Involvement of Muslim Parents:
Muslim parents often have important concerns about public school education and its potential effects upon the growth and development of their children. The bottom line is that parents must get involved.
However, simply being involved is not enough. As a rule, one should take a contributory approach, always interacting with others in a way that indicates you have something to offer which will be beneficial.
While the treatment of Islam and Muslims should improve in future textbooks, currently there may be many books in circulation or presentations in media that have inaccurate or inadequate information on Islam and the history of Muslims. In order to address this problem, concerned Muslims must take the responsibility of providing correct information to their local schools. Knowing this, there are various things which a concerned Muslim parent can and should do when misinformation about Islam is being conveyed to their child and to other children in the classroom. After all, most problems and concerns arise out of ignorance rather than actual hostile intent, although that is possible in some cases.
Here are some suggestions for getting the Muslim parents involved in your classroom:
-Ask the parent to familiarize themselves with their child's textbooks, particularly the Social Studies/History textbook. All examples of misinformation should be cited, and most importantly, a corrected version of each example should also be provided. You as a teacher will be able to incorporate the recommended changes in the corrected version in your own classroom.
-Ask the parent to refer you to resources such as Islamic centers, the Council on Islamic Education, and other organizations. When culturally and linguistically diverse parents are effectively involved in the school, teachers may gain greater cultural competency for responding more appropriately to diverse learners.
-Encourage Muslim parents to get involved in parent council and school boards. This participation is expected to give the Muslim parents the opportunity to influence and represent the needs of Muslim children in public schools.
-Present the Muslim community in your classroom with the idea of electing a representative to raise awareness. Arrange a meeting when you can explain to them how important this is for the education of their children in order to raise awareness for the Muslim culture.
-Create your classroom webpage to communicate with the parents, share ideas and to make the Muslim parent’s suggestion available to the entire class. Also you can use the school web site to make others aware of Muslim inclusion.
-Create an information forum for Muslim parents/ families on topics such as supporting literacy at home, assessments, evaluations, report cards.
Through positive interaction and relationship building with parents, local mosques and community organizations, schools can begin to address the issue of under-representation of Muslims on their governing bodies and can positively encourage parents to support their children in school education.
However, simply being involved is not enough. As a rule, one should take a contributory approach, always interacting with others in a way that indicates you have something to offer which will be beneficial.
While the treatment of Islam and Muslims should improve in future textbooks, currently there may be many books in circulation or presentations in media that have inaccurate or inadequate information on Islam and the history of Muslims. In order to address this problem, concerned Muslims must take the responsibility of providing correct information to their local schools. Knowing this, there are various things which a concerned Muslim parent can and should do when misinformation about Islam is being conveyed to their child and to other children in the classroom. After all, most problems and concerns arise out of ignorance rather than actual hostile intent, although that is possible in some cases.
Here are some suggestions for getting the Muslim parents involved in your classroom:
-Ask the parent to familiarize themselves with their child's textbooks, particularly the Social Studies/History textbook. All examples of misinformation should be cited, and most importantly, a corrected version of each example should also be provided. You as a teacher will be able to incorporate the recommended changes in the corrected version in your own classroom.
-Ask the parent to refer you to resources such as Islamic centers, the Council on Islamic Education, and other organizations. When culturally and linguistically diverse parents are effectively involved in the school, teachers may gain greater cultural competency for responding more appropriately to diverse learners.
-Encourage Muslim parents to get involved in parent council and school boards. This participation is expected to give the Muslim parents the opportunity to influence and represent the needs of Muslim children in public schools.
-Present the Muslim community in your classroom with the idea of electing a representative to raise awareness. Arrange a meeting when you can explain to them how important this is for the education of their children in order to raise awareness for the Muslim culture.
-Create your classroom webpage to communicate with the parents, share ideas and to make the Muslim parent’s suggestion available to the entire class. Also you can use the school web site to make others aware of Muslim inclusion.
-Create an information forum for Muslim parents/ families on topics such as supporting literacy at home, assessments, evaluations, report cards.
Through positive interaction and relationship building with parents, local mosques and community organizations, schools can begin to address the issue of under-representation of Muslims on their governing bodies and can positively encourage parents to support their children in school education.