session 2 discussion

[Anonymous]

• I am really glad I got to hear about the pre-imperial China today because I was able to learn more about the cultural achievements of China. This was particularly important because the Bronze Age and earlier developments in civilization are typically shown within the context of the West, but not usually within the context of the East. As a teacher, it really helps me to develop a framework with which to speak to my students in that what I am learning is helping to create a solid base of knowledge so that I may present East Asian countries as contemporaries of the civilization of the West. When I was in China last summer, I was the opportunity to visit the Shanghai museum and I saw a lot of pieces that came about during pre-imperial China and today I was able to gain a more solid historical background that will allow me to better understand the pieces that I saw.

edited by nramon on 6/23/2016

[Anonymous]

The Early Chinese History Unit of Study by Professor Dube was especially interesting to read through the lens of a sixth grade history teacher. Given the demands of common core today, this unit of study is great because of the primary sources in it. Given I have sixth graders, I would probably scaffold and chunk some of the sources, but in general, this is a great lesson to introduce and teach the philosophies. One way I would use part of the lesson and have the students use these resources besides debating these ideas is by making poster and PP presentations and teach their peers about the different philosophies using the primary sources. I would also want to cut out different parts of primary sources and provide different student groups with them, and have them match and discuss which philosophy is which (in a sense, like a SORT). I would also consider providing students with different excerpts from one of the philosophies and have them debate how those ideas connect to ideas we have today or to other ideas from other ancient civilizations. You could also provide the students with these excerpts and have them respond in quick writes and journal entries as a warm up or do now to start the lesson.

[Anonymous]

The supplementary comics were also interesting to read, and would a great tool especially for my EL and students with disabilities because of the accessibility of content. A cool activity would have students do would be to read the comics in station work (visit the different stations with different comics at each), and then create their own comic using the content being taught, in this case it could be a comic on Confucianism to connect to the ideas of filial piety. While reading the comics, students could use a graphic organizer with guiding questions on how it connects to the Chinese philosophy of Confucianism (like they could pull out specific evidences of the different comics). One could also have the students act out the different comics in skits, so that the content could become alive! Sixth graders love acting out historical ideas and events.

[Anonymous]

This lesson had me considering which of the 4 philosophies I identify with most, especially in my classroom. I feel that all teachers must be a bit legalist, even though I am often uncomfortable with my positionality as a legalist. Students always expect their teachers to express legalist tendencies, and if you do not, they perceive you as weak. How is it that we have developed a culture of fear and punishment that represents strength and demands respect? I also feel that I practice Confucian ideals in my classroom, especially with the ideas that people can improve and the use of “rituals”. I wonder how other teachers identify with these ideologies in their own teaching practices?

[Anonymous]

I decided to use this cartoon with my 2nd grade students and hear what they had to say about it. This group of students are very special, and they are constantly telling me their opinion on everything. I showed them the cartoon, and I read it to them. I asked them about their thoughts. Surprisingly, some students made a connection with the man in the cartoon and themselves. One student stated that the farmer is similar to the students in the class that do not try hard in meeting their AR (Accelerated Reader reading program) and Study Island (an online program for ELA and Math common core practice) goals. Another student stated that the farmer was "kind of lazy" because he did not want to do the hard work of hunting for the rabbit. He got lucky the first time, and thought that he did not need to work hard the second time, and that the rabbit would just come to him. This was a great opportunity for my students to really focus on what happened the first time and think critically to figure out why the farmer just sat down under the tree waiting the second time. I was happy to hear their responses and see how showing them this cartoon got them engaged in their learning and ignited higher level thinking.

