Dec. 1997 Training for Excellence

by Norma Tarazi

This was something I really felt, Muslim brotherhood among the people,” Dr. Souzaz El-Kest said upon returning recently from a weekend conference of the Council of Islamic Schools in North America.  Representatives from 127 schools attended this event, hosted by the Islamic Center of Greater Houston.  The conference was of great benefit to all the participants.  For every question a teacher posed, several helpful responses were given along with detailed practical suggestions.  A wide range of types of schools were present, chartered, non-chartered, full-time, and part-time.

“Achieving Excellence in our Islamic schools” was the title of the conference and the goal was to create a united effort in creating a standard curriculum, an effort that looks to be in its final stages.  More long term, they plan to create a standard for teacher certification through the organization, to ensure a high professional level for teachers throughout the Islamic schools of North America.  Networking, (getting to know other teachers, and comparing notes, ideas for fundraising, hot lunches, and other topics) came out of many informal discussions.  The formal workshops covered Quran in the classroom, Islamization of the classroom, multi-level classroom instruction, teaching Arabic, curriculum development, school community relations, and school development and administration.  Dr. E-Kest teamed up with the representative from Dayton to share notes and materials so that they could both get full benefit from all of the workshops.

This is just one of the most recent educational efforts being made by members of the staff of Sunrise Academy.  Twenty four events were on the calendar since July 18^th.  Dr. El-Kest and Mairvat Mrayam went to the Midwestern Region Arabic/Islamic Studies workshop in Dayton.  Jennifer Tomson, Iffy Mobin Uddin, Amina Fayed, and Dr. Souzan El-Kest all attended the Ohio TESOL Fall Conference that focused on teaching children foreign languages and teaching English as a second language.  October 19^th brought the staff together with the staff of bright Horizon school of Dayton to form strong ties of assistance and cooperation with this closest sister school.  Workshop topics and courses included how to use newspapers in the curriculum, CPR training, child abuse education, communicable disease training, first aid training, computers and math, computers and language arts, webpage use, laws and procedures for bussing students, classroom management, and student assessment.  

Attending and actively participating in these many activities demonstrates the efforts expended by the Sunrise staff to continually improve the quality of education at Sunrise Academy.