CU+7

=Curriculum Grade 7 (Template)(Grade 7 FAQ)=

Seventh grade focuses on what it means to be Jewish and where secular, humanistic Jews fit within the larger Jewish community. Hence, one major component of the curriculum for this year is a summing up of the beliefs and principles of secular, humanistic Jews identified during the historical and cultural studies of the preceding grades. A second major component consists of comparing these beliefs and principles to those of other Jewish groups: religious (e.g., Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Hasidic, Reconstructionist, Lubavich); secular (e.g., Sholem Aleichem, B’nai B’rith); political (e.g., Zionist, socialist, labor unions); and youth groups (e.g., Hillel). A part of the study will include a family tree (history) of the various groups and field trips to the meetings and celebrations of some of them. •Secular humanist Jews define themselves by what they are and not by what they are not. •Folkshul is part of an extensive secular humanistic Jewish movement. •Secular humanist Jews are part of the larger Jewish community. •What does it mean to be a secular humanistic Jew? •Can you be Jewish and not believe in god(s)? Do other Jewish groups and branches agree with that answer? •What do we have in common with most or all other Jewish branches and movements? •How do secular humanistic Jews express their identity outside the Jewish community? Seventh and first half of Eighth grade focus on helping students clarify for themselves what it means to be Jewish and where secular, humanistic Jews fit within the larger Jewish community. Hence, one major component of the curriculum for this year is a summing up of the beliefs and principles of secular, humanistic Jews identified during the historical and cultural studies of the preceding grades. A second major component consists of comparing these beliefs and principles to those of other Jewish groups: religious (e.g., Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Hasidic, Reconstructionist, Lubavich); secular (e.g., Sholem Aleichem, B’nai B’rith); political (e.g., Zionist, socialist, labor unions); and youth groups (e.g., Hillel). A part of this study will include a family tree (history) of the various groups and field trips to the meetings and celebrations of some of them.
 * Synopsis:**
 * Questions:**
 * Objectives:**

Supplements
 * Page || Title || Description ||
 * IOGP || Other Group Interviews: Process || Suggestions for running the interview ||
 * IOGQ || Other Group Interviews: Questions || Suggested interview questions for representatives from other groups ||

