[Cynthia Jackson]

When you think that Mo Tzu lived during the Warring States Period, unlike Confucius, then the difference between the schools of thought make a lot of sense. Mohism rejecting a Confucian emphasis on the family as the most important societal dynamic could reflect that instability of the time and the focus on matters outside of the home. Additionally, his idea that individual interests should serve the general interests could also reflect the need for more community unification and a realization that strong family hierarchies and traditions, while creating a central “Chinese” identity did not prevent regional chaos.

[Cynthia Jackson]

When watching this week’s lectures, I began wondering: What prompted Confucius to begin developing and recording his philosophies? He is so detailed and specific with his expectations for society that I wanted to know what was happening socially and politically that he could have been responding to. At first I thought that he had been alive during a significant number of years in the Warring States Period, but he lived from the 6th-5th centuries B.C.E. and that period was from the 5th-3rd centuries B.C.E. Once it occurred to me that Confucius lived in a time shortly before the Warring States Period, and not during this period, it made even less sense to me. Did Confucius live at a time when the region was disintegrating into the warring states or did it suddenly happen in the final years of his life? I think understanding the answer to this last question can help determine if Confucius was responding more to political turmoil or the need for creating a central “Chinese” identity.

[Cynthia Jackson]

At my district’s other middle school, one of the teachers created a series of lessons about Buddhism in India. Last year, I remember us discussing a lesson she did on comparing some of Buddha’s quotes with a few of Martin Luther King Jr.’s quotes and possibly a few of Gandhi's as well. I think we discussed having students first identify who said what and then interpret the meaning and connection between the quotes. The final idea was to have students understand the principles of Buddhism and the transmission of ideas. Building off of this idea, I think it would be helpful for students to compare and contrast Confucius’ and Socrates’ philosophies. Since kids learn about Socrates in 6th grade at my school, doing this compare and contrast activity would be a good way to connect different social studies courses and build off of prior knowledge.

[Cynthia Jackson]

If anyone else here is also a middle school teacher or a parent, then you might have heard of a show called Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. This cartoon has recently gone viral on TikTok and kids from ages 4 and up watch it. Part of the show uses the concept of yin and yang for its titular characters who are superheroes with powers that balance each other out (if I’m wrong someone please correct me!). This reminds me that many cartoons and even adult television shows use the concept of balance for their two main characters. They either juxtapose their personalities or special powers so that over the course of the show each character learns from the other while growing comfortable within their own identity. So similar to my last post, I’m just fascinated that whether yin and yang has been specifically represented in a show or just implied, it is still heavily represented in the entertainment industry for all ages. This might speak to the fact that balance in life and nature can be understood, appreciated, and sought after by all cultures.

[Cynthia Jackson]

