Pedagogy

TEACHING, WORKSHOPS, & PUBLICATIONS on PEDAGOGY & EDUCATION

Mara has taught at a number of small private liberal arts colleges (Colorado College and Franklin & Marshall College), art schools (Moore College of Art and Design, the University of the Arts) and at large universities, including the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of Oregon.

She has also taught middle school at St. Anthony School in Kalihi, Honolulu—the most fun she’s had as an adult!—and also taught religious studies/catechism to fifth-graders and Asian art (a studio class) to kindergarteners at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She was the Academic Director of the Summer Seminar on Japanese Culture for High School Teachers, Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University, and a Lecturer/Consultant, Yale University’s East Asian Outreach Program: curriculum design & teaching units on Japan, K-12.

Mara led a study tour for the Honors College of Yeshiva University to Kyoto and Tokyo (after several weeks at their home site in the Bronx).

In 2012, Mara got involved in political activism regarding social studies in the public schools of Hawaii with Aloha POSSE (Protect Our Social Studies Education), for which she also wrote several editorials. This got her motivated to publish additional editorials on education.

Mara specializes in informal learning, including teaching in museums, parks and wildlife preserves, and gardens.

PUBLICATIONS ON TEACHING (Duplicates of entries with primary location elsewhere)
  • 2013 “Terrible Knowledge And Tertiary Trauma, Part I: Teaching About Japanese Nuclear Trauma And Resistance To The Atomic Bomb,” The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 86(05), 157-163; published online 05 Jul 2013.
  • 2013 “Terrible Knowledge And Tertiary Trauma, Part II: Suggestions for Teaching about the Atomic Bombings, with Particular Attention to Middle School,” The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 86(05), 164-173; published online 05 Jul 2013.
  • 2012 “12 Reasons the atomic bombings of Japan should be taught,” Honolulu Star Advertiser, August 8. http://www.staradvertiser.com/s?action=login&f=y
  • 2012 “East Asian Aesthetics,” in Teaching Asian Art: Content, Context, and Pedagogy, Sheng Kuan Chung, ed. The National Art Education Association
  • 2011 “No real reason to let social studies and civics fall down,” The Hawaii Independent, August 1 http://thehawaiiindependent.com/
  • 2011 “Twelve Reasons Hawai`i Should Lead in Social Studies Education,” The Hawaii Independent: 8/12 (kept on front page thru 8/15/12). http://thehawaiiindependent.com/story/twelve-reasons-hawaii-should-lead-in-social-studies-education
  • 2011 “Engaged or Enraged,” Honolulu Civil Beat, August 10 (kept on front page thru 8/15/12). http://www.civilbeat.com/posts/2011/08/10/12473-engaged-or-enraged/
  • 2011 “Social Studies Education Is More Important Than Ever,” Honolulu Star Advertiser, Aug 1: http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/guesteditorials/20110801__Social_studies_education_is_more_important_than_ever.html
  • 2011 “Philosophical Dimensions of Japanese Gardens in Literature and Film” in David Jones and Michele Marion, ed., Discovery and Praxis: Essays in Asian Studies, SUNY Press;
  • 2009 “East Asian Aesthetics,” in Teaching Asian art: Content, Context, and Pedagogy, Chung, Sheng Kuan, ed. Sponsored by The National Art Education Association
  • 2008 “Japanese Gardens as Texts and Contexts,” in East-West Connections: Review of Asian Studies,” v. 7, no. 1, pp. 85-106
  • 2007 Review of Preaching From Pictures: A Japanese Mandala, Education About Asia, 12, 2.
  • 1996 “Teaching Japanese Aesthetics: Whys & Hows for Non-Specialists,” Newsletter of the American Society for Aesthetics, 16, 2, 1-3.
  • 2000 “The Lady in the Garden: Subjects and Objects in an Ideal World” (on images of women writers from Medieval Europe and Heian Japan), in Crossing the Bridge, Cynthia Ho and Barbara Stevenson, eds., St. Martin’s Press, 189-211.

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT REGARDING PEDAGOGY
  • “Service Learning” faculty workshop, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
  • “Teaching Students with Disabilities” faculty workshop, Richard Stockton College
  • “Theory/Practice/Learning” faculty workshop, Emory University & Agnes Scott College
  • Korean Culture and Society Institute, Asian Studies Development Program, East-West Center (training to develop Korea-related curriculum)
  • “Exchange: Japan” workshop on Japanese language in undergraduate curricula
  • Teaching Asian Studies in the 1990’s, Rutgers University
  • Central Pennsylvania Consortium Workshop on Teaching
  • Teaching Philosophy & Public Policy Issues, Center for Philosophy & Public Policy, U-MD

Mara Miller's Website