[Monica Munguia]

Petrina, I know that I am much older than you but through my cultural and western values, I would sacrifice my happiness for my child or parent.  It depends on a person, and how they have changed from their traditional values.  I am a first generation American, and I have become very Americanized but still wrestle with my traditional Mexican values.  As an example, my mother is 87 years old and for the most part Americans tend to place parents in assisted living conditions.  Some siblings wanted that route for my mother; whereas, my brother and I said we would take her in our home and care for her.  This is what is best for her and expected from us.  She took care of me now I take care of her.  But, I also have to say that in a traditional Mexican household, there is an underlying rule that children do not move away far from the family.  I broke this rule when I moved away and studied, and now my son has gone away to study at a university.  This my mother worries about daily and wants him home with us.

[Monica Munguia]

Yes, I must agree that the process is gradual.  Unfortunately most minority roles are still protrayed by non-ethnic actors, protrayed incorrectly, or are stereotyped.  As in your example, Mickey Rooney was given the role because that is what was acceptable at the time.  As in today's film Late Spring, we discussed among ourselves that we thought the main actress resembled an American woman.  We concluded that this could have been the style of the time, this is the only way she would have been accepted, or the director was trying to once again promote the American life style.  

[Monica Munguia]

In Lessons for Women, Ban Zhao assists women in describing and learning their gender role.  She proceeded by first describing herself.  I was immediately captivated by the adjectives used in the first paragraph.  She used “unsophisticated, unenlightened, and by nature unintelligent.”  This was as I understood it to represent humility that she was not smart enough but was fortunate enough to receive some form of education.  Then she proceeds to outline the fears infused if she faltered in her gender role.  This would lead not only to shame on her family but also on her ancestors.  So other women would stay on the right path and not fall into this pit of despair, she outlined lessons to help others.  These included humility, the ways of husband and wife, how to distinguish respect and caution, the four qualifications of being a woman, and implicit obedience.  Once again lessons are described with examples and details along with various adjectives to influence women.  I found in the inclusion of adjectives to have a persuasive tactic.  Where they really lessons or persuasive strategies to keep order in the household?  The more I learn of these women, the more I understand the strategies they used to survive.  They were told how to behave and what their roles would be in life; yet, they also manipulated household members to get what they wanted.  So, it seems as though it was a game; yet, if women did not have the upper hand, they could be subjected to harm.

 

[Monica Munguia]

The title of the reading illustrates to students the type of essay written.  The author uses many sources to convey Radical Critiques of Traditional Society.  Students could take sections of the readings and research primary sources mentioned and analyze if the author is explaining or persuading the reader. Then students could outline if the sources are being used correctly or incorrectly in the author’s essay.  They can also evaluate the writing structure.  These tasks will help students in producing better writing for their own explanatory or persuasive essays.  As an example, Confucian ideology is mentioned in several paragraphs.  Students could decipher opinion from Confucian doctrine.  This would also assist students in learning more about the primary sources mentioned.

 

[Monica Munguia]

It would seem the Confucian Ideology would be easier to introduce and teach to my students.  Confucian Ideology consists of three standards that need to be mastered to attain womanhood, which are virtue, talent, and beauty.  Virtue as explained in the story would be loyalty to others in this case your children if you are a woman.  Talent would be to master logical reasoning while beauty is seeking the importance of inner wisdom rather than physical appearance.  These standards seem plausible with both genders since all standards would produce better human beings.  Once standard definitions are learned and character examples are analyzed, students could internalize for personal growth.

 

[Monica Munguia]

Poems of Woeser uses figurative language and natural images giving the reader an insight into the author’s life struggles.  In analyzing these poems, students could develop poetic literary skills to relay their own personal scenarios.  Therefore, students could attach emotional outputs and retain learning for long term memory.  A recurring theme could be approached in a set of poems therefore mastering skills.  Students could relay the theme through different perspectives as in Woeser’s poems.

 

[Monica Munguia]

I am not a fan of science fiction books but after Professor Bernards presentation, I figured both plots would appeal to my 8^th grade students.  The existence of an unrealistic world or problem seemed to resemble video games.  The only difference being instead of mastering levels, students are exposed to realistic themes.  Themes leading students to research parallel incidents in the 21^st century.  These could be as broad as global issues or as specific as school problems.  Projects in class could infuse student centered collaborative solutions using technology for peer presentations.  Then students are learning from peers and would be more prone to retaining information.  A comparison would have to be included from the books to support learning of themes.  In addition, if the science is fictional, it could be disproved by students.  Then we could use these skills to tackle relevant teenage topics such as issues with cyber bullying or social media.  The themes Professor Bernards mentioned could lead discussions or research projects in the reliability of posts among students their age or information students tend to believe on the internet.

