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Anonymous.
AnonymousRobert Marzano in Classroom Instruction that Works, compiles current research and identifies 9 research-based strategies. #2 is summarizing and note taking. Her outlines several other strategies to explicitly teach the skills that are so necessary. I have many students who can draw pictures and retain information. Marzano's work offers some interesting suggestions. Thanks for your insites, too.
Linda
AnonymousI am amazed by the depth and extent of information here. I have been reading posts and find I'm making so many notes that I could easily get overwhelmed. But I appreciate this information. I'll let you know more as I use this.
Linda
AnonymousWell, I teach 8th grade English and found it beneficial for the students to compare and contrast how different cultures deal with the same themes - such as woman's roles in the society and generational relationships - and with the character motivations - what role the culture plays in shaping the characters.
Anonymousi would like to open the discussion on the validity of haiku, and the importance of establishing this as a precedent in the minds of our students as we begin our study of the haiku. naturally, i have done a great amount of research in this area, but i am interested in determining what others think of this. pound and the imagists have their urgent demonstration, but when we view young people studying this genre, i wonder if we might focus instead on delineating two genres:
american haiku- for those interested in proper rhythm and syllabication without losing meaning
haiku-the imagistic quality of the kanji, so much a part of the initial expression in japanese must be preserved
...i know the opinion of the japanese speakers about this, but what of the english speakers? what is your perspective?
AnonymousSome more literature suggestions, for high school students' literature circles or independent reading (also great for teachers to read). Gail Tsukiyama, who has written many great stories about Asia, wrote a novel called Women of the Silk. It is about women in rural China, in 1926, who are employed at a silk factory. The women are there mostly to earn money for their families; their families sent them there because they could not provide for them. What was most interesting in the story was the description of the hairdressing ceremony: a ceremony in which women choose to be single for life, to not marry. The women in the story are survivors--they are rejected by family and forge a way on their own. Another great one is Amy Tan's Bonesetter' s Daughter--it starts with a Chinese American woman, Ruth, dealing with her aging and ill mother. Throughout the story, Ruth discovers her mother's story, what the mother suffered in China, and in the end, gains a better understanding of her mother, and, of her own identity. One more: though this one, I think, would be best left for the adults. It is Nora Okja Keller's Comfort Woman. It is much like Bonesetter's Daughter, in that it is an American daughter trying to understand her mother's past. In this case, Beccah, the daughter, learns that her mother Akiko (the Japanese name given to her--she is Korean) was a comfort woman during WWII. Like Ruth, when she understands what her mother has gone through, she understands her mother better--and her self better. The reason that I say it's probably better for adults is there is a bit of graphic detail in the description of the camps that the comfort women resided in, a bit of detail about what they suffered. But a very powerful read!
AnonymousAny thoughts about designing emersion lessons for “Mandarin?” We are trying to design a step-by-step to put into our elementary lesson unit.
Anonymousjharrington,
I hope that you will post some of your ideas on the web soon. Perhaps when we make our web-sites. We are also working on an elementary unit including Mandarin language arts. Perhaps we could share resources?[Edit by="cashb on Jan 11, 8:35:01 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousHow did you learn to use the Cornell note-taking style? Have you found it useful for some classes vs. others?
Do you know where I may find out more information about this style of note taking? I have used a close-procedure with the students, but not very often. It seems to hlep them, but I would like to have something else to compare it to.
jem
AnonymousI teach second grade and we complete a unit on Folktales with our students. I came across the story Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, which discusses a Chinese tradition of naming their first-born child. My students really enjoyed listening to this story. They were able to choral read along with me. They enjoyed repeating the tongue-twisting name of the character in the book. Sharing folktales with your student is an excellent way to incorporated different countries and cultures.
AnonymousI came across another book to incorporate in your school called Chinese New Year by Tricia Brown. This book discusses Chinese New Year traditions that have been around for 5000 years. It also discusses hoe this holidays relates to Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Easter, and Halloween. Photographs taken in China accompany the book. It can give the students a realistic view of China and celebrating Chinese New Year
AnonymousTeaching Language Arts with the old Western favorites would work if we lived in a single cultured country. Fortunately for our students we are a multicultural country and therefor have the opportunity to draw from a wider array of literature. I think that it is just as important for students to be exposed to literature of different cultures as it is to teach a student how to read or write. Using multicultural literature lends itself to teaching life and character lessons, as well as, English lessons. Gaining an understading of the diversity among us is a wonderful way to tie curriculum. We shouldn't stick to teaching one subject at a time. I truly feel that teachers should use every opportunity possible to teach cross curricular lessons, so that students can experience why it matters to learn a particular subject anyways. I have used several Asian novels in y classroom: Red Scarf Girl and The Clay Marble are two of my Middle School Favorites. Explore your options in literature! You won't be sorry that you opened your mind and a door for your students to explore further.
AnonymousMy students (7th and 8th) are facinated with Asian lit. They enjoy fiction but are primary interested in the biographies and autobiographies. I teach World History using lit. and primary sources from each culture/era as the primary curriculum. This not only satisfies cross-curricular instruction but provides and introduction of world lit to my students, providing a refrence base and giving them perspective. What better way to learn about something then from the people who actually experienced it.
I've found that my students are much more involved/interested in the lessons. I also try to stock my classroom library with lit from the cultures/era's that we study. There is always a waiting list for these books, especially the ones about Asia.
-Julia Shepherd
AnonymousSo do my students. They show a lot more interest in learning about Asia and its literature than any other. I wonder why? When I gave out a research project on Asian countries, they were enthusiastic about learning about Asian culture and most (95%) turned in the project.
AnonymousMaybe it has to do with the fascination western cultures have "always" had with Asia. We know so little about it that it keeps its mistique. I don't know about you, but I think that when I teach about Asia I let my excitement show a little more than I do with other cultures. 
-Julia
AnonymousI've used a book in my curriculum titled, Dragonwings by Laurence Yep. It tells the story of a young chinese boy who leaves his mother and grandmother to meet the father he never knew in the land of the white demons (United States). The interesting thing is that it takes place in San Francisco and it details very richly what life would be like for a young boy to move here in a land full of people whose language and values are very different from his own. It was the first time I've read a book that helped me to see how much different life would be if you moved here and had never seen or spoken to a caucasian before. The fact that the chinese call them white demons is one indication.
The book concludes with the Great Quake in San Francisco. Life for the poor immigrants was devastated by the quake, more so than for people with money to rebuild. The story also gives a rich detailing of the young boys ancestor and his father's dream to one day build a flying machine so he can remember his past life as a dragon.
I think the current climate in the political arena about immigration is a perfect segue to introduction students to immigrants from different places to remind them that people from all over the world come here for a better life.