Welcome to 10th Grade Jewish History!
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Until three years ago I had never taught Jewish History. And when I first got assigned this class, I was apprehensive because I felt that the teaching of Jewish History in a Jewish setting was so much more than just a history class. It was a class in which we could empower Jewish youth to understand their birthright - their legacy. How could I show my students that Jewish history was their story - the struggle of the people who came before us? How could I get my students to question their responsibility toward the history that they have learned? How do I showcase the importance of community leadership and involvement to continue the legacy that our heroic ancestors paved? It seemed overwhelming.
What I learned, however, was that teaching this class was a gift. It gave me the ability to unleash my creativity into creating a new curriculum replete with literacy, research, speech skills while adding creativity through the creation of artistic documentary films. It was exciting to build a project that would allow students to document oral histories and use that footage to make the history their own and then showcase their product to the community. Through all of that, what I did not account for was how much this year would impact my experience as an educator. In my professional experience, this year was the first time that I saw the true synthesis of all the creativity, skills and knowledge I had in all my years combined. With that, I invite you to explore these pages. Not only will they outline what we accomplished in 10th grade Jewish History but it will step through how you can bring these very lessons, projects, and ideas into your classroom.
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