I’m fascinated by the history of yin and yang in American culture. The symbol has a long history of prominence in American business and culture. Yet, this seems at odds with the U.S.’ clearly discriminatory practices and policies against Asian immigrants, specifically Chinese immigrants in the 1800s. How was it that in the same country, where companies such as the Northern Pacifc Railway fought against labor reforms and increased pay for a dangerous occupation, also adopted Confucian imagery into their logos and products? I think this question would make a good discussion question for students in a U.S. history class and could even lead to some cool investigations of the branding of 20 companies of the 1800s and the branding of 20 companies of the 2000s. As an extension of learning about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and similar policies impacting immigration and immigrant communities in the U.S. at the time, this discussion and company branding analysis could help students understand the ways American culture can adopt “foregin” culture, but reject foreigners. These lessons could then be connected to a current event, explaining the development of the #StopAsianHate movement and allowing kids to become appropriately informed about social media activism within a safe environment. As we continue to educate in the 21st century and prepare our students for the real world, giving them media literacy skills and opportunities to understand what they are seeing on social media in relation to people’s real lived experiences is crucial.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Although there are multiple issues that a fragmented empire might face, there are two benefits of fragmented empires. First, their fragmentation can become a military strength. Usually when facing attacks from an outsider, if an empire’s power is centralized, directly attacking the source of central power leads to the empire’s fall. However, when an empire is fragmented there is not a clear source of central power to attack and the outsider must begin taking the region over one fragment at a time. Doing so provides the empire with additional time to develop a counter attack and strategize how to protect their vulnerable regions. Second, fragmented empires also experience cultural benefits. Fragmented empires usually result in regions with defining characteristics and complex, fascinating cultures. An empire with multiple regions will experience this “blossoming” of culture and can draw from several regions to create the empire’s cultural identity.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Empires that are fragmented have several issues or potential issues to deal with. First, fragmentation leads to power struggles. Regions of an empire are typically left under the control of a “middle man”, someone who reports to the emperor but has considerable power and/or wealth to act in the interest of that region. With the distance between the emperor’s court and most regional rulers, it can be quite easy to gain power and make attempts to rule other regions or take over the empire oneself. Second, fragmented empires usually have difficulty collecting taxes so that they have enough revenue to maintain the empire’s needs, including public service projects and military protection. Without being able to pay for such services, empires have experienced instability from internal issues and/or fallen to attacks from nearby empires looking to expand. Third, even with revenue to build infrastructure and loyal regional rulers, a fragmented empire can have subjects who wish to be fully independent and attempt to overthrow the regional government so they can break apart from the empire. If emperors are unable to quickly send reserve forces, if there are any, then the lives of regional rulers are threatened and the empire is most likely to lose some of the territory.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Last year in a department meeting, a team of sixth grade teachers presented a series of lessons they were doing where students were investigating the origins of a famous human skeleton. Their central question was something like “Where did this person come from?” They may have had students draft their own questions and investigate resources throughout the week to answer them. Until now, I’ve yet to hear a question that could provoke that level of authentic investigation in Grade 7 World Geography. I am fascinated by the theory that Marco Polo may not have visited Song China, particularly because I have always understood this story as a fact and because doubt in his story sets the foundation for students to investigate sources to find an answer to this question themselves. Posing the question “Did Marco Polo visit China?” allows students to develop a hypothesis after reviewing a “foundational” source before they analyze a set of sources from both European and Asian perspectives. This opportunity excites me because it also provides a chance for students to use many of Massachusetts’ Practice Standards including #2 “Develop focused questions or problem statements and conduct inquiries,” #4 “Analyze the purpose and point of view of each source; distinguish opinion from fact,” and #5 “Evaluate the credibility, accuracy, and relevance of each source”. These standards are sometimes the hardest to teach well throughout the year in ways that engage students. At the end of the investigation, students can present their original hypothesis and findings using an interactive presentation that showcases their evaluation of clues. On these slides of their presentation, students would be required to include a screenshot of each source with their summary of it broken down into the pieces of standard 5: credibility, accuracy, and relevance. I would probably have students present in a jigsaw style and rotate kids around the room so they will present several times to a different audience of their peers. Afterwards, students will complete a reflection in response to the prompt “Does it matter if Marco Polo never actually visited China? Explain why it does or doesn’t matter.” before we have a class discussion on the same topic.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Last school year I used questions to frame student thinking during lessons. Most of the questions I developed had a range of correct answers and could be answered within the day’s 50 minute lesson. The essential questions of my units could be answered throughout the year, but we rarely visited those conversations so students did not have enough opportunities to contextualize what they had previously learned with new conclusions. 

 

This year, I have begun using questions to spark student exploration of a topic; these have been more opinion based although students still have to support their ideas with evidence. I have found that while both kinds of questions are necessary for learning, the open-ended exploratory questions are better suited to student voice and introducing more fields outside of history into the classroom. Questions such as “What sort of government should Iran have?” and “How should China (the Qing Empire) interact with foreigners?” have allowed my students to reference geographical and political knowledge to be able to evaluate real-world options and express their decision making process. I think having students explore the question “Did the Xia Dynasty exist?” provides a similar opportunity. Kids can examine a set of sources- images, maps, articles, and stories of culture heroes- to determine, defend, and, ultimately, debate their answer. This activity could also highlight the role of archaeology in shaping historical records by having students examine images of artifacts, an article about dig sites, and a map outlining the territory believed to be controlled during the Xia Dynasty, as part of their source set.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Culture heroes play a similar role in societies across the world. Inventing them and their stories helps cultures make sense of the world they live in and the history they have already recorded. If settlements in the Yellow River Valley and across East Asia were seeing evidence of a great flood and Earth’s natural systems (i.e. species mating habits, seasons, and the timing of planting and harvesting), then inventing stories about gods of creation and agriculture to explain these things makes sense. Culture heroes also help establish desirable values for the community and gender roles (if a community places value on gender being defined and consistently “performed” within the set definition). While I do not know East Asia’s creation stories in great detail, it seems that there was agreement that a male and female god together created the world, which would also explain the existence of men and women. Fu Xi is credited with hunting and domestication, roles given to men in many early civilizations, while Nuwa is credited with weaving and other activities most likely assigned to women in East Asia’s earliest settlements. Culture heroes can even help legitimize rulers who seemingly rise to power outside of hereditary means and “divine right”. For a ruler who claims power by being the most skilled warrior or the wisest community member, a story of your descendance from a creation god or culture hero legitimizes the intelligence and/or talent you have and use to help your people first survive, and then thrive. Connecting oneself to stories about culture heroes can be described as the earliest version of “divine right”.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Jennifer, I like how clearly you and your students have defined a major cause for conflict. Competition for resources drives both domestic and international policy for many countries. As you mentioned, many North American native groups advocate for the protection of environmental resources even when U.S., Canadian, or other federal governments want to use limited resources as means for supporting human “progress”. Lately, I’ve been interested in presenting varied cultural values, highlighting cultures that do not compete for resources but share them as natural and crucial to their way of living. I would love to juxtapose the competing for and sharing of resources cultural values, giving students scenarios and asking them to identify the pros and cons of each. I also wonder what conclusions students can draw. Additionally, the article you attached was a very good read. That’s such a good idea- bringing a local article into the classroom!

