Welcome to Kitah Zayin (Grade 7): Meet your teachers and learn about your curriculum!
David Rhodes (he/him)
Kitah Zayin Teacher (Seventh Grade)
David Rhodes is a Program Associate on the Jewish education team at Facing History and Ourselves. He holds a master’s degree in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and he is passionate about working with educators and students to explore how to engage across differences, analyze systems, and learn from the past. He taught social studies and Spanish in Upstate NY for seven years, before moving to Newton in 2019 with his wife, Jeni, and three children, Nadav (11), Anya (10), and Seyla (6).
Noa Micarelli (they/them)
Kitah Zayin Assistant (Seventh Grade)
Noa Micarelli (they/them) is excited to join the CDT religious school community this year! Noa has a bachelor’s degree in drama studies from Hampshire College and is currently studying towards a master’s degree in library science at Simmons University. They can also be found teaching visitors of all ages about U.S. history at the Old North Church Historic Site in Boston, singing with seniors at Newton’s Golda Meir House, and performing as a singer-songwriter at venues across the region. Outside of work, they’re passionate about sci-fi novels and seeing movies on the big screen
Curriculum Overview
The 7th grade curriculum focuses on Jewish experience in the 20th century. Themes include diversity of Jewish life in pre-war Europe, Jewish immigration and experience in the United States, development of different strands of Zionist thought, the holocaust (Using a Facing History approach), modern Israel: cultural narratives and ethical dilemmas, movements of American Judaism.