Second Annual Australian

Islamic Schooling Conference

University of So. Australia &

Centre for Islamic Thought and Education

July 11-12, 2017

Curriculum

Integration

Efforts in the

North American

Context

Dr.Seema Imam National Louis

University DAY ONE

What are the

approaches to

curriculum in

Islamic Schools in

North America ?

Curriculum

Dr.Seema Imam

National Louis University

July 11-12, 2017

North America’s Growing

Islamic Schooling ExperienceShort history

• Began in the 80s -some exceptions

• Now number 250-300 FT few HS

• Week end schools still thriving today

• Many are remarkable schools

• Numerous models

• Many struggle

• Many new buildings and waiting list

• Huge need for faculty and leaders

What are the

stories and the

challenges ?

Quickly---just 3

North America’s Growing

Islamic Schooling ExperienceShort history

• Founders set the stage

• From no stateside qualified teachers

or leaders who were Muslim --to

• Many qualified teachers and leaders

who have left the institutions

• Perhaps no schools with a complete

written curriculum plan

• Almost zero – core Islamic approach

#1 of the BIGGEST Challenges !

Total Language Learning

approach ---unless Australia has

a different experience !

My experience has been that

Arabic speakers around me

continually said, Arabic is hard

to learn and western Muslims

can be Muslim without Arabic

#2 Challenge

We always seems to work in

isolation ---management issues

---always getting buy in and

permission.

WE have to build that Ummah

We need to trust our teachers

#3 Challenge:

I think we have copied & not

created our own model.

FYI---

(This is what I have lost a lot

of sleep over)

Closing this topic for today

.

Share with you my

experience in Finland

and drive it home to

what we can do as we

think tomorrow about

the road ahead…. For

Islamic Schooling.

NLU Finnish Study Tour

March 25 - April 1, 2017

Our Group

16 total

6 full-time NLU (Carol, Seema, Todd,

Jason, Teri, Arlene)

3 ESL adjuncts/practicing teachers

1 emeritus faculty

6 NLU friends, including a professor

from NEIU and principal from NC

Our Visit

1 week, 3 cities

5 schools: child care center, grades 1-

6, 7-9, vocational high school,

immigrant adult ed vocational institute

Meetings with education leaders from

Finnish Agency for Education

Trade Union of Education

Ministry of Education and Culture

University of Jyväskylä

Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Turku

Admission to Finnish Teacher Preparation Programs

2015 Vision: Finnish People Always Learn

-The Science and Art of Teaching: research based

-Harder to get into COE than medical or law school

-Only 5- 7% of grads get into COE

-2014: 8,400 applicants for Elementary Ed degree with only 800 slots available total in all Finnish universities (Salberg, 2015, p. 104)

-Matriculation exam; then National teaching exam, then a psychological personality test (no IQ test), then a group interview with 5 applicants given a task to solve – they are observed.

University of Jyväskylä

Just beginning implementation of redesigned

teacher preparation curriculum with 5 main

phenomena

1. Interactions and collaboration

2. Learning and guidance

3. Education, society and change

4. Scientific thinking and scientific

knowledge

5. Educational expertise

Finnish National Core Curriculum

Basis of reform:

Norms: Significant increase in number of hours for arts and crafts

Knowledge: Basic/applied research & K arising from everyday school practices

Future oriented:

Need more than subject matter competency

Knowledge of science, math is not enough today or in the future

Finnish National Core Curriculum

Three Layers

National, Municipal, School Plan

Why reform?

-During last renewal, team

considered FI’s PISA decline

-Response was to focus on the

task of school, “To support the

balanced development of every

child as a human being and as a

citizen.”

-Rethink school culture

Four Components of Kindergarten: Play, Move, Experience World, and Explore

Director of the Kindergarten, Klaus

Outdoor play--2 hours a day, every day

Whole school Activity

Kindergarten Teacher

Individualization: Check those Assumptions!

Respect for the Child:Self- Assessment in 1st Grade

Engaging

Classrooms

Textiles

Greenhouse

Animals/Plants

Woodworking

Cooking

Theatre & Art

Engaging

Classrooms

Kitchen

Music

Game stop

Coding Gr.1

Sewing

Outdoor space

Policy talk over lunch with Michael Uljens:

Discursive Institutionalism

Coalition governments provide more independence

for the educational administration. To exemplify: in

Finland the national curriculum is accepted not by

the parliament or the Ministry of Education, but by

the National Board of Education as the central

governing authority. This reflects an

institutionalized form of trust on the part of political

powers towards the administration.

Principal and Deputy Principal at Vesala Comprehensive

School in Helsinki.

References

Images from:

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-2661320-stock-footage-finnish-flag-d-animation-

perfect-seamless-loop.html

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/fi.htm

Articles:

Uljens, M., Sundqvist, R. & Smeds-Nylund, A. (2016) Educational leadership for sustained

multi-level school development in Finland. Nordic Studies in Education, 36(2), pp. 103–

124.

Books:

Sahlberg, P. (2016). Finnish lessons 2.0. New York: Teachers College Press.

Uljens, M., & Nyman, C. (2013). Educational leadership in Finland or building a nation with

bildung. In L. Moos (Ed.), Transnational influences on values and practices in Nordic

educational leadership: Is there a Nordic model? (pp. 31-48). Dordrecht, Netherlands:

Springer.

As we continue toward the best

model of Islamic Schooling.

Let us look at and evaluate:

• Plan for Curriculum—subjects?

Islam at the Core of an

Integrated Curriculum?

• Environment (PIP)

• Teacher Preparation

• Structures and Governance

INSERT THE TITLE

OF YOUR PRESENTATION HERE

Curriculum

Integration

Dr.Seema Imam

Are we Ready toCreate a Unique & Special Model of Islamic Education

THANK YOU !

