Session 7 - May 2 morning (Jennifer Jung-Kim on ancient Korea)

[Billie Johnson]

Hi Samantha,

I think the art project that you described would work well across all grade levels.  My middle school students love art and are quite expressive in their art. Perhaps they could accompany their artwork with a poem and have a gallery art walk in the classroom with students taking notes on one of their peers' artwork and poem. Thank you for the idea!

[Billie Johnson]

I would like to look at the social make up of Korean society and the different roles that people played to contribute. However, I think it would be worth discussing why certain roles needed to be classified in a hierarchy. This topic would be important to research and to discuss.  Students can research different groups with a social status and give a description of each and their contribution. With Confucianism it would be beneficial for us to explore why this impacted women to the degree it did.  When an ideology is used as a means of suppression it is important to realize that it is not the religion or philosophy of the teachings but the person performing the application of the philosophy whose motives should be questioned. This is all great information that will fuel rich discussions and I know that this is something I can do with my 6th graders.

[Jessica Ng]

My apologies if this is too off-topic, but when the second lecture got to the images of the won bills, then Jeong Yagyeon and Saint Andrew, I was excited to see some familiar headgear. I finished watching the second season of Kingdom on Netflix a couple of weeks ago; all throughout the series I've been fascinated by the costumes and wondered how historically accurate they were. This led me down a couple of different rabbit holes, and this thread is a particularly detailed explanation of hats that the characters wore.

They were quite technologically advanced and their features indicated the occupation or social class of the wearer. I could imagine a fun lesson about sartorial choices and symbols with older students, and how it relates to the ways we dress today. What do your clothing choices communicate about you? How is it similar to or different from the way clothing was used in, say, 16th century Korea? Look at the way our government/leaders dress: what do they wear that indicates their status or role?

[Mario Ruiz]

I'm a big fan of symbolism. My girlfriend and I really enjoy watching a movie or the next big Netflix series and trying to identify all the symbolic aspects of the show and how they tie in together or how they give us hints of what is to come next. The Tan'gun myth definitely has some symbolic meaning behind it, but I haven't been able to decipher it just yet. Why 100 days and not 365? Why a bear and a tiger and not a monkey and a horse? Why did the tiger give up after 21 days and not 14 days? It all has to mean something. 

Teaching symbolism in a special education class can be a little tough, but definitely something that can be done. Maybe having the students do something as simple as choosing their favorite animal and researching what those animals represent in different cultures would be a good starting point. 

[Betsy Ures]

Thank you for sharing your presentations with us. As an elementary teacher, poetry writing is something students enjoy. In the past, I haven't introduced korean poetry analysis or writing. Studying Sijo poems can allow for students to identify cultural themes and contexts. I would like to incorporate Sijo writing. Students can read select Sijo poems from the past and more modern ones prior to writing their own. In elementary, using the non-rhyming structure to generate student poetry will be engaging.

[Billie Johnson]

Hi Jennifer!  What were the resources that you mentioned that detailed the lives of women in Korean history? I would like to incorporate these in my middle school lessons next year.

[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

Hi, Everyone,

It was great to see you this morning. 

Something went wrong with my Sin Saimdang video file and the subtitles have been lost, so I'm afraid it won't be of much help to you. 

But please do let me know if you have any follow-up questions. 

Look for the video series link on KCCLA.org next month. It will be on their YouTube channel. And both KCCLA (Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles) and KECLA (Korean Education Center of LA) have small exhibits are worth visiting in person. KCCLA also sponsors school field trips (they pay for the school bus rental) and you can see both their exhibit hall as well as the experiential K-pop exhibit nextdoor. 

Stay well!

Best,

Jennifer 

 

 

[Samantha Auerbach]

This is such a great idea, I love it! I could see my 4th grade students getting very excited about this. Since we're at the same school site, maybe we could partner together and the 4th graders can help the ETK students!

[Sandra Flores]

I love your idea of incoorporating Korean women into the curriculum during Internationals Women Day.  We can also include the women oppression and religion.  Because as explained by professor Jung-Kim, before Confucianism established in Korea, women had more freedom and rights.  I usually incoorporte haikus for Earth Day, but I can see how I can introuduce Poet Ho Nansorhon and role of women in society.  Students can write Sijo poem centering around women in current society.  

[Esther Dupree]

First, I want to thank you for spending so much time on women in Korean history.  It's breathtaking to learn so much about their contributions and the dynamics of women in Korean history.  Sim Saimdang has some beautifully preserved work that informs us of Korean culture and values in many ways.  I would love to use her art in my classroom for some lessons.  Many of my students take art and I plan to collaborate with the art teacher and have him assign some work influenced by Sim Saimdang.  I can then use that to give an art lesson in my own class about Korean art.  My students have mod/severe autism and so we have to simplify our assignments, but this would be a great way to teach them new techniques as well as expose them to cultural aspects of Korea they are unfamiliar with.  

[Esther Dupree]

I am used to asking why questions instead of why not questions.  I love that contrast in teaching your students to try to see truth by noticing what isn't mentioned or what isn't visible.  I think a great lesson in symbolism could be really fun using this as a springboard.  Have students interpret the meaning of those symbols, but then create their own origin story--for whatever, the class, the country, the earth...etc.  Thank you for the post; great ideas!

[Esther Dupree]

My librarian does such a great job of finding all sorts of writing resources for us.  Here are some Sijo poetry resources she shared earlier this year.

http://sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/music.php

http://sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/teach.php

[Esther Dupree]

This is such a relatable and discussion generating idea.  My question is, does it signify she is more important or more valued by being on a higher note value or that her son is more valued by being on a more used note value?  In Korean, does the larger note mean more status?  In other countries, would a higher or lower note denomination garner more prestige?

[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

Hi, Billie, I can't rememebr the context -- there isn't a particular book I had in mind (other than the one I'm trying to write). But I do assign a couple of books to my class -- 

I'm attaching the resource list in case you haven't gotten it yet. 

Attachments:

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[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

That's a great idea! You can see her paintings in the National Musum of Korea collection. 

https://www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/relic/represent/view?relicId=2061

Much of what's online about her is made by fans (Pinterest, etx), especially after they saw the entirely fictionalized Korean drama about her. You may need to make your own introduction to her and her art. If you find a good website, please share with us. 

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