Exploring Ubuntu/Harmonies Across Religious/Cultural Differences in P-12 and Teacher Education Settings

Session Submission Type: Workshop

Description of Session

Exploring ubuntu/harmonies across religious/cultural differences in P-12 and teacher education settings.

Rationale:

Across many countries, cultural and religious differences are very significant in teaching and learning settings. The challenge for many educators is how to create effective, nurturing, and accessible learning environments that respect the traditions and identities of their students. This workshop will give practical suggestions to explore religious/cultural diversity in both P-12 settings and with pre-service and inservice teachers.

Objectives:

This workshop will address several objectives. We will

1. Provide an opportunity for participants (including teacher educators) to explore boundaries of their own and others’ religious/cultural identity.

2. Look at variety in family traditions, values and practices from the lenses of public or non-parochial private schools.

3. Describe an ongoing curriculum project that examines the use of children’s literature to learn about and respect a variety of religious traditions.

Theoretical Frames:

According to Eze (2013), the core of ubuntu can best be summarized as a dynamic co-creation of one’s self and others. The ‘other’ becomes a mirror (but the reflection is not identical to what is being reflected). One’s own identity is enhanced by its dependence on those who are different.

Our workshop is framed by Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 2005) ecological systems theory (also known as the bioecological model), which helps us understand that individuals develop within the context of a number of ecological systems. Each of these systems is connected with the individual and with one another, and may either support or cause damage to the developing individual. Bronfenbrenner’s research and theory highlights the many different levels of environmental influences that can affect a child's development, starting from people and institutions immediately surrounding the individual to cultural and national forces; he points out, also, that specific events or cultural changes over time also affect development. The microsystem is the innermost layer in Bronfenbrenner’s model. This system is the one by which the individual is most personally and immediately influenced. The individual may be influenced by, and may also influence, the context in which the event is taking place (e.g. home, school, church or mosque, etc.). The mesosystem is Bronfenbrenner’s second layer in his ecological model. This layer deals with interactions between two or more of the systems in the child’s ecology. If, for example, the student attends a neighborhood school, one may be interested in the interaction between the school and the community, which could influence the child. Bronfenbrenner’s third layer is the exosystem. It also includes links between systems, but the individual need not be present in order to be affected. For example, attacks on the United States on 9/11/2001 affected the development of many children and others in North America and elsewhere. The next layer of Bronfenbrenner’s model is called the macrosystem. This system is related to the values, customs, and laws of the culture in which the developing individual is embedded.

Other theorists, such as Rosenblatt (2001) and Elkind (1964) have influenced the development of this workshop in our understandings of how students construct meaning from their world and from texts.

Audience
This workshop will be most helpful to practitioners in P-16 settings (teachers, reading specialists, librarians, etc.), teacher educators, and policy makers.

Instructional Activities of the Workshop

To promote cultural and religious tolerance in and outside of P-16 classrooms, the presenters will showcase some activities that we developed after 9/11 in the United States for use with college students, teachers, and K-12 students. This workshop will be facilitated through sharing of personal experiences, carousel activity, dialogue, small group discussion, and whole group sharing out.

In this workshop, participants will

1. Share and discuss vignettes about minority religious viewpoints in public school settings.

2. Engage with a new children’s book that offers opportunities for research and teaching that crosses religious and cultural boundaries.

3. Experience a carousel activity that will spark common ground respecting differences and highlighting commonalities across faith traditions.

Equipment or room set up requirements
We would love to have a room in which we could mount multiple pieces of chart paper around the room. We could use tables or movable desks, so participants can converse in small groups.


References:

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by
nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Making human beings human:
Bioecological perspectives on human development
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Elkind, D. (1964). Age changes in the meaning of religious identity.
Review of Religious Research, 6, 36-40.

Eze, M.O. (2013) Intellectual History in Contemporary South Africa, pp. 190-191

Laster, B. & Kirmani, M. H.(April 1999). Responding to Religious Diversity in Classrooms. Educational Leadership. Vol.56, no.7.

Long, D. G., Elkind, D., & Spilka, B. (1967). The child's conception
of prayer. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 6, 101-109.

Rosenblatt, L. (2001). A transactional theory. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal,
P. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.) Handbook of reading research
Volume III..Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.



Names and institutional affiliation
B. P. Laster, Ed.D, Professor and Mubina Hassanali Kirmani, Ed.D, Professor
College of Education
Towson University
Towson, Maryland, USA

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Workshop Organizers

• B. P. Laster, Towson University

• Mubina Hassanali Kirmani, Towson University