Bridge Action Plan

This is a bridge action plan done by my friend Areej Yassine and I.

We introduced in it a solution for a problem that's happening in a school,

which is holding on to traditional and boring teaching methods.

And we suggested organized and concrete steps to work on.

Al Farabi

In al-Farabi’s philosophical system, education is one of the most important social
phenomena. Indeed, in al-Farabi’s view, the whole activity of education can be
briefed up as the acquisition of values, knowledge and practical skills in a particular
period and culture. The aim of education is to guide the individual towards perfection
because the human being was created for this purpose.

In al-Farabi’s view, education is the combination of learning with practical action.
If the speculative sciences are learned without applying them, this wisdom is
defective (Al-Farabi, 1983, p. 89).

Besides so many aims of education, one is to prepare the political leaders.
The social life integrates the individual, the family and the city. The politicians should
not restrict their work to the organization and management of cities. They should
encourage people to help one another in dispensing good things and over rooting evils.
They must use their political skills to protect the virtues and praiseworthy activities.

Rauf, Muhammad; Ahmad, Mushtaq; Iqbal, Zafar. (2013). Al-Farabi's Philosophy of Education. Educational Research International, 1(2), 4-5.

مُجتمعي

إنّ المُشكلة في مُجتمعنا نحن "العَرَب"

أنّنا نُحبّط من مَعنويات بعضنا البعض،

بدل أن نَشُدّ على أيدي بعضنا

لِنعلوَ ونُزهِرَ ونتألَّق..

لماذا لا أقول لأختي "ثيابكِ جميلة اليوم"

بدل "منظرك مثل النورية" أو "يُستر عليكِ"؟

لماذا لا تقول لصديقك "أعجبني تعامُلك مع والدتك"

عِوضًا عن "إسا صرت آدمي"؟

لماذا لا تقولين لأباكِ "إنّي أُحبك"

مع القُبلة التي تُعطيهِ إيّاها؟

لماذا لا تقول لتلميذك "أحببتُ الطريقة التي حلّيت بها هذا السؤال"

بدل "لازم تحلّ بالطريقة اللي أعطيتك اياها، بلا اختراعات"؟

لماذا لا تتكلّم مع ابنك بهدوء بدل الصُّراخ والصَّرامة؟

- فاطمة سليمان  

حُسن الظن بالله

وإن بانَ كُلُّ شيءٍ أسودًا

وإن تلبَّدتِ السَّماءُ بالغُيومِ ولم تُمطِر

وإن تغيَّر شكلُ العالم

وتجمَّعت حُشودٌ مُحتشدةٌ مِن حَولي

وارتفعت أصواتُهم وتَعالى صُراخُهم

 يُحاولون تغيير تَفكيري وتَيئيسي

وإن أمسَكوني بقُوّة وهَزّوني هَزًّا عنيفًا

ثُمَّ انكَبُّوا عليَّ ضّربًا ولَطمًا

فَلا، لا، لن أظُنَّ بكَ إلّا خَيرًا

ولا، لا، واللهِ لن تُخزيني

ورِضاكَ مِحوَرُ مَطالِبي

وبوصلةُ طَريقي!

- فاطمة سليمان - 

Morals

My dear, you're living on this world; aren't you?

At the same time, you have many other people, like you, living too..

And you both share similar needs from each other..

If you need respect, they need respect.

If you need good treatment, they need it too.

If you need to see a smiley face, they also need it.

If you once needed help, they'll need it another time.

So, treat people the way you like to be treated.

Because this world is like a cycle;

Whatever you do will return back to you.

By: Fatima Sleiman

Teaching Elementary Grades

Teaching kids has a special taste. Though it was never one of my aims or interests, but the necessity put me to teach kids. Here I mean grades 1, 2 and 3. To be honest, I don't have a big pressure at home preparing for the lesson that I'll give the next day.

However, the most pressure is put at class by dealing with kids. For example, I explain the lesson of addition for grade 2 -how to add two numbers below 69 by doing the process of addition- and then I tell them to solve some exercises about it on their books while I turn around them to see if they're solving well. While I pass by the two students sitting on the first desk, I recognize two or three students coming from their desks and asking me "Teacher, am I solving right?" so I become boiling from inside but try to keep calm and reply to them "Teacher, haven't I just said that I'll come by you? Please go back to your seats and wait for your turn.." and this happens many times in the period.

Then I continue my road stopping on another desk where a boy tells me "Teacher, do you know that the prophet Moses PBUH went to Pharaoh to call him to Islam.." and while he's trying to continue the story that his mom probably taught him, I try to summarize it and tell him "Oh, yeah I know.. you're right, that's what happened.. now continue your work."

After that, a girl comes by me holding a paper written on it "I love you teacher Fatima" with a drawing, so I become from inside like "okay, that's nice of you but as if you're supposed to be solving your activity!!!" but I smile and take it telling her "Oh, lovely girl, thank you.. now go and continue your activity" .. Few seconds later, a boy comes by me saying "Teacher, may I go to the bathroom?" where it's the first peroid and supposedly we have a rule that says "no bathrooms in the first period" so I become boiling from inside but tell him calmly "No, you can't, we're still in the first period.. now return back to your desk"

Finally, I reach a boy finding that he didn't solve anything so I get disappointed but try to hold my nerves and tell him "Oh my god! Why didn't you solve anything yet?" to find him replying to me "I didn't understand what to do" where I have been discussing it for like 5 times. So I take a deep breath and re-discuss it to him.

So, this is the world of kids. This was a small glance of what I experience everyday with elementary grades' students. I know I'm not skillful yet because I'm still a beginner in teaching, but I feel that there should be a special atmosphere of teaching for kids.. They need to see pictures more than they hear instructions and need to touch things more than they write words. Hopefully, the ministry of education changes the curriculum for elementary grades to make it more fun and nearer to their brains.


By: Fatima Sleiman

Al Ghazali

Al-Ghazali’s philosophy of education represents the high point of Islamic thinking on

education, in which al-Ghazali’s inclination towards reconciliation and the integration

of various intellectual schools is apparent. Here he achieves a synthesis of legal,

philosophical and mystical educational thinking.

For Al-Ghazali, the purpose of society is to apply shari‘a, and the goal of man is to

achieve happiness close to God. Therefore, the aim of education is to cultivate man

so that he abides by the teachings of religion, and is hence assured of salvation and

happiness in the eternal life and the hereafter. Other worldly goals, such as the pursuit

of wealth, social standing or power, and even the love of knowledge, are illusory, since

they relate to the transient world.

Al-Ghazali stresses the importance of childhood in character formation.

A good upbringing will give children a good character and help them to live

a righteous life; whereas, a bad upbringing will spoil their character and it will be

difficult to bring them back to the straight and narrow path.

Nofal, N. (2000). Al-Ghazali. UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, XXIII(3-4), 5.