Teaching

Tuesday
Today we were still exhausted from Paris, however there were some interesting experiences that we got to partake in. In Ken's class they had already debriefed from our lesson on Religious Extremism and had moved on to the West Wing video. The episode of the TV show, the West Wing, that was made right after 9/11 to explain the difference between Muslims and terrorists/ extremists, was the entire basis for this part of the Islam Unit. Every lesson we had made and helped with has been leading up to making sure the students understand this video. In it they give the analogy of Terrorists: Islam as KKK: Christianity. Before the character in the video writes down KKK, Ken stops the video and asks them what they think the answer is. After a few guesses, finally one of the students say it, explaining that while the KKK call themselves Christians, we cannot affiliate Christianity with the KKK, just like terrorists and Islam. Emily and I were supposed to present the assessment we put together however the class had to be cut short for an assembly! It was frustrating that we couldn't do everything that we wanted, while at the same time was good practice for what happens in reality.
Today we also got to help grade essays and practice using the IB rubric, which is pretty much all they use for grading. Ken gave us four 7th grade essays to read and grade and then compare our answers with each others and Ken's. It was very interesting and reassuring to see that for the most part the grades we put on the rubrics were all very close to each others. We explained why we chose the numbers we did if there were differences and even convinced Ken to change his answers twice. Ken says they do this practice in a lot of team and IB meetings, so it was great to get the practice and experience, especially if I can ever work in a school like this.

Wednesday
Today Emily and I taught our Religious Extremism lesson for the second time to one of Brian's 7th grade class. This class was very different than Ken's class, they are really sweet kids and very bright, although there is a little more varied skill and intelligence level. While Ken's students are very smart and independent these kids just needed a little more explanations and push to get them going but eventually had some really great conversations. I think this lesson went better simply because we were more prepared for some of the questions that might be asked and it flowed better because we were more confident. I was nervous because we had only met this class twice before but they were really nice and listened to us without any problems.

Thursday
Today we taught two lessons! In Ken's 7th grade class the students had an 80 minute double block that was spent entirely working on their Islam Assessment that Emily and I made up. The students had come up with a lot of great ideas. One group of boys is making a response video to Jim Jones, one girl is asking classmates questions about Muslim extremists and interviewing them on camera to make a video, other students are writing letters to politicians, editors and writers of extremists news articles, etc. Im very excited to see what the students come up with.
In Brian's 7th grade class we ran the debriefing for the Religious Extremism lesson, which was a little shaky because it was our first time and there is always confusion when group teaching on who is going to say what and when. We then explained the Islam assessment for that class and they had some time to start it. Just like the first time we presented our Religious Extremism lesson, I think this lesson will get better with practice.

Friday
Today we taught our Religious Extremism unit for a third time! I was particularly nervous about this one because it was Brian's crazy class on a Friday at 2pm. They are crazy because they get super excited and noisy about what they are talking about in class and always want to ask questions and tell stories that take the class off topic and they can't get very much done- not too bad of a problem to have, but a problem nonetheless when you have to get things done and not very much time left in the school year. However, the lesson went really well, one because we were confident and had the lesson down pact after teaching it 3 times and because the class was very respectful to us and stayed on task. Towards the end of the 80 minute class and the end of the school day a few of the boys started to get rowdy, but other than that everything went great. There were a lot of good conversations and one that really stuck with me. At the station about the Danish cartoons of Muhammad, a group was trying to understand why it was offensive. Most of the group didn't understand but a boy in the group was Muslim and was trying to explain to them that it is against Muslim scripture to depict Muhammad in any image. They still didn't see the big deal in this until the boy said "Its like me spitting on the Pope." This was the best analogy of the station I had ever heard, it was absolutely great and his group members really understood. I was very impressed, especially because it was said by a student who does not usually dominate the class discussions.
In Ken's class, the 7th grade had another work day. Because we were nervous that not everyone was really understanding the assessment or had enough information, we spent part of the day making up a reference handout for the students. We saw that a lot of students could tell us that the extremist example or article was not correct in its depiction of religion and they could tell us what Christianity or Islam was not, but couldn't give us specifics of what the religion was. So we made up a handout that gave them examples of stories from the Bible that taught values (Noah's Ark, the stoning of the prostitute etc), a list of the 10 Commandments, explanations of the Five Pillars of Faith for Islam, and reminded them that they had a sheet that compared both Christianity and Islam. I think this really helped because the students could use a specific example in their project and didn't have to just use the knowledge that they could remember. I was again really impressed by this group of students. I specifically worked with one boy that is very quiet and usually needs a little extra help. He is writing a letter to Geert Wilders a Netherlands politician who is strongly against Islam, is on trial right now for hate speech against Muslims, and was in the US last week giving a speech called "A Warning to America" about the dangers of Islam and it taking over America. I was nervous that he was writing a letter because he was not the strongest writer, however he came in on friday with most of it planned out and organized and we worked together during the class to use some specific examples from the Bible and the 5 Pillars of Faith. I think he will do a great job and Im very excited to see the finished project.


Sunday
Today Emily, Matt, and I went to the Holland Resistance Museum which was dedicated to the different types of resistance to the Nazi occupation of Holland during WWII. I had originally thought there was just a small organized group but in the museum I learned that not only was there a small group but much of the effort was spontaneous and almost universal unwillingness to go along with the Nazi's from just regular people. There were many strikes throughout the years of occupation, small groups organizing the hiding of Jews, bankers committing fraud and illegal loans to finance the resistance, armed resistance and setting fire to Nazi buildings, making fake ID cards to make it easier for Jews to get out of Europe, etc. It was absolutely amazing. The museum was small but packed with so much information and artifacts and organized in a way that made it very interesting and easy to understand. We then went to the Nemo Museum which is a hands-on exploration museum designed for children, although we had a lot of fun too. There were a lot of cool activities and it is a great museum for field trips for younger students.

We only have 3 more days here and Im really sad to leave. I feel like we havn't been here long enough and the students are just starting to feel comfortable with us and say hi to us in the halls. They are all really great students and people and Im going to miss all of them!