Lessons 1. Gain the attention of the learner Ask the students who the first President of the United States was. Ask them how they know. Point out that their judgment about this matter is based on various forms of authority. 2. Relevant past learning Recall discussion from previous week in which they had to decide whether to take your claim to be true just because you said so. Recall discussions in 4th grade about how political leaders in Israel made up Bible stories in order to advance a particular political and religious agenda. (E.g. story of golden calf was meant to put down Aaronite priests and some beliefs of people of Judah and to praise the priests of Israel who claim religious descent from the Levites. 3. Present new material Present to students a long and diverse list of things about the world that we take for granted, but which are based on authority. (Earth revolves around the sun. Atoms exist. People walked on the moon. Etc.) 4. Provide for group practice Ask the students to give examples of things they believe to be true because someone in authority told them it was so. Lead a discussion about how they can know whether to rely on the statements of an authority or not, when some turn out to be true and others false. In some cases, independent sources of verification are possible (for example, a parent telling a small child that an iron that has been turned on is hot). But in other cases, independent verification is either impossible or impractical (as in the George Washington case). The discussion should end up focusing on the proposition that our reliance on authority is itself a function of experience: we are more inclined to rely on a particular authority in the present if experience has shown that authority to have been reliable in the past. So even in the case of authority, our basis for making judgments rests ultimately on our experiences. 5. Provide for independent practice Ask students to independently list topics of importance to them and regarding which they feel that most of their knowledge has come from authorities.(Give an example of such a topic that you are concerned about: the Middle East crisis, for instance.) 6. Close the lesson Come together and share the lists. Discuss how reliable the authorities in question are believed to be by the students. Discuss whether there are practical, independent sources of evidence on the basis of which judgments about these topics could be made. End by pointing out to the students that in the coming weeks, they may hear many different views on what it means to be Jewish. Suggest to the students that the authorities they will encounter should be taken as authoritative on the point of view that their particular communities share, but not on the correctness of that point of view or the correctness of the value judgments that underlie it. (Reasons to question the reliability of an authority: questions about integrity; about lack of evidence; faulty reasoning (e.g., conclusions don’t follow from evidence); faulty memory; source of evidence (biased, previously unreliable, misleading, uncorroborated (e.g., parts of the Bible)); implications of rejecting claims (if we doubt that GW was 1st president, what follows? What is the most consistent hypothesis?); problematic evidence (see previous lesson); conflicting authorities ||
 * # || Title || Goals ||
 * 1 || Welcome / Exploring identity || The students, teacher, and aide will introduce themselves and the curriculum for the year will be summarized. Use “I AM” exercise to explore how we define our identity ||
 * 2 || Who is a Jew? (What does it mean to be Jewish?) || Students will discover that the enormous plurality among Jews makes it difficult to identify shared characteristics ||
 * 3 || What is a secular humanist? || Students will begin to formulate what it means to be a secular, humanistic Jew by considering the ideas of secularism humanism. ||
 * 4 || What is a secular, humanistic Jew? || The students will build on their discussions of the previous two weeks to attempt a formulation of what it means to be a secular, humanistic Jew. ||
 * 5 || Identity and Community || To show that identity must be situated within a larger community. To prepare for the interviews with parents. (see doc “7th Grade Q on Id & Meaning.doc”) ||
 * 6 || Interview parents || To begin to learn process of interviewing regarding Jewish identity by interviewing parents ||
 * 7 || Interview each other || Take learning from interviews of parents to elaborate their own understanding of being a Jew, focusing on the question, How do you know someone else is Jewish? ||
 * 8 || Q and A with Folkshul members || Deepen understanding of what it means to be a secular Jews ||
 * 9 || Reflections on the Folkshul Community || Students will compare what they learned from interviewing various members of the Folkshul community with prior discussions about the principles of secular, humanistic Judaism. ||
 * 10 || Why definitions of terms matter || To understand that all definitions are goal-driven and to learn to look for and judge the underlying goals. ||
 * 11 || Knowledge and Evidence || To learn to evaluate claims by asking for supporting evidence and to be comfortable with uncertainty in the face of inconclusive evidence and with choosing the best interpretation of the evidence at the moment while being open to the implications of new evidence in the future. ||
 * 12 || Knowledge and Authority || To see how many of our beliefs are based on authorities and to explore ways to evaluate the reliability of authority.
 * 13 || Interviewing || To prepare students for encounters with representatives of other Jewish communities by learning how to respectfully listen and get clarification from the interviewee. ||
 * 14 || Planning Interviews with Other Jewish Communities (Part 1) || The students will decide what Jewish communities they want to interview next. Teacher should guide students to choose a wide variety of groups (secular as well as religious). ||
 * 15 || Planning Interviews with Other Jewish Communities (Part 2) || Each student group will plan how it will interview its chosen community, including the planning of the questions to be asked. ||
 * 16 || Interview of Chosen Community || Goals ||
 * 17 || Preparation for Report to Class || The student groups will meet to plan its report to the class on its interview the previous week. (Outcome should be something of a permanent nature that presents the results – e.g. Web site, Poster board, play or puppet show for younger grades, set of readings for adults ||
 * 18 || Group Reports to the Class (Part 1) || Goals ||
 * 19 || Group Reports to the Class (Part 2) || Goals ||
 * 20 || Second Round of Interviews (following pattern of classes 17-22) || Goals ||
 * 21 || Second Round of Interviews (following pattern of classes 17-22) || Goals ||
 * 22 || Second Round of Interviews (following pattern of classes 17-22) || Goals ||
 * 23 || Second Round of Interviews (following pattern of classes 17-22) || Goals ||
 * 24 || Second Round of Interviews (following pattern of classes 17-22) || Goals ||
 * 25 || Second Round of Interviews (following pattern of classes 17-22) || Goals ||
 * 26 || Choosing Topic for Ninth Grade || Goals ||