Salma Manzoor Akhtar

EDCO 630
Reflective Memo

This memo is a reflection of my practicum experience so far. In this reflection I hope

to highlight what I am learning, what has surprised and puzzled me, and how I am growing

personally and a professionally.

I am doing my practicum at an International School in Dubai which follows the

English National Curriculum from FS1 to Year 11 and the IB Programme for Year 12 and 13.

I began my Practicum in mid-January 2017. My mentor is an Islamic Education teacher,

Imran (pseudonym used). He is responsible for Islamic Education (IE) for all Muslim students

and teaches Islamic B students (IE for English speakers). This means teaching students from

FS2 all the way through to Year 11 (the school does not currently have a Year 12 or Year 13).

The curriculum unit being covered since January has been Seerah (the life of Prophet

Muhammad) across all the year groups, except for FS2.

I am surprised that one teacher manages to teach to such a wide range of age groups.

Imran has experience of teaching primary and secondary students and has a friendly,

approachable personality and adapts well to each age group. I have found his lessons engage

the students because he is an excellent storyteller and captures the students imaginations.

However, the lessons are mostly teacher-centred, with little variation in the delivery of the

learning experience. He does encourage questioning and discussion in pairs and small groups.

I can see the need for some whole class instruction that is teacher-led, for example, mini

lessons for Quranic recitation. Imran recites verses from the Quran in a melodic voice with

good pronunciation, which the students can benefit from hearing. Although, I believe that

varying the learning experiences would give the students the opportunity to recite in different

ways and would motivate them to learn, for example, using iPads students could record each

other reciting and then peer and self-assess. This would give them the chance for reflection

and to engage using technology.

I have learned some useful teaching strategies for teaching Quranic recitation. Imran

has developed picture cards for Tajweed (Quran recitation) rules for younger students. Each
picture represents a different rule. As the students recite they identify these rules and are able

to attempt the correct pronunciation. The teacher corrects them if required. It is a technique

the students engage with and one that I would adapt to my students needs and use in future

Quran lessons. Memorisation for the older students is usually done individually and in pairs,

using passports that include the verses in Arabic, transliterated, and translated. They peer

assess each other and set their own targets for memorisation. Students use Apps or YouTube

to listen to the chapter of Quran. I have been able to appreciate the challenges of teaching

Quran, an area of Islamic Education, which in my experience the KHDA inspectors and

parents can be very critical of. I have observed the teacher in the classroom innovating and

experimenting with different strategies for memorisation, which I think is essential in such

diverse classrooms to ensure that all the students are met at their level of readiness. However,

I have not seen any great emphasis on learning the meaning of the verses that they memorise.

I believe, that students need to understand the Quran in order to relate its teachings to their

own lives. Without these essential understandings it is difficult to appreciate how the Quran is

relevant to their lives today and therefore Quran recitation is ritualistic and mechanical. The

Quran gives real-life examples that are transferrable to modern life, to science, to history and

to the natural sciences. Therefore, interdisciplinary collaborative teaching would benefit the

students and foster inquiry, critical thinking, reflection and problem solving.

The aims of IE is to teach students a way of life. These include ritual worship, good

character, morals, values and ethics. Teaching these skills is challenging, especially for

students who may have little support at home to reinforce these practices. The school

population is diverse and therefore, I believe it is the responsibility of the IE teachers to know

the students backgrounds and their cultural diversity in order to build authentic ties and good

rapport with the students and to differentiate instruction. I have been able to get to know the

students to some degree and build rapport, but it is difficult to when I only meet some of the

students once a week. I have seen some differentiation in the classroom, providing extension

tasks to the gifted and talented students and support for SEN, EIP and ELL students.

However, I feel that this area of instruction still needs further development.
 I have been requested on a few occasions to cover some lessons for some Islamic A

and B teachers. I had no lessons planned, however, I was familiar with the topic of Seerah

(the life of Prophet Muhammad) and so I agreed to take the lessons. They were mostly

teacher-centred, with some group work and individual reflection. I attempted to use some

Visual Thinking Routines (VTRs), which I was using for the first time. However, I was

confident in the lessons objectives, to retell and appreciate the story and draw lessons from it.

However, without the planning, it is difficult to differentiate and engage students in

conceptual understanding. I realised that I was asked to cover the lesson because the

alternative cover would be a Teaching Assistant, who would have read the story from the

textbook. I understand that I was probably able to deliver a more engaging lesson, however, I

do not feel that I was able to do justice to the subject and deliver a learning experience that

engaged them in making concept based connections and deeper meaning.

I have recently started to teach lessons, which have been observed by my mentor,

Imran. One was a Year 5 lesson about Salman Al Farisi (A companion of Prophet

Muhammad). The lesson planning and preparation for instruction and resources was

challenging and a useful learning experience. I learned the need for interesting and fun starter

activities to hook the students into the lesson as soon as they arrive in the classroom. The

main lesson objective was tackled using a jigsaw activity in which the students worked in

pairs and researched their topic and then shared their learning. The feedback from my mentor

was constructive and focussed on how to manage time more effectively and also to give

clearer instructions for an activity.

A Year 6 lesson about Prophet Musa was challenging as I decided to incorporate

technology, using a Nearpod lesson. There were some technical hiccups, however, the

students engaged with the activity, enjoyed it, and were able to answer some factual and some

thought provoking questions. They also shared the lessons learned on a collaborative board in

the Nearpod lesson. I am still learning how to incorporate essential understandings, and feel

that will take time and practice. However, I believe that the students took away lessons that

were transferrable and relevant to their lives today. One student wrote that a lesson she could
apply to her life is that reliance in Allah does not mean that she does not need to revise for

exams, she still needs to make the effort but will pray to Allah to help her and guide her.

In my observations I have noticed that some of the practices that I have studied and

on Masters in Education programme are evident in the classroom, however, I am of the

opinion that more concept-based teaching needs to be implemented. Many lessons are

teacher-centred, which can lead to some classroom management issues, and time wasted

reminding students about good behaviour. I find this to be puzzling because when I have

observed the students in student-centred learning experiences, such as group tasks, technology

based tasks, and research they are engaged and on task, albeit the classroom is a little noisier.

However, since I have started to teach some of the lessons I appreciate the time constraints on

the teacher. I understand that when students from K-12 are being taught and when the

curriculum is not aligned with the rest of the school it is easy to fall back on ideas that a

teacher is comfortable with. However, I am confident that a gradual move towards three-

dimensional, student-centred, concept based learning and teaching will nurture thinking,

enquiry, creativity, critical thinking, and reflection. Imran is knowledgeable about his subject

area, and asks thought provoking questions. I believe that I can learn from his example and

make links to concepts and to enduring understandings enabling my students to think more

deeply and make connections that are transferrable across time, place and situation. I believe

that Islamic Education is an area of education that lends itself to conceptual understanding.

Some of the topics in IE are factual, such as the rituals of prayer and some are historical, such

as the life of Prophet Muhammad. However, the lessons learned are about transferrable life

skills, such as being part of a community, building the relationships within that community,

living by a code of behaviour to create a harmonious community and global interactions. I

appreciate that with time and practice I will be able to make these conceptual connections and

guide the students to essential understandings.

The practicum experience has heightened my awareness of best teaching practices

and I am now collaborating with teachers from different disciplines, such as Drama, History,

German and English to develop my planning, preparation and instruction.