[Dan Thalkar]

Ricardo,

You raise some extremely interesting questions, and I can see them coming to life in a high school classroom. Examing what makes a religion, cult, sect, by using case studies and student experiences would develop a treasury of context, which you could then use in questioning how these movements develop and interact with the government. This historical example is both foreign and relatable enough that it could provide a strong case study. 

 

[Dan Thalkar]

Hi Kim,

I also overlooked this story in our initial reading. After a more careful reading, however, it's fascinating. This scene is primarily environmental and scenic. I teach in Los Angeles, and I wonder how many of my students would place a similar emphasis on nature? It would be fun to have students describe their own utopias, bring in other utopian writing, and then explore what utopian descriptions tell us about their societies and authors. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Christine,

Thank you for highlighting one of the central contraditions of China today - it is both one of the top pollutants in the world and one of the world leaders for sustainable energy and environmentally conscious regulations. That tension is fascinating and provides such a depth of exploration. Students will ask, do China's current efforts offset their past? When else in world history has a similar case occured? What does this mean for the rest of us?

[Dan Thalkar]

Thanks for sharing this resource, Kim. I am particularly excited by the inclusion of music. Students often love hearing the sounds of other cultures, and it can help add complexity and nuance to otherwise static images or text. It could be cool to use the Smithsonian website as a model and have students create their own 'Spotlight' profiles, where they identify key events, art, and music for different groups that they research. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Kim,

Thanks for sharing this article and information. I also had no idea about the plant. It could be an interesting research project to use this plant as a starting point to look at how China's policies are affecting the rest of the world. Additionally, students could argue whether they think China's plan will be effective or, as you ask, it is too late. The answer might depend on what other nations around the world do, so students could also develop plans regarding what they think needs to happen in order to globally reduce pollution. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Linda,

Thank you for sharing your personal connections and additional research sources. You raise several interesting points. I am particularly interested in the survival & decline of indigenous languages, particularly amongst families living in English-dominant societies. When English and Spanish are the main forms of communication, how do indigenous languages survive? How are they changed? What systems and structures, consciously or otherwise, work towards their erasure? There's a lot to explore there, both within our current global context and throughout most of history. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Ricardo,

I am fascinated by the methods you mentioned for preserving dying languages. There is something intriguing about the use of technologies to preserve culture and language. I'm not quite sure where to do with that yet, but I think there is potential to explore the relationship between and responsibility of modernity and history. 

 

[Dan Thalkar]

Yes! The ubiquity of computers is a great example of how once-ground-breaking innovations eventually become common place and taken for granted. It would be a fun role-playing exercise to have students put themselves in the shoes of members of different societies and write about how they would feel about different new technological innovations that come along. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Linda,

I am intrigued by your idea of exploring the dynamic between the Chinese and the Mongols. It was obviously a fraught with conflict, but they also needed and benefited from the existence of one another. The parallels one can draw are myriad and fascinating, regardless of the time period you choose to focus on. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Hi Christine,

 

This is an important distinction, and one that can definitely be valuable to make in the classroom. W so often use or are exposed to words without questioning their deeper meaning or connotations. It can be a great exercise to have students rethink words they are familiar with and think they know by putting them within specific contexts and asking what each is really about. This exercise in semantics would then connect with an analysis of China's growth(development?) and the creation of connections. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Marcos,

Thank you for sharing these resources and ideas. I didn't know about the Kumeyaay, but am now intrigued and excited to incorporate this into my class. I think it can also be extended to connect with the challenges many indigenous communities around the world are facing as they struggle to preserve their languages. It could be interesting to extend this further and have students develop a proposal for an international organization, such as the U.N., regarding what they can do to help preserve these languages and cultures. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Simiarly to many of my classmates, I was struck by the impending disappearance of the Manchu language. Language tells us so much about a people, and is, particularly in cases of conquest and colonization, a deeply political project. As such, preserving (or not) languages is never just about the words; it's about the people, the current climate, cultural values, and how history is currently constructed, among many other things. I am sure students would be engaged in debating the ideas from Bell's article, as well as the deeper issues of how language is used as a tool of power.  

[Dan Thalkar]

Stephanie,

I am also interested in Marco Polo, and I think students are often intrigued by his story. Starting with the legend of Marco Polo and then moving into a more critical analysis is a powerful and engaging way for students to act as historians and interrogate how messy it is to actually construct history. In forming their own opinions, they'll have to look at many different sources and question the canonical stories about Marco Polo.  

[Dan Thalkar]

Scott, 

I really like your idea of exploring how new governments & religions survive by assimilating local ideas and traditions. I think that's a powerful way to use the Yuan adn Qing dynasties to help students understand wider historical themes. What other governments do you have in mind?

 

[Dan Thalkar]

The readings from this week provided many great opportunities to involve students. The Proclamation is a primary text that can be connected to more contemporary texts in order for students to grapple with corruption and the uses/abuses of power in government. Additionally, the article, "Did the Great Wall work?" presents a great dilema. The Great Wall is probably the most famous wall in the world, and yet (or perhaps because of its fame) we must still question its effectiveness and use. This, of course, can move into a larger conversation about the symbolic and practical functions of walls throughout history, including the current discussions around the US/Mexico border. 

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