Living the Legacy
Last summer I was fortunate enough to participate in the Jewish Women’s Archive summer workshop for educators. It was an amazing experience, some of which I blogged about at the time.
Certainly one of the highlights of the workshop was getting the opportunity to work with the JWA’s new curriculum, Living the Legacy. This is a social justice curriculum which is centered around the Jewish role in the civil rights movement.
The curriculum is now live on the JWA website. I strongly encourage everyone to go and take a close look – it’s a wonderful resource.
Kudos to the JWA for bringing this project to fruition. It’s deep, multifaceted and extremely thoughtful.
I’ve taught several of the lessons already in religious school, and we’re planning to use several of the lessons for our MLK Day commemoration in the day school in which I teach. To be honest, I think the lessons are a little dry for Sunday school, but I’ve found that they’re easy to punch up for the supplementary school environment.
Go there. Now.
What a week – the JWA rocks!!
I was so blessed to be part of the Jewish Women’s Archive’s 2010 Institute for Educators. The JWA is about to release their social justice curriculum Living the Legacy and we certainly spent plenty of time reviewing that and the JWA’s multimedia resources (in development right now – stay tuned). But we also spent time learning with some amazing educators, exploring ways to integrate art into education, examining how to use oral history with students, and much more.
We heard from Rabbi Jill Jacobs, author of There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law and Tradition, who modeled using text to teach social justice. Integrating text has always been hard for me, and I’m grateful for Jill’s teaching and for the remarkable resource that her book provides. There’s also a teacher’s guide which you can download from the Jewish Lights website. Dr. Jayne Guberman also taught us how to use oral history in teaching and modeled it by interviewing Judy Frieze Wright, a woman who was a Freedom Rider in the 60’s. That was an incredible experience. I hope the interview, which was filmed, will be available at some time – it was a true gift to be there.
If you haven’t been using the JWA’s resources, go visit them. Take a minute to bookmark the website, because as soon as the multimedia archive is up and the Living the Legacy curriculum is released, you’re going to want to go there again and again. And keep your eyes open when they announce their next institute – it was an incredible experience and I’m so grateful that I was part of it.
Living the Legacy
I’m blessed and honored to be part of this summer’s Jewish Women’s Archive 2010 Institute for Educators. To say that the caliber of people at this conference is high would be quite the understatement.
This morning we had a presentation by Debra Schultz, author of Going South: Jewish Women in the Civil Rights Movement. It was a terrific conversation. Besides being a wonderful resource on the topic of Jewish women and the civil rights movement, it really got me thinking about Debra as a role model; a woman who found something that sparked her interest and did a remarkable job of following up on her interest.
We also heard from several educators from Primary Sources. I’ve taught with primary sources before, but this was a good way to formalize one’s approach to teaching with primary sources. The website is a great resource.
And, to boot, the weather in Boston is awesome. We just ate lunch outside. Outside! I haven’t been outside for weeks, I think.
Living the Legacy
So excited to be selected to be part of the JWA’s summer institute for educators. This year’s institute will include an exploration of the new JWA curriculum, Living the Legacy. I plan to teach this curriculum next year, so I’m very pleased to be spending some time this summer exploring it.
About
Debbie Harris is the director of educational technology at the Sager Solomon Schechter Day School in Northbrook, IL. Involved in Jewish education for over thirty years, she has an education degree from Northwestern University with a concentration in instructional media and a master’s degree in professional Jewish studies from Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. She is skilled in using and teaching desktop publishing, video editing, presentation and animation software; and consults and presents regularly on integrating technology into Judaic studies. Her students podcast, blog, edit video and create claymations. She co-chaired the technology track for CAJE 33 in Vermont, is a SMART Certified Trainer for SMART Notebook, and a 2011 recipient of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.
When not learning, teaching or writing about technology, Debbie likes to sketchnote and craft. She likes to knit, do calligraphy, sew, watercolor, paint fabric and just generally play with fun toys like scrapbooking supplies and anything with texture. Debbie travels to California every summer to paint tallitot with high school aged campers. Finally, she is incredibly proud of her two daughters; Lori, who teaches English at a community college; and Allie, who is the director of the URJ’s Camp Newman in California.
Look for her at:
Debbie Does Desktop
Flickr
Twitter
Diigo
YouTube
Ravelry
Email Debbie here
MuseForJews 