Collaboration through discourse.

As I sat and Listened to Charles Amjad-Ali speak about the religion of Islam last we week I noticed one thing going through my mind. It occurred to me that his thoughts were uniquely his, that from his discourse I was gaining a new perspective of the world of Islam in relation to Christianity. Now this is not an extraordinary thought, it does however make me think of the important role of discourse in learning. By communicating with one another and sharing our perceptions of the world we begin to construct new and different ways of approaching the world. How can I as a future teacher connect this concept of discourse to the classroom? In our psychology text we are reading about collaboration, which by definition is, a philosophy about how to deal with people that respects diferences, shares authority and builds on the knowledge of others. Group work can be an extremely important tool in my future classroom. By encouraging my students to collaborate, to listen to one anothers ideas and to share their thoughts with one another then collectively they will become better cooperators as well. Cooperation, the working together with others to reach a shared goal can be accomplished without collaboration, but I believe it would be more fulfilling for the children if they have the capacity to collaborate. One of the things that Charles Amjad-Ali pointed out about beliefs among Christians is that they tend to be about a we are right, therefore they could only be wrong. Through collaboration we (Christians) can begin to understand and develop an appreciation for our cultural neighbors. I understand this to mean that once we know the true beliefs of Islam it is our job to guide others to the same understanding, which I think relates to his personal philosophy that "One cannot be passive in the face of injustice".