Last week, I had a very hectic Sunday. First, I woke up to teach Hebrew school. My 4thgraders finished up learning the four questions just in time for Passover. The four questions are the beginning of the telling of the story of the exodus from Egypt. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" The next four sentences give specific examples of ways this night is special: we eat matzah, we eat bitter herbs, we did our food twice, and we recline. Throughout the rest of the Seder (the festive meal), the reasons for why these customs are performed are supposed to be answered. In Hebrew school, we spent the past month learning the roots and definitions for the questions, decoding the words and determining our own answers.
In 5th grade, we continued our study of Jewish communities, this week focusing again on the Holocaust. I used a lesson derived from the plans on Hitler's Daughter found on the Monkey Baa website (the production company that produces the play of the same title). Hitler's Daughter is based on the novel by Jackie French where school kids are playing a game waiting for the bus when one imagine what life would have been like for the fictitious daughter of Hitler. The lesson asked students to perform a series of scene excerpts from the play in an effort to understand the bigger ideas and messages that the play was trying to convey.
After Hebrew school, and a wonderful lunch with the education director, I made my way to Eisenhower Auditorium for the production of Hitler's Daughter. The hour-long show was very well done. Only one set and four actors, yet a story that jumped from modern day Australia back to 1940s Germany. It was a play that delved more into the ideas of parent-child relationships than the conflict of the Holocaust. The actors asked, are we, children, responsible for the actions of our parents? How do you know what's right and what's wrong? They brought up some interesting thoughts like is something right just because your parents say it is? How do you know? Topics that I'm curious to know how my 5th graders will respond to on Sunday.
After the play, I went to the creamery with some friends to talk after the show and kill some time before PLA class. PLA this week had the director from Career Services, Jeff Garis, come and talk to us about leadership personality and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator analysis. He spoke about the different categories, defining each one in relation to its opposite and giving examples of what pairs of characteristics correlated with certain job paths. We got our tests results back at the end of the session. I am an ISTJ: Introverted, Sensing, Thinking and Judging. The test defined me as "dependable practical, sensible and realistic" among others. This is the same classification I received when I did the test in middle school some ten years ago. It's curious to think that I haven't changed as a person, at least in these categories. Maybe I've just developed the skills I've had over the past decade. But it's a little disconcerting to think that I haven't changed as a leader in that long of a time span. Who defines their leadership style that young?
After class, I made my way quickly up campus to the Nittany Lion Inn for a wonderful dinner sponsored by Hillel, Schreyer Honors College, and the Presidential Leadership Academy. My table of Hillel and PLA students, Hillel Assistant Director Audrey, Hitler's Daughter cast member McKayla and techie Kate, had a wonderful conversation during the evening ranging from questions about the performance to snow to travel plans and topics about Antisemitism. It was a quite fascinating evening. While my day was long, it was very rewarding and thought-provoking day.
In 5th grade, we continued our study of Jewish communities, this week focusing again on the Holocaust. I used a lesson derived from the plans on Hitler's Daughter found on the Monkey Baa website (the production company that produces the play of the same title). Hitler's Daughter is based on the novel by Jackie French where school kids are playing a game waiting for the bus when one imagine what life would have been like for the fictitious daughter of Hitler. The lesson asked students to perform a series of scene excerpts from the play in an effort to understand the bigger ideas and messages that the play was trying to convey.
After Hebrew school, and a wonderful lunch with the education director, I made my way to Eisenhower Auditorium for the production of Hitler's Daughter. The hour-long show was very well done. Only one set and four actors, yet a story that jumped from modern day Australia back to 1940s Germany. It was a play that delved more into the ideas of parent-child relationships than the conflict of the Holocaust. The actors asked, are we, children, responsible for the actions of our parents? How do you know what's right and what's wrong? They brought up some interesting thoughts like is something right just because your parents say it is? How do you know? Topics that I'm curious to know how my 5th graders will respond to on Sunday.
After the play, I went to the creamery with some friends to talk after the show and kill some time before PLA class. PLA this week had the director from Career Services, Jeff Garis, come and talk to us about leadership personality and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator analysis. He spoke about the different categories, defining each one in relation to its opposite and giving examples of what pairs of characteristics correlated with certain job paths. We got our tests results back at the end of the session. I am an ISTJ: Introverted, Sensing, Thinking and Judging. The test defined me as "dependable practical, sensible and realistic" among others. This is the same classification I received when I did the test in middle school some ten years ago. It's curious to think that I haven't changed as a person, at least in these categories. Maybe I've just developed the skills I've had over the past decade. But it's a little disconcerting to think that I haven't changed as a leader in that long of a time span. Who defines their leadership style that young?
After class, I made my way quickly up campus to the Nittany Lion Inn for a wonderful dinner sponsored by Hillel, Schreyer Honors College, and the Presidential Leadership Academy. My table of Hillel and PLA students, Hillel Assistant Director Audrey, Hitler's Daughter cast member McKayla and techie Kate, had a wonderful conversation during the evening ranging from questions about the performance to snow to travel plans and topics about Antisemitism. It was a quite fascinating evening. While my day was long, it was very rewarding and thought-provoking day.
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