Explore areas of cultural and artistic importance in urban and rural areas of Tunisia and in central Istanbul, Turkey to gain first-hand experience with the history and cultural norms of different Islamic nations and improve asset-focused instruction by forming a deeper understanding of how Islamic culture shapes the way students interact with the world.
Mike and I spent 3+ hours one evening eating, drinking, and reflecting on our fellowship. It was powerful to remember that we were unsuccessful on our first application attempt in 2022, but we persevered, rewrote, resubmitted, and were ultimately accepted as Fellows in 2023. We reflected on all that we had seen and learned at that midpoint of our fellowship. We pondered how our fellowship might affect our students upon our return. And we basked in appreciation of the gift of the fellowship.
I learned that I am still a great team player. Mike and I were excellent travel partners during this fellowship, and we appreciated the strengths that each of us brought to the partnership. Professionally, it was great to be thrust in the role of a learner again as a reminder of some of the challenges and roads to success our students are constantly experiencing in the school setting.
I had planned to, hopefully, have some good learning during a homestay in Istanbul, but the host was very busy, so I never got the chance to spend much time with him and pick his brain. However, an unexpected train delay led to meeting and talking with Abdelhak, and a potential negative encounter with someone led us to bonding conversations with Aziz & Bayrem; both of these unplanned experiences gave us great insight into the lives, hopes, and fears of young people in Tunisia.
Goals - increases in "Belonging & Relationships" and "Identity & Culturally Responsive Teaching" on student climate surveys. We have created a hallway display with pictures/text from our fellowship; I believe being public about what we did and what we wanted to learn is going to naturally help our Muslim students/families feel seen and valued. I plan to have one of my first lessons for students be one where I share a bit about my fellowship (so students can see that teachers are learners, too).
In the brainstorming stage right now, but one way to engage families/students is to create a community event to celebrate Eid al-Fitr (April 9, 2024) at the end of the month of Ramadan. We will spend time during Ramadan talking about cultural celebrations involving gift giving for all of our students' cultures, teach about Eid al-Fitr as a gift-giving celebration for Muslims, and maybe have a Muslim families-led event to coincide with Eid al-Fitr. Eid Mubarak!
Colleagues have followed our fellowship Instagram account and/or seen our hallway display of pix; this has led to questions about our learning, and I've already taught someone something about Islam that I just learned. I imagine these conversations will grow exponentially...especially as many staff are now intrigued with FFT and possibly applying themselves. We plan to have an opportunity to share more at a staff meeting and perhaps a family gathering; we look forward to seeing where this leads.
I bought more books about Muslims/Islam for the school's library. Mike and I made our learning public by creating a wall display of our fellowship and by doing a presentation for staff and a lesson for students in which we celebrated our Muslim students. During Ramadan, I offered the library as a space-to-go-during-lunch for students who were fasting. Mike and I videotaped students asking them to share their thoughts/knowledge about Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr for a community assembly video.
Firstly, students of other cultures asked, "When are you going to visit my country?!" Muslim students felt emboldened and proud to be "co-teachers" during my read alouds and presentation related to our fellowship (and students of other faiths and cultures felt encouraged to share aspects of their religion/culture). Because Muslim students were so enthusiastic about sharing, Mike and I felt confident asking asking them to participate in our Ramadan/Eid video, and most stepped up with enthusiasm.
This opportunity has affirmed that students place great value on being "seen." It made me reflect on how I can incorporate future personal trips with potential student learning. Thus, during a February trip to Mexico City, I thought about lessons/read alouds I could do during Hispanic Heritage Month later this year, and I was deliberate when taking pictures/videos of Tenochtitlan, at the Frida Kahlo Museum, and during a performance of the Ballet Folklórico, all which I'll use in September 2024.