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The Charlotte Jewish News -May 2013 - Page 8 Youth Visions The Jewish Writing Project and Hebrew High We all know our teenagers are very opinionated. Almost any sub- jeet eati turn into a world elass de bate. And it isn’t just opinions, it’s passions. Their emotional attaeh- ment to their eonvietions is pro found. At the same time, as teenagers, they need to start thinking about how to express those opinions in writing. Not only will almost every eollege applieation require an essay, there is an essay portion of the SATs that they need to eon- quer. Put these two things together, and we have Hebrew High’s new elass, “Writing for Good.” Mrs. Montoni, who is a profes sional writer and editor and long time Hebrew High teaeher, ere- ated the elass to a) help students get past stieky grammatieal and spelling errors that plague their writing; b) learn to write about what their passions are; and e) help them express their inner most feelings about being Jewish. Eaeh week, she teaehes one grammar lesson. The first week, the students learned to distinguish possessive pronouns from eon- traetions (e.g., your and you’re; its and it’s; whose and who’s). The following week, they diseussed the proper usage of me, myself, and I. Then the elass turned to diseus- sion mode where they talk about a Jewish issue that is of interest. Wherever the diseussion leads, that’s where Mrs. Montoni pulls out a prompt for writing. The first week the prompt was “Date Only Jews or Play the Field?” The responses were surprising and interesting (and some students still eonfused their and they’re). After editing the essays, Mrs. Montoni eontaeted Bruee Blaek, web master of a blog ealled “The Jewish Writing Projeet.” Here Jews from all baekgrounds have submitted essays about their day-to-day experienees as Jews. The submis sions that have been published are both interesting and thought- provoking. ishwritingprojeet.wordpress.eom/ 2013/04/01/teenager s-and- interfaith-dating/. Our next set of essays, “What is a Jew?” are eurrently being vet ted by Blaek and will be published at the end of the month. The next set of essays, “What would the world be like if there had been no Holoeaust?,” are still being ed ited by Mrs. Montoni. Wateh for notiees when these essays are on line. ^ Eighth graders Sam Friedman, Noah To bias, and Leah Kwiatkowski write their essays for The Jewish Writing Project. Blaek was thrilled to reeeive submissions from our teens and published our first set of essays. They ean be found at: http://jew- Another Friendship Circle Passover Experience As you may know, the Passover Seder ineludes a lengthy amount of time spent on reading the Haggadah and retelling the story of the Jewish people’s exo dus from slavery and the land of Egypt. On Passover, a speeial effort is made to engage the ehildren. We eneourage questions and make sure the ehildren are part of the Seder. For ehildren with speeial needs, however, the Passover Seder ean be very diffi- eult to sit through and ean also be very overwhelming. For the seeond time. Friendship Cirele organized a Passover Seder to ensure ehildren with speeial needs were also ineluded in the Passover experienee. From unique games and aetivities for the ehildren to Passover stories and FRIENDSHIP diseussions for the adults, our tai lor made Seder was an uplifting experienee. This year’s Passover Seder was dedieated to the memory of Je remy Alpem (Cantor) OBM. ^ Friendship Circle Life Skills: Lessons for Life - Friendships Forever A major key and eritieal part of working with ehildren of speeial needs is getting them eomfortable in the outside world. With Friend ship Cirele’s Life Skills Program, we ean help the ehildren aeelimate to basie life tasks sueh as: using a library, visiting the doetor, or Ve ta£e sreat pride ipi onr dedtcaigd »plunte.ers wt»o bring smilas n 3 need^ Jessica BlacKinan Josh Brand Aini BroWn Hannah Danziger Will Deloach Danny Ganlin Ian Goldberg Noah Goldnan Harper AosKovitz NiKKi RoSenbaupi Hay ley Rusgo Aelanie Zinnernan Cayley Cough Ian Steven mils Aarnl Ran^enberg Sydney Ru^go Evelina Trost Benjanln Velnstein Talla Welnrteln Jacob Baunsteln y I shat Berendt Gabrtella Catenazzo Olivia Dardls Anna Otteshein Hannah Ross CJ Torcelltnl Sydney Torcelflnl going shopping. With praetiee, they ean beeome self-suffieient and unassisted individuals, giving themselves a sense of independ- enee. Praetieing life skills in a safe and weleoming environment ean ehange what seems strange, over whelming and unfriendly into something fun and easy to do. Eaeh Life Skills session will run for one hour. Children will be paired with one or two volunteers so that eaeh ehild reeeives one- on-one attention. Aetivities will inelude visits to the library, groeery store, and a restaurant. For more information e-mail Roehel@friendshipeirelene.org or eall Roehel at 704-366-5983. b 9. Donating an Old Cell Phone Can Save a Life Shalom Bayit-NC, in eonjune- tion with Safe Allianee’s Vietim Assistanee, is eolleeting eell phones for vietims - or potential vietims - of domestie violenee. Old, used and unwanted eell phones will be reprogrammed to eall 911 and used in the event of an emergeney. Donating is as simple as dropping the eell phone and battery eharger (in a plastie bag or box, if possible) at the reeeption desks of the following loeations: Levine Jewish Com munity Center, Ohr Hatorah Congregation, Temple Beth El, Temple Israel, Jewish Family Serviees For more information eheek www.shalom- bayit-ne.org. b How Healthy is Your Rela tionship? Do you feel eontrolled by your partner? Do you eonstantly expe rienee insults, humiliation, threat ening aets or gestures, bullying? Does your partner eontrol the fi- nanees, isolate you from friends and family, treat you like a ser vant, make everything your fault. Is there violenee? Up to 25% of all Jewish women, teens, and even some men are eurrently in abusive situ ations. Shalom Bayit-NC is working to end domestie abuse in our Jewish eommunity by raising awareness, of fering edueation and providing serviees to people suffering at the hands of intimate part ners. Call 704-756- 9209. b Shalom Bayit of North Carolina Jews Working to End Dcxuestic Abuse
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