ISNA MATTERS
Achieving Educational Excellence Through Faith & Resilience ISNA hosts 22nd Annual Education Forum — virtual edition BY THOURAYA BOUBETRA, SUSAN LABADI, AZRA NAQVI AND LAYLA SHATARA
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h e 2 2 n d A n n ua l I S NA Education Forum, held April 3-4 in collaboration with the Council of Islamic Schools of North America (CISNA; www.cisnausa. org), focused on “Achieving Educational Excellence Through Faith & Resilience.” Keynote speaker Habeeb Quadri (educator, administrator, author and youth activist), acknowledging the pivots and educational paradigm changes endured by both schools and their families, urged us to proactively improve our connections to each other and foster a deeper guardianship relationship to students. His second-day presentation detailed skills and prophetic advice for school leaders. Ustadah Zaynab Ansari (instructor, board member, and scholar-in-residence at Tayseer Seminary), opening the second day, reminded education professionals about true reality and that true success is in our relationship with God. Being mindful of our responsibility toward those whom we teach, we need to refine ourselves.
THE ARABIC TRACK
Fadi Abughoush (public school teacher; president, National Arabic Teacher Association) offered his “Games, Apps & Brain Breaks to Keep the Class Moving and Students Engaged!” to share how teachers should keep largely isolated students engaged via breaking the class into small chunks, incorporating games designed to help students physically move, and taking mental breaks to practice speaking it in pairs or small groups. Ustatha Luluah Mustafa (senior Arabic instructor; head of Arabic program, Boston University) shared “Teaching Arabic Remotely: Modification & Assessment.” In it, she highlighted her department’s main pandemic-related changes: reducing the major tests from four to two, using shorter tests and quizzes to evaluate with the single point rubric method, as well as
writing multiple positive comments about students’ performances and including one area for improvement in every evaluation. Breakout rooms modeled quick questions that could be asked while allowing students to interact and engage in short discussions. She also emphasized building strong teacher-student relationships by trying to get to know them better, what topics can/cannot be deleted or modified to assess students’ performances, and to keep them engaged to increase their confidence regardless of their proficiency level. Dr. Dalia El-Deeb (chair, Nourania Instruction and Certification in North America) presented “How to Enhance Learning of the Holy Qur’an and Adopting its Morals Through Standardizing the Study of Tafseer.” After emphasizing the importance of reading to preserve the proper pronunciation, memorization and tafseer, she analyzed how to conduct a Quran class: begin with talqeen (repeating and mimicking the correct pronunciation) and then explain the signs in the mushaf to help students become independent readers. She provided a wealth of information and tips on enriching the class, and reiterated the need to move students from reading correctly to understanding the Quran by connecting the verses’ meanings, why they were revealed and relate their stories to the students. Dr. Hanada Taha (endowed professor and director, Arabic Language Center of Research and Development at Zayed University, UAE)
8 ISLAMIC HORIZONS MAY/JUNE 2021
spoke on “Standards-based Instruction in Arabic.” After relating their history and worth, she stated that they don’t change when the curriculum changes and that learning indicators have to be set for each level. She demonstrated how standards shifted teachers’ thinking from measuring success by how much material was covered to how much learning was acquired and how language proficiency had advanced the students’ abilities. In “Keys and Tools for Differentiation in the Arabic Classroom,” 2019 California World Language Teacher of the Year Iman Hashem (STARTALK leader) gave ample examples about the students’ backgrounds, proficiency levels and learning styles, along with strategies to handle a classroom. She also tackled the difference between equity and equality, how each student deserves an equal opportunity to learn, how differentiation is based on students’ needs and how the teacher is duty-bound to plan for potential modifications. Dr. Talaat Pasha (director, Arabic Language Institute, American Islamic College in Chicago) and Dr. Salah Ayari (instructional professor of Arabic; director of Language Instruction, Texas A&M) used their joint “Weekend Schools: An Integrated Approach to Faculty Preparation and Teaching” to state that most weekend schools’ approaches are based on memorization. Pasha spoke about their main purpose — building a strong Muslim character, as Islam is based on being and doing, not only knowing — as well as the need to reach before teaching, of building strong teacher-student relationships and of teachers being professionally prepared to succeed. Ayari explained how vocabulary retention becomes much easier when the words are meaningful and purposeful. He provided examples of the integrative approach that coordinates the school’s three main pillars — Islamic studies, the Quran and Arabic — and that teachers can use Arabic words to
