Message from jpena

[Anonymous]

The following website is very useful for middle school teachers who seek to incorporate primary sources in their curriculum as well as include lessons on the role of women in Chinese soicety:

http://www.primarysource.org/library/tcus/women_han_tang/toc.htm

This website provides step by step lesson plans & teacher/student materials to go with the lessons. The lessons are very interesting. I especially like the incorporation of primary source materials in the lessons. The use of primary sources in a history classroom is essential if we as educators want our students to experience a more authentic experience of history. Studying primary sources allows students to travel back in time and hear the voices of the past come alive.

The following website is a great resource for 7th-12th grade students. I especially like the lessons aimed at helping students understand the role of women in Chinese society. There are two great lessons worth checking out. One explores the role of women from the Han dynasty through the Ming dynasty. Some of the topics explored are women in politics, women poets, women in the Han dynasty, art galleries, foot binding, and the legend of Mullan. The second lesson helps students understand the changed role of women in the Han and Tang dynasties by reading excerpts from Ban Zhao's "Lessons for a Woman" and an essay on the life of T'ang Empress Wu Zetian.