Mr. Firester, Mrs. Horowitz and Mrs. Ciment, the respective heads of the History, Tanach and English departments are overseeing the first ever YHS Curriculum Integration Department. I sat down with them to discuss the details of the course.
Matthew A. Samilow: What was the objective of the project?
Mrs. Horowitz: The goal of the project was to introduce students to a new way of thinking about their studies. Instead of independent subjects that have nothing to do with one another, we wanted students to consider how the ideas and themes they learn in all their classes relate to one another and to their lives.
Mr. Firester: The objective was to connect Judaic Studies to secular classes. We did not want Tanach to end in Tanach, we wanted to show that there exists a deep connection between subjects.
MAS: What did you learn from the project?
MF: I learned a lot about Moses and that there are a great deal of similarities between him and many of the leaders we learn about in our History classes.
MH: Aside from learning a tremendous amount about American history from reading campaign speeches, I learned a lot about integration and collaboration with my colleagues from other departments.
Mrs. Ciment: I learned a great deal about American History! Also, it was interesting to see how students presented their information. There was a lot more creativity than I had expected.
MAS: Did the submissions meet or exceed your expectations?
MC: Overall, most entries exceeded my expectations. There were some solid, well-written pieces that were quite impressive.
MH: I thought the submissions were, overall, excellent! There was so much creativity and thought put into the campaign posters and speeches. I was really impressed!
