There’s this bar that we set for ourselves as parents surrounding holidays. We create this Norman Rockewell-eque idea of what the holiday experience should be like for our kids. Then we judge the quality of the holidays more on accomplishing a to do list than the quality of the experiences themselves.
My family was never huge on Christmas. We aren't Christian and most of what we did around this holiday was simply taking parts of the secularized American Christmas mythology that we enjoyed like presents and family dinner and doing it ourselves.
Since I’ve met Diana, through her family I’ve experienced in a many different activities around Christmas time. There is cutting down a Christmas tree, driving around to different neighborhoods to see Christmas light displays, making Christmas cookies, wearing matching Christmas sweaters, caroling, going downtown to see window decorations, seeing the train display at the Chicago Botanical Gardens, seeing the Christmas tree display at the Museum Of Science and Industry, going to Santa’s Brunch (to meet Santa, of course), holiday concerts, Christmas morning church service, Christmas eve dinner, Christmas morning breakfast, fruit-cake toss, white elephant gift exchange, and multiple family Christmas parties.
Does this seem like a lot? Well, it is and even though there was never a year that we did all of those things, there were years which we did most of them.
All of that stuff is fun but it’s time consuming and when you have a toddler, every activity has added prep time. There are naps to schedule around and time is more precious when you are a parent. Also, you start asking yourself, how much your kid is really going to enjoy an activity. Are you doing it for yourself or your child’s enjoyment? While there is nothing wrong with dragging your kid along to do something that only you enjoy, you have to do this carefully. There’s only a finite amount of times in the span of a month that you can do this and often the whole “dragging your kid” part makes it less fun for you.
Then there’s that bar I mentioned earlier. It’s the idea that unless you do certain Christmas activities you are robbing your child of a meaningful holiday experience. While it’s great to be thoughtful about sharing things you enjoyed as a kid with your children, doing this at the cost of your own stress and sanity, may not in fact be worth it. If buying your Christmas tree from a parking lot as opposed to driving two hours to cut one down from a tree farm means that everyone is better rested, than you will all probably enjoy the tree a lot more when it is up.
A certain amount of stress around the holidays is self-generated. If gift giving and the related Christmas shopping is too stressful, than cut back on gifts. If you find large family gathering stressful, than organize smaller ones and if you’d rather not do certain Christmas activities, than just don’t.
Here’s the thing, if you stress out too much about that holiday check-list, trying to reach that bar you set for yourself, than that’s all your kids are going to focus on as being meaningful this time of year.
It’s already an uphill battle, trying to find the any hint of the story of Jesus Christ in most of the secularized Christmas traditions in American culture. So let’s not add to that for our kids. Let’s reflect, take a step back from the lights and think about the time we spend together.
Yes, there was a miracle in Bethlehem, but what seems like even more of a miracle is that in our modern culture, we have an agreed upon time of the year that we can stop, and if we choose, be truly present with our families.
More than anything else that is all our children really want for Christmas.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Friday, December 18, 2015
Year 6: Week 16 – The Hardest Day Of The Year
One of my fellow music teachers asked me if yesterday was stressful. In the morning, we had our JK-5 Holiday assembly and in the evening we had our middle school and high school winter concert. I teach 3rd and 5th grade general music and 6th and 8th grade band, so I was involved in both concerts. In addition as one of the department chairs, I had responsibilities to organize and run these concerts.
I wasn’t completely truthful when I told this teacher what I’ve been telling other faculty and administrators all week, “it’s not so bad, it’s just another day.”
Philosophically, I strongly believe that yesterday wasn’t any more important that any other day that I teach. The meaning of music education, the true learning happens every day in the classroom. Performances are opportunities for students to share what they learn and get validation from people in the community. While these experiences can be meaningful and memorable, adding important layers of motivation for some students, they are not an end point but only one part in the process of learning.
If you deemphasize the importance of a performance than your stress level should go down. It does help. Having conducted groups in schools that put a lot of stress on the performances and results from competitions, there is less stress in my current school’s philosophy of music education. However that doesn’t mean that all of the stress goes away.
The performance of the students represents their developmental level and their learning. If a kindergarten student forgets lyrics on stage or a middle school band student plays a couple notes out of tune, it’s not a big deal. It’s what we expect to happen. However the organization, structure and overall experience of these performances are a reflection of our level of professionalism as teachers.
