[Shad Springer]

Professor Dube's slides featuring the Economist magazine covers with dragons on them got me thinking a lot about Western perceptions of China. My students need to write narrative, informative, and argument texts. I usually teach argument writing in the spring, and one of their final tasks is to write a five-paragraph persuasive essay. I provide them a long list of options with clear pro/con positions. However, very few (if any) of these involve China. Since I also usually teach ancient China in social studies in the spring, I like the idea of frontloading some information about modern China with them (military, economics, soft power, involvement in the developing world, etc.) and then including some pro/con China prompts that could lead to good student argumentative essays. Some of the questions could include: Should all U.S. students be required to learn Chinese in school? Is China helping or hurting the U.S. economy? Should the U.S. government and consumers do more to demand that the Chinese workers who make the products we consume here are given a liveable wage and work in humane conditions? Etc. 

[Shad Springer]

Depending on the age of your students, you could also show them a clip from "Drag Race", an increasingly popular reality show featuring drag queens acting, lip syncing, designing outfits, etc. in an effort to contemporize the cross-dressing elements in Shakespeare, Japanese ukiyo-e prints, etc. 

[Shad Springer]

During this morning's lecture, I had a couple of thoughts on how to incorporate some of Professor Coats's presentation into my classroom. In the beginning of the year, I have the students create their own name plates for their desks. I have them put some images and symbols on it that represent their family, hobbies, etc. I could easily extend this idea to have them create a mon, or family crest, after first showing them many Japanese examples. Secondly, I'd like to show them the 2020 Tokyo Olympic mascots and have them discuss what the colors and designs could represent. Then, I'd reveal to them their names (Miratowa and Someity) and what their translations are in English. Again, this would foster a discussion on the choice of names and what they symbolize. Finally, since the Olympics are coming to Los Angeles in 2024, the students would have the opportunity to design their own LA 2024 mascots and name them. I'd have them post their images on our class blog and write a paragraph explaining their rationale behind the images and the meaning of the names. 

[Shad Springer]

When teaching statistics and probability in sixth grade math, one of the strands requires students to summarize and describe distributions in graphed data. Dr. Rosen's graphs involving domestic box office sales in China and the U.S. would be excellent tools to use during this lesson. When examing the charts, I could task with them a number of questions like: What's the difference in gross domestic sales of Chinese films versus American films? What is the median film in each chart? How do the two charts compare? How much more does the top grossing foreign film in China compare with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's sales in the U.S.? If you were to take this data and make a histogram, what would your intervals be? And so on and so forth. This is my opening chapter in math--one that I'll be beginning in a couple of weeks--and I'm excited to supplement the boring charts in the book with these much more engaging ones! 🙂 

[Shad Springer]

When I teach the ancient China unit in social studies every spring, I find that my students are naturally curious to know more about modern China. They're aware that China today is economically powerful, the manufacturing base of the world, and few other basic details. In order to address this natural curiosity, I would like to show my students the amalgam of film excerpts that were part of Professor Rosen presentation and task my students with a "scavenger hunt" of sorts involving the following questions: 

1. What images of China do you see depicted in the film clips?

2. What is the inference the filmmaker wants us to make about China? 

3. How does this relate back to what we have learned about ancient China? 

Given the rapid nature of the clips, two viewing would probably be necessary. I would probably create a graphic organizer to help the students organize their responses or perhaps even have them work together in a small group. Groups could be given the opportunity to present their findings to the class, leading to academic dialogue with other groups who had similar or contrasting opinions on the film pieces. 

[Shad Springer]

I think she means modifying the postcards to use Chinese ones instead of Japanese ones in order to connect to the sixth grade social studies standards related to ancient China, a big unit for us sixth grade teachers. Unfortunately, ancient Japan isn't one of the required content standards at this point and time (although it should be). 

[Shad Springer]

I'm multiple subjects, so I have a lot of ton of different standards that I could potentially incorporate into this specific lesson idea. One further tweak I thought of after I posted my first response that we could perhaps both use: students could post their postcards in their respective class blogs. Their peers could then attempt to guess what the colors and imagery represent in terms of their personal and cultural backgrounds in the comments section. Because many parents have access to their child's postings, they could perhaps weigh in themselves...although I'm always slightly wary of this. 
 

I agree with you that this lesson would have more impact after first having them do readings like you described (narratives, poems, etc.). 

