Teacher Page
In progress
Introduction
Welcome to our first attempt at using the internet with our 7th
graders...did we learn a lot! Nick Bartel and I, Marg Costello,
are San Francisco public school teachers in the Mission District. We
both teach Language Arts and Social Studies cores. As part of a
collaboration with UC Berkeley's Interactive University Project, we
wanted to try a variation on traditional research using the internet.
We thought that by creating web pages on various topics within Islam
we could not only present our work to a wider audience, but we could
also provide a service for other kids around the country who also
study Islam. We wanted our students to break the stereotypes in their
heads about Muslims and come to understand Islam as a global religion.
We wanted them to see and connect with Muslims at school and in the
wider San Francisco Bay Area...essentially we wanted our curriculum
to come alive!
Getting out and about - Making Connections
- Visiting the Granada
Islamic School in Santa Clara. The unit instruction was
exciting with a presentation by Maha, coordinator of the Islamic
Speakers' Bureau, and after a 45 minute bus trip we were hosted by
the students and staff of the Granada Islamic School. Since we
visited on a Friday, we also observed (and some even participated
in) the prayers to God. We interviewed Muslim students at school
to find out what their lives are like and how we are different,
but similar. We will share our reports and continue contacts with the students and teachers
through e-mail.
- How has Islam and the Middle East influenced the Mission? In a
photography class, students make field trips with their cameras
and digital cameras covering two streets, Mission and Valencia,
from 26th to 19th Streets. They made many discoveries about the impact of
Islam and the Middle East by interviewing store and restaurant
owners, looking again at the library, and finding members of our
own school and community who have ancestors from the countries we
are studying about.
Using E-mail, Newsgroups and Internet for Communications with
Experts
- Tony Lee, a friend of ours, made a trip to the Middle East.
Tony Lee's e-mail letters are very
descriptive of the countries he visited. Students can follow his
trip and add to it by searching for images and maps from the
Internet to further document his trip. We call it "making post
cards".
- Other journeys to distant places are becoming part of our
curriculum. For example, a parent is leaving in March to South
Africa. He will be sending back e-mail and images of his trip and
we will chart his progress and ask him questions. We will
establish connections with schools there whenever possible. Some
organizations are already involved with this type of learning. One
of our 6th grade teachers will join a program called Odyssey and
travel for two years. They will focus on service in local
communities through grass roots organizations. We may develop
service learning partnerships with students in those countries.
[Contact Worldtrek.org] Along the way we will communicate
with him and the crew. Another group already making this type of
exchange is Globalearn.org which enables students to
interact with a team of explorers as they visit host children
along selected routes (such as the Silk Road, Andes Mountains,
Brazil, etc. Students can read their journal entries, see host kid
profiles, investigate related topics, etc.
- Our connections with the University of California at Berkeley
have been greatly increased through the possibility of e-mail
with staff and students who are experts in the topics we are
studying. See one correspondence
with professor Larry Michalak.
- Through IECC
services, schools can find "web pals" throughout the
world. We were able to hook up with a university in Turkey. They
are supporting us with information about Islam and their culture.
Research
ORIAS
For teacher resources, be sure to check out
ORIAS, the
Office of Resources for International and Area Studies at University
of California, Berkeley.