NCTA provides content rich professional development programs for K-12 educators and pre-service teachers in all fields. This includes face-to-face college level seminars, online courses, workshops, book groups, webinars, and among other opportunities. Below are current offerings both locally and nationwide:
In a League of Their Own
Exploring Taiwan’s Colonial Past through the Baseball Film, Kano
A Workshop for K-12 Educators
May 9, 2024
6:30pm - 8:00pm (Eastern Time)
An NCTA & Global Studies Center Mini-Course
May 17 & May 18, 2024
Hybrid Mini-Course (In-Person with Online Zoom Option)
4130 W Wesley Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh
ARRGH, Avast Ye Swabs! (or so pirates are supposed to say...)
Join us for a swashbuckling mini-course on historical bandits and pirates around the world. What are the myths? What are the facts? Faculty experts will discuss global piracy, representations of pirates in the media, piracy in the Atlantic world, and bandits in East Asia. We will also discuss curricular applications of pirates and bandits for the K-12 classroom. This two day mini-course is particularly applicable for teachers of World History, U.S. History, East Asia studies, Global Studies, Film Studies and World Cultures.
2024 MSU-NCTA Workshop Series
Childhood in Asia:
Cultural Connections in Children’s Literature
June 15, 2024
10:00 am - 12:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Online
Children's Literature has often been thought of as easy books for children, but this simple definition hides the fact that readers of any age can learn a great deal about specific lived experiences through these texts. This workshop will focus on three children’s literature books, Morning Sun in Wuhan (China, ages 8-12), The Library Bus (Afghanistan, ages 5-8), and Inside Out & Back Again (Vietnam and USA, ages 9-12), each providing insight into childhood in a different Asian country. Join Master Educator Karen Gaul and facilitator Dr. Jiahang Li as you explore the system of cultural beliefs and values revealed through the characters’ thoughts, words, and actions in each of the titles along with ways each book might be used to support cultural connections in the classroom. You'll also discover age-appropriate nonfiction resources for classroom integration. Suitable for educators of all grades, with a focus on K-6 teachers.
The first 40 participants who register, fully attend, and participate in the workshop will receive the book Morning Sun in Wuhan by Ying Chang Compestine. Participants will also receive a certificate of completion for attending
Great Books of East Asia Series
Revisiting The Book of Tea: Modern Approaches to a Classic Text
Okakura Kakuzō’s Book of Tea is a classic expression of the philosophy and aesthetics of Japanese tea ceremony. In this online book workshop, teacher-participants will revisit Okakura's text, placing it into historical context and considering it critically in light of new approaches to understanding Japanese approaches to tea ceremony.
The online workshop will be led by Dr. Shawn Bender, associate professor of East Asian studies at Dickinson College, and feature a critical presentation on The Book of Tea by Dr. Rebecca Corbett, a scholar of Japanese tea ceremony at the University of Southern California. A session with NCTA Master Teacher Michele Beauchamp focused on potential applications of tea ceremony in the classroom will follow Dr. Corbett's presentation. Teacher-participants will come away from the workshop with a renewed appreciation of this text as well as suggested methods for introducing elements of Japanese tea ceremony into classrooms.
Participants will receive a copy of The Book of Tea, in addition to a Japanese matcha tea set.
Pennsylvania teachers who complete this workshop will receive two Act 48 hours. For teachers in other states, we can provide you with a certificate of completion.
After you register, we will send you a confirmation email and will (depending on your response below) a complimentary copies of the books. Educators who complete the program will receive a Certificate Completion; Pennsylvania teachers will receive Act 48 hours. You will also receive information on accessing the Zoom meeting for the workshop in a follow-up email.
Registration Deadline is May 31, 2024
Learn More About our Presenters
Moderator/Organizer: Dr. Shawn Bender is Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at Dickinson College. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Bender teaches courses on contemporary Japan, cultures of care and the family, and the social effects of digital technology. His research examines the use of robotics in fields as diverse as eldercare and agriculture. He is the author of Taiko Boom: Japanese Drumming in Place and Motion (California, 2012). His most recent book monograph Feeling Machines: Japanese Robotics and the Global Entanglements of More-Than-Human Care is under review at Stanford University Press.