This means that we have clear directions for kids that other teachers can help support and well planned transitions. It’s about having enough programs copied for parents and making sure that we enable our students value the audiences’ time and attention.
In many ways, this is the piece of the puzzle that caused me the most stress. I don’t see stress as a bad thing as long as it helps me focus on tasks. Even with this attitude and my philosophical perspective, truthfully yesterday is one of the hardest days in the year for me.
In the midst of everything going on yesterday, I had the though flash in my head, “would I rather not deal with this day of craziness every year?” And I quickly moved that thought to the side and dived back into what needed to be done.
Hard isn’t bad and neither is stress. Because the kind of challenges I dealt with yesterday, I didn’t deal with alone. I had my department who had my back and the administration and other faculty were constantly asking me what they could to help. These were difficult but manageable. But what makes me embrace yesterday more than anything else is knowing that all of challenges of that day come from a desire to innovate, and create something special for our community. It’s the same motivation we have every day, it’s just cranked up a couple notches because there are more moving pieces.
Yesterday went really well. A lot of things went really well and one of the best signs of success was how all of us as music teachers were inspired by the work we did yesterday for our work in the future.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, it is a stressful day, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I wasn’t completely truthful when I told this teacher what I’ve been telling other faculty and administrators all week, “it’s not so bad, it’s just another day.”
Philosophically, I strongly believe that yesterday wasn’t any more important that any other day that I teach. The meaning of music education, the true learning happens every day in the classroom. Performances are opportunities for students to share what they learn and get validation from people in the community. While these experiences can be meaningful and memorable, adding important layers of motivation for some students, they are not an end point but only one part in the process of learning.
If you deemphasize the importance of a performance than your stress level should go down. It does help. Having conducted groups in schools that put a lot of stress on the performances and results from competitions, there is less stress in my current school’s philosophy of music education. However that doesn’t mean that all of the stress goes away.
The performance of the students represents their developmental level and their learning. If a kindergarten student forgets lyrics on stage or a middle school band student plays a couple notes out of tune, it’s not a big deal. It’s what we expect to happen. However the organization, structure and overall experience of these performances are a reflection of our level of professionalism as teachers.
This means that we have clear directions for kids that other teachers can help support and well planned transitions. It’s about having enough programs copied for parents and making sure that we enable our students value the audiences’ time and attention.
In many ways, this is the piece of the puzzle that caused me the most stress. I don’t see stress as a bad thing as long as it helps me focus on tasks. Even with this attitude and my philosophical perspective, truthfully yesterday is one of the hardest days in the year for me.
In the midst of everything going on yesterday, I had the though flash in my head, “would I rather not deal with this day of craziness every year?” And I quickly moved that thought to the side and dived back into what needed to be done.
Hard isn’t bad and neither is stress. Because the kind of challenges I dealt with yesterday, I didn’t deal with alone. I had my department who had my back and the administration and other faculty were constantly asking me what they could to help. These were difficult but manageable. But what makes me embrace yesterday more than anything else is knowing that all of challenges of that day come from a desire to innovate, and create something special for our community. It’s the same motivation we have every day, it’s just cranked up a couple notches because there are more moving pieces.
Yesterday went really well. A lot of things went really well and one of the best signs of success was how all of us as music teachers were inspired by the work we did yesterday for our work in the future.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, it is a stressful day, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Parenthood: Week 131 – Ollie’s World
I listened carefully as Ollie explained to me the different colors of the "butterflies” (they were actually fireflies) on his mobile that hung above his crib. He told me what colors each butterfly was and how some had stripes and others had polka dots. He leaned his head tenderly on my chest as we lay there together in his crib watching his butterfly friends slowly fly through the air.
After I greeted Ollie after his nap, he asked me to come into his crib. I carefully climbed in. He pated the right side of his pillow and said, “daddy sleep here.” I somehow managed to maneuver myself in the crib and settled in next to him. We talked about his mobile for a little bit, and them attempted to touch the fireflies with our feet.
Ollie then asked me to help him make a tent. He wanted more pillows and an extra blanket. After receiving more pillows, Ollie giggled in joy. I placed a fitted sheet over his crib and Ollie exclaimed, “I’m hiding in tent!” And no, I don’t really understand making a tent requires more pillows either.
I called Diana upstairs and told her that Ollie was hiding. When Ollie heard Diana’s explaining how she couldn’t find Ollie in the closet or under the chair, Ollie spoke while giggling “Ollie hiding in tent. Ollie quiet.” Diana lifted up the sheet to find a little laughing toddler.
