Teaching ideas?

[Anonymous]

I am a US history teacher, but still see that I might be able to compare Chinese poems with some of the poems about the early American Patriots, and some of the writers American Literature. I have a chapter in my book, actually only a section of a chapter, that I have often shied away from. It is the section about American literature, and art. Over the years that I have been teaching, I have been trying to acquaint myself more with the writers mentioned here, such as Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thoreau. I am more motivated than ever now to work harder at this, as Professor Ye encouraged and admonished us to incorporate more literature and art. As I read the poems, and viewed the art that Professor Ye exposed us to, I was struck with its beauty, similar to the Hudson River School of Art, which produced some of the first truly American Artists. Professor Ye inspired me to dig deeper, and do some comparison of China's art, and American's concepts of art, especially as it regards poetry.

[Anonymous]

Tales of Genji. Wow. That just seems like a treasure chest of resources or potentially excerptable text to take bits and pieces from.

[Anonymous]

There are so much new information from our sessions we can interlace into our classes. I think the challenge is to interlace the information with the multitude of standard we are obligated to cover in our courses. However, much of this information seems to be a nice introduction to standards based lessons. Much of the information about culture and language can be used as a "hook" in the beginning of units.

[Anonymous]

This information would be a great start to a WWII unit in U.S. history. As everyone knows, Japan was the country that technically started our involvement in this conflict. Some background about Japan and how it cam to be might shed some light and understanding for our students. I think students would benefit from a deeper understanding of Japanese culture when they try to conceptualize Japans roll in the conflict.

[Anonymous]

Dear Colleagues,

Being in Los Angeles has several advantages. One is the delicious food all over the place; the second is the availability of museums all over LA, too. Riffing off the idea of Japan sparking the US's involvement in World War II, the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) provides reimbursed buses and has great programs for up to about 120 students. Stop in if you can. It's situated downtown.

Here's the home page --> http://www.janm.org/

[Anonymous]

Correct. It is a methodology. The professor offered a number of analogies but probably the "fastest" one would be Aesop. What is Comparative Literature? - a comparison of values, themes, perspectives, approaches, and conclusions.

[Anonymous]

The only Asian-American literature I teach is The Joy Luck Club. I must admit that my school does not really have many books written by Asian authors. The shortage of Asian literature might be because most teachers focus on the canon and those who do delve into ethnic literature mainly use works written by Hispanic or Black authors to reflect our student population. Can anyone suggest an Asian-American author suitable for the classroom? (Not Maxine Hong-Kingston) =:O

[Anonymous]

Dear Colleagues,

Yep, the canon sure does dominate in literature. I'd love to hear some comments on the use of the proscripted curriculum that lots of teachers, including myself, have been handed to use in lieu of creating units. I've weaved elements of different texts/genres, but I'd like to know what other folks are doing.

[Anonymous]

I highly recommend a field trip to the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. Here are some of the next exhibitions.

On the Veranda Ukiyo- e Traditional Japanese Print making. Sunday, November 21, from 1 to 3p.m. It will take place are the Garden Room. Which by the way, the gardens are a must go place. It is beautiful and peaceful.

Another event that is coming up is the Frolicking Monkeys and Frogs. These are paintings from Hirokazu Kosaka from December 9th to December 23.

[Anonymous]

The Norton Simon Museum has several woodblock prints on display at the moment, and they will sponsor visits, buses are on the school, but there is a whole floor of woodblock prints to admire as well as some pretty awesome European Art as well.

[Anonymous]

I read the story written by Linda Sue Park , “The Fire Keeper’s Son. The story book talks about the bonfires signals system used in Korea in the early 1800s. The story was a family who the father was the Fire Keeper of a region and how he was sick and could not do it for some time. The book talks about culture, tradition and courage. It is a wonderful child story that teaches culture and pride. Loved the book and will buy it for my kids to read.

[Anonymous]

I just revisted the Korean Center with my kids with the 'Free Bus' deal they had with educators. They had a blast and it wasn't too long. As far as poems, I'm looking at Korean Sujo (sp?) poems to use those in my class.

[Anonymous]

Yes. All of the ideas posted as possible lessons are great. I like the ideas of visiting museums. Our students need more exposure to what is here in Los Angeles for them. Some of the places are a short bus or train ride away. A school can call LA Metro to do a safety riding presentation to the school. Since buses are scares, after the presentation, all of the students are eligible for a free day pass. The Japanes American Museum is a block from the gold line stop. The students can cross over to Little Tokyo for lunch or just to walk and appreciate something different. At Garield, they used to teach California History. It included the influence of all races that have influenced and shaped California. A unit of WWII could include clips of movies on the subject: 1941, Pearl Harbor, Midpoint, and others to intrigue student's interest. There are also Japanese festivals held in downtown that students could attend as extra-credit or outside classwork.

[Anonymous]

The World & US history standards for high school certainly lend themselves to integrating the material on East Asia from the 18th century on. Exploring the effects of the atomic bomb not only on the Japanese, but the ripple effect in the arms race could be a broad thematic unit where we could use secondary sources, primary documents, including poetry & interviews, a Japanese animation on youtube on the bombing of Hiroshima, and even an analysis of the Godzilla movies as an allegory of the post atomic era in Japan. Perhaps we could work in a comparative analysis to the film noir of Hollywood that also captured that cataclysmic collective psyche heralded by the proliferation of atomic weapons.. I know we don't have time given the pacing plans and the CST's. BUt I always create a fun unit after testing. I might just develop this unit.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the use of poetry is a very effective way of teaching about the culture it originates in. I can definitely use the poems to give background of a culture, elicit analytical responses or creating found poems.

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