Building on our webinar for creating a safe, reflective classroom community, this week each LA Program staff member of Facing History and Ourselves has shared their favorite community-building activity. Here is our final activity - rounding out our set of four!

One of my favorite go-to activities is “Human Bingo.” It takes a little work on the front end but provides a great platform for a group to learn more about one another in a guided, fun way.

This week featured a series of blog posts from the students and teachers involved in an exchange between two Los Angeles middle schools: Sinai Akiba Academy, a Jewish day school, and New Horizon School, a Muslim day school. Today we conclude with final reflections from the teachers, Rebecca Berger and Aysha Mehdi.

This week we feature a series of blog posts from the students and teachers involved in an exchange between two Los Angeles middle schools: Sinai Akiba Academy, a Jewish day school, and New Horizon School, a Muslim day school. In this post, we hear as students from both schools reflect on the week. In accordance with school privacy policies, students are identified only by initials.

When the students from New Horizon visited Sinai, and when we went to New Horizon, I realized just how much we have in common with the Muslim students my age. We both share the struggle of discrimination and freedom of religion while living in America.

Students from Sinai Akiba Academy, a Jewish day school, and New Horizon School, a Muslim day school share their experiences of participating  in an exchange between the two schools, both located in Los Angeles. In accordance with school privacy policies, students are identified only by initials.

My expectations for the exchange were very low. I was very unsure about meeting the students at New Horizon, thinking that my buddy and I wouldn’t have much in common.I doubted that we would connect on any level, because of our different religious beliefs.I didn’t expect to learn much about Islam, or see any thread between Islam and Judaism, however, I was very wrong.

This week we feature a series of blog posts from the students and teachers involved in an exchange between two Los Angeles middle schools: Sinai Akiba Academy, a Jewish day school, and New Horizon School, a Muslim day school. Today we hear from the two lead teachers involved: Aysha Mehdi and Rebecca Berger.

I’ll admit it. When I was first told about the school exchange between Sinai Akiba Academy middle school students and the middle school students from New Horizons, an Islamic-based school, I was dubious. I pictured a room full of children seated across each other, shifting in their seats uncomfortably as teachers dutifully explained how much the two faiths had in common. Eye rolls, brief head nods and snack time would follow, with students clustered in bunches, talking in hushed voices about the “other” kids standing a few feet away. A photo op, yes. A rich, meaningful experience that truly changed the way these children viewed each other, certainly not.

When I was 12, I was stuck at home the entire summer with my leg in a brace, recovering from knee surgery. My Dad, never one to miss an opportunity, decided this would be the perfect time to give me a crash course in cinema. A film buff, my Dad had waited all twelve whole years of my life to show me the films that shaped, inspired and entertained him and now, because I couldn't outrun him, he was going to pass those films on to me.