[Mario Ruiz]

Students and young children are often very inquisitive and they always want to ask the question, "Why?" It's a wonderful question because, like you said, Cynthia, it can lead to so many different conversations. Sometimes when lesson planning I often have to try and hop into some of my students' brains in order to anticipate what they will be asking later on during my lessons. More often than not, it's the question of "why?" that they often ask and saying "because I said so" is not a justified answer. Again, the question of "Why?' is very powerful and often starts a wonderful conversation. 

[Mario Ruiz]

Thanks for posting this Virgina! This is a very cool website and I definitely want to visit these Chinatowns. I thoroughly enjoy visiting Chinatown in SF and grabbing food. I had no idea there were so many Chinatowns around the country and especially around the world. Chinatown in Perth, Chinatown in Buenos Aires, and Chinatown in Brussels?! What I appreciate the most about this website though, is how when you click on one of the Chinatowns, it gives you bits of information about the specific Chinatown and some of the great things to do and visit at each one. Thanks again for sharing! 

[Mario Ruiz]

Hey Meghann,

I think that would be a great idea for your third graders. One thing I like to do when creating lesson plans for my students is I try to include ways for my students to provide responses through one of their seven intelligences. The theory of Gardner's seven intelligences is that everyone possesses different forms of inteeligences that can include musical intelligence, visual/spatial intelligence, and logical-mathematical intelligence. Maybe the students could pick an intelligence and a philosophy and express that philosophy through that intelligence? Maybe write a song about legalism, create a work of art  for daoism, or provide intrapersonal characteristics for Confuscianism. 

[Mario Ruiz]

That's a great point. I remember that it really fascinated me when we had our first session and Clay went over the geographical makeup of some of the countries. And I also agree with you that great conversation can start with our students about how population density happens in certain parts of the country. To add to that it would be great to discuss how this population density and even geographical composition can have numerous affects on the socio-political makeup of that area as well. 

[Mario Ruiz]

Hey Elizabeth,

I appreciate the way that you look into multiple elements of the movie, such as the geographical makeup and the shattering of familial norms, and how it would be beneficial for students to study those elements.  I can say that in any movie that I watch, it's not too often that I'm looking at the geographical makeup of the film. You're right in the claim that when we think of South Korea, we think more about the bustling city of Seoul. Like every other country, there's so much more to it than we know! 

[Mario Ruiz]

This is a cool idea. Growing up, I really did not like history. I was more of a numbers kid growing up so learning facts and dates was something I always struggled with, even to this day. However, I like the idea of helping the students connect with individual historical people. I probably had no inclination to want to learn more about history because I never really made any sort of personal connection with any historical figure, so this would be a great activity to do just that! 

[Mario Ruiz]

Hey Sandra,

That's a great idea to try and adapt the eightfold path into your classroom. What I find very interesting about this is that it definitely reminds me of PBI systems that are used around many school districts. It's cool to know that those who practice Buddhism had somewhat of the same idea. I really like your idea of including the "paths" and what they look and sound like. That would give more stimuli to the visual and auditory learners. 

[Mario Ruiz]

Hey Chad,

I totally agree with you on that. I think because we are able to look up and find any bit of information on the Internet, we kind of assume that everyone else can do it, too. It's hard to believe that anyone can control that much information that gets out to the people. I also think it's safe to say that we all probably live with that same naïve assurance, so don't feel alone on that one. Knowledge is power. 

[Mario Ruiz]

Hey Samantha,

Yeah that would be a pretty tough thing to teach fourth graders and I'm not too sure how your parents, admin, or even school district would take to that. But I really like the idea of teaching the younger students to stand up for what is right. It's important to let them know at a young age how their beliefs and actions can help shape not only their futures, but the world around them. I think that is a great take away from this lecture, even though you are not using the specific content and material in your teaching with your kids. 

[Mario Ruiz]

This is a term we hear quite often and it's something I feel like everyone has more or less of an idea of what it really means. I went ahead and looked into it some more on YouTube and found some interesting videos. I'm attaching a link to the end of this response because I found it to be very informative on how to utilize the basics of feng shui in your bedroom! As I was watching it and the narrator was presenting some of the guidelines, I always questioned "why" you should or should not organize your room in a specific manner. However, the narrator always gave such excellent reasoning as to the "why" behind the feng shui principles. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlhZ6TA4_X4

[Mario Ruiz]

It's great the way you both were able to differntiate the material for your students and even implement a buddy-type-system so the students are exposed to the material. As some of my students possess fine motor limitations, this would be a great idea to implement into my classroom as a art-history lesson and I could have my students use something like playdough or putty to help strengthen their fine motor abilities. I imagine a art-history lesson, with a step-by-step guide on creating a piece of pottery, and a fine motor task all in one! 

[Mario Ruiz]

These are both awesome ideas! I think both coulld be implemented to meet the needs of various students. I'm not too sure which level of students you both work with, but maybe the idea where you trace the origins of one item as a class could be implemented at the late-elementary or junior high level and then implement the other idea of each student tracing the origins of their own item at the higher levels like at the high school level. I work at the high school level, however, my students with special needs have a wide range of abilities so I could possibly do both to meet their individual needs. 

[Mario Ruiz]

Hey Cynthia, 

You bring up good points for both schools of thought. In thinking about my heritage and culture, I enjoy teaching others what some of my peoples' customs include and it's a great thing to see people educating others on their heritage and different backgrounds. However, I start to think about how sometimes cultural beliefs and customs may become appropriated and sometimes turned into insulting ideas. Take Cinco de Mayo for example. It's believed that it's a Mexican holiday, but in reality, we do not celebrate it at all. People use it as an excuse to drink which perpetuates a negative stereotype to the Mexican culture. 

[Mario Ruiz]

Great point, Chad. I also think this would be a great way to discuss current issues that we're facing in our daily lives such as immigration. This is also a great piece of evidence that shows how multicultural beliefs and ideas had extreme benefits to the Tang dynasty. It's heart breaking that even now in the 21st century, we're still facing prejudice, discrimination, and racism. Being able to show evidence of how multiculturalism worked even way back in the 7th century is a powerful argument.  

[Mario Ruiz]

I also love a great origin story. Growing up, I read a lot of comic books and my absolute favorite stories were the origin stories of heroes and villains. Like Chad noted above, Japan's origin story gave insight into how and why Japan is the way that it is. Clay, you brought up a great question about why are these stories retold and it got me to thinking, "Are origin stories always told the same way or are they often shaped, edited, and revised so the new origin story will present different values and ethics that the characters will possess?"

[Author]

Posts