Final Essay

[cgao]

Please post your reflective essay here.

[Lin Kuang]

There're so many things we have learned since we took the course. I am planning to continue the study this Falll semester. Looking forward to some excitment and inspirations. A life-long learner can always find fun.

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[Juan Liebana-Mena]

Attached is my final essay. Thanks again so much for this opportunity. It was a quite enjoyable course to take and I learned a lot from the materials and interactions with other teachers. I'm looking forward to the second course in the summer. 

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[Jacqueline Mercado]

Attached you will find my final reflection for this seminar.  Thank you for the educational journey.

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[Stella Castro]

The seminar is over and I just want to say that, (I also was a participant the fall seminar), again it was a wonderful experience. It was so interesting to learn about East Asia. This seminar is without a doubt one of the best course/seminars/class, I have ever taken. I learned so much and not only that, the guest speakers partaking in the/this seminar were awesome. From the talks about Africa, and the lions from Mr.Simba, to the devastating information about the tremendous pollution China is facing and has faced for many years. It was also a great pleasure hearing and listening to Mr. Yamashita speaks about warrior Japan.  It was also a pleasure listening to the other guest speakers like Bill Bikales, speaking about the poverty China faces and the other guest speakers.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the readings and the session’s topics. One of the best and most enjoyable reading for me was the “Letter from Emperor”, in this reading the emperor shut down all the requests of a king to enter his kingdom, with only the mere and plain facts of the situation/s, but, as one read along, (or at least I),  interpreted it as a sarcastic satire. But in reality it wasn’t, it was just the Emperors stating his responses in a matter of fact manner. .Another reading that I was really fond of, was that of the Chinese Philosophy’s, (Daoism, Buddhism, Maoism and Confucianism), That was an excellent reading, not only was it informative of the different philosophy’s but it also gave us a clear differentiation of the philosophies, It was a kind of compare and contrast version, and that is one of the things that we, as teachers teach our students, Comparing and Contrasting.

Another very interesting thing for me to learn was about The Filial Piety, which was such an interesting thing to learn about. Although I had always known this existed in the Asian Cultures, but not to the extent of the comic books, were which were assigned to us as readings. Although they were fun readings, as I read them I could not fathom that they could be a reality, and then boom it was mentioned in one of the sessions, as how much Filial Piety exists and to what extent they exist in the Asian families. Filial Piety would and could be used to teach the students about respecting others, especially the/their parents, the elders, and also themselves.

One of the most fun parts of this seminar was learning how to pronounce some sounds or certain words of the Chinese alphabetic principle, although I do not really think that they have an Alphabetic Principle, but rather they use Chinese characters, which could mean and represent different but like similar things/objects, words. Here antonyms could be taught to the students in the English language.  It was very interesting to look at the Chinese characters and to learn about what some of the figures mean. However learning about pronouncing some words was also fun and interesting to learn.  For example I always pronounced the word “”tempura as, tem-purr-a, but was told it is pronounced temp- ura, 2 syllables as opposed to my 3 syllables. This was a learning moment for me a, “ah ha”, moment. Other words such as Qing, is  pronounced as “Chin”,  Also the word “Song” is not pronounced as the word “song”, like music correlated  but it is pronounced as “song”, with a long  “O”, vowel sound. Teaching the students ‘Phonics”, can be applicable here.

If one thinks about it, there are many ways to teach the students about Asia. I just wish there would be more seminars about Asia ,as there is so much to learn and also to assist/help us in bringing Asia into the/our classrooms.  

 This seminar is truly an interesting one. There is so much to learn. Plus it is also a fun one, as one gets to meet and interact with colleagues, voice one’s opinions, ask questions, etc. It is a truly learning experience.  Thank you so much USC U.S. China Institute!

 

A special thanks also to Mr. Clayton Dube and Ms. Catherine Gao.

[Percy Ortiz]

The seminar led by Professor Clay Dube, covered two thousand years of East Asian history. The overview of this geographic region included art, religion, the environment, and societal changes that developed within this time frame. The readings included recently found documents in the Dunhuang caves, overviews of Japanese history, and contemporary western interpretations of Chinese history. My understanding of life during the Han and Tang Dynasties, where contracts were made and penal codes were strict, deepened. I also gained a better perspective on the development of public education, and its availability to common people. Although the dominating culture was Confucian and Buddhist, signs of diversity were present throughout the readings, where one could see different combinations and variations of those schools of thought according to place and location.

The forum allowed me to reengage in the topic of East Asia in a manner where I was able gain more knowledge of this vast region through sharing ideas and thoughts on the online forum. The lectures that the professors gave provided unique point of views that I might have overlooked. Dr. Ye reinforced the value of teaching history in conjunction with the arts by including poetry, paintings, and fiction into one’s curriculum, as the author in the Tale of Genji states, “fiction and prose fill the gaps that history leaves out.” Dr. Cheng also provided a template on how to engage students, using questions and visual aids to develop independent inquiry while complementing discussion and writing.

