Thesis Title: We the Girls: K-Pop, Girl Groups, and Korean Identity, 1997/2017
 

What Now: 10th Grade English Teacher / Course Team Facilitator, Leadership Public Schools
 

What Next: Mastering parallel parking
 

It was the end of sophomore spring and I was screwed. Instead of drafting the proposal I needed for my Cultural Studies final paper, I had spent the weekend binge-watching K-pop survival shows. I walked into the Barker Center fully prepared to own the consequences of my sloth: “Angela,” I confessed, hanging my head, “I’m really behind. I’ve been obsessed with this show called Produce 101 and I just lost track of time.”

At this, Dr. Allan’s ears perked. “Cool! What’s it about?”

I did not think of myself as a good student when I was at Harvard. Like some of you, I arrived on campus without having fully grown into my voice. I remember sitting in seminar rooms where everyone else’s comments felt more intelligent, polished, academic. Then there was me, who was too busy juggling depression, impostor syndrome, and the world’s most persistent stutter to get a sentence in about John Stuart Mill. I was ashamed to admit my insecurity - and I was scared that I would always feel this way.

But the more time I spent in Hist & Lit, the more I grew into my voice. My professors encouraged me to think of K-pop, something I dismissed as too silly for academic study, as something that can shed light on Korean (and Korean American) history and culture. More importantly, they encouraged me to bring myself to my academic work: I didn’t need to compromise my creativity or personality to be taken seriously as an intellectual. Hist & Lit is where the K-pop survival show I used to procrastinate became the best 20-page paper I ever wrote. It’s where I built an entire syllabus from scratch in junior tutorial. And it’s where, in the throes of senioritis, I drafted 1200 words of my thesis through Twitter with my adviser’s approval. (Thanks, Dr. Corey. I couldn’t have done it without you.) I didn’t just become a better scholar; I became a better version of myself thanks to the people I met and the experiences I had.

When I bridge my memories of Hist & Lit and my current work as a high school teacher, I can draw parallels on two levels. Of course, there are the academic skills: the three years I spent sharpening my research, analysis, and writing still inform the way I approach those skills in my own classroom. I’ve also discovered a passion for curriculum design and development (which makes me appreciate the work my professors put into their syllabi much more). Most importantly, however, my mentors have taught me to bring my whole self to my 10th graders: instead of being the teacher who demands their kids write, speak, and think in the “right” way, I want to be the teacher who shows them how messy, imperfect, and beautiful authentic inquiry and scholarship can be. If I can join them on their journey, I hope that they, too, can learn to trust the process...and themselves.


Read More:

• Mr. Kim’s 2020 Research Project (Korean American Domestic Violence) for my 10th grade English class
• Mr. Kim’s 2021 Research Project (Fashion and the Environment) for my 10th grade English class
• “Looking for Mars: A Reflection on Teaching and Mental Health” on the Harvard Teacher Fellows blog
• “self-portrait of Asian American as dumpling / crowdpleaser” in gnashing teeth publishing
• “Sisyphus Logs Onto His 9AM Zoom Class” in Porcupine Literary