May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Let’s celebrate by incorporating AAPI role models and AAPI-focused curriculum into our classes! Our team gathered some of our favorite resources that either feature AAPI professionals, or focus on AAPI history and heritage. With such a range of content-focus, we’re confident you can find something that will benefit you and your students.
Asian Signers is a non-profit organization that provides great videos to use in the classroom. Be sure to check out their playlists, including “Asian Sign Stories” (great storytelling videos for your elementary students) and “Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2021” (plenty of videos of role models in the AAPI community to share with all your students)! They are also on Facebook and Instagram. Give them a follow!
You Finish Eat is “a platform where resources are shared on critical, expansive, and nuanced discourses about social justice by and for Asian and Pacific Islander communities in ASL.” Follow them on YouTube and Facebook for ongoing materials that may be applicable in your classroom instruction.
The Metro South Asian Deaf Association (MSADA) is a group based in Washington D.C. comprised of deaf people from South Asian Countries. Their YouTube channel is a great resource for both students and educators in learning more about Asian cultural celebrations.
CSD Learns values representation for our deaf/hard of hearing leaders of the future. This is why our toolkits feature role models that students can connect with. While we encourage you to explore all our toolkits, below you will find a list of kits that spotlight deaf and hard of hearing role models who identify with the AAPI communities.
As a result of a combined effort between Black and Indian Deaf communities, Kamala Harris was given a sign name. The group worked among themselves to create several options and then surveyed the deaf community to agree on one. Learn more about the process and the meaning behind Harris’ name in this Daily Moth interview.
The Asian Pacific American Heritage Month website was created to pay tribute to the AAPI community through the collaboration of the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, National Archives, United States Holocaust Museum, National Park Service, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. This curated resource provides a great collection of lesson plans, activities and discussion questions for you to do in your classes during this month!
Teacher Vision has compiled a series of AAPI-related resources that can be used in many ways. This website includes free printables, art and music activities, lesson plans, literature, food resources, references, and more. If you’re unsure of how you want to incorporate AAPI Heritage Month into your curriculum, TeacherVision is a great place to start.
Looking for books that spotlight Asian, Asian-American and Pacific Islander characters for your classroom? Here’s a great list from Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media also provides general age guidelines with all their book recommendations, so you’ll know whether they’re appropriate for your students.
I Am Asian American, by Andrea Bittle, is a great article for educators to read before beginning conversations and teaching about Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Bittle also provides book recommendations that can support these conversations for elementary, middle and high school students.
Do you have students who enjoy sports? Tap into their interests to guide them to conversations about authentic representation. Learning for Justice has created a great resource for students in grades 6-8 to learn more about Asian American Representation in Sports.
Asian American and Pacific Islander college students can face unique challenges as they go through college. As an AAPI student, you may encounter different pressures, racism, academic expectations, and societal and home experiences that are different from your peers.
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