[Anonymous]

I understand your perspective. I don’t easily buy into handing tokens to students when they engage in desirable behaviors although as you illustrated the reality of our culture is extrinsic motivation. It is a way of life that is unlikely to change but maybe we can bring awareness to the situation. My definition of intrinsic motivation is doing something just for the enjoyment of the activity itself. Wouldn’t this mean that the bulk of responsibility for this task would rest on us as educators? Wouldn’t we have to inspire students to become passionate about self improvement through education? Get students excited about coming to school for the purpose of learning? I begin the school year by using the typical reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. Through out the year I work toward extinguishing the reward system. When I can work it in we have a class discussion on gratitude and personal enrichment. One year a student actually refused to accept a reward based on her attempts to buy into personal enrichment. I teach 2nd grade. I do keep in mind that when these students enter 3rd grade the traditional disciplinary system will most likely continue.
edited by cgao on 3/2/2016

[Anonymous]

This lecture provided me with insight of how Asian customs are found throughout United States but are not accurately displayed or taught. For example the “Ying and Yang,” are seen throughout pop culture and labels, however the true definition or pronunciation has not been taught. The simple mispronunciation of Ying and Yang provides ideals that America blindly accepts traditions and cultivates them into their own ideas. Observing how America is using the symbol make me curious to investigate what forms of Asia we are misunderstanding and using without proper information.
Listening to the various beliefs and religions allowed me to think of the types of teaching strategies instructors display within their classrooms. Within our society it appears that legalism is the belief that is seen throughout my current school where dictatorship and constant punishment or rewards provide scaffold for our learning environments. It appears that scholars are not given the opportunity to freely explore for themselves as behavior expectations are so great that they take over the exploration of the education.

[Anonymous]

Chinese Philosophy is relevant on many levels. As I was reading and preparing for the debate (Go Mohists), I remembered an assignment I had in one of my Credential or Master classes. We looked at the different philosophies and our teaching practices or future practices and chose the philosophy that best described or suited our teaching style. For example, do we take a Legalist approach in our classroom, using reward and punishment to guide our students or more of a Mohist approach, concentrating on facts and practical management that centers on universal respect? Using these philosophies, we established classroom norms and lesson plans that looked at the principles of the different ideas that guided the direction of the goals we desired to achieve with our students. This lesson really encouraged us to look at ourselves and determine what our main goals in teaching would/will be. Do we want to be the only voice in the classroom and have students follow our guide, or do we want to have open discussions with students contributing their ideas and views? Will we make art and music a priority that is entwined in lessons or will we have structure and guides that keep us going in a specific direction? Although I had to choose a Philosophy for both the teaching assignment and debate, I feel there are good and useful ideas in all of the Philosophies.

[Anonymous]

As many of my colleagues, I am not knowledgeable of philosophy, and much less Chinese philosophy, so, learning about it has been very enlightened. I was so fascinated by the thought of the philosophers that I asked to my Spanish three students (juniors and seniors) if they knew anything about these philosophers. Fortunately many of them are taking AP history, and they answered me that they had learned it last semester. So, using their prior knowledge about these philosophies, I posed the question, are human beings fundamentally good? Interestingly they believe that we all are basically good at birth. But if we are good, then in what moment do criminals turn bad? I asked, what influence the life of those who take crooked roads in life? There were many different and interesting answers. For the most part they agree that the experiences in the early life of a person greatly contribute to the formation of character and to the choices they make.
edited by edelafuente on 6/20/2016

[Anonymous]

His K’ang (letter)

This is a very Interesting piece of literature, this example of the extreme practice of Daoism is simply amazing how people can take believes beyond the intended purpose of this philosophy. Likewise, the vengeance or punishment given to Shang Yang by king, in my view, is just another example of extreme practice of legalism. Everything taken to the extremes is essentially bad and wrong. Sadly, history is plagued with extremist who had done horrible things to people. As I read these literature, I thought about the inquisition period and the practices of those in power. Extreme Ideologies are proven to be harmful to humanity, although are still around in our world.
edited by edelafuente on 6/20/2016

[Anonymous]

In session two we had to prepare by reading about four different types of belief theories. DUring our discussion we talked about each. What I noticed about all of these belief theories is they all borrowed a little from each other and tried to make it to fit what they felt was the true way to govern. I found it interesting that Confucius never even wrote his teachings down, and yet a whole government system was created on his ideas. I wonder how much of that was his or the people really wanting to rule. I think each of the belief systems have merit, but in and of themselves don’t hold up to the test of time. I wonder if there is any true government system that holds to the test of time. Even democracy is a very young system and hasn’t lasted as long as some of these teachings.

