Write About Asia: 2020 Freeman Award Winners

This workshop was sponsored by the East Asia Resource Center (EARC) in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington with funding from a Freeman Foundation grant in support of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) and was facilitated by Mary Roberts.

During this online workshop, teachers studied and wrote about the 2020 Freeman Award books for children and young adults. Educators reviewed the 2020 Freeman Award Winners for grades 2-8 classrooms, read and wrote about the texts, shared responses with other writers, and received free clock hours.

The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Committee on Teaching about Asia (CTA) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and Asia for Educators (AFE) at Columbia University sponsor the annual Freeman Book Awards for new young adult and children’s literature. The awards recognize quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of East and Southeast Asia. Awards are given in two categories: Children’s and Young Adult on the several countries of East and Southeast Asia.

Program details

This workshop spanned multiple sessions. The first session consisted of an introduction to the 2020 Freeman Award Winners, and was mandatory for all participants.  The rest of the sessions each focused on individual titles, and participants attended whichever they prefer (at least one). Participants received three clock hours for each session attended.  The workshop was open to K-12 teachers of all grades and subjects.

All participants attend:

July 20, 2021 (3:00 – 4:30 p.m. PDT): Introduction to the 2020 Freeman Award Winners

Participants picked one or more of the following sessions:

July 27, 2021 (3:00 – 4:30 p.m. PDT): Writer’s Workshop Sharing based upon A Bowl Full of Peace: A True Story by Caren Stelson

August 3, 2021 (3:00 – 4:30 p.m. PDT): Writer’s Workshop Sharing based upon No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan by Jeff Gottesfeld

August 10, 2021 (3:00 – 4:30 p.m. PDT): Writer’s Workshop Sharing based upon All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat

August 17, 2021 (3:00 – 4:30 p.m. PDT): Writer’s Workshop Sharing based upon The Silence of Bones by June Hur

August 24, 2021 (3:00 – 4:30 p.m. PDT): Writer’s Workshop Sharing based upon Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes by Lun Zhang and Adrien Gombeaud

Program benefits

• 3 Washington State OSPI clock hours for each session
• Free copies of the workshop texts

Books

You can view this collection on Goodreads.