Session #6 - March 16 (afternoon), Ye Yang

[Christine Moguel]

Thank you for the idea.  I plan on adapting the lesson for my moderate to severe special eduaction adults.  I am always looking for ways to make my students taper the fear they have of writing and self sxpression through writing.

[Linda Gonzales Diaz]

Hi Stephanie, I agree with you on both comments. Hearing professor Ye Yan mention and connect various ancient civilizations was great. I have never been a history buff, however, this course has been helping me understand and enjoy it a little more.

The way we were taught history and the way history textbooks continue teaching history in a segmented fashion, leads our students to believe that each culture and civilization occurs in a vacuum. I had mentioned in an earlier post that my school's history curriculum teaches the official beginning of civilization was in Mesopotamia and fails to mention anywhere else.  Yet nomadic groups were popping up all over the world. As teachers, it is up to us to open our students' eyes to the genesis of civilization across the globe happening simultaneously. I teach 6th grade and I know that unless I teach it explicitly, they will not make that connection. It is our job as educators to help students see the themes across the world that are developing in the arts, technology, politics, etc. in multiple civilizations and cultures at once. 

[Linda Gonzales Diaz]

I enjoyed Professor Ye Yan's lecture about Cosmopolitan China and the literature of the era. Integrating arts across the curriculum is always a great idea. I have to admit that I am not well versed in poetry and have not thought about incorporating it into my history lessons untill now. I guess this means that I will have to study up on more poetry and brainstorm different ways to infuse it into my practice.  I have, however, used visual art such as sculptures, cave paintings, inscriptions, etc from ancient civilizations. I found a resource that I would like to share about using art with any subject, I hope you find it useful:

https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/5-tips-for-teaching-with-art-in-any-subject-area/

[Kim Leng]

Professor Ye’s lecture gave us so many interesting facts about some of China’s greatest writers:

• Li Po writes after he’s drunk.
• Wang Xizhi was a calligrapher and knows how to write a character 26 different ways.
• No original Wang Wei’s painting can be found..only replications.
•  Ruan Ji is known to be a nudist.

They all seem like such interesting people.  I also enjoyed the poetry readings.  One of my favorites is Li Po’s “On the Mountain: Question and Answer.”  The poem begins with a question “Why do I live on this green mountain?” His answer is the smile. I especially love the line “My heart serene on flowing water.” I can imagine living up in the green mountains with a majestic view of a river of waterfall.  Wouldn’t anyone else smile at a scenery that’s so serene?

[Christine Moguel]

Very interesting reading and learning about the Tang Dynasty.  It ws a moment in time for great stability and progress for China from the 7th -10th centuries.  It is called the golden age of China because of all the progress, growth and flourishing in culture, the arts and a stabilized state.   It is noted in the reading that this was also a time of great scholarly activity for civilian officials, to the extrent that all scholar were required to master poerty for the civil service exams.   This lead to an overabundance of poets prolificaly producing some fo the greatest works of poerty that China has ever seen.  Art and culture were held in high regard - as progress steamed on forward.  That is, unitl the rebellion of An Lushan (755-763)- this rebellion served to weaken the centralized government.   Problems arose during the rebellion that questioned the central government and its power to govern.

A bit of history that I didnt know and happy to learn about.

 

 

[Dennis O'Connell]

We were introduced to Sijo poetry during this sesson.  It encouraged me to strat putting together a lesson plan to teach Haiku writing from Japan, Sijo poetry from Korea, and Jueju poetry from China.  I have located so far the following helpful websites for use with elementary students:

Haiku - https://www.kidzone.ws/poetry/haiku.htm  and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkiTLxIQhdw

Sijo - https://www.playfullearning.net/resource/sijo-poetry-for-kids/

Jueju - https://nie.newsok.com/wp-content/uploads/Asian-Heritage-Student-Poster.pdf  and  https://www.poetspoetrypoems.com/categories/listings/jueju.html

The first website for haiku explains the form of the poetry and provides three printable worksheets (very similar to each other, you can pick the one that works for you).  The second website for haiku is a very well done video walking students through the writing of a haiku.  It even helps students work through mistakes of too many syllables!

The website for Sijo poetry is mostly an advertisement for Linda Sue Park, but contains some valuable information about the poetry form. 

The first website for Jueju is a bit much for elementary school students, but some information can be gleaned from it.  The second website is again more for adults, but gives some background for teachers.  

By far, the websites for teaching Haiku were the most helpful.  Has anyone found websites for Sijo or Jueju which they have found to be helpful for their teaching those forms?  

[Kim Leng]

Dennis,

I'm working on the curriculum project right now on the sijo.  This Korean poetic form immediately caught my attention.  I couldn't believe how amazing this form is in just three lines!  It's fun and callenging to write.  I looked at several resources, but I found the Sejong Cultural Society's website to be the most useful.  Here's the link: http://sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/teach.php . This is the direct link to the "teach sijo" page full of amazing resources for teachers to introduce this poetic form.