[Cynthia Jackson]

After considering access to clean water across the region, it may be interesting to develop a lesson leading students through a study of East Asia’s ethnic diversity. In the fall, I learned that East Asian shifting resources, wars, and empire building has contributed to various people groups becoming part of the nations that exist in this region today. As many students and adults do not consider Asia’s human diversity, teaching about this topic would be a culturally competent way to expand students’ understanding of ethnicity and the role it plays in society. This lesson could begin with a brief history of the largest ethnic groups in the region before students are provided with maps that show demographics around China, Japan, and North and South Korea. Population trends usually suggest that large proportions of ethnic groups live in areas near each other. Once students identify this trend for several of the largest ethnic groups, they would then be led through examining the physical features of these areas so that they observe where people groups settled, form questions about the reasons people would settle in less “desirable” areas, and draw conclusions about how physical geography shapes settlement. The final part of this lesson would walk students through human decisions that have shaped the experiences of ethnic minorities in East Asia, including the allocation of essential resources such as water and sanitation, housing and food, and education.

[Cynthia Jackson]

In Massachusetts, access to clean water is not an issue but in San Diego, California, where I grew up, water conservation is a familiar phrase from my childhood. I still remember commercials urging individuals, homeowners, and private businesses to conserve water. People were encouraged to refrain from watering their lawns at certain times of the day. Washing your car frequently was identified as wasteful and restaurants stopped automatically serving iced water in addition to the drink you ordered with your meal. There was even a hotline number you could call to report water waste. I’m sure there were more restrictions for farmers, business owners, and government programs than I was ever aware of. I’m lucky to have the chance to partner with the United Nations Association of Greater Boston to teach about the global water crisis in my classroom, but if I didn’t, I would introduce this topic during the East Asia unit as this region has been heavily impacted by access to water. Students begin to think critically about their individual use of water and recommend solutions to regional issues when you help them understand that water is not an unlimited resource and it is highly necessary to all functions of life.

[Cynthia Jackson]

The visual of four rivers coursing through China intrigued me. In the fall, I considered developing a lesson that looked at how the shifting of the Yellow River over time has caused fluctuations in the settlement of nearby populations and changed the way local towns and cities developed. I still like this idea but I wonder if this lesson could be taught after one where students study a political map to identify which river has the most towns and cities near it. Then students will be given a population density map and asked to describe the relationship between the number of towns or cities in an area and the population density of each.The final step would be for students to use their new knowledge to draw conclusions about the four rivers, including hypothesizing which is the largest, which is the best for agricultural and industrial uses, and which is the safest to live near. Exploring these rivers through a human settlement lens would make way for studying the impact of the Yellow River changing course over time.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Hi! My name is Cynthia Jackson and I am a 7th grade World Geography teacher in Waltham, Massachusetts. This is my second year of teaching and my team is transitioning our curriculum to meet the state's newest standards. As a result, I completed the Modern East Asia seminar in the Fall and knew that I wanted to continue the learning with the Origins Seminar. I'm very excited to learn more about this beautiful region and share everything I learn with my students. I'm also looking forward to learning beside all of you this Spring while I row on the Charles River, take picnics, and do whatever I can to get outside safely!

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