Source
The Thinker, Auguste Rodin 1904
Foundations for Planning
Essential Questions
- How can I be the best “me” this year? In class, at home, on the playground, etc?
- What resources support/enable/inspire my growth?
- How do I grow as a result of the Jewish calendrical cycle?
Content Questions Related to the Essential Questions
- Why is it important to reflect and think about our actions?
- How does thinking help our future behavior?
Background for Teacher
Read about the sculpture.
Read about the sculpture.
In-Depth Discussion 
Suggested Activities 
Further Study In-Depth Discussion
Click here to view our consolidated list of suggested interactive pedagogies for classroom discussion.
- This man seems to be thinking about something really important. What things about the way he is sitting tell us that he’s deep in thought?
- Where do you usually do your serious thinking?
- When you need to really think about something “big”, where do you go to think? What does your body language look like when you are thinking hard?
- What kinds of “big things” do you think/wonder/worry about?
Suggested Activities
- Ask the students to photograph their “thinking place”. Print the pictures and ask the students to fill out thinking bubbles around the picture: What are some of their thoughts coming up to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (goals, regrets, problems in the world, family issues, etc.)
- Explore Body Language. The haftarah on Rosh Hashana tells us that Eli misunderstands Hannah’s intentions when she is praying to God for a child. Ask students to demonstrate what different emotions, ideas, intentions look like (e.g. happiness, concentration, anger, etc.).
Further Study
- Study the resource The shofar – an alarm clock, which describes how the sound of the shofar can encourage us to engage in soul-searching.
- Read the story A Retrieved Reformation by O. Henry, which tells the story of a man who wants to change his life.
- Read the poem I Walk Down the Street by Portia Nelson, which discusses the autonomy of our actions and how we can make changes in our lives.