Ollie then asked me to come back in the crib and for Diana to put the tent back up. Again, I carefully climbed into his crib and Diana pulled the sheet over top creating a glowing white canopy covering world full of soft pillows, and cuddly blankets.
Ollie rolled around on top of me telling me things about the tent, and his pillows. Some of his words and phrases I understood. What I didn’t understand, I didn’t ask for clarification because I could tell through his energy and joyous expression, what he was trying to communicate to me.
Ollie brought his face close to mine and carefully examined my face with his fingers delightfully observing “daddy’s eyebrows.” He followed up on Diana’s earlier requests that day and practiced giving me kisses on my cheek, some of which were more slobber than kisses but were no less cute.
We all try to create our own world in this life, a smaller part of this bigger world that we can understand. To a toddler, the world is big, confusing and often scary. Ollie has to spend so much of his day trying to interact with this larger world. I can see in Ollie’s eyes how difficult this can be when after trying to explore the world, all he wants is a hug.
There are times when our little ones invite us into their world. Sometimes it’s a tent, other times its a playhouse or at the trunk of a tree. If you enter their world with an open mind and let them share their world with you, there is great beauty to be seen. You may not understand their little world, but you don’t have to. Toddlers find joy in the wide world filled with things they don’t understand but they find happiness in that wonder because of what you show them and teach them about that world. So let your toddler do the same and enjoy their world.
It’s a beautiful place to visit.
After I greeted Ollie after his nap, he asked me to come into his crib. I carefully climbed in. He pated the right side of his pillow and said, “daddy sleep here.” I somehow managed to maneuver myself in the crib and settled in next to him. We talked about his mobile for a little bit, and them attempted to touch the fireflies with our feet.
Ollie then asked me to help him make a tent. He wanted more pillows and an extra blanket. After receiving more pillows, Ollie giggled in joy. I placed a fitted sheet over his crib and Ollie exclaimed, “I’m hiding in tent!” And no, I don’t really understand making a tent requires more pillows either.
I called Diana upstairs and told her that Ollie was hiding. When Ollie heard Diana’s explaining how she couldn’t find Ollie in the closet or under the chair, Ollie spoke while giggling “Ollie hiding in tent. Ollie quiet.” Diana lifted up the sheet to find a little laughing toddler.
Ollie then asked me to come back in the crib and for Diana to put the tent back up. Again, I carefully climbed into his crib and Diana pulled the sheet over top creating a glowing white canopy covering world full of soft pillows, and cuddly blankets.
Ollie rolled around on top of me telling me things about the tent, and his pillows. Some of his words and phrases I understood. What I didn’t understand, I didn’t ask for clarification because I could tell through his energy and joyous expression, what he was trying to communicate to me.
Ollie brought his face close to mine and carefully examined my face with his fingers delightfully observing “daddy’s eyebrows.” He followed up on Diana’s earlier requests that day and practiced giving me kisses on my cheek, some of which were more slobber than kisses but were no less cute.
We all try to create our own world in this life, a smaller part of this bigger world that we can understand. To a toddler, the world is big, confusing and often scary. Ollie has to spend so much of his day trying to interact with this larger world. I can see in Ollie’s eyes how difficult this can be when after trying to explore the world, all he wants is a hug.
There are times when our little ones invite us into their world. Sometimes it’s a tent, other times its a playhouse or at the trunk of a tree. If you enter their world with an open mind and let them share their world with you, there is great beauty to be seen. You may not understand their little world, but you don’t have to. Toddlers find joy in the wide world filled with things they don’t understand but they find happiness in that wonder because of what you show them and teach them about that world. So let your toddler do the same and enjoy their world.
It’s a beautiful place to visit.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Year 6: Week 15 - Thoughts Before Concert Week
Next week is going to be crazy.
We have our middle school and high school music concert on Thursday night and our JK-5th grade Holiday program i Thursday during the day. All of our teaching schedules will be different, there will inevitably be last minute issues that will arise before the performances and logistical concerns will distract us from the business of making music with our students.
It’s going to a week full of hard work and challenges, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun at the same time.
Yes, we are progressive teachers. We all believe in process over the product. At the same time, we are part of a school community and it is important that students represent themselves and the work they do in class at a high level during these performances. No, the performances aren’t the point of what we do, but they are a window into the process and its important that this glance reflects the best of our preparation, care and musicianship to our community.
