I guess when I type a post in Word, make it bigger and then paste it in WordPress, the bigger font does work. Yay!
Trying wordpress January 24, 2008
So after consulting my readers, I decided to play around a bit on wordpress. I am not totally satisfied with the font size though, so I will see if I can work on that.
The use of novels in history class January 22, 2008
Being still sick, I have been doing a lot of reading these days. I also had to write some exams that my students will be taking today and tomorrow. One of the books I have read, as I mentioned before, is Rashi’s daughters by Maggie Anton. The first part of the trilogy centres around Rashi’s daughter Joheved, the second part (which I am reading now) focuses on his second daughter Miriam.
Reading the novels was an interesting experience. Anton used an impressive list of historical sources on which she based her information. I loved reading about the way people dressed, ate and worked in medieval Troyes. It was very special to get an insight in the community of which Rashi was the leader.
The books did leave me a bit confused though. The main characters in these books are wellknown historical people that actually lived. Not much is known about them. Anton made up their professions, characters and thought of all sorts of events that (as she writes in the epilogue) have no real historical basis. For example, she argues that Rashi’s son in law Juda was gay. In the back of the book she maintains that according to sources, homosexuality existed in those days so she wanted to have at least one homosexual character in her book. I strongly disapprove of drawing an image of a person that actually lived, and that has no way of possibly defending himself. I don’t think it is right to write a book about a real person and make up all sorts of things, either positive or negative ones. I think I feel less strongly if the historical novel centres around an entirely fictive character.
This leads me to the question: what is the use of historical novels in history class? Sure, I do see the huge value of such novels in making history accessible, of introducing students to circumstances in a certain age, and in having them identify themselves with the main characters. On the other hand, how much freedom can we allow writers of such novels to permit themselves? Shouldn’t we always base our lessons on historical facts only?
Sick day January 21, 2008
After having been coughing and voice-less the entire weekend, I called the school this morning to report that I won’t be teaching today. I’m stuffing myself with symbicort and fluimucil, hoping I will be back soon. Calling in sick made me feel a bit naughty, almost as if I am skipping school, especially because I don’t have a fever. But I know that if I’d go to school today, I will be home sick for at least another week. And staying in bed, catching up on my sleep and my reading, won’t be that horrible…
PS. Image: ‘Sick child’ by Gabriel Metsu
To make a child blossom January 19, 2008
Yesterday morning I saw that many trees in our neighbourhood are already blossoming. It’s January and the trees are covered in white and pink flowers. Seeing this pretty sight awakened worries about global warming. On a deeper level a beautiful thought came to my mind.
In Judaism there is a famous saying: “Ha’adam ets hasadeh”: man is like the tree in the field. There have been many explanations as to why man is compaired to a tree. When I saw the blossoming trees, I suddenly realised that these trees can blossom in the most unexpected ways, as long as they are provided with sufficient warmth. Isn’t it our task as teachers to offer this warmth and inspiration to our students, and make them blossom? If a tree can blossom in January, then even the most difficult student can be reached.
Music January 16, 2008
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of sleep. Today’s post will be about another ingredient that is necessary for making my day into a success. Music can be inspiring, motivating, comforting, touching, sometimes all at the same time. This is a lesson my students learned today, when we visited the royal concert hall.
We started with a workshop on classical music. We were sitting in a big hall full with instruments. Each student had to pick an instrument and make a sound that symbolized ‘fog’. Afterwards, the students were devided into two groups and had to make a composition on fog. They then learned that in stead of playing all at the same time, playing in turns can be very powerful too. After that, the two groups had to join and make a composition on ‘fireworks’. When the composition was finished, they listened to a small piece of music from Debussy, who did indeed compose two pieces titled ‘fog’ (brouillards) and ‘fireworks’ (feux d’artifice). It was remarkable to hear the resemblances between their music and Debussy’s.
After the workshop we attended a Debussy and Skrjabin lunch concert in the small concerthall. It was amazing to enjoy the music together with my students and to see them learn from the new impressions. Most of them had never been to a classical concert before and it was wonderful to share the experience.
Talking about music, last night I compiled a playlist on Youtube. I love all sorts of music: classical, jewish, Israeli, modern, and many things in between. The 60 songs I selected are from the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s and 90′s and make me happy or melancholic. Here’s my top eleven from the 80′s, 90′s and early 00′s. Enjoy! What’s your favorite song?
Bloginality January 15, 2008
My Bloginality is ISTJ!!!
a
PS. “Under stress, ISTJs may fall into “catastrophe mode”, where they see nothing but all of the possibilities of what could go wrong. They will berate themselves for things which they should have done differently, or duties which they failed to perform. They will lose their ability to see things calmly and reasonably, and will depress themselves with their visions of doom.” 
Sleep January 15, 2008
Last night I went to sleep at 9PM. In a way, it was a bit sad to come home from school at 5PM, unpack, cook, wash the dishes, take a shower and head straight to bed in order to be fresh for another day of work. As if there is nothing to life than work. But it was lovely to hit the bed with my book and get some extra hours of sleep. This morning I feel invigorated. I am almost convinced that a good night of sleep is at least as important as a good lessonplan.
First democracy January 14, 2008
Of course, today’s post could be another whining post about the deep disappointments and struggles of teaching. Let me just sum it up by saying that I love teaching, but that I find the constant struggle for silence and attention extremely tirering. Today was another long day and I have hardly any voice left. Fortunately I don’t have much to prepare for tomorrow’s classes, so I can snuggle up with the new book I bought yesterday (I finished reading the first part of Rashi’s daughters and will dedicate an upcoming post to that novel).
My latest acquisition is ‘First Democracy’ by Paul Woodruff. It is a marvelous analysation of Athens’ democracy. Woodruff extracts seven characteristics that are invaluable for a healthy democracy:
1. Freedom from tyranny
2. Harmony
3. The rule of law
4. Natural equality
5. Citizen wisdom
6. Reasoning without knowledge
7. Education
This semester I have been teaching the fundaments of democracy to my 10th grade classes. I explained to them how a democracy can only exist by the virtue of the people, its leaders and the economic situation of the country. Only when people see that democracy works, that they are being listened to and that their leaders deal well with problems in society, democracy is observed as a legitimate system.
I can’t wait to read what Woodruff has to say about it, especially after reading reviews such as this one: “This book is a masterpiece… a heartfelt story of the birth, life and death of real democracy in ancient Athens, and, by implication, its country cousin in America” (Ted Becker, alumni professor of political science, Auburn University)
PS. Today’s image shows the speaker’s corner at the Pnyx, the hill in Athens that hosted the first assembly of the common people.
New beginnings January 12, 2008
One of the qualities every teacher should possess, is the ability to see each week as a new opportunity. Sometimes it’s hard not to take a grudge against a student along into the next week. I still find it hard not to blame myself for the mistakes of the past week, while I should actually be preparing next week’s lessons.
I am sitting at the diningroom table, trying to think of nice lessonplans for Monday’s classes, but all I can do is blame myself for sending this student from my class from hell to the office (the one that threatened me last month) while other students that also disrupted my class didn’t get punished. I blame myself for letting my freshmen fail. I am grading Thursday’s exam and some of them failed it big time. I am talking 20s and 30s. I blame myself for not being the teacher I want to be. Yet I know that the only way to become that teacher, is to stop blaming myself and look forward to the week that is lying ahead of me.
PS. Image: ‘New Beginnings’ by Doris Mosler.
PPS. Music playing: ‘Hommage à Piazzolla’ ft. Gidon Kremer.
