Teaching Israel: 5 Things Teachers Need to Do

Every day I get calls. Teachers ask, "Who can I get to come talk to my class about Israel?"

The pressure is on. Our young children are scared. Parents are uninformed. Tensions are rising. To some extent, all of us feel helpless. As teachers, we have an important role. We need to help our kids. They don't know enough to understand the news.

While it is possible to get "someone to come talk to my class about Israel" it's not enough. We must be the teacher. Set aside the prescribed curriculum, and talk about Israel. Put a good map of the Middle East in your classroom. Talk about the strategic locations-and relative sizes-of Israel and its neighbors. Also put up a large map of Israel. Flag the cities and towns where news is happening.

Here are 5 things teachers need to do:

1. We need to learn. Many of us feel unequipped to help our students because we have little sense about the history of Israel. At this moment we probably don't have time to learn. What we need to do is to keep ourselves informed. I recommend a twice daily visit to www.jta.org. This is the homepage of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. You'll find Breaking News, Special Coverage and brief synopses of the top three breaking stories. Click on the synopsis for full coverage of each story.
   If you are not confident, BEGIN with some help. Invite your rabbi (because the kids know her) to talk to your class. In Sudbury, MA, Rabbi Boaz Heilman met with students and gave a brief history of the State of Israel, from biblical times to the present, using an ever-changing map as a visual aid.
2. We need to help students make connections. Our younger students hear nice stories and make flags and cookie dough maps, but these activities limit understanding in a world where they go home to CNN. Help young students through the telling of real stories. Ask questions: who has been to Israel? Tell us what you saw, where you went. Do you have pictures to share? Who knows someone who has been to Israel or lives there? Invite high school students (especially if they are related to your students) to share pictures and stories from their trips. Dorothy Glass asked her Kindergarten students to look in their homes for anything that came from Israel. One student brought Israeli-made earrings her mother had bought 20 years ago on a NFTY summer program. Another student brought a Jerusalem stone from his family trip to Haifa. Many students had stories to tell.
3. We need to help students decode the news.
   Dan Bender does the following things: a) he asks "what have you heard in the news about Israel this week? What pictures do you have in your mind from the news?" b) he moves on to the NY Times review of events; c) he assigns students to listen to ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN to inform their class discussions; and d) he talks with his students about a time when the world didn't have Israel.
   Another strategy is to bring three headlines to each class session. Be prepared to explain the headlines. You may need to do some research. And it may take weeks. But, headline by headline, and session by session you will build a history and a context for your students.
4. We need to help students deal with lies, distortion, bias and propaganda. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America produces a daily media report available at www.camera.org. Media Watch International sponsors www.honestreporting.com, another excellent resource for you and for your students. Look at an article in your local paper or on CNN, then check out the same issue on one of these two websites. What do you learn?
5. We need to give students opportunities to express their feelings in a safe and comfortable Jewish environment.
   Some kids are being made to feel bad about being Jewish. They need to tell their stories and talk about appropriate kinds of responses.
   Some kids disagree with what Israel is doing. Many students are eaten up inside by what they see. They feel they must publicly defend Israel and all her actions, even though they too are torn by photos of dying children and bombed out homes-both in Israel and Palestine. Our Jewish classrooms must be safe places where our kids can talk to other Jews about these conflicting feelings.

*ISRAELNOW and Forever is an excellent resource book. At least 100 pages of outstanding resources and lessons prepared this past Fall by United Jewish Communities and the JESNA Renaissance and Renewal Alliance. The curriculum focuses on 6 big ideas.

A web version of this resource book is available online on the JESNA website and <www.jesna.org> Click on Israel Educational Resource Center. Then click on "Israel Now Solidarity Response Curriculum."