In this swirl of activity, stress and worry, here’s a couple things to keep in mind.
We will always get further with the carrot than the stick. Yes, there is a time to let kids know where the boundaries and to have stern conversations. But for the vast majority of our kids, genuine and specific compliments will motivate them far more than any punitive feedback. The most powerful teaching tool we have is a genuine joyful smile that comes from helping our students make great music. So let them see you that smile.
Make the rehearsals meaningful. If there was a massive snowstorm the day of our concerts would the rehearsals leading up to the performance feel like a waste of time? Every rehearsal has the potential for students to grow, have new and interesting experiences and to find personal meaning in their work. Pride of a successful performance starts with pride in a productive and satisfying rehearsal.
Have fun. Every day, we have the privilege of working with great kids and exposing them to the joy and wonder that is music. Next week, we get to share what we do every day with our community. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun. So don’t forget to take a moment next week to just enjoy the music and our students' energy and enthusiasm.
We have our middle school and high school music concert on Thursday night and our JK-5th grade Holiday program i Thursday during the day. All of our teaching schedules will be different, there will inevitably be last minute issues that will arise before the performances and logistical concerns will distract us from the business of making music with our students.
It’s going to a week full of hard work and challenges, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun at the same time.
Yes, we are progressive teachers. We all believe in process over the product. At the same time, we are part of a school community and it is important that students represent themselves and the work they do in class at a high level during these performances. No, the performances aren’t the point of what we do, but they are a window into the process and its important that this glance reflects the best of our preparation, care and musicianship to our community.
In this swirl of activity, stress and worry, here’s a couple things to keep in mind.
We will always get further with the carrot than the stick. Yes, there is a time to let kids know where the boundaries and to have stern conversations. But for the vast majority of our kids, genuine and specific compliments will motivate them far more than any punitive feedback. The most powerful teaching tool we have is a genuine joyful smile that comes from helping our students make great music. So let them see you that smile.
Make the rehearsals meaningful. If there was a massive snowstorm the day of our concerts would the rehearsals leading up to the performance feel like a waste of time? Every rehearsal has the potential for students to grow, have new and interesting experiences and to find personal meaning in their work. Pride of a successful performance starts with pride in a productive and satisfying rehearsal.
Have fun. Every day, we have the privilege of working with great kids and exposing them to the joy and wonder that is music. Next week, we get to share what we do every day with our community. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun. So don’t forget to take a moment next week to just enjoy the music and our students' energy and enthusiasm.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Monday, December 7, 2015
Parenthood: Week 130 – Coming Around
My relationship with Ollie is starting to turn back around.
Like with any relationship, my relationship with my son has ups and downs. During October and into November things were going really well. He would seek me out to do read books and do activities. Then I went away for a week in early November for my 5th grade trip and since then things have been a little rocky.
Over thanksgiving break when we traveled to Seattle, he was very clingy with my wife Diana. If she was in the room he would immediately want her to hold him. In order to give her some space and time for other people to play with him, she would have to go to a different room.
When we got back from Seattle, he started doing this thing where he would protest “no, dad NO!” when I would offer to read a book with him or take a shower with him, an activity, just a couple weeks earlier, he would ask for enthusiastically. There were even times in the car, when he would just scream, “no, dad, NO!” in response to nothing.
This has been a difficult one to decipher. Having me be away for a week obviously threw him off, which is understandable. Ollie doesn’t have the language skills to express how that made him feel, so even though he seemed fine right when I came back, it makes sense that there may be some other feelings that later came out about the trip that he is working through.
Ollie’s language is developing at a rapid pace and there’s a good chance that he doesn’t actually know what the meaning of what he’s saying when he rejects me. At the same time, it’s important, as we have been doing, to let him know that this is not the way to talk to people that we love in our family.
It’s frustrating and it’s hard not to have my feelings hurt when Ollie protests against spending time with me. At the same time, I know he doesn’t fully understand the meaning of what he is saying especially when he feeling different emotions or dealing with being tired or other physical issues.
Last week has been good though. We had three nice bath times and he happily let me read him a book without insisting that “mom do it." It’s not like we had some long talk followed by hugging it out. He’s two years old and I don’t know what helped, but things are better.
Maybe it was the fact that I didn't loose my patience with him (though I got close at times). Or maybe he just needed time to work out his emotions. Either way, I really enjoyed some really nice moments with him last week.
