Identity… September 22, 2014

1. Identity…September 22, 2014 • How do issues of religion come up in school, in your community? In the curriculum? Informally? • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3

2. Essential Questions • Should respect for religious diversity be promoted in a secular school? • What is the danger when citizens are unprepared to negotiate religious and cultural differences in a consecutive manner? • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3

3. Overview • As we have seen the last couple of weeks, religion is an important component of identity for both individuals and communities. Recent studies suggest religion has become an important element in the way people define themselves and others, in part as a result of several decades of wide-spread immigration and globalization that have brought previously unfamiliar cultures into close contact with each other. While religion often unifies people, it can also be a source of conflict. Today, we will focus on the particular challenges contemporary students, parents, and educators face when teaching and learning about religion. • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3

4. #1 Reading • We begin this session with a reading from Stories of identity: Religion, Migration, and belonging in a changing world. In the reading, Eboo Patel, founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Youth Core remembers the silence in his own school and among his own friends when one of them was subject to religious prejudice. • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3

5. #2 Discussion • After reading the piece above, please respond to the question on paper first. • What is the danger when citizens are unprepared to constructively discuss religious and cultural differences? • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3

6. #3 Religion and School: Three Scenarios • These next slides are three stories about religion and schools. None of them is entirely fictional and each presents a specific dilemma that has been reported on in the press. Please read them and consider how issues of religion arise in your school or community setting. The goal of this exercise is to think of strategies you might use to resolve conflicting values and to facilitate mutual understandings between different groups in your community or school. • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3

7. Scenario #1 • A devout Muslim boy from Sunni tradition has enrolled in a World History class where the teacher discusses the history of Islam. The student is only Muslim in the class, and one of two in the school. The teacher has a strong mastery of both the historic and religious aspects of the tradition and is especially well educated about the different denominations within Islam. The student finds the teachers’ academic and nonsectarian approach offensive and is constantly challenging the instructor in a polite, but persistent way. How should the instructor respond? • write your thoughts on your paper. • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3

8. scenario 2 • A new teacher has been assigned to a course on medieval history. Her personal interest in religion is well known: her Bible is visible on her desk and she leads the youth group at her local church. In addition, a wooden cross hangs from the wall oaf there classroom (as it does in other classrooms). Three weeks into the term the teacher gets a call from the mother of one of her students, who is concerned that her daughter is getting preached to in school. The parents, who define themselves as secular, fear that there is religious indoctrination happening in the class. How should the school respond to this challenge? • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3 8

9. scenario 3 • In response to concerns that the school lunch program at the cafeteria does not meet the needs of an increasingly diverse school population, school administrators deice that all meat in the cafeteria will be certified halal or kosher. A few weeks after the policy is adopted, a number of parents, some identified as Christians and others who are atheists, complain. Some state that they do not want different religious cultures forced on their children. Others insist that schools should be free from religious influence. How should the school respond? • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3 9

10. Discussion • How do issues of religion come up in your school or community? • Do schools have a responsibility to help young people develop the skills to understand religious and cultural differences? • What can schools do to equip young people to negotiate those differences? • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3 10

11. Overcoming Religious Illiteracy • Exit: what are the main themes? • https://www.facinghistory.org/civic-dilemmas/overcoming-religious-illiteracy • S. 1; LT: I can discuss human features of a region and evaluate the implications. DOK: 1-3 11