Teachers Guide: A Lesson Plan for Introducing Islam and Muslims to Non-Muslims
Session One: Knowledge
The Day’s Theme: Establish a basic understanding of Islam and Muslims.
Objectives: To introduce students to some basic information about Islam and Muslims in an engaging way.
By the end of the lesson, students will:
- Know basic demographic information about Muslims
- Know the proper way to refer to Muslims
- Know some of the historical contributions of Muslims
- Examine current conceptions about Islam against newly learned facts
- Copies of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? quiz.
- Paper Play Money and small (humorous) token as a prize (optional)
- Newsprint and markers
1. As a way of beginning your own preparation for this five-week lesson plan, view the opening video and all “Meet Your Neighbor” interviews from ChangeTheStory.net. How did these video clips, when taken together, make you feel? What “facts” did you learn? What video moment was most memorable? It is important that you identify your own biases and blind spots as you prepare for this class. By being in touch with your own feelings, you will be a more effective teacher. (Do not show these clips to your class yet; they will be used in Session 2.)
2. Download and make sufficient copies of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? quiz from ChangeTheStory.net. Review the answers to the quiz so that you are familiar with its content.
3.Then read What is Islam? and the comparison of Sacred Texts from ChangeTheStory.net. Be prepared to share core values of Islam with your students and to discuss ways in which this belief system may compare and contrast to other religions with which the students are familiar.
4. Do additional research as indicated in the quiz or in the Additional Resources for Educators section of ChangeTheStory.net.
5. Once the class is gathered, introduce the subject to your student by asking their perceptions of those who follow Islam. Write their comments down on newsprint.
6. Have students form small groups of three or four to compete in teams or, if your group is small, have students participate as individuals.
7. Hand out the questions to the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”quiz
8. Allow students enough time to discuss their choices (about 5 to 10 minutes).
9. Go through the quiz, answering the questions, and awarding points to the teams with the correct answers.
10. Announce the winner(s).
Questions for Discussion:
After the exercise, lead the students in a discussion of new insights prompted by participating in the quiz. Some examples follow, but be creative and develop your own discussion starters based on your knowledge of your group members.
- What information surprised you the most about Islam or Muslims? Why?
- What are some misconceptions you held about Islam that were changed by this experience? What sources prompted you to hold these misconceptions?
- What are some misunderstandings that others have about your religious, ethnic or cultural identity?
- What are some ways you might share the new information you learned from this exercise with others? What reactions might you expect?
- In what ways do we emphasize “differences” over “similarities” in our society? How does this tendency strengthen an individual’s sense of identity? How does it separate us one from another?
