Asian Americans and Moments in History

This semester for my Foundations of Multicultural Education course, we are reading Becoming a Multicultural Education: Developing Awareness, Gaining Skills, and Taking Action, along with Rethinking Multicultural Education. BAME situates itself in providing readers with essential knowledge, awareness, skills, and actions for multicultural education teaching. Part of gaining the essential knowledge for multicultural education teaching is to intentionally learn about historical perspective on a multicultural American. This knowledge is essential for educators who have an obligation to ensure students learn the true history of the nation in order to challenge the isms and other forms of intolerance. The third chapter in the text explores the social construct of race and briefly outlines the legislatively imposed racial groups in the United States. In particular, the chapter discusses the largest three Asian American groups, provides brief historical highlights, and situates the experience of Asian Americans in schools by challenging the model minority myth. In response, the students in the course where challenged to investigate the story an Asian American from the listing provided by Zinn Education Project. Below are links to their eBook creations using Google Slides.

Ronald Takaki: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iYofDFAs69RViSVQm2i1sajGnppMUv4zdaJ7t-PaYao/edit?usp=sharing

Yuri Kochiyama:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1orfw_lytZaP_V0j_WRouTlK_UcjgQLZtMpIl4P-EBe8/edit?usp=sharing

Fred Korematsu:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lCLJRMZu1Ab3xEUGN_zJbB-BuEEubNZVZZp3lwkRZK0/edit?usp=sharing

Kiyoshi Kuromiya:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wfU94Zp3_VZbAgOJGMt7ifPIJHV4e0VdZTaXoDKaNoU/edit?usp=sharing

The Abolition Movement

The Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform (Banks, 1988) is a seminal piece I use to reflect on my own teaching, but is also something I share with students semester after semester. There are four approaches that Banks describes. "One approach, such as the Contributions Approach, can also be used as a vehicle to move to other and ore intellectually challenging approaches..." (p. 38). As Banks, lists a number of challenges with the Contributions or Heroes and Holidays Approach, I remind my students that it is unrealistic to jump to the more socially active approaches when majority of what they experienced as students and observed in area schools fits the Contributions Approach. I encourage them rethink the heroes and holidays they acknowledge. I have my students engage in activities were they learn about often unsung heroes who have contributed to social justice. Below is a listing of notable abolitionists. While Harriett Tubman is often a notable abolitionist, many are unfamiliar with her work as a spy during the Civil War. I also seek to expose my students to other Black abolitionists to help dispel the myth that Blacks who were enslaved or free were complacent with the institution of slavery. Lastly, since most teacher education students are White, learning about Whites who sought justice provides role models for anti-racist actions.

Harriet Tubman: http://prezi.com/2sv5hogx2srg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Lucy Stone: http://prezi.com/ks7o7fitzgyt/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

William Lloyd Garrison: http://prezi.com/2ntsaue_qac_/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy  

John Brown: http://prezi.com/g3umvzawmmft/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Lydia Maria Child: http://prezi.com/tx8fxe-ybmyi/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Harriet Beecher Stowe: http://prezi.com/b124tonqchre/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Harriet A. Jacobs: http://prezi.com/cvesbxis5wcn/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy  

Wendell Philips: http://prezi.com/vbncpgrr0rvj/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

William Still: http://prezi.com/2f3uhuffpxx4/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Ather Tappan: http://prezi.com/rz0eoupst2xi/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy