Religious Diversity

The student population in America today is incredibly diverse. As we have talked about, students come from diverse ethnicities with diverse languages. It is also important to remember the diversity of religion in the classroom. I was teaching a lesson the other day about myths. We discussed myths and how they are important in forming different cultures and different beliefs. For my anticipatory set I thought it would be cool to talk about the myth of Count Dracula, which stems from Vlad the Impaler from the Dark Ages. I thought the story would really capture the students attention and at the same time relate it to something they already know some things about. Some how or another I got talking about Vlad the Impaler and how he was involved in the Crusades. The students then started asking me about the Crusades. I am majoring in history so I kind of got excited that the kids were excited about something historical so I continued to tell them about the Crusades(even though it was supposed to be an English lesson). Interestingly enough, there are several Muslim students in my class. I didn't even realize this until after I had almost taught a whole history lesson on the struggle between the Christians and the Muslims and the Crusades. I felt really awkward but after the lesson was over I had a great talk with my cooperating teacher. I wish I had thought about the Muslim students in the class before hand, but he told me that I was not offensive in anyway. In fact after the lesson was over it just so happened that the Muslim students were hanging out together and I nonchalantly asked them what they thought of the lesson and they all said that they enjoyed it.