Contents
Program Update
New School Year Begins
A look at RCEF's plans for the new school year.
Evaluation
RCEF-Style Final Exams
Guan Ai students took special RCEF tests to evaluate their creativity and problem solving abilities
Curriculum Innovations
Anti-Smoking Project Video
Cigarette smokers in the village were interviewed by students for a service learning project.
Extracurricular Activities Enhance Life for Rural Students
Guan Ai is one of the few rural schools in China with extracurricular classes for students.
Profile from the Field
American Photographer Looks Back at Six Months in Rural China
Marco Flagg shares his experiences working with RCEF at Guan Ai Primary School.
Professional Development
Teacher Training in Hebei Province
Guan Ai teachers attended a training based on the educational philosophy of Tao Xingzhi.
Organisational News
Donor Update
We thank donors who contributed between June-August 2009.
PROGRAM UPDATES
New School Year Begins
By Sara Lam & Diane Geng, Co-Executive Directors
The new school year began at our program site, Guan Ai Primary School, on August 20. You can read on our blog about how Teaching Coaches helped Guan Ai teachers analyze textbooks and create lesson plans for the semester. Teachers also decorated their classrooms to make them more warm and inviting--something that is very rare in rural Chinese schools.
This school year RCEF staff and Teaching Coaches will build on the foundation from last year to take our innovative curriculum design to the next level. We spent last school year helping Guan Ai teachers become more proficient at teaching and coaching each other. We also helped the Guan Ai principal set up an in-school professional development system.
This year, RCEF staff will focus on the areas of greatest strength and value added. Given our track record from last year, we feel that RCEF's strongest suit is in creating lesson plans that help students experience and learn about issues in their environment. This includes teaching textbook concepts in ways that make use of rural cultural and natural resources to help students learn more effectively. It also includes extracurricular activities like service-learning projects.
Service-learning is a concept that is very new to China and RCEF has already piloted some service learning projects at Guan Ai which we want to deepen and broaden this year. An example, the Anti-smoking Project, is described below. We will collect baseline data for evaluation, along with basic quantitative evaluation data and anecdotal qualitative evaluation data to track our progress.
Final Exams Test Students' Creativity
By Steven Liu, Math and Science Teaching Coach
Students at Guan Ai take exams twice a semester, a mock at half-term and a real one at the end of term. While these exams do a decent job of tracking progress of students, they do have their inadequacies. Much of the content on the exams can be mastered by repeating similar questions ad nauseum over a period stretching several weeks prior to the exam. Certainly this is the preferred strategy of many rural teachers and, truth be told, some of our own teachers.
Yet what these exams aren’t testing for are real problem solving skills; that spark of creativity and intelligence that kicks in when a student encounters a problem that is, maybe via a slight twist on what he or she has previously seen, not answerable by activating “autopilot”.
Thus for the past year the teaching coaches at Guan Ai have been creating tests for this very purpose. We hope they will shine some insight as to whether our reforms really are increasing students’ ability to think critically and independently. You can read examples of the language arts and social studies tests on our blog. Below are some examples of the maths and science tests I created for the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Click on the images for larger versions.
But the more important point comes in the second part of the question, where we ask students how we might design an experiment to test whether our hypotheses were correct. We’ve emphasised experimentation a lot (those of you who read the blog regularly may remember our travails with creating suitable science experiments at the beggining of the year) and what this question was really about was whether they understood the scientific method of controlling of variables in order to isolate causes. To be honest this question could have been answered better by many students, but their knowledge of this powerful way of thinking has come on a lot.
The 3rd grade question above asks students to order the the buildings at the school by the area they occupy. This requires that they be able to calculate the areas of rectangles and then order them by size. Two of the buildings at Guan Ai are of identical size, and so there is an equality operator within the spaces in the answer. I’m happy to say that most students answered this question well.
Anti-Smoking Project Video
By Sara Lam, Executive Director of Programs
Above: A Guan Ai student handing out "Duilian" (messages affixed besides doors) to villagers during anti-smoking presentation.
