Garrett Miller's Professional Portfolio

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  2. Introduction
  3. Domain I
  4. Domain II
  5. Domain III
    1. Artifiact: Hagia Sophia
    2. Artifact: Classroom Writing Assessment
    3. Artifact: ISIS Discussion
    4. Artifact: Veteran's Day Activity
    5. Artifact: Digital Safety Poster
    6. Artifact: Interactive Whiteboard
    7. Artifact: Berlin Wall
    8. Artifact: Islamic Empires Writing Assessment
    9. Artifact: Differentiated Instruction Justinian's Code
  6. Domain IV
  7. Experiences of Diverse Settings Documents
  8. Impact on Student Learning
  9. Miscellaneous
Home > Domain III > Artifiact: Hagia Sophia

Artifiact: Hagia Sophia

Domain 3a: Communicating Clearly and Accurately
IMG_3514.JPG This artifact could fall under many domains, but it specifically falls under the category of 3a. I had explained to students how Justinian was responsible for the construction of the Hagia Sophia in order to be an Eastern Orthodox Church, unknowing to him that it would change its purpose over the next 1500 years. Once Ottoman Turk  leader Mehemet had taken over Constantinople in 1453, he was so astonished with its beauty that he had it changed to a mosque. Hagia Sophia operated as a mosque until the first president of Turkey changed it to a museum because of its deep history, and in order to attempt to keep the peace between Muslims and Christians. I then had the students defened an opinion - one third of the class argued that it should be returned to its original purpose of an Eastern Orthodox Church; one third of the class argued that it should be returned to a mosque, and one third of the class argued that it should remain a museum. I had to guide the students arguing that it should be returned to a museum because they were having a hard time empathyzing with this side, and were having difficulty coming up with reasons. I had communicated sensitively and equitably across diverse populations by explaining that the vast majority of the population in present-day Istanbul is Muslim, as well as explaining that this was a sacred house of worship to the religion of Islam for nearly 500 years, and now it is a museum. I tried to have the students look at the situation through that lens, and see how they would felt if someone made a museum out of their house of worship. Students then created a student-driven post-it bulliten board with the differing opinions about what they think the "fate of the Hagia Sophia" should be.  
File Attachments:
  1. byzprez.pdf byzprez.pdf
    This is the Prezi presentation software I used throughout the unit on the Byzantine Empire. I had students watch a short TED Ed video, and then had each student take a stance on the fate of the Hagia Sophia, since it has such an interesting past.
Author: Garrett Miller
Last modified: 11/24/2015 5:37 PM (EDT)