I'm Kaitlyn King from Houston, TX. I teach 6th grade World Cultures (medieval era) at an independent school that serves K-12 students. I have been teaching middle school for about 20 years. I love this age because they are independent, but they also have one foot still in childhood. Religion can be a difficult topic to teach in this current political climate and in Texas. However, I enjoy the challenge and focusing on teaching history from multiple perspectives and exploring all aspects of culture. I also attended the two-week (free) Dar-al-Islam Teachers' Institute in Abiquiu, New Mexico last summer, which I found so helpful in learning new techniques and approaches to teaching about Islam, both the religion and the history of the empires. I highly encourage anyone who hasn't attended to apply! I'm really looking forward to diving deeper into this topic through this course.