[Brandon Abraham]

Simba's work establishing the Mara Conservation Fund should be applauded. The criticisms featured in the documentary concerning his lack of interest in Chinese wildlife are expected. Having read works such as China's Second Continent and being somewhat familiar with the economic and geopolitical fact of Chinese economic presence in Africa, I think Simba's work is both vital and necessary.

[Brandon Abraham]

I'm also planning on doing a modified version of the activity. I might give them a very, very specific situation and have each four-person group answer in the style of that school of thought so they have an opportunity to practice. Then, as they gain confidence, I would do a Four Corners activity with each corner of the room representing a particular school.

[Brandon Abraham]

For the Humanities 9 class I'm putting together, I'm going to have students read portions of The Art of War and attempt to apply these lessons to their daily life. With the Common Core's emphasis on nonfiction text and primary sources, I think this will fit well with both the English and History departments, but, also, serve as an introduction to early Chinese writing.

[Brandon Abraham]

I really enjoyed how Prof. Yamashita opened class today with the descriptive third century passage from the Wei chih. Namely, for most Westerners, the origins of Japan seem quite mysterious. Part of our discussion centered on how city life and technology were not mentioned.

According to the presentation, it was maybe 20,000 years ago when Japan was formed, as it had formerly been a part of the mainland of Asia. By the time Japan emerges, the Bering Strait was also formed. This conflicts with the claims of Japanese nationalists who use the legends to claim an "eternal Japan." I think this is interesting because it demonstrates how Japan, like other countries, has its own form of exceptionalism, yet historical evidence contradicts this assertion.

[Brandon Abraham]

Interestingly, Levitt's characterization of the Chinese leadership's "War on Pollution" sounds an awful lot like similar political rhetoric within the United States. If I were to present this to a class of students, I might have them compare/contrast some of the efforts within China to combat its environmental crisis with similar efforts within the United States.

However, Levitt makes clear how the need for increased and secure data is the beginning of the solution. Before I visited China, I worked under the assumption that China champions unlimited-and unregulated-economic growth above all else, so it is interesting to have a different perspective from an insider.

[Brandon Abraham]

Hi everybody,

My name is Brandon Abraham, and I teach eleventh and twelfth-grade English at Hamilton Humanities Magnet in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. I've been teaching since 2001, so 16 years(time flies, right?). It's my first year at Hami, having spent most of my career along the Vermont Corridor(West Adams and Manual Arts High Schools). Currently, I'm the teacher-advisor for our Teen Court program, but I also have coached Academic Decathlon. Outside of school, although I'm currently taking a break from local politics, I sit on the boards of various Democratic Clubs in our city, as well as holding leadership positions within UTLA.

Namely, I'm taking this class for a second time because I teach our Humanities 9 class, a ten-week introductory course for our freshman, and I am currently developing a course on China, focusing on the post-1949 People's Republic. For the first several weeks, many of the handouts and resources will allow students to have a firm foundation for the rest of the course. Having visited China myself in the summer of 2016, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to expand our students' horizons in this way.

 

 

 

 

[Brandon Abraham]

This morning, my students were writing about aesthetics and beauty, and I provided the example of the Japanese Zen Garden at the Huntington as an example of landscape art. Of course, it seems like a strange example for a twelfth-grade literature class, but I wanted to get the point across that art can literally be anything.

Interestingly, they used the example in some of their papers, often connecting to earlier lessons on Buddhism and Asia from previous years, yet the popularity of the rock garden also stems from inceased awareness of the importance of gardens in the curriculum.

 

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