Preservice Teacher Training

by Betsy Barlow

Many university centers of Middle Eastern studies now are offering workshops for teachers of social studies already at work in the school districts in their regions. Some centers have had programs in place for many years. Others have more recently created programs, possibly encouraged to do so when the U.S. Department of Education made service to K-12 teachers an absolute priority for grants to area centers under the Title VI program. While many centers offer summer institutes or workshops for teachers, typically we find the teachers two years before their retirement, after they have been teaching the Middle East with very little support or guidance from the experts for over 30 years. Or we may find them after they have been using for several years the video “Not Without My Daughter” (to show the position of women in Islamic societies!) or the book The Arab Mind, by Raphael Patai, replete with nonsensical stereotypes, as an introduction to Arab culture.

Few of us have developed effective ways of introducing Middle Eastern content into the training of teachers while they are still preparing themselves at schools of education across the country, before they are turned loose on classrooms. Marta Colburn, the outreach coordinator at Portland State University (PSU) in Portland, Oregon, is one person who has begun to offer services to students in the 11 institutions in Oregon which offer teacher training.

Marta has offered a workshop for teachers in training at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon called “Beyond the Pyramids: the Middle East in K-12 classrooms.” In addition to the teachers in training, she also has invited teachers in the community to attend as well. At the workshops, experts present new ideas about how to teach about the Middle East. Marta’s center at PSU also provides a collection of the best resources to the library of the University Lab School, as well as some resources for each participant. Marta tells us that often the lab schools have no multicultural sections at all, because education school libraries are seriously underfunded. The materials she donates become the jewels in their collection, and are used by many student teachers to prepare lesson plans for their future careers.

PSU charges participants $l0 or $15 each, which covers the expense of a meal for the group. Speakers and materials are funded sometimes from a Title VI grant, other times from the PSU budget, and occasionally from foundation or special fund-raising support. Marta’s plan could be adapted by institutions in other states. Relationships are developed through these programs, and teachers are happy to come back for additional programs to deepen their understanding. Support within the schools of education, which Marta has received, contributes to the success of the program.

Marta is also producing a study guide in connection with the Children’s Puppet Theater production of “Aladdin.” She is presenting six programs related to the event for 250 teachers and their students.

Deborah Littrell, outreach coordinator at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas-Austin, regularly speaks to elementary and secondary social studies teachers-in-training at UT’s College of Education. Usually she meets with seniors taking a final methods class prior to student teaching. She tells us that some of the College of Education faculty are very enthusiastic about global education, and are delighted to cooperate with the area experts.

Manouchehr Khosrowshahi, also in Texas at Tyler Junior College, has been offering annual workshops on “Teaching About the Arab World and Islam” for teachers and teachers-in-training. They offer continuing education credit, and also give useful curricular material to the teachers.