callie found sound fascinating new information for hers. It is amazing when you find something that is over 100 years old that tells so much of your history and the thoughts that went into important decisions for your family.
Next week, we will share our Family Roots projects with each other and begin learning about This I Believe. Students started brainstorming things they believed in today during our bagel break. Ask your child what he/she decided he/she believes in.
See you all next week.
Becca
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
October 28
We spent Sunday focusing on our Family Roots projects. We are at the point where we have chosen the things we think are most important, interesting and unique about our families and we are putting them together into the actual paper.
Unfortunately, I brought the wrong keys and forgot the set that has my flashdrive with the students' paragraphs on it, so we started off at the next paragraph so we can put them all together next class. So far, we have found out lots of interesting things about our family histories. We have small families, huge families, families that came over in the early 1900s and someone who is thought to be the first Mayflower rider to set foot of Plymouth Rock.
We are going to spend 1 more class period working in class on the Family Roots essays and if anyone still needs to finish after that, we will need to finish outside of class.
Also right now, students are working on their Wisdom of the Guides interviews. Since they are a bit overwhelmed about it, I suggested that over the next 2 weeks, they choose the 2 easiest interviews to get done. Also, as the students have marked in their binders, I have moved the due date back to Dec 2. That way, if someone wants to interview a family member who they will see over Thanksgiving, that is a possibility.
As always, send questions and concerns my way.
Becca
Unfortunately, I brought the wrong keys and forgot the set that has my flashdrive with the students' paragraphs on it, so we started off at the next paragraph so we can put them all together next class. So far, we have found out lots of interesting things about our family histories. We have small families, huge families, families that came over in the early 1900s and someone who is thought to be the first Mayflower rider to set foot of Plymouth Rock.
We are going to spend 1 more class period working in class on the Family Roots essays and if anyone still needs to finish after that, we will need to finish outside of class.
Also right now, students are working on their Wisdom of the Guides interviews. Since they are a bit overwhelmed about it, I suggested that over the next 2 weeks, they choose the 2 easiest interviews to get done. Also, as the students have marked in their binders, I have moved the due date back to Dec 2. That way, if someone wants to interview a family member who they will see over Thanksgiving, that is a possibility.
As always, send questions and concerns my way.
Becca
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Sunday, Oct 21
Sunday was full of family roots. We started class by each reading through the information we've each collected and separating the information into sides of the family and into which paragraph everything would end up.
During our bagel break, we discussed why it is so important for us to learn about our family roots. Of course, everyone had different reasons that were more important to them personally than others, but overall, here is what we came up with:
- We can learn to avoid mistakes our ancestors made
- One day the people who have these stories won't be here anymore and if we don't get there stories, the stories will just die away--like so many of them unfortunately already have
- We can keep family legacies and stories alive. Lucas suggested that this would be like creating a metaphorical statue to remember the history of our families.
- If we learn about history and our personal histories, we can keep things like the Holocaust from happening again
- Joanna suggested that one interesting thing about this project is that we have the opportunity to learn about how our ancestors' lives were when they were teenagers
- We can't really know who we are until we know who our family is (This thought included an interesting Star Wars, Dearth Vader reference)
Ask your child which ideas were most important to them!
After our break, we spent the rest of the time starting to type our Family Roots projects. We should be able to finish them up next week.
Right now, the students should be working on getting their Wisdom of the Guides interviews. If possible, they should get them audio taped so that we can create living history Story Corps-esque projects with them. I will bring in my digital recorder if anyone wants to borrow it, but many cell phones and mp3 players also have sound recorders now. Let me know if this is a problem or issue. In class we discussed that if they are interviewing someone over the phone, they can record from speaker phone.
I hope the week is going well for everyone and we're all finding a little time to enjoy this wonderful weather. See you all Sunday.
Becca
ps- Ask you child to show you his/her presenter's voice. We've been practicing quite a bit in the gym, and they're starting to get good.
During our bagel break, we discussed why it is so important for us to learn about our family roots. Of course, everyone had different reasons that were more important to them personally than others, but overall, here is what we came up with:
- We can learn to avoid mistakes our ancestors made
- One day the people who have these stories won't be here anymore and if we don't get there stories, the stories will just die away--like so many of them unfortunately already have
- We can keep family legacies and stories alive. Lucas suggested that this would be like creating a metaphorical statue to remember the history of our families.
