Activity Guides by
Deborah Niederman
With thanks to Etta Gold, RJE, Temple Beth Am librarian,
for her guidance with resource materials.
Introduction
The Do-It-Yourself Adventure
Series by Kenneth Roseman is a series of seven books of Jewish historical fiction.
Each book is based on a different period in Jewish history. The books allow
students to make their own choices and follow individualized paths through the
actual events of our Jewish past.
Dr. David Ellenson (Paper
presented at UAHC Consultation on Education, 1999) has made the argument that
the core of what we do as Jewish educators ought to be Jewish history combined
with text study. Teaching history in the Jewish classroom is often difficult.
Teachers struggle to make historical information relevant and to connect the
chain of past events to the lives of our students. Studies have shown that one
way to build student excitement for the study of history is through the use
of historical fiction (Governale 1997). Other studies highlighting the use of
historical fiction indicate that its use encourages curiosity about the past
(Hayes 1994). Actual historical events build excitement with their own drama
and tension. The emotions our tradition attaches to historical events are already
a part of our collective unconscious; stories exploring critical periods in
our people's history can capture the imagination of our students and generate
an excitement about the study of Jewish history. Ultimately, we are not just
teaching facts and dates, we are awakening that unconscious and helping students
to discover who they are and where they come from. That is exactly what the
Do-It-Yourself Adventure Series allows students to do.
By engaging with literature
and using their own imagination to explore real historical events, Roseman's
books increase student interest. The multiple ways of using the Do-It-Yourself
Adventure Series are sure to stimulate student interest and create a dynamic
environment for learning history. By allowing students to explore multiple outcomes
of the same event, students are exposed to the broad reality of the totality
of Jewish history.
The Do-It-Yourself Jewish
adventure books can be used in a variety of ways in a Jewish school. For example:
- As enrichment to your
history curriculum.
- As a one-time program
to teach a specific piece of history.
- In conjunction with The Mystery of the Coins (URJ PRESS, 1988), which offers a good general
introduction to Jewish history by way of a suspenseful tale of old coins.
- As a historical overview
of Jewish history, when used in chronological order. For the summer of 2002
the URJ PRESS will be releasing The Atlas of Great Jewish Communities: A
Voyage Through Jewish History. Use this, or other books that involve Jewish
American history like, America: The Jewish Experience by Sondra Leiman
(URJ PRESS, 1994).
- To build a core vocabulary
of Jewish historical terms using the key words from the glossary at the back
of each book. · In coordination with other historically based fiction available
in your synagogue or school library.
Additional General
Resources
- Encyclopedia Judaica
for Youth, cd-rom; Keter Publishing House, 1992.
- Pasachoff and Littman, Jewish History in 100 Nutshells, (Jason Aronson, 1995).
- www.jewfaq.org
- Altas of Jewish Civilization
by Martin Gilbert (MacMillan Publishing, 1990).
Classroom Ideas
for Using the Do-It-Yourself Jewish Adventure Books
The activities listed below can be used over multiple weeks to
reinforce learning or combined with any of the storybooks to create an exciting
day-long adventure of Jewish history!
Activities
for use with any of the books:
- Before using the book
ask the students to describe how they think Jewish life of the time was similar
to and different from their lives today. Brainstorm ideas and write them down.
As the students go through their own adventures, invite them to compare their
perceptions of that historical period to the new facts they are learning about
Jewish life of the time.
- Divide the class into
groups and have them each go through the adventure story. Then have the groups
share and compare their stories.
- Ask groups to share their
adventure stories by writing "letters to family back home."
- Suggest that groups of
students present their adventure stories through murals depicting their journey.
- Copy an appropriate map
for each group and invite the students to show their adventure decisions by
tracing their movements on the map. Visually compare where different groups
ended up, and how the adventures of the students relate to the actual history
as depicted on the maps. Maps can be found in the Atlas of Jewish Civilization
by Martin Gilbert (Macmillan Publishing, 1990).
- Within each student group
assign students various "family roles" (i.e. mother, father, youngest child,
daughter, son). Ask the students to give input into the decision-making process
according to their family roles.
- Use one book for the
whole class, and make the decisions through group consensus. This provides
an opportunity to teach about group process, which is especially important
when using Escape from the Holocaust.
- Write down all the vocabulary
words in the book you want and then create a crossword puzzle using them.
(Vocabulary words can be found in the glossary of each book.)
- Enlarge selected pages
of the book. Choose three or four of the options and place them on large pieces
of poster board hanging at different places around the large room. Invite
students to travel through the adventure on their own. Before students leaves
each poster they should write down their decisions and why they made them
on the poster board. These can then be used as a wrap-up discussion and compared
to historical facts.
- Create a giant game of
concentration with the glossary words from the book on large pieces of construction
paper. Place the cards on the floor and have students gather around. Before
a student can get a match, he or she has to define the term.
- Create a newspaper with
articles that record the different students' adventures.
- Have groups of students
select one of the real historical figures from their adventure and assemble
a biography of him or her.
- Help students create
a news video depicting the events in their adventure. One student or the teacher
can play the reporter.
- Ask students to come
to class dressed in the style of the historical period of the adventure book.
- Adapt the Do-It-Yourself
adventure story into a play.
- Have students or groups
draw a comic strip to depict their adventure.
- At the end of their
adventures, have students compare and contrast how practices of Judaism changed
according to the decisions they made and how that compares with their own
modern understanding and practice of Judaism.
- As you work through a
book, create a time-line that traces the events based on the decisions you
make. You can then compare your time-line with actual historical time-lines.
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