We’re nearing the end of Asian Pacific American Heritage month, but don’t let the teaching of Asian Pacific Islander history and perspectives be limited to just one month. It’s good that we have official months and weeks during which we learn about and celebrate a diversity of cultures. But, of course, the world is always multicultural, and our curriculum should be too.
By sharing these articles, we’re posing a friendly challenge to take lessons about Asian Pacific history and culture (as well as Black history, Latino history, etc.) beyond the artificial boundaries created by the dates May 1 and May 30.
You’re Asian, How Could You Fail at Math? by Wayne Au and Benji Chang. Unmasking the myth of the model minority.
Taking a Chance With Words by Carol A. Tateishi. Why are the Asian-American kids silent in class?
Decolonizing the Classroom: Lessons in Multicultural Education by Wayne Au. This article is one of many critical pieces published in our new and expanded edition of Rethinking Multicultural Education.
The two articles below were originally published in Rethinking Schools magazine. They are now available from the Zinn Education Project, a collaboration between Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools. (Register for free access to these and hundreds more teaching articles and resources.):
A review of ANPO: Art X War by Moé Yonamine. A film tackles the U.S. occupation of Japan.
What the Tour Guide Didn’t Tell Me: Tourism, Colonialism, and Resistance in Hawai’i by Wayne Wah Kwai Au. Lessons on the history of Hawai’i and the impact of colonization and tourism.
These articles are free to read for our subscribers. Subscribe today at a 20% discount when you use code GRADE14 at check out. You’ll gain immediate access to these articles:
Tiger Moms and the Model Minority Myth by Helen Gym
The media splash around Amy Chua’s writings about Chinese mothers exploits Asian stereotypes, exacerbates racial tensions and creates additional obstacles for vulnerable youth.
Haiku & Hiroshima by Wayne Au
A high school teacher uses an animated film and haiku poetry to raise awareness about the events of August 1945 and the dropping of the atomic bomb.
The Other Internment: Teaching the Hidden Story of Japanese Latin Americans During WWII by Moé Yonamine.
A role play engages students in exploring a little-known piece of history-the deportation of people of Japanese origin from Latin American countries to U.S. internment camps and back to Japan as POWs.