Laila's Reflection investigates how the media in the US stereotypes Muslims in a negative light. Laila writes about her own experiences as a Muslim-American and her hopes for a more accurate media portrayal of her culture and religion. Take a deeper look at personal, media, and even sensory perceptions to discover how they shape our thoughts and ideas.
Reflection:
Muslim Identity & Media by
Laila Kunaish
Laila's Reflection investigates how the media in the US stereotypes Muslims in a negative light. Laila writes about her own experiences as a Muslim-American and her hopes for a more accurate media portrayal of her culture and religion.
Muslim Identity & Media
Learning Activity:
English/Language Arts-The Lenses of Identity
English/Language Arts /
6th 7th 8th
/ 2-4 class periods (90-180 min)
Using Laila’s One World Reflection, students will examine the different ways Muslims are portrayed in the media and general culture and then contrast this with Laila’s description and identification of Islam. Finally, students will examine themselves through the lenses of others, themselves, and the media and use these lenses to write an autobiographical piece.
ELA Learning Activity
Worksheet
Learning Activity:
Social Studies-Message of the Media
Social Studies /
6th 7th 8th
/ 3-4 class periods (120-180 min)
Students will examine how the media portrays Muslim Americans in the United States and analyze whether these messages are accurate and fair.
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Unit Resources
Previewing the Reflection:
A series of open-ended pre-reading questions designed to engage students, assess prior knowledge, and expose any pre-conceived ideas about the person or culture explored in the Reflection. Previewing the Experience questions are intended to be non-threatening and accessible to a range of students. Students are encouraged to answer honestly, and to discuss their answers with their classmates.
Previewing the Reflection PDF:
Understanding the Reflection:
This resource is to be used during and after students read the Reflection. Included in it are a series of reading comprehension questions designed to check for student understanding of the Reflection. These questions formats include multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, true/false, short response, or other effective questioning strategies.
Understanding the Reflection PDF:
Reviewing the Reflection:
This resource is to be used after students read the Reflection. It includes a series of post-reading questions designed to encourage student reflection and assess changes in students' perception and understanding of the cultural issues addressed in the unit through some deliberately repeated questions in the "Previewing the Experience" activity.
Reviewing the Reflection PDF:
Culture Cube:
This resource can be used at any point within a unit. The Culture Cube allows students to think about and organize their research of any culture into eight major traits (social groups, government, history, language, daily life, economy, religion, and art). The Culture Cube can prepare students before reading a Reflection, or before doing unit resources and learning activities. Similarly, teachers can use the Culture Cube to wrap up or assess students’ knowledge after engaging in the other unit resources and learning activities. The Culture Cube can be used in isolation of or integrated with the larger One World Curriculum. Definitions and examples of each trait of culture are given to guide students. The Culture Cube requires students to go beyond the Reflection for their research, so teachers need to make available a number of different resources from which students might gather information, including, but not limited to: textbooks, websites, encyclopedias, reference books, reports and maps.
Reflection Response:
This resource should be used after the students read the Reflection. Students are presented with a list of questions intended to elicit a more personal response about the Reflection they have just read. After considering those questions, students compose a letter to the author of the Reflection with their thoughts, observations, questions and comments. Teachers should feel free to contact rachel@oneworldeducation.org if they would like to have their students' finished letters delivered to the One World Ambassador.
Muslim Identity & Media