[Christine Moguel]

This is my second course with the US China Institute.  The structure of the lectures were very helpful- they were chonological in order and gave a great over view of each topic covered.  Many of the themes in this class were new to me as the historical perstective of this class went much further back in time.  It was interesting learning about the way in which culture, language, land territory, social class, leadership all seemed to weave the story from the beginning of such countries as Japanand Korea- with China in East Asia.  

My students have many academic challenges- so one of my biggest obstacles to over come with them as a teacher is making content comprehensible.  The content, I admit, in theis course is pretty dense and would be very confusing to most of my students, however using strategies for English Learners, accomodations and modifications I was able to create fun and exciting lessons for my students that helped them understand East Asian better.  In my lesson plans I chose to dive into a comparative lesson on funerary art practices.   First I though about what sort of "hook" or background knowledge I could tap into- death and dying is something they all have been around growing up so close to their families as they all are.   They are students that are entirely dependent ont heir families for all their needs and so diving into this content was interesting to them.  Hard to believe but true- they loved the lesson.  

The arts in East Asian are a great spring board for teachers like myself to dive into as well.  They Sijo poem lesson I created was a great way to intgrate cross curricular studies into my teaching practice.  For this particular lesson I used many visuals and large print materials that helped everyone jump on board with the learning that was taking place.  It was a very fun lesson- and it was all thanks to learning about the fine arts through the course that I was able to them teach my students.  They really expressed themselves and really seemed to like the format that the poems have.  Simple and artistic- it worked.

The lecturers for the course were very engaging.  Thier passion for the subject came through in many ways.  Their excitement for the subject and the country they were covering was passed onto us - the students.   There were so many facts about ancient Wast Asian that were very fascinating to me.  How Japan was formed?  Who commissioned the Great Wall of China? and why? ,  what was the social class system like in China, Korea and Japan in Ancient times?  How is China dealing with the pollution problem we face today?  Although this was a more recent study, it was very informative and interesting.

[Christine Moguel]

This film can be analyzed on many different levels, offering many opportunites for discussion for the students.  In today's high tech society with students havintg immediate access to computer, cell phone, and other digital technololgy, any presentation that addresses and includes other written and oral communcation, such as a hand-written letter, provides educational opportunities  for comparison and contrast, in addition for opportunites for the benefits and liabilities  for different forms of communcation.  I really like this film because it is easy to watch, entertaining, has understandable dialogue, humor, and interesting characters who present different points of view.  I think the students will like it, too. 

 

[Christine Moguel]

I am delighted to see a website that address Poetry!  I feel Haiku is a beautiful form of literature that unfortunately, along with other literature, doesn't always get presented due to other educational requirements.  I was very happy to see this website information as it is neatly presented and organized with lesson plans already prepared, allowing me a starting point for instruction for my special education students.  Having a block of material neatly presented also makes it very easy for me to see what I can use for my students and what I need to modify.  I also really like that this material on Haiku creates an avenue to explore and learn something about the Japanese culture in general and how literature is presented in other coutries.  

[Christine Moguel]

In general, students love to watch real life daily living situtions involving other people, as it shows what life, be it education, work, health, or other situations, is really about.  I really liked watching this informational video because it gives true insight into the very situations that the students here occur.  These videos give insight into different aspects of the culture; food, clothing, music, transportation, and city and country life.  They also give insight into the education of students; the buildings their classrooms are in, their teachers, the materials, curriculum, social events, behavior and discipline, and other concerns.  Academic information presented in books and other resources via pictures, charts and graphs, and other resources, is always valuable, but information having a "personal" touch that shows exactly what is going on, is always valuable.  I think student s will really enjoy these videos and will be encouraged to discuss them.  My students are on their phones all the time and this will be something that they can access individually. 

[Christine Moguel]

The topic, "China and the World Discuss The Environment," certainly presents information that is extremely relevant to today's society, education, and legislative issues.  I feel the articles present information that has both technical and layman's information that the students can understand or that can be easily modified for their understanding.  The articles present information with percentages, and this allows for opportunities to include lessons in basic and other mathematical operations.  Often it is difficult for students to understand percentages and mathematical information, and these articles allow for education in these areas.  Also, I like the informaton presented here because it presents information about China but also presents information about other countries, allowing for education on geography and culture.  Because the information is presented about several countris, they present opportunities to use educational strategies of comparison and contrast, skills students need to learn and apply for all educational learning.    

[Christine Moguel]

I agree with the entry citing the benefit of this website.  As stated below, lessons plans are provided, and what I like about them is that this material allows for a comparison study.  Also, the topics of Agriculture and Foreign Relations, as presented, are relevant to today's world.  Historical perspectives are always beneficial to help understand modern times.  I will be able to use this with my students because it does present information in well sequenced order, and this presentation is very helpful to students in learning about the description and characterization of different time periods 

[Christine Moguel]

I also support the comments made by a previous student, citing the benefits of having Asia for Educators as a reference to use in citing information from 4000 BCE to current times.  This information has visual information along with charts and graphs that will present information to the students in different ways, allowing for diffeentiated learning.  I agree with other entries that this would be a great resource becaue it is both interesting, informative, and easily accessible. 