 

[Monica Munguia]

The scenes in the movie progressed to show the characters’ inner struggles.  It brought up persistent cultural gender views that were similar in my culture as I grew up and are still present today in families.  I internalized the emotions of both the father and Noriko.  They both wanted to break traditions, but knew they both had to comply to make each other happy and prosper in their roles.  I wanted to seek solutions for both to be liberated as I often did in my own life growing up.  Gender cultural views were then changed with Noriko’s friend.  The friend relied on herself; yet, she still could not decipher which was better a traditional marriage or the marriage she had.  Yet, even till this day personally I am torn between the traditional woman expectations imposed and often unthinkably enforce with newer generations.  Yet, I also question the traditional gender expectations brought in from home in my students. 

[Monica Munguia]

When being exposed to the actions, sacrifices, and ratifications of the persons interviewed from Nanfu’s village, one cannot help but judge their decisions reflecting one’s own culture.  I agreed with the journalist that China’s propaganda was highly infiltrated into the people, and these people created their roles based on ignorance.  They were literally brained washed that their country needed this policy.  But, you could also sense their sadness when they spoke that they had no choice.  Whether they liked it or not, they had to comply, especially the women.  This is where I understood why Nanfu’s mother and aunt found themselves going against their beliefs.  As with my own mother after hearing her own story of regulations imposed first by her father and then my father, she had no choice but to deter her own dreams.  This gave me a greater understanding for these women but did not excuse them for what they did, especially when the woman helped the uncle leave his daughter out to die.  The only one who seemed to want to eliminate her guilt was the midwife.  I could not even relate or imagine how she felt after assisting with so many abortions only that she needed to make her wrongs into rights.

 

[Monica Munguia]

The whole concept of beauty tied into self-esteem is prevalent in my middle school students.  I often observe my girls not asserting themselves because they do not want boys to think they are intelligent.  But yet, they are extreme in their attire.  My girls have always worn inappropriate clothes that does not become their body shapes simply to comply with popular trends.  In addition, my boys each year seem to be more concerned with their physicality.  They often have conversations on facial and hair products.  These gender concerns were both addressed by what is going on in South Korea.  My girls have no quarrels in changing their physicality, so the article of cosmetic surgery would open up discussions as to how far they would be willing to alter their looks.  Whereas my boys seem to be following more androgyny trends were they want a softer appearance to attract girls.  Both are trying to find and accept their sexuality, which is a passage of puberty.

 

[Monica Munguia]

From a psychological stand point, I believe women were constantly introduced into ways they were supposed to behave.  The section that stood out for me was the non-inclusion gender protrayals in theatre.  Women were not allowed to participate; yet, they are exposed to variations of their physical and mental behavior.  So, they were ideally protrayed as to what men desired.  Yet, actors took pride in protraying these women, but they did not immulate women at all because they did not want women to teach them.  So, if you had a woman actor protraying themselves, it would change the whole aspect of the theatre protrayal.  This is like watching yourself in other person's perspectives, and you must adhere to them.  This is mentally exhausting.

[Monica Munguia]

Professor Yunxiang Yan's description of the inverted family answered many questions to the family structure and gender roles of my students.  I believe western culture is very similar to the changes in China.  Students are given authority at home with intentions of entitlement that they no longer need teachers because they are exposed to an overwhelming amount of information.  Yet, they do not know how to decipher learning and create areas of emotional breakdowns.  I am sure this is why education is being geared toward creating learning options, and students teaching each other while teachers transition into facilitator roles.  Yet, as in Being the Right Woman for "Mr. Right" within their cultural traditions and roles, students must still comply to family expectations. 

[Monica Munguia]

#4 Filial Examplary Story - This story really resonated when Marcos compared the character to Cinderella except the character in this story is a male.  I was able to make connections in the area of gender roles.  Because our population is 90% hispanic, there are certain cultural behaviors that students must adhere to, especially if they are second or third generation.  I could incorporate the characters' actions and motives into our Moral Compass Unit.  Comparing and contrasting a second generation Cuban teenagers' inappropriate actions and attitude toward her first generation grandmother in My Abuela Invented the Zero therefore dividing her family while Min Ziqian's appropriate behavior to advance in his selfless act while humbling his step-mother into acting more appropriately in her role.

[Monica Munguia]

Good morning everyone,

I am Monica Munguia.  I live in sunny southern California in a border town called El Centro.  I teach at Frank Wright Middle School in Imperial, CA.  I am starting my 25th year teaching Language Arts.  This year I get a 7th grade study skills elective, and I am so excited to incorporate what I learn this week.  This is my second summer seminar.  See you there!

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