Session 5 readings, 9/30 morning

[Valerie Doby]

This session gave a much better insight into the Korean War. It also helped me to understand the impact of all the things that led up to the war and how it still affects what is happening in Korean now.  This session helped me to better understand how North Koreans look at the US and their negative feelings about our part in their history.

 

Also, when we talked about the impact of Korean culture on the world, I immediately thought about my students and their love of K-pop and Korean culture. Even though my part of history doesn’t really extend to Korea I want to figure out a way to incorporate their love of all things Korea into their history lessons.

 

[Valerie Doby]

The Korean Museum is a great field trip.  I took my class there and even though it isn't a part of our curriculum they loved it.  We learned so much about Korea that day that when we left most of my students said that they would love to visit Korea one day.  The opening movie talking about the internet in Korea blew my students away.  It is a small museum you can finish in about and hour maybe two then we ate at a park nearby.  Enjoy the day.

 

[Valerie Doby]

I forget about photo's.  This is a great idea to compare photos even from the same event from photographers working for newspaper from different countries or on different sides of a conflict.  We always think about political cartoons but photos from an event or the aftermath of an event can be much more powerful as long as they PG enough to be shown in the class.  I did this when we learned about the civil rights movement and the impact was great.  The students connect to different people in the photos.  

[Jazmin Luna]

I agree with Rick.  The most interesting part was that Korea is not small.  I always thought that China and Japan were the most populated countries in East Asia but never Korea, until I read this.  It was interesting to see that even though Korea is about the size of Minnesota, not that big (about half of California), it has more Koreans in Korea than French in France.  It also amazed me that five cities in South Korea have a populations of more than 1 million people.  Yes, Los Angeles has close to 4 million people, but only three cities here are over 1 million.  That really puts into perspective how overpopulated that country is and that we shouldn't be complaining about overpopulation here, it's just getting started. 

[Jazmin Luna]

"Koreans are the most technogically linked people in the world." That quote makes sense as to why so many people are caught up in the Korean Wave.  Their culture has spread dramatically due to the use of techonology in Korea.  As the article mentioned, Korea has been the home of many inventions, starting with wood block printing.  About 2/3 of the population use cell phones. This allows for the spread of ideas and entertainment.  One of the units I teach in second grade is "Where do Ideas for Inventions Come From?" In this unit, I mention how inventions help people's lives be safer and better but also how it can allow for the exchange of ideas between cultures, as we see with the Korean wave in the U.S.  I can also mention how their achievement in ceramics have remained the standard in world art groups.

[Catalina Silvestre]

n the short story “Cranes” I get an understanding of how the Korean War separated and caused diverse city amongst the people.  The characters in this piece seemed very moody and demonstrated a tone of distaste for one another.  While reading this piece I started to think about the various story elements.  My students were working on identifying story elements at the time.  It gave me an idea of putting together a presentation for the students to extend their work with story elements.  In the presentation I will explain the Elements of Literature using the short story “Cranes” as an example. The five elements I will go over with the students are Plot, Characterization, Setting, Point of View/Narrator/Voice, and Theme. This proved to be an excellent stretch text that also explained how two areas were divided because of war.  Interestingly enough in the Korean culture cranes symbolize good fortune and this short story does indeed show a display of good fortune when all hope is lost.

[Catalina Silvestre]

Number one on "Top Ten Things To Know About Korea in the 21st century, Deals with the idea of Korea not being small.  When looking at the side on the map looks can be deceiving.  I have always taken the map view at face value simply thought Korea was a small region.  Interestingly enough the population does not reflect on its size and demonstrates how the masses may be confused because of placement on maps in terms of size.  I the session we looked at how maps produced by certain companies and political entities even named the bodies of water differently.  The way things are presented are the way many ideas and beliefs about systems will be perceived until shown and/ or told otherwise.  I feel that these pieces of information have played a significant role in making me think deeper and outside the box, which will then be passed on to my students as I educate them further.  I plan on using the informational text to have he students’ work on summarizing skills as well as using it as a way for them to interact and gain knowledge about Korea.

 

[Carlos Oyarbide]

 

 

I think this is a great idea Matthew. As an educator, you can do your part to make sure that the Korean War is not actually forgotten. Not only is it an important part of the history of American and Korean relations, but it is incredibly relevant to our current events. Using the tension between Trump and Kim would be a great way of hooking the student’s interest. The lessons that can be learned from the foreign policies missteps of the past and present are fascinating. As the fear of a potential new war with North Korea looms over the the public eye, it would be a great opportunity to examine how and why the U.S entered the first Korean War in the first place. What lessons can our students learn from that encounter? And what would be the consequences of engaging that nation again now that it has nuclear weapons?

