Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage All Year Long

Join Corwin in celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage and those who have influenced and shaped our communities, lives, and culture. The past couple of years has put on display the inequalities members of the AAPI community face. AAPI Heritage Month serves as a reminder to advance anti-racism and equity efforts every day to support AAPI individuals. We have a commitment to seeing and serving our students. Here are 7 ways to help you meaningfully integrate AAPI heritage into your classroom:

1. Educate yourself with SAGE’s free-to-read research hub on the impact of COVID, stereotyping, and other factors across the AAPI community.
2. Integrate AAPI contributions into your curriculum with these resources and lesson plans from the National Education Associate for K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
3. Explore this resource bank created by the Asian Pacific American Heritage organization featuring ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides, and research aids.
4. Visit this online exhibition created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center entitled Care Package that provides poems, meditations, films, and other cultural nutrients created by artists, writers, and scholars. Within the online exhibition, you will find a range of approaches to addressing uncertainty, anxiety, and grief through vision, reflection, and healing.
5. Read this article by HMH on “How to Address Anti-Asian Racism in Schools” for a list of ways school leaders and educators can address anti-Asian racism.
6. Watch this video series for classroom teachers titled “We are not a stereotype” created by educators for The Smithsonian. The series explores and challenges the complexity of the term Asian Pacific American, information about migration, occupation, racial and gender identities, and how to support student learning on these topics, to name a few.
7. As always, be mindful of appropriation when teaching about other cultures that are no your own and understand that students of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage may experience lessons differently than other students.