The Goodman Initiative - see attached materials list

The Hebrew Alphabet Paparazzi

Joy Langer — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:20:08 +0000

Discover you know Hebrew when you look through your camera lens, do yoga, and eat glida! Look for abstracted Hebrew letters around you and photograph beautiful meaningful art. Move your body and get a great yoga workout spelling Hebrew words with your peers. Celebrate what you’ve learned, Ben Yehudah, and have some glida! This Hebrew literacy through art program is great for visual and kinesthetic learners.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

see attached materials list

Program Duration:

Full-day program

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

To learn kinesthetic and visual ways to approach teaching Hebrew

To use digital cameras to think abstractly

To learn some basics in composing a successful photograph

To learn about Ben Yehudah and the Hebrew language

To learn Hebrew letters and words through photography as medium

To learn how to incorporate yoga and movement into Hebrew literacy

To celebrate our national language with an ice cream party! To use culinary art to teach literacy.

Explanation:

1. Begin with a basic yoga warm up. Start with breathing exercises, mountain pose, downward dog, stretching, etc. Have a large Aleph Bet chart up somewhere participants can see it.
2. The facilitator will ask participants to make the sound of the bet. They will then try to move their body in the shape of an aleph. There are many ways of approaching this. Participants can move their body however they think it makes a bet. Be sure they move in ways that feel comfortable to them as no one should feel any pain. Ask the participants to come up with a few words that start with the letter bet. Repeat with a few other letters. Hand out alphabet sheets.
3. Invite participants to pair up to create letters and then eventually words.
4. Ask a few participants to photograph the poses.
5. Share a few successful photographs from magazines or from famous photographers. Discuss why they are successful. Introduce the terms: composition, contrast, focal point, and depth of field.
6. Share the abstracted photographs of letters from google searches.
7. Participants should make view finders with index cards by cutting a rectangular opening in the center of the index card to look through to search for letters and frame them before shooting.
8. Send participants in groups of 2-4 with a digital camera to photograph. Ask them to find letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and photograph them. Ask them to find as many as possible in the given time. If possible try to find letters that might create a Hebrew word. Give participants a few Hebrew words to “look for” around camp – see handout.
9. After participants photograph 5-10 letters in their groups, facilitator will send them to be printed.

Variations:

1. For younger participants and or beginning Hebrew language learners, facilitator can focus on the letters and create Aleph Bet books. You can do this in various styles. Participants can create group dictionary or individual books. Participants can come up with vocabulary word lists that start with each letter.

2. For older participants facilitator can expand this project into more conceptual art and create poetry or sentences. Each photograph can be thoughtful and used as a visual interpretation of the meaning of the word or phrase they write – example teva – where each letter is found in nature…. or a poem or teffilah about nature where the letters are all found in nature.

3. Participants can create acrostic poems with the letters.

4. Have a photo exhibit for the entire community and invite participants. Have the artists act as guides and explain their work to the viewers.

5. Older or more advanced Hebrew learners can create a yoga dance and tell a story highlighting the main words of the story with Hebrew yoga words and yoga art. They can tell any story or a brief biography of Ben Yehudah.

6. Younger participants can have a Hebrew letter scavenger hunt. To transition campers from one place to another, counselors can ask them to look for letters and photograph on the way. They can do this for a few days until they collect many letters.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Aleph Bet Handout.doc

Hebrew Literacy through Abstract Art Materials list.doc

Attribution:

Joy Langer

Israel in 3D

Joy Langer — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 05:59:51 +0000

Create magnificent 3D art that moves and will move you to understand more about our homeland! Looking at the Israeli artist Agam as a point of inspiration, we will create multiple artistic “views” of Israel and share our various interpretations.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

see attached materials list

Program Duration:

Half-day program

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

A Bunk/Cabin/Chug (10-20 campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

To learn about the Israeli artist Yaakov Agam

To learn about the geographic landscape of Israel

To learn new art skills and use them to express ideas about Israel and its diverse landscape

To connect to places, modern life, and the history of Israel using visual art as a tool

Explanation:

1. This project should be done after the geography of Israel has already been explored. Participants will choose a “view” of Israel that is important to them and pair up with someone who has an opposite or very different “view.” See ideas in introduction section. Participants can also work independently on 2 views they find interesting. (Time: 10 – 15 minutes)

2. Once everyone has picked two places in Israel, draw. Participants will create images in one of three ways described below. They may use oil pastels, markers, or any medium available. Drawings should be big and bold, filling the whole page. This will make the Agam technique work best. (Note* Be sure to make the drawing vertically on the 8.5” x 11” paper.) (Time: 1 hour)

Drawing or painting can be approached one of three ways:
• On the first piece of cardstock, participants will create one image on the place they choose to draw. On the second piece of cardstock, they will draw a very different geographical location in Israel.

