Maureen Foley-Bensen is one of two history instructors at Omak High School in rural Washington State. She teaches different history courses to ninth, tenth, and twelfth grade students, but for her tenth graders she concentrates on the history of the world from 1450 to the present — including religions of the world — all in one semester. Needless to say, her days are hectic enough already. But last winter Maureen was intrigued when she saw an announcement flashing across her computer screen about the launch of Religious Worlds of New York sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Maureen applied to the Institute for several reasons. She realized that a contemporary study of religious worlds would not only help her “to grow as a teacher” but, as important, “would bring the world to the students of Omak High School.” Omak’s demographics include European Americans, Native Americans and Mexican and Central Americans with the exception of one Sikh family from India whose son happens to be in Maureen’s World History class. In a quiet moment, the student shared with Maureen that “while most students were polite about his dress, particularly his head covering, they would rarely ask him questions or talk to him about his religious world; the students were simply silent.”
After being selected from a pool of 180 applicants to attend the Institute last summer, Maureen returned to the classroom in September ready to try out her new teaching techniques. She began using “language that encourages students to appreciate the complexity of the world religious traditions,” referring to religious worlds as ”large umbrellas” rather than defined ”buckets” of information. Maureen says, “students who had shown little enthusiasm for the study of history have become willing participants in our conversation about religious worlds” and that since she modified her religious world study, they have been showing respectful curiosity towards their Sikh classmate. “Kids are asking me lots of questions,” the student told Maureen recently, “and they are so respectful of me . . .I like to be able to talk about my religion and help kids understand who I am.”
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