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AnonymousReflecting on the information learned in the East Asia seminar, as a Resource Specialist teacher focusing on English Language Arts and Math, there are many ways to incorporate East Asia’s history into my ELA teachings. The starting point for me would be East Asian Pop culture. I believe this topic would be best to interest my students in learning about East Asia and its other factors. The Cultural Revolution is another important topic to implement when teaching about East Asian history. The last topic I would include to implement in my instruction is The Great Wall of China.
Many American students are unfamiliar with the music industry here in American. They are not educated on production, advertising, financial cost and revenues, and the many other elements of the music industry that makes an artist or group popular to the public. I would start the lesson off with a question to ponder. “What do you know about the music industry for America and other parts of the world?” After hearing students’ responses, I would play one of K-pops popular songs “Twinkle” by South Korean girl group, Girls’ Generation. I would proceed with a discussion. Next, I would show the music video to the song. Another discussion would take place to allow students to express their thoughts. My overall objective with K-pop would be to have students create a pamphlet demonstrating how the current technology (YouTube, Google, internet, Facebook, etc) allowed K-pop to boom here in America. Students would discover through a PowerPoint lecture how K-pop evolved from local Korean culture to collaborating globally with popular American musicians and producers.
The Cultural Revolution is an important topic to discuss with student because it teaches them that the world is forever changing and evolving. I would introduce this topic with facts about China right before the revolution started. Students would be given a KWL (What I Know, What I Want to know, and What I have Learned) chart. Students would write what they already know, write questions they have about the topic, and what they learned from the information given to them in class through a PowerPoint lecture. Students’ next objective would be to list on a flow chart some factors that lead to the Cultural Revolution. This would prepare them to write an informational essay on the causes leading to the Cultural Revolution. This assignment would benefit students with arranging events in order, writing a multi-paragraph essay, and having knowledge about China’s history from a cultural aspect.
I would implement a lesson on the Great Wall of China to educate my students on the reasons for the wall’s creation. In the California curriculum, students learn in History class about barbarian invasions, specifically with the fall of Rome. Adding a lesson that teaches about China’s invaders and the need for the wall will allow students to add to their knowledge of precautions taken by various countries to prevent defeat and other factors such as illegal migration. Students would be given a short text and a website to research The Great Wall of China. After students gather information, they will be expected to list the pros and cons of the Great Wall and provide an oral report on whether they believe the wall is necessary or not to the well-being of China.
AnonymousI’d like to teach Chinese language and incorporate East Asia, particularly China, in my curriculum. I would integrate the seminar topics on Chinese culture, history, philosophy and media. I believe my students will benefit from learning these aspects of China.
I would teach ancient Chinese cultures through novels and movies like Mulan. In old China, women’s gender role was to serve the family, but Mulan disguised herself to be a male soldier and defended the country instead of her father. This movie will show students the contrasting roles Mulan played as a lady and a soldier and give them ideas how a male and a female were expected to behave in the society. Mulan risked her life to break the norm of gender roles.
People’s behaviors and manners were shaped by philosophies and beliefs. Confucius principal on family relations is that wife obeys husband and daughter obeys father. Mulan disobeyed her father and rode on a horse to join the army. Her disobedience could have led to a death penalty. Understanding the ancient Chinese philosophy, students would appreciate more of their freedom today. Mulan’s courage would inspire female students to serve the country and world.
Chinese history is long. I would focus on a few sites to teach history, such as the Great Wall. Students would learn the historical time and background when the wall was built and its significance. I believe my students would be very interested in the Great Wall in the historical context.
Chinese media is globalizing and expanding to Hollywood. Kong Fu Panda is one of the examples. Students would enjoy watching the movie and learn about Chinese cultures like martial arts.
Teaching through movies is an effective instructional approach. I will select movies relevant to the Chinese culture, history, philosophy and media to supplement books. I would also post discussion questions on the forum of an educational management system to engage students in collaborative learning.
AnonymousAlthough this class was very informative, and I enjoyed it a great deal, it was difficult for me to find a space to include it in a meaningful way given that the class focused on ancient Asian history and my curriculum does not lend itself to ancient East Asia. It wasn’t until I went to a museum to make up for a class session that I missed that an idea on where to take my final project came to me.
