I’m Terence Gilheany, a 54-year-old high school religion and philosophy teacher. I teach the courses in History of the Modern Middle East and Applied Ethics at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware.
In July 2013 I traveled to Turkey to take the seminar Ottoman Cultures: Society, Politics and Trade in the Turkish Empire 1299-1922. I am grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Education, funders of the seminar. I also want to thank Primary Source, a non-profit that “promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world.”
This blog originated when my family and I spent the 2011-2012 school year in Jerusalem with no Hebrew and no Arabic. As part of a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching grant, I interviewed 30 Palestinian and Israel teachers. This work resulted in my paper, “Israeli and Palestinian Teachers’ Self-Reported Motivations for Teaching Religion,” Religious Education, October-December 2013. I am extremely grateful to the Fulbright Program and to the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, for making this journey possible.
All opinions expressed in this journal are my own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Fulbright, the State Department, the NEH or Primary Source.
From Middletown to the Middle East 
Hi,
Nice to learn more about you
I like your approach
Hope you are doing o.k.
Regards from Maryland,
Dimona
Dear blogger,
I stumbled upon your blog while looking for the office number of my own contact at Hebrew U, Zvi! I am from Belfast and currently doing school research in Jerusalem. Would really like to make contact about how to contact schools here. Email: hhanna03@qub.ac.uk
Helen Hanna
I just found out that I have been awarded a Distinguished Teacher Fulbright for 2013 in Israel and would love to compare notes with you as I begin this adventure.
Congratulations! I’ll reply in an email.
Prof. Gilheany,
I am a grad student going on BirthRight to Israel this summer and have been trying to plan a side trip out to Egypt. After tons of searching I stumbled across your posting about how to fly to from Tel Aviv to Cairo and found more information then I have been able to gather reliably ANYWHERE else. Could I email you some questions both about how it was getting out to Egypt and your time in the country being from the US?
Dear Mr. Gilheany,
Hello! My name is Mackensie, and I work in religious education in Tokyo. I stumbled across your blog while researching Fulbright opportunities in Israel. My study interests lie more in religion than education, but I was hoping you could still find the time to give me a bit of advice. You are surely very busy with your own project, but not many Fulbright scholarships are given in the field of religion, so I was eager to contact you.
If you could find the time, I would be very happy to hear from you. Thank you for your consideration.
Absolutely – I’ll reply in an email.