Cigarette smoke is a huge health problem in rural China. Most men begin smoking as teenagers and it is acceptable to smoke anywhere, including in enclosed spaces and in front of children. Thus, when Guan Ai students took on an anti-smoking project to educate themselves and village adults, they were embodying RCEF's mission to promote "education that empowers students to improve their lives and their communities".
Above: The pair of "duilian" handed out by the students.
In the first phase of their community project, the students went to different villages to interview villagers about their smoking habits. After the interviews, students summarized their fundings with reports and graphs. This was a chance for them to put what they learned in Math class about statistics into practice. For example, some calculated that the amount of money spent on cigarettes in Wang Village could have bought 80 computers or120 refrigerators! Students then learned about the hazardous effects of smoking through newspaper articles, and photos. Guan Ai School also invited a local doctor to come and talk to students about smoking's effects on the body. After synthesizing all of this information into their own written reports, students took action to return to the villages they surveyed and tell villagers what they'd learned.
Click on the image above to view the video.
Extracurricular Classes Enhance Life for Rural Students
By Zhao Junfang, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist
Above: A sixth grade student practices in Chinese yo-yo class.
Confucius said that being interested in learning is better than simply learning and that enjoying learning is best of all. At the beginning of this school year, Guan Ai teachers and RCEF staff launched a new initiative—extracurricular activity classes (called “Interest Classes” in Chinese). Taking place every afternoon for an hour, the choices have ranged from Origami to Cooking, Community Service, Jump Rope, Drums, and Dance, just to name a few. As the end of the school year approached, RCEF surveyed teacher and students to evaluate their experiences in these classes.
Enriching the day
Guan Ai takes care of students 24 hours a day. The hours 7 A.M. to 8 P.M. used to be spent only in regular classes, leaving students tired and restless. Unlike in the cities, there are few if any extracurricular activities in villages. Most rural children have very limited world views and few opportunities to discover their interests and talents. Despite this, villages do possess unique knowledge and resources not usually available in cities. These are enough to provide a wide pool of activities that don’t require fancy and costly equipment. In Guan Ai’s extracurricular classes, students gain rich experiences, discover their individual strengths, and increase their self-esteem and confidence.
Guan Ai teachers and RCEF staff can design their own extracurricular classes. Some villagers have also been invited to teach folk arts like paper cutting. RCEF’s mission is to prepare students to improve their own lives and communities and an understanding of local culture and history is an important part of this preparation. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer villagers are willing to learn folk arts and they are in danger of being lost. Since the regular textbooks don’t have much in common with local culture, Guan Ai’s extracurricular classes serve as a bridge to expose students to the valuable traditions all around them.
Teachers see results
The classes change twice a semester and Guan Ai is one of the only schools in Yongji—urban or rural—which offers them. The problem is not one of material resources since Guan Ai uses so few resources to organize its extracurricular activities. Rather, teachers often feel that spending time on non-textbook work will have a negative impact on students’ studies. However, Guan Ai teachers would disagree. For example, Ms. Wang runs the storytelling class and in her opinion, it can actually help students to improve their Chinese, learn how to play well with others, and cultivate a love for reading. In the Chinese Yo-yo class, more experienced students teach newer students and all get online to learn new tricks from the Internet. In this way, the moves and tricks of Chinese yo-yo continues to be passed on.
Students give feedback
In order to better understand students’ perspectives and hopes for extracurricular class, we gave a survey to students in June. From the results, we found that different ages of children selected classes in different ways. A lot of the younger students said they liked the storytelling, art, and games class. They suggested adding singing, piano, and other game-like classes in the future, stating that what they liked best about the classes was that they are “fun”. “We like dance class,” shouted some first graders. “We get to wiggle our necks and our bottoms,” said one, waggling as he spoke.
Students in the upper grades had other motivations. More said that they liked the classes because they could learn new things or get some exercise. Suggestions for new classes included an insect observation class, long jump, and high jump. The boy who is most enthusiastic about the insect class said, “Watching insects grow is really interesting. We can tell other kids about what we learn.”