Any Q and A ?

Dr.Seema Imam

.

.

.

Second Annual Australian Islamic

Schooling ConferenceUniversity of So. Australia & Centre for Islamic Thought and Education

July 11-12, 2017

Dr. Seema Imam, National Louis University

DAY TWO

Second Annual Australian Islamic

Schooling Conference

The Road Ahead

Curriculum Integration &

Islamic Schooling The Road Ahead

Why Curriculum Integration ?

• Is there real Value?

• What can we learn from others?

• What do we do with those efforts?

• Is there a grassroots move-ment?

• Where do WE start?

Graphic Organizers–starters or use an App

Graphic Organizer

Everyone of us can start by

Thinking about the connections in Curriculum.

How will we move forward?

• Agree on a personal level to graph what we are teaching or planning.

• Agree to share documents ------google docs.

• Brainstorm and capture those thoughts.

• Connect those thoughts to academic subjects.

CURRICULUM TEAMS

• Groups of Individuals

• Committees by subject

• Committees by school

• Committees by district

• Need a big parking lot with stickies

• Keep connecting until we have the stickies placed in a curriculum plan

• WE NEEDISLAMIC EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENT ---SELF DEFINING

Make Education about

Enactment No longer can we do what we always

did, because, if we do---we will get --

what we always GOT.

The world has changed

What do we integrate in

Islamic School ?• Literacy Social Studies

• Math Art

• Science Creativity

• Listening Social Skills

• Writing Thinking

• Speaking Technology

• Presenting Visual learning

• Viewing Creating

• Curating Building

The Road Ahead is ACTION:

• .

But---what is missing ? A lot !

• Way we are thinking has to change

• We need materials

• We need that written plan

• What is our framework?

Way we are thinking has to

change

• It takes a lot of professional to do this work.

• Scholars from the field of Ed

• School Leadership has be a part of the effort

• Sholars of Islam

• Not going to authored by one person----Reviewed & reviewed by many & revised often

We need materials

• Biographies---all levels

• Atlas, Timelines

• Picture books for young children

• Historical fiction

• True Historians

• Non fiction information books/ websites

• TO NAME A FEW

Great new book for our

youth in Islamic Schools

The Gracious Quran in modern phrased interpret

ation in today’s English:

Well researched-20 yrs

Interpretation Scholar

Grad of U of Chgo and

Al-Ahzar in Cairo

Dr. Ahmad Zaki Hammad

Strong Reference Materials for Teachers and Students

Knowing the Prophet (pbuh)---must for all teachers in

order to share the essence of his life—and teacher

characteristics with all.

Reading past and present in context for our students.

We need that written plan

• We must realize this is a long process

• We are countering a negative public curriculum ---images of Muslims –demonizing so we have to start knowing and planning for this –Stance---

• LESSON PLANS all levels

• UNIT PLANS all levels

• CURRICULUM GUIDES ----------references---Digital Libraries

TO Build our schools

• Momentum

• Contemporary Practice

• Real Discussion about T & L

• Create the Model---study the best of Teachers (PM pbuh)

• Focus on Curriculum and Teaching

• Plan Assessment no time today)

• Continuous realistic evaluation

TO Build our schools

• Collaborate

• Create

• Curate

• Innovate

• WE need to have an

• IMPACT

By: Dr. Seema Imam

Faculty, National Louis University

Differentiation

Instruction that responds to student differen

ce in a manner that honors, not suppresses

differences.

A Differentiated classroom is a roa

d

the teacher takes.

Particular Accomodations

Everyone can benefit from particular accomodations

P A R T I C U L A R

• P-lace• A-mount• R-ate• T-argets• I-nstruction• C-urriculum• U-tensils• L-evel of Difficulty• A-ssistance• R-esponse

Teaching is tied to Curriculum and Curri

culum is tied to teaching. We have to

work on Instruction, our delivery has to

be stellar. It is about our school

philosophy ---teacher and teacher’s

learning philosophy---either create that

as a school or hire like minded faculty.

Three things

• PROCESS

• CONTENT

• PRODUCT

THE INTERSECTION OF THESE IS DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Howard Gardner’sMultiple Intelligences

• Verbal-Linguistic • Logical-Mathematical • Visual-Spatial • Bodily-Kinesthetic • Musical • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal • Naturalistic • Existentialist

• Get to know about our students’ lives.

• Treat them as individuals.

• Learn about their needs and interests.

• Learn about their strengths and weaknesses.

• Understand their learning styles.

• Provide for differentiation to accommodate the learning needs of diverse learners.

• Make the necessary modifications or adaptations to address students’ needs.

Building Responsiveness to Stud

ents

What is My Teaching & Learning Style?

• Teaching Style:

– Engaging, interactive, & entertaining

– Understanding, flexible, & yet demanding the best of my students

• Learning Style:

– Kinesthetic and visual

– More left brain dominant

– Resilient

Earlier I asked what is missing?

• Way we are thinking has to change

• We need materials

• We need that written plan

• We need a strong framework?

• REALITY ----We need to Focus on a model that embraces curriculum, Teaching and Learning simultaneously

Make Education about

Enactment No longer can we do what we always

did, because, if we do---we will get --

what we always GOT.

The world has changed

What do we integrate in

Islamic School ?• Literacy Social Studies

• Math Art

• Science Creativity

• Listening Social Skills

• Writing Thinking

• Speaking Technology

• Presenting Visual learning

• Viewing Creating

• Curating Building

Graphic Organizers–starters or use an App

Second Annual Australian Islamic

Schooling Conference

The Road Ahead

Thank you!Q and A ?