The Birthday of the Trees

Oh, Mr. Lorax...

Every year on Earth Day, I plan an entire recycle, renew, reuse unit for my first graders. We make a KWL chart gathering what we already know, what we want to know, and making space for what we learned throughout. We do a nonfiction research unit and read about environmental issues and in writing learning how to draft a persuasive letter, which we then send to local and state representatives trying to convince them to care about our environmental cause. One year we sent our letters to Obama and received a generic, yet official reply!  In science, we talk about matter and explore how our knowledge of solid, liquid, and gas can make us more environmentally aware, and in math we do our surveys and representations unit, during which children go around asking important questions they care about like, "Do you always recycle your paper?" and then create bar graphs, pictographs, and other representations of what they learned about their parents, teachers, and peers.

My first poppy sighting!

We then culminate the unit with a student-led service project to beautify our school and/or local community, and often invite our parents for a healthy food Earth Day celebration on April 22nd. Throughout, during read aloud, I highlight the books I love, like "The Giving Tree" and my all time favorite, "The Lorax." For all who have never seen, I highly encourage you to watch the video based on the book. I tear up every time. (Side note- apparently 3D-CGI version is coming out in 2012! I'm so excited!!! However, I will always pledge my allegiance to the original.)

This unit is among one of my favorites because it exposes the children to so many new, important lifelong lessons: environmental awareness, of course, but also community activism, the power of the word, using data to make informed decisions, using information to persuade and make an argument, work together in the community, and so much more. Plus, we get to sing about swomee swans and barbaloots.

But here in Israel the unit I so love takes on a whole new meaning as I cherish yet another singular chance of experiencing the connection between the Jewish holidays and the seasonal cycle in real time. Today is Tu B'shevat, the Jewish Festival of the Trees, and whereas in New York everything is iced and frozen over, here, the almond trees are in full bloom and the poppies are springing up for air throughout the fields. I even red that people were turned away from the nature preserves in the Golan because it was too crowded. Imagine that--an entire country and an entire people celebrating the beauty of nature on this one, unique day. And I got to be a part of it.

To begin with, for the past few days, an incessant children's song we used to sing at Hebrew School has been ringing through my ears. It goes,

Chorus:
Tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, b'shevat,

Sure signs of Tu B'shevat

tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, b'shevat,
tu b'shevat, tu b'shevat, tu b'shevat.


(Crouch down and begin slowly rising in the air, hands up high)
You grow, you grow, you grow, you grow! 


(Make tree-like poses)


Tree
            Tree
Tree
                    Tree


Back to chorus!

The shuk

Then, there are the trips to the shuk, where almost every stand is overflowing with dried fruits and seasonal nuts, the symbols of the holiday.  At work, there are plates of dried mishmish (apricots), coconut, dates, figs, almonds, and more sprawled on every surface. And then, I got to plant a tree! Yesterday, my friend and I went with a huge group of children to make peanut necklaces for the birds and to plant new seedlings in the thick, clay earthy ground. We took a little hike to see the shkedia, learned about the existence of hundreds of turtles who used to live in the valley and that there were only three left now. Then we took in the blossoming of the almond trees, the beginnings of the pregim, poppies, and then gathered around a bunch of thin little green leafed things and worked our butts off to get them into the ground.

I find it so spiritual and lovely that Judaism has a holiday devoted to the trees. And it's even more amazing to be here for it, breathing in the exact words we sing, and picking the fruit of the earth that naturally springs from the ground exactly at this time, in this most beautiful of lands.



How to plant a tree:

1. Stand proudly with hoe. Pretend that it's not too heavy and the digging is a piece of cake. Whatever you do, don't take your eyes from the prize.

2. Keep digging. Make a determined face. Helps if you purse your lips like I did. The sunglasses also serve a functional purpose of keeping hair out of eyes. You may have to scrape some caked-on mud from the back of the hoe and while you do, the sharp metal attachment might loosen and spin. Pretend that's just part of the game. Yup, just another day's work digging a hole for the tree.

3. Spin around in a circle a little. This will make it look like you're doing a really stand up job. It will make you look strong and like an expert. Just keep spinning around and digging, and hope that the hole will be deep enough. Soon!

4. Just keep digging! It will be over soon! Remember you are doing a special, very important thing. Remember you only have to plant one tree. Dig, dig, dig!

5. Look up with a serious face and say, "hey, hand me that sapling? I have to test the hole." This is actually a clever guise for taking a break, but look contemplative and add a few hmmm's to the mix. It will make it look like you mean business.

6. When you just can't lift the hoe any more, pretend the hole is deep enough, even if it isn't. Say something like, "Yeah, that should cover it!" And then smash the ground around the sapling and shovel over a heap of dirt. It will cover your sapling and make it look real good.

7. Push down the last bit of dirt, stand up, wipe your hands proudly on your jeans like you don't even care you're getting dirt caked all over it.

8. Nod and pose for a picture. Say, "Oh yeah, that little tree is going to do real well, it's in a place with optimum conditions, I can tell." Nod a little more and then walk away quickly before anyone notices that the sapling is tilting a little to the side!

