1. Cristal D. Abraham
EDF 2085- 16458: Intro to Diversity for Education
Field Observation Reflection Essay on Culture/Religion
1. Reflect on your experience in the Place of Worship you observed and describe what was
observed? Explain the basic tenets of the religion.
The place of worship I chose was the Hindu Temple of Central Florida. The event
in which I attended was the HSCF (Hindu Society of Central Florida) New Age Group
meeting. The purpose of this group is to create a United Brotherhood. Representatives
from different religious backgrounds discussed there religions and how they wish to
merge as one group, with respect and understanding of other religious backgrounds.
In the beginning of the ceremony (meeting) a member of the Hindu society
opened up with a Hindu prayer followed by a Hindu bhajan (Hindu song of worship).
From my basic knowledge of Hinduism and attending many Hindu prayer services,
Hinduism differs by family and country. Overall, they believe God comes in many forms
and each form provides a different focus in one’s life, for example you would pray to
Lord Shiva for wisdom and fulfillment of your desires.
After the prayer was completed, another representative of the Hindu community
explained to the audience the Hindu holiday (festival) of Diwali. He explained that
Diwali is the festival of lights and in celebration they had several children sing another
Bhajan and another child did a ceremonial dance. It was all amazingly beautiful.

2. 2. What kinds of religious practice do the people who belong to this religious denomination
accept as expressive of proper worship and devotion? What are the consequences of this
religious belief practice, experience, and knowledge on an individual’s daily life? What
are the consequences of falling away from the practice?
Hinduism is practiced differently depending on the culture. Just as
Christianity there are many different associations to Hinduism. Hindus
traditionally worship certain deities based on their needs. As part of a traditional
prayer or service Hindus recite several prayers and sing many Bhajans. They give
offerings of sweets, fruits, clothing (Sari’s) and money to the Deity that they are
worshiping. Each day of the week has specified deities, so each day is a different
Puja (prayer service). Some Hindu’s focus on certain deities in their life, a Pundit
(Hindu priest) would normally tell you which day to focus on but many usually
follow the day their family chooses (Normally Thursday for Lord Vishnu). On
this day one would recite a small prayer and fast from meat (if already vegetarian,
salt). They also fast on Hindu holidays as well. Similar to Ramadan there are
certain Holidays that require more than just one day of fasting, on these holidays
they tend to fast for 1-2weeks (I.E. Diwali, Naratam).
If one forget to fast or chooses not to fast they can no longer recite their
Pujas. Also, if a woman is on her monthly period she too may not sit to pray
(some Pundits ignore this tradition do to modern day science). Just as any
religion, Hindus believe if you do not do right by your God, do not expect your
God to do right by you. Traditionally woman would wear a head scarf just over
their hair and both men and women would wear traditional Indian clothing,
however in today’s society not many people follow that tradition on a daily basis,
instead they would only wear it to go to temple.

3. Hinduism as stated before is different between family and culture.
Traditionally if one was to fall out of their religion, they are also falling away
from their family in most cultures. Hinduism is such a huge a diverse religion that
it is hard to completely understand what is entirely right and wrong, it is more or
less what values your family takes from the religion. For example, in a family of
strict vegetarians, if a child was to knowingly stray and eat Chicken the parents
may tell them he cannot come into their household until he is pure again. Another
example, every child goes through a ceremony like a Christening it is called
Namakaran, once this happens the person conducting the ceremony becomes the
childs God parent (traditionally it is a pundit) and that is the person who tells the
child how to live by God and who they should worship. If they do not follow their
given paths the God parent will help guide them back through prayer and counsel
them into making things right.
3. List three best teaching practices that will attend to Religious Pluralism in each of the
following areas: Pedagogy, Roles, Content Knowledge and Assessment? Did the teacher
you observed demonstrate any of the above in his/her classroom?
Religious pluralism in the form of pedagogy can be fun and interactive with
games, movies, performance art, there are so many options to teach kids and even adults
about not only understanding different religions but respecting them and why one should.
One example, have family culture day (personally I would have this done in the
beginning of the school year), let each of your students describe not only culture but their
religion and what makes it unique. On that day once everyone performs have your class
discuss each of the similarities and differences to see what they learned also, to help them
to absorb the knowledge that they have learned. With this project it is the teachers role to

4. explain the situations in which some children may not understand. For example, the
difference between the way a person of the Hindu faith fasts compared to a person of the
Islamic faith or why is it necessary for someone to wear a head scarf while others don’t
(Off topic – When I was little and asked that same question, my teacher responded “It is a
sign of respect in that persons faith and to be honest I wouldn’t mind wearing one on my
bad hair days,” she made everything fun and simple).
During the event in which I went to each member of their own society presented a
five-minute powerpoint based on their religion and how they would like to merge within
a United Brotherhood. At the end of all the presentations they had a Q&A section for
everyone to ask questions and maintain a better, clearer knowledge of each other. The
role was left in the hands of the people, if you wanted to learn you asked questions to
those you were interested in learning from.
4. A religion is a way of life and a form of personal identity; how will the religion you
observed influence the student in your classroom? Interview a parent/student from the
religion you observed and ask him/her to give you 3-5 suggestions on providing
accommodations in your classroom.
The information that I have received from this religion will help me a lot in
understanding any Hindu students that I receive in my classroom, as for the other
students the event that I attended has helped me see a way to help all my students to unite
and understand each other for who they are completely.
Three suggestions given to me in regards to the Hindu community are:
1. Know the religious holidays that students will be out and provide homework a
day in advance (similar to Christmas homework packages)
2. Find out ahead of time all food allowances from parents (kids can be tricky when
they want candy but some candies contain eggs).

5. 3. “Not all brown people are the same,” as said by my dear friend Asha, do not
automatically assume person is Hindu or a Muslim because of their skin tone.
5. After reading the Case Study in Chapter 9 about Teacher Melissa Morgan what
recommendations do you have for her? What would you have done similar or different if
you were in her place? Who would you approach for help?
Melissa did everything I would if I were in her place. Just as she is in matters of
religion, diversity excites me and personally I believe everyone should understand
and respect each other and their beliefs. Knowing a religion does not mean one
entirely understands it and understanding it isn’t entirely following it. Melissa
drew the line right after she helped the class to understand each other. Personally
just as she did I to would have gone to a priest, however I would not have only
gone to one priest, I would have gone to many. After seeing the HSCF New Age
Group, all the priests there were doing exactly what Melissa was trying to do for
her students. So one can only assume that it is not the church it is the parents. My
next step would be to have all the priests and her display at the open-house to let
the parents see that it if the priests can be entertained and interested them to can
be. Unfortunately, teaching is not only meant for the students but in many cases it
is for the parents.
Qadri, Y. Fall 2013