reflection

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Taking this course on “East Asia and New Media in My Classroom” has been a great learning experience. I would encourage all teachers who want to incorporate East Asia studies in their classrooms to take this seminar. The benefits aren’t too bad either.
I have learned as much from this class as any of the history courses that I took in college. There were a variety of topics covered and professors who lectured on them. Each professor brought his or her own unique experience and suggested reading selections that supported the topic covered in that session. This is a great way to provide students with a wealth of important information in a limited amount of time. This class also provided a good way for teachers to keep up to date on historical research and its ever-changing theories and ideas. The materials provided from the US-China Institute will be important classroom resources for years to come.
The material provided to teachers from the US-China Institute alone makes this class worth taking. Being that I teach 6th and 7th grade history, most of the sources could be applied to my classes in one way or another. The amount and diversity of the materials can be overwhelming when you look at them all at once. I can admit that I have not gone through all of them, but I would like to discuss a few that I have had a chance to use and evaluate.
The first source that I would like to discuss is the Chinese Civilizations sourcebook edited by Patricia Buckley Ebrey. This text is a collection of primary sources from throughout Chinese history. This book has sources that could be used at any grade level when teaching about China. One of the sources that I intend to use already, I have only gone through a portion of the reading, is “Penal Servitude in Qin Law” (Buckley Ebrey Pg. 51-3). This short reading, which is appropriate for 6th grade readers, describes the laws that a person could be sentenced to “penal servitude” under the Qin. Students will use this primary source to analyze the policies enacted during the Qin Dynasty, such as a uniform set of laws, in order to unify the different warring states of China. This document can also be used in sixth grade to compare and contrast the early law systems of China and Mesopotamia, such as Hammurabi’s Code, which is also covered in 6th grade.
The other resource given to teachers who participate in the seminar are copies of all of the PowerPoint presentations given by the different professors who lectured during the course of the seminar. I am looking forward to being able to pick through them. The information presented is great but maybe a little too complicated for middle school students. The visuals in those lectures however can be valuable to a teacher teaching any level of East Asian History. I am especially interested in the slides of different geographic locations presented in our introductory lesson on East Asia Geography, but also throughout the presentations given in the course. I did a lesson on East Asian Geography this year, but the visuals I presented were difficult to find, challenging at best to fit into the presentation, or there were copyright problems where I simply could not use them. These types of visuals are extremely important when teaching history to my ESL students. These are only a small portion of the materials and resources provided to teachers who complete this seminar.
The lectures in this seminar covered a wide variety of topics in East Asian history. All of the lessons were informative and interesting. Each visiting professor was an expert in his or her field and did a commendable job in covering sometimes thousands of years of history in just a few short hours. Like I have mentioned earlier, many of the topics that were covered during this seminar apply to 6th and 7th grade social studies curriculum. I will discuss a few in this essay.
One of the topics covered in this seminar can be used in several different units that I am responsible for teaching. Clayton’s presentation on East Asian Geography, although brief due to time constraints, gave a great introduction and background to the history of the region through geography. The materials provided can help me to introduce and review the regions geography in the units on Ancient China, China in the Middle Ages, Medieval Japan, Ancient India, and, to a lesser extent, Mesopotamia.
“Women in East Asian History” was another topic covered during the seminar that I can use frequently in the courses I teach. Professor Pitelka’s presentation traced the role of women in East Asia from pre-modern times to the present. It is often difficult to focus on women when teaching courses on ancient history. The textbook provides biographies of many important men in world history, but there are few on women. The resources provided from this lecture will allow me to focus more on the role of women when teaching about Ancient China and Medieval Japan. One of the resources provided were excerpts from Lessons for Women written by Ban Zhao, China first woman historian. This primary source document will be great for studying about the role of women in Ancient China and how she argues for a woman’s right to education using old traditions. Students can also use this source to compare the role of women in Ancient China with that of their own culture today.
The Tale of Genji is another topic that is part of the required curriculum for 7th grade social studies students. With the resources provided, and some I researched on my own, I have already created a lesson on this topic and included it as part of my curriculum unit. This is a great topic to cover in middle school and professor Pitleka’s information and the readings he provided have made this a much easier task. There are many other topics covered in the seminar that I could use in the classroom, but discussing all of them would make for a very long essay.
Taking this seminar on East Asian history was both an educational and exciting experience. I feel that I am better prepared to teach units in East Asian history and after I go through the majority of sources provided, I will feel even more empowered. The resources and benefits provided are just some of the many reasons why this has been such a positive experience.

[Anonymous]

I am attaching a copy of my reflective essay. I have truly enjoyed this experience, and having the opportunity to learn from the professors as well as my colleagues. Thank you to all of you, for being a part of this experience.

Dawn

[Anonymous]

I see that my attachment of my reflection paper didn't show up. I'm not sure why. It won't allow me to cut and paste, but I will try attaching it again.

[Author]

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