Mr. Richards

History Teacher

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HIST 102: World Civ. II

Pittsville School

المملكة المغربية

Kingdom of Morocco

The trip blog maintained by Global LAB can be viewed HERE.

View maps of our journey to and through Morocco HERE.

2008 Summer Study-Tour of Morocco

During summer 2008 I was fortunate enough to spend two weeks studying Arab culture in the Kingdom of Morocco. The trip was sponsored by the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University. Zeina Seikaly, CCAS director of educational outreach, has my utmost respect for her warm heart and fair-minded efforts to make information accessible to teachers throughout the greater Washington, D.C. region.

Prior to departure, the group of 12 educators had two orientations at the center. We heard from a Moroccan diplomat, Alex Safos of Global Learning Across Borders, Dr. Abi-Mershed from Georgetown University, and Professor Zartman from The Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Below are links to selected journal entries, pictures, and a final reflection on the experience. I have posted the items below so my students may learn more about Morocco – a moderate Arab country – as well as examine point of view (and bias) in primary sources. In this case, those biases are my own.

City	Journal Entries	Pictures
Casablanca الدار البيضاء	Jul 27, Jul 28, Jul 29	Hassan II Mosque
Marrakech مراكش	Jul 29, Jul 30, Jul 31, Aug 1 (entry 1)	Marrakech Medina, Academia Arabesca, ramparts, Djemá-el-Fna
Fes فاس	Aug 1 (entry 2), Aug 3, Aug 4, Aug 4, Aug 5	Fes Medina
Chefchaouen شفشاون	Aug 5, Aug 6	Chaouen scenes, Rif daytrip
Asilah أصيلة، أرزيل	Aug 8 (entry 1), Aug 8 (entry 2), Aug 10 (entry 1)	30^th International Asilah Festival, Atlantic Coast, shanty-town
Tangier طنجة	Aug 10 (entry 2), Aug 10 (entry 3), Aug 10 (entry 4)	Strait of Gibraltar, Tangier Medina, Mediterranean sunset
Return Journey	Aug 11 (entry 1), Aug 11 (entry 2)

Group photo at Majorelle Garden in Marrakech. The bold cobalt blue color is known as

bleu Majorelle in honor of Jacques Majorelle the garden designer.

Left to Right: kneeling Lena Seikaly, Zeina Seikaly (CCAS education director), Barbara in den Bosch (St Anne s Belfield), and Harriet Couture (retired part-time teacher, Fairfax Co., Virginia); standing are Linda Crichlow White (Montgomery County, Maryland), Edward Eagles (St. Alban s School, Washington, DC), Dallas Jacobs (Gillman School, Baltimore), Helen Mogannam Albader (George Mason High School, Falls Church, Virginia), Paula Jelees Watts (Wakefield High School, Arlington, Virginia), Samuel Richards (Pittsville Middle School, Pittsville, Maryland), Paul Couture, Tammy Chincheck (George Mason High School), Arjunia Oakely (Montgomery County, Maryland), and Alex Safos (Global LAB). Missing from the photo is Brad Hertz (Salt Lake City, Utah).

Copyright Samuel J. Richards, 2008-Present. Permission is given to reproduce elements of this website for educational purposes.