European religious conflict topic of summer institute for teachers
By Erika Binegar
Last fall, a Danish newspaper sparked worldwide riots after it published a series of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed – images Muslims viewed as blasphemous. As the controversy grew, with more newspapers in Europe and the United States reprinting the cartoons, the University of Iowa International Programs Outreach staff and 14 K-12 teachers from across the state decided the topic of religion and conflict in Europe would be appropriate for the 2006 International Programs Summer Institute for Teachers.
From June 12-16, K-12 teachers probed the dynamics of modern conflict, focusing on the religious element of violence and the tension between religious and political identities in present-day Europe.
“It was simply an open call as a tool for understanding,” said Ralph Keen, University of Iowa associate professor of religious studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and course instructor. “There is a tendency to generalize those with different worldviews as ‘they’ or ‘the enemy,’ and I’m concerned the average high school kid does not understand or take religious motivations into consideration.”
For more than 15 years, International Programs Outreach staff has worked to increase international understanding and awareness with area educators through the International Programs Summer Institute for Teachers, sharing their most up-to-date research about international issues in the process.
Ralph Keen, UI associate professor of religion
“I think it’s a great opportunity to have a dialogue between educators, and also to share some of the resources and expertise we have here at the University of Iowa,” said Buffy Quintero, International Programs outreach coordinator. “With the current political environment and unrest in Europe, it was a timely topic that teachers felt they didn’t have as much information on.”
University of Iowa state funds and a National Resource Center for International Studies grant funded this summer institute.
In February 2006, Keen submitted a topic proposal for June’s teacher workshop, along with other university faculty, choosing to focus on European religious conflict because of his studies and firsthand experience. Recently, his concern has shifted to radical Islam and increasingly militant Zionists, but no matter the focus, he cited an invariable need to show local public school educators how to teach about religion.
“The Constitutional prohibition on teaching religion has extended, falsely, to any kind of teaching about religion,” he said, “So that a lot of teachers, and certainly a lot of school boards, imagine that there is no way of providing instruction that isn’t indoctrination.”
This is true despite Supreme Court statements to the contrary – explaining that teaching about religion is permissible so long as no faith commitment is being advocated, Keen added.
“It just made sense to see if the topic could be translated into teaching plans in public schools,” he said.
Keen, along with International Programs Outreach staff, worked to pack the course – worth three credit hours at the university – with lectures, readings, discussions, a film screening and a field trip to the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids.
During the weeklong course, the teachers attended a workshop at the university’s main library highlighting the Internet resources available to them in planning lessons and saw a screening of the film “Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust.” Each participant also received an information packet, crammed with texts and material they could later distribute or use in their classrooms. Even a translated copy of the Koran was enfolded within the bundle – challenging the teachers to pick one section to capture the essence of Islam and evaluate how their ideals reflected that one section, Keen said.
About six informally organized lectures, each with its own theme, spanned the five-day course. And while one dealt with pedagogical strengths – or how to foster understanding in a way that makes religion teachable without indoctrination – another was about the boundaries between secular and non-secular religions. The course notebooks also contained articles and texts – one concerning Islamic fundamentalism and the European crisis, another a collection of essays with strategies for teaching about Islam.
Kirk Murray/University Relations
Imam Ahmed Elkhady, leader of the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids, shares a tour of the center with area educators.
“I wanted to present a kind of smorgasbord to everyone, attempting to hit every part of the curricular spectrum,” Keen said about the coursework.
And though the course outlined some specific methods for teaching about religion, Keen said he wasn’t picky about which avenues the educators eventually took. One of the course requirements included individual lesson plans, Keen said; one teacher turned in a lesson plan about the veiling controversy in French public schools.
Keen said most of the class seemed genuinely enthusiastic about explaining religion to their public school students.
“As the parent of a kid in the Iowa City public school district, I was very pleased to see that this is the caliber of the staff in our state,” he said, adding he was grateful for the university’s support. “It was very clear that this unit [UI International Programs] is there for the teachers throughout the year — they’re not just dragged through a one-week workshop and left to navigate through.”
Instead, he continued, the university provides a wonderful support – as outreach, as guidance and as a continuing resource.
The teachers even received contact information for local experts, which would allow them to draw on those experienced individuals for help if at all uncomfortable with teaching a religious topic, Keen said. In effect, teachers could avoid hedging their lessons with disclaimers — a method that could be off-putting to students, Keen added.
“One can, in fact, teach so students understand religious worldviews are dynamic forces,” he said. “But students won’t get that exposure if teachers are just packaging or teaching religion as ‘museum exhibits’.”
Area educators enrolled in the workshop agreed their students need that exposure.
Chris Ball, a Clear Creek Amana high school teacher, said the topic of religious conflict was important for his students, most of whom have never left the state of Iowa. While he admitted some educators have reservations about teaching about religion in the classroom, he said he doesn’t.
Kirk Murray/University Relations
Mary Ann Letizio, a teacher at Longfellow Elementary School in Iowa City (far right) speaks with Keen and Elkhady.
“In my government class, anything important to the discussion, I bring up,” he said, adding he learned more about the reasons for current conflicts – something he says he’ll incorporate in his lessons.
Sigrid Reynolds, an Advanced Placement History teacher at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, said she has an interest in all areas of the world. And because religion is a primary source of conflict worldwide, she chose to take this year’s International Programs Summer Institute course.
“Quite frankly, it’s a long, but perfect week – especially for teachers,” Reynolds said of her week spent immersed in the topic of religious conflict with other area teachers.
She listed a group discussion of tolerance and intolerance as the most valuable experience during the course, as well as the explanation of how religion splits into branches and later into separate trunks, which causes conflict inside and outside of different groups.
For Mark Cannon, who recently began a job in professional development for the Iowa City Community School District, his trip to the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids was most memorable.
Over a dozen years ago, Cannon worked as an education consultant in Germany, where he said much of today’s conflicts were still well hidden. As the 2006-07 year began, he is helping recognize issues in the Iowa City Community School District and organize training for area teachers. One such session could focus on religion, Cannon said.
“Because our population is changing in Iowa City,” he explained. “Whether religion is the basis of diversity or not, they [teachers] are facing this all the time, so I think they’d want this information.”