The Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies hosted Beyond the Textbook, a professional development Workshop for K-12 educators, on June 10 & 11 at UIUC. [Number] teachers from [districts/region] attended. The two- day long program combined scholarly background on the Middle East with materials teachers could take directly into their classrooms, and participation counted toward Illinois professional development credit. At the end of the workshop, participants were asked to submit their syllabi which they designed in interactive sessions during the workshop and polished over almost a month after.
We thank our workshop leaders dearly who made this experience much more meaningful.
Pauline Homsi Vinson, Professor of Literature, opened with Arab American Literature: Texts and Resources. She introduced participants to fiction, poetry, and memoir suited to secondary classrooms, and discussed how to pair those texts with units teachers are already required to cover.
Marisa Natale, who holds a PhD in history, followed with Understanding the Middle East: A Brief History to the Present. Her session traced the region's modern history and gave teachers a way to put current events in context for students.
Jon Hale, Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, led Academic Freedom and Teaching the Middle East. He addressed the professional and legal questions that come up when teachers take on contested subjects, along with the protections available to them.
Awad Awad, Director of the Salaam Middle East and North Africa Cultural Center, closed with Hospitality: Connecting the Past with the Present. He used hospitality traditions as a way into cultural practice across the region and into the lives of Middle Eastern families in central Illinois.
Participants earned professional development hours toward Illinois license renewal and left with invaluable resources to put into work in their classrooms.
Outreach to teachers is part of the center's responsibilities that we take pride in. CSAMES provides classroom support, curriculum materials, and lending library access to Illinois educators at no cost, and its workshops carry professional development credit for licensed teachers. If you're interested in future sessions, please visit the Professional Development Activities page or submit a request for classroom support.