Each year, all of our 9th grade students read Night by Elie Wiesel. To expand student's learning, we want to make available books that have Jewish main characters that students can read for their choice reading time.
By incorporating books with Jewish main characters alongside the class text "Night" by Elie Wiesel, students can significantly expand their learning and understanding of the Jewish experience.
Reading additional books featuring Jewish protagonists can provide students with different perspectives, experiences, and narratives within the broader context of Jewish history and culture. These supplementary readings can offer insights into individual stories, struggles, and triumphs that may not be fully captured in "Night" alone, enriching students' comprehension of the diversity and complexity of the Jewish identity. By exploring a variety of texts with Jewish main characters, students can deepen their empathy, critical thinking skills, and cultural awareness.
This list includes books that are set during or post World War II, as well as current fiction that features Jewish protagonists. This will create variety in the library collection for students who want to read more Holocaust related stories, and those looking for a lighter way to explore Jewish identity.
These materials will help foster a more nuanced understanding of Jewish identity, and help students understand Jewish perspectives. Students will be inspired to work towards alleviating the suffering of others by seeing the impacts of genocide and the Holocaust. We will measure the students' understanding of compassion through informal discussion with the Librarian as well as assignments for their Language Arts classes.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Trufan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.