JBHA: Benainu - January 29, 2010 Fix

Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
For Learning • For Leading • For Life

Volume 7, Issue 12 • January 29, 2010 • 14 Sh'vat 5770
Candle Lighting: 4:58pm • Shabbat Ends: 6:08pm

Dear Friends,

"Even in our rarified academic environment, my college classmates could not believe how I knew how to use text along with subjective reaction in both English and history. In my freshman English class, I never earned the dreaded C's, and I actually knew my way around the library to research." (Graduate, Class of 2003). Our Barrack English and history curriculum prides itself on teaching our students how to communicate, how to structure unified analytical papers, how to cultivate a personal writing voice, how to use the best techniques for expository, narrative and descriptive writing and how to understand writing as a process in both English and history papers.

Barrack English students are taught to regard reading as a lifelong habit and to use literature as a basis for human experience. Our students become acquainted with major works of European and American authors, as they are taught the historical context of the literature they study. Guided by a broad-based humanities approach to the discipline, students learn that literature does not exist in a vacuum; instead, it often emerges from the ideas and circumstances of the time period. Barrack students learn to analyze and interpret literature through writing. Many papers, both expository and creative, go through the three-stage writing process of prewriting, writing and revision.

As English texts explore fundamental themes, such as the journey, self-discovery, racism, religious faith and heroism, these themes become subjects for examination in history courses, as well. Aristotle remarked, "If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development." As we integrate European, Jewish and American history, from the ancient world to the world of the present, Barrack history courses are designed to accomplish that very purpose.

When asked, "What is history," an historian once replied, "History is one darn thing after another." We use a different approach. Our courses make connections as we introduce students to the discipline of history and to its methods. We look at the why and the how of history as we build the skills of historical investigation: reading, analyzing and interpreting sources from and about our past. In class, our students look at "GERMS", the governmental, economic, religious, military and social dimensions of history. How do individuals and groups of individuals begin to challenge existing hierarchies, how do they seek to control their own destinies and develop a concept of self-determination? As an example, our 9th grade students participate in a globalization unit that culminates in a project designed to cultivate an understanding of the developing world today.

In addition to having their choice of electives, such as Oratory, Bias in the Media, Feminism, Hardball: The Game of Politics, Creative Writing, and Economics, our students are given the opportunity to participate in activities ranging from Great Books, Human Rights Club, Model UN, Debate and Mock Trial to our literary magazine, Gateway, our foreign policy journal, L'Shem Shamayim, and our school newspaper, The Cougar Chronicle. Our senior students can take AP Literature and Composition and AP United States Government and Politics.

In both English and history courses, we teach students to recognize text along with subjective reaction as the basis for interpretation of literature and historic events. Our goal is to continue to produce graduates who consider themselves excellent communicators, lovers of literature and well-versed American and Jewish citizens ready to tackle the challenges of our complex world.

Sharon P. Levin
Chair, Humanities Department

For Learning.
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