What Level of Educator are you?
This lesson unit was written by educators who have a deep love and respect for tea and tea drinking as both an art form and a rich, cultural celebration. The authors do a wonderful job at providing the history of tea, explaining the difference between tea varieties(think green, black or white), and how it is processed. They then create a step-by-step plan to help students design and execute their own chanoyu(pronounced chah-no-you), or Japanese tea gathering. I use the word 'gathering' here because the authors make a point of emphasizing that although the Japanese tea tradition is highly ritualized, it is not so much a religious ritual or ceremony, but instead a celebration of culture and history. It is a highly organized event that embodies four main principles prized throughout the history of Japanese culture: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. These principles are expressed throughout the planning and execution of the tea gathering and it is hoped that they are then cultivated into each participant's life. Students have many opportunities throughout the lesson to understand their importance and to put them into practice.
The lesson book is very well organized and easy to follow. It includes many useful handouts and detailed descriptions accompany each lesson. There are also key definitions placed in the columns of each page that highlight important terminology used in the main text. The unit begins with the history of tea and provides many interesting facts. For example, did you know that iced tea was invented in St. Louis at the World’s Fair of 1904? Or that tea harvesters might pick upwards of 30,000 shoots a day and it takes 3,200 shoots to make a single pound of tea! That is a lot of shoots and as a tea drinker, learning these fun facts made me appreciate my own morning ritual even more. They also served as an invitation for me to dive deeper into the lessons.
Scavenger hunts, imaginative play, storytelling, and humor are used throughout the lessons to keep students engaged and interested. Students complete work individually and in small groups and are evaluated using a variety of different methods. Quizzes, homework, and other useful handouts are provided and make it easy for teachers to gauge student learning.
Chanoyu might unfold in a very ceremonial way, but it is considered to be a very relational activity, where the interaction between the tea makers and participants is emphasized. The tea gathering is also meant to be an event that celebrates community. It is believed that everyone who attends not only has something important to learn from it and each other, but that everyone has the potential to be transformed in some essential way. Students participating in this lesson will learn not only about the history of tea and Japanese culture, but have the opportunity to make interesting discoveries about themselves.
Tea and the Japanese Tradition of Chanoyu is most appropriate to use with high school students, as some of the historic references in the lessons are for more mature students and many of the lessons require fairly advanced organization and interpersonal skills. However, as an elementary school teacher, I can imagine how you could pick and choose parts of this unit to introduce younger students to the tea gathering and utilize their interest in imaginative/creative play to bring the tea gathering to life in the elementary classroom.
