As I reflect on our presentation, I feel as though it went very well. Our group worked great together and we all brought different ideas that were shared in our presentation. Due to this topic being so controversial, our group cooperated well with each other and we respected each of our responses to the issue. I felt as though we did pick an interesting topic and that the class was engaged in what we were discussing. We used the room well and we all were not standing in a presentation mode; we acted like we were teachers. Next time, I would like to change how long we used Prezi for our presentation. It’s difficult for the whole class to be listening to us talk for a long period of time. I would have preferred more moving around for the rest of the class because it was such a deep topic that never concluded with an answer, so it would have been more beneficial if they were more engaged. We prepared this presentation quickly, so our Prezi did not look that great. We should have put more time into learning about how to use Prezi since none of us had ever used it.
I
feel like I contributed greatly to this presentation. Because I lived the childhood I did growing
up in a Muslim country and attending an American school, I brought a different
outlook to the group. I brought up
different scenarios and options that my group had never thought of before and
that allowed us to learn from each other.
After this experience, I now know how to be more careful when preparing
my lessons as a future teacher. Religion
is an issue that affects everyone so I need to take that into
consideration. I grew up knowing about
other religions and never being judgmental about them, but now I have seen how
sensitive people can get if religion is being discussed and I had never noticed
that before. I need to really know my
students and their parents in order to know if this is a safe topic to teach in
my class. I also learned that I will never
teach religion and force it upon a student, and that there is a difference
between teaching religion and teaching about religion; that is a boundary I
would never want to mix up. As I was
teaching this topic, I noticed that I am now becoming more comfortable with
walking around the room instead of standing in one spot. This was also the first time I could stay up
in front of the classroom and feel no nerves; I felt confident in what I was
doing. I felt like the class
participated immensely and that our presentation went longer because it was a
topic that everyone could discuss and have a say in. I enjoyed seeing the class be so engaged in
what we were talking about. I learned
that group work is important and working together with my colleagues will
benefit me in the future.
I
have always believed that religion is a topic that affects every person in
society whether they are religious or not; everyone always has a say when
discussing this topic. Growing up in
Dubai allowed me to have a connection with this topic because I know so many
people who hold different religions, and I also saw a religion practiced and
discussed on a daily basis that one would not see much of here in our community. I learned about religions at a very young age
and that allowed me to grow up without being judgmental and prejudice towards
other people. I found this topic
difficult because it never concluded with an answer and that there will never
be an answer to it. I find that
frustrating because I wish there was a right answer for someone to tell me that
it is or is not allowed to be in schools.
Due to this issue being so controversial, it scares me to cross any
boundaries as a teacher. I continue to
believe that knowing about religions at a young age is beneficial because then
our students can grow up in a world that is not prejudice and accepts each and
every one of us. Unfortunately, this is
not the case and I sincerely wish it could be.
I feel like if one is not allowed to embrace ones religion is like not
being allowed to embrace one’s sexuality.
I wish I could change this controversial topic and find an answer, but
unfortunately I cannot do that alone.
All I can do is try to make sure that each of my students feels like
they belong in my classroom and that we can all accept and appreciate what we
have to bring to school.
Overall, the purpose of us becoming teachers is to educate our students. I definitely believe that holidays should be taught because it is important for our children to know about other holidays that are celebrated all around the world. Holidays are celebrated due to religious beliefs, so instead of touching into religion, I think that teaching about holidays will be more beneficial and safer. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment