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!

Beha'alotcha- Directionality and Proprioception

"Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and say to him: When you kindle the lamps, toward the face of the Menorah shall the seven lamps cast light.'" ~Bamidbar 8;1-2

Rashi on 8;2 says:
Toward the face of the menorah. This means toward the middle lamp, which is called "the Menorah" because it is not on the branches, but rather, on the body of the Menorah, i.e., on its central shaft.
Shall the seven lamps cast light. Of the six lamps that are on the six branches, the three of them on the east, the wicks in them turn toward the middle [lamp], and similarly, the three of them on the west, the ends of their wicks turn toward the middle [lamp]. Why? So that [people] should not say "He needs its light."

proprioception- the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself (dictionary.com)

Direction or orientation is a concept that develops over time. Understanding of directions like up and down develops early on in children- often before children are even toddlers; babies demand "Up!" when they want to be picked up or "Down!" when they want to be let down to play with or reach something. Understanding of forward and backward also develops by a young age. Proficient use of left and right takes much longer to develop and remains difficult for many people even into adulthood. The understanding of left and right is part of proprioception. This is different from up, down, front, back, etc., which are based on a person's understanding of the outside world in relation to themselves, rather than the understanding of one part of their body in relation to another part.

Parsha Connection:
When reading the portion that tells about Aaron lighting the menorah, it struck me that the Torah doesn't give specific direction; rather, it says that the lamps should be lit "toward the face of the Menorah". Interestingly, Rashi's explanation also refers to the lights using external directions- i.e. east and west. While east and west might also be confusing, since you first need to orient yourself in relation to the cardinal directions (North, South, East, West), once you identify one direction, it's easier to figure out where the other directions are in relation to your orienting direction. Left and right would have been much harder to figure out or understand, since left and right are always based on the relationship of the specific person or the object being referred to. For example, if the Torah (or Rashi) mentioned the wicks on the left compared to the wicks on the right, how would we know if it was referring to them based on the perspective of the person lighting or the perspective of the Menorah itself?

Everyday Connection:
Differentiating left from right is always difficult. Practicing referring to the left and right of someone else is even more difficult. Putting left and right labels and then turning around in different directions to see where the left and right end up can start to help children develop an understanding of how left and right move around as an object changes location. For example, if you're talking about your right or left and a child's right or left, when you're facing each other it's very hard for a child to understand why your left and their left are diagonally across from each other. Turning to face the same direction, identifying your left hand with a label or by raising it up and then turning around while keeping it raised can help the child actually see how your left changes its location as you turn around.

One trick that many people use to remember left from right is to put their index fingers and thumbs on each hand into an "L" shape. With the back of your hand facing you, your left hand will make a proper "L", while your right hand will make a backwards "L".

Interesting note- when dealing with stage directions, to avoid confusion the director always refers to directions from the perspective of the actors standing on stage and facing the audience. This means that the director (when facing the stage) actually needs to reverse all of their innate directions in order for the actors to understand in which direction they need to move.