Cultural Snapshot: Muslims in Media

When most Americans think of Muslims, they think of men who cause scenes such as this:

The news doesn't necessarily prove them wrong.  One of my Muslim friends pointed out that one of the policemen that was killed in the tragedy at Charlie Hebdo earlier this year was a Muslim who laid down his life for a magazine that had, just the day before, insulted his religion.  However, the only religion that was mentioned was that of the killers.

Terrorists who claim to represent Islam and cause such horrible acts to occur are on the news quite frequently.  Is it any wonder that incidents such as this next one happen?  Much of what Americans know about Muslims comes from these acts of terrorism and they project these ideas onto others of that faith.

Another thing that many people think of when they think of Muslims is the way that they treat their women.  One example of this is a scene from "God's Not Dead" that made my stomach churn.

My roommate showed me this scene from a French movie that showed how many Muslim girls view the hijab.  However, there is still a distinct division of worlds while he sits outside of the mosque-- symbolizing a world that he cannot enter.

Imagined Classroom

1. Images reflecting what my future classroom will look like:

My classroom will be set up in a format similar to this one to encourage discussions among my students.  It encourages them to talk to each other as well as me during discussion times.  All of the social sciences require thought and bouncing new ideas off of each other.  This format will hopefully encourage that.

  I have been a classroom that had a world map cut along the Atlantic Ocean across a large majority of the back wall.  The unique division really causes the students to look at the map more intently then they would normally would.  Also, if my geography students need help finding where something is, I have a way to show it clearly.

I want to have replicas of old things around my classroom to bring history to them.  That way when I am teaching certain time periods, I can reference certain things in the classroom and make it seem more real.  For example, this map is an excellent illustration of just how little the explorers knew about the world they lived in.

I would like to have a couple flags in my classroom.  I observed in a classroom that had a whole bunch of them hanging from the ceiling all around the room.  I found the number of them extremely distracting but if I had a few of them around the classroom, I think it could work.  I might even trade them out depending on what unit we are studying- although that maybe a bit more effort than I will be able to put in.  However, it would be nice if my students would become familiar with the flags of the world.

I want to have a couple shelves of books in my classroom- not textbooks, but books about the subjects that we will be covering in class, even if they are fiction.  They can be books my students can use for research, reading suggestions, or for me to reference in my lectures.  I love books and they soothe me as well.


2. As mentioned before, I want my classroom to be set up so that it encourages discussion.  I also want my walls to be decorated in a way that my students will learn from staring at them, rather than being distracting.  There will be books in the room that they can use for research and there will be a few computers in the room and more nearby that they can use to learn.  I will also allow them to use their smartphones for research while they are working on their homework as long as there is still an atmosphere of learning in the classroom and their assignments are done on time.  As a teacher, I will use a computer and a projector as well as a whiteboard.

3.  My students come from all sorts of backgrounds.  I will probably end up teaching in a suburban area so it will not be normal for my students to come in to school hungry or needing a place to sleep but I will definitely have some of those students that will have those problems that I should be aware of.  There will be definitely be students that will be from the LGBTQ community and there will be students from a variety of religious backgrounds and ethnic cultures.  There will be some that are interested in science, there will be some that are interested in what I am teaching, there will be some that are interested in their books, other that are interested music, and others that are only interested in the cute girl across the aisle.  Ideally they will be taking notes, participating in discussion, and answering questions during the lesson.

4. I'm going to attempt to have my classroom rules be built on mutual respect.  I will have a rule that when I am giving a lesson, their phones will be face-down on the left hand corner of their desk.  If they are working on an assignment on their own, they will be allowed to listen to their music through headphones as long as an atmosphere of learning is still present.  They will also be allowed to use their phones to do research.  Students will be allowed to turn in assignments late but they will receive a 5% each week it is late.  Students should be on task.  If they are not, their ability to use their phones, listen to music, do fun activities in class, will be restricted.

5.  I will probably be teaching several different classes- probably a geography class, and a couple history classes.  A typical lesson would be a lesson about the start of WWI.  I chose this topic because it would be a lesson that would need to be taught whether I was teaching world history or American history.  I would teach it by breaking the students into groups and have them move around the classroom, each station teaching about a different reason why WWI began.  Then we will pull together at the end, discuss, and wrap up the day by doing a brief overview about what the rest of the unit will cover.  The main thing I want the students to learn is how alliances, militarization, and a misunderstanding of the horrors of war led to WWI.

6. I am moving around and making sure my students are on task and understanding what they are learning, asking questions, and leading discussions as well as wrapping up what we have learned.

7.  During this lesson, my students are reading, answering questions, and engaging in discussion with their students and with the class later on.

8.  I will know that they have learned by their participation in the class, the exit assignment that I will give them before they leave, and a test at the end of the unit.