9 Ideas for Teaching Jewish American Heritage Month

In teaching Jewish American Heritage of Hate Month, balance the positive exploration of culture, art, history, contributions and accomplishments with the important but sometimes difficult learning about the struggles for inclusion and equity and the antisemitism faced by Jewish people throughout history. [...] Have students read and discuss literature by and about people who are Jewish and about the Jewish experience including short stories, fiction, non-fiction, plays, poetry, graphic novels and speeches. [...] Some general questions to guide literature discussions include: • What is the book/poem/story about? • What is the theme, meaning and message of the book/poem/story? • How are the characters developed? • What is the main conflict and how is it resolved? • What did you most like about the book? What did you like least about it? • What was your biggest takeaway? • What passage(s) were particularly i. [...] • Write and deliver a speech about the important aspects of the event or milestone. [...] As a class, have students research an aspect of Jewish diversity that can encompass one of the following: • Ethnicity (country/region of origin, ancestry, geographic and language origin), including where the Jewish people originated and the significant ethnic groups that emerged based on their geographic location.