Message from jreynolds

[Anonymous]

I missed a class (and I was sad about it!) so I had to make it up by attending a lecture or going to a museum. I chose to go to the Pacific Asia Museum. As I stated in my website review, it has an awesome website, so that is one of the reasons I chose to go there. I really liked to the look at the Buddha section of the website, and it excited me to go to the museum and actually look at the pieces.

When I got there, I was disappointed to find out it was being remodeled. There were at least three sections of the place shut down, and a lot of the Chinese and Japanese relics were what was not available to the public, or not labeled. In the first room there were beautiful jade looking pieces that had no labels, so it was hard to identify. While that was disappointing, I did see a whole lot of useful items in the room for Southeast Asia. There was a pretty sizable dancing statue of Ganesh from India, with the story of how Ganesh came to be and came to have an elephant head. It was very cute, really. There were also many different Buddha statues in a few different rooms. Some were from the website, and were great to see in person because the sizes were different, and one of them, was just absolutely much bigger than I thought it would be, and it was just great to look at! It was a very peaceful Buddha. There were others too, and it gave me a good idea for the lesson I would use with the information at the Museum.

There was also a lot of beautiful porcelain in another section that I think had already been renovated because it looked much nicer than the rest of the Museum. It was very beautiful, but honestly, it wasn’t all that old and it would probably bore a bunch of 6th graders. Lastly, I went into the gift shop, which was liquidating and purchased some bound shoes, books, silk scarves and postcards. Some of it was just for my benefit, but some of it will also be useful in the classroom.

For a lesson, I would be excited to create a lesson for Buddhism using the website of the Museum http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org and the museum itself. After teaching what Buddhism was, which I personally like to show parts of or all of Little Buddha with Keanu Reeves to help with, I would continue the lesson. Students are always curious about the Buddha they are used to seeing, the happy chubby Buddha in Chinese restaurants. This would be how I would open the concept of seeing different representations of Buddha, as well as the fact that anyone can be a Buddha according to Buddhism, it means an enlightened person, not just THE Buddha, or Siddartha Gautama, who they learn about in the textbook and the movie. I would use the website to further introduce them to Buddhist art, perhaps in the computer lab, letting the kids play on the site in pairs, and giving them a sheet to fill out… perhaps in conjuction with the game they play on that particular topic. (It’s a fact or fiction game). Also, perhaps it would be fun to have them write down the differences they notice (some of which are pointed out on the website) between the different buddhas in different places. They could speculate and/or debate on why there are differences. Then we could go on a field trip to the museum, which by then will be even better because the renovation should be complete. They can stay in their partners, and look at the items they saw up close, noticing the size, the color and anything else they see that is similar or different. AND where they came from. Maybe even draw it… sitting, or standing (some are walking). I didn’t notice any of the Happy Buddha’s there, but I do have one small one in class and would be happy to purchase one bigger just for the activity. We could discuss the information I found out about how Happy Buddha is not THE Buddha, but a different person that reached enlightenment (see Wikipedia in English and search for Happy Buddha for interesting info). Discuss their observations. Then, for a concluding activity, they could make a chart, like a graphic organizer, with different Buddha drawings representing the differences (by them or cut and pasted from the website) and then I would give them categories, like color, face shape, sitting or standing, and if it is THE Buddha or a Buddha, etc. They would get a great cultural art lesson and be able to see the differences between the different Buddha’s they see in life. To make an even more strictly standards based under the chart they could make a graphic organizer of the 4 noble truths and the eightfold path. Using pictures to convey the meanings will mostly be a way to show they understand them more than just to copy them, or instead of the graphic organizers or along with them, they could apply the 4 noble truths & the eightfold path by writing a story instead of how someone they know became enlightened according to the ways of Buddhism.
[Edit by="jreynolds on Jul 18, 4:48:03 PM"]Edited for more appropriate title. [/Edit]