Notable Jewish Americans

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School

COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening, Language

SEL STANDARDS*: Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making

One way to celebrate and commemorate Jewish American Heritage Month, or other similarly themed months, is to highlight and honor notable or accomplished people from that identity group. While honoring individual accomplishments should not be the only way to commemorate a themed month, focusing on important and notable people is useful in a variety of ways. Learning about notable Jewish Americans helps to tell U.S. history and the Jewish community’s role in U.S. history. It can illuminate challenges and opportunities faced by Jewish Americans as a group. Perhaps most importantly, studying accomplished Jewish Americans can help to dispel stereotypes and provide role models and representation to others in the Jewish community. 

This lesson plan provides an opportunity for students to learn more about important, notable, famous and accomplished Jewish Americans, challenge their assumptions and potential stereotypes about the Jewish community and dive deeper into a notable Jewish American person of their choosing.

Learning Objectives:

*Based on CASEL's SEL Framework

Student Direct Learning