China Begins

Today I begin teaching about ancient China. Partly I am excited, and partly I’m worried about screwing up. I have a curriculum set up, but of course it’s wrong — I forgot to include SSAT Day, the Heart-y Party, Craft Day and other holiday events in my planning. Oh, well. I can always cut stuff out of the schedule if it becomesclear that it’s too much work.

In the meantime, I have to go over to school this morning and photocopy the article from the Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations on “China” so we have something to read and work from in class today. I also have to type up the outline of what I want to talk about in class. By and large, I want this whole lesson plan on China — the board outlines, the paper topics, the basic format of each class — written up formally and able to submit as a detailed lesson plan in the event that I go looking for another job. I’m not planning on looking for another job; I just want to be prepared if I am looking.

Kids coming back to school yesterday went OK. They were late getting back; most of my students didn’t arrive until 4pm or later. Many didn’t come back until after dinner. I could easily have stayed at the coffee house until long after I left. My one regret is missing Sou’s reading last night. It will be two weeks before the next one, which means — right before the last week of school before Christmas. When again, I probably won’t be able to get away.

All the fencing equipment came in. Somehow today, I have to get all that stuff sorted, piled, and arranged so that kids can find their stuff and we can get it all sorted properly and arranged nicely. That may take some time.

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4 comments

  1. Uh, not really, no.

    This is only the second year I’ve taught China, and I haven’t done much secondary reading on ancient China yet, other than the stuff in the Cultural Atlas of China I got for a very bad class on modern China three or four years ago.

    When I come across some good references, I’ll let you know.

    • Uh, not really, no.

      This is only the second year I’ve taught China, and I haven’t done much secondary reading on ancient China yet, other than the stuff in the Cultural Atlas of China I got for a very bad class on modern China three or four years ago.

      When I come across some good references, I’ll let you know.

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