About
About Me:
Omaira Alam, born in Scotland and raised in Toronto, Canada spent over 15 years on the receiving end of education. She completed degrees in neuroscience, world history and global education
all at the University of Toronto. Her graduate work specialized in at-risk secondary students with emotional and learning disabilities at The George Washington University.
While sitting on the other side of the desk, she has worked in public, private and Islamic schools. With more than 12 years of experience in teaching, teacher training and education, she continues her research in the areas of discipline, special education in Muslim schools, and urban Islamic education. She sits on the faculty of COMPASS, MSA National‘s management training program. Omaira is currently a course facilitator for the Islamic Teacher Education Program and an independent education consultant. Omaira lives in Arizona with her husband, former Navy dude, Josh, and their four-year-old son, the Jibbers.
NOTE: As a new blogger, I looked online to see what was available in terms of guidelines to follow. I came across these guidelines on ethical blogging. If you feel that something I have blogged about or posted does not fit these guidelines, please send me an email. While I aim to follow these Blogger’s Code of Ethics, I am human and may inadvertently make a mistake. Please do me the service to at least let me know. Thank you.
About the Blog:
Black Board, White Chalk is about transforming the nature of education and learning. It is about taking traditional education and rewriting with our own chalk so it actually meets the needs of the students.
The goal of Black Board, White Chalk is to bring awareness, understanding, and to facilitate the discussion of the concepts of Islamic education, special education, urban education, place-based education, social justice education, holistic education and spirituality education. This discussion is meant to address the pathologies affecting our children in the name of schooling and learning. Ideas – theoretical and practical – are designed to re-shape these concepts to harness the spirit of a viable educational endeavour for the future of our children. Black Board, White Chalk is about the most important investment of our time: our children.
black board, white chalk 
Hello Omaira. I’m very happy to have found your blog. I appreciate you reblogging my piece, but I look forward to reading through some of your archives and current posts!
Thank you for taking the time to comment and thank you for following. I am always intrigued by the viewpoints of more experienced teachers and curious about the lessons I can learn. I was happy to find your blog. I fudged though and meant to post for Jan 2013 instead of Jan 2012 so momentarily your reblog has may have disappeared but will be up next week. Thank you again. I look forward to reading more about your viewpoints in education.
I have nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thank you for your inspiration. Check out the guidelines here http://mrmattpieroni.com/2013/02/03/very-inspiring-blogger-award/ . Just ignore this if you don’t want to participate. No Worries.
Thank you so much!! What an honour! I would love to participate and appreciate the nomination! Thank you for taking the time. Post to come!!
I am thankful for people like you that care so much about education. Have you seen the movie Girl Rising? If you haven’t, take a look at the trailer or find it. It speaks all about education in all different parts of the world and what happens when girls don’t get that opportunity. It’s a powerful film. I appreciate you immensely.
Thank you for taking the time to comment and for your support and encouragement. I have seen the trailer for Girl Rising and look forward to watching the movie. I know CNN had it on last night, but I missed it! As soon as I get the chance, I’m going to definitely watch.
It was so moving for me. When you’ve watched it LET’s talk! I am really glad it’s out there for people to start understanding how much we CAN do.
Definitely. As soon as a I get the chance, I’ll let you know. 🙂
Salam,
I just discovered your blog and have yet to go thru your archives. I am looking for a pre-k homeschool curriculum (Islam-friendly) your suggestions are appreciated.