Seven Deadly Sins
Wealth without workPleasure without conscienceScience without humanityKnowledge without characterPolitics without principleCommerce without moralityWorship without sacrifice.~Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Seven Deadly Sins
•January 16, 2013 • Leave a Comment
Sex Ed in Islamic Schools
•January 15, 2013 • 2 CommentsI asked a friend’s daughter who is fifteen years old if the Islamic school she attends teaches sex education. She said no. When I asked her why, she said the teacher was uncomfortable with the topic. That’s a little disconcerting to hear. A teacher who should be qualified to teach a subject especially if she – or he – is the biology teacher or the physical education teacher should also be required to teach all aspects of the subject.
Many Muslim schools, however, fall short in terms of adequately addressing all issues surrounding this topic, or avoid it altogether. I’m not sure which is worse: no information or all the wrong information. Dr Nadeem Memon, of the Islamic Teacher Education Program, highlights some very important points about this topic in his post, Why don’t we Teach Sex Ed in Islamic Schools? He mentions how to approach the subject in a way that makes it relevant for students.
Given the place of modesty in Islam, Muslim schools should teach this subject within the necessary boundaries – males taught by males and females taught by females. I remember being in eighth grade and the boys being separated from the girls to discuss the topic and to give it the due level of comfort and candid discussion. This was in public school. I also taught this topic as part of the freshman biology course for high school students in public school. While we did not segregate the classes, we were required to take additional training by the district in order to teach the subject.
It is one of the most critical issues that an adolescent needs to know about. Given the overly sexualized nature of North American society, we can’t leave society to teach it nor can we leave it in the hands of misinformed individuals. Many times, teachers in both Muslim and public schools require the additional training to dispell myths, culturally unsound material, urban legends, as well as learn about the most up-to-date information.
As a followup to Dr Nadeem’s post, Reem Javed highlights issues surrounding gender interaction and sex education in the Muslim school classroom. While she brings up some relevant points, some of the comments include how do you teach students to interact in a respectful and modest way. What are your thoughts?
Momma’s Intuition
•January 14, 2013 • Leave a Comment“You may not have a Ph.d , or have been a teacher in a school before,
but you are a mom and this should give us some confidence when it comes to homeschooling.”
The full post can be found here.
The Jibbers is almost four years old. He has been speaking for less than a year and a half. He was a late bloomer in terms of language/verbal expression. But around two-and-half years he was an explosion of verbal waterfalls; he couldn’t say enough. Before that turning point we were worried. I was moreso because my husband, Josh, a former Navy-dude was on a nine-month, then a seven-month and then a three-month deployment, wasn’t able to see it.
However, even though the Jibbers didn’t speak till he was almost two-and-a-half years, he and I were able to communicate amazingly. His receptive skills were en par with what was developmentally appropriate and he spoke to me with his eyes and gestures. In the Islamic tradition, it is understood that the mother is the child’s first madressa or school. The mother is the child’s first teacher, from the moment she gives birth. Each moment is a lesson, each setting a classroom on life. The Jibbers was able to follow my directions and express to me what he needed or wanted. We danced a graceful dance of sorts completely in tune with one another. We did stumble, but were able to regain our momentum.
I think that it is this connection that I have with my son that helps me be a better homeschooling mom and his teacher. While he has taught me so much about life and myself, I feel that it is our relationship as mother and child that will help us make a great team as we go on this often scary, very exciting, and rarely dull journey called homeschooling.
I think moms make awesome teachers! Dads, too!
One awesome kid!
•January 9, 2013 • Leave a Comment“He’s just a an awesome kid who just loves to beat on appliances and have a bit of fun with it.” ~ His Dad.
‘”Whirled Beat”. Seattle-area boy (age 10 at time of publish) enjoys exploring the undiscovered, percussive sounds of household appliances. He also owns a Pearl drum kit, has been taking lessons for over a year, but is mainly self-taught in general percussion. His main inspirations are Neil Peart and Buddy Rich.’
Then the bell rang
•January 7, 2013 • Leave a CommentOne of the biggest obstacles to teaching is keeping the momentum going. When children are engrossed, engaged and motivated to learn about something, nothing will deter them. It’s awesome to watch the intensity with which they approach the subject and explore anything and everything about it.
“Then the bell rang.
I didn’t have my class for another 3 days. As they came in, again I had the same picture on the wall. The immediate response from most students was “What? Are we still doing that?”. The break had killed their enthusiasm and curiosity.”
This is a great post on how traditional school structure and design kill the motivation, enthusiasm and drive to learn by Jay at What’s got Mr T thinking.
Another blogger, Joe, had this to say from his 8th grade student Ethan on the distractions that bells and the overall school structure cause:
“School bells, the most ridiculous invention on earth. Some people want to spend a certain amount of time on certain subjects, for example; if I prefer math more than social, shouldn’t I have the right to stay as long as I like at math, and as long as I learn something and don’t screw off? No, instead, a inanimate, ringing tin can have the right to tell me what to do, where to go, and make decisions for me. A piece of metal has more authority than a living human being! Truthfully, this thought makes me feel small, and without any say. I think students should have the right to learn what they want, when they want, wherever they want and however they want to do it! If I could take health and science classes all day I would. Why? Because I am facinated about how things work, especially the human body. As for social, i don’t especially want to know what happened all those years ago. I’m also not saying that social is pointless either, many people find the past very interesting, just not me. School’s purpose in my eyes is to prepare you for the future, so why not be able to tune your studies to what you would like to become?”
The full, awesome post can be found here.
black board, white chalk 