If Brooks School Elementary teacher Mark Heiden is a little hard to track down sometimes, it’s probably because he’s halfway around the globe immersed in another culture, gleaning valuable information to share with students in his Reach (gifted and talented) classroom.
While his third-graders were preparing for the winter holidays, Heiden was journeying to a warmer and less familiar setting: Saudi Arabia.
Heiden traveled to the Middle East into this misunderstood and often distrusted country courtesy of the Educators to Saudi Arabia Program funded by Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. The program aims to improve the global Saudi image and dispel stereotypes through inviting educators to experience Saudi culture firsthand.
“It’s a program I’ve wanted to do for a while now,” said Heiden, a globetrotting Fishers resident who also has taken educator trips to Japan, Australia, China and Germany. “Saudi Arabia is not a place you can go normally unless you work for an oil company.”
Every summer since 2005, Heiden has toured a new country. He eagerly seeks out opportunities for educational fellowships, twice having been a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar (which took him to Australia and China). He also was a delegate to the National Education Association Annual Meeting in 2005.
“Mr. Heiden is naturally inquisitive and has a real thirst to gain knowledge, not just through books or classroom-based learning but more specifically through real world interaction,” said Brooks School Principal Tim Harshbarger.
Heiden was among 25 educators selected from the U.S. for a fully-funded 10-day trip which included visits to Saudi schools, historical sites and government and cultural centers. He even got a chance to ride a camel in the desert and take a boat trip through the Red Sea. As a coral reef enthusiast, that was a highlight for Heiden.
While 15 of the terrorists involved in the 9-11 plot hailed from Saudi Arabia, Heiden found that the Saudi people do not despise Americans. In fact, the Saudi government also struggles to fight terrorism from religious extremists within its borders, he said.
Heiden says there are probably more American cars in Saudi Arabia than in the U.S. and that Saudis love American products. Barbie, however, is banned due to her inappropriate body figure and dress. Saudi girls play with “Fulla,” who comes with an abaya to cover her head and body when she is in public.
Women’s rights are woefully lacking, yet there is progress being made, Heiden said. Overall, he found the nation to be a land of contrasts.
“It is a country that is changing, perhaps being drug along kicking and screaming, into a world where we strive to give equal rights to all,” Heiden wrote on his trip blog.
While women must wear the abaya in public and are not permitted to drive or swim in a public pool, the government is starting to encourage more women to attend college. Yet job opportunities for women are still few. Saudi women can’t even be a sales clerks because they are not permitted to sell anything to men. All shops close down for several minutes or even hours when one of the five daily “calls to prayer” is announced via loudspeakers.
Heiden purchased a souvenir throbe (men’s traditional dress), headdress and prayer rug, which he shared with students as he answered their questions about his trip. The children laughed when they heard their teacher tell of his inability to keep his headdress on properly. “The Saudi men kept coming by and fixing it for me!” he recalled.
As part of the program requirements, Heiden will create a unit on Saudi Arabia for his classroom and will share his experiences with other educators. He plans to help his Fishers students see life from the perspective of a Saudi child.
While there are many differences -- such as segregated schools for boys and girls and religious teaching in the schools -- Heiden wants his students to see the similarities, as well. Saudi children still dress much like American kids, and they love to go to McDonald’s, too.
With Heiden’s global perspective, he’s sure to inspire his students to expand their own horizons. Not only does he write curriculum for the school district’s Reach program, Heiden also sponsors the Brooks School Math Bowl and Spell Bowl teams and is the Boys Varsity Tennis coach at HSE High School.
To read more of his unique experiences in Saudi Arabia, visit Heiden’s blog at http://mrheiden.blogspot.com/
As our atGeist Teacher of the Month, Mark Heiden will receive a complimentary gift certificate to Lincoln Square Pancake House in Geist. If you would like to nominate an outstanding Geist teacher, email Laura Gates at Laura@atGeist.com.
