Vayechi- Proprioception and Mental Imaging related activity ideas

"Joseph took the two of them- Ephraim with his right [hand], to Israel's left, and Menashe with his left, to Israel's right- and he drew close to him." ~Genesis 48:13

Rashi on 48:13 explains:
Ephraim at his right, to Israel's left- One who comes toward his friend, his right is opposite his friend's left. [Joseph] intended that the firstborn should be properly prepared for the blessing.

Last year in Parshat Beha'alotcha I wrote about proprioception and the difficulties that many people have (even as adults) in differentiating between their right and left. Given this issue that many people struggle with, I thought it interesting when I reread this week's parsha and noticed that:

1. the Torah itself states the distinction- Ephraim was on Joseph's right, which was Israel's left; and Menashe was on Joseph's left, which was on Israel's right
2. Rashi makes a point of also explaining this difficult concept further- when one person approaches another, the person's right is actually opposite his friend's left

Spatial awareness is important for us as we live day-to-day in our 3-dimensional world. Shapes, the space they take up, and their orientation in relation to other items in their vicinity are part of our everyday lives. 

• To run and catch the subway train as its doors are closing, I have to turn sideways to fit through
• Which direction do I need to turn the table to fit it through the doorway?

The geometric math concepts that we work on with children as they grow and develop are all meant to help them build this awareness of spatial relationships, how shapes can be used for the greatest stability in our buildings, how shapes can fit together for the best use of space in our daily lives, and how the space that we take up within our surroundings will intersect with the space that other people and objects in our surroundings take up.

Activity Connections:
Activity ideas in increasing conceptual difficulty:

• For younger students, just starting by recognizing their left and right sides is difficult enough. Using left and right in directions as much as possible where applicable will help increase their familiarity. Everyday exposure to the distinction will make a big difference in making the concept more familiar and usable for them. Labeling left and right on a board or in primary locations at home or in the classroom will help give students a quick reference when they're unsure and thinking about the concept. When students are comfortable with the alphabet, they can also use their hands to check themselves- the thumb and forefinger of the left hand form an "L" when you're looking at the back of your hand, while the same formation with your right hand will be a backwards "L". 
• As students begin to feel comfortable with their own right and left, a fun activity is to have them wear left and right labels (on their hands or near their shoulders) and see what happens to their own left/right and their friends' left/right as they stand in line behind each other, walk towards each other, and turn around in different ways. This activity will help students gain a better understanding of the concept that the parsha and Rashi are explaining this week. As students work more and more with left and right, if they do have difficulty, they will also learn to develop tricks that they find helpful for themselves.
• On a higher level, spatial conceptualization can move beyond right/left orientation towards rotations (turns), reflections (flips), and translations (slides) of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes. 
• Again, for younger students they can have actual shapes that they turn, flip, and slide and they can draw diagrams to go with their activities. Playing with shapes and looking at the way a shape appears differently in different positions helps students develop their mental imaging skills, while diagraming the changes that they find helps them make note of particulars that they may overlook when just looking at the shape.
• Students will usually find it easier to diagram the 2D shapes and then they can progress to diagraming 3D shapes. Students will begin to notice more interesting changes as they move into 3D shapes- sometimes not all of the sides are the same shape, for example. As students explore, they will find similarities and differences between different shapes and begin to categorize shapes for themselves in different ways. As they develop their understandings of the different shapes, they will be storing mental imaging for themselves that they can call on in future learning.
• Once students have formed mental images for themselves, they can think about given situations where they are provided with information about spatial relationships and they need to work out the connections between different orientations. For example:
• Remember those baby blocks that have different shapes on each side? If students are given drawings of that type of block from different angles, they should be able to figure out which shapes are on which sides of each other in order to recreate an image of a full block.
• If you diagram a building block structure, can you figure out from the diagram how many blocks you need and how to recreate the structure? Younger learners can practice by actually trying to recreate the the structure with real blocks, while more adept students can work on their mental visualization of the shape in order to figure out the information that they're asked to find.
• Try to fit two dressers (of certain dimensions) next to each other in a given space (of certain dimensions and configuration)- what will be the best way to fit them next to each other? What will the space look like if I put them side by side? What about back to back? Is there a different orientation that will fit in the space in a better way? Remember, you need to be able to open the drawers!