Post on 21-Jul-2020
transcript
Tammie Senders
Comparing Yosef HaTzaddik and Nelson Mandela -‐ 11th grade Chumash 40 minutes
Behavior objective: Students will learn about the importance of forgiveness and its different outcomes through analyzing the actions and attitudes of Nelson Mandela and Yosef HaTzaddik and will demonstrate their understanding of this value by completing an accompanying worksheet. Materials: YouTube video for trigger, source sheets with quote from Nelson Mandela and source from Breishit, worksheet for independent assessment
Element of Instruction
Description Timing (approx)
Anticipatory Set/Hook
Students will walk into class and be shown a CBS YouTube clip about woman who forgave her son’s murderer and helped rehabilitate him in society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2BITY-3Mp4 Students will be asked to consider these two questions while watching the clip: Why did Mary Johnson forgive O’Shea? Who gained the most from the forgiveness and why?
5 min
Objective (what you will tell your students)
Today students will explore the importance of forgiveness and the different ways it can be understood by looking at two well-known figures in our history, Nelson Mandela and Yosef HaTzaddik.
Purpose By exploring some role models for forgiveness, students will learn how this attribute can apply to their lives as well.
Input/ Activities
Teacher will review YouTube view and provide students with short background on Nelson Mandela and Yosef. - The lesson of Mary and O’Shea is actually not all that foreign to us today, we have learned it from other key figures in our history. Today we will get the opportunity to examine the actions of two historical figures whose passing we commemorate this week – Nelson Mandela and Yosef HaTzaddik.
10 min
Check for Understanding
- Teacher will ask students questions about trigger. - Teacher will have students repeat instructions for cooperative activity. - Teacher will ask students questions about sources they learn in cooperative activity.
Guided Practice/Assessment
- Students will be divided into two groups: one group will examine source about Yosef, one group will examine source about Mandela – both will yield info about their approaches to forgiveness and what outcomes emerged from their forgiveness. - Students will also each be given a letter that will let them know their partner for the second part of the activity. After 10 minutes, students will find their letter partners and will “teach” and discuss their sources. After 10 more minutes, class will come back together and will summarize and conclude with teacher.
20 min
Independent Practice/ Homework
Conclusion: Question: Based on what we’ve seen from the figures we have studied, what are the two ways to understand forgiveness?
a) Personal impact b) Way it impacts others
Sometimes we choose to forgive someone to gain personal peace, like Mary Johnson, Yosef, and Mandela all professed to have done. But we also should recognize the greater implications of our forgiveness, that by forgiving others we can help make a difference in the world, we can fight hunger, we can save our families, we can rehabilitate others – all by forgiveness. Teacher will present students with assessment with three questions for them to reflect on the two understandings of forgiveness (personal impact vs. making a difference for others).
5 min
*Please see below: 1. Questions on video clip 2. Source sheet about Yosef 3. Source sheet about Nelson Mandela 4. Instructions for discussion activity 5. Worksheet for independent assessment at home
Questions on Video Clip
1) Why did Mary Johnson forgive O’Shea? 2) Who gained the most from Mary’s forgiveness and why?
Background: In previous parshiot, Yosef was oppressed by his brothers and sold to the Ishmaelites/Egyptians, never thinking that he would have the chance to reunite with his family. Yosef is freed from jail and rises to prominence in the Egyptian government, saving both the country and his own family from starvation. In this week’s parsha, after their father dies, Yosef’s brothers confront Yosef and entreat him not to punish them for what they have done to him.
בראשית פרק נ [פרשת ויחי]
ויראו אחי טו יוסף, כי- מת אביהם, ויאמרו, לו ישטמנו -
כליוסף; והשב ישיב, לנו, את …הרעה, אשר גמלנו אתו- וילכו, גם יח לעבדים.יו; ויאמרו, הננו לך אחיו, ויפלו, לפנ - יט
ויאמר אלהם יוסף, אל תיראו:- כי התחת אלהים, אני. ואתם, כ שבה לטבה, למען עשה כיום הזה, חשבתם עלי רעה; אלהים, ח
להחית עם רב.- ועתה, אל כא --תיראו- אנכי אכלכל אתכם, ואת -טפכם; וינחם אותם, וידבר על לבם.-
Questions to consider:
1. What reason does Yosef give for forgiving his brothers?
2. What is the outcome of Yosef’s forgiveness?
Background: Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who was involved in civil disobedience and later in more violent activities against the South African government. In 1962 he was caught, tried, and sentenced to 27 years in prison, most spent in isolation. When he was released, Mandela entered into negotiations with the government to end apartheid and was eventually elected himself as the first black president, serving from 1994-1999. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.” ― Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s Liberator as Prisoner and President, Dies at 95 - New York Times, December 5, 2013 “The question most often asked about Mr. Mandela was how, after whites had systematically humiliated his people, tortured and murdered many of his friends, and cast him into prison for 27 years, he could be so evidently free of spite… When the question was put to Mr. Mandela in an interview for this obituary in 2007 — after such barbarous torment, how do you keep hatred in check? — his answer was almost dismissive: Hating clouds the mind. It gets in the way of strategy. Leaders cannot afford to hate.” Questions to consider:
1. Why does Mandela choose not to be bitter and hateful?
2. How does Mandela explain his “freedom from spite?” What is the
outcome of this freedom?
Source Discussion Activity Part I. - Divide up into groups assigned by teacher (Group 1 or 2)
1) Person A (or E) reads the source 2) Person B summarizes the source 3) Person C answers one of the questions at the bottom 4) Person D answers second question at the bottom
Part II. – Divide up into letter groups (A’s together, B’s together, C’s together, D’s and E together)
1) Person from Group 1 explains source to person from Group 2, then they switch.
2) Each person summarizes source and explains the two ways of understanding that figure’s forgiveness.
1. What are two ways to understand forgiveness?
2. How did Yosef and Nelson Mandela each understand the value of forgiveness?
3. Which understanding of forgiveness do you identify with more? Please feel free to share any
thoughts, stories, or personal experiences.
Lesson Reflection
This was a lesson I gave as part of my Models of Teaching course. Since I did not have an
audience of real students, I found this lesson to be very manageable, but also a slightly unfair
assessment of an 11th grade parsha class. That being said, I enjoyed presenting the class because
I found the material to be provocative and on a deeper level than what I have been used to
teaching in 7th grade. I thought the class had great participation and I was pleased with the flow
of the lesson -‐ I had been nervous about the transitions between each of the group activities and
found that the class did move seamlessly from one to the next. I received feedback that the
written instructions to reiterate my verbal instructions were very helpful.
If I had the chance to do this lesson again, I would spend more time on each of the
different segments. I felt that I did not have enough time to adequately process the very powerful
trigger with the class and to delve into all of the issues that arose from the video. I would also
have liked more time for the students to learn the sources together, more specifically the
chevruta section where they had the opportunity to teach the sources to one another. I don’t
think that they were able to get a deep enough sense of the source they had not learned
extensively as a group. Finally, I think it would have been helpful to have more time for review
and reflection at the end. I was able to elicit comments from a few students, but I felt there was
much more to be said once I had run out of time. I think this was a longer lesson than I had
planned for and it was a good exercise in time management to realize what I could have cut down
and what I could have emphasized more.