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and college students at Case Western
Reserve and Oakland University.
Upon moving to Michigan in 1981,
the 52-year-old Goldberg says she
answered an ad for a Hillel Day School
science and math enrichment teacher.
In her resolute way, she recreated the
position before accepting it. With her
conviction that there is more to life
than science and math, and that "chil-
dren need to learn more about art and
music and the world around them,"
she convinced the then-principal,
Rabbi Robert Abramson, that students
"need to be enriched in all areas."
Seventeen years and nearly 4,000
students later, the West Bloomfield
resident is still enriching lives. Many
of those she taught still remember the
fun of acquiring knowledge through
her creativity.
When conducting her classes, not
only are'the names she gives herself
unique, but so are the titles of the pro-
jects in which Goldberg ardently
involves her students. Art was studied
at Goldberg's Authentic Gallery of Art
or "GAGA, Detroit answer to
MON'fA." Her assignment to learn
about sequencing by reading and then
retelling fairy tales was called "Twice
Upon a Time." "Mind Your Own
Business" involved students in the cre-
ation of their own companies.
Once a teacher of academically chal-
lenged students in Alabama, Goldberg
says she continues to believe: "It doesn't
matter what others say you are, you can
strive to be the best." This is the basis
of her philosophy that "every child has
an area of giftedness.
Over seven and eight-week sessions,
Goldberg works with all of Hillel's sec-
ond, third and fourth graders in groups
of six or seven, on a rotating basis.
Earlier this month she was Maestro
A. Toscanini Goldberg, resident con-
ductor of Hinds orchestra. The group
project, involving more than 70 stu-
dents, was called "Hillel's Orchestra
International of Very Exotic
Instruments" — "Hoi Vei" for short.
Goldberg led the students in an
introduction to the music of primitive,
unusual instruments — some real, oth-
ers created out of rubber bands,
thumbtacks and cardboard tubing.
Several performances were presented
for their schoolmates. Michael Brodsky,
9, explained to an audience that the
sackbut was a predecessor to the trom-
bone and that amazingly "it was played
in the military, but also in operas."
Students learned about the serpent
and the lizard, both from the same
family of woodwinds and neither one
slimy They listened to the sound of the
"
familiar conch, once used for signaling
between islands and the shofar, both
unlikely members of the brass family.
They belong to that category based
upon their sound rather than casing.
Some instruments made a big hit
because of their music, like the bull
roarer, a piece of string Goldberg
describes in an animated fashion, as
making "an eeeeeeh sound when swung
over your head," and some for their
names, like the hurdy-gurdy and the
bamboo jew's-harp. And of particular
interest was Josh Appel's gammalan, a
type of gourd that after being used, gets
thrown on the ground and broken.
It is essential to the spirited
Goldberg that her students not merely
study their subject. "I refuse to have
them do a report," she says, preferring
to make them a part of what they're
doing. They don't learn about being
doctors, they perform an operation."
Goldberg also holds classes in com-
puters and language arts enrichment.
The special interest classes go on with
the cooperation of other teachers
("without whom the program wouldn't
work," she says) because students must
leave their regular classrooms to attend.
Rochelle Iczkovitz, Hillel Day
School's acting headmaster, hails
Goldberg's creativity and energy, say-
ing "she encourages students to think
and see the world in a different way,
bringing out the best in each of
them.
Two of Goldberg's project descrip-
tions were accepted by Good Apple
magazine, a professional publication
for teachers interested in new ways of
presenting ideas. Her future hopes
include publishing a book of her ideas
and her students' associated research.
"There is no reason why any
teacher with a little spunk couldn't do
this," she says.
Each class project involves students
demonstrating and sharing with class-
mates their new-found knowledge.
Goldberg strives to make students
responsible to what they researched
— to give them confidence and make
,,
them realize they are accountable.
She also believes the students enjoy
the performing.
Sometimes Goldberg's special-inter-
est projects go way beyond the walls of
Hillel. A group of "reporters" compiled
a booklet of their own "interviews"
with American presidential first ladies.
One student had the opportunity to
present her booklet to current First
Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at a
recent local appearance. It was a proud
moment indeed for the publication's
editor-in-chief, "Scoop Goldberg." I 1
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2/26
1999
23