"How can the world in all its chaos come up with so many coincidences, so many similarities and exact opposites?" --Amy Tan, "The Joy Luck Club" -- How can people around the world be so different and yet so similar at the same time? Exploring others' culture so often helps us learn about ourselves.
My students live in a growing suburban community in central Oklahoma.
Such growth has infused our once homogeneous community with greater diversity. While we do have pockets of affluence, most of my students come from working class, lower to moderate income families. It is within this backdrop that my students' lives were suddenly changed on May 20, 2013. Approximately 40% of them were directly impacted by a violent tornado and were displaced due to serious damage or destruction to their homes. Despite facing significant life obstacles, they have returned to school committed to academic excellence and I want to help harness that spirit. To help motivate their drive for success I want to provide my AP Human Geography students with increased opportunities to learn about Earth's diverse cultures and how there can be significant similarities despite the many differences. Understanding the complexities of "here" vs "there" helps develop a stronger common human spirit.
My Project
Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" is one of the best novels to help develop an understanding of the similarities between seemingly different cultures as four Chinese-American daughters seek to balance the highly traditional attitudes of their Chinese-born mothers with the attractions of contemporary urban American life. Embedded within this story of "East meets West" and it's juxtaposition between "here and there" are other curriculum connections with the AP Human Geography course: migration patterns, economic development, gender identity & its impact on culture, urban vs rural life, and ideas about equality. Tan's work is an exceptional way to instill within my students a greater understanding of the world around them and their connections/similarities with peoples who otherwise seem so different; a greater sense of being linked into to a global community is developed.
Will you partner with me?
Will you help to insure my students have a greater sense of similarity despite cultural differences? Will you help my students develop a stronger understanding of global community? The devastating tornado of May 20, 2013 brought new challenges to my students' lives; your generous gift will contribute to an education that will not only help them to overcome this life tragedy, but to also have a meaningful impact on their appreciation for cultural diversity.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Burton and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