The Chinese American Museum inspired me to draw comparisons between the immigration stories of the Chinese and other communities, and how that lead to community activism. I knew there was an Asian American Rights movement during the 1960s, and I know the Asian American community was instrumental in the creation of ethnic studies class, but the museum gave me the historical context to investigate the parallels that I mentioned further.
The documentary, Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story also helped me come to the unit. Eddy Zheng is a Chinese immigrant from Oakland who ended up in prison, got out, and dedicated his life to serve the community. This story will be instrumental in the unit as it will humanize the communities that we will be learning about.
I will most likely use this lesson in my Chicana/o Latina/o studies class. We already study the students who fought for the Asian American Studies class at San Francisco State. I will include some of it there, but the unit I am planning will be placed in our larger immigration unit.
AnonymousAs a 6th grade Humanities teacher whose curriculum had previously NOT included Ancient China, I signed up for this course in hopes that I could find a way to integrate East Asia into our current curriculum. I knew that we were doing a disservice to our students to not dig further into the culture, politics and origins of East Asia and how it connects to our modern world. What initially drew me to this seminar was the connection made between US and China and the consideration of the major relationship and the importance of it's discussion in our classrooms.
I enjoyed the time periods and the frameworks of most of the classes. I saw immediately how I could use poems and poetry, art and artifacts to discuss the ancient world. Specifically in 6th grade we look at themes of equality and what is fair. We look at how early civilizations formed communities and how hierarchies and social structures were formed. Specifically looking at China and it's influence on Japan and the development of culture, I saw how we could make connections between the migrant farm workers movement here in California, the Japanese internment camps and even Black Lives Matters protests.
Another area that we discuss heavily is the importance of religion in cultures sense the beginning of time and how religion affected the people. This was true in Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultures as well and could easily be a compare and contrast or research into the origins of religion. It would also be a great lead into students researching or reporting on their own religions.
I just decided to make the moved up to 7th grade Humanities and am excited to continue the inclusion of East Asian history into our curriculum. I would have liked to have seen more direct examples of how to integrate the historical content into our classrooms through discussion. I felt a lot of the lessons were unfocused or too specific and did not give a broad example of that region or group of people.
AnonymousAs a teacher or World Literature, I believe the most relevant ideas raised in the seminar would have to be the films review and the focus on Japanese literature. I could easily see myself incorporating the content presented into my curriculum.
As I mentioned in one of my discussion posts, my partner teacher showed Raise the Red Lantern to his class and received a positive response. He found the movie of his own accord, and we only later discussed that I had learned about it in my seminar. His students were very intrigued and had a lot to discuss about the movie. He did not, however, do much historical context prior to showing the film. I would definitely work with him to incorporate some background about the Cultural Revolution and the film makers’ context. I found that his students focused too much on the sensational aspects of concubines and perhaps came away with some stereotypes or incomplete knowledge of Chinese culture. I believe if we refocus on what this film meant to Chinese film production and Chinese film culture, students would have a more nuanced and sophisticated view of this time in Chinese history.
The other content area that I will definitely incorporate into my curriculum is the Classical Japanese Literature. I was very captivated by the literature and how women played a great part in Heian literature despite their social status. I believe the poetry embodying these nostalgic, mournful ideals would be appealing to students. In fact, I made a very detailed unit plan on this very subject and posted it to the forum! I fully intend on using it next year. It’s such a great opportunity to connect history and literature, as well as have students create literature as well!
There is so much more I could teach, particularly the Cosmopolitan Chinese literature that Professor Ye so wonderfully lectured on; however, I believe one of the greatest things I got from this seminar was the knowledge I will keep for myself— for now. I went to Japan last year, but I so wish I had taken this seminar before my trip. With this foundation, I can continue enriching my knowledge about East Asia before I take my next adventure— and then I’ll tell my students all about it!
edited by lsetiarto on 6/16/2017
AnonymousTaking part in both the Modern and Traditional East Asia seminars provided me with a wonderful learning experience for which I am truly grateful. The speakers, the guests, the setting—everything about this seminar made the drive from Bakersfield well worth it. In the past year I feel that I have learned so much more about this part of the world than I did; however, I realize I have only scratched the surface and I want to learn more. Nowadays I find myself regularly monitoring news and other content from Asia, and otherwise consuming (with eagerness) the culture, history, and politics of a part of the world I did not give as much thought to in the past.
