History came to life at Shulamith School for Girls on the day before Thanksgiving, when the students in 8th through 11th grades participated in a mind-expanding and interactive History Day, designed and coordinated by Ms. Seffi Schofield.
Based on the insight that a key habit of historians is to consider the perspectives of different historical actors and the assumptions of the authors of both primary and secondary sources, the guiding question of the day was, “How do our experiences and assumptions change our perspectives?” To frame the day, the high-school students viewed and discussed one of the 25 most-viewed TED Talks, “The Danger of a Single Story,” by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie. The students observed that single perspectives, such as stereotypes, are dangerous not because they aren’t true, but because they are true and yet, in the words of the speaker, “incomplete.”
Workshops on a number of historical events followed, each of which promoted an awareness of the multiple assumptions and perspectives that different groups brought to the event: women’s suffrage, racism and segregation in the South, Jamestown Colony, and the first Thanksgiving. The multiplicity of perspectives within Judaism was explored in a session on the history and development of minhagim. Hands-on sessions in cooking and jewelry making gave physical expression to the idea of the differing cultural perspectives of European settlers and Native Americans.
Lunch continued the theme of multiple perspectives on Thanksgiving, as teachers and students prepared dishes that they contributed to the communal meal. The students then reflected on aspects of gratitude that are meaningful to them, and shared them with each other.
After lunch, the high-school students were joined by the 8th grade, and together they participated in interactive workshops which used engineering, debate, math, art, and economics to exemplify the cultural differences between Native Americans and Pilgrims. Working with primary sources in order to understand what life was like for the original Pilgrims and Native Americans in 17th-century Plymouth Colony, the students assumed the identities of particular characters, approached the challenge from that perspective, and found ways to collaborate and solve the challenge with others with similar and different perspectives.
At the end of the day, the students gathered in the school auditorium to hear a presentation by Mrs. Chaya Willig-Levy. Mrs. Willig-Levy recounted personal experiences that exemplified how life events can be viewed in different ways. She encouraged the students to adopt a perspective which reveals Hashem’s “hand” guiding their lives and to cultivate a sense of gratitude and awe.
In many ways, History Day was an ideal preparation for Thanksgiving.
