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Rob_Hugo@PortNW.
Rob_Hugo@PortNWFinal Essay
Participating in this past China-East Asia, Spring 2017 Institute at USC has been very enlightening, educational, enriching and rewarding. I truly appreciated the intructors, guest speakers, powerpoints, movies, discussions, assignments, handouts and materials that were given to us. As a new teacher to the LAUSD- Los Angeles Unified School District and Middle School, I am eagerly searching for information and resources to help my students and I engage and learn about Ancient Civilizations, specifically Ancient China and East Asia.
As a teacher of middle school, specifically, 6th grade English/Ancient Civilization/English Language Development to longtime English learners in a socially economically disadvantaged neighborhhod, it has been a challenge to get students to respect and appreciate cultures different from their own. However, I have found teaching from a biographical, invention, artistic, and media perspective to be very engaging, relatable, and successful for my students. Most are visual, kinesthic, and tactile learners. Therefore, when students are creating and responding to art I find they have an interest in the cultures'contrubituions because they become motivated to give their full attention to the appreciation and education of the arts' ancient histories, cultures, and concepts that may appear to them as unrelatable or uninteresting at first.
Some of the concepts and ideas that peaked my interest the most during the seminar included the Shijo Poem, K Pop, the debate of Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, Mohism and the engineering of Ancient castles.
The Shijo poem is new literature for me and I look forward to presenting the Shijo as well as the most popular known Haiku poem. I really enjoyed writing my own poem in class and I think my students will have great success writing their own original Shijo poem, as well. The K- Pop trend is an exciting way to introduce Korean culture and compare and contrast our American pop culture with Korean pop culture as well as include a field trip to the Korean museum.
The four schools of thought from Ancient China including Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Mohism are directly related to the Ancient Civilization curriculum for 6th grade. Having my students present a debate or discussion in groups on how their school of thought best answers a question or issue on how to live in a perfect society is a very engaging way to check for students understanding of each philosophy.
Lastly, I would like to incorporate the engineering of the ancient castles. I think students would love incoporating (S.T.E.A.M.) Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, or Math to build a carriage, create an ancient chinese writing scroll, or most specifically build an ancient chinese castle. Using materials such as: cardboard, foam, boxes, popsicle sticks, glue guns, clay, paint, and rulers students can create original designs of a model castle in groups utilizing the 21st Century skilss of (Collaboation, Communication, Creativity, and Cooperation).
In conclusion, I will incorpate all the amazing resources found on the internet, specifically, The National Consortium of Teaching about Asia where there is a great section on the website entitled News that explores infomative current and ancient topics with engaging texts and videos. Also, I will include; the listening of podcasts, writing a Shijo poem, visiting the Korean museum, a viewing of Confucius (2010) the movie, a debatable discussion of Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, and Mohism and a group art project where students will create their own model ancient castles after analyzing ancient castle photos, conducting research, and engaging in discussion on how they plan to build their three dimensional castle. As an assessment students will answer essay prompts discussing their understanding of the concepts explored above. This seminar has equipped me with the confidence and blueprint to teach Ancient China and East Asia in an exciting, engaging, and successful approach for my 6th grade students.