These two survey classes gave me a number of ideas that I can appropriate for the classroom. Since I teach Economics, I can use much of what I learned about modern China in straightforward economics lessons. Last session (Modern East Asia) I created a lesson comparing China's Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) to the country's Special Economic Zones (1980s-) which I intend to use this next school year. With the Traditional China Seminar, where economics is not so overt, I have to be more creative. The lesson I developed for this session combines the old with the new in order to explain China's economic trajectory, by comparing Daoism and Confucianism to the "Invisible Hand" and other tenants of classical economics. The idea here is for students to deepen their understanding of key economic concepts (opportunity cost, free market, scarcity, etc) by applying them to China's economy, and at the same time exposing them to the underlying philosophies that inform and shape Chinese thinking.
AnonymousAlthough I am starting off the year with a simple creative writing unit, I plan on addressing significant and complex aspects about East Asia such as cultural and religious practices, gender norms, the Cultural Revolution, K-Pop phenomenon (Hallyu), and poetry. My students read, annotate, and respond to a news article around once a week, and I plan on giving them news, opinion, and informational articles about the aforementioned topics. I plan on supplementing these my AOWs (Article of the Week) with videos. The reason I want to include all of these in my instruction from now on is because I realized that my students were not getting enough diversity in their curriculum. Yes, we read and analyze texts that mirror their lived experience, but they do not read enough about other people’s lived experiences, especially those from East Asia. I actually have no idea how much my students know or don’t know about East Asian history, culture, and practices. I was honestly a bit uncomfortable to teach about East Asia because 1) I don’t know much about it, and 2) Teaching about East Asia requires me to look inward into my own identity as a Korean-American, and take pride in that. Growing up in in Southern California surrounded by non-Koreans, I grew up ashamed and embarrassed to be Korean, mainly due to the way Asians were portrayed (and not portrayed) in media, and because of the bullying I went through based on my ethnicity. I kind of repressed all of that. However, I slowly realized, through educating myself about East Asia, that I should be proud and woke (as my students say) about my culture. I really am so glad I took this class; it made me proud to be who I am. The prouder and more confident I am as a human, the better teacher I will become, and that is a goal I am constantly struggling toward.
AnonymousSee Attachment
AnonymousWhen I applied for this series of seminars, I did not really know what to expect. As a science teacher, my prior knowledge on these subjects was basically zero. My hope was to come away with a better understanding of some of the historical contexts of East Asian countries, because at least half of the student population at my school has either immigrated from, or their families immigrated from countries in East Asia. I can definitely say that I have accomplished this hope. These seminars have exposed me to material that I never would have known existed and have sparked an even greater interest than I had previously (because of course there is still so much more to learn!). These seminars gave me information to help me connect with and build relationships with my students, but at times I struggled with finding ways to connect the information to my curriculum (chemistry and AP biology). However, when I was able to make a connection, it was such an amazing experience that I knew my students would be interested in. A big moment like this for me was when I came across an article in a scientific journal that discussed the y chromosome of Genghis Khan and how they believe it can be traced through his lineage into today's population. This absolutely fits into the AP Biology curriculum when we talk about genetics. These seminars helped me to grow as an educator, but also allowed for an immense amount of personal growth through the speakers, the readings, and the make up assignments I completed.
AnonymousFinal Essay Reflection
The seminar about East Asia provided me with the opportunity to access resources and participated in discussions with people who are experts in the field. I gained many new insights and significant refinement to others. Being in America, learning about the history of the United States was a given, but it was not until I was in college that I was able to take classes on our countries’ histories. It was interesting to see that histories and the way that people in the world interacted with each is not limited to one country, but that all actions can have dramatic impact on other countries. For example, the constant struggle and near crises between United States and China and skirmishes that to date have not led to war. In my school, the students are predominantly Latin, with a very limited number of African-Americans. These students are not exposed to other cultures and most of them have a very limited knowledge of everything Asian. To them, all Asians are alike, so educating and informing them about the various East Asian countries is a necessity. I would like to expose them to the cultures and norms about East Asia with the hope that even if though Asians people look different, we have similarities and the values that we put upon culture are not different than them. Some of the materials that I found useful, were the types of castles that the Japanese built over the years, the different types of poems (i.e, Haiku, T’ang poetry, and Sijo), movie clips, and K-Pop to name some. I believe that my students will benefit tremendously through exposure and knowledge. Dia de Los Muertos is extremely important to them and this is a time of paying respect to the dead, and I can incorporate this in with the Shinto beliefs and filial piety in Confucianism.
edited by ahuynh on 6/20/2017
AnonymousThe East Asia seminar was a terrific experience that greatly opened my eyes to the variety of topics that one can include into their curriculum. I was particularly intrigued by the multiples lectures on poetry, a topic that generally does not peak my interest, but the way it was presented was thorough and demonstrated a way any teacher can incorporate into their classroom.