Master Teacher: Michele Beauchamp is an English teacher at Manheim Township High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She received her MEd from the University of Pittsburgh and for the past 25 years she has taught all levels of secondary English Language Arts. She has participated in two NTCA study tours and has taken advantage of numerous opportunities to study about Asia. In 2019 she trained to lead NCTA seminars and has since conducted several presentations and book discussions on East Asian novels and nonfiction texts.
The Great Books of East Asia is a free book discussion series that will give K-12 educators a chance to delve deeply into important and foundational books from East Asia that they may know of or even teach about but may have never read in an enriching way. Some books in the series are significant for understanding East Asia or are well known as important works of world literature. Others may not be familiar outside of a particular country but are a central part of that country’s literature. Participants will be provided with complimentary copies of the books (in translation). The discussions will be led a faculty expert who will provide content and context on the work, and an NCTA master teacher who will discuss ways to incorporate the work into the classroom.
NCTA Indiana University - NCTA University of Pittsburgh
Weekend Workshop Series
June 28 - June 29, 2024
In-person workshop at
Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana
Series Session One
Environment and Politics in Communist China
June 28, 2024
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Join IU Northwest faculty member Diana Chen Lin on June 28, 2024, for a K-12 educator professional development workshop focused on current issues in East Asia likely to be of interest to students. The workshop will provide lectures and discussion of the complex history of China’s environmental changes up to the 21st century. It will explore how China’s post-1978 modernization turned China into the largest carbon dioxide emitter. The workshop will also tackle the significant policy shifts in China that seek to transform challenges into opportunities by making China a leading country in green technology and green energy cars. We will work on the criteria and methods to discuss these issues in the classroom. All will receive a copy of Yifei Li and Judith Shapiro’s China Goes Green: Coercive Environmentalism for a Troubled Planet (Polity Press, 2020).
All K-12 educators are welcome; teachers of AP Human Geography, World Cultures, Modern World History, Art, Global Studies, English, Media Literacy, and World Languages will find the topics particularly useful. Participants will be exposed to workshop topics through lectures, discussions, and activities that can be brought into the classroom and used to enhance global contextualization within Illinois and Indiana state academic standards.
All participants are eligible to receive mileage reimbursements for round-trip travel totaling more than 25 miles This is a Weekend Workshop Series (June 28-29, 2024) and K-12 educators may register for one or both workshops plus an optional dinner on Friday June 28; hotel accommodations will be provided for participants registered for both workshops. This series is a collaborative initiative between the Indiana University and University of Pittsburgh NCTA coordinating sites.
Series Session Two
East Asian Pop Culture
June 29, 2024
8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Join IU Northwest faculty member Diana Chen Lin on June 29, 2024, for a K-12 educator professional development workshop focused on contemporary pop culture in East Asia likely to be of interest to students. This workshop explores the social and cultural implications of East Asian pop culture both regionally and globally. It offers some explanations for the recent surge in popularity of East Asian popular culture, specifically focusing on Japanese pop music, anime, and manga, South Korean and Chinese pop music, along with related elements like video games, toys, and books. The discussion will contextualize East Asian pop culture in relation to American influence and mutual influences between East Asian countries. The workshop combines readings, songs and videos in a discussion of methodologies to incorporate the content into the classroom. All participants will receive a copy of William Tsutsui’s Japanese Popular Culture and Globalization (Key Issues series).
All K-12 educators are welcome; teachers of AP Human Geography, World Cultures, Modern World History, Art, Global Studies, English, Media Literacy, and World Languages will find the topics particularly useful. Participants will be exposed to workshop topics through lectures, discussions, and activities that can be brought into the classroom and used to enhance global contextualization within Illinois and Indiana state academic standards.
All participants are eligible to receive mileage reimbursements for round-trip travel totaling more than 25 miles. This is a Weekend Workshop Series (June 28-29, 2024) and K-12 educators may register for one or both workshops plus an optional dinner on Friday June 28; hotel accommodations will be provided for participants registered for both workshops. This series is a collaborative initiative between the Indiana University and University of Pittsburgh NCTA coordinating sites.
