The name Sequoyah is synonymous with education and progress. Sequoyah, the great legendary Cherokee figure, worked towards these goals and preserved his native language by creating the first Cherokee alphabet, eventually propelling it to be the strongest surviving indigenous American language. In the spirit of his name, the Sequoyah Elementary School also takes great strides towards education and progress. In working to make a more open and accepting environment for its students, the school is creating a more productive learning environment.
On Tuesday morning, upon invitation by school officials, Adam Soltani and Veronica Laizure of the Council on American Islamic Relations Oklahoma Chapter held a diversity-training program for the school’s educational staff. In this diversity-training program, the two CAIR officials made presentations outlining some of the basics of the Islamic faith and the challenges faced by Muslim Students, and they answered questions in an environment which was truly open and inviting.
Veronica, CAIR Oklahoma’s Civil Rights Director, gave an outline of some of the basic tenets of Islam and showed the teachers how these would affect their students in their school. Her topics ranged from the significance and procedure of prayer and proper religious attire, to the meaning and scheduling of Islamic holy days. She and Adam also answered questions on how these religious matters would affect the students in during the school day and how to have an open, comfortable dialogue with Muslim families to facilitate a productive environment.
Executive Director Adam Soltani gave the next presentation on how “Islamic Extremism” is perceived
in the public and in the media. He also inspired an insightful discussion on how miscommunication and misunderstanding can cause problems for the overwhelming majority of Muslims who do not prescribe to this extremist ideology. These problems can be especially harmful to young students, which can affect the way that society continues to develop in the future as a whole.
The diversity-training program at Sequoyah Elementary School was a positive step forward in the cause of making our community more inclusive and open for all. From my own perspective, as a white-American-born-Muslim convert, I often find myself living in the midst of a common identity crisis among Muslim converts: that of living in two different worlds at the same time. This identity crisis is often exacerbated by feelings of abandonment and isolation because of personal choices, and it often results in an individual feeling as if they must abandon everything about one of these identities in order to be accepted in one of these worlds. Educational events like this go a long way as to help encourage inclusiveness in our society and ensure that these worlds do not become mutually exclusive.
Setting aside all personal feelings and opinions towards Islam, in this event, a group of adults got together and learned about Islam in order to achieve this common goal of creating an open and inclusive educational environment for the children of the community.
On Tuesday morning, upon invitation by school officials, Adam Soltani and Veronica Laizure of the Council on American Islamic Relations Oklahoma Chapter held a diversity-training program for the school’s educational staff. In this diversity-training program, the two CAIR officials made presentations outlining some of the basics of the Islamic faith and the challenges faced by Muslim Students, and they answered questions in an environment which was truly open and inviting.
Veronica, CAIR Oklahoma’s Civil Rights Director, gave an outline of some of the basic tenets of Islam and showed the teachers how these would affect their students in their school. Her topics ranged from the significance and procedure of prayer and proper religious attire, to the meaning and scheduling of Islamic holy days. She and Adam also answered questions on how these religious matters would affect the students in during the school day and how to have an open, comfortable dialogue with Muslim families to facilitate a productive environment.
Executive Director Adam Soltani gave the next presentation on how “Islamic Extremism” is perceived
in the public and in the media. He also inspired an insightful discussion on how miscommunication and misunderstanding can cause problems for the overwhelming majority of Muslims who do not prescribe to this extremist ideology. These problems can be especially harmful to young students, which can affect the way that society continues to develop in the future as a whole.The diversity-training program at Sequoyah Elementary School was a positive step forward in the cause of making our community more inclusive and open for all. From my own perspective, as a white-American-born-Muslim convert, I often find myself living in the midst of a common identity crisis among Muslim converts: that of living in two different worlds at the same time. This identity crisis is often exacerbated by feelings of abandonment and isolation because of personal choices, and it often results in an individual feeling as if they must abandon everything about one of these identities in order to be accepted in one of these worlds. Educational events like this go a long way as to help encourage inclusiveness in our society and ensure that these worlds do not become mutually exclusive.
Setting aside all personal feelings and opinions towards Islam, in this event, a group of adults got together and learned about Islam in order to achieve this common goal of creating an open and inclusive educational environment for the children of the community.
No matter what our beliefs are, we can all agree that our public schools need to be as open and inclusive as possible to create a more positive and productive learning environment; we can all agree that the education and protection of the children is more important than personal dogma. We hope that other schools and organizations will follow Sequoyah Elementary’s example.
Via: Cair Oklahoma
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