Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Border crossing is awakening educators to new cultural and religious realities in classrooms. With the new wave of refugees there is even a greater need to understand the “other” and create an inclusive learning environment so children and families feel safe and secure in their adopted new lands. We as professors of education and as practicing members of Jewish and Muslim religion within majority Christian Community in United States understand what it means to be the, “other.” We bring in 25 years of collaborative professional experience having trained teachers and administrators to support children and families from different cultural and religious backgrounds in public schools. We have listened to and collected vignettes and life stories of students and parents from diverse backgrounds and have used these as our knowledge base to sensitize educators of the challenges that children and parents from minority cultures and religion face on a day-to-day basis. The workshop will be conducted through a series of questions; anecdotes and vignettes to help participants bring their own meanings of religious and cultural practices as they seek to understand the challenges of refugees and new border-crossers. More specifically the workshop will: 1) Engage participants in sharing and examining Vignettes for critical and constructive thinking to facilitate higher order learning to promote tolerance; and 2) Involve participants in a “hands-on” Carousel Brainstorming activity to help deconstruct different religious practices and see similarities through use of common themes such as Wind, Water, and Light.