One thing that helped was sending him "love bombs." I continued to do things to take care of him, many of which he didn't notice like cleaning stains out of his clothing. This allowed me to feel good about what I did for him, which made it feel like, that Ollie coming around was inevitable.
I know that things will continue to go with waves with Ollie, and that things once again will get rocky between us, but more importantly I know that things will eventually get better.
Like with any relationship, my relationship with my son has ups and downs. During October and into November things were going really well. He would seek me out to do read books and do activities. Then I went away for a week in early November for my 5th grade trip and since then things have been a little rocky.
Over thanksgiving break when we traveled to Seattle, he was very clingy with my wife Diana. If she was in the room he would immediately want her to hold him. In order to give her some space and time for other people to play with him, she would have to go to a different room.
When we got back from Seattle, he started doing this thing where he would protest “no, dad NO!” when I would offer to read a book with him or take a shower with him, an activity, just a couple weeks earlier, he would ask for enthusiastically. There were even times in the car, when he would just scream, “no, dad, NO!” in response to nothing.
This has been a difficult one to decipher. Having me be away for a week obviously threw him off, which is understandable. Ollie doesn’t have the language skills to express how that made him feel, so even though he seemed fine right when I came back, it makes sense that there may be some other feelings that later came out about the trip that he is working through.
Ollie’s language is developing at a rapid pace and there’s a good chance that he doesn’t actually know what the meaning of what he’s saying when he rejects me. At the same time, it’s important, as we have been doing, to let him know that this is not the way to talk to people that we love in our family.
It’s frustrating and it’s hard not to have my feelings hurt when Ollie protests against spending time with me. At the same time, I know he doesn’t fully understand the meaning of what he is saying especially when he feeling different emotions or dealing with being tired or other physical issues.
Last week has been good though. We had three nice bath times and he happily let me read him a book without insisting that “mom do it." It’s not like we had some long talk followed by hugging it out. He’s two years old and I don’t know what helped, but things are better.
Maybe it was the fact that I didn't loose my patience with him (though I got close at times). Or maybe he just needed time to work out his emotions. Either way, I really enjoyed some really nice moments with him last week.
One thing that helped was sending him "love bombs." I continued to do things to take care of him, many of which he didn't notice like cleaning stains out of his clothing. This allowed me to feel good about what I did for him, which made it feel like, that Ollie coming around was inevitable.
I know that things will continue to go with waves with Ollie, and that things once again will get rocky between us, but more importantly I know that things will eventually get better.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Year 6: Week 14 - Lessons From A Muslim
I was going to write about how I was inspired by one of my fellow teachers to really pour on meaningful praise on my students and how much this has changed the feeling in my classroom. However, with all that has been going on in the world, there’s something much more important that I need to address: Muslims.
After the Thanksgiving weekend we had a teacher in-service day on Monday. Theses days can sometimes be very meaningful and other times less so. The time between Thanksgiving and the Holiday break is one of the most stressful times of year as preparations for Holiday concerts go into high gear. Entering this week, I was feeling stressed and part of me was feeling resentful that we had this in-service day instead of a productive day of teaching with my kids.
I didn’t really look closely at the agenda thinking, “well, it’s not like I can do anything about it, so why bother think about it.” I must have saw the topic about Islam, but it didn’t really sink in until I walked into our first meeting and saw our presenter Chaplain Omer Mozaffar, a Muslim Chaplain from Loyola University Chicago. His warm presence made me reconsider my attitude about the day and as he started speaking, I was immediately engaged.
Chaplain Mozaffar gave us a beautiful overview of Islam. He talked about how his father would point out that the architect for Willis Tower and the John Hancock buildings was Muslim. The statistics he provided helped us understand that stereotypes about violence being central to Islam was illogical. There’s no way a religious tradition could have survived for so long and be so widespread if it was based on violence. Chaplain Mozaffar broke down every single negative stereotype about Muslims with patience and a lack of anger.
Chaplain Mozaffar confirmed facts that I knew. More importantly, he framed Islam in a way that showcased the beauty of the soul of what it means to be Muslim.
At the end of his talk, I asked the Chaplain how the Islamic community is dealing with hateful rhetoric being expressed towards Muslims. He talked about how Muslim leaders are studying the struggles of other minorities from the past for perspective like Catholics in early 20th century America and Jews in pre-world war II Germany. He said that they expected more hate in the coming months. Omer had every right to speak with anger and sadness but he didn’t. Instead there was a strength and faith in his voice.
