Rochester teacher reflects on Middle East education during his trip with the Qatar Foundation
Jul. 4—ROCHESTER — Tyler McCabe is a special education case facilitator at Dakota Middle School who went to the Middle East as a teaching fellow with the Qatar Foundation. Prior to his work in special education, he was a social studies teacher.
The Post Bulletin spoke to McCabe about his trip and what he learned from the experience that can be incorporated into American classrooms.
What was the reason for your trip to the Middle East?
I was selected three years ago as a Qatar Teaching Fellow. The trip was coordinated by the Qatar Foundation to help teach and establish lessons about the Middle East and Islamic culture. I was selected as one of 15 teachers from across the United States to be part of the program. What we would do is develop lessons based off different workshops we would go to. So there were five different workshops that I participated in (leading up to the trip).
The main objective of this program was for participants to become equipped with the knowledge and skills to help their peers become more effective and confident when teaching about the region.
So how did you come across this opportunity in the first place?
I've been able to work with some other teacher fellowships. So I have a network of teachers that I am familiar with and have worked with in the past. They shared this opportunity with me.
It's been three and a half years since I applied. We've been working together since then, and we even worked together during the COVID shutdown. We did stuff over Zoom with different professors from around the U.S. We had cultural events such as cooking, coffee tasting, and different kinds of workshops like that to learn more about the culture of the Middle East.
What was your time in Qatar like? What were you actually doing while you were there?
Our trip was a week-long. We explored the cultural, historical and educational sites throughout Qatar. We went to the Qatar National Library, Education City Mosque, National Museum of Qatar, Museum of Islamic Art, Souq Waqif (a marketplace), Tariq Bin Ziad School, Baladna Park, 321 Qatar Olympic Museum, Al Jazeera Exhibition and a dhow ride (a dhow is an Arab sailing boat).
What was it about this that you thought would be beneficial to both yourself and your students?
A lot of times, the curriculum I had about the Middle East had to do with war, or deserts or differences between the people there and here. I was looking for connections that would make the content more relatable for the students I taught — not just about the Middle East, but with everything I teach. My goal was to provide my students with more comprehensive and detailed materials and lessons that would capture their attention.
How will you be able to use this experience in the classroom since you're no longer a social studies teacher?
Even though I no longer teach social studies, I have maintained connections with teachers at the schools where I previously worked, and have helped them access the materials and lessons created by my cohort. For example, I assisted Kellogg Middle School in obtaining a set of free books for a graphic novel called "Ms. Marvel." Additionally, the social studies team at Dakota Middle School incorporated the water unit I created into their recent Middle East unit. I have presented at two conferences to discuss the materials I have developed.
As an educator, what was the takeaway from this trip for you?
One would be the issues that schools face, no matter where they are in the world. There tends to be similar challenges and celebrations that schools share. It was very interesting for me when we visited the school in Qatar because they were celebrating reading week. And at the same time, my daughter was celebrating that at Gibbs Elementary.
Even in my role in special education, I learned that Qatar is developing more ways they could be inclusive of their students with special needs. Oftentimes, I think that's something people don't see — the inclusion of schools in other parts of the world. That was very powerful for me to see and experience while I was there.
What else would be good to know about your trip with the Qatar Foundation?
I think it's powerful to help create these connections between teachers in the US to help inform people more about the Middle East.
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