Issues brought up in class

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

While in Seoul, my husband Tim and I were amidst a labor protest. The protest was being clolsely watched by the Korean poilice force whlch consisted of a few hundred riot gear clad officers. Everything we saw looked like a preaceful demonstration, and by the reaction of the Korean people on the streets, this apparently is not uncommon.

Attached is a photo.

Caryn

[Anonymous]

Yang Ye was outstanding in his presentation. Very passionate and knowledgeable about the subject. Thorougly enjoyed his demonstration of singing a poem. Would like to ask him a few questions about Hiaku and Tanka poems.

[Anonymous]

Interesting but not as polished as the Ye's presentation. Not sure it was all of her fault as Jennifer tried to keep our attention for 3 hours. Really like the guide she provided for reading Korean letters. Her weakness was in the use of notes during presentation but recognized that she does have knowledge of the history of Korea. She probably needed more planning time but appreciate her efforts to summarize the legends for us.

[Anonymous]

There's a great article in the July Smithsonian Magazine on Korea. If you don't get this magazine, let me know and I can bring it to class. I'd really like to see us share articles, books, songs--whatever that relates to this class.

[Anonymous]

Emily,
I just posted in recommended reading about a favorite author, Jhumpa Lahiri. check it out.
Edie
[Edit by="emarrs on Jul 29, 8:39:57 PM"]Opps, I mean I posted it in Asian lit in LAUSD schools. [/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Once again, really enjoyed Yang Ye's presentation. Really has indepth knowledge of the subject and his analysis of the paintings was just as outstanding. Definitely has an appreciation of the arts and it shows.

[Anonymous]

Thu-huong Nguyen-Vo's presentation was very informative. The First three selection were very intriguing and made a statement about the society in which the author's were living. I liked the discussions and felt the presenter did a nice job of trying to keep us involved. I especially like "Breaking Off" as the author has to use, in my opinion, a little bit of remonstrance in order to try and bring about change through his writing.

[Anonymous]

I also truly enjoyed Professor Ye's presentation on both days. I enjoyed his passion about his subject matter as well as his singing of the poetry. He even inspired me to research more about Chinese poetry to use in class.

[Anonymous]

If anyone is interested in a a cross-cultural application of this, I just finished a class which explored the common themes of Hispanic culture to various world cultures. South American poetry, for example, was meant to be chanted, and they too, along with Turkish and Arab nations, use a five note system of music rather than a 7 note (A-G). Let me know if you'rwe interested. I thought it was a good way to draw in and make a connection with a hispanic population of students.[Edit by="jfirestein on Aug 5, 1:23:33 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Excellent field trip. The presenter was interesting but hard to understand. However, liked hearing the background on Buddhism. Really liked his statement about the parents and the strong role they play in raising up their kids. Robert Brown was very enthusiastic about his work at the museum and the about the artifacts as well. Interesting to find out how significant some of those statues were to their culture. Also, Linda did an excellent job of organizing the time and event.

jerome

[Anonymous]

Clay and Linda,
Thank you both for organizing an educational and enjoyable day! The temple was magnificent and the presentation useful--what I could understand of it. The food was an excellent variety and well prepared. It's a treat to be able to chat with other seminar participants. Professor Brown's presentation was lively and informative.(...hadn't expected to learn about the significance of penis positions in Asian Art--and I'm not sure I'll be able to pass it on to my students but I'm sure I can shock a few of my friends!)

Clay, your background information (offered as you bashed around in the bus) gave a useful historical perspective on Thailand and you managed to keep all of us enthralled discussing your marriage. (Sorry you didn't get to eat anything as a result!)

It was a great day! Thank you both. Emily[Edit by="esmythe on Aug 2, 9:05:27 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="esmythe on Aug 2, 9:07:14 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed our field trip on Friday. Professor Brown's lecture about Theravada Buddhism was informative. I wished we could have had more time to hear him speak. He sparked a different view point I hadn't thought of with the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words."

Caryn

[Anonymous]

In addition to some wonderful new facts and perspectives on the different areas of Asia that we've studied, I think the presenters, such as Yang Ye and Prof. Brown, etc. have also shown me that displaying enthusiasm for your subject is an amazingly effective teaching strategy.
Though I am constantly enthralled by the events and people in the history I teach, lack of time, and student behavior has often kept me from showing my love and enjoyment of the subjects I teach. I would love to have in my classroom the same kind of lively discussions that we have had in this seminar. I realize that the rather low level of skills and background knowledge of my students would prevent the same level of discussion as we've had in this seminar, but I am going to try to engage my students' critical thinking skills more regularly(even though they whine they "don't like thinking") rather than only occasionally, while trying to cover all areas outlined in the framework. I think if I have more fun with the subjects the students will have more fun too, despite our school district's trend toward scripted, uniform teaching.
I realize that making learning more fun is hardly a revolutionary concept, but I need to do it more consistently for myself as well as my students. The times that I do this now, e.g. teaching Chinese calligraphy or "shan" painting for China, showing how to make illuminated manuscripts or stained-glass windows for Europe, while not required by the framework,have produced the deepest, most permanent learning for my students. I may seem to be getting off the subject of this seminar, but what has impressed me as much as anything else in this class has been the joy for the subjects that has been shown by most of the presenters. I feel privileged to be able to experience not only their deep knowledge of their subjects, but also the obvious passion they have for their areas of study. [Edit by="sperez on Aug 4, 9:36:01 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I too loved what I heard and saw on our field trip. Prof. Brown's notion of "a picture
is worth a thousand words" is an idea I've always believed too, as much as I also believe
that words can paint marvelous pictures in our heads. Pictures, especially for younger students, are a great way of showing ideas and information in context, thus producing a better understanding of the meaning and importance of what they are learning. While I've always tried to display posters, pictures, and realia to get students to have a better "feel" for what we are studying, I plan to do this in a more systematic way next semester, by building something like portal learning centers where the students can explore and experience all, or at least, many of the different aspects of the cultures that we are studying. I've thought about this before, but I'm going to really try to do it next semester. This is the closest I can come to a student response I once got on a survey question about what the students would like to do in the history class. Her answer was, "I think it would be good to take a field trip to each place that we study." While reading that I sighed in agreement, and thought ,"wouldn't that be great." While I know virtual tours can be interesting, there's nothing like experiencing something with all your senses at the same time to make something real. That's what I'm going to try to do with these learning centers.

[Anonymous]

I also enjoyed the field trip very much. The highlight was listening to Professor Brown explain the connections between Hinduism and Buddhism and contrast them with the Judeo/Christian/Islamic traditions. I thought it was an excellent way to present the material. I also loved learning about the Gods and why they are so popular. I plan to locate 6th grade level books on those stories for my literature unit on India and China.[Edit by="mmanes on Aug 4, 10:17:40 PM"][/Edit]

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