Experts at BRFLS, Leaders in Teaching and Research- Demo Class Presentation
Autumn has arrived at BRS campus, and so have the students. In order to embrace the start of the school year, there will be many creative teaching activities. There is a demo presentation of three core subjects.
According to Principal Ren, “The main focus of a school should be students’ development, teachers’ professional development, and the improvement of the quality of teaching.” Because of these ideals, BRFLS organized the presentation of demo classes. The theme of the activities is, “Experts in the school, to be leaders in teaching, and leaders in research.” Professionals came to BRFLS to observe the demo class.
In order to record this activity, the interview with the Director of Teaching Department, Mr. Sun Jian has been done. According to Mr. Sun, there were three outstanding teachers from each subject; Ms. Ma Doudou from the Mathematics Department, Ms.Zhang Duanduan from the Chinese Department, and Ms Li Jiarui from the English Department. Participating in this activity is not only an opportunity to improve their teaching skills, but also to be an example for new teachers.
Experts and other teachers attended the demo classes to observe. After, they had a meeting to exchange ideas regarding the demo class. In order to create a holistic school, the discussions will lead to student centered teaching.
Ms. Ma Doudou is an experienced Mathematics teacher. The first year she came to BRFLS, she took on the pressured job of teaching the eldest grade. She did a great job! For her demo class she taught a lesson to class 6(3). She had a student-centered class and had creative ways to teach math.
Ms. Ma values the students’ ability rather than memorizing teaching method. She does not want her students cramming for exams for her class. For her demo class, she taught the fundaments of a circle. In order for the students to exercise their logical thinking skills, communication, and exploring skills; she had the students make a mind map of the characteristics of a circle through observing their surrounding environment.
Students really enjoyed this style of learning. They were especially excited about exploring a circle with a compass. They drew pictures of a circle by using a compass. This exploring process was conducted with thinking and action, which are the elements of a student centered class.
Just because the class is student-centered, does not mean that the students take over the class. After the exploring phase, the class had an open class discussion led by the teacher about what they found. Students actively participated in the discussion and shared their findings on the diameter and radius of the circles. All of them understood the shape of a circle without reciting concepts.
Student centered learning is very different from repetition learning. Preparing a student centered class takes more time with observing, analyzing, summarizing, and practicing. However, students develop a deeper understanding and better study skills through this method. BRS strives to be innovative.
