Final Essay

[Stella Castro]

I intend to incorporate East Asia in my teachings/class room by first of all I can take my students on field trips to the Gamble House in Pasadena, and telling my students that Sydney Gamble a member of the Gamble family, was a famous photographer that took many pictures of the Chinese.
Then I can also take then to the Huntington Library and teach them about the plants while strolling though the botanical gardens, emphasizing the Japanese teahouse, and the architecture of the Japanese culture. The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, (Little Tokyo) is where it’s dedicated to the history of Japanese Americans. Then there is the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro. San Pedro is great city to teach my students about East Asia as there are many places here that would accommodate these teachings. First of all the there is the Korean Bell of friendship, the students can learn not only about friendship, (that actually is a standard for my students, as I use the alternate curriculum). I could tech them how to get along with people of all races,(friendship).I can teach my students about the wars in China ,Japan and about the import and exporting of goods as San Pedro is a port and has ships, (opium War), and trade. Then docked in San Pedro is the war ship the USS Iowa, and here again I can teach my students about the self-strengthens and how they wanted to improve the/their military, and visiting San Pedro they can see the actual ship and their maritime museum these places pertaining to East Asia in the sense that people of East Asia had to go through wars, using their militaries, arms and Weapons,, and travel to places via ships. The city of San Pedro can be used also as a geography lesson, in a compare contrast lesson to the map of East Asia.
I can incorporate visiting China town as a Science lesson about the five senses focusing particularly on the sense of taste and we can go to a Chinese restaurant and eat and taste their cuisine. Back in the classroom I can then show them how to prepare a simple Chinese dish, for instance egg rolls.
Then there is the Museum of tolerance the lesson would be in the History subject matter and my students can learn all about the Holocaust. and how the Chinese people in Shanghai were welcoming to the Jewish people as they were trying to leave Nazi controlled Europe on the eve of World war ll.
There are many places here in Los Angeles that can be tied to learning about East Asia All aforementioned places have much great history behind them that there is an array of possible lesson plans to accompany any and all these places.

[Erin Tanguay]

 

I have truly enjoyed this class and I am looking forward to taking the seminar that covers the early historical time period in East Asia since I believe that this is the section that best relates to what I teach. I am a seventh and eighth grade history teacher at Millikan Middle School and Science Academy STEM School. We have two schools co-locating. My students are gifted performers and young scientists. There is so much that I have learned that I can apply to my lessons. For my 8th graders who are studying U.S. history I will incorporate the readings regarding Sun Yat-sen and the Xiong rebellion against the Qing dynasty. How the heroics of George Washington in the Revolutionary War and his decisions as our first President helped to inspire Sun Yat-sen in 1923 when he became the president of China. My students are always asked to write an essay at the end of the year regarding the U.S. Constitution and how it has influenced other nations around the world. This year I will be able to tell them about China’s connection to our founding father. As I mentioned in a post I am planning on connecting Washington’s Farewell Address and the Xiong document and discuss the importance of elected term limits and this was admired by Chinese rebels in 1911. I am taking the STEM school students to Washington D.C. this summer and from the Xiong document I learned that Chinese missionaries had Xu’s words about Washington, “No man in Western history comes close to Washington’s greatness” carved onto a stone and placed at the Washington Monument. After researching this I found that it is stone 194 and you can view it today, which I plan to do with my students.

I am looking forward teaching Japan to my seventh graders this year after hearing Samuel Yamashita’s inspiring lecture on “Establishing the Tokugawa Order.” I particularly liked the way that he designed his lecture by looking at the historical problems or the “histoire probleme” as he put it. I am planning on using this style in other areas of my teaching as well. I have designed my lesson plan for this seminar based on the Samurais, Shoguns, and the Tokugawa Shoganate, which will fit with my standards. After learning of the Battle of Sekigahara by Professor Yamashita, I found a video that is appropriate for my students that clarifies Ieyasu’s rise. I am also planning to modify the three style debate that we did with Professor Dube in class for this section of Japan. I really enjoyed the role playing and I know that my performing art students will too.

I have also found myself thinking about the question “Is history fact or perception” and the three things that shape this; “New People, New Data, and New Questions.” Since professor Dube’s lecture on this I have used this concept in my classroom many days. It has truly made me look at history differently. I even noticed that any articles that I read for this seminar after that lecture this concept was always present. This is a lesson that I will take with me throughout my teaching career. All of the lecturers were amazing and as a lifelong learner I really appreciated the caliber of professors that presented during this seminar. As an undergraduate from UC Berkeley I can say that I have had the privilege of learning from some of the best academic minds and I felt that this program just continued that excellence. I am not surprised after all this is USC.

This seminar has also helped me to fully understand the current political problems that the world is facing and the historical connections to them. I show my students CNNTen.com every morning for breakfast in the classroom and I feel that I can help the students make clearer connections to what they see now that I have taken this seminar. Thank you for a wonderful and intellectually stimulating program. I look forward to your next series.

 

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