Autumn, known as the season of harvest. On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 25, a district-level teaching demonstration seminar with the theme of “Literacy-oriented classroom teaching based on the perspective of unit teaching” was held at SUIS Qingpu campus. The aims of the seminar were to both further implement the concept of “Double New” and also improve teacher professional development. The seminar was supported by Ms. Xiao Caifeng, a mathematics expert from the Qingpu District Bureau of Education’s Teaching and Research Office, along with other core members from the district. They helped to lead the whole seminar and conducted in-depth discussions on “implementing the curriculum standards and improving the quality of classroom teaching”. The attendees were: Ms. Sunny Huang, SUIS Qingpu’s Co- Principal; Ms. Flora Zhang, Campus Vice-Principal; Ms. Rinna Ruan, Executive Deputy-Head of Middle School; Mr. Kevin Li, Leader for the school’s Teacher Development Academy (TDA); all mathematics teachers and some teachers from the English and Chinese teams.
In this district-level seminar, Ms. Penny Feng taught a Grade 6 lesson on “transformations between Fractions and Decimals”. Ms. Penny started from her daily life experiences, and students tried to conduct independent learning and collaboration. The active and effective interaction between teachers and students fully reflected the theory of student-centered learning. Not only did the entire class consolidate basic knowledge and abilities, but the lesson also helped students accumulate basic ideas and active experience. Moreover, the students were tasked with using their reasoning skills, from general to specific, always with the teacher’s attention to the core literacies.
After the demonstration class, Ms. Penny gave a lecture on the theme of, “Practicing the New Curriculum Standards – Classroom Design Based on the Unit Perspective”. She suggested that the teaching materials act as the carrier, that students are the main body, and that the new curriculum standards serve as the criteria. Practicing the designing of integrated teaching lessons serves to display the professional development potential of young teachers.
Next, Kevin Li, leader of the school’s Teacher Development Academy (TDA), presented several cases as well as the accumulated experiences of our Middle School mathematics team, gained through the process of implementing the new curriculum standards. During the evaluation session, Mr. Li took the research practice of turning classroom teaching into learning as an example, and demonstrated the spirit of exploration and accumulated achievements of our mathematics teachers.
Ms. Xiao Caifeng, a researcher with the Qingpu District, gave an incredibly detailed reflection on Ms. Penny’s class and analyzed the teaching methods in preparation for future lessons. She also provided feedback on how teachers should conduct lesson planning based on the new curriculum standards. Ms. Xiao’s guidance and sharing clarified both the key points and the direction for teachers with regards to implementing the new curriculum standards.
At the end of the activity, Co-principal Ms. Sunny Huang provided a summary of the session and expressed her hope that all teachers in the mathematics team would continue to polish their practice and grow through teaching research.
Teaching without research is shallow, research without teaching is empty. Every teaching and research activity helps teachers update their educational concepts and builds a platform for teachers to learn from each other. Our Middle School mathematics teaching and research group will continue to use the most practical steps on the journey of combining teaching with research.