The talk didn’t have anything to do with pedagogy. There was no discussion in how we would talk to kids about Islam or how to use this information to make our curriculum more inclusive. What was the point of having this presentation at a teacher in-service day?
Things seem pretty bleak right now. Politicians are using hate speech to pander to the worst part of our souls turning fear into racism. Muslims in America are suffering as many minority group in America have experienced and they are suffering in ways that no other group has had to endure.
How is this knowledge about Islam going to help me be a better teacher? I don't know right now but what I do know is that I've been thinking about this question the entire week. With this question in my mind, I've been more conscientious to authentically teach my third graders about Hanukkah and have set-up a visit from a Rabbi to talk to my students. With this question in my mind while reeling from another shooting that involved Muslims as suspects, I had an honest discussion with an African-American student about how the word "boy" can hurt. And with this question in my mind, I have embraced my responsibility as an educator to rise above the ignorance and hate and be a model of understanding and empathy for my students.
Chaplain Mozaffar has every right to express anger at the injustice and prejudice Muslims are experiencing every day in our country. But instead, he embodies one of the central tenants of Islam, the belief that deep down, all people are good. This gives us hope, because if a Muslim can face a world so filled with darkness with this belief, than the rest of us can surely look past the fear in our own hearts to the goodness inside of Muslims in our community and in the world.
After the Thanksgiving weekend we had a teacher in-service day on Monday. Theses days can sometimes be very meaningful and other times less so. The time between Thanksgiving and the Holiday break is one of the most stressful times of year as preparations for Holiday concerts go into high gear. Entering this week, I was feeling stressed and part of me was feeling resentful that we had this in-service day instead of a productive day of teaching with my kids.
I didn’t really look closely at the agenda thinking, “well, it’s not like I can do anything about it, so why bother think about it.” I must have saw the topic about Islam, but it didn’t really sink in until I walked into our first meeting and saw our presenter Chaplain Omer Mozaffar, a Muslim Chaplain from Loyola University Chicago. His warm presence made me reconsider my attitude about the day and as he started speaking, I was immediately engaged.
Chaplain Mozaffar gave us a beautiful overview of Islam. He talked about how his father would point out that the architect for Willis Tower and the John Hancock buildings was Muslim. The statistics he provided helped us understand that stereotypes about violence being central to Islam was illogical. There’s no way a religious tradition could have survived for so long and be so widespread if it was based on violence. Chaplain Mozaffar broke down every single negative stereotype about Muslims with patience and a lack of anger.
Chaplain Mozaffar confirmed facts that I knew. More importantly, he framed Islam in a way that showcased the beauty of the soul of what it means to be Muslim.
At the end of his talk, I asked the Chaplain how the Islamic community is dealing with hateful rhetoric being expressed towards Muslims. He talked about how Muslim leaders are studying the struggles of other minorities from the past for perspective like Catholics in early 20th century America and Jews in pre-world war II Germany. He said that they expected more hate in the coming months. Omer had every right to speak with anger and sadness but he didn’t. Instead there was a strength and faith in his voice.
The talk didn’t have anything to do with pedagogy. There was no discussion in how we would talk to kids about Islam or how to use this information to make our curriculum more inclusive. What was the point of having this presentation at a teacher in-service day?
Things seem pretty bleak right now. Politicians are using hate speech to pander to the worst part of our souls turning fear into racism. Muslims in America are suffering as many minority group in America have experienced and they are suffering in ways that no other group has had to endure.
How is this knowledge about Islam going to help me be a better teacher? I don't know right now but what I do know is that I've been thinking about this question the entire week. With this question in my mind, I've been more conscientious to authentically teach my third graders about Hanukkah and have set-up a visit from a Rabbi to talk to my students. With this question in my mind while reeling from another shooting that involved Muslims as suspects, I had an honest discussion with an African-American student about how the word "boy" can hurt. And with this question in my mind, I have embraced my responsibility as an educator to rise above the ignorance and hate and be a model of understanding and empathy for my students.
Chaplain Mozaffar has every right to express anger at the injustice and prejudice Muslims are experiencing every day in our country. But instead, he embodies one of the central tenants of Islam, the belief that deep down, all people are good. This gives us hope, because if a Muslim can face a world so filled with darkness with this belief, than the rest of us can surely look past the fear in our own hearts to the goodness inside of Muslims in our community and in the world.
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