Each system had good points to consider. In Confucianism the idea of caring for our elderly and putting family first is appealing to me. I think in our society today we lack family values and the care of our elderly has fallen into decay. In Mohism, which was my group I am preparing to debate, the ideas of universal love and treating everyone like they matter is appealing. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where people cared for each other? They also valued practicality and detested waste. Think of today how much waste there is in every sector of life. Also the idea of,a government that is practical? Holy cow, think of how much they could get done. Daoists loved the order of life and nature. They like and promote differences in people. They advanced the economical part of government by supporting farming and feeding their people. Legalism contends that rules are important. You have to have order in order to survive.

All of these systems have added parts to each government in existence. I think a mix of all of them make for a good start.

[Anonymous]

This lesson was much more in depth than any of our textbooks have explained the different philosophies. As a history teacher I found this very helpful and useful. I think that the readings and the class discussion have brought valuable ideas to present to my students. Many of my students know about Confucius and they have seen the ying and yang symbol, but they cannot discuss the meanings in depth. I think that this set of lessons can provide depth and clarity. For instance, I know many teachers have taught the philosophies as religions and now that I was able to collaborate with others and really dig into the readings, I can fix that misconception. I look forward to teaching this next year with my world history students!

[Anonymous]

I was really fascinated by the many philosophies that inform Chinese life. Learning more about each philosophy made me understand the mannerism and social interactions I saw when visiting Shanghai. As a westerner, it is very easy to start looking at the differences that exist between our cultures because they stand out to us. However, understanding the root(s) of those differences help bridge the gap in our cultures and provide a place from which we can see similarities and further learn from one another. Coming from a Latino background, respect for our elders has been instilled in my upbringing and that of my siblings. I noticed while visiting a local park in China that elders are held in high-esteem as well. As I learn more about Confucian thought and the idea of hierarchies within the family, I grabbed a deeper understanding of what I saw in those interactions in the park.

[Anonymous]

This session was really awesome for me as an educator, I honestly felt like I got a ton of really good information to share with my students. Also as a historian and a person who LOVES history, specifically Asian history, this session really grabbed me. I already had a background with the Chinese philosophies seeing as I teach sixth and seventh grade, as well as the fact that I have taken multiple classes on asian history. With that being said it made me even more excited about the lecture and the readings. I got new information that I had never heard before, and I could really focus on the interesting tidbits instead of trying to focus intently on the main parts of the philosophies. I feel like knowing more of these interesting pieces of information is going to help me when it comes to teaching my students, being able to give more evidence to them will help to keep them engaged. When it comes to the reading I thought the reading on the Philosophies was very important. The beginning that gave a brief breakdown of each school of thought is going to be very useful to me in the classroom. From this session I am going to create a 3-4 day lesson based on the philosophies where the students are going to be given primary source documents and asked to fill out a graphic organizer about these documents. I really do feel like this session has made a huge impact on my teaching, not only in content but in helping me create an engaging lesson that will utilize primary source documents and annotations, as well as technology, collaboration and communication.

[Anonymous]

When I started the seminar I began to think that I would be very difficult to link the material to my Spanish classes, and I am happy to know that I was wrong. I was impressed by the Chinese pottery; I can definitely utilize this information to make comparisons and contrasts among the different Mesoamerican cultures which also were prolific in this art. I can have students observe Zapotec, Olmec, and Aztec pottery; I also like Jennifer’s idea of asking students to guess what all these objects were used for. I think this can be a very productive and fun lesson where all students can actively participate.
Moving to philosophies, I need to do some research on Latin American writers who have or who show to be influenced by any of the great Chinese thinkers. I can definitely translate all the philosophies into Spanish and just give a class on them; however, I believe if I provide them with a text and ask them to analyze it they will benefit even more. Perhaps, I can use a short story and create a questionnaire where they identify Confucian ideals; I can definitely see Legalist ideas all over Latin American governments. I have to really think of this lesson plan.

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