[Ester Yang]

You perfectly broke down the lesson step by step. Instead of going straight into the economic growth and development, you gave an example using pencils so that students are able to better understand the unit. This is perfect for both primary and secondary students because even thought middle/high school students are aware of what they mean, some still have trouble understanding the real concept behind it. After students have made the real connection, you can go in depth of explaining the history with adding academic words. 

[Ester Yang]

Throughout the seminar, I’ve learned so much more than I imagined. I first signed up for this course hoping to learn about the Asian culture and use that knowledge to relate to my students during my SEL learning periods. My students always talk about k-pop artists and Asian countries during our conversations, but my knowledge on East Asia was very limited for me to relate to them. I’m now confident that I can even give my students a background information of how it all started. I’ve also learned that the knowledge I have gained about East Asia can also be tied in my 8^th grade science classes. As an 8^th grade science teacher, I plan on using our seminar on resource scarcity in East Asia to make a connection on the lesson of human impacts on earth. Students can research on the history of resource scarcity of each East Asian country using a Venn Diagram. From there, the lesson can be stretched to compare and contrast the causes of resource scarcity and try to design solutions for such impact. This would fit in the NGSS standard of MS-ESS-3-3 and MS-ESS-3-4.  

I’ve gained a lot of insights on how to tie in the history of East Asia to my science NGSS standards. I thought it would be impossible to intertwine history with science, but this seminar proved to me that anything can be done. I’m very thankful to have received so many resources and ideas from fellow educators through our discussions in class and in the forum posts.
 

[Ester Yang]

I think you made a great point on exposing students to compare life expectancy and mortality rates between Asian countries and the U.S. Discussing Social Security and Medicare is important but I think its also great if you can talk about about the different lifestyles and the socioeconomic impacts that continued to affect the daily lives of Asians vs. Americans. The different lifestyles and the socieonomical impacts are what really impacting the mortality rates and the human life expectancy. 

[Ester Yang]

The household expenditure vary even in America when we compare them by states. I think students can start by comparing different states, than with countries, and then with different artists. For middle school students, this can definitely be beneficial since the lesson is broken down into pieces for them to understand. 

[Ester Yang]

In the past, I've made the connection between the California drought we are experiencing today with the water scarcity in Asian countries. The youtube link you have posted in your response is something i would like to use this year when I cover the envioronmental unit. It's a short 40 second video but it has a strong introduction that can tap into their prior knowlegde of water and power. After, like you have mentioned above, students can research and fact check not only the U.S. but other countries as well and do a comparison on how we use water. 

[Ester Yang]

I have never read this book before, but there's so many discussions around it. Professor Clay also recommended in his response to my post so I'm very interested in getting the book on Amazon. I'm sure it's great, and I think there are a l lot of resources around it which is another plus for a beginner teacher like me. I'm reading through the site you posted in your response and I'm seeing a lot of really cool interactive lesson plans. Thank you. 

[Ester Yang]

That's definitely one of the ways to teach children the importance of Cultural Revolution. Educating the history to our children is important no matter what subject we teach. Having them match cards with different slogans will help students remember/learn. Also, you're implementing games that they play with their friends so that it's easier for them to understand. 

[Ester Yang]

I teach 8th graders and I cannot tell you how much they love k-pop! Their zoom profile pictures are k-pop singers and if I ask a short question about him/her my students can go on and on about how amazing they are. Some students have said k-pop is the reason they have survived depression through the pandemic. I try incorporating topics they are interested in into my lesson plans and if I can somehow tie the Korean culture with science, more students will find the class fascinating. 

[Ester Yang]

Thank you for sharing this article on the lawsuit against the Japanese government. It's shameful how Japan won't admit their faults and own up to their past mistakes. Their reaction is definitely outraging the Koreans because currently in South Korea, they are protesting against any Japan made products. Some companies have cut business with Japan due to this incident and Japan lost significant amounts of money. 

[Ester Yang]

Park Chung Hee's time in the office marked a significance in the South Korean history. I'd actually like to recommend a movie (It used to be on netflix but I'm not sure if it still is), The Man Standing Next. It closely summarizes the history of South Korea during Park Chung Hee's time as a president and it helped the country. 

[Ester Yang]

The restoration period was an opportunity for other East Asian countries to see the power growth of Japan. As a country, it grew rapidly as there was an increase in production and rapid modernization. Japan was highly successfully in adapting the Western models. However, from the Western point of view, they reacted negatively because they didn't want to be seen equal with the Japanese nation. 

[Ester Yang]

As I was researching more facts on woodblocks, I found a link that explains the history and the various techniques used to create woodblocks. It even has a video of an artist making a woodblock, so I thought if anyone is interested they can watch the video to see how they are made. 

https://mymodernmet.com/ukiyo-e-japanese-woodblock-prints/

[Ester Yang]

It's always great to have the students take the initiative to try to find the answers. I love your approach in showing the students the picutre and have them answer your prompts. They can learn from each other's answers and/or make additional comments/questions. When I have these kinds of notice and wonder assignments, the class conversation never ends. 
If you allow me to add onto your wonderful idea, I'd first partner them up to have the discussion in small groups and then bring it in as a class. Small groups allow all students to participate whereas in a group setting, it's only the certain few who'll speak up. 

[Ester Yang]

I have never visited Japan and like you, had very little knowledge on the Japanese culture. From taking this course, I feel like I'm gaining so much knowledge in the history of Asia. As a science teacher, I didn't quite have the opportunity to learn the history (minust the ones we took in grade school) of different countries. These lectures from different professors gave me a chance to learn more about different cultures and how they grew as a country. 

[Ester Yang]

The defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese War came to a huge humiliation for the Chinese. The war demonstrated the failure of Qing dynasty’s attempt to modernize military and showed the world the huge power shift from China to Japan. China failed to unify as one because some were adapting to the Western cultures and the systems. 

 

To teach this concept of power struggle between two East Asian countries, I’d have a class debate and have the students do a research on their own. I would split the class in half as naturalists and communists and have them debate on why China was defeated in the war. 

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