China and the New Imperialism

I am not sure I've posted my lessons correctly, therefore, I am reattaching them here one more time.

Title: “Empires, Drug Wars, Nationalism”
China and the New Imperialism 1800-1914

This subject is quite possibly one of the most historial controversies that continues to plague international relations between China and European and other Western powers. The Chinese people and their government have every reason to question and mistrust the motives of the Western powers. It is truly an integral component that is etched in their cultural psyche. The Opium Wars saw the Europenan and Western powers using the promotion and wide distribution of opium throughout portions of China for the sole purpose of economic domination and enslavement of an entire people. What was their primary motivation; nothing less than the control of natural resources and greed. The Western powers who at that time had both a military and economic advantage over the Chinese opted to use the promotion of opium use to make all of the Chinese culture co-dependent on Western Civilization. In carrying out this intent, the Western powers were simply continuing a long pattern of cultural imperialism that had been initiated by the British Empire and then adopted wholeheartedly by the American Government. The fiasco that was conducted by the French and Americans in Indo-China really represented a callous continuation of these same policies and practices.

Renli comments on Nina lessons. This subject is quite possibly one of the most historial controversies that continues to plague international relations between China and European and other Western powers. The Chinese people and their government have every reason to question and mistrust the motives of the Western powers. It is truly an integral component that is etched in their cultural psyche. The Opium Wars saw the Europenan and Western powers using the promotion and wide distribution of opium throughout portions of China for the sole purpose of economic domination and enslavement of an entire people. What was their primary motivation; nothing less than the control of natural resources and greed. The Western powers who at that time had both a military and economic advantage over the Chinese opted to use the promotion of opium use to make all of the Chinese culture co-dependent on Western Civilization. In carrying out this intent, the Western powers were simply continuing a long pattern of cultural imperialism that had been initiated by the British Empire and then adopted wholeheartedly by the American Government. The fiasco that was conducted by the French and Americans in Indo-China really represented a callous continuation of these same policies and practices.

Ms. Petkova’s project represents an essential part of the curricular sequence of the historically determined events in the world during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Intended to reveal patterns[font='Times New Roman'] of global change in a particular time period, the[/font] unit strictly reflects the CA H-SS Standard (as stated in the project). The unit clearly develops analysis skills, historical interpretation skills, chronological and spatial thinking, cultural awareness, and most importantly, it develops generalization skills based on the knowledge of a set of particular events. Thus, the project not only satisfies specific California standards, it fills out a curricular gap “left” for local (in China) events and developments of global significance in then modern world that affect the economic and political picture of the world of the 21st century. Again, Ms. Petkova’s project reveals a highly professional vision about the historical (past and current) patterns of global change.
P.S. Among the other strengths of the project, I would like to emphasize the fact that it can be easily modified according to the level of familiarity of the students with the “patterns of global change” as well as with the particular (past and current) events in East Asia.

First of all I'd like to say that I enjoyed reading and learning from this lesson plan. Nina's plan reveals a thorough understanding of curriculum and standards as they pertain to tenth grade. Her integration of the various learning modalities blended smoothly into the format of the activities being offered. Visual, auditory and kinesthetic tools, such as the use of a movie clip from "Opium War" and a sound byte for those auditory learners from "Trading Opium for Tea," were creatively integrated into the structure of the lessons. I am inspired to alter my own lessons which would include similar tools as these. Catering to the needs of student achievement is successfully done when using creative tools that supplement various learning modalities. This is achieved throughout the lesson as Nina presents collaborative strategies to motivate student learning. When this plan is implemented, Nina's prompts and writing strategies for students will achieving positive results. One of the few suggestions I would offer in order to improve her lessons would be to integrate relevant rubrics prior to initiating projects.