Check out the "Teaching Examples" with video lessons from teachers who have taught the sijo in class to get some ideas. There's also the vast resources from "Teaching Guides." I found the powerpoint presentation to be extremely useful. In just 24 slides, it introduces the poetic form with many sijo examples from Korean poets and current poets. The last section, "About the sijo" provides video lectures from professors David McMann and Mark Peterson. 

 

[Salbador Gonzalez]

Great appreciation to Professor Ye Yang and his poetry which was great to hear. First time I experienced Chinese poetry in person and plan on using it as a lesson in my physical education class. One can break down a game, movement, or sport through a poem, therefore allowing future students to learn much quicker through poetry. 

Anybody correct me if I'm wrong but I can remember during this session a picture of a river where certain individuals woudl be drinking a specific drink while wearing a robe and then writing a poem. I'm in the correct session right? Well, if I am, it was interesting to see that sitting by the river, relaxed and with a writing tool has been a tradition that has or used to happen in China. Makes me wonder if there were many traditions in Japan or Korean poetry similar to Chinese poetry. 

[Tiffany Chang]

Growing up, I learned how to write Chinese calligraphy using traditional and simplified characters. The first time I learned it was in 3rd grade and it took about a year to really familiarize myself with the technique. I never knew the history behind Chinese calligraphy aside from that it is a form of the written language and it can be used for writing or art. I didn't realize that in the "Tang times it was used as a criterion for assigning posts in civil service." It takes a steady hand and proper posture to write calligraphy.

If I were to teach a lesson about calligraphy, I would like to compare calligraphy with other time periods and cross-cultural as well. It would be a fun activity for students to make observations and see if they can identify strokes, similarities, and differences. I have taught Chinese calligraphy a few times before, mainly during Lunar New Year so students can experience what it's like to write in another language. 

[Kim Leng]

 

Ebrey's “A Cosmopolitan Empire” has a section on “Love Stories” that I found interesting.  I realize that I haven’t heard of Empress Wu and was curious to find out more.  According to “The Demonization of Empress Wu” by Mike Dash (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-demonization-of-empress-wu-20743091/), the article points out great female rulers in history with the exception of the United States.  It’s true.  Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great are well known leaders. Who do we have in the United States? When are we going to have a female president? Dash mentions that Wu Zetian during the 7^th century became the only woman in more than 3,000 years of Chinese history to rule in her own right.”

I also learned from Ebrey’s article that Wu started as a concubine in the palace, but rose to power. She convinced the emperor that she should replace his current empress.  That’s amazing! She must be a very persuasive person.  Once she was in power, she got rid of her competition.

[Kim Leng]

Yes, I remember the professor referring to this practice as something that the "high society" practiced.  Did he also use the word snobby?

I enjoyed learning about Chinese poetry in this seminar. The poets that I want to explore some more are the works of Li Po and Wang Wei. From the sampling that I read in this class, they appear to have similar styles.  Lots of scenic imagery in their poems: rain, mountain, earth, sun, greenwillows, and more. I can feel their closeness with nature in every single line. They both seem so tuned into the natural environment. 

 

 

[Heidi Kwalk]

Gerlinde, I love this idea of making a "Poetry around the World" book. Besides these you mentioned in the post, haiku, and sijo, I will need to do some research for different poetry from different countries. Thanks for this idea!

[Heidi Kwalk]

As an elementary school teacher, I do as much multidisciplinary lessons as possible. It helps students make more sense and meaning this way. When we study historical topic/lesson, I can come up with a list of at least a dozen ELA mini lessons that can be taught with it, e.g., multiple perspective, bias, observation (of details), inferences (based on details/text), motive, etc. Majority of the primary sources I use in class are images of photos and paintings and that is mainly because primary source texts are usually pretty dense/long for upper elementary students. I did not think to use poetry of the time under study. I could ask what does this poem reveal about the time and then go into the history reading. 

[Jimmy Martinez]

I also enjoyed how Professor Yan compared the art from the Gu Kaizi and Diego Velazquez to help distinguish the similarities. I think many societies tend to focus on the differences and what sets them apart from other societies. There needs to be more focus on comparing similarities because although we all have different customs or were raised differently we are more similar then we are different. 

[Jimmy Martinez]

Gerlinde, your idea of the "Poetry Around the World" group is absolutely fascinating! I love the idea of of learning about new cultures and applying different poems to the different countries. Every society has different ways of expressing themselves and this idea completely rocks. I think when you expose children to these different cultures and their beauties you are not only teaching them a lesson about poetry but more importantly about tolerance. 
 

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