This series by Michael Dickson provides innovative and fun school programming ideas for teaching about Israel. This first session focuses on the history of Israel. Audio archive of the session is available at http://www.lookstein.org/archives/

1. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

2. Teaching “Israel at 60” Part 1: 60 Years of History The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

3. Teaching “Israel at 60” Part 1 - 60 Years of History Part 2 – 60 Years at the Center of the Jewish World Part 3 – 60 Years on the Frontline The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

4. If You Will It… Aim: To look at who Theodore Herzl was and why he came to be seen as the visionary of modern Israel. To understand that Zionism is a ‘modern’ concept but that Jews have always longed for Zion. Lesson Plan: Distribute different ‘people’ from Tanach and modern times. E . g.: Picture of Avraham, Moshe, Shlomo, Zionist thinker, European Jew in the 1940’s, Soviet Jew, Ethiopian Jew. List their motivations to be in Israel. Distribute these to the parts of the body. Display them all! The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

5. Aliyot : 1977-1984, Operation Moses & Joshua (1985) Solomon (1991). In some aliyot , Ethiopians walked to Sudan and from there airlifted to Israel. Israel is my homeland and the focus of my religion Israel is the only place I am safe. In Ethiopia, I cannot own land and cannot practice Judaism. Ethiopia is also plagued with war and famine. Ethiopian oleh example If You Will It… The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

6. 1948 Perspectives Aim: To empathize with post-war and pre-State Jews & understand how they saw Israel’s birth. Trigger: When students enter class, have photos up around the classroom, or on screen. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

7. 1948 Perspectives Lesson Plan: Have 4 students read out 4 reactions to the establishment of the State of Israel. Split class into small groups, give each one a cotton wool David Ben Gurion wig. Each group must prepare and act out different dramatic ‘reaction’ to the establishment. In each group there is a Ben Gurion. The groups can include: Jews living in pre-state Palestine, Diaspora Jews, Holocaust Victims, American Jews, Arabs, non-Jews, British Government officials… You can also give them a situation where this takes place. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

8. This is Your Life Aim: To look in more detail at personalities within the Zionist movement and Israeli history. Lesson Plan: Take one such personality and split his life into a few parts (can be more than one personality, depending on class size). In groups, students need to make their section of the book of this personality’s life, which should fit into a ‘big book’ at the end of the lesson. Alternatively or additionally, the culmination can be a TV show enacted by the students. Good bios of personalities can be found here: http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/people/index.html The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

9. Making the Headlines Aim: To learn about Israeli stories featured throughout its history and understand the significance of each event and the backdrop of world events at the time. Lesson Plan: Set the classroom up as a ‘newsroom’ with students facing each other around tables. Trigger: Show students news reports of the declaration of statehood. Explain that these were the reports of 1948 and now they must use the media of today to create their own news report. Give each set of students a different ‘media’. These can be: a newspaper, comic book, blog, radio, TV report. Their task is to prepare and then present their reports in their media. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

10. 60 Years, 60 Minutes Aim: For students to ‘take-in’ a large amount of factual information about Israel’s 60 year history Lesson Plan: Divide the class into pairs. Use internet / text books / newspapers and arts materials to create a historical picture book / scrapbook of educational materials for Israel that includes 60 items/facts. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

11. 60 Years of Ups and Downs Aim: To understand some of the successes and challenges of Israel’s 60 year history. Lesson Plan: Depending on students’ knowledge of Israel, you may wish to give students a briefing sheet with highlights of Israel’s history. The challenge is to create a Board Game, like Snakes and Ladders, which demonstrates how their have been both good and tough times for Israel.The ‘player’ in mind should be the people of Israel (or can be government of Israel for older students). Everyone then plays each others games. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

12. Vacation Israel! Aim: To appreciate geographical highlights of the State and how it has developed over 60 years. Lesson Plan: Trigger: When the class arrives, have travel brochures for Israel on desks. Take some time to discuss with the class how they feel Israel is being portrayed in the brochure they have. Each student is head of an advertising agency and you are challenging them to create the most interesting angle to promote Israel. If the class have studied some of Israel’s history, the brochures can be from different time periods. Class can also use comparative photos from the Internet of Israeli cities over the years as seen with those of today. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

13. We The People.. Aim: To understand the diversity of politics in Israel and how people are represented . Lesson Plan: The class will create a Knesset. Split the class into groups Give the students a card with the name of their political party and some basic information about it. They need to create a logo, create a song/jingle, andelect a leader within their group. The party needs to present its view on issues. The class will then take part in a mock election, after each party has presented. You can show how the Knesset is made up as a result of this vote. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

14. Symbols of the State Aim: To look behind the symbols of Israel and to think about what ‘Israel’ represents to the students. Lesson Plan: Trigger: Show Logos of well-known brands in quick succession and ask the class to say what comes to mind as they see each brand. Ask them what the brand is promising / representing and if they think that representation is true. Give students a different ‘symbol’ of the State of Israel. They must ‘dissect’ it on paper drawing lines / circling / marking out what each aspect of the Symbol represents. The next step is to create new symbols of the State to the class with an explanation of what they are trying to represent. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

15. Symbols of the State

16. Letters from Home.. Aim: To appreciate what Aliyah is and it has evolved through the course of Israel’s history. Lesson Plan: Learn about why olim came to Israel by students writing diary entries or sending letters home explaining their motives. See: http ://en.madrichim.org/Contents.aspx?id=193 The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

17. Quick Ideas Memory Game Students can create this or play a version you have put together. Take a topic and create pairs which students have to find, as each is turned over they must name the character. Good to learn personalities, such as Presidents (right). The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org SHIMON PERES MOSHE KATSAV EZER WEIZMAN CHAIM HERZOG YITZHAK NAVON EPHRAIM KATZIR ZALMAN SHAZAR YITZHAK BEN-ZVI CHAIM WEIZMANN

18. Quick Ideas Memory Game … or Prime Ministers..! The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

19. Quick Ideas Graphic Timeline Divide Israel’s history into sections. Put students in groups; give them a template: large paper with a line on it. Each must create their section as a picture timeline with dates and features of history. When the templates are put together there will be a giant timeline that can go around the classroom or be put on display. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

20. Quick Ideas Line Up History The leader gives each participant a card with the name of a landmark event in Jewish history and the dates of the event. Participants have an allocated amount of time to line up from the earliest to the latest date. After the line-up, participants read off their cards and their dates. Timelines can be found here http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/timelines.html The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

21. Quick Ideas Line Up History Example Israeli Independence 1948 Capture of Eichmann 1960 The Six Day War 1967 The Yom Kippur War 1973 Operation Yonatan (Entebbe) 1976 Sadat Comes to Jerusalem 1977 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty 1979 The Lebanon War 1982 Operation Moses 1984 Exodus from the USSR 1990-1991 Operation Solomon 1991 The Oslo Accords 1993 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty 1994 Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin 1995 Centennial Zionist Congress 1997 Israel's Jubilee 1998 The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

22. Links & Resources http://www.lookstein.org/israel_resources.htm - Classroom reasources for teaching about Israel http://www.lookstein.org/resources/israel_online.htm - Annotated links about Israel and Israeli society http://www.adl.org/facts/ - Facts about Israel The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

24. Teaching “Israel at 60” 60 Year of History The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org

25. The Lookstein Center – www.lookstein.org