Contents
A Day at Guan Ai
Pictures and notes from a day at Guan Ai Primary School.
A Reflection on RCEF
Weiji Ma, RCEF Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, shares some of the highlights of the last year.
Winter Teaching Training
Over the winter holiday, an intensive training course was held for all of the teachers at Guan Ai School.
Plans for Spring Semester At Guan Ai
Learn more about what RCEF staff and teachers have planned for this semester at Guan Ai Primary School .
A Day at Guan Ai
The sounds of laughter, school bells ringing, and students reciting their lessons becomes a chorus that fills the schoolyard as the sun rises and falls on a new day.
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A Reflection on RCEF
2008 was a crucial year for RCEF in which we made some big strides. We received grants from the Tiger Woods Foundation, Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation, and The Global Fund for Children. These commitments are highly competitive, but RCEF’s plans are convincing and our track record inspires confidence.
Of special value are the commitments ($33,000 and $15,000) from several individual donors with whom we have lasting bonds. These are a huge leap from individual donations we received before 2008 (typically no more than $2000) and they were only possible because Diane Geng and Sara Lam, who took over last year as Executive Directors, are consistently able to explain in clear terms, to whomever is interested, what we do and why we do it.
You may not have seen it, but RCEF’s Integrated Rural Education Program was announced during the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an conference that brings together non-profit leaders, CEOs, heads of state, and philanthropists. The 1-minute video of the announcement is on www.ruralchina.org. In 2007, I attended CGI and saw many accomplished and promising non-profit leaders present their commitments to education in developing countries. Their projects were thoughtful and had the potential to positively impact many lives. I remember thinking how nice it would be if some day RCEF would be standing there. Barely one year later, this already came true.
Obviously, recognition like this is not a goal of our work, and of course, a commitment is one thing but execution is another. But to me, occasions like this confirm what I already knew, that Diane and Sara are successfully leading RCEF onto a path towards becoming a more professional, sustainable, and effective NGO. This naturally involves moving away from a volunteer-based model, and I am happy to say that we have now 6 full-time staff in Guan Ai School in Shanxi province, with more to come. As far as I know, the concept of professional teaching consultants working year-round in a rural school is unprecedented, at least in China.
Changes are still happening at full speed as we speak, and there are places to learn about them. A good place to start is the Annual Report 2007 & 2008 (pdf), which has a very insightful section called “Lessons Learned”. I would also recommend reading the Newsletter and the blog for the most recent updates. Blog posts have been very exciting in recent months, with many lesson ideas and reflections on teaching that are applicable far beyond rural China.
We hope that all of you will be there with us on this journey. Your interest and support are extremely valuable to our program staff in China.
Wei Ji Ma
Chairman and Co-Founder
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Winter Teaching Training
Over the winter holiday, an intensive training course was held for all of the teachers at Guan Ai School. Three teachers from Dulangkou Middle School in Shandong Province were hired as trainers. They brought deep expertise in participatory teaching methods. The format of the training was designed to give our teachers as much hands-on practice as possible. Teachers and trainers discussed theory and practice as they planned lessons together and then delivered them in front of regular students later in the day. The trainers planned some of the lessons as demonstrations, explaining their values, logic, and methods clearly. After each lesson, there was a thorough discussion about what happened in the class, what could be done better, and what questions the teachers had. The feedback from the teachers was very positive and we have already seen them put into practice many of the methods they learned during the course.
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The Start of Spring Semester
The students returned to school on February 10 decked out in their colorful new clothes from Spring Festival. RCEF and the Guan Ai principals decided that the big goal this semester is to let students learn and work in small groups as much as possible. When done well, this can cultivate abilities like independent learning and thinking, cooperation with others, and improved communication skills. However, most students aren’t used to working in groups so the first week of school was a chance to practice. The first morning, the teachers introduced a new culture of small groups into their classrooms. They picked group leaders who are more outgoing and willing to help and communicate with others. The group leaders then worked with their group members to participate in activities that included competitions, games, speeches, and performances, all designed to foster teamwork.
After a month of this new format, the students and teachers are showing great progress. RCEF staff have taught the teachers to use the video camera to film each others' classes and critique them afterward. The RCEF Teaching Coaches continue to make strong progress helping local teachers to gain confidence in using new student-centered teaching methods. In addition to a regular schedule of listening to and assisting with classes, the Teaching Coaches participated in lesson planning, post-lesson feedback sessions, and facilitating subject- and grade-level meetings. Systems were also set up for the teachers to learn from each other. Every month, teachers have to observe six other classes in their grade level or subject and be observed six times. They take notes and fill out a feedback form afterward that is posted on the wall of the teachers’ office. In addition, every week, the teachers write a reflection about problems they are encountering and lessons they’ve learned. These all serve as a way for teachers to be accountable to each other in an open, honest, and supportive atmosphere.
Monitoring and Evaluation
We have designed preliminary evaluation indicators for student and teacher changes in the program. These will provide useful data for us to evaluate our program methods and adjust accordingly. Rubrics and tools have been designed to monitor these indicators and will be put into use this semester.
Future Plans
The following are areas that we plan to implement over the coming months:
- Increase communication with parents as well as principals and teachers in the surrounding area.
- Prepare summer training and enrichment activities for the teachers.
- Foster leaders among local teachers who participate in the program.
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From our website:
Reflections on the Winter Teacher Training
We invited some teachers from Dulangkou School to come and give some training to our teachers. We really appreciated them giving up their precious holidays to come, and we benefited greatly from their instruction.
Summer Teacher Training 2009
RCEF is looking for professional educators to volunteer as trainers for our Summer Teacher Training.
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).