American Photographer Looks Back at Six Months in Rural China
By Diane Geng, Executive Director of Operations
Above: Marco Flagg, having fun with some of the students during SVP2008.
Marco Flagg is a native New Yorker who moved to Beijing to study Chinese. He was a long-time volunteer in RCEF and had a passion for learning more about rural development in China. At the beginning of 2009, he moved to Guan Ai Primary School to work with RCEF, documenting our work in photos and video. Below are Marco's reflections about his time with RCEF at our program site in rural Shanxi Province.
How did working with RCEF and living at Guan Ai School compare to your expectations?
I really didn’t know what to expect when I came to work at Guan Ai. I did have a fear that we wouldn’t be able to take showers during the cold winter months but luckily that wasn’t the case. All in all the experience gave me so much. I got to work and live with some truly dedicated, hardworking and (thankfully) fun people that made the twelve-day work weeks just fly by. I also learned so much during my time there. Though not isolated by any means, the village is fairly untouched by Western culture. This really forced me to reach out and try to understand a different way of life. So I guess you could say I came to Guan Ai with only the expectation to learn new things.
What do you think people who have never been to Guan Ai should know about RCEF’s work here?
I think that people who have never been to Guan Ai should know that the programs RCEF are developing at the school are making a difference. I have seen first hand the results of the team based learning approaches through the exceptional teamwork that the students of my art class applied. I have seen inquisitive minds that are unleashed upon the village when students go interview locals during their Society class projects. I have seen the confidence that students display when they have gained the ability to stand in front of a crowd of villagers and present a report about the harms of smoking. Lastly, I have witnessed the budding confidence and leadership ability of Guan Ai teachers as they present their work to their peers. All these things are the results of programs that RCEF has helped enact at the school and is proof that it is on the right path. I still feel there is a lot of hard work ahead but everyone should know that it’s on its way.
Looking back on your time at Guan Ai, what achievement makes you feel most proud?
Looking back I am most proud of the storybook class that I helped teach with Ms. Xie (Guan Ai's art teacher). For one, I love to teach though I guess it is more of a hobby than anything else, so having the opportunity to design and teach a class with the help of a skilled local teacher was a great opportunity. I am also proud of the class because even though I designed the class outline, it was truly a collaborative effort. I bounced ideas off of Ms. Xie and we had the flexibility to adapt to the needs of the students. As a foreigner working here, the pleasant surprises (and sometimes a little frustration) that you get from developing and teaching a curriculum is always eye-opening and powerful.
Teacher Training in Hebei Province
By Diane Geng, Executive Director of Operations
Above: RCEF Staff and Guan Ai teachers on a nature walk.
In late July, a delegation of teachers and staff from Guan Ai and RCEF boarded a train from Shanxi for a long trip to Hebei Province. We went to attend a training session organized by an NGO called "Life Education Action”. The main purpose of the training was to spread the “seeds” of Tao Xingzhi’s works and philosophy.
Tao Xingzhi is one of China’s most progressive educators. He was a student of John Dewey’s at Columbia Teacher’s College and promoted “life education” in China through founding and running several progressive schools for common people (i.e. workers and rural students). He also started a rural teacher training institute. Tao wrote a great deal about his education philosophy which is pithy, clear, and inspiring. Although his name is famous in China, the details of his educational values, and in particular his focus on ideas about rural education, have largely been forgotten. After the training, we went on a hike to a nearby Huaguo Mountain (named after the mythical mountain in “Journey to the West”) along with rural teachers from a local school. We also went to the seaside town of Beidaihe for a day so that Guan Ai teachers from land-locked Shanxi could experience the ocean for the first time.
The following are the main takeaways from the conference:
- Teachers and principals in China often don’t know that one of their own—a native Chinese—was one of the biggest proponents of the kind of education now being promoted by the national curriculum reforms. They hear more about foreign (western) educational theorists and go to training courses where overseas educators speak, but few people have read Tao Xingzhi’s writings or know what he did. He is seldom discussed even though his values are often promoted.
