[Hannah Klein]

I watched the movie Silence a few years ago -- it's the story of two christian missionaries who travel to Japan to find a missing monk and connect with crypto-christians in Japan. I'm curious to learn more about how historically accurate this film is in terms of how christian missionaries, monks, and japanese christians were treated in the period in which it took place. I really enjoyed the movie -- it was surprising and gripping! Might also be an interesting resource to bring in for high school students (just clips of course, not the torture scenes!!!)

[Hannah Klein]

I'm not sure if we discussed this during the course, but I'm wondering when the story of Mulan is supposed to take place, and if it is based on any actual historical events or literature from the period. These interactions with Mongolian invaders has me thinking about these extremely popular movies! 

[Hannah Klein]

I clicked through on the link you shared here and found this website fascinating. What a great resource! The phrase of the week feature could be used for thinking, writing, or prompts for a wide variety of ages! A small way to connect students to Chinese language, history, and culture. https://supchina.com/?s=phrase+of+the+week 

[Hannah Klein]

Thanks Lingjing for sharing more information on tangrams. I'm curious to learn more about how the tangram is related to greek philosophy. These different traditions approach some of the same key questions that humans have been grappling with for centuries!

[Hannah Klein]

I did a quick search and found this one! https://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Dragon-Boat-Festival/dp/0887768059. Could be great to use to teach about this tradition... maybe even integrate some kind of engineering challenge!

[Hannah Klein]

These are incredible images! I would love to use these with students using the VTS (visual thinking strategies) protocol (https://vtshome.org/). Could be a great way to introduce an inquiry into east asian culture/history or population!

[Hannah Klein]

This is so fascinating to me. I wonder how and when the different technologies societies today use to manage water as a resource developed and how cultural/knowledge exchange factored into that process. How could we trace a line from the way that the LA River is managed here in our own backyard to human responses to water features in their world in ancient civilizations both near and far?

[Hannah Klein]

I love the connections you're making here Jennifer! I can definitely see myself designing an interdisciplinary unit where we draw from social studies (geography) and science standards to compare and contrast the emergence of civilizations around water and how people use water in different times and places. We discuss the water cycle in 3rd and 5th grade so there would definitely be some opportunities to make this happen at the elementary level!

[Hannah Klein]

The great wall is such an iconic historical site and I think it would be interesting to use it as an example of how borders between countries are demarcated and defended. When talking about California geography this year with my 3rd grade students, questions came up about borders of regions, countries, and states. I can imagine a unit for elementary age students that focuses on borders and looks at natural and unnatural borders that are closer to home (like the rio grande river and the US/Mexico border wall), and brings in an example of the great wall of China as a militarized border fortification apparatus that no longer exists as such... 

[Hannah Klein]

Something this session made me think about was the emphasis on SEL - social-emotional learning in our schools, especially in response to the trauma and isolation students have experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I know that one buddhist practice is meditation. Many teachers engage their students in some sort of meditation/mindfulness -- I know I do! I imagine there might be some ways to introduce concepts about religions of east asia as we teach our kids about meditation and where it comes from. Of course the way we practice mediation and mindfulness in elementary schools is very different from how its practiced by actual buddhists and it's very much disconnected from the history of organized religion in east asia but I wonder if sharing some images of meditation, some buddhist texts about mindfulness etc. to root our social-emotional learning in the cultural and religious practices of people throughout time and around the world!

[Hannah Klein]

1. Looking at Sim Saimdang's work had me thinking about how to weave in her artwork to our study of plants, life cycles, and ecosystems. Scientific illustration in the school garden is a great end of the year activity and Sim Saimdang could be our mentor artist! I wonder if there are any biographies of her written for younger children

[Hannah Klein]

A question that's swirling around in my mind after today's session is what kinds of texts could I source from this time in Japanese history to use as "mentor texts" examples to teach different kinds of writing. We talk a lot about list-making in informational/expository writing and Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book could serve as a fun and very unique example of this tool that writer's use to communicate ideas. I wonder also if there are some texts from this period that could serve as mentor texts for opinion pieces... 

[Hannah Klein]

What a silly idea! It is not my place to judge whether my dad did something bad. It is my place to honor him and follow his guidance. I respect his authority 100% and I'm sure there was a good reason for the choices he made. 

[Hannah Klein]

I love bringing in Tangram puzzles to engage my students in inquiries around geometry and give them opportunities to develop their problem solving and collaboration skills. I've read this story to introduce tangrams to my students and I wonder what connections I could make to chinese philosophy. What is the origin of the tangram story and what school(s) of thought is it connected to?

https://tasks.illustrativemathematics.org/content-standards/tasks/1311

[Hannah Klein]

Watching this video on East Asia had me thinking about how to connect some of this content with the 3rd grade standards. In social studies, students learn about how geography shapes different places in California. We learn about the desert, coast, mountain, and valley regions and how the different geographical features impact the places and the people who inhabit those places. It might be interesting when situating our inquiring into California geography to compare the size of California to the US, and the size of the US to the size of other countries in East Asia. I can also see some math connections here -- when we study place value and work on comparing numbers, I could bring in numbers that relate to demography and geography in East Asia (perhaps as compared to here!). I use the teaching tolerance social justice standards in my classroom as well as the required standards set by the state and that gives us opportunities to delve into learning about cultural diversity. When we learn about Lunar New Year for example, I could bring in more sources that relate to demographics and geography in East Asia and guide my students in analyizing these sources for main ideas and key information (relating to informational text comprehension standards as well)! Just some initial thoughts. Thanks for reading!

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