The on-line version of the Return to the Valley teacher and student guide first went live in May 2003. Since that time, technology and the internet has exploded with many more applications and sites. In most of these chapters, we have updated or removed old website links and added some new ones.
Heart Mountain Relocation Center, National Archives |
This Teacher's Guide was written to provide teachers with a toolkit for the award-winning Return to the Valley documentary and education project. The documentary, originally broadcast on public television stations across the country, was adapted for educational use. It was hoped that the material would add to the growing body of books, documentaries, film, websites, research and writings about the Japanese American experience before, during and after World War II -- especially providing topics for classroom discussion about what happened to the vibrant farming and fishing communities after World War II. Although the teacher and student guide went on-line with the launch of the documentary, feedback from educators indicated that the material would be more useful if it was aligned to State Standards. With generous grants from the California Civil Liberities Public Education Program (CCLPEP) and the George Masunaga Family Fund, KTEH has been able to update and publish a new version of the Teacher's Guide. The Guide is now available in two parts; a teacher's DVD viewing guide, which includes the material aligned to the California State Standards for history and social studies, along with some suggestions for classroom use -- and the online guide. The on-line guide features all the thematic essays (see below) as well as photos, and resource lists. All material can be downloaded at any school site at no cost from www.returntothevalley.org
The resources for this guide were selected by educators for classroom and research use. We have included both books for younger readers as well as older students and adults. Most of the DVDs cited can be used for general audiences; however, several programs may contain complex topics and powerful images that may not be appropriate for elementary school aged children. In 2003, DVDs had not yet become a readily available product, and VHS videos were still the norm. Rather than remove the "Videos" category altogether, we have opted to change it to "DVD/Videos." Some of the older films have not yet been converted to DVD or other formats and exist only as VHS tapes. This will eventually change as more and more films are converted and VHS tapes increasingly become a thing of the past.
It should be noted, that resource materials included in this teacher's guide are what were easily accessible for any classroom anywhere in the country at the of printing. KTEH is aware that Japanese American history reflects a fluid archive of research and that new materials are being created every day. For some of the topics, there are numerous resources such as books, films, DVDs, and internet websites. In these cases, we have included a cross section of available materials. Other topics are just becoming areas of research and have less available material. This has been stated in the text entries.
Some guidelines for the use of this material:
- All articles and text have been federally copyrighted by KTEH Silicon Valley Public Television. The authors of the articles and photo archives have been credited for their contribution to this teacher's guide.
- Teachers, students, and researchers have KTEH's permission to print the teacher guide at their site for classroom use at no cost.
- Users may not alter the text or photos in any manner without written permission from KTEH.
- All passages that are quoted in reports or lectures should be credited to:
Return to the Valley Online Teacher's Guide
Copyright 2008, KTEH, San Jose, California
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