On Friday, February 10th, six teachers and staff members of the Governor’s Institute on Asian Cultures participated in a day-long professional development workshop on China curriculum development for grades 9-12. The Governor’s Institute on Asian Cultures (GIAC) is a program that provides high school students with the opportunity to learn about Asia in the first year of the program, and then travel to China in the second year on involvement. The director of the program, Brian Nelligan, has been working on the GIAC program for well-over a decade, and starts each year with a fine-tuning of the program. During the professional development workshop, staff was asked to review previous programs to determine “what worked best”.
“It was probably one of the most cohesive programs we ever had,” commented Jocelyn Fletcher Scheuch on the 2011 Governor’s Institute on Asian Cultures in Vermont. Jocelyn, one of two associate directors for the GIAC program and an English teacher at Burlington High School, identified how common themes that ran throughout the week on-campus resulted in the students developing a greater appreciation for the lessons that were delivered. In the 2011 program, themes included an understanding of Modern China since the Cultural Revolution, which was highlighted in various lectures and film showings.
“Setting the stage was also important.” Continued Jocelyn, referring to one of three books that students were asked to read about China before arriving on campus. Throughout the week students would make connections between the GIAC lecturers and workshops to the book they had read or a prior lesson at their own high school.
Teachers at the workshop were also asked to evaluate the 2011 Governor’s Institute on Asian Cultures in China, the two-week program that lead 17 high school students from across Vermont to Beijing, Qufu and Kunming, China.
“You always have to be prepared for the fact that plans can change in a second.” Grady Long, associate director of the Governor’s Institute on Asian Cultures, recounted of the 2011 overseas program. Grady, a social studies teacher at Essex High School, has lead GIAC programs overseas since 2004 and has learnt to be flexible with last minute changes in plans as a result of traffic, last minute cancelations, and bad weather. Having daily meetings with the students was also key to program success, explained Grady, as the students would always be kept informed of the day’s itinerary and given time to reflect on what they were experiences.
The Asian Studies Outreach Program runs several workshops a year on curriculum development on China for grades K-12. If teachers and curriculum coordinators would like to know more information on how to develop a classroom or school wide curriculum unit or program, please contact Jacqueline Drouin.