On Incorporating Asian American Studies in the Classroom
About the Project
The Asian American Education Project was developed by Pat and Stewart Kwoh early in 2021 with fiscal sponsorship from Asian Americans Advancing Justice. The website features Asian American Studies curriculum for grades 1-12 and hosts free workshops on Asian American studies content. The website also hosts teacher’s guides, student activities, and supplementary toolkits. In the AAEP’s own words, “By showcasing the struggles and triumphs of Asian Americans over the course of two centuries, our lesson plans amplify the importance and voices of this growing, integral segment of the U.S. population in building the country into what it is today and can become tomorrow, together as Americans.”
Many of the lesson plans were directly transferred from Advancing Justice LA’s Asian American curriculum (later adapted for PBS’s Asian Americans) and their Untold Civil Rights Stories. Some are organized chronologically, beginning with US immigration expansion and exclusion in the 1850s, through both World Wars, to the turn of the century. Others are organized by themes like citizenship, immigration, civil rights, racism, and identity.
How to incorporate Asian American studies in the classroom
Ting-Yi Oei, the current director of the project and a teacher for over 25 years, spoke with the ARTLC about how Asian American studies doesn’t need to be its own separate course, but it can be incorporated into and enrich traditional curricula across classrooms. He suggested a “backwards” approach to doing so. Instead of looking at a standard and matching content to it, he thinks about Asian American content and asks, “How can I take this information and use it so that it meets the standard?” He continues, “Study those standards carefully, but is there a way in which you can weave that story into the narrative?”
Oei also encouraged “compacting the curriculum”—teaching a major theme using a case study, and packing a lot into just that case study. He also suggested using project-based teaching frameworks, encouraging students to undertake projects rather than focusing on standardized testing. These allow students to explore and connect broad educational themes including transportation, labor, and migration.
For example, teachers can teach about the pioneer experience and the idea of the American frontier through the experience of Chinese laborers in the 1800s, who, rather than being romanticized as rugged heroes, were racialized and stereotyped as dog-eating, effeminate foreigners. Analysis of modern topics such as US-Mexico southern border control can be expanded by learning about policies that prevented Chinese and Asian migrants from entering the US through Mexico after the passing of the exclusion acts. Classes can examine labor movements critically, as fractured and nuanced, by learning about how the American Federation of Labor and Sam Gropper—who is seen as a hero of the labor movement—lobbied in favor of Chinese Exclusion. Incorporating the Asian American experience as in this way allows you to “get at the nuances” and achieve a “much deeper understanding of the labor movement” by complicating the story of it, Oei said.
He noted that such learning restores agency to Asian Americans throughout history, countering the narrative that they are passive victims. “Whether it's the Los Angeles massacre or segregation in the south—those were challenged. They didn’t just stand idly by and say ‘Oh this is okay I guess I’ll skulk away and follow the law.’ No, they challenged them.”
How to use AAEP resources
Some approaches to using the AAEP resources:
Directly use the lesson plans,—individually, or in sets (e.g. A Question of Loyalty, 1920s to 1940s
If you just have a couple free days, start with the thematic units—there are recommendations based on different numbers of days
Sign up for free, hour-long teacher workshops to receive training on teaching these lessons and themes!
Written by the ARTLC Team