• If people opt to work in pairs, they should each create one drawing on one piece of cardstock. The goal is to show two very different images -- two very different geographic locations. The artistic goal is to use different color schemes and techniques to push the concept further.

•If time allows they can create a third drawing together that displays a third place in Israel they connect with. This will deepen the collaboration.

*Drawing/Painting tips:

Drawings of the places they choose can be solely landscapes, they can be genre paintings of daily modern life in these places (ex: people played “kadima” on the Beach in Tel Aviv, people davening at the Kotel in Jerusalem, farmers harvesting in the Golan Heights). Use a new color scheme or contrasting colors to enhance the Agam technique. Draw subjects so they are large and bold. (Note* Be sure to make the drawing vertically on the 8.5” x 11” paper.) Outlining the focal point of each art work and keeping things free of details will allow a successful visual outcome. Going along with the Agam techniques abstract interpretations of these scenes should be invited. What colors portray the mood of this place? What types of lines or shapes depict the feeling you may have if you were there? What can you use in your art to express the weather of this place?

3. Assembling the Art Time (30 min – 1 hour)
• Make 16 equal accordion folds on one piece of 11” x 17” cardstock (for three image drawings attach another piece of cardstock to make 24 accordion folds)

• Label each section 1, A, 2, B, 3, C, 4, D, 5, E, 6, F, 7, G, 8, H

SEE GRAPHIC IMAGE FOR DIAGRAM

• On the back of each drawing (on 8.5” x 11” cardstock) make 8 equally spaced lines with a ruler. Label one page A- H and the other 1-8 ( be sure both pages are facing in the same direction before labeling A B C D E F G H

• Cut out strips 1 – 8 and A-H

SEE GRAPHIC IMAGE FOR DIAGRAM

• Glue each strip to the respective section with a glue stick, on the accordion folded 11”x17” cardstock paper.

• Lay the strips out to be sure you glue everything in the correct direction and order (Younger campers will need assistance).

• Mount final art work with glue gun on foam core or cardstock leaving room underneath for writing.

6. Underneath mounted work write about the place you explored and a few words on the two ideas you are presenting.

7. Display art work and share with the community.

Variations:

The content of participants art work can relate to a topic on Israel of the facilitator's choice.
Here are a few ideas that can be applied:
1. How Israel changed over time. Ex: Desert transformed to irrigated land and farms
2. A historic Israeli event and how it unfolds from beginning middle and end. Ex: the Yom Kippur War
3. What are the various geographical places in Israel? Ex: Jerusalem hills and the Negev
4. What are some different and maybe opposing political and religious points of view that occur among Israeli’s? Ex: Right vs Left

5. What makes Israel Jewish? What are Jewish values important to Israeli society? Cultural vs. Religious? Ex: Hebrew language and observing of Yom Kippur

If there is ample time, this can be modified to make three points of view by adding a third drawing. It can be used to teach conflict resolution. One art piece can be created by two people in disagreement. The solution they come up with would be the third image. It can also portray the disagreement between biblical characters such as Cain and Abel and related back to the roles that are played out in camp. Collaborating on one art work will build relationships and encourage teamwork.

The art work can get bigger or smaller and can be simplified for younger groups and made into very intricate work with a more artistically skilled group.

This can also be used purely to study the Israeli artist Yaacov Agam. Discussions on the elements of art including composition, color theory, and form can give campers a chance to making Israeli inspired art for art sake.

Various materials and techniques could be used including markers, paint, collage, and drawing. This could be a long term project that is worked on over many sessions.

Supporting Materials:

Graphic for Agam project.doc

The Yaakov Agam Workshop MATERIALS.docx

Attribution:

Joy Langer