This curriculum unit which is intended for middle grade students (grades 6th-8th) revolves around an overarching question, "Who Am I?" This essential question allows students to conduct research to better understand culture. In this unit students explore Chinese culture and film. The intention is that by exploring Chinese culture through research and films students may come to better understand their selves. The first part of the unit involves researching and analyzing Chinese history and culture in general and selected Chinese films in particular. Next the unit will analyze and compare cultures and gender issues facing young people in China with those of typical American students. Then students will design multi-media presentations on their findings about Chinese Culture, while concurrently producing an I-search, first person point of view narrative report. It should be noted that the visual art teacher at my school, who recently devised her own curriculum unit at the Teacher's Institute of Philadelphia, will concurrently teach a unit on Chinese immigration while I teach this curriculum unit using Chinese film. The unit will culminate with digital and media presentations exploring the theme Who Am I and How am I More Alike than Different from people from China?
Rationale
A Flat World — Global Understanding
To improve students' understanding of their place and identity on this globe, students need to be exposed to common issues facing youth around the world. In the 21st century it has become increasingly more important that students bridge the cultural divide caused by misconceptions and ignorance. Movies offer a chance to explore global issues; it has been said that "globalization describes the movement of finance, information, commodities and people across international lines, which is characterized by the interdependent world culture and the aesthetics and economic emergence of a range of new national and regional cinemas" (Corrigan & White, 376). In his book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman, describes the unplanned cascade of technological and social shifts as significant because it has increased the need for global understanding and virtually made Beijing, Bangalore and Bethesda next-door neighbors. This shift has taken place during the early life time of my students and thus demands that my students have an appreciation of global cultures outside their normal framework. During this shift China's economy and culture has materialized as a significant global force. Viewing film from and about China may offer my students an opportunity to connect to this new found Flat world: "a global, web-enabled platform for multiple forms of sharing knowledge and work, irrespective of time, distance, geography and increasingly, language" (Friedman, 9).
Chinese Culture through Research and Film — The Splendor of China
China represents a major world power and cultural group to which most of my students generally have little exposure. Therefore, researching, viewing and analyzing film and Chinese culture offers a significant means by which my students may come to better know themselves and their place in the world. Corrigan notes, that Chinese cinema poses its own challenges, because it includes the "three Chinas" — mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan- each of which developed under a different social, and political regime and differs greatly in terms of it commercial structure, the role of government oversight, audience expectations and even language (Corrigan & White, 378). This unit will not directly focus on the differences of the "three Chinese cinemas" but it will provide students with an opportunity to view varying styles and content of films reflecting on social and cultural dynamics in Mainland China, know as the People Republic of China (PRC).
Using films from and about China to teach social studies content, reading and critical thinking skills will be a challenge. During the 2005-2006 academic year my students and I were involved with a Philadelphia public and private initiative called the "Splendor of China." With private and public support the Philadelphia School District provided teachers resources to expose students to Chinese and Chinese American culture. Furthermore, my students and I used the internet, reference books and stories to explore how Chinese culture was both similar and different to American culture. When I started this learning unit about China, I was met with lots of resistance. This included students' apathy towards learning about Chinese culture. I recall one student's protest when she said "Chinese people have nothing to do with my life". Fortunately during the process of learning and discovering new things about Chinese culture most of the protest disappeared. Once my students saw that Chinese culture was fascinating and that they and Chinese children face similar issues they generally appreciated the learning outcome and the hard work of their research. This particular unit concluded with students presenting their research findings and bringing in special Chinese dishes for a closing celebration. I was generally pleased with the outcome of "The Splendor of China" program, but I wondered how deeply did my students connect to their research? Did students just do the project for grade or did they come away really being transformed? One student's presentation still haunts me; in his talks he said "the main thing I learned from my research using the internet is that Chinese people eat dogs". When I asked about what sources he used, and what other information he learned, he could offer no clear response. At that time, I didn't think about using film to expose students to Chinese cultures but I knew I needed to do something different.
Film Aesthetics and Identity Construction
When exploring identity construction it is important to analyze and interpret media objects and literary arts. Appreciating the aesthetics of film may provide a mirror for students to reflect on who they are. According to Michael Simkins et al, in Increasing Students Learning Through Multimedia Projects, there are five basic media objects; images, text, sound, motion and interactivity (Simkins, et al, 13-29). Some of the most exciting elements of this unit are that it provides students new experiences in viewing and connecting film to literature, as well as composing multi-media objects as a communication tool.
Exploring images in Chinese films will provide means to make connections with China's history and culture. Films that lend themselves to analyzing cultural and topical issues in China are a good way to deconstruct some of the negative stereotypes students have. These stereotypes include poverty, child abuse, and the subjugation of women (Chacko, 29). Corrigan notes that stereotypes are usually offensive even when not overtly negative, because they tend to be applied to marginalized social groups who are not represented by a range of character types.( Corrigan & White, 228) Therefore, teachers must be cautious when using World Cinema, not to reinforce stereotypes by misrepresenting the evils of: child marriage, patriarchal families and female devaluation. Everett, in her article "Reinforcing or Dismantling Stereotypes" notes that her students were taking away from their encounter with Asian literature with thoughts such as "thank God I'm an American" (Everett, 40). If we consider that in many schools students of color and poor students are positioned in ways that undermine who they are, and are often assigned particular identities based upon their race and class (Gee, 2003) then it becomes critical that students find ways to explore and deconstruct issues around stereotypes, gender and ethnicity. By analyzing the complexities of culture and gender issues via films, students should be able to make relevant connections with both positive and negative images portrayed in film and the media. This unit will not remove stereotypes that students often rely upon, but it will offer a means for students to better understand the complexities of identity.
Using Culture and Literature to Read Films
Since my students have varying levels of knowledge about culture and Chinese culture in particular we can view films as a means of enhancing our understanding of how culture helps define who we are. Further we will use our lens for analyzing and describing literature to appreciate Chinese films. For many students this unit may represent the first time they have been asked to critically look at world cinema. Therefore, using literature concepts and terminology to read films may help students see the connections between what they read in books with what they see on the screen. Furthermore, because visual images and the media influence how young people view themselves and understand certain roles, this unit should engage my students in learning more about who they are by understanding more about Chinese culture and gender issues. Lastly, by using film students should improve their viewing and literacy skills.
School Demographics
I teach at Beeber Middle School, located in the West Academic Area of the School District of Philadelphia. Pupil population is close to 900. More than 70% of the student body qualifies for free/ subsidized lunch. The student body is 95% African American or of African descent and less than 1% percent is Caucasian. The balance of students is bi-racially mixed or from other ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, we have a growing immigrant population of African and Caribbean students. Furthermore, most of my students come from working class families. In recent years, my school has been developing an art magnet program while striving to meet mandates of School District of Philadelphia's Core Curricula Standards which are align to the Pennsylvania Department of Education Standards.
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