[Christine Moguel]

China has been part of the problem, but China is making huge leaps into creating change for the better of our badly abused planet.  Barbara Finamore's lecture was consise and so informative, I really enjoyed hearing about the steps China is making and has made in the direction fo sustainable energy, electric car technology, and much more.  I liked learning about how her organization has been at the forefront of the legal defense of our planet, amazing and truly honorable work that we can all be thankful for.  Part of what was so fasinating was her commitment to being on the team that is here to make change happen, change policies that might make a buck but hurt our oceans, air quality, forests and other ecosystems.  We must learn by example.  Although China is one of the top polutants of the world, they are making peace with the planet and moving in the right direction in implementing systems to reduce pollution.

[Christine Moguel]

I reallly enjoyed how Professor Meeks gave a little biographical information about Gautama Siddhartha (ca. 484-404 BCE)-   explaining how be became the enlightened being that was so important in that religion.  She gave a little information about his uprbringing and how he paved the way for the Four Noble truths :

• Life is suffering

• The arising of suffering is thirst

• The ceasing of suffering can be achieved through nirvana

• The path leading to nirvana is the Noble Eightfold Path.

• Buddhism in and of itself would have to be summarized in a lesson for my students to understand.  We have a restorative Justice activity every day and we would be able to implement some aspects of Buddhism in our lessons everyday, particularly using the classroom mindfulness framework.    After we discover wht Buddhism is, and we learn a some background information- ideologies, biographical information about the Buddha we can then take about what are some of the practices we can learn from this theory/rhetoric that can impact our lives in a positive way.  

• I think Mindfulness is a great tool to be extracted from the teachings of Buddhism and into the classroom.  I have a great ideal for a lesson and cnat wait to teach it!  

• "Be a the Buddha for a day"!

[Christine Moguel]

"As to how I would use this with students, particularly ones in Elementary School, I would show clips which draw out the elements I want to emphasize.  I would then have the  students do short activities."

When teaching- the most effective ways of making content comprehensible is by making background connections of content to the students daily lives.  Even if they have not lived through migrating from one country to another, the students can recall parents, or relatives or family friends experience with this situation.  Recalling situations that are near to the experiences our students have had - is a good foundation for teaching empathy, cultural sensitivity,  and bridging the racial issues that our students might share and struggle with.  Movies are great beacuse they also give our students a visual storyline- with the setting and characters all depicted.    

[Christine Moguel]

I was equally excited to watch this movie and possibly show it to my adult students with special needs.  They love a good story and it is contemporary enough to make connections with what is happening in this time and era of their lives.  Its interesting for my students to ponder the idea of family and what expectations on family closeness their particular families adopt.  As a cultural study I think this film is relevant to our students and a lesson on comparing native vs. imigrant parallel cultures is also a great idea for our students to dive into.  Onwards!

[Christine Moguel]

What a great idea!  FInding out how religion has shaped other countries.  I would focus more on the art/architecture point of view with this idea.  My students can learn best when they are engaged with multi modal apporaches, and that is why I think creating different models of religious structures (they can pick the East Asian religion) they would like to focus on and we could use materials found in my classroom to build 3 types of structures.  We can talk about how did each religion help the community and its people.  I love it.  Now let me get started on the lesson plan.

[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.

 

 

[Christine Moguel]

So much new information to process after this lecture.  I am reflecting back on my notes and the sheer way in with the natives were treated with such contempt is sad.  I learned so much about how barbaric -literally and figuratively the situation was during this pre modern period. 

"The original inhabitants are called tsuchigumo, translated as "dirt spiders," and are killed by the Yamato indiscriminately whenever they are encountered.  No attempt is made to bring them into alliance.  This is straight genocide as we would call it."  

I am still thinking about how I would modify the content in this topic for my students.  I guess I could explain it somehow resembeling a horror movie of some sort or a gory anime series set in pre- modern japan.  

[Christine Moguel]

Thank you for the link on the Terracotta army warrior sculptures.  My students understand concepts through a variety of adapted strategies - and showing them actual pictures of the warrors after the youtube video just made everything more understandable - abeit, strange for them.   I showed my class the video and they were all amazed a bit perplexed with how and why they were created and moreover, part of funerary art that was buried with the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang.  It was fun to juxtapose pictures of egyptian art that too was buried in the tombs of Egyptian Kings/Royalty.   I probably could have extended the lesson to have them create their own - protection miniature scuplture with clay.  Hmm... maybe I will.

 

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