RESOURCE COLLECTION: Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

[Ryan Goble]

Great resource collection from NCTE's May 4, 2010  e-Newsletter.

...ideas

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Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Since 1978, the month of May has been a time to honor the heritage of Asian and Pacific Americans and their contributions to the United States. Originally a week-long Asian American Heritage Week, the celebration now lasts through the entire month. These resources from NCTE and ReadWriteThink.org can be a starting point for celebrations you share with your students or a focal point for your own professional growth. "Talking about Books: Supporting and Questioning Representation" (E) The authors of this Language Arts column take up issues of representation, identity, and authenticity as they share a list of Asian, Asian American, and Polynesian children's books. Exploring World Cultures through Folk Tales (E) This lesson plan from ReadWriteThink.org invites students to read and discuss folk tales from Asian countries and then research each folk tale's country of origin and present the story and their research to the class. Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season (E) Using seasonal descriptive words, students write their own haiku following the traditional form in thisReadWriteThink.org lesson. Students then publish their poems by mounting them on illustrated backgrounds that support the images depicted in the poems. "Living on the Edge: Confronting Social Injustices" (M) This Voices from the Middle article provides an annotated list of novels and expository texts that teachers can use to help fight social injustice, including sections on novels exploring the experience of Asian Americans and expository texts about Asian American immigrants and Japanese internment camps. Discovering Memory: Li-Young Lee's Poem "Mnemonic" and the Brain (M) Students in this ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan study Chinese American Li-Young Lee's poem to consider how memory works and is represented in writing. Exploring Language and Identity: Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" and Beyond (S) Students can explore how language shapes (and is shaped by) the ways that we think of ourselves and our families with this ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan. The lesson touches on issues of identity and ethnicity and their connections to the languages people speak. "Autobiography: Straight Up and with a Twist" (S) As an Asian American growing up in the Midwest during the '60s and '70s, the author of this English Journal article just wanted to be "normal." Now in her writing she uses this background to explore the search for identity in her characters as well as her self. Minor Re/Visions: Asian American Literacy Narratives as a Rhetoric ... (C) Part of the Studies in Writing & Rhetoric (SWR) series, this book uses a blend of personal narrative, cultural and literary analysis, and discussions about teaching to show how people of color use reading and writing to develop and articulate notions of citizenship. Asian/Asian American Caucus (C) The mission of the NCTE Asian/Asian American Caucus is to support composition scholarship by and/or about Asians and Asian Americans. As a community that values research, pedagogy, and mentorship, we work to increase the representation of Asian and Asian American scholars in composition studies and advance scholarship on Asian and Asian American rhetorics, literacy practices, and second language acquisition issues. For more information and additional resources, visit the ReadWriteThink.org Asian Pacific American Heritage Month calendar entry (G).

[BRIDGET LEISING]

Also, the East of Main Street: Asians Aloud documentary by HBO films is good (disclaimer: some parts, notably the last vignette, are unsuitable for classroom use-- use your editing judgment!). Very contemporary, and a good investigation of the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, etc.

Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BytKe_0KtJ0

[Ryan Goble]

Nice tip Bridget - thank you!

Ryan:)