MCE Update
Salaamun Alaikum,
1. Following the madrasah assessors training programmes held in Birmingham and Dar es salaam last year, a similar but upgraded version of the programme was held in Toronto for participants in North America. A total of 30 participants from Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Allentown, Brampton, New York, Orlando and Sanford attended the programme. One of the changes from previous programmes was that more time was devoted to role plays from which in-depth learning took place. Principals from the madaris in Toronto came to observe some of the sessions.
2. Whilst in Toronto, the MCE team held a teacher development sessionwith some teachers who were there. The idea was to consider the two questions: a) what needs to be done for madrasah teaching? b) how will it be done?
3. Sheikh Jaffer Jaffer has stepped down as Head of Learning Resources in MCE due to work commitments. He has, however, agreed to vet the content from the team for accuracy, suitability and use of language. We would like to thank Sheikh Jaffer Jaffer for the good work he has done for learning resources until now. We are pleased to announce that brother Hussein Sheriff from Vancouver will be taking over this role with immediate effect. Brother Hussein has served as teacher, administrator, principal in madaris in Tanzania and Vancouver. He has a real passion for collecting and producing learning resources for madrasah children.
4. The panel of experts for curriculum development met in Toronto for 2 days at the end of April to review and approve the work done so far. The meeting was attended by Maulana Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi, Sheikh Jaffer Jaffer, Al-Haj Bashir Datoo, Dr Sukaina Hussain, Sheikh Hasanayn Kassamali, Aly Nasser, Sheikh Safder Jaffer and Naushad Mehrali. As a result of work done over the last few months, a lot of progress was made on the overarching Qur’anic worldview, guiding principles, broad learning outcomes, modules for the integrated approach, themes for the modules and age bands. Examples of sub-themes and lesson plans were also considered to ensure that there was a coherent flow down the line. The next steps are to complete and publish the draft framework document, circulate it to the madaris, and begin the consultation process from September 2013.
Teaching Tips
Every child needs a champion
Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids". Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like". It is a rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.
Please watch the TED talk by clicking here.
The Holy Prophet said, “Respect your children and teach them good behaviour, Allah will forgive (your sins).”
Sharing a Good Practice
Using interactive whiteboards
The use of interactive whiteboards for teaching in schools has become quite popular over the last few years. Sharikatul Hussain Saturday Workshop, which runs their madrasah in a local school in Leicester, is fortunate in having the use of interactive whiteboards in some of their classes. Teachers who are familiar with the whiteboards and their features, make effective use of them in madrasah lessons. For example, a teacher wanted to teach the children ‘respect for parents’. A powerpoint presentation (with hadith and Qur’anic verses), downloading a kitchen background from the internet (to create a scene for a play by the children), allowing children to write on the whiteboard (different ways of showing respect) and playing nasheeds (about love for parents) were used interchangeably, thereby getting the children engaged and ensuring full participation.
We Need Your Feedback
We look forward to hearing from you with your feedback, suggestions and opinions on this important initiative of The World Federation. You can contact the Head of MCE by emailing him at [email protected] or call him on + 44 (0)121 246 3575
We would like to thank the readers who have contributed some of the articles