- After Tao Xingzhi’s death, there have been too few people working in rural areas to continue developing curricula and teaching methods that embody his principles. Today, many people talk about his philosophy but few people know what it means in practice. The work and achievements of Guan Ai teachers is therefore of historical and practical importance. They can see themselves as “descendents” of Tao and also as pioneers, turning philosophy into much-needed practise suited to the needs of today's rural children.
Donor Update
Thank you to all the supporters who donated to RCEF in June, July and August 2009! (A complete list of donors from 2005 to the present is available here.)
Grants
Tiger Woods Foundation ($25,000)
The Global Fund for Children ($5,000)
Silver Sponsors ($1,000 to $4,999)
Perforce Foundation
Bronze Sponsors ($100 to $999)
Anonymous
Eva Brune (New York, New York)
Lijuan Cai (Princeton, NJ)
Menghui Cao
Givology (New York, New York)
Rowena Geng (West Sacramento, CA)
Anne Hsieh (Aiea, Hawaii)
Jun Hou (Hoboken, NJ)
Ning Hu
Hongzheng Lu (Pittsburgh, PA)
Patrick Lockne (Stockholm, Sweden)
Denise Martinez, Room B, Odyssey Charter School (Altadena, California)
Microsoft Matching Gifts (Princeton, NJ)
Bailey Peng
Stephen Potter (Seattle, WA)
Trinity School (Menlo Park, California)
Yuan Wang (Beijing, China)
Jingbo Wang (New York, NY)
Rongxun Wang (Redmond, WA)
Gary Yuen (Los Angeles, California)
Supporting Sponsors (under $99)
Hongzheng Lu (Pittsburg, Pennsylvania)
Scott Sjulin (Sacramento, California)
Xiaofeng Wang (China)
Xi Zhang (New York, NY)
The RCEF Highlights is a quarterly publication about the educational initiatives being carried out at Guan Ai School in rural Shanxi Province, China.
Read more about RCEF's mission and program site Guan Ai Primary School.
Contact Us
Donate
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Checks payable to "Rural China Education Foundation" can be sent to:
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Donations can also be made online!
From our Blog:
From Rural China to Southern Appalachia
RCEF Program Staff visited the rural American South to learn community education methods at the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center.
New School Year, New School Training
RCEF Math Teaching Coach Steven Liu helped rural teachers map out their curriculum for the semester.
Click here to read more
How I Prepared for the Start of School
Read how Ms. Li, first grade math teacher at Guan Ai School, planned her lessons during a RCEF training.
Click here to read more
Creative Tests for Creative Students
Read about the language arts and social studies questions designed to test the creativity of students at Guan Ai School.
Click here to read more
Midterm Examples
See more examples of RCEF-designed questions that test skills beyond the textbook.
Click here to read more
RCEF History Slideshow
Four years ago, RCEF was incorporated as a nonprofit organization. This slideshow marks major milestones in our development.
Dispatches from the Field
A special collection of blog posts gives an up close and personal window into our experiences on the ground in rural China
Guan Ai Adult English Class
RCEF's Sara Lam and Kiel Harell lead an innovative adult English class twice a week at Guan Ai Primary School. Learn about the methods they use to teach rural teachers.
Pilgrimage to Dulangkou
Dulangkou Middle School is located in a rural township but is one of the most-visited schools in the world. Find out what makes this school so special.
Hands-on Technology for Rural Children
RCEF's Steven Liu reports on an Intel Learns curriculum that teaches computer skills in rural schools.
Click here to read more
Work for RCEF
RCEF seeks energetic individuals to join our full-time staff team in China.
Past Newsletters
RCEF posts monthly and quarterly newsletters on our website.
Click here to read past issues
A Day at Guan Ai
Pictures from a day at Guan Ai Primary School that puts the sights and sounds of Guan Ai in motion.
Work for RCEF
RCEF seeks energetic individuals to join our full-time staff team in China. Staff members must be able to commit at least one academic year (September-August).
Past Newsletters
RCEF posts monthly and quarterly newsletters on our website.
Click here to read past issues