October 16, 2004

Learn by Doing, Education Towards Humanization - Conference Showcasing New Teaching and Learning Methods Developed by California State University Northridge's Center for Academic Preparedness and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center

Teachers, Community Activists, Parents, & Students---Save the date!

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center, CSU Northridge Center for Academic Preparedness, and Amerasia Journal Cordially Invite You to Attend . . .

A conference that showcases new teaching and learning methods developed by California State University Northridge's Center for Academic Preparedness and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. The event is free and open to the public.

* Interactive, hands-on approaches to creative liberatory teaching to bring together college and community. How to change your ideas around learning, indigenous cultures, and community media and politics.

* With cultural demonstrations, interactive group and individual activities, led by noted scholars and activists from a variety of communities--Asian, Latino, Hawaiian and Samoan, and multicultural communities.

According to Prof. Warren Furumoto of CSUN Center for Academic Preparedness : "While politicians and the public decry the poor state of education, the remedy provided is more of the same with increased punitive measures, as if this will motivate lazy students to better learning. The fact remains that over 50% of students of black, brown and red color do not graduate from high school and the prescribed remedy will only exacerbate this situation."

"Recent studies on how the brain learns indicate that the prevailing Euro-centric mind-set of education has to be trashed and replaced by a more nurturing and humanistic process. We have a glimpse of this process from the vestiges of what we know about indigenous learning, whose basic instructional strategy is to see and then to do in a balance of mind, body and spirit, respecting others and our environment."

The special guest for this event is Dr. Manu Aluli Meyer, an outdoor experiential educator and coach who entered the philosophy field and the Teacher Education field . She earned her doctorate from Harvard University. Her work is in Hawaiian epistemology and she is dedicated to changing education in Hawai'i to better address the needs and honor the unique contributions of our Native Hawaiian people. She has a life-long dedication to ho'oponopono, a Hawaiian mediation process and uses it in all facets of her work and home life.

Many of the speakers for this event are featured in a special issue of UCLA Asian American Studies Center's Amerasia Journal , "Pedagogy, Social Justice, and the State of Asian American Studies," Volume 29:2, 2003. Copies of the publication can be purchased at the event or by contacting the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, e-mail aascpress@aasc.ucla.edu or call (310) 825-2968.

Saturday, October 16, 2004
9:00 AM to 4:30 PM
UCLA Faculty Center, California Room
480 Charles Young Drive (Hilgard off Westholme)

The event is free and open to the public.
RSVP requested (email: aascrsvp@aasc.ucla.edu; phone: 310 825-2974).
Lunch free to the first 100 RSVPs.
Parking: Lot 2, next to the UCLA Faculty Center ($7.00 all day)

The event is part of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center's yearlong celebration of its 35th anniversary.
Conference Program

Activities, workshops, and presentations will include:

I. MORNING
8:30-9:00 Registration and RSVPs
WELCOME REMARKS / Prof. Don T. Nakanishi, UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Department

9:30-10:00
Cultural Circles / Prof. Rosa Furumoto, CSUN
Please bring something to share in the opening Culture Circle that reflects your culture, values, family, and/or community. It could be a photograph, picture, object, song, poem, dance, food, etc. Interactive, with mothers and attendees.

10:00-11:00
Community Tutoring Models / Prof. Warren Furumoto
CSUN students will model segments of their peer directed training workshops to demonstrate collaborative learning, developmental learning and emotionally compatible class-room management. The "we see - we do" peer training translates into "we do - you see - you do" with the middle and high school students. Although data seem to support the efficacy of the process, much more must be done to keep every student from falling between the cracks. And that means more work in reconnecting all students of color to their indigenous belief systems and ethics.

11:00-11:30
Q & A (Question & Action!)
All symposium participants.

11:30-12:30
*KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Triangulation of Meaning & Indigenous Epistemology with / Prof. Manulani Aluli Meyer, Associate Professor of Education, University of Hawaii
A return to the trilogy of body/mind/spirit AND information/knowledge/understanding AND objective/subjective/cultural AND facts/logic/metaphor. We must outline the connection between intellect and wisdom and not be afraid to debate the social implications of a more enlightening epistemology.

II.
12:30:2:00
NOON LUNCH PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
*Political Fortune Telling with Glenn Omatsu
Discover how you are related to the ideas of Gandhi, Philip Vera Cruz, Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Malcolm X, Rigoberta Menchu, Martin Luther King, and Thich Nhat Hanh.

*Table Activities with Tony Osumi
Art, Education and teamwork (Little Tokyo Mural Painting)
Feast of Resistance
Board Games
"1000 Paper Cranes with Li'i Furumoto
Paper cranes and supplies purchased with donations will be shipped to hospitalized Iraqi children. Monetary donations will be accepted to purchase urgently needed supplies."
*Cornering Poetry in the Patio (TBA)

2:00-2:30
-Samoan Sunday School Lesson of the Pi Tautau with Sefa Aina
The Pi Tautau was created by missionaries to teach Samoans how to read the Bible. Along with the introduction of written word and letters were the images used to re-organize and colonize Samoan minds.

2:30-3:15
Stories for Your Life with Profs. King Kok Cheung, Frank Chin, Jinqi Ling
Acclaimed writer and UC Regents Lecturer Frank Chin will join critics King-kok Cheung and Jinqi Ling to talk about the importance of the oral tradition and vernacular in Asian American literature.

3:00-4:00
Capturing Community Images with EthnoCommunications
Vivian Wong and Prof. Robert Nakamura
Plus Book Displays, Community Exhibits