[Shad Springer]

Great idea, Midori! I could see myself tweaking your idea slightly for my sixth grade class. In the first week or two of the year, I typically do different projects that allow the students to introduce themselves to me and each other (and vice versa). I like the idea of frontloading the imagery of Japanese postcards via Professor Brown's lecture. (I've already pulled a number of them off of the internet.) The students would then be given blank 5" x 7" postcards upon which they could create a postcard that visually represents themselves and their culture. (On the back side they could even write a paragraph about themselves and address it to the class!) They could even take photographs of their postcards and post them on our class blog where their families could view them as well. 

[Shad Springer]

Well stated, Zoey. I agree with your analysis completely. The only thing I might speculate on is the time period, which I think could have been at any time during the Cold War. As a propaganda piece, the Chinese government wanted its people to believe that the rest of the world was united behind them--and, indeed, the Caucasian and African men are set back from the Chinese character, who is the leader--under the guiding influence of Communism. The message would have been: don't worry, everyone is with us. And don't even think about questioning Communism. 

[Shad Springer]

This poster depicts a well-built Chinese man holding what could be Mao's "little red book". Given his blue shirt and rolled up sleves, he could be a worker/laborer. He appears to be striking down two cartoonish-looking men with his powerful right arm. The two men have long noses, which could be a reference to Westerners. I am unclear what menance the Westerners could represent, but the threat could be anti-Communist given how fiercely the Chinese man is clutching Mao's little red book. The message is, clearly, don't fuck with China, don't fuck with Communism. We're strong, badass, and we will beat you down. As such, I'd say that the message is intended to empower the Chinese working class, and its meaning is clear: don't listen to anything outside agitators might have to say about Communism or China. 

There are just two colors in this poster: proletariat blue and Communist red. As far as the time period when this poster was made, I'd hazard a guess to say that it appeared during the Cold War when the Communist party felt most under siege from the democratic West. 

[Shad Springer]

I teach the historical fiction novel "Code Talkers" with my sixth grade class, which centers on how Native American (Navajos) used their language to transmit top-secret messages for the military during WWII. The novel focuses on the conflict between the U.S. and the Japanese in the Pacific theater, and as the enemy combatant, the Japanese are often dehumanized as "the other". As a post-read concluding activity, I'd like to show the film "Tokyo Story" to my class and have them contrast how the Japanese are depicted in the book versus the novel as well as identify how war had a corrosive effect on the families of both Native American and Japanese soldiers. 

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[Shad Springer]

Greetings, 

My name is Shad Springer and I’m a sixth grade multiple subjects teacher in Santa Barbara. Ancient China is an important unit in our social studies curriculum, and I’m especially looking forward to learning new ways to integrate visual arts projects into my pedagogy through this summer institute. Can’t wait to meet you all next week and collaborate during what should be a compelling week of learning and discussions! 

[Shad Springer]

Ancient China is an important unit in sixth grade social studies. In the textbook, there are a number of primary source pictures (from paintings, pictures, etc.) that depict what life was life in such dynasties as the Shang and Zhou. In the past, I've had the students analyze these depictions closely and then write (or dialogue) about what they observe, namely what kind of information these depictions give us in 2018 about these ancient civilizations. Naturally, this requires close, careful observation of the primary sources. Incorporating Zhang Leping's San Mao cartoon panels would be a good extension of this "observe and analyze" activity, and the students will undoubtedly have high engagement with the cartoon and the knowledge that San Mao is essentially the Mickey Mouse of China. A final extension of this activity could be to have the students attempt to draw a political cartoon themselves lampooning something they don't like in our school, town, or society. 

[Shad Springer]

As a sixth grade teacher, one of the most accessible components of this morning's presentation for me was the excerpt of the film "Lazy Pig". Common Core standards for sixth grade literature requires students to compare and contrast texts with audio, film, or other versions of the story. With this in mind, I think "Lazy Pig" would be an excellent source to use when asking the students to compare and contrast its thematic elements with, say, The Three Little Pigs. Both stories extol the virtues of working hard and, indeed, feature porcine characters. (In the Three Little Pigs, the first two pigs could be perceived as receiving their just desserts for having built shoddy, inferior houses out of straw and sticks.) The endings, however, naturally differ dramatically with the other farm animals turning on the poor beast in "Lazy Pig" while the third pig welcomes his friends in his solid home built of brick in the Three Little Pigs. Literature is replete with stories lauding hard work and perseverance, so "Lazy Pig" could make for a good contrasting story with just about any story we read in class. 

The K-Pop video "Twinkle" has a number of potential teaching points when connecting with Common Core standards related to the visual arts. Standard 1.4 asks students to describe how balance is effectively used in art. "Twinkle" uses symmetry a number of different times, from the twin staircases curving to the stage floor to the balanced arrangements of the background singers and dancers and even the gaggle of photographers. 

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