Hebrew History: from the Ancients to today

When asked to choose a topic I commonly teach I am at a loss as I have not yet taught in a classroom. However, when I reflect upon my experience in student teaching I remember I was primarily responsible for teaching the 6th grade social studies curriculum. We had the use of the Ancient Civilizations Holt Social Science textbook, but the trick was to engage the students, excite them, and hope they learned the information while their understandings of the world around them broadened.

A most difficult topic for me to teach was about the ancient Hebrews. As a non-Jew (or goy in Yiddish) who grew up as an "honorary Jew," thanks to my best childhood friend, I have a deep understanding and love of the Jewish culture. I have brunched with Holocaust survivors, attended shul, and participated in the kiddush on Shabbat. Needless to say, my "adoptive" Jewish family ignited a fire within me to understand more deeply the inequities that exist(ed) in the world and to resist indignation and oppression of any culture. 

So, when asked to find resources outside of topic I commonly teach I thought of the ancient Hebrew unit and how I wish to impart on my students the mindful tolerance my Jewish family did on me so my students can better identify today's social problems and help be part of the solutions. I was immediately drawn to the Museum of Tolerance in California and sought out their visual arts resources. I remember how powerful and disturbing some of the images of the Holocaust are so I chose a link to the Children's Holocaust page. I still found the information unsettling and wondered how appropriate it would be for eleven to thirteen year-old children, and then I remembered that that was how young I was when I began to learn of the Holocaust as well as the Apartheid in South Africa and gay rights. The Museum of Tolerance features a Teacher Resource section that has lesson plans aligned with California state standards as well as ways to make an emotionally treacherous event more accessible. 

I also looked at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) webpage and found a number of resources from guidelines for teaching the Holocaust to state legislation to photographs of artifacts. Since teaching the Holocaust is not a 6th grade social studies standard, but learning about the ancient Hebrew is, I thought I could tie more recent history, like the Holocaust, into the ancient Hebrew lesson using some of these resources. 

In language arts, concurrent with the ancient Hebrews social studies unit, the students would read the novel Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. This work of historical fiction tells a captivating story of a young Danish girl who, with her mother, sister, and Jewish friends, escapes from Denmark to Sweden on her uncle's fishing boat. The USHMM has images of artifacts, personal histories, and video testimony of the actual escape that ultimately saved nearly the entire Jewish population of Denmark. 

The value of learning about the ancient Hebrews in this interdisciplinary manner broadens the social studies curriculum for the students and creates more modern relevance for them understanding past cultures. It also provides the students with sensory information that engages disparate learning styles. Students will learn about the Hebrews from children their own age through readings, videos, and songs. The challenges of this interdisciplinary way of teaching is the timing of readings as well as coordinating resources. Another issue one may run up against is technological difficulties. If the students have not yet completed their literacy unit prior to Number the Stars, yet they are ready to begin the ancient Hebrews unit, there may be a hiccup in the coordination efforts.


I viewed blogs for S. Uhler, A. Eckloff, and K. Vigna. I replied to marcyplace1.blogspot.com.