In particular I took the approach of looking at the culture of the countries and how that could have impacted the development. We spent time discussing Korea and how there is a unique culture in Korea that dates back centuries.
I also very much enjoyed learning about Japanese culture, a topic that is popular at the school I teach at! I wish to be able to fuse these different cultures into my classroom to expose students to new places around the world.
A new part of my curriculum for AP Human Geography, a class with a full unit on culture, is to have cooking classes with different parents to learn how to cook one dish from the variety of cultural backgrounds that are represented in my classroom. Seeing the history of Japanese food was a perfect match to be able to go more in depth of Japanese culture.
I also was fascinated by Confucius and Mencius and their teachings. Too often teachers use quotes (to use as inspiration or to start a class discussion) that are from Western Europe or Judeo-Christian backgrounds, but wow did Confucius have some great one liners! Using a more diverse set of religious or ethical or moral teachings is the best way to expose students that there is a vast and rich history to East Asia. Just as I have begun to look more into Confucius and other scholars, I hope to spark that interest with my students.
AnonymousHaving gone to China in the winter a few years back, I remained curious about it’s past. My understanding of East Asia in general was very limited, I knew things happened, the broad strokes, but I didn’t know exactly what things, and I didn’t know what picture those broad strokes were painting. So, I joined this class when the opportunity arose. Having now taken what amounts to a crash course in East Asian history, literature, and religion, I know far more than I bargained for, which is the best possible outcome. I am always looking for ways to enhance my teaching curriculum, and new knowledge that I can add to my repertoire to inform the things I should inform students about. Unfortunately, teaching High School Math doesn’t easily lend itself to discussing the finer points of Japanese military history, or comparing Confucianism to Buddhism to the various Western and Abrahamaic religious philosophies. But thankfully, next year, I will be teaching an Advisory class of sorts, where I will be able to have some flexibility with the curriculum, and that might be a good place to introduce some of the ideas about this part of the world to my students.
One thing that I got from this class that I hope to share is that this part of the world has deep roots that go back further than anything we experience in the USA. And, with some exposure to these roots, it can help paint a bigger picture of the world and lead to a better understanding of the people in it. Something I’d like to share with my students is to give them some context to things they have seen in pop culture, like the Samurai. I think the story of the 47 Ronin would be a great introduction to that time period, especially when I tell them that one of the things the Ronin got in trouble for was not registering their vendetta! That’s a great way to start to talk about the Tokugawa Order and how rule-based it was, and that can lead down the rabbit hole to the different kinds of leaders that Japan has had. Another thing in the same vein is to talk about Confucianism and Buddhism and what it means to them, or, more likely what they *think* it means to others. Then we can talk about how those ideas came to be and how they have influenced that part of the world. I think they’d especially be interested to know that Buddah and Confucius and Pythagoreas were alive at the same time, and before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle!
I appreciate what I am taking away from this course, and hope to use my knowledge now as a jumping off point to fill in more details as I learn more about East Asia and it’s history.
edited by bmitchell on 6/20/2017
AnonymousThis seminar has opened my eyes help me understand much of what is going on in the news today. I also gained a lot of important knowledge of how to better teach my students about Asia. This seminar in particular, will help me become a better teacher, especially because the Professors discussion of Medieval Asia, which is a standard for teaching the Seventh Grade curriculum. I gained a lot of insightful information from Professor Yamashita’s discussion of the Warrior Class in Japan and am creating my curriculum on that topic. I especially appreciated how he made each idea a “puzzle” and created questions so the students were the ones predicting what happened based on the images and then he gave further information. It created for a more engaging presentation instead of the normal lecture.
Looking at Facebook the other day, I was shown a video about the founder of Alibaba. I had previously never heard of that company before (I know I live under a rock) and because of this course, now knew who this was and what the company was about. I can now better understand many of the videos and other items I come into contact with on a daily basis. This course has opened my eyes to East Asia and its predominance in the world news.
Because of what is going on in the news today with North Korea and other East Asian areas, we really need to understand the interconnectedness of the world and this course helps teachers with that understanding. Teachers like myself who did not grow up during the Cultural Revolution and/or Cold War need courses such as this to get a better understanding of how much Asia has influenced the Foreign Policy of the United States. I did not know how important the US and East Asian relationship was until this seminar. I can now help my students understand the importance of this topic and become a much better teacher.
AnonymousThere is so much of this course that applies to my students. The sharing across China, Korea and Japan; the religions/philosophies; the geography use; the governments, both who was in charge and how they governed; and the arts and innovations from each culture. In addition, the styles of teaching that I experienced from the presenters really made me look at what I was doing and how I could make changes in my classes.
I would like to incorporate many of the excerpts from the class when looking at what was shared. I would like my students to find the pieces that interest them and dig into why and who shared. I would also like them to see how shared ideals, religions, and technology was changed or adapted in the new country.
The debate we did in class was an incredible way to experience each of the religions/ philosophies. This will definitely be added to my class. It meets with the AVID philosophy at our school, in rigor and collaboration. It also uses a type of Socratic seminar that invigorates the students, and helps them to develop problem solving and logic skills.
Geography in our grade level, seventh, can be very dry. When Dr. Yamashita shared the information about the castles in Japan, it gave me a new way of showing how people can interact with their geography that may interest students. I also want to use the note style of Dr. Yamashita. I want to create a kind of puzzle within the notes, so students are actually using the information in a meaningful way.
The literature that Lynne Miyazake and Yang Ye shared was really helpful. Until their lectures, I had no idea of the importance of poetry, The Pillow Book, or The Tale of Genji. I only knew they were part of the standards, but now I can incorporate them in a more accurate way. I plan to have students follow some of the poetry examples to write poems to different people. They will have to pick paper, writing utensil, and maybe ask a fellow student to help if their penmanship is poor. I also want students to see and make lists using The Pillow Book as an example. The Tale of Genji manga will more than likely be what I use to demonstrate its importance. However, I also want to have students find out how often it has been translated and made into movies and books.
As I go through more of the shared information from the class, and from classmates, I will undoubtedly create and update my lessons. I enjoyed the course and learned more than I anticipated.
edited by canderson on 6/21/2017
AnonymousLearning about cultures that are distinct from one’s own is essential to personal growth. It is important to build ones’ capacity to understand the unfamiliar. The experience revolving around this semester is that of expanded knowledge, intrigue, as well as overwhelming exhaustion. The information presented in this seminar were well-researched, well presented, and the human stories specifically around the Cultural Revolution in China were profound.
Every speaker had passion for their topic. It was very obviously through the amount of information given in each session that these scholars are at the top of their game and the expert in their field. In each session, I obtained an in depth understanding of each country’s origin and rich history. Not only was I able to feel confident about my knowledge base but the reading helped me contextualize the details and facts given so I was able to think critically about each topic. I truly felt that I was given a historians’ perspective of each country and can create a perspective of my own so that I am able to translate this material for my students.
Having a strong understanding of multiple cultures keeps me well rounded and relative to my profession. Student engagement is the holy grail for every teacher. Therefore, if one is going to build background knowledge, the delivery of information needs to be concise and relatable so students can build the correct schema. Thus, adapting information to meet students’ academic as well as socio-emotional needs is the crux of every effective unit, lesson, or assessment. This institute is rich in scholarly aptitude and knowledge base. Teachers bring the realness and classroom challenges to the information.
Realness begins with the peoples’ stories that arise in every civilization. When I start a lesson with narratives about people and what they overcame or achieved in their lives I get the most participation and engagement in the lesson. Therefore, my only critique of the institute is the lack of face-to face planning time. I would have enjoyed unpacking the information with my fellow teachers even if it that meant cutting short some of the lectures. An online forum has its place and valuable but nothing replaces real-time face-to-face conversations with colleagues.
edited by smaldonado on 6/22/2017
edited by smaldonado on 6/22/2017