Case
Teaching Religions Chronologically or Based on School Culture?

Your school is on a 50 minute period schedule and you are in the middle of teaching a unit on Southwest Asia in an ethnically diverse school. Your standards include comparing and contrasting the three major religions in this region: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. You decide the most logical way to teach religion is chronologically so you start with Judaism on Monday, then Christianity on Tuesday, and then teach Islam on Wednesday. On Wednesday afternoon the principal calls you in letting you know that a several of the parents of Muslim children are offended because you you taught Islam last and are assuming that you think it is not as important and/or you have an agenda. What would you tell the parents and how might you teach it differently next year?

Posted on: 03/13/15 | Views: 1061
Solution #1
Top Solution
I would explain the chronological order of your teaching to the parents and principal to justify your lessons for this year. However, next year I would start the unit by explaining the chronological order and cause and effect between the different religions before studying them individually.

If I were in this situation, I would exactly do this.

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Solution #2
I would explain to the parents that you were simply teaching the three religions in chronological order and Islam just so happens to be third. Moving forward I would include this information on the syllabus that is sent home to parents, so that they are fully aware of the content and expectations of the course.
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Solution #3
Also, another situation I might do after this situation happened would be to send out an apology newsletter addressing the situation as well as explaining the lesson unit and why it was presented in this way.
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Solution #4
I would also submit an outline of your lesson to the Muslim families and show them this outline. Show that you were going by region and start to include other huge religion's like Hinduism
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Solution #5
What I might do is send a parent letter home discussing the up and coming unit so they are aware of the topics in your classroom. This would avoid all major problems and keep the lines of communication open for all parties.
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Solution #6
I would simply tell the parents the reason why I taught Islam last. That it is important to me and to let the students know that this religion is important to know and that's why I am teaching it. Also let the parents know that I was just going in chronological order and that's the reason it was last and next semester I will change it to be first and do rotations.
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Solution #7
I would explain that you are teaching the religions in chronological order and do not have intentions of changing that the next year. However, I may preface the following year with the importance of why the class will be learning about the religions in chronological order at the beginning of the unit.
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Solution #8
I would explain to the parents and Principal that I was teaching religions in chronological order and do not have intentions on changing that in future years because of the way the unit is designed. At the beginning of the unit I may be inclined to send a letter home explaining the overview of the unit and say what religions we will be learning about and when we will begin focusing on them.
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Solution #9
I would explain to the parents and Principal that I was teaching religions in chronological order and do not have intentions on changing that in future years because of the way the unit is designed. At the beginning of the unit I may be inclined to send a letter home explaining the overview of the unit and say what religions we will be learning about and when we will begin focusing on them.
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Solution #10
I would apologize to the parent and I too might just present it in the order in which history presents itself
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Solution #11
I would tell the parents that you chose to present the matiarel in chronilogical order and that Islam happens to fall third the the a list of three nothing more. If they are still not happy i would them that the next time this is is taught I can change the order. You could change it next year by taking a vote of the class to see in which order they want to learn about that way, how do the the parent blame you if it was the classes desicsion on which one to do last.
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