---Brandi Argentar---
The majority of Jewish teenagers in the United States attend a public high school, but only a small percentage of them are active in a Jewish Youth Movement. So how can we, as educators, reach out to the Jewish teenagers that are unaccounted for? Teenagers spend an average of 8 hours a day, 180 days a year in school. The public school setting is an untapped market for Israel Education. I am an Israel Club sponsor and attract an average of 20 students per week at our meetings. Most of these students have never been to Israel and would like to hang out with friends in a comfortable setting and learn about Israel.
Here in lies the problem. How can I engage students with activities and programs about Israel without discussing religion? With separation of church and state I must walk a fine line. Even in our promotional commercial for morning announcements we had to take out the dialogue of, “Do I need to be Jewish to be part of Israel Club?” because the club must be open to every student. I personally have a passion for Israel, and it stems from my Jewish background, but how can I share my passion for Israel without sharing my stories? The stories of walking to the Kotel for Shabbat services, or walking the streets on Shabbat and be in awe that no cars are driving, or just feeling like I’m at home because I’m surrounded by Jews.
How can we as educators reach out to the untouched population in their settings where they spend most of their time?
I have to say that this post is incredibly powerful to me because my entry point into Judaism was around the idea of G-d. Even though I don't consider myself "religious," I am not sure I would be involved in the Jewish world as much unless the G-d conversation resonated with me as much as everything else - including Israel - did and does.
ReplyDeleteIt is extremely difficult not to mention G-D when discussion Israel. One of our activities was a Chocolate seder before Passover and I had to re-write the whole Haggadah and take out any mention of G-d.
ReplyDeleteAny ideas or thoughts on how to increase Israel Education in the public school setting and make it engaging for High Schoolers would be greatly appreciated :-)
-Brandi Argentar
Have all students participate.
ReplyDeleteTalk about religion, but talk about all religions: the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian experience in Israel.
Practices are different than the actual religion. My friends are very religiously diverse, and we have great conversations about their holidays, food, pray practices, etc.
Remember, you can't exclude students because they're different. That's just MEAN.
I am wondering about the idea of the club participants having the role of "Israel Story Tellers" - learn something that intersts them about what makes Israel unique or interesting from a wide range of perspectives and then take on the challenge of reporting that to the wider community. And I don't mean Israel advocacy - I am thinking more about Israel exposure. The learning would come from the research and what the learner gained from it. Your role could be providing the framework for learning what they are interested in, and providing the a forum for the dissemination of the stories.
ReplyDelete