- If we learn about history and our personal histories, we can keep things like the Holocaust from happening again
- Joanna suggested that one interesting thing about this project is that we have the opportunity to learn about how our ancestors' lives were when they were teenagers
- We can't really know who we are until we know who our family is (This thought included an interesting Star Wars, Dearth Vader reference)
Ask your child which ideas were most important to them!
After our break, we spent the rest of the time starting to type our Family Roots projects. We should be able to finish them up next week.
Right now, the students should be working on getting their Wisdom of the Guides interviews. If possible, they should get them audio taped so that we can create living history Story Corps-esque projects with them. I will bring in my digital recorder if anyone wants to borrow it, but many cell phones and mp3 players also have sound recorders now. Let me know if this is a problem or issue. In class we discussed that if they are interviewing someone over the phone, they can record from speaker phone.
I hope the week is going well for everyone and we're all finding a little time to enjoy this wonderful weather. See you all Sunday.
Becca
ps- Ask you child to show you his/her presenter's voice. We've been practicing quite a bit in the gym, and they're starting to get good.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Such a busy day! We were so lucky to have Rabbi Victor Mirelman join us today to help the students find the bible story they each want to research and reflect on. We talked about stories dealing with sibling rivalry, dreams and visions, heroes, heroic flaws, spies, deceit, wisdom and so much more! Each of the students chose a story they wanted to learn more about and use for their Bible Study. In the next couple months, I will be presenting each story to the class (as well as some of my personal favorites) and helping the students research and understand the commentary on their story. Ask your child what story or theme they chose and why they picked the one they did. Everyone made a great choice!
Most of our day was spent discussing Bible stories and making the difficult decision of what to focus on. After our bagel break, however, we just barely squeezed in enough time to get our individual blogs started. On the right side of this blog's screen, you can see the beginning of each student's first blog post. If you click on their post, it will take you directly to their blog. We rushed today to get the blogs started, but in the coming weeks we'll be adding pictures, personal profiles and much much more content and reflection. Students can feel free to add to their blog during the week. In fact, if any student did not get to finish his/her blog post today, they should finish it before next Sunday.
Here are the links to each student's blog. Feel free to click on the link and check out what each student has to say about their family roots so far.
Auggie
Callie
Lucas
We didn't have time today to put together our class binders. I will put them together tonight and bring them to the Rosh Hashanah service tomorrow morning. So anyone who is at the service can get their binder tomorrow. I can hold onto any other binders for next time.
Unfortunately, I will not be in class next Sunday but David will be here and he will be presenting on the Spanish Inquisition. Students should bring in their packet that David gave them last week. Don't worry, once we get the binders to you, all this paperwork will be much easier to keep track of.
Have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful new year! I look forward to everything we are going to accomplish this year.
Becca
*Cross your fingers for the last 4 minutes of this Colts game. Go Colts!
Most of our day was spent discussing Bible stories and making the difficult decision of what to focus on. After our bagel break, however, we just barely squeezed in enough time to get our individual blogs started. On the right side of this blog's screen, you can see the beginning of each student's first blog post. If you click on their post, it will take you directly to their blog. We rushed today to get the blogs started, but in the coming weeks we'll be adding pictures, personal profiles and much much more content and reflection. Students can feel free to add to their blog during the week. In fact, if any student did not get to finish his/her blog post today, they should finish it before next Sunday.
Here are the links to each student's blog. Feel free to click on the link and check out what each student has to say about their family roots so far.
Auggie
Callie
Lucas
We didn't have time today to put together our class binders. I will put them together tonight and bring them to the Rosh Hashanah service tomorrow morning. So anyone who is at the service can get their binder tomorrow. I can hold onto any other binders for next time.
Unfortunately, I will not be in class next Sunday but David will be here and he will be presenting on the Spanish Inquisition. Students should bring in their packet that David gave them last week. Don't worry, once we get the binders to you, all this paperwork will be much easier to keep track of.
Have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful new year! I look forward to everything we are going to accomplish this year.
