Mrs. Beeny Finkelstein: The Art of Science

Over the last three years, BT Middle School science teacher Beeny Finkelstein, along with her brother, award winning Baltimore-area photographer Fred Silber, have been busy creating a unique and extraordinary book of photography and poetry called A Dozen Roses. Beeny and her family have been a part of the Beth Tfiloh family for generations.

A Dozen Roses began as a photography experiment when Fred brought home a dozen white roses and began to photograph them with creative lighting techniques, revealing an ethereal inner beauty as they opened. With the idea of a fine art book and accompanying poetry in mind, Fred asked Beeny, who has been writing introspective poetry since she was a teenager, to look at the images and write her impressions. The result is a magnificent book with an inspiring message: the rose is there to comfort, to mark a special occasion, to heal, to send love, to solidify commitment and to give strength to face life’s challenges. While a dozen roses can be enjoyed only briefly, the roses in this book will live forever, energizing the spirit again and again.

A Dozen Roses is dedicated to the memory of Beeny and Fred’s beloved mother, Kay R. Silber, who died in 1966 after a valiant three-year battle with breast cancer. “Her last wishes were for her four children to follow their dreams with their spirit and integrity foremost in their minds,” shares Beeny. They have remained true to her memory and to her dream.

It was this message of hope and persistence that Beeny shared with her BT colleagues at January’s Professional Day. And it is at BT that Beeny pairs her love of poetry with an unlikely partner… science.

Each year, Beeny, who has taught at Beth Tfiloh for the last 24 years, asks her sixth graders to research and compile a list of facts about meteorology or geology. Beeny then switches gears. “I teach them to write in my style of rhyme and verse,” she says.

The students are paired up, weaving their verified scientific facts into poetic verse, then setting those words to the tune of their favorite song. All three sixth grade classes then enjoy a performance of these scientific lyrics, performed a capella, karaoke-style to pre-recorded music, or even to live accompaniment by the students. “Of course they love performing for each other,” notes Beeny.

The project culminates with a keepsake song book that includes each team’s song, along with a student-designed “fun page” that also relates to the science topic. But how do the students react when they’re first asked to become songwriters in science class?

“They’re a little nervous in the beginning,” reports Beeny. “They tell me, ‘I can’t write lyrics!’ But the exuberance is palpable once they begin to actually work on it.” With a teacher like Beeny Finkelstein, any student would be.

>  View sample pages from last year's song book