Kitah Dalet 1/31: Samson

This week, the 4^th graders had a sub, Jonathan Shecter, with whom they focused on the story of Samson. The class was distributed a play that comprised many of the main events of the Samson story, from the angel’s announcement of Samson’s birth through his capture by the Philistines, and his relationship with and betrayal by Delilah. The 4^thgrade read the play aloud in three sections. After each section, they were asked to fill out a worksheet that checked their comprehension and asked them to make inferences about some of the concepts that had been introduced in the story. The first worksheet focused on Nazirites, and their roles and responsibilities in ancient Israel; the second focused on the character of Samson, and asked them to think about how he was both a different and a similar kind of prophet from the ones we have discussed so far in class; and the third asked them to consider the secret that Samson told Delilah, why he might have told her, and how this story could connect to their own lives and the secrets they choose to keep and tell. Jonathan has told me that the 4^thgrade made it through the material admirably, and I am excited to discuss what they learned when I next meet with them on 2/7.