Becca
*Cross your fingers for the last 4 minutes of this Colts game. Go Colts!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Hello parents of B'Nai Mitzvah students,
David and I were excited to welcome all 4 of our B'Nai Mitzvah students to the first day of class today. We started off with a game of finger, elbow, shake to get to know a little more about each other (It was as much for me to get to know them as anything since they already know each other).
Then we did an activity called graffiti that gave students a chance to anonymously share worries they have for the year, things they want to learn, things they like about Judaism, etc. We addressed the concerns and filed them away as things to keep in mind as the year goes on. Some major concerns were the amount of work being a lot along with school work and having to speak in front of the whole community. We told students that they are always welcome to call either of us or email us with concerns or if there is a week where things become overwhelming between school and Sunday school and that in those situations we will always work with them. We also showed them the breakdown of the projects and how much we are splitting them up, so they will never be working on more than 2 projects at a time.
We went over the schedule of projects for the year as well. I have attached a copy of that for you. As the year goes, we may have to tweak certain parts, but this will be the basic structure for the year.
After a game of 2 truths and a lie and a bagel break, we discussed the Family Roots Project. A lot of students have run into the problem of people in their family not knowing a lot of the history and we talked about how that is okay. Unfortunately most of us are in that situation, which is why it's so important that we learn what we can now before more of the history gets lost. Students are going to bring whatever they can find out about their family background next week so we can start putting our projects together. Also, students should feel free to include non-Jewish sides of the family in this project if they would like.
If students have family pictures (new or old) they can bring them in to put with their family roots project. We talked about scanning photos and the students making collages to go along with their projects.
Finally, we planned out our class website so that you don't have to get all of this information from us. In the future, David and I will have a blog with a recap from class and important information, but more importantly, the students will each have their own blog to put their reflections from each class and to post the interesting things they are discovering about their identities through our projects and historical lessons. Stay tuned for the website. It should be up and running by next week.
Next week, students need to bring whatever they are able to complete of their Family Roots packet (I stressed many times in class that it's perfectly fine if they can't get all of the answers--or in some cases, many answers at all). They were told to read the packet David handed out about the Spanish Inquisition, but they can actually wait a week on that. David will cover that section on September 23rd's class.
Have a great week,
Becca Katz and David Jordan
David and I were excited to welcome all 4 of our B'Nai Mitzvah students to the first day of class today. We started off with a game of finger, elbow, shake to get to know a little more about each other (It was as much for me to get to know them as anything since they already know each other).
Then we did an activity called graffiti that gave students a chance to anonymously share worries they have for the year, things they want to learn, things they like about Judaism, etc. We addressed the concerns and filed them away as things to keep in mind as the year goes on. Some major concerns were the amount of work being a lot along with school work and having to speak in front of the whole community. We told students that they are always welcome to call either of us or email us with concerns or if there is a week where things become overwhelming between school and Sunday school and that in those situations we will always work with them. We also showed them the breakdown of the projects and how much we are splitting them up, so they will never be working on more than 2 projects at a time.
We went over the schedule of projects for the year as well. I have attached a copy of that for you. As the year goes, we may have to tweak certain parts, but this will be the basic structure for the year.
After a game of 2 truths and a lie and a bagel break, we discussed the Family Roots Project. A lot of students have run into the problem of people in their family not knowing a lot of the history and we talked about how that is okay. Unfortunately most of us are in that situation, which is why it's so important that we learn what we can now before more of the history gets lost. Students are going to bring whatever they can find out about their family background next week so we can start putting our projects together. Also, students should feel free to include non-Jewish sides of the family in this project if they would like.
If students have family pictures (new or old) they can bring them in to put with their family roots project. We talked about scanning photos and the students making collages to go along with their projects.
Finally, we planned out our class website so that you don't have to get all of this information from us. In the future, David and I will have a blog with a recap from class and important information, but more importantly, the students will each have their own blog to put their reflections from each class and to post the interesting things they are discovering about their identities through our projects and historical lessons. Stay tuned for the website. It should be up and running by next week.
Next week, students need to bring whatever they are able to complete of their Family Roots packet (I stressed many times in class that it's perfectly fine if they can't get all of the answers--or in some cases, many answers at all). They were told to read the packet David handed out about the Spanish Inquisition, but they can actually wait a week on that. David will cover that section on September 23rd's class.
Have a great week,
Becca Katz and David Jordan
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