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Rob_Hugo@PortNWI hate to be obnoxious and make this an entire strand, but I think that this book would be an excellent read for everyone: pick up a copy for the plane or read it when we return. It's called Oracle Bones, by Peter Hessler (an American working as a foreign correspondent in China) and it is his observations of China: the book is a "journey between China's past and present" as its subtitle suggests. What I like about the book is the "interchapters": in between the narrative of his experiences in China, he has chapters inbetween entitled "artifacts": these interchapters explain artifacts that historians are studying, like oracle bones, turtle shells, the written word, etc. What I love about the interchapters is Hessler's ability to show how the past impacts the present; he connects items of the past to issues happening today. For example, Hessler's motif of "order, regularity, organization" (Hessler 251) is used to describe how ancients arranged bones after one's death, and, at the same time, is used to describe the current government's policies. History teachers would love this because it really explores the importance of studying history--how our understanding of the past can impact our understanding of today. (I know, you know this already; I just think that Hessler articulates this idea well). I know that there is a lesson here: as we encounter "artifacts" in China, we can photograph them. Maybe students are given a photo of some artifact (with perhaps some additional info with it) and they have to study it and find some lesson for today in it. (Boy, that's pretty vague: it's in the development stage). Feel free to go somewhere with that idea.
AnonymousOne more neat idea from Hessler's book: he talks about how history is always changing--"the past is under construction. It lies under houses, beneath highways, below building sites" (Hessler 189). But, he reminds the reader, history is the artifacts that are dug up plus the "person's relationship to the object" which "can be shaped by nationalism or regionalism" (191)--the perspective of the artifact is just as important as the artifact itself. To demonstrate that idea, he explores a discovery of some jade pieces/bronzes found to be from the Shang dynasty, around 1200BC, giving five different perspectives of these artifacts ranging from those actually digging at the site to scholars in America. Hessler's point is that distance/socioeconomics/nationality: all of these circumstances change perspective, and therefore, change history.
Anyway, here's my idea: we could pick some artifact (perhaps the terracotta warriors, for example) and five of us (or as many as want to) could write our assessment of what we observed at that site. Students at home could see some pictures of the artifact, then read our varying accounts of what we saw. Differences could be discussed, then students could be told that we were at the same place at the same time. A discussion could follow about how our different perceptions/experiences/focus/background affected our viewing of the artifact. Lesson: history is not objective; keep in mind the bias/agenda of the historian. (I believe that I am touching on an English/Language Arts State Standard!) Now I know that we're all American teachers, but we have different perspectives anyway. (In fact, maybe our homogeny would help prove the point--if we are the same nationality, and in the same profession, why are our perspectives so different?) Let me know if anyone would be willing to participate.
Tracy [Edit by="tsprague on Jun 24, 4:18:52 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousHi Tracy,
Do you have a copy of this book? If so can you bring it on the trip? Only if you have room for it, but I would love to read it while we were there or maybe on the plane home. It sounds like it has amazing connections to our power ideas group. If not no big deal, I will buy a copy when we get home.
Safe travels-Dana
AnonymousI am bringing with me the earlier Peter Hessler book on his experiences teaching for two years in CHina. River Town. If we have time to read all these books, we can probably do some trading as we will probably be carrying a mini-library of books amongst this group. I will have 3-4 books (depending on the final weight of my bags.)
Courtney Lockwood