After you are finished, you might want to eat some special Tu B'shevat fruits, like dried apricots and dates. Mmmmmm.

Happy Tu B'shevat, everyone!!!

Ashalim: The Macro and Micro

Painting our emotions and actions

Exploring the function of line, color, and texture in TalPaz

Discovering positive and negative space in Bakka

Lately my work has been all about art. The art of teaching. The art of planning. Children's art. Community art. Infusion of art into society. The use of art as a social vehicle. And it's been artfully delightful! Through my work with Ashalim, I have been given the opportunity to participate in the development of an art program that supports youth at risk both on the macro level in my work developing a national scale program that is seeking to nurture hundreds and hundreds of youth, and also on the micro in my work at the two moadoniyot (after school programs) where I am implementing an art curriculum that was developed in Haifa. Both sides of the coin have been illuminating in their own ways.

The Micro

I loved this kid's story about falling and hurting his knee. Can you tell?

The final results were fabulous!

For the past few months now, I have developed a steady schedule and warm report with the staff and children of both moadoniyot. Each week when I arrive, I am greeted by warm hugs and smiles and always look forward to when the children jump on me and then show me something new. I have been slowly decorating the wall of my room with adorable little notes from the kids and filling my photo gallery with pictures of their beautiful artwork. The program has been wildly successful: I see bright color, happy and focused artists at work, great discussion about the elements of composition, and the beautification of the space. Each week, I meet with the counselors to plan out the materials, approach, and focus of the following week's lesson. Recently, I have also taken to choosing a child volunteer who helps me create the sample artwork for that week's lesson based on their participation and work ethic from the past week. Through this, the students have been empowered to be leaders, and I try to choose the kids who complain that their work isn't coming out good or that they can't succeed, and show them that art is all about exploration and mistakes and thinking thoughtfully about how best to portray our topic. So far, we have learned about the line, space, and have begun the basics of pointillism. Each week, I begin the lesson with a short history of a famous artist who can inspire us in our work and then we end each lesson with a group reflection over the incredible art they created that day. I have also felt very blessed to be wholeheartedly included as welcomed staff at each location, being invited to special trips and meetings for the staff, and have been asked by each of them separately if I would consider working there full-time! It's been so nice to be teaching again, but this time in art, something I have always considered a passion and never have gotten to really focus on. It has truly been a period of color, beauty, and discovery through the kids' eyes.


The Macro

Discovering different uses of the line

My hands-on exposure to trying to replicate the arts program in a place without the resources, expertise, or connection to a museum like in Haifa has led to reflection. Each week I have had to change the materials based on the limited tools each moadonit has, and adapt the lessons to suit our needs. Because of this insight and starting to think more deeply about how to successfully replicate the program in other locations, I am now going to be writing a long term curriculum and detailed lesson plan for the program that will be easily distributed to locations throughout the country. I will be traveling to Haifa biweekly to work with the staff there and am thrilled to be given the chance to create curriculum and hopefully impact and enliven the experience of hundreds children! So far I have written several sample lesson plans and presented to the staff at the museum and have been in discussions about the introduction and structure and framework of the curriculum. I have been fortunate to come into contact with many impressive people at the museum, through the ministry of education, the ministry of education of Haifa, the staff overseeing the moadoniyot program, and staff at Ashalim. If by the end of the year I can leave them with a concrete, detailed, and replicable model for an art curriculum that can be understood by teachers, counselors, and artists alike, then I will have met my goal. I am very excited to be a part of this!

Ashalim: It's All About Exposure

I was sitting in a meeting at the JDC office discussing my proposal for a national program that uses the arts to improve the academics of youth-at-risk when it all clicked. "The most important thing that we can do," Yehudit, who is in charge of the project, said, "is expose these children to art they never would have known about, and then to continue to give them chances to nurture and improve their new-found skills." This, to me, is what this work has been all about.

Through Ashalim, I have been given the opportunity to help change lives by opening children's eyes to the things I have always taken for granted: art and music. Through simple initiatives, we are able to illuminate a child's mind with a future full of possibilities. I don't mean to be cliche, but it's true. Two programs that make my point:

Sulamot

The other day I attended the opening ceremony of a new children's orchestra. The program hopes one day to be in every school in the country, providing every child with the very real opportunity to reap the benefits of a lifetime as a musician. For the opening, a small orchestra comprised of professional musicians from the Israeli Philharmonic, the program's music teachers, soldiers, and volunteers from local music schools played children-friendly pieces, including French composer's Camille Saint-Saën's fourteen movement sweet, "The Carnival of the Animals" to an audience of the future participants of the program. Each child sat on bleachers in the gym of the elementary school, clad in white sweatshirts advertising the program, red carnations in hand. I watched as each child eagerly awaited for the instrument they have chosen to study be highlighted in yet another whimsical song, and then run to present a carnation to their favorite performer. It was an uplifting evening full of so much excitement for what is to come. I eagerly await the end of year performance when the children themselves perform!

