David and Goliath Lesson Plan

David and Goliath Lesson Plan
Thanks to Debbie Rudin for her help in creating this lesson plan. She points out that this lesson incorporates most of the stages of a multiple intelligence lesson.

Goals:

The students will work in teams to discover the story of David and Goliath.
The students will learn about King David’s character from the story and why we should try to emulate him.
Level: Junior High and above

Materials:

Tanach Shmuel Bet Chapter 17
The Shlock Rock song David and Goliath (a parody of Devil Went Down To Georgia) from the album Shlock Rock Meets the Prophets.
Tape recorder
Hand outs with the song in the wrong order.(click on the link David and Goliath for the complete lyrics)
Time:
Unspecified

Method:

1. Divide the class in to teams of 5 or 6 students. Each team receives the Shlock Rock song that the teacher has pre-cut into the number of students in the group ie if there are 6 students cut the song up into 6 portions. The students read their own section first and then order themselves physically into what they think is the correct order. They can refer to their Tanach for help.

2. Play the song. The students must listen and check that they are in the correct order. Play the song again.

3. Discussion: David was a shephard as was Avraham, Moshe etc. Why? Shepherding sheep is good training for leading Bnai Yisrael. Why did David feel he would be successful in fighting Goliath? Discuss his complete reliance and faith in Hashem. He knew that everything was in Hashem’s hands. This is the trait we should most try to emulate. [The Shma is in the song by poetic license – we do not know what prayer was said at the time. Discussing the Shma at this point is optional.]