[Ann Huynh]

The end of World War II also led to the division of Korea.  There is a North Korea (communist) and a South Korea (democratic).  The focus would be on South Korea.  From South Korea, we have impressive technologies that is currently used in America.  It ranges from cellphones to cars.  Many of the students in my class have heard of the brands Samsung and Hyundai.  They also grew up listening to the catchy Gangnam style song.  This is a great way to get the students to learn about the Korean waves through such medias as songs so that they are a little bit more familiar with this country's history.  

[Tanish Fortson]

The Korean War was fought between South and North Korea and was the first major conflict of the Cold War. The leader and Prime Minster of North Korea was Kim ll-Sung. The president of South Korea was Syngman Rhee. Before World War II the Korean Peninsula had been a part of Japan. After the war it needed to be divided up. The northern half went under the control of the Soviet Union and the Southern half under the control of he United States. The two sides were divided at the 38^th parallel which caused many battles at that particular border.

 

President Truman decided did not want to appear weak so he went on the offensive because he wanted to liberate North Korea from communism.  When Eisenhower became president, he was willing to offer options to end the war. On July 17, 1953 a treaty was signed to end the war. Both country would remain independent and the border would remain at 38^th parallel. It was mentioned that Korea did not want to appear sot on communism and they also wanted to protect Japan, which was still recovering from WWII. In the fifty years since the war, little has changed between North and South Korea.

 

[Ann Huynh]

War has not always been an ideal solution.  The events leading up to war and the aftermath is heartbreaking.  In the article “Liberation, Civil War, and Division,” the Korean War left a country divided, destruction of infrastructures, and disillusionment among the people.  In the text, the retelling of the events leading to the war created a picture that is extremely tragic.  This war, under the guise to combat Communist led to a divided country instead of a unified country.  As a result, later generations of Koreans must deal with one of the “most militarized areas in the world,” the DMZ.  This is a great account of the Korean War, very detailed and informative.  It put into perspective why Koreans today want to unify the two Koreans.  The war was fought for this purpose, but the outcome was not what each Korea wanted.  

[Tanish Fortson]

I like your ideas of putting together a time line for your students that sequence the events and highlights how Korea became divided. I start off explaining how Korea became divided into two regions, north and South. North Korea is ruled by a communist regime. After World War 2 it had to be divided up. The Northern half went under the control of the Soviet Union and the Southern half went under control of the United States. The two sides were divided up at the 38^th parallel.

This lesson can turn into a unit and I could possibly teach about a communist government versus a capitalist government.

 

The two sides attacked each other over the next few years trying to defend their territory. China ended up entering the war because they were not happy with North Koreans being pushed all the way to the northern border.  After Eisenhower became president, he signed at treating allowing both countries to be independent of each other. This type of lesson will need to be modified a lot for elementary students. 

[Luis Camacho]

Readings for session #5 by Luis M. Camacho

To know more about modern history of Korea will be very helpful to my Physics class.  It will be very interesting to hear students’ opinion about the continuous threat our country faces by North Korean’s H bomb project. We will explain briefly how is the Hydrogen bomb scientific principle, the expected consequences after use of this destruction technology. We will compare how the modern reaction of the American people to this threat compares with the reaction on the past with The Red Scare situation, back on the fifties. I will like to hear about the students personal opinions about the same situation. We will continue the lesson in a more positive way talking about the importance of South Korea and the great contributions of this country to the development of the automobile and the electronic industries worldwide.

 

 

[Alejandra Jimenez]

I totally agree with Jazmin, I have found several time channel surfing and I find myself watching a Korean TV show, soap opera, game show. I love that they have English subtitles, but they hardly ever have an English Title. I work in Korea Town, so this means the I have to stop at the tea houses on Vermont, pasties, everytime I walk around a shopping center I see new massage mats for your neck, lower back, cosmetics. I do find myself always shoping for Korean facial masks. The quote from professor Jung-Kim is one hendred percent right "Koreans are the most technologically linked people in the world" all my Korean students have already a smart phone along with either computer device or table. Thses kids are only in fourth grade and they already way advanced on the technology access. We have a computer coding class and most of the Asian students including Koreans are for the most part my most advanced in trying to create code.

[Alejandra Jimenez]

I do agree with Chris and Professor Jung-Kim, we need to be informed and cautious about both North and South Korea because both nations do share family ties beween the two nations. The situation with North Korea and the shortage on food reminds me about the dark ages in China and Japan during food shortages that in the end private citizens are the most affected by political ambitions/agenda. Koreas history is just a paradox between nations that in the past unfortunaley prior military and political disagreements has lead to such attricity with two sister nations as North and South Korea. I believe that we do need to stay inform and as teachers teach based on what we know about North Korea with caution. I do have some first generation Korean students that are very fearful whenever we discuss current events that are based on politics. I believe that we do need to acknoledge that yes there are two Koreas that were joined at one pint in history, but for now they are separated.

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