Part 5: Learning and academic structures in mosques, areas of incongruence and strategies to utilize for ESL and struggling learners.

Many Muslim students spend a large portion of their time outside of public school learning in local religious institutions (Sarroub, 2005; Bigelow, 2010; Moore, 2011; Iqbal, 2017). Mosques are themselves learning environments where habits and perceptions about learning are framed for many young students. Yet there remains a long bridge to be crossed in understanding for public school teachers as to what type of learning goes on in mosques, how it is done, and how this can frame student perception of learning in public schools, and also how the familiarity of Muslim students with learning habits that are taught in mosques can be utilized by teachers to draw on the students' background experience. There has been some academic analysis in the field of education of Islamic learning and learning in mosques, but precious little of it done so in mosques in North America (Moore, 2016). This training further argues that much of the examination of Islamic modes of learning that does exist approaches it with a deficit mindset and thereby fails to draw on resources that could be used to further engage students and accommodate learning style. This is an area where the experience and primary research Michael Abraham is greatly drawn upon. Light is shed on learning that takes place in mosques with a pedagogical lens that identifies common areas of incongruency that students may experience in public schools, while also illuminating factors that can be utilized to support student learning. 

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