FROM STAFF REPORTS

HOOVER—After a “life-altering experience” in South Korea this summer, Spain Park High School social studies teacher Richard Stamper said he began the year with a new approach to teaching.

Stamper, an Advanced Placement human geography and United States history teacher, was accepted to the sixth International Conference on Geographic Naming and Geographic Education. Stamper was recommended for the program by the Alabama Geographic Alliance, based at the University of North Alabama.

Stamper was one of 15 Advanced Placement human geography teachers from the United States, Canada and Mexico to go on the all-expenses-paid trip, sponsored by the Northeast Asian History Foundation.

While in South Korea, the group conducted field study, including observations at the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone between North Korea and South Korea and visits to agricultural and industrial sites.

This team also met with their South Korean counterparts to gain insight into Korean people, culture and teaching practices.

“My specific responsibility was to present a paper on the connection between the Asian concept of ‘harmony’ and whether its relative absence from Western society was apparent and what impact its absence has on the society at large,” Stamper said. “Furthermore, does Advanced Placement human geography help to bridge this divide and bring more of an Eastern thinking to Western society and help students keep life events in perspective as it relates to living a more harmonious existence?”

Stamper said his paper wasn’t particularly easy to write simply because so little research exists on the topic, however, he came to some simple conclusions through his own research.

“Ultimately, Western societies, like the United States, can learn a great deal about how to live a more fulfilling and happier existence from our friends in the Eastern hemisphere,” Stamper said.

Beyond the pedagogical aspects of his visit to South Korea, Stamper took full advantage of his time through cultural immersion. Cuisine certainly comprised part of the culture component, as Stamper sampled local delicacies including jellyfish, eel and seahorse. However, his most memorable experience was a visit to a Buddhist monastery, where he discovered first-hand how they carry out their duties.

“Perhaps the most shocking aspect was the physicality of the experience. Maintaining posture during meditation for hours and doing hundreds of prayers had me in a fully-body sweat as we went from child’s pose on our knees to standing over and over,” Stamper said. “The goal was to humble us to the pain so we appreciated what we had and could emphasize the simple pleasures of life. It was a life altering experience for me.”

Stamper said he hopes his experience in South Korea will yield the most fruit for his students.

“My goal is to bring some of what I learned back to my students,” Stamper said. “I’m confident they will now walk out of my room a little wiser and more open minded than before, realizing that even though someone leads a rather simple and traditional lifestyle, we can take away some real life lessons that will make them happier in the end as human beings.”