Highlighting the cello

Highlighting the flute

The children's instruments

Waiting with the carnations

Testing out the harp

Testing out the cello

After the show

Yeladim Yotstrim
Begun in Haifa, this is a program that connects the art museums with the after school programs, bringing an intensive art class to children who may never have seen a real painting before. After having visited Haifa several times, for workshops and meetings, and learned all about the curriculum and participating in talks about bringing the initiative to the whole country, I have now begun to implement the same art lessons in the two after schools where I work in Jerusalem.

After surviving a full lesson all in Hebrew, the beautiful results speak for themselves:

The continuation of the picture

At one of the moadoniyot

Exploring with the art supplies

The finished product!

 Some close-ups!

The finished product at the second moadonit

The JDC Impact

In working with Ashalim, JDC-Israel's department for youth at risk, as well as a fellow for JDC-Israel on a whole, I have been fortunate to be exposed to and even work on some pretty incredible social service projects over a relatively short amount of time. Since I arrived in mid-September, a mere three-and-a-half months ago, 

I have already learned about:

A Hibuki Child

• A wonderful youth Chanukah Arts Camp in which participants create all aspects of a play from scratch during one intensive week.
• Kfar Hassidim Youth Village which serves hundreds of new immigrants to Israel through a very enlightened and innovative academic approach. 
• Cafe Yael near Sderot, where high school drop-outs, juvenile offenders, and disaffected teens learn entrepreneurship and are given the chance to rise up the business ladder and help run the cafe.
• Hibuki, a clever therapeutic model where large, huggable dolls are given to child victims of trauma (first begun in Ashkelon and then brought to Japan in reaction to the earthquake and tsunami) where through learning to "care" for their not-so-invisible friend, they really learn to care for themselves.
• The Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, modeled after the Yemin Orde Youth Village in the north of Israel, and serving orphans of the genocide. 
• Chotam, based on Teach For America, for which I was a corps member, in collaboration with Teach For All.
• There's soooooo much more!

I have already visited/been involved with:

Children's artwork in Haifa from a December arts festival

• Yeladim Yotsrim: a collaboration with the government, JDC, Haifa Museum of Art, and after school programs for youth at risk throughout Haifa that exposes students to a special art course and brought to museum visits and workshops.  
• Sulamot: a youth orchestra program based on Venezuela's wildly successful national initiative, El Sistema.

An Ethiopian Kes during a traditional tea ceremony

• Pact/ECHAD: an early childhood intervention program for Ethiopian children, that has instead helped so many more than just that population.
• Better Together: an initiative that works to establish long-term change by partnering with already existing residents and providers to focus on early childhood, academics, and extracurricular opportunities. I visited a remarkable community center in the Arab-Israeli town of Sakhnin.

An Arab-Israeli Kindergarten

• CIL: both an incredibly moving and exciting documentary debut following the lives of disabled people living in Israel and a gorgeous Center for Independent Living in Beer Sheva that serves to 1,500 people with disabilities, including 400 Bedouins. There, we saw the breathtaking artwork created by those that both work and live there decorating every corner of the wall and the wildly successful restaurant that is adjacent, largely staffed by people with disabilities themselves.

A community garden at one of the Better Together Communities

• TEVET: an employment facility for Arab Israeli women.
• A Restorative Rehabilitation Center for juvenile offenders, where I heard the inspirational story of a boy who burned down the kitchen of a local store and then refurbished it himself, and in the process paving himself a new path. 

A concert celebrating the Ethiopian holiday of Sigd

• An incredibly moving introductory workshop to a photography course for Jewish and Arab Israeli teens.
  
• Several housing developments and community centers for new immigrants.

The restaurant outside of the CIL in Beer Sheva

• Workshops for different professionals--educators, social workers, art and music therapists--working with youth at risk, in collaboration with JDC-Israel Ashalim and the Ministry of Education. 
  
• I'm sure I'm forgetting many things...

 I have already worked at/on:

In the Maleh Room in Gilo

 A MALEH Room in Makif Gilo School: In JDC's words, "School-based dropout prevention program that works to retain... middle school students in their schools. Maleh sets up alternative learning spaces where high-risk students receive individualized emotional and scholastic support so that they can reintegrate into their regular classes." During my time there I worked one-on-one with six students, ages 14 to 16, providing English tutoring and mentorship. I also began working on a new initiative which will hopefully have a place in the national program that focuses on community.

At one of the moadoniyot

Moadoniyot: Basically after-school programs for youth at risk, where children arrive directly from school for a hot lunch, followed by a group meeting, homework support, play, extracurricular activities, and an ending meeting. I work at two different moadoniyot in Jerusalem, one in Bakka and the other in East Talpiyot, where I am providing one-on-one tutoring and working on implementing the "Yeladim Yotsrim" art collaboration program that began in Haifa.

Also at the moadonit

National Program in the Arts: I have been given the opportunity to write a research-based proposal for a national program that uses the arts to help bridge the gap of education for youth at risk. We're at the beginning stages but I am thrilled to get a chance to help in establishing a new program from the very beginning!


And this is only scratching the surface. I am constantly awed by the work that can be accomplished by all in all a small group of passionate, relentless, brilliant innovators. With all the problems in the world, when you look at the above list, it gives a lot of hope for 2012, don't you think?