Three well-known educators, Angela Maiers, Stephen Anderson, and Tom Whitby explain the importance of using Twitter to become a connected educator and discover new ideas in education, even before school systems begin to consider them. Thanks to Stacey Roshan for twitting the link. Read more

Check out the Adventures of Hamza at the Freer Sackler Museum site. The Hamzanama is a collection of stories about Hamza, the uncle of the prophet Muhammad, who travels the world with other heroes spreading the teachings of Islam. The museum introduces you to the stories with an exhibit for which you’ll need flash player. I think that I’ll include this with a web quest on Islamic art. Read more

Michael Wolfe, an American writer and Muslim convert, took a camera crew on his Hajj to Mecca for a Nightline Special report some years ago.  The video is a great review of the importance of the Hajj and the mechanics of making the pilgrimage with millions of other pilgrims.  It’s a great clip to show  in both World History and in my World Religions class. Here is a link to Part 2. Read more

Here’s the Bruins-Sabres National Anthem, from tonight’s game, with the Boston Fire Department Honor Guard. Found it, you guessed it, on Twitter. Read more

American and Israeli Jewish women are challenging the law against their worship at the Western Wall. Orthodox Jews argue that only Jewish men, wearing a tallit (prayer shawl) can pray at the wall. As more women push the issue and as American Jewish women become more vocal, Israeli President Netanyahu appointed someone to look into a plan to allow non-Orthodox Jews to pray at the Wall. Both CNN and the Washington Post have run stories about the issue.  And here... Read more

George Mason University’s Center for History and News Media has some great resources on the role of women in Islam. Two lessons include suras (chapters) from the Qur’an that deal with women. One “details a variety of legal rights and restrictions for Muslims in the realm of marriage, inheritance, and other male-female relationships” and  the other “is known for its many verses extolling modesty in women, as well as detailing aspects of ideal marriage.” You can also download the suras... Read more

Leslie Hazleton, author of the new book, First Muslim, finds much to like about the Koran in this ten minute Ted Talk in 2010. She notes that it has an environmental awareness, that unlike the Bible, it includes women talking of believing women and believing men, and that many of its verses show remarkable flexibility. Reading the Koran, however, is no easy task and requires patience because it is not the kind of book that most people could curl up with and... Read more

Great graphic of the world’s religions. Some of the numbers are off because it was made in 2003 but it’s still a great visual. I made it into a poster for my classroom last year. If you go to the site, you can download the image into a pdf and you can enlarge the image on your computer. Read more

Writing for the Washington Post’s “On Faith” section, Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, discusses some of the big changes the Latinos are making to Christianity. Here are some statistics from his article that demonstrate that change. “There are 40,800 churches in the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, 3,200 Latino Southern Baptist churches and 2,500 Latino Assemblies of God.” “The Southern Baptist Convention alone expects to double the number of Hispanic Southern Baptist churches by... Read more

Saw this short video on “On Being’s blog” featuring the Dalai Llama words about happiness and eventually the music of Dinah Washington’s “This Bitter Earth.” Read more