Reading other teacher reflections allowed me to glean different strategies and to consider different points of views, like having a debate in the classroom on different Chinese schools of philosophy. Another idea that was garnered included various perspectives on the Mongols. Also, having students experience food culture through tasting noodles or the development of different snacks reminded me that history is alive. Finally, looking at how people interacted and continue to engage with their environment today can allow students to develop their own explanations on why the Great Wall was built or how castles evolved over time in Japan to meet societal needs.

My take away from the seminar was that every place has a past, but history will always be fluid and up to interpretation, which makes it a fascinating yet combative subject in the sphere of education. Nonetheless, if we can foster in children a macro and micro understanding of how history changes we might have more people that are interested in learning about other cultures and histories, and this seminar made it clear that to teach I must keep learning, and Dr. Dube and Ms. Gao showed us that to learn to is enrich those you teach.

[Christine Xu]

Over this past two month seminar learning about the East Asia I have learned a lot about the Asian history and cultures from this educational journey and I got many ideas for my own teaching. 

The readings from the seminar are very-thought provoking, and the writings of reflection on what we read and talked make me think deeply about how I can use them into my own teaching.

I teach Mandarin, and I plan to use the knowledge I learned into my classes to make my lessons be more interesting. I believe teaching Asian culture and history can help my students understand Asian and Chinese culture better in order to learn the language better. For example, I will talk about Qing Art, Chinese tea, Beijing Opera, Chinese characters, and Chinese calligraphy etc. in my class. We will watch videos, and students will do research about the topics as well. They will talk and share ideas in peers and small groups to reflect their understanding. Doing this could help my students view Asian and Chinese culture from different point of view.

Also, I learned a lot Japanese culture from this seminar. For example I learned a lot of information regarding Japanese warriors, Japanese castles, Japanese sushi, and the role of rice in the Japanese Culture, etc. Knowing this enable me to understand Japanese culture better in order to know deeper about Asian culture. In My class I will let my students to compare and contrast western culture to eastern culture, and Chinese culture to Japanese culture. This will help them understand Asian culture better.  

Additionally, I learned that watching a film is a good idea to teach the language and the culture. Students will be able to hear the authentic language from the film. By listening to the music and seeing the visuals students can learn different Chinese lives at the time. From viewing the scenes, they will be able to see the Chinese architectures, communities, Chinese dresses, etc. Then they can use scenes analysis framework to explore why the director chose the setting, camera angles, lighting, and music and what choices do they create the scene’s tone. Additional, students will reflect on the scene individually and in groups, and they will create their own scene and present it to the rest of the class.

 

[Laura Gonzales]

I arrived knowing very little about East Asia and I feel like I leave the seminar with a few things that I can pass along to my students. I felt like I was doing a disservice to my students since I would just rush along the East Asian content because I didn't have to much input. It was a pleasure being part of this years seminar, I had previously received emails about the seminar but I finally gathered all the requirements and signed up. I am glad I made time for the seminar this year, I was excited to attend every meeting and I left each meeting with lots of ideas, this is something I will encourage my colleagues to attend in the future.

 

One of the ideas that I will borrow and incorporate into my classroom next year will be the four schools of thought covered during the 3^rd session. I will definitely try the debate in class and assign group of students to Confusist, Mohism, Daoism, and  Legalism. Another Activity that I will incorporate more in my lessons will be picture analysis, gallery walks and discussions about the time period. Not only will I teach about China but I also learned a lot about Japan, in one of Professor’s Yamashita’s lecture he compared Feudal Japan with feudal European that would make a great lesson about comparing and contrasting.

 

I wrote down several ideas that I would like to use in my classroom but another one that is worth mentioning is the workshop in which Simba, Hornby, and Bikales  lectured.  I love to learn about history I think it is important but this workshop made me think about also teaching my student about current issues and teaching them about becoming civil minded individuals. I would like to show my students how to be activist by teaching them about Simba’s work and how they could be solution oriented by teaching them about China’s problems with pollution.

 

Overall I had a great experience attending the seminar. I leave wanting to further my education in East Asian studies. A special thank you to Catherine Gao and Professor Clay Dube

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonathan Tam]

I consider any form of class or professional development successful If I can walk away with at least one thing useful for  my professional or personal life. And I find myself walking away from each of these seminars with 5 things learned or 10 things learned each time. There has been without a doubt a lot of personal merit that class has provided me with, but as a class with the intention of improving the visibility of East Asia for American students, there is much that I will be bringing back into the classroom.

 

Having taken classes through the China Institute in the past, I have typically used the photographs and anecdotes the most. But, something that I focused on in particular this year was how to create standards based instructional units. Many of the seminars focused on a particular question to be answered. In Seminar 2, Clay posed the question of why standardization strengthened the Qin dynasty? In order to introduce highways and trade. And in Seminar 6, Professor Ye posed the question of why people suffer? In order to segway into the appeal of buddhism. These inquiries engage student thinking and are ways that i can make the learnings from this seminar more appealing as one of my school’s instructional coaches.

 

Beyond just effective Depth of Knowledge (DOK) questions, the seminar also did a great job of providing framework for understanding cause and effect. The class constantly focused on understanding the multiple implications and reasons for historical events such as the rise and fall of the Qin Dynasty, the appeal of different schools of thought in China and even the end of the warring states in Japan. And while this cause and effect isn’t as appealing as a pretty photograph for students to learn about - it certainly is standards aligned. Where as many of these can be found in textbooks and online resources, understanding the spheres and layers to each of these reasons typically is not. Textbooks typically teach things such as the fact that the political climate has influences in the socio-economic climate. But, what they tend not to teach is that there is an international climate and a rising school of thought in the young people of the educational climate. There are so many layers that bind us in a much greater picture of a global time period.

 

I think that whereas I initially was “along for the ride” so to speak with the first seminar last fall, I see a greater and more realistic role that this content can exist in schools and can benefit more people than just myself. I want to take a moment to thank all the professors and teachers and organizers of this program. And I certainly plan to recommend this to others in the future.

[Sandra Soltero-Torres]

     I found the East Asia seminar to be an amazing experience.  I was able to expand my knowledge on East Asia and I learned about many different topics that I had limited knowledge about prior to the course.  I loved listening to the guest speakers and I am looking forward to participating in another seminar like this one! 

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[Tanish Fortson]

I am once again very thankful for taking this class and am very appreciative of this program offered to teachers. I have once again learned a lot about the history of Asia. I am grateful for this experience and have told other colleagues about this wonderful opportunity. This class really opened up my mind in terms of cultural history, traditions, art history, and Asia. I have traveled to parts of Europe and the United Kingdom and cannot wait to travel to Asia. 

Most of the information presented was not appropriate for Kindergarten and first grade students. Cognitively, my students would never understand this type of information. Most of what I learned will need to modify and differentiated in order to teach my students. With summer break rapidly approaching I will not have enough time to do that much with my students on work around Asia but wil will try to squeeze a few things in. 

We will learn about Confucianism.  I will introduce Confucius as a teacher in ancient China who had strict ideas of how people should behave. I will also tell my students that Confucius hand many rules that you must follow. This concept might be difficult for 5 and 6 year olds so I would need to create a craft as well to go with this potential lesson such as a drawing a picture of Confucius and writing down a few of his rules. Another lesson I can do with my students before the school year ends is a lesson called mapping Japan. First students will research the islands of Japan using a 3-D topographic map. When completed students will create a 3-dimensional scale model of Japan’s islands. Students will show landforms such as mountains, rivers, and lakes. Have students paint the map and when it dries label everything.  Another lesson I that I can do with my students after we return to school will involve Chinese New Year. I can teach my students about the 12 animals and their characteristics. I can also explain how 1/6 of the world celebrate Chinese New Year and is the longest public holiday. Most workers get 7-12 days off and celebrate with family. My students will enjoy this because and we can make crafts such as dragons, lanterns, and animals. 

I would have to say that the guest that I enjoyed most was Simba and his presentation on saving the lions. He inspired me in many ways. I’m not going to leave my job and go live in the jungle but I do want to spend a summer volunteering and giving my time to a cause. My favorite activity in class with the debate I was apart of the Mohists group. The Mohistspromotes a philosophy of impartial caring; that is, a person should care equally for all other individuals, regardless of their actual relationship to him or her.  They should be the same toward everyone. There should be no hierarchy. Treat people the same with love the same which of how you would treat your family. These are rule to live by in real life and I really enjoyed learning about the Mohists. 

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

    I had very little knowledge of East Asian history when I became a teacher and quickly realized that this was a problem when I was given AP World History courses to teach because 20% of the content is focused on Asia, and I was not prepared to teach any of it. After two USC seminars, I now feel much more comfortable teaching the content of my course. I can answer students’ questions and design unique lessons centered around East Asia. During each lecture this spring, I took detailed notes on my laptop, and at the end of my notes I have multiple lesson plan ideas. This summer I plan to create some of those lessons. This is the biggest benefit from having taken the course.

   As a hands on learner, my favorite sessions were the philosophy session because we had a class activity that was engaging, and the field trip. I learned so much when we visited the Japanese and Chinese Gardens in the Huntington Garden. I had such a great time that I returned and purchased an annual pass (I’ve been back 4 times now).

    I look forward to applying all of these seminar sessions and homework assignments to creating engaging lessons for students. I want to create the Academic Controversy on Marco Polo, write a dialogue around the letters we read, and incorporate more poetry and art into my curriculum. I also would like to modify some of the articles we read into short readings to use in class. Overall, not only am I more familiar with East Asian history, I am ready to create new lessons and take this knowledge to my students.

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