Hi everyone,

My name is Amy Stamm, and I teach at a tiny special education high school in Northampton, MA. I taught incarcerated students for years before this, and I'm so appreciating working in a school and context in which the first priority is to do everything we can to help our students to feel safe and cared for. Plus, I am now able to bicycle to work, which fills me with happiness every single day.

I started taking courses with NCTA a number of years ago, and I've loved every one of them. I'm especially excited about this class because I have had a lifelong fascination with design and architecture. I'm viscerally affected by space and aesthetics, and the way different elements shape our moods, interactions, and choices is fascinating to me. How cultural values are expressed through social, visual spaces and how people learn visual techniques and design preferences are things I would like to better wrap my mind around.

Greetings!

My name is Joanna Bourque. I teach visual arts in elementary school (K-5). I have been teaching art integrated with various cultural themes for almost a decade. I have always held an interest in Asian arts and cultures. In college, my studio art focus was Japanese woodblock printmaking and I also was an Asian Studies minor. Having had studied Chinese language for four years and after having taken on tutoring and teaching Chinese 101 for my professor, I had even contemplated becoming a Chinese language teacher instead of an art teacher. 

I try to provide art lessons for my students each year that are related to Asian art and cultural themes, and I have been taking online seminars, webinars, and courses related to Asian art, history, and culture for a few years now. I am excited to delve more into Asian architecture and design and look forward to sharing our ideas.

Hi everyone! My name is Nina Zhou, and I am currently teaching high school History and Social Sciences at a progressive independent school in Santa Monica, CA. Previously, I taught high school History at an independent school in Honolulu, HI, including an upperlevel elective on East Asian studies. As a third-culture person who calls Beijing, Vancouver, and Los Angeles home, I grew up navigating the different cultural and historical landscapes of East Asia and the West. In college, I studied International Relations and Asian Studies, focusing on the political and cultural spheres of China and Japan and their relationship with the U.S. I am fluent in Mandarin Chinese and conversational in Japanese, having studied abroad in Tokyo and conducted field research throughout Japan.

I've always been interested in the programming and curriculum coming out of the U.S.-China Institute at USC, and I'm really excited about this opportunity to learn about an aspect of East Asia that I am less familiar with--its art, asethetics, and architecture. Last year, I taught an Asian Studies course that included a focus on the art of China and Japan. It was the first time I incorporated the study of art and art history into my curriculum, and I really loved how well the students reacted to the more artistic components of the course. Since my academic background is more focused on political science and economics, the experience pushed me to expand my own knowledge of East Asia. Looking forward to learning more awesome things alongside each of you this summer 🙂

Hello! 

My name is Madelyn Masterson and I am a 3rd year teacher in LAUSD.  I teach Biology at John F. Kennedy high schooI. This will be my first course in asian studies and I am looking forward to learning ideas on how to incorporate the study of art and history into our units. Increasing the culural value in my classroom will help me create an open and safe space for my students. I also want to provide more opporutnities for my students to build engineering skills and incorporate models.  

Dear all, 大家好！It is a privilege to participate in the this seminar. My Name is Bin He, a current Chinese teacher at Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles. Before coming to Los Angles, I taught the Chinese language and culture at the U.S. State Department and a public middle school in China for four years each. Last fall, I  teach a new course named 'History's Imprint on Modern Chinese Culture 'and hope to learn more from this seminar regarding Asia culture and its impact. That's why I am a big fan for USC US-China Institute. I look forward to meeting you all soon!

Hello fellow educators! My name is Betsy and I have been an LAUSD teacher for 9 years. I work at an elementary school in central Los Angeles supporting English learners and supporting struggling students. I have taken a few USC China Institute Courses before and I love studying and learning about architecture.

Hello everyone, my name is Marcos and this is my third time in this program. I'm an LAUSD teacher, and I teach history. I'm looking forward to learn about architecture and urbanism in East Asia. At our school, we have a magnet program that focuses in Architecture and I think that my students and I will benefit from this program. I'